My DD2 Experience
1I'm a fake. Fun game though, a 8/10 I'd love to hate. Story is lacking a tad bit though, mayhaps rushed. Lost plenty of saves from accidentally restoring from inn save.
Main Pawn ID: E546VKIQ5X23
If you just want the tl;dr 8:34
On NG+, I rush the main story purely so I can stockpile Arrows of Unmaking and ten portcrystals. The benefits are:
- You get at least 100k gold and xp per run
- You get two Arrows of Unmaking from Sphinx and Dragonforged dude. Worth more than focused xp or gold farming imo.
- You can use the Trial of Conviction to duplicate an item, best candidates are the portcrystal (up to 8-10) or Arrow of Unmaking.
- Unconfirmed and I never pay attention but I always end up with 100 WLC per playthrough.
Here's some of my notes: (Assuming you've already cleared the game and did the Sphinx before)
Medusa bow: Watch a video on how to get it. Good exp on last hit but I'm still experimenting with how to last hit reliably.
Portcrystal placements: Activate the one at Vermund. When you get [Monster Culling] and go southeast, do that quest and then keep making your way to Nameless Village, place a port crystal there to double track later for a main quest which after completion remember to pick back up. I place one at the Checkpoint to pickup Vergil. I also place one on the main road that connects to Luz's temple for later story, after which teleport you pick it up and move to Luz's temple in case you're short of WLC. Place one at Dragonforged's crib. Place one at Sphinx location 1 and 2. Place another at Battahl entrance to palace for general uses.
Sphinx: I do this after I get the Battahl Permit and leave madness for last. Grab Portcrystal, grab Sphinx and ride. Place port crystal at Frontier Shrine. Do all tasks but don't hand in the last one, if this is the trial of recollection I don't even do it until right before I clear the game. Make sure to save at inn before this just in case you mess up. Then when I'm ready to clear the game, and got the buffs as shown in the video, I shoot more than three times to start the fight and fight until Sphinx gets bored, and then I use the Arrow of Unmaking. I tried using it before this phase but its unreliable as it triggers the 'leave' phase after wasting your arrow. This is just more reliable and it isn't too hard if you do about Rogue's Draw and Quarter x3 on the face, the Sphinx has poor aim as well so its a easy fight.
Gigantus: Actually easy. Just get Sorcerers with Maelstrom and wait at the beach. One Maelstrom is enough to wipe out the entire lower half or upper half. Just Medusa bow the rest. Then the game basically is just a waiting game until Gigantus reaches that specific spot in the video. Since it is not counted as a Medusa bow last hit, it doesn't grant the bonus exp. I tried a Arrow of Unmaking once before but all it does is remove all the spots and still needs to die via script event.
Dragon: You don't need to fight or last 1 minute against Phaseus' cronies, just approach Phaseus. Fun fact, one of the archers has manishot or something because they can juggle you in the air like the Ghost of Blue Skies style.
Final notes: I thought Dragon would give me exp but they didn't. So you can probably go boss hunting after Gigantus, but if you do at least place a port crystal right before the final area. Gigantus' event despawns all the mobs in the path so it makes it easier for you to just go to the final area, however leave it too long and they'll spawn back. You don't have to use the arrow of Unmaking against the Dragon, I just did it for the lulz. You can definitely get two Arrows of Unmaking per run, or three if you decide to not opt for the Eternal Wakestone.