Salt and Sanctuary Guide: Boss Weaknesses and basic strategies

 This is as much for me as it is for my friend Shelby, who is brand new to Salt and Sanctuary. I'm centralizing the boss weaknesses in order of potential encounter, as well as some basic tactics.

So, the first boss is the Unspeakable Deep. If you're skilled enough with the game to take on this "one attempt only" boss, he's weaker to blunt damage, but also to the pitchfork. The spear heavy attack does a two hit attack when you're close, and since you're doing a two hit combo max before rolling through it, you can melt his health bar faster than the morningstar, the next highest damage weapon for the deep.

 The Sodden Knight is weak to blunt and fire damage. And if you choose the Iron Ones or the Three, you can buy firepots from the merchant, and those can rip through the Knight's health.

The Queen of Smiles is weak to slash, fire, lightning and holy, though holy is the only one it has no resistance to. Use the Blessed Pages you got on your way to the boss.

The Mad Alchemist is weak to slash, and also all elements. And I've found that firepots can rip through not only his health, but also the adds he occasionally summons.

The Kraekan Cyclops(yes, that is how this game spells "kraken") is weak to slash and all elements. And I mean 0 in those resistances. However, I've found poison to be extremely effective. Pessmuld drop randomly from mobs in the Watching Wood, and the Stone Roots merchant sells them, though you have to join them in order to place it. You can leave and join a different creed immediately after, and if you want to rejoin your former creed, the Candlelight lady is on the lower path from the Village of Smiles to the Watching wood, in the drop down after getting the Scythe.

The False Jester is Slash and Poison, with "all elements" being its weakness in Classic Mode.

The Kraekan Wyrm is weak to strike, holy and is allergic to lightning. 

The next bosses are dependent on which path you take. The path I take leads to a grinding spot and the best movement abilities. You can head into the Red Hall of Cages instead, but I'm going to describe the path I take.

So, the first boss of the Dome of the Forgotten is the Untouched Inquisitor, who is weak to slash, fire and arcane. Fire is the better one, since it creates a DOT effect.

Then comes the Third Lamb. This is a tough fight if you're not prepared, but it's weak against slash and fire. 

The next boss in this path is the Dried King, who is weak to blunt and holy damage. Fire and lightning are also low resistances.

At this point, I return to the Red Hall, and head down toward the Tree of Men. The Tree of Men is allergic to lightning. Blunt damage is the next closest weakness.

The Disemboweled Husk is weak to slash and holy, though I find fire more effective due to the DOT effect.

The Stench Most Foul is weak to slash, fire and holy, though again, fire's DOT is powerful.

At this point, you've gotten all the movement abilities, so you can access all the bosses. My path takes me to Ronin Cran, who is weak to strike, poison, holy and arcane, plus fire and lightning in classic.

This gives an easier path to the Bloodless Prince, since getting through the lower path of the Ziggurat of Dust is a pain. The Prince is weak to slash, fire, lightning, holy and arcane.

The Coveted is weak to strike and arcane, with all other elements being just as good.

I'd hit Carsejaw the Cruel next. Carsejaw is notoriously weak, with low HP and defenses.In Enhanced, strike is his only true weakness, with all others but arcane being being low resistance, with arcane being 500. In Classic, only Poison being the only stated resistance.

The Witch of the Lake is the next boss on my list, and all I can say is "good luck", due to how RNG heavy her fight is. She's weak to slash, fire and holy, though it's a small consolation while you die over and over as you learn her tells.

The Unskinned and the Architect is a duo boss, with two health bars. The Unskinned is weak to elements, with slash being the next lowest. The Architect is weak to slash and arcane, so your best bet for this duo fight is for you to use stained pages, as those are the arcane weapon buff.

Murdiella Mal is out of the way, and she's weak to slash and fire, lightning and poison. She's weak against holy and arcane in Classic Mode.

The next optional boss is the King, the Knight and the Judge. Three health bars, and the King and Knight are weak to fire, and the Judge to arcane. The Judge has no resistance to slash, and the King and Knight have low resistance to slash.

Kraekan Dragon Skourzh has no special weakness, but is strong to strike and lightning. 

And lastly, the Nameless God is weak to strike, with slash being his next lowest resistance. All others are a 500 in resistance, so any weapon buff would be fine.

 And that's the weaknesses for all the bosses! Hope this helps anyone who comes across this!

 Until next time, stay beautiful freaks! 

Dark Souls 1 Character Build: Neolithic Rogue

  It's time for another "Neolithic Character Build" for Dark Souls 1. To remind everyone reading this, I keep seeing "caveman builds" in Dark Souls Remastered challenge run builds, so I decided to create a "more realistic" based on real world neolithic societies.

Today I started with the thief class, as they started with our weapon of choice, the Bandit's Knife. And this is my SL125 Neolithic Rogue

Vitality 50

Attunement 11

Endurance 40

Strength 22(I actually had to use this as a dump stat to get up to SL125)

Dexterity 50

Resistance 10 

Intelligence 12

Faith 11

Power Within

Wander Set +9

Pyromancy Flame(Upgrading does not affect Power Within) 

Longbow +10 with poison arrows 

Heater Shield/Target Shield +10, depending on how easy you find parrying

 Bandit's Knife +15 (this is the only knife available that doesn't require true steel working. It could feasibly be bone, iron or obsidian)

Hornet Ring

Wolf Ring 

This is definitely a PVP focused build, as most bosses can't be parried, though they can be bled. And if I wasn't restricting myself to Neolithic standards, I could easily take some of the strength points for intelligence and another in attunement so I'd have access to the Magic Weapon spells.

 But that's it for this Neolithic build, and until next time, Stay Beautiful Freaks! 

 

Salt and Sanctuary Beginner's Guide

 Since my friend Shelby has professed interest in Salt and Sanctuary, I figured I'd create a beginner's guide. It'll be very bare bones, focusing on the very beginning of the game.

First off, the 3 beginning creeds. Without upgrading anything, The Three, Devara's Light and the Iron Ones determine which items you can purchase at the beginning vendors. At level 1, both The Three and The Iron Ones stone merchant sell Pitchfire, a fire buff, Fire Pots, a potent firebomb that can carry throughout the game, and Red Shards, a consumable heal that doesn't replenish at sanctuaries and candles. Also, the Iron Ones are the only creed that sell Shock stones, a lightning buff that's potent throughout several bosses.

Devara's Light, however, sells Light Vessels in lieu of Fire Pots, and they do holy damage instead of fire. All three have equitable heals, though the Water of Blessing grants the protection buff, which is 2x your current defense rating. 

 Devara's Light's blacksmith sells the Flintlock Pistol at level 1, the other 2 sell at at level 3.

And finally, the Iron Ones have two changes at the Cleric and Mage; the mage sells lightning storm(a tier 3 incantation, so you can't use it right away if you're a mage) instead of wildfire(which is tier 1, and can be used as a mage right away), and the cleric is the only creed that sells War Horns, which increase stamina regeneration during combat, which is a great buff during boss fights. This is why I say to choose the Iron Ones as your starting creed, place down the stone merchant, cleric and guide so you can warp back to this sanctuary to replenish supplies, as you can still buy from abandoned creed's merchants.

Second, I've seen that new players can have trouble finding certain weapons if they don't know where to look. The Kureimoa(aka Claymore) can be found in the Village of Smiles, in a hidden room that you may not see due to level geometry hiding the light that tells you about a hidden room.

The Infantry Poleaxe can be found early if you're willing to brave the Bandit's Pass to the right of the Devara's Light sanctuary, and later on if you return there through proper progression.

The Haymaker(A Grim Reaper style scythe) is found after defeating the Queen of Smiles, following the lower path and opening the gate.

The Warhammer is found by entering the Sunken Keep from the upper path out of the Watching Woods. The lower path leads to an elevator that leads to a boss.

And finally, the Outlaw Greataxe is found in the locked door in the Bandit's Pass outside Castle of Storms. the key is found on your approach from the Sunken Keep.

The game does not teach you how to parry. Looking at the controls does not tell you how to parry, but by holding block and pressing attack, it allows you to parry with nearly every weapon. The only weapons that do not parry that way are the bow, crossbow, pistol and wand. The crossbow and pistol take a cue from Bloodborne and utilize that timing, and the wand allows you to use one equipped spell. 

 And lastly, the game doesn't accurately tell you how certain abilities affect how you handle weapons. Daggers, shields, wands, staves, bows, and whips are all their own skill to use. But other weapon skills count for multiple weapons. 

1 handed swords and greatswords both use the Swordfighter skill. All 1 handed hammers and axes fall under the Berzerker Skill. Greathammers and Greataxes, however, fall under the Heavy Macefighter skill. And finally, all Spears, Reapers(Scythes) and Poleaxes all fall under the Pikeman skill.

 Lastly, starting gifts. They don't tell you what they do at character creation. Red Shards are a consumable healing item. Stone Sellsword allows you to summon a friend at your first sanctuary. You can find one after the 1st boss. The amber idol is a transmutation material, and it's only useful if you know what kind of weapon you want to transmute into. The Grasping ring grants you 10% more salt from every kill, so it's a staple for most builds. and lastly, the Crystal Sphere allows you to convert a sanctuary for your chosen creed. These aren't really useful until after you've started leveling up your creed and want its bonuses.  

Oh, and one more thing; desecrating a sanctuary. The game does not tell you how to do this, and if you're new, DO NOT DO THIS! It's only required if you want the Order of the Betrayer as your creed, and you don't get access to it until nearly the end. But in order to do this, you take the Stained Page, your arcane weapon buff, and place it on top of sanctuary icon you want to desecrate. You'll then be attacked by all merchants you placed/that are already there, and then be attacked by 2 waves of sanctuary guardians. Defeat all them to clear the sanctuary, and if you're Order of the Betrayer, you'll get creed level up items. 

And if you're intending to join the Betrayers, you need to either die at your first attempt to desecrate a sanctuary, or use the Bell of Return to avoid the fight. You'll get the bloody writ, which you'll need to join the Betrayers near the end of the game. 

 And finally, here's the fextralife wiki for Salt and Sanctuary. It covers both the Enhanced version(only available on PC) and the standard version. https://saltandsanctuary.wiki.fextralife.com/Salt+and+Sanctuary+Wiki 

Hopefully, this will help anyone coming to Salt and Sanctuary without overloading them. But until next time, Stay Beautiful Freaks! 

Dark Souls 1 Character Builds: Neolithic Shaman

 It's time for another "Neolithic Character Build" for Dark Souls 1. To remind everyone reading this, I keep seeing "caveman builds" in Dark Souls Remastered challenge run builds, so I decided to create a "more realistic" based on real world neolithic societies.

 Starting class was Cleric, and that helps push toward the Shaman build, where they're using the power of stories to heal, help when surrounded and to buff their weapon, since Miracles are stories of the gods. Here's the SL125 Neolithic Shaman

Vitality 40 

Attunement 14

Endurance 40

Strength 44

Dexterity 20

Resistance 11

Intelligence 8

Faith 30

Wrath of the Gods

Great Heal

Sunlight Blade

Pyromancer Set +9 (Neolithic people would wear cloth, with some stones for jewelry)

Great Club +15 (did a spear build last time)

Heater Shield +10 (Dark Souls has access to fire magic, so metal working is viable as long as they can find it)

Raw Shortbow +5 with Poison Arrows

Sunlight Talisman (Stronger than the basic Canvas Talisman, but still looking like a Neolithic person would use)

Havel's Ring and Wolf Ring, since jewelry has always been a thing humans do.

 This one's a little stronger in PVP than the Quality Spear Pyromancer build, only lacking in stamina regeneration buffs due to the weight of the weapons.

 This is the last of the magic capable builds in my Neolithic series, since Sorceries require schools and books.  Most I'd be willing to allow from this point on would be Power Within, since that's just pushing beyond the body's limits. 

 Until next time, stay beautiful freaks! 

Dark Souls 1 Character Builds: Neolithic Fighter

 So, I don't post to this blog very often anymore, mostly because I'm more active on Youtube lately. But after seeing a LOT of "caveman builds" in my feed from Dark Souls Challenge Runners, I came up with a more realistic build for person from a almost neolithic society. I have to make allowances for some level of metal working, but since this is a world with magic, a neolithic tribe would figure out how to use pyromancy to perform metal forging, because if I didn't, I'd be stuck with the "club, large club and great club" build those challenge runners use, and I want to utilize equipment that a neolithic society would use.

With that said, here's my SL125 Neolithic Fighter. Starts with a Pyromancer.

40 Vitality

28 Attunement

40 Endurance

35 Strength

35 Dexterity

12 Resistance

10 Intelligence

8 Faith

Great Fireball

Great Chaos Fireball

Power Within

Fire Tempest

Chaos Storm 

Pyromancer Set +9 (Neolithic people would have simple cloth clothes, but would also reasonably have simple jewelry with gems and polished stones.)

Spear +15 (I know the tip is steal, but we don't have access to stone tools in this game)

Heater Shield +10 (I know its metal, but with pyromancy, they could perform metal working to a lesser degree)

Ascended Pyromancy Flame +5

Reinforced Club +15 (Humans have been shoving sharp objects into blunt objects as long as we've been aware we could do that)

Short bow +10 with poison arrows

Wolf Ring, Cloranthy Ring or Bellowing Dragon Crest Ring. Jewelry is a reasonable thing for humans to create, since we've been doing that for as long as we've been human

 

And there we go. SL125 so it's good for PVP, and since it's a quality build, it's robust enough to use all the weapons  on the list. It's also a good PVE build due to the Pyromancy spells. I'll figure out a miracle build too, since in Dark Souls, Miracles are stories passed down through the generations, and humans have been storytellers for as long as we've been human.

That's it for now, so stay beautiful freaks!