Giant Armor + Havel armor combo

[Clarynaa]

Which pieces should I use for the best PvE "Screw dodging" setup? I find that while giants has so much more phys resist, I am getting knocked around alot with the lower poise. How should I combine them to best make use of havel's poise, but giant's phys def

[Clarynaa]

I will also ask this: is it really viable, even before NG+ to make a never dodge build? I'm currently in almost all giant +5 and crystal enemies hit me for a CRAP TON

[Elendil]

That just means your HP is terribly low. If you're going for an all defense build, you'll find yourself needing high VIT, high END and the steel ring and/or ring of favor and protection to maximize defense / stamina. You also need a +15 medium shield on the lines of the Caduceus kite shield, a +5 silver knight shield, and a +15 heavy shield just in case for bosses that hit terribly hard.

As for the giant + havel combo itself, the most important pieces in a havel set are the chest and leg armors, as they're the ones with the high poise. Go figure.

[The Djoker]

For my first build on pc I went with a pretty much no dodge setup, because I was so bad at timing dodges. I went with full Giant's Armor +5 along with the Ring of Favor and Protection. It worked okay until I got the Greatshield of Artorias and +15ed the Great Scythe, then the rest of the game and the couple hours I played in NG+ with the character were all extremely easy. So you can get the build to work, but if you aren't dodging you need a shield with very high stability in order to absorb big hits, as even with the heaviest of armors the big bigger enemies later on in the game, and especially NG+ the biggest enemies will take you down fairly quickly. All of the shields Izanagi suggested are really good to, my current character is just about to finish the game with the Silver Knight shield on a light setup and it's been very good.

[Clarynaa]

Alright, thanks. Getting a shield that high will be pretty hard, I'm currently wearing a +1 grass crest just for the stam regen, because I haven't even thought about blocking(!) bosses, since I've always done dodge based runs. Go figure, 600 hours in and I still forget that you can block a bosses attacks

My current build is a Mace + shield + Zeus (lightning miracles). I find the miracles aren't very good when solo'ing bosses. With a helper they wreck face, and they're great against trash, but I have to use my melee to reliably kill bosses by myself

[cua_bien02]

Originally posted by DHK:

Go figure, 600 hours in and I still forget that you can block a bosses attacks

You must be awfully good at dodging then. I often rely on blocking in boss, except for the really big and strong one like Stray Demon. I beat the Bell Gargoyles and seldom needed to dodge, just block.

[Clarynaa]

I've gotten okay at it. I only really have trouble with S&O. I block trash mobs all the time, but since I always used a grass crest shield for the increase stam regen, too much boss damage came through to me, so I learned to dodge as much as possible
Although, to be honest, I've only ever beaten the game twice. 300 of my hours were spent on a character that I just could NOT get working well enough to beat the game. The next 150 or so were spent experimenting and finding what kind of builds I was comfortable with.

[76561197970647673]

Do you just hate dodging in general, or like stomping around on an obscenely heavy character? I always end up gravitating to +5 Black Iron, and the Eagle shield, using Havel's ring and then I am able to effectively shield block most stuff and also dodge stuff when I want.

[Clarynaa]

I don't hate dodging, I just like to build characters based on a theme. I hate just making "the best character", that's just too easy. I can beat the game in about 13 hours if I just wear the gold hemmed robe set and dodge everything, but that's not ALWAYS fun.

[76561197970647673]

Then just wear what you want. I thought you were struggling and looking for advice. I found that while many things work, no single thing works absolutely. All my game finishing characters utilize different approaches and gear based on what I was facing.

[Clarynaa]

I will say, elemental bosses whoop my butt, S&O just wasn't really doable solo, I had to summon help, I'm currently stuck on Kalameet. But, I found that my build is actually very decent in PVP, I have won 4 out of the 5 times I've been invaded.

[Neon]

ok ive found every amour learned some good set ups and what u should do is fully upgrade the elite knight amour when fully upgraded its just as good as those 2 amour ur talking about plus its alot lighter so when ur a pretty decent lvl with a decent stamina ur weight will be below 50% so u will have equal def but u will move faster aswell so its like wearing light amour so its just as good in def u can move faster but the poise is lower so u add the poise ring to get a pretty equal poise to havel amour making elite knight amour alot better but u need 1 titinight slab for each peace to get on max lvl so u have to beat the game 5 times but at lvl 9 the def is still pretty equal to havel and giant this is what i use its the best in my op works great since its just as good as havle and giant plus u get faster speed for dodging u cant block everything when u run out of stamina to block dont take the hit dodge and with equiped gear more than half ur equip limit it takes alot longer to recover from a roll only use havel when u fight the 4 kings with the poise ring on as well so u can kill them as fast as u can befor more of the four kings spawn making it harder for rest of game use elite knight lvl 9 or max 10 works great

[tophat704]

Smough's armor is along the lines of Havel too, less poise with more resistances. I've been wearing that with a child's mask for creepiness. With those, 40 end, ring of favor and havel's ring I can weild a big weapon or a big shield and be under 50% so I can do a combo of dodge and block.