Black Magic / Abyss Magic

[ExEShredder]

I think its way too Overpowered, as far as i get it Black Magic does Physical damage and can be blocked with a shield or evaded.

My Character level 89 (1025 HP) had a fully upgraded Chain Mail a Ring Of Favor and a Magic DEF ring, but still im getting 1 shot from nearly all Black Magic Spells, i can block them because i have a lot of Stamina (~ 200) but it still goes trough my shield(?). I think its nearly impossible to Evade them (Especially Persuers) and most of the Black Magic has AoE so how to evade them?

My Questions:
How to Evade them?
How to get more defense against the Spells?
Why the ♥♥♥♥ does this ♥♥♥♥ 1 shots me with fully upgraded Armor (no matter which armor).
Why does the Magic inflicts Damage trough my Shield, even if i sucessfully blocked them?

No Flame please, no troll please just give normal Answers.

Thanks ;)

[hghwolf]

In order

Walls tend to work. Silver Pendant reflects them.
Walls are your best defense. Alternatively, try the Silver Pendant.
Because it`s incredibly unbalanced. They`re supposed to be weak to Silver Pendant usage but since that`s a DLC item amd most people don`t have it ready for use...
No shield blocks magic damage 100%. The "physical" component seems to be their incredible attacks weight I.e stamina cost to block.

[Joker]

How do you not know how shields work with over 400 hours played in this game?
Also, simply rolling through pursuers is the easiest way to get rid of them, same with any other black magic.

[ExEShredder]

Rolling trough them doesnt work for me and shields? Black magic does Phsical damage so it shoud be blockable with a 100% Phsical shield or not?

[Ankkah]

They drain stamina like mad through most shields, especially Pursuers. Best bet against them is to roll around and through them with the invincibility frames., or lead them to walls/obstacles.

[Joker]

Originally posted by -CommHub-:

Rolling trough them doesnt work for me and shields? Black magic does Phsical damage so it shoud be blockable with a 100% Phsical shield or not?

Black magics do a combination of physical and magic damage, so you cannot completely block them.

[DuckieMcduck]

If you see an Abyss Magic wielder, you have to watch your movement carefully. Dark Bead (the spell that causes several dark beads to come out of the wielder's catalyst) can deal a huge amount of damage at close range, much like a Shotgun would do in an FPS; and like a shotgun it has a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of spread. It's better to stay away from the caster if you see him approach you with a catalyst in close range.

It's very difficult and rare to succesfully roll through Dark Beads, though you should definitely try to do it rather than attempting to block it with your shield, as Abyss magic was made to trample shields as well by dealing extra stamina damage.

Pursuers are very slow and they're very limited. They also have a huge cast time. If you KNOW he is casting those, that is the time to get in, deal damage and move out of range. When the pursuers are coming towards you (or worse, if the pursuers and the caster are coming towards you), roll the hell away until the pursuers disappear. Rolling into Pursuers for a sneaky hit may be too risky due to how slow they are, and they might hit you all at once once your dodge is over.

~~~~~~~~

Dark Magic is really strong. Though the options the caster gets with it are somewhat limited to rushing in and dealing damage, hoping that the opponent is dumb enough to try to fight/block him at that range. Your best tactic is to wait, look for openings until he uses most of it and then finishing him off.

[Shifty Mario]

You can roll or silver pendant dark magic. If you're a faith build, vow of silence and great magic barrier is a hard counter to them. If you want to block them, the magic shield spells provide enough shield boosting to block all pursuers. Even if you know how to roll and you silver pendant just be careful that some dark magic users know how to time their shots so high chance you'll still get hit.

I've noticed that standing directly next to the opponent will prevent all hits from dark bead. Another thing, despite people saying roll towards pursuers, it does not work all the time. Sometimes the timing on those things are strange and 3 will activate followed by the rest during your roll.

[cua_bien02]

I hate Pursuers. With Hidden body or Ring of Fog you can get closer w/o fearing them triggering. After a while they'll disappear.

[The Fatalist]

Roll directly AT the person casting at the appropriate time, then do a rolling attack. Just keep doing that until they swap tactics. Or die. Whatever. It's particularly effective against dark bead.

Pursuers is another story though. It's still effective, but difficult to time due to lag. Theres a 25% chance it'll circle back as well.

Final way to deal with it is great magic barrier if you are a faith build. Cast and laugh as the little black things bounce off as you as crush them under your weapon.

I personally have had very little success with the silver pendant. I seem to activate it, the pursuers bounce, then come back again to hit me in the face. I find it too slow to activate against dark bead.

Edit: Oh, right, you asked why it one hits you and what you can use to defend yourself.
It one hits you because it deals both physical and magical damage. If you are wearing armour with high Physical DEF, the magical damage will kill you. If you wear armour with high magical DEF, vice versa.

The only armour that has really good magical and physical DEF is Havel's, and Havel's sheild has a 90% damage reduction on spell damage and a 100% damage reduction on physical. In theory it sounds solid, but I have no idea on how it behaves in practice, as I haven't ever gotten the STR requirement to use it.

In conclusion, great magic barrier is the only definate (albeit temporary) defense.

[Big Boom Boom]

I find Crest Shield a good replacement for Havel if you don't have enough STR, since it gives 80% magic and 100% physical and very light (compared to Havel). Also Havel set is too heavy compared to, say, Paladin Set fully upgraded (just a few points of DEF lower for like 2/3 of the weight) because Havel set can't be upgraded.

The Chain mail set I find particularly weak for most purpose. You need Titanite Slab to +10 and it's a pain to farm those, vs farming Twinkling Titanite. It also lacks Curse Resistance. If you're level 82 you should definitely be able to get either Paladin, Favour or Elite Knight and they are much better defensive wise, while not being too heavy.

[Ch4051mp3r14L]

If you have the strength and endurance, the stone knight shields from darkroot have the same magic resist as the crest shield, plus has 80 stability. Great Magic barrier works, well great. At that point just make quick work of it. And get different armor. The chain mail is only for the desperate. Replace asap.