Help/advice on Sunlight medal farm/good PvE weapon

[LLoyd Christmas]

I have heard Miracles aren’t that strong but idk so I still wanted to try it.

I already have unlimited Lightning Spear’s from Licia, but what chime and weapon would I want to use with it? Really want to focus on Lightning Soear/GLS and Sunlight spear for most of my damage, but feel like I would need a solid weapon as well that works great with it.

Any ideas on weapon/chime? Also, what is the most efficient way to farm the sunlight medals? I currently have the Gold serpent +2 ring so there is a start.

Thank you!

[Decimus Maxentius]

- Priest's Chime good for early/mid game (Defeat Ruin Sentinels in Lost Bastile).
- Dragon Chime is the best chime imho. Need to complete Dark covenant or kill covenant master.
Melee weapons:
- Mace (early/mid game).
- Large Club (2-handed).

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by LLoyd Christmas:

I have heard Miracles aren’t that strong but idk so I still wanted to try it.

In the late game they start to become strong. The problem is that, well, you're already late into the game. The lack of casts is one of the big reasons why and as you've figured out, that's no longer much of an issue post Undead Crypt. You also should now have access to 3 copies of Great Lightning Spear in total. Another reason, they aren't that good is how you need to grind or go to NG++ Drangleic Castle for some of the strongest miracles.

For chimes you just always use Dragon Chime, because it's the best.

The more interesting choice is which fancy hat to wear. Hexer's Hood gives +1INT/+1FTH but more importantly, gives +5% more casts for your spells rounded UP, so it will always give at least +1 casts. That means 2 Sunlight Blades, instead of 1.
As you need to compensate for low amount of casts by equipping more spells, Black Witch Hat is also a good choice (+1 ATTN slot).
King's Crown is still pretty decent, even if you're only using miracles (+3INT/+3FTH). It's "The ol' reliable" for caster builds. Free stats are never bad.

As for weapons, use whatever you think is the most fun that's and within your STR/DEX budget.
If you just wanna be strong, you can always just get a weapon that infuses well like the Ice Rapier (i know, i know but FromSoft made it busted, not me), slap lightning or dark on it, bring 'ya boy Robert Leonard Flynn, the Third (Ring Of Blades, Old Leo Ring, Flynn's Ring, Third Dragon Ring) put Sunlight Blade on it and go nuts and totally forget that you are supposed to throw lightning every now and then, because stuff just dies so fast in melee.

The best place to farm medals is the Royal Army Campsite before Brightstone Cove. There are so many Falconer's and they have the best medal droprate (it's still low, even with discovery gear). Consider asking another player to farm a boss with Bonfire Ascetics. if you have at least 15 Ascetics, you can burn them at the Cardinal Tower Bonfire, which re-spawns 2 bosses which you could farm with a buddy. If you lack the Ascetics, you can farm Giant Lord with a co-op buddy instead (there always another Ascetic in his boss arena).

[Paradox]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

... Consider asking another player to farm a boss with Bonfire Ascetics. if you have at least 15 Ascetics, you can burn them at the Cardinal Tower Bonfire, which re-spawns 2 bosses which you could farm with a buddy. If you lack the Ascetics, you can farm Giant Lord with a co-op buddy instead (there always another Ascetic in his boss arena).

Or, instead of using ascetics, find a friend that will save scum a single boss and just do it however many times you need.

[Crypto Gamer]

If you want to farm sunlight Medals make sure you are high enough lvl so can do bonefire Astetic 3 NG+2 difficulty.

NG+2 difficulty gives +250 item discovery. Basic NG has no bonus.
NG+7/bonefire 8/max difficulty has+375 item discovery but your killing speed is likely slower.

Sunlight medal has 1% drop chance and each 100 item discovery gives another flat 1% to all possible items drops.

If you can get to like 400 items discovery medal will have 5% drop rate chance.

Do NOT farm on NG.

[LLoyd Christmas]

Thank you for your replies!

I finally have Sunlight Spear. And I will try the above mentioned weapons out, but one I do not have yet is the Ice rapier. Which brings me to my next question, and one I’ve had for awhile.

From what I know it’s a DLC weapon? Also, how do the DLC areas work? Afaik I guess I thought the DLC was after the rotten boss with Dragon Talon, but then when I opened shrine of winter, I saw another portal/shrine to port to.

Is there like a DLC area after each main “lord” boss after the primal bonfire or?

I guess also, I am not sure where to go to find/farm the Ice rapier at. All I know is I have the Dragon Talon and a Frozen Flower I got from Deangkeic I think.

Any info much appreciated.

[JellyPuff]

There are only 3 DLC. The 1st one's entrance is behind The Rotten boss arena, the 2nd behind the Old Iron King boss arena and the 3rd is within Shrine of Winter.

Dragon Talon is used to enter the 1st DLC, Heavy Iron Key to enter the 2nd and the Frozen Flower used to enter the 3rd DLC (The Ice Rapier is found here as an uncommon drop from the basic knight enemies wielding it).

The Heavy Iron Key is found at the fire pit in Forest of Fallen Giants.

If you haven't done all the DLC yet, just have some fun and properly finish the game, before worrying about optimizing builds or even metagaming. I prefer doing the DLC in order of release (Sunken King, then Iron king, then Ivory King), because the Ivory King boss fight is a good boss to close the game out with.
You can also just use the regular Rapier and infuse it with lightning or dark. If you think "wow, that's pretty good", start imagining it dealing around 200 more damage on hit. That's the Ice Rapier.

If you want something less meta and more fun, try the Mace of the Insolent. It's a hammer and a casting tool for chime-based spells. it's better at casting hexes, but it can be buffed with sunlight blade and if it is, it's still decent at miracles. Don't get me wrong, even the basic chimes are stronger but with the Mace, you can still bonk things with, while having the flexibility to wield something like a strong shield in the offhand. You can also infuse it and still get most of the scaling bonuses, unlike with other weapons (Ring of Blades will also still work). But it's really just more for fun.

[Crypto Gamer]

If you use bows too keep in mind in the DLC the non-infused bow will likely always deal more damage than any infusion even if your str, dex is low.

[LLoyd Christmas]

Awesome thank you. I have no idea where end game really is but it sounds like the DLC’s come before that. I’ll follow the order of the DLC’s then.

I do know I have been looking for the blue dagger to help buff my miracle damage(if it can) but jw if that was found/dropped in any of the DLC areas or more of main game.

If I have Dragon chime and blue dagger on the other slot, does that work to buff or no?

Thanks again

[wildflower]

The greatest thing about faith is that you need it for Hexes. And Hex builds kick ass. Lightning damage is also great, not bad in pve.

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by LLoyd Christmas:

Awesome thank you. I have no idea where end game really is but it sounds like the DLC’s come before that. I’ll follow the order of the DLC’s then.

I'd say end-game starts at Dragon Aerie or right after getting Giant's Kinship. You can do the DLC before that, but they are a significant step up in terms of difficulty compared to anything of the main game. If you want to tackle them sooner, keep in mind that the game expects you to have a decent amount of Vigor/HP and a fully upgraded weapon for the DLC.

The Blue Dagger can slightly buff ANY spell-damage, including miracles. If something is referred to as "spells", it encompasses sorceries, pyromancies, miracles and hexes. Though keep in mind, that the Blue Dagger also makes you take 20% more elemental damage, since it reduces all your elemental defenses by 200 (10 points = 1%, though you always resist at least 10% elemental damage, no matter what your stats are).

Speaking of resistances, DLC enemies have special resistances vs. non-melee elemental damage in particular. In other words, all your spells are less potent in the DLC.

[Crypto Gamer]

DLC enemies have very strong" ranged elemental" resistance.

Ranged means spells, arrows, bolts, and throwable items like firebombs will do much less dmg.

Use pure physical dmg bows.

Melee elemental defense is likely not much different than in Non-DLC.
Eg.elemental dmg from weapon buffs.

[LLoyd Christmas]

Thank you.

Unless I missed it somewhere, where might I find the blue dagger? Even a hint is appreciated.

I will try physical damage for the DLC’s. I happen to get an Ice rapier (I literally just wondered into the frozen DLC for a few mins just seeing it out and it dropped. Definitely waiting later for this area, but what would I want to infuse it with? Lightning, Dark Fire or? (I’m currently at about 45 Faith and Int) AFAIK both those stats increase hex damage..

Again thanks

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by LLoyd Christmas:

Unless I missed it somewhere, where might I find the blue dagger? Even a hint is appreciated.

Rare Iron King DLC enemy drop. You'll know which enemy by paying attention to what weapon(s) they are wielding.

Originally posted by LLoyd Christmas:

Definitely waiting later for this area, but what would I want to infuse it with?

When in doubt, lightning.

For elemental infusions, dark and lightning are the best for PvE. Lightning is the least commonly resisted, closely followed by dark. Magic is decent, but some enemies have very high resistance. Fire is very commonly resisted.

With FTH that high, lightning is also slightly stronger. Still, elemental scaling on pure physical weapons doesn't really matter a whole lot, so dark would still be good.
STR/DEX won't matter a lot either, once infused. Elemental Infusions on purely physical weapons are for when you want a big dmg bonus and not level any stats to get there. Perfect for casters or lazy people who just pump VIG early and spam Lifegems.

[AarkNoa]

If anyone is still in need of Sunlight Medal farming you can always try to just do it the sunbro way. From experience I can say the final boss and dlc bosses are a good spot to still assist players no matter the soul. Just keep in mind that even if you help with all three bosses in a row you'll still only get rewarded one medal.

[LLoyd Christmas]

Thank you makes a little more sense. I also did get all my medals but ty.

So with infusions, if I infuse Lightning, does it scale off just Faith, or Faith and Int?

Also wondered for Dark, Magic and Fire.

I also have a hexer that uses mostly Dark Orb and GRS and now Climax. Does that hex damage scale off both Faith and Int or just one or the other? (Should note my Sunset Staff and Caitha’s Chime are both Dark infused).

Kind of wondered about that..thanks