How bad is a no hit run on this game?

[Not_L_Username]

I want to do a no hit run on this game because it's peak souls 2, but I'm unsure what it's like compared to other games and am looking for feedback. I also don't know if I should be running it on Vanilla either as I own both.

Feel free to leave advice / personal experiences.

[JellyPuff]

No hit runs, even just any%, are a little above my paygrade (Old Souls no death/no bonfire or Alonne seppuku is the best i've ever done), but from what i've seen, it's either the easiest or hardest soulsborne to no hit. Any% should be easier than other souls games and 100%/all bosses+DLC is definitely the hardest after Elden Ring. Or the most tedious, depends on how you look at it.

Any%, you can skip most of the game (and all the DLC), even without having to use glitches, because of how Shrine of Winter[darksouls2.wikidot.com] works and how much of the game's optional (with parrywalk, you could even skip a lot more). Should be mostly easier on vanilla, due to less enemies you're having to deal with overall. Though on vanilla, you cannot skip Iron Keep, if you want to infuse.

If you want a little extra challenge, but not subject yourself to the madness that is 100%/All bosses, you could also do "Old Souls", which forbids going through Shrine of Winter, without the 4 Great Souls. You can skip anything else that is optional though, like Smelter Demon for example.

In any case, bosses should be your major concern. Learn them until you can whoop them blind while sleeping. You can re-fight them as much as you have Bonfire Ascetics.
most regular enemies are easely cheesable from a distance (bow and arrow or Binoculars + spells), especially those weak to Yearn. Get Yearn - this will be you most useful tool, especially if you want to 100% no hit. The main difficulty from getting from one boss to the next is becoming too comfortable or too impatient. There will still be some tough outside-of-boss encounters, like the run up to Velstadt. Definitely still train those.

[Chap]

level up agility either through adp or attunement to an acceptable level first so you have a effective amount of i-frames on your roll, that's the most important one and will allow you to be able to dodge through attacks without having to constantly repeat near frame perfect rolls.

every non dlc boss in this game is balanced around being beaten with low agility so are a lot easier once you have more i-frames on your rolls because the majority of their attacks are made to be dodgeable with very little i-frames.

bosses in this game are also a lot slower with more pronounced attack windups and time between their attacks so being able to dodge earlier will give you a lot more time to attack them before they decide to attack again

[peremptor]

Man the attention to detail you got to have to be on your guard for a full playthrough to not get hit even if you got all the skill in the world... that's freaking impressive.

[Paradox]

Originally posted by Not_L_Username:

I want to do a no hit run on this game because it's peak souls 2, but I'm unsure what it's like compared to other games and am looking for feedback. I also don't know if I should be running it on Vanilla either as I own both.

Feel free to leave advice / personal experiences.

I don't know how you're going to beat the game without ever hitting the enemies. I don't think it's possible.

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by Paradox:

I don't know how you're going to beat the game without ever hitting the enemies. I don't think it's possible.

You're joking, because of semantics, but: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbEbsqfmqC0

[Boon: Eggroll]

On DS2? It's one of the worst, dude. It's one of the hardest of all of them to do. It was the last game of Fromsoft to be completed no hit.

[Not_L_Username]

Originally posted by peremptor:

Man the attention to detail you got to have to be on your guard for a full playthrough to not get hit even if you got all the skill in the world... that's freaking impressive.

It's not as bad as you'd think. It boils down to learning a route that has been optimised over the years and DPS-ing down bosses.

[Not_L_Username]

Originally posted by Boon: Eggroll:

On DS2? It's one of the worst, dude. It's one of the hardest of all of them to do. It was the last game of Fromsoft to be completed no hit.

oh dear D:

[peremptor]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

Originally posted by Paradox:

I don't know how you're going to beat the game without ever hitting the enemies. I don't think it's possible.

You're joking, because of semantics, but: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbEbsqfmqC0

Insane. Got to check that out.

[Dexter]

Originally posted by Not_L_Username:

Originally posted by peremptor:

Man the attention to detail you got to have to be on your guard for a full playthrough to not get hit even if you got all the skill in the world... that's freaking impressive.

It's not as bad as you'd think. It boils down to learning a route that has been optimised over the years and DPS-ing down bosses.

Otzdarva did true no damage run, You may want to check it out. I believe he also had explanation on some things.

Basically you're going for bow/magic build and dps monster on bosses. And remember to always have stamina when aiming with bow, if you draw arrow you won't be able to roll.

[causality]

Originally posted by Not_L_Username:

I want to do a no hit run on this game because it's peak souls 2, but I'm unsure what it's like compared to other games and am looking for feedback. I also don't know if I should be running it on Vanilla either as I own both.

Feel free to leave advice / personal experiences.

It's pretty easy in fact with the base game. A few people did it while walking (no running/sprinting/dodging/parrying/blocking).

But you will run into difficulty with some DLC areas that are gankfests.

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by causality:

But you will run into difficulty with some DLC areas that are gankfests.

Yearn negates most of those. All DLC knight-types are weak to it (Sanctum Knights, Ashen Warrior, Spellswords), which are most enemies encountered. On a casual playthrough, Yearn is broken and completely destroys large parts of any of the DLC's difficulty. For a no-hit run, it's an invaluable tool but it's still a big challenge.