What does NG+ look like? Is it balanced?

[Justin_760]

Hello. I have done dozens of playthroughs/new characters but have never touched the NG+ feature. I always avoided it because I didnt want to have to push my way far enough to get to the titanite chunks/slabs which are towards end game. Also it seems like it would be a breeze at SL100+. How is the balancing? Do the enemies scale to your level? And if so is it a challenge or is it easier than the first playthrough? Trying to understand how it works, and help would be appreciated, thanks.

[omni]

they're a bit tougher and hit a bit harder, there are rings and some little things exclusive to ng+ but thats about it

[Remedy]

First locations are much, much easier than they were before. Perfect place to test out new weapons. Then it gets just easier than the first time - obviously, you are much more experienced. Closer to nameless king and DLC bosses it gets ok, the same level as before. Starting from NG++ and NG+++, it becomes ok and even hard earlier - after the few first locations. So if you are scared NG+ is too hard for you - sorry to dissapoint you, but it will go much, much easier.

[Watermelons]

It really isn't a big deal. As omni said, enemies can take and deal more damage. Not a ridiculous amount, but certainly enough to keep you on toes the same as your first playthrough. Each NG, up to NG+7, they will increase in strength. Beyond NG+7, the difficulty stops ramping up.

To make up for tougher enemies and the player being a higher level than the first run, souls earned per kill is increased. That way the leveling doesn't end up being too much of a farm. You know, until you begin hitting 200 and above.

All pick ups throughout the entire game respawn. Items that were limited in number in a merchant's inventory are refilled, however everything is reset back to default. What that means is all the Ashes you gave to the Shrine Maiden are gone and have to be found again.
Pickle Pee Pump a Rump, the bird on the roof of Firelink Shrine, will accept any items you'd given it before again. To clarify, Pickle Pee only accepts an item once per playthrough, NG+ resets that each time.
The only exceptions to respawning pickups are any specific items that are one time only, like the Red Eye Orb, Red Soapstone, things like that.

Related to what I said about Ashes being reset, all Key items in general are reset, so any Ashes, Keys, Coals, Tomes have to be recollected. The DLC key items Champion's Ashes ( which unlocks the Undead Match) and Spear of the Church covenant rewards are kept in inventory

All NPCs and NPC relations are reset. That means you'll have to find and re-recruit people back to Firelink, like Greirat the Thief, Irina of Carim, Anri of Astora, etc. This means all quests are also reset.

New pickups throughout the game can be found in the form of upgraded Rings. Some select +1 rings can be found in your first NG+, some +2 Rings can be found in NG+1, and furthermore a single +3 Life Ring can be found in NG+2 ( take note some Rings that have a +1 version do not get a +2 or 3). The only other upgraded Rings in the game are the +3 Rings found in the Ringed City, which are more powerful than any +1 or +2.

In short, you keep everything you have, in your inventory and in your storage box, except for key items, and you are reset back to the beginning of the game in the Cemetary of Ashes.

[Remedy]

https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/comments/4fggwy/dark_souls_3_ng_checklist/

[WereChicken]

In some ways it's more like the fun run as you have all the late game equipment at the start and your build should be more or less complete.

Enemies are tougher, but at the start of NG+ you will be much much tougher relatively so it will seem even easier.

End game bosses provide a much better challenge, but I'm talking more the optional ones (I.E. the nameless king and the ones from the DLC)

[Justin_760]

Originally posted by WereChicken:

In some ways it's more like the fun run as you have all the late game equipment at the start and your build should be more or less complete.

Enemies are tougher, but at the start of NG+ you will be much much tougher relatively so it will seem even easier.

End game bosses provide a much better challenge, but I'm talking more the optional ones (I.E. the nameless king and the ones from the DLC)

Thats my whole thing, once my build is "complete" and my weapons fully upgraded, I start to feel like Ive lost all purpose, theres really not much left to work towards at that point. What about upgrade mats? Do early game enemies still only drop titanite shards? And above guy mentioned items respawn, so that means youll be picking up all the garbage mats like shards and large shards until you get to end game? Seems stupid when your that far in, as youll only really need the chunks and scales.

[WereChicken]

Yup, all the original upgrade mats. That said in NG+ you can quickly breeze through the lvels until you get to the point where enemies drop chunks.

Also you do know you can just kill the woman that gives you the banner to fight the dancer before you even fight vort?

You need to kill the other 3 lords of cinder before you can unlock the library or whatever it's called, but there's plenty of challenging enemies there.

It's also a good point to perfect your build.

[Jonathan]

As long as your doing it for the challenge and actually stop your leveling the game starts to actually feel harder as you go higher in NG+

Which is what I play the game for.

I have a level 184 I plan to break through into the 351 - infinity invasion range, but other than that, I encourage having character locked into a level and going forward.

Overleveling is an easy problem to run into in DS3.

Also, it's ridiculously funny to be invaded at sl120 on NG+++ and watch an invader die to a couple
mooks on seed.

[gackie]

Don't go into NG+ expecting fairness, especially at later NG+s. The entire concept of NG+ is making the game more difficult artificially for challenge runs.