How to play without a shield? (Sellsword Twinblades

[^4JB^7L^1ZR]

I am playing with Sellsword Twinblades and all the videos on YT show them not using a a shield despite it being 1 handed, I know theres a second blade you can use with L2 but I cant figure out any viable strategy for not using a shield.

How am I supposed to kill a knight without blocking, I either roll and get hit anyway or get hit by the follow up swing, or I roll away and drain half my stamina.

And if I manage to stay at max range and dodge the swing I still cant reliably get close enough to hit them and if I do the second attack usually is met with their swings.

[Lady Iudex]

By being a bad dude, ese

[Lioness 西施]

Playing that way does take trial and error, as well as experience. But there are some things you can do to make it easier on yourself.

Place a shield on your back and use the one-handed moveset when you don't feel comfortable or are trying to backstab.

Against Lothric Knights and stuff, just fish for backstabs and hit them when they get up.

The game will always try to trick you into dodging too early by making enemies take longer than they should to wind up their swings. Try to dodge a little bit later than you feel you should. Avoid panic rolling unless you've been hit hard or knocked down and need to get away (in these situations, the game is balanced to let you panic roll).

This game's big gimmick is: "I'm going to attack you! Here I go, winding up! Still winding up...! Hope you didn't dodge prematurely!" And then you get hit because the telegraphs are lies.

Against bosses, it's the same thing: Just when you have an attack opening, you hit once or twice (depending on how comfortable you are), pause, wait to see what they do, and then delay a dodge roll through their attack.

That's basically the entire game in a nutshell. Everything is a gimmick, so everything takes time and practice to develop.

Edit: The input buffer of this game will also get abused. Try not to mash buttons, or else you'll find yourself trying to dodge, getting hit, and the roll will come out after you've already gotten hit, causing you to get hit again.

Queuing means that you should mash when you're trying to escape an onslaught, but never mash when you're in control of the fight.

[Alex]

I'm often using Grass Crest Shield on my back for PvE to get the extra stamina regen. It's a medium shield so it's capable of parrying too.

When you're using those small weapons, you don't get any hyper armor anyway, so just use some lighter armor in order to carry the shield if weight is an issue.

"The game will always try to trick you into dodging too early by making enemies take longer than they should to wind up their swings."

From the above poster. This is so true. Dark Souls series has always been about getting to know the enemy though. Learn its moves before you attack if it's a dangerous enemy. That part holds true for PvP as well. Most players are creatures of habit with their own preferred moves and combinations. If you play catiously in the beginning of the fight, paying attention to what they actually do, you can often predict their moves and counter them either with parries, backstabs or by using your weapon art at the right moment.

[EF_Neo1st]

By:

Originally posted by EF_Neo1st:

Try to get used to either:
- Parry (the hardest one and dont work every time against all enemies and certain bosses you cant parry any attack, but when it work it is very effective)

- Dodge (rolling is great and effective but you need to rely on perfect timming for fatroll, good timming for average roll or just a certain timming with fast roll. Under 30% weight% you fast roll, you roll for long disnatce with fast animation and the best invincibility frames you can get. Between 30% and 60% weight% you get average roll, where your roll animation stil somewhat fast and you roll an average distance with some good invincibility frames. Over 60% you fatroll, the worst as it take more animation time of you rolling and you roll a short distance for little to no invincibility frames).
NOTE: the weight% also apply to your attack animation, where if your weight% is high your attack animation will be slower what mean you will be open for attacks for a longer period of time with less chance to dodge after that attack, or even with less attacks/chance.

- Distance (certain attacks have a range, be it because the boss leap over you, be it because it is either AoE or ranged, each attack have its own range and you can notice what attack the enemy will do by paying attention to its movements so, always keep some safe distance that you think is good enough for a dodge or block and pay attention to what is happening and react accordingly, but the better distance you get, the more chances you have to dodge and land hits without taking any damage).

From another topic, to avoid write it all again.
Basically, Dodge and Distance are your best friends, with Parry as long as you feel confortable with it.
As you will not use a shield, to block with weapon is a bad Idea.

[Taco Cat]

Time your rolls better and you can always switch to using a shield for certain enemies (dogs are particularly annoying and are hard countered by shields).

[Alex]

Originally posted by TacoCat:

Time your rolls better and you can always switch to using a shield for certain enemies (dogs are particularly annoying and are hard countered by shields).

Dogs: Straight sword r1-spam, or even better with Claymore and Flamberge.

[Dexter]

You git gud. That's how you play without shield...

[Scheneighnay]

You can always keep a light shield while you dual-wield, then swap to it to parry knights and block dogs.