Pure pyromancy and You!

A simple Guide on how to effectively and properly create and use a Pure pyromancy build/character, along with some good things to know about pyromancers in general.

Introduction

Hello! If you are looking at this guide then you are most likely looking to start/create your own pure pyromancer. If so then that's great! Dark souls 2 PvP needs some creativity these days... But anywho, Pure pyromancy is not just spamming spells untill you run out. There is alot of complexity involved and it is important to use the right spell for the right situation. Using a spell incorrectly can cost you your life and souls, but if you pay attention, time your dodges and combustions, you will be left standing victorious ontop of the ashes of your opponent! Here's my pure pyromancer Shrek who I shall use as an example for a good pyromancy build.

Stats/Class

Stats can vary depending on your prefered gear/items, but there are several stats which are very important and that you should definately focus upon dumping some points too.

I reccomend that, if you are going for a PvP build (which, this guide is focused on), you should try to meet the 150/170 reccomended soul level.



ATTunement: As a pure pyromancer, you will be fully relliant upon your spells in order to dish out damage. These spells are powerful, but not only do they have a VERY slow cast time, They'll run out soon enough If you are unable to kill your opponent soon enough. Having a large amount of attunement slots is key. Attunement also increases the cast speed of your spells, so that is also a needed bonus.

INTelligence and FaiTH: Since the damage of your Pyromancies depend not only on the Pyromancy flame, but is also based upon your Fire BNS, which scales from Intelligence and Faith. In order to gain the most amount of damage you'll need to balance out points in both of these. A higher Fire BNS is good, but don't overdo it! After you reach 60 in either INT or FTH the stats will start to softcap, which means they won't gain as much of a bonus as it would usually, so it's best just to keep it around 50-60.

ENDurance: Since you are very susceptable to beatings from melee users, having some stamina spare to roll away is very helpful and can mean all the difference throughout the fight. Heck, for any build stamina is a MUST. The reason why I have a small amount of Endurance in this image is because I am using the Third dragon ring, which I shall be discussing about Gear later in the guide.

Any other stats are optional and depend on your playstyle or loadout. Vigor is a good idea if you know you'll be taking some hits or if you are using any health-draining items such as northern ritual band or Immolation. Adaptability is also a good stat but since you are looking for a large Attunement you'll already have a large enough Agility to gain alot of I-frames (Invincibity frames) while rolling.

Recommended Starting Class: Deprived

Since you can't get Pyromancy untill No Mans Wharf, a good starting class for any build is the Deprived class. Since you start from Level 1 you are able to have more control upon stat placement and thus are able to create the sort of pyromancer you want to be. This is also a good class since pyromancy, unlike Sorceries, Hexes and Miracles, have no stat requirements, so any pyromancy can be used even if you have not put any points into faith or intelligence, which the deprived starts with only 6 in both. Huzzah! However, if you are new to the game and will struggle without any good starting weapons/armor, I would reccomend either the Sorceror or the Cleric, since they start with some Int/Faith and can still use some good starting weapons like the mace.

Items

I shall be going over the Essential items to a Pyromancer build.


Any slots without an item are entirely optional, so pick what suits you best!

The Essentials:

Penal Cuffs[darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com]
How to get: Sold by Armorer Maughlin in Majula after spending 1500 souls in his store AND after killing the Lost Sinner.

The penal handcuffs may not be the best for fashion souls (And I LOVE fashion souls) but the bonus from wearing these is too good not to have: a 7.5% increase in all damage dealt by Pyromancies! This may not seem much, but with spells like Great Chaos Fireball, which deals ~1000 damage upon hit depending on your Fire BNS, can really make the difference.

Pyromancy Flame[darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com]
How to get: In a chest after the Flexile sentry boss fight in No mans wharf.

Let's just say that without this item, you might as well not have Pyromancies at all! The Pyromancy flame is the catalyst (thing which you use to cast spells with) for Pyromancies. This item scales upon your Fire BNS, and gains an S scaling when you upgrade it enough, which means you'll get even more damage from your Fire BNS. You can upgrade the Pyromancy flame with Fire seeds, which you can find scattered along throughout the game.

Clear Bluestone Ring+2 and Southern Ritual Band+2
How to get: You can get these rings by killing these bosses either in Ng+ or with a bonfire aethstetic:
Southern Ritual Band[darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com]: Scorpioness Najka (Shaded Ruins)
Clear Bluestone Ring[darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com]: Skeleton Lords (Huntsmans Copse)

These rings may not seem so useful, but trust me, They are. The Clear Bluestone Ring helps with one of the many problems Pyromancies have and that is having a slow casting time. A slow casting time enables other players to take hits at you before you can even cast any Pyromancies, which becomes a noticable problem when against thrust weapons. The Southern Ritual Band however, gives 3 spell slots, which is simply amazing. If you read the Attunemnet area in the Stats area of the guide, I explain why it is so important to have alot of spells with you.

Spells and Tips

Pyromancy is very adaptable and contains many diverse spells to suit different situations. Some are, ofcourse, better than others but overall they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Combustion/Great Combustion:



When to use/Who to use against: When there is little to no space between you and your opponent. If you are against a aggresive melee user who is trying to close in upon you to gain some hits.

This is your primary close quaters spell. It deals overall good damage and is a great punisher for heavy attacks or unaware people who are expecting you to launch a ranged Pyromancy. Though you might be expecting this spell to miss alot ot actually is pretty easy to get a hit with Great combustion. In order to use this effectively you must try to examine your enimies traits. For example, if you are fighting a Estus chugger in a enclosed place he will probably look for somehwere safe to drink so he may run past you to get to a safe location. A good advantage with Pyromancies is that they are hard to predict aswell, so try firing a couple of fireballs at your opponent and then use a unexpected combustion and watch as they roll stupidly into it.

Fire Whip:



When to use/Who to use against: When there is little to no space between you and your opponent. When your opponent is wearing light armor/ not wearing a Ring of Giants.

This is another powerful close quaters spell. It does overall more damage than Combustion/Great Combustion but instead does this damage through many hits. This spell eats up an enemies poise like you wouldn't believe and like combustion tracks really well. However these attacks leave you wide open for a backstab (That is also the case for many Pyromancies) so try to use this against a wall so the enemy can only roll away or else be hit by the Fire Whip.

Fire Orb/Great Fireball/Great Chaos Fireball:


In Screenshot: Great Fireball

When to use/Who to use against: When there is some distance between you and your opponent. Use against magic spammers or turtling players. Great Chaos Fireball is great for punishing Greatshield users.

This is your basic ranged Pyromancy. Simple, Powerful and depending on the type of Fireball you use, are Plentiful. There is not much to talk about Fireballs, but they are effective in that they keep the enemy upon their toes, trying to roll past the Fireballs will drain them of their stamina, allowing you to follow up with a stronger/faster Pyromancy such as Forbidden Sun or Firestorm. Speaking of Forbidden Sun...

Forbidden Sun:



When to use/Who to use against: When the enemy is about to cast a slow cast time Spell. When the Enemy chugs or Runs off to use heal.

Forbidden Sun is, while requiring 3 Attunement slots to cast, overall the best Damage:Cast Time ratio in the entire game. This spell is the ultimate Punisher too. Since there are a small amount of casts for this Spell (1 while under 43 attunement, 3 with 99 attunement) you should save it either for finishing off the enemy or Punishing pesky estus chuggers. It is, also like Great Chaos Fireballs, great for punishing Greatshield users since it leaves a deadly patch of lava which goes through shields and harms him/her too! Praise the sun!

Firestorm/Fire Tempest/Chaos Storm:


In Screenshot: Chaos Storm

When to use/Who to use against: Use it in small rooms and corridors/ rooms with bottomless pits or hazards for maximum effectiveness. Use against Pure melee users/ People other than backstab fishers.

I've always had a love/hate relationship with these kind of spells. They are extremely powerful and capable of draining huge amounts of health, but are probably the most easiest to punish spells in the entire game. This spell has a huge Risk/Reward factor so to use this the most safest way possible you should try to use it in a room with as little space as possible so there is no where to roll. This spell is very situational and also easy to avoid if the enemy has enough stamina to roll through it. This spell also requires alot of luck since the pillars erupt in random places around you. I would reccomend using Jesters vest/Gowers ring of Protection since you are going to get backstabbed many times with this spell since it leaves you very vunerable.


Like if you cri evrytim :(

Lingering Flame:



When to use/Who to use against: Areas with little space or platforms. Use against people who are using thrusting weapons or against aggresive melee users.

A very underrated spell. This spell revolves around placing a small flame in which when the enemy comes close it will explode violently causing alot of damage. While most of the time it will not hit its opponent, it does create a diversion to your foe; he risks getting blown to pieces if he tries to get close to you and the flame. Try to stay close to the flame and punish anyone who tries rolling past it with a close quater Spell such as Flame Whip or Combustion. Remember: Try to maintain a distance with your foe or he can stop you from casting anything by hitting you.

Poison Mist/Toxic Mist/Acid Surge:


In Screenshot: Toxic Mist

When to use/Who to use against: Can be used anywhere. Use against Great Magic Barrier users, Melee users or Players who are turtling up and playing defensively.

This spell is pretty unique in that instead of dealing direct damage, you build up the enemies poison meter untill the enemy becomes poisoned, in which they start to lose health, However the likelihood of you ever poisoning someone with this Spell is next to zero. You should try not to spam this spell too often as it takes quite a while to cast. This spell also has a great synergy with other Pyromancies and acts as a curtain between you and your opponent. Since they cannot see your casting animation and that all pyromancies have the same casting sound, you enemy won't be able to tell what you are casting. You could combo this up with Chaos storm or perhaps you can lunge some Fireballs into the mix to try and get a hit upon your opponent.

Any other Spells are either DLC (I don't have any) or Not that useful in PvP combat. Here's a small summary of any others.

Flame Swathe: A great Spell for PvE but is near useless in PvP since it takes waay too long for it to detonate and your foe has probably already gone out of the way of it for it to damage him.
Immolation: A Spell which can be used for cosplays but overall takes too much health and does too little damage to be effective in PvP combat.
Flash Sweat: A good counter against other Pyromancers, but very optional.
Outcry: A Improved Firestorm which creates many more pillars in a less amont of time. A good punisher.

Spells and Tips Continued and THE ENEMY.

Flame Snake: A hard to dodge spell which acts as as a Firestrom which moves along a line towards your enemy. Good when combo'd with other Spells.
Warmth: A good Spell in PvE and a must have in Fight clubs, But in PvP it's a double edged sword. It not only heals you, but also heals the enemy.
Iron Flesh: A seriously underrated spell which increases your physical defense and physical resistance but severly increases your weight. Here's a video which shows the Effectiveness of Iron Flesh when put in the right hands (No pun inteneded)

THE ENEMY (Counters to this Build)

Sadly, this build is very vunerable to different counters, in which some are unavoidable if you are doing a Pure Pyromacy build. I will list the 3 main counters.

Thrusting Weapons (Poke, Poke!):

Thrusting Weapons such as Rapiers and Spears are a very deadly counter to this Build. The fact that most Pyromancies require space and time to cast, these guys will focus on getting into your face and destroy your poise before you can cast a thing. The thrusting weapons also have a large amount of reach so maintaining distance will be hard.

A counter to the counter: If you are not like me and you don't care about Fashion souls, Get a Shield (No weapons, that would go against the pure pyromancy build!) and learn to parry rapiers or Use a Greatshield and block their attacks untill they run out of stamina.

Great Magic Barrier ("I can't dodge so this helps!"):

While not as bad as thrusting weapons are, Great Magic Barrier will severly reduce the damage you deal with your Pyromancies and either make fights severly longer or just make it near impossible to kill your enemy.

A counter to the counter: Roll around and waste time untill It wears off, or be devious with Fire Whip and Chaos Storm. Knock those fools off a Cliff or Platform for an easy kill. Poison Spells can also help since poison is not magic and thus goes through GMB.

Spell parrying (The pro's way of dealing with Spells):

While seeing someone use a Magic Shield or Clerics Small Shield is pretty rare since it is easier just to roll away from the spell, these guys can just reflect your Pyromancies away. It is very suprising to see someone do this since it requires alot of timing.

A counter to the counter: Go up to this showoff and see if he can reflect Fire whip/Combustion/Poison Mist/Chaos Storm.

What did we learn and Conclusion

So, In Summary...

Stay (At)Tuned!: Try to pump up the attunement stat as much as you can! You'll need as many attunement slots as possible, as well as a good casting speed.

Be Deceptive!: Your main advantage with Pyromancy is deception. Try to mix up the spells you cast and follow up with a completely different spell.

Wombo Combo!: Having many different kinds of spells instead of just forbidden suns can mean the world in PvP. You'll be ready for almost any kind of situation and can exploit any kind of situation. Also, Spell order in your attunement slots is very handy as you can quicky switch between synergising Spells. For example, Chaos Sotrm to Combustion, Poison Mist to Great Fireball etc.

Keep your Distance!: Try to maintain a steady distance between you and your Foe. This allows you to attack him from range with Spells.

And many other lessons... But I'm sure you got those from reading the Guide.

CONCLUSION:

Well, that's the basics covering effective Pure Pyromancy! Feel free to comment below about anything I missed which may seem important for this Guide. As you can probably tell this is my first Guide due to the quantity over quality sort of thing, but anywho we live and learn (And so will your pyromancer if he follows this guide, haha!)

So long and good luck fighting the PvP meta!

[Gurtaries]

It's been a long time since i've played this, but i'd assume for a soul level 150 build, i'd assume:
38 vig
30 end
40 att
7 adp
35 int
35 fth

And the rest can be kept the same. Hope this helps!

[Gorre]

What should my stats should be for example SL 150-170?

[Incognito Core]

You sir, deserve many a commendation for this!

After all, you don't see too many guides that use Shrek of all things and at the same time actually provides solid advice. Thus, this is the best kind of guide.

Also, Smelter Jester

[Kiowa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQEP5s6iZik

[SilverKnight]

The Flame Clutch Ring can benefit this build. (Provided you are fine the minus physical defense)

My Pyromancer received +30 in Fire bonus to the Pyromancy Flame with her current stats.

[Gurtaries]

Going to NG++ Chancelor Wellager (In Drangleic castle) is so much easier and faster. You can also get the Great Chaos Fireball from rank 3 in BoB, which is ultra-hard.

[JOKANTARO]

I wish I had found this guide before starting my full pyro build!! Its great ^^! As caramel Frappe says, most people seem to get annoyed with pyromancers since they FAST ALWAYS HEAL lol.

Another starting combo that works for me (iron keep pvp) is starting with 2 or 3 lingering flames and then throw a great fireball, they usually think the 4th spell is going to be also a lingering flame.

PD: im using the sorcerer's set (the one you get from navlan), is there any better set (including the penal cuffs) for this build? and wich is the best way to get the chaos fireball?

[Gurtaries]

This Guide, or the One I am doing?

If you're talking about the latter, don't worry, there's no Dark Orb spam and actually requires some timing and skill. This one however is pretty unique and easy to beat. Get a spear or rapier and then win.

[Cent]

Rename the guide "Dark Souls Tutorials: PVP Faggotry"

[Gurtaries]

Edited. Sorry, was working on a Necromancer Build Guide.