Quick dark souls 1 build question: pyromancy

[Forbiddenwar]

I'm replaying dark souls. I usually play a tank, massive weapon, slow moving tower shield character.

This time I want to try a completely different character. Fast backstabbing pyromancer. But since I'm so far away from my comfort zone of slow moving tanks, I'm running into trouble. Any tips? I heard a rumor that Dex speeds up spell casting time, but after some levels I don't see any improvement. Dex is important for fast weapons right, so no loss.

What are the other pitfalls? Should I boost my vit or endurance first? Does it matter?

[Woot Spitum]

What weapon are you using? I usually find spears and other weapons with good reach help a lot when I'm playing dodge based builds. Stat-wise, I'd say boost endurance if you are having problems due to running out of stamina. If you are dying a lot more vitality is always useful. It won't solve all your problems, but it will increase your margin for error. Also how far into the game are you?

[GrayDeath]

As I intend to do the same soon (and my last foray into DS is long past and wasn`t very pleasurable) I would love non Spoilering Tips towards a good Pyromancer Build too.

[Forbiddenwar]

Not far, at the first merchant. What I wish to do is shed the shield entirely and just flip around, but I guess I'm too low to do that yet. I also need more fireballs first, but not sure how to get them. I didn't pay attention to pyromancy while playing a tank.

[Anarion]

My favorite dex weapons in dark souls 1 are the scythe and great scythe (they're pretty similar). They have really good reach, amazing dex scaling, and good animations. It takes a while before you can get the scythe though, but you can get the great scythe pretty early on. I won't spoil it in thread, but here's a video link about how to get it in the Catacombs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvYHcPbT4_U

You can also grab the Halberd in the Undead Parish pretty early, and while its scaling isn't as good, it will carry you through a pretty good chunk of the game (requires some strength though).

Let's, see. The Uchigatana is great and available really early, but you need to be a terrible person to get it (drops off the Merchant in the Undead Burg if you kill him).

I don't like the really short curved swords, I think they leave you really vulnerable and are more of a pvp weapon because of their speed. Daggers are only good if you're competent at parrying and backstabbing (and if you are, you could just use any weapon to kill anything). I've never tried fists, but you can't get any until you reach Andre of Astora anyway. Spears are okay and you can get the winged spear at level 1, but I find their lack of horizontal sweep a bit annoying, and I've never liked thrusting swords but they are available early and you might try them and see if you like it.

Also, since I'm just running through every category of weapons, make sure you grab a bow. Shortbow is available earlier, longbow is better with dex when you get it. They're very solid when your dex is high and more importantly great at pulling enemies so you can fight safely.

Edit: There's a pyromancer NPC you have to save in lower undead burg (iirc) The Depths who sells you more spells and upgrades your flame. Before that, there's nothing.
Don't tell him about the flame witch you fight. It ends badly for him and you lose him as a merchant.

[Woot Spitum]

To get more fireballs, you need to buy them from the pyromancy trainers. The first one you can get to is in the depths, the other 2 are in blight town. You also won't be able to upgrade your pyromancy flame until you reach one of the trainers, so your damage will remain static till then. As far as stats go, attunement will give you more slots (the levels that grant new slots are 12, 14, 16, 19, 23, 28, 34, 41, and 50). There are also a couple of rings that grant additional slots, but they are both in late game areas. Dex does increase casting speed, but my understanding is that it doesn't kick in till you hit 30 dex. As far as weapons go, most of the good early ones have been mentioned, but I would like to add the estoc to the list. It has a versatile moveset and is available right away if you don't mind poking around the New Londo Ruins (there isn't anything dangerous there as long as you don't cross the bridge, the estoc can be found before that).

[Forbiddenwar]

Good notes. Hmm off to get the early weapons mentioned to see which I like better.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

If you are going dex build, winged spear keys very well off of dex and has nice long stabbedy range for hallway domination. Not much of a sweep, but as a dex-based dodging character, sweeping blows should not be your thing anyway.

Until you get enough fire that you won't expire, try using a bow. IIRC, they scale well with DEX as well.

[OldTrees1]

Edit: There's a pyromancer NPC you have to save in lower undead burg (iirc) The Depths who sells you more spells and upgrades your flame. Before that, there's nothing.
Don't tell him about the flame witch you fight. It ends badly for him and you lose him as a merchant.

The flame witch in question(Quelaana) is not the one you fight.


I found Stamina to be a more valuable defense than Health so I would boost Endurance before Vitality. However both are important.