u/Ramius99

I did a whip-only run of DS2 not too long ago, so I thought I’d give it a crack in DS1.  Rule was I could only use whips to damage enemies or break objects in the world (only necessary exception was the Asylum Demon, which got the firebomb “skip”/re-kill treatment).  Some things I read to prep made it seem like whips rated as the worst weapons in the game, but the run was manageable and even fun at times.  A few notes for anyone interested:

—Started as a thief to get firebombs for the Asylum Demon and the bonus Master Key.  No class starts with a whip, and the first whip (Whip) is found down in Blighttown, so I ended up going pacifist for a little while.  Not too much trouble except for Cragspiders blocking the way in some places.  Only died once getting there.

—Whips do deliver pretty paltry damage, so I kept them buffed as much as possible with Magic Weapon (and higher variants) or occasionally resins.

—Only three whips exist in the game, and only the regular Whip is available before Anor Londo, so get comfortable with that weapon for a while.  The Notched Whip (found in the Painted World) inflicts bleed but has a little lower base damage.  I did use that one quite a bit, because bleed works on a fair number of pre-Lord Vessel bosses, including O&S.  The other whip is the Guardian Tail, which you can get from a Sanctuary Guardian tail cut.  It has the highest base damage among whips and inflicts poison, but the scaling is terrible.  At 40 DEX/15 STR and +14 weapons, the regular Whip won out on damage per hit (excluding any status effects).

—No rings seemed to stand out for whips.  I used FaP and Wolf for a lot of the game.

—I think all of the base game bosses went down in 1-2 attempts.  Worth noting that Seath was kind of a slog because I forgot about his magic resistance and didn’t have any resins equipped.

—As for the DLC bosses, the Sanctuary Guardian gets a special note, because it took me 6-8 attempts to get the tail cut, and then the actual fight took another 3 tries.  Some of that was down learning the moveset for the tail cut (and doing the fight earlier than I normally might).  The whip also felt a hair too slow to deal with this boss (resulting in a fair number of whiffs).

— Artorias took 2 tries—fight took a while, but not nearly as bad as doing it with a dagger.  Kalameet took only 1 attempt, but it was a long-ass battle.  Manus definitely gave me the most trouble of any boss (5 attempts, I think, and I damn near died on the winning one).  The whip is slow and does lousy damage to him, and it was hard to find windows to re-buff my weapon.

I did spear-only runs of DS2 and DS3 a couple of months ago, so I finally decided to finish out the trilogy with a DS1 run.  Rule was I could only use a spear to damage enemies or break objects in the world (only necessary exception was the Asylum Demon, though I did use the firebomb “skip” and re-kill him with a spear).  For the first time in the series, shield poking actually worked, and I kind of cruised through most of the run as a result.  A few notes:

—Started as a thief to get firebombs for the Asylum Demon and the bonus Master Key.  No class starts with a spear, but you can get a Winged Spear in the Firelink graveyard or a basic Spear from the Undead Burg merchant very early.

—I used the Partisan early game (possibly a mistake) because I loved this weapon in DS3, but the damage really started to fall off after I got to Sen’s.  Once I made it to Anor Londo, I switched to a Silver Knight Spear and used that for most of the rest of the base game.  It upgrades with Twinkling Titanite—so easy to max out—and has a horizontal heavy attack like the Partizan.  Only downside is no buffs.  For the DLC, I went with a Pike (+15) and buffed it with Great Magic Weapon.  Even unbuffed, it did more damage than the Silver Knight Spear at 40 DEX/24 STR.

—I did fully upgrade a Demon’s Spear as well, because I heard good things, but it just seemed outclassed by both the Silver Knight Spear and Pike.

—For shields, I didn’t put enough points into strength for a greatshield, so I settled for a Balder Shield and eventually a fully upgraded Silver Knight Shield.  These both generally worked fine.

—Leo Ring is perfect for spears and provides a significant damage bump. Definitely want to kill Smough first.

—Almost all of the base game bosses went down in 1-2 attempts.  The exceptions were weirdly the Priscilla and Seath fights, both of which took 5-6 tries.  Priscilla was just difficult to actually hit with a spear thrust, so I had to use the horizontal slash, which ended up getting me knocked over almost every time I used it.  Eventually, I got the spacing right and killed her.  As for Seath, this fight was one of the rare times where my shield was almost useless, and because of how he kept turning and how slow the spear was, I struggled to make contact at times (didn’t help either that the RB button on my controller was going out).

—As for the DLC bosses, surprisingly easy with a spear.  Shield poking made killing Artorias a breeze.  The Manus and Kalameet fights were messier, but they both went down in one attempt as well.

Did a spear-only run of DS2 not too long ago, so I thought I’d give it a whirl in DS3 during Return to Lothric (base game only).  Same rule I usually use for these weapon-specific runs—I could only use spears to damage enemies or interact with objects in the world.*  Have to say, I wasn’t in love with spears in DS2, and they seemed even worse in DS3.  A few notes:

—Started as a herald to get immediate access to a spear (basic Spear).

—I really couldn’t find a decent spear build or agreement on the best spears in research I did before the run, so had to feel my way through it.

—Partizan served as my main weapon throughout the game.  I fire infused it early and shifted to a dark infusion later.  It’s one of the few spears in this game with a horizontal slash attack, and I really hated just poking the entire time.  I made a chaos Lothric Knight Long Spear as well for some situational things.  I also built a heavy infused Saint’s Bident and tried buffing it with Lightning Blade, but frankly the damage sucked, so it never got used outside of testing.

—The advantage of spears is supposed to be the ability to poke at enemies with a shield raised, but tbh, it just didn’t work very well.  The enemies in DS3 are so hyper-aggressive that my stamina got depleted from blocking before I could really do much attacking.  Maybe a greatshield is required to make the strategy work, idk (used a Lothric Knight Shield and later a Black Knight Shield for this run).

—The damage spears generate seems middling, at least for the ones I used.  They’re also slow and suck up a lot of stamina, so good times.

—I did fairly well with bosses through Dragonslayer Armor.  Twin Princes, NK, and SoC were all basically just “Get Gud” bosses with a spear, because the damage dealt per hit is pretty bad.  Nameless King took the most attempts, though all these fights felt grueling.

—Wish I could have tested more spears on this run, but I had a hard time getting away from the Partizan moveset.  Dragonslayer Spear looked potentially interesting but came way too late in my run for me to bother with it.

*I made an exception and allowed the use of a firebomb to retrieve the Partizan.  Possibly (?) it could have been obtained later in the game using certain spears, but I wasn’t willing to wait that long.

Fresh off of dagger-only runs of DS1 and DS2, I decided to take a stab at it in DS3.  The rule I imposed was that I could only use a dagger to damage enemies or break objects in the world.  It was the first time I played through DS3 completely melee, and turning the game into a backstab simulator was a lot of fun.  A few notes from the run:

—Started as a thief to get immediate access to my beloved Bandit’s Knife (if it bleeds, we can kill it).  Sorcerer is another option, because apparently the Mail Breaker is considered a dagger.

—Bandit’s Knife carried me through a lot of the game.  I sharp infused it and used various spell buffs as I got access to them, depending on enemy/boss resistances (did not farm the ears for Darkmoon Blade, btw).  I also made a fire (eventually chaos) Dagger for backstabbing.  Very late game, I dark infused Brigand Twindaggers to deal with a couple of bosses.

—DS3 finally allowed the full realization of the stealth assassin build:  Hidden Body, Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring, Hornet Ring, and Lloyd’s Sword Ring will turn you into an invisible, silent killing machine.

—The Quickstep weapon art is kind of OP.  Wish I had used this skill more often earlier in the game, but it didn’t feel necessary at that point, so I kind of ignored it.

—Daggers handled most of the bosses pretty well.  Going into the run, I was a little worried about Dancer, Oceiros, and the Princes, but no real issues with any of them.

—I had no idea you could backstab the Abyss Watchers—wild.

—Kind of hit a wall on the second phase of Nameless King, but eventually with a little leveling and a change in weapons (switched to dark Brigand Twindaggers), I was able to get him down.  Quickstep was a huge help in this fight (both phases).  Also, phase two got much easier once NK got down past half health and started doing the weapon-charging animation.  Daggers can seriously punish that.

—Soul of Cinder (mercifully) ended up being a lot less of a challenge than expected.  Used dark Brigand Twindaggers again for this fight.  Quickstep really allowed me to punish his sword form in a way I could never do with regular rolling, making phase one a lot easier.  For phase two, I just played the bait the jump attack game until he died.

I did a dagger-only run of DS2 a few weeks ago, so I decided to take a stab at it in DS1.  Rule was I could only use a dagger to damage enemies or break objects in the world.  Interesting weapons—extremely fast, but extremely short range—and I had a lot of fun with this run.  A few notes:

—Started as a thief to get immediate access to the Bandit’s Knife (bleed, baby), and a free Master Key doesn’t hurt.  Sorcerer is another option, but you only get the basic Dagger.

—Bandit’s Knife (+15) carried me through the whole game, and I probably used it 95% of the time, buffed with Magic/Great Magic/Crystal Weapon as I got access to them (25 INT needed for Crystal).  I also made a divine Dagger for the Catacombs.  Otherwise, I played a little with Dark Silver Tracer—cool-looking weapon, highest critical damage, and toxic buildup on the heavy attack.  Shame it comes so late in the game.  I wanted to try Priscilla’s Dagger, but missed the tail cut.

—I don’t think I’ve ever backstabbed more on a run.  Hornet Ring boosts backstab damage, but tbh, it’s not really needed for PvE.

—Daggers are strong in one-on-ones but kind of suck in a crowd.

—Base game bosses didn’t pose many problems.  A lot of them bleed (including O&S, thankfully), and most went down in 1-2 attempts.  Moonlight Butterfly without ranged options is a slog, though, and taking out the second root during the BoC fight was a PIA without a bow (died 4 times trying).  Four Kings surprisingly took only one attempt, but it definitely was a tense fight.  Burned all 10 flasks by the end.

—Outside of Sanctuary Guardian, the DLC bosses offered more of a challenge.  Big health bars and no bleed, so they’re all really slow dances.

Probably need to take a break from DS2 for a while (?!), but I did one more weapon-specific run—spears this time.  Not the weakest tool in the kit, but it’s a class of weapons I’ve never used before, so something of a challenge for me anyway.  And after running the game spear-only, have to say, I did not love these weapons.  Sloooooow, stamina-draining, and adequate-but-not-OP damage ... it made for an uneven and at times frustrating playthrough.  As always, a few thoughts:

—No class gets a spear to start the game, so you either have to go pacifist until you can unlock Lenigrast or roll the dice on getting a Channeler’s Trident from the crows.  Given the time I spent in CC, I wasn’t willing to restart when I missed on the Trident.

—I leveled a few different spears during the run, and none of them (among the ones I tried at least) jumped out as phenomenal.  Lightning Heide Spear and dark Silverblack Spear were the ones I used most.  Partizan seemed to get a lot of hype online, but in limited testing, it didn’t perform particularly better (or worse) than those two.  Poison-infused Channeler’s Trident heavy attack was pretty efficient at inflicting poison status, fwiw.  Spitfire Spear and Dragonslayer Spear fire projectiles on heavy attacks (very cool), and Spitfire can even fire them while powerstancing ... but Dragonslayer can’t be infused or buffed, and Spitfire seems to do worse when infused. Also, the projectiles themselves don’t do much damage, so kind of meh in the end.

—Went with Stone Ring, RoB, and Flynn’s Ring ... Flynn’s might have been a mistake, because I was borderline fat rolling for a lot of the game.

—Because of the slow attack speed and high stamina consumption of spears, it’s easy to get overextended and hung out to dry during an encounter, especially if you flat out miss or don’t do as much damage as expected on an attack.  I died a not insignificant number of times because of this.

—Backstabs with spears are vicious as hell, but for whatever reason, it sometimes felt really hard to land them.

—Powerstancing spears is quite effective, and I might go as far as arguing necessary when it comes to DLC bosses.  The big caveats are the stat requirements (a lot of spears demand a high DEX investment) and the stamina requirements (one attack took about 3/4 of my stamina bar).

—Base game bosses generally went fine, though some of them took a try or two more than normal.  For instance, I twice died to the Smelter Demon one hit away from ending the fight because of the aforementioned stamina-loss issue (and the same thing happened again later with Elana once).  I got most of the DLC bosses down in a reasonable number of attempts (five or fewer), but Burnt Ivory King took a handful more than that.  The Fume Knight, though—pure misery.  I lost count of the attempts.  The stamina management (and patience) required for that fight while powerstancing spears was excruciating.

After my recent whip-only run, I got inspired to try a run with another weapon class.  Wanted to do scythes (reapers), but apparently none are available early.  So I went daggers.  Same rule set, I could only use a dagger to damage enemies or break/interact with objects in the world.  Interesting weapons—extremely fast, but extremely limited range—and I definitely learned some new tricks.  Some thoughts on the run:

—I started as a sorcerer, mostly because I was an idiot and forgot about the dagger in the first tutorial area.  Worked out fine for me, but you can start as any class.

—Used the basic Dagger for the vast majority of the run, un-infused and buffed with either Dark Weapon or Magic/Great Magic Weapon.  Later, I added a magic-infused Retainer’s Short Sword (oddly, a dagger) for enemies weak to magic.  Dabbled with Mytha’s Bent Blade, which did help with the Smelter Demon fight, but the poison/toxic takes way too long to proc generally, so overall disappointing.

—Stone Ring, RoB, and Flynn’s Ring never left my fingers once I had them.

—Backstabs give you some burst damage.  Pretty phenomenal really, once I got better at executing them consistently.  Usually either got an immediate one-shot kill or at least could kill the enemies before they recovered.  Frozen Eleum Loyce became a backstab-fest and was easier than it ever has been for me (except for those rolling porcupine things—f**k those guys).

—For whatever reason, daggers have a tough time hitting enemies low to the ground.  Have fun trying to kill a Crystal Lizard.  Also, daggers are strong in one-on-ones but kind of blow in a crowd.

—I didn’t powerstance (or dual wield) much, but that’s an option.  Probably would have done it a little more if Mytha’s Bent Blade worked better.

—No major hiccups with bosses, though I didn’t do every optional boss (at least yet).  Somehow managed to die twice to Demon of Song, and RRV and RRA both sucked.  Skeleton Lords took one try but were kind of a PIA because of all the spawns.  Fume Knight/Burnt Ivory King unsurprisingly were the toughest out of the DLC bosses I did.  Retainer’s Short Sword buffed with Great Magic Weapon worked way better than I expected vs. Elana (a rare one-and-done).

Overall, this was easier than the SL1 run in DS3 and less interesting than the run in DS2, but still fun.  I used pyromancy, so I guess you could call it an “easy” SL1 run, but I still count it.  As far as base game bosses went, not overly difficult.  I fought most of them like I would on a normal pyro run, with a few exceptions:

—Centipede Demon:  Not much difference in the fight, but I could not run to the other end of the arena without dying in the lava, so had to deal with the boss right by the entrance.

—Four Kings:  Easily the toughest base game boss, it took me about a dozen attempts to figure out the right loadout and strategy.  I ended up switching to Havel’s armor to avoid getting one-shot, but still needed to wear the Crown of Dusk (and Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring) to stay out of overburdened range and have enough Combustion/Great Combustion casts to finish the fight.

—Nito:  Finished him on the first attempt, but I did switch to Havel’s, which I don’t do on a normal run.

The DLC bosses were a different story in terms of difficulty.  Artorias wasn’t that terrible, but even a small mistake could result in a one-shot or quick two-hit death.  Finally beat him after about a dozen attempts by going hitless (which was a first for me).  Manus took about 15 tries or so, and tbh, I just got lucky, because I hadn’t taken him past halfway in any previous attempt.  I admit I used some Fire Tempest cheese on Kalameet.  Kudos to people who can plink him down at SL1, but it wasn’t going to happen for me.

After doing bow-only runs of DS2 and DS3 a couple of months ago, I finally got around to closing out the trilogy with a DS1 bow run. My rule was to use only bows (no crossbows) to damage enemies.

Interesting way to play the game, and all and all, not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. (Going in I assumed Four Kings and Artorias would be big hurdles, but they both went down on the third or fourth attempt.) Definitely recommend.