I now have conclusive evidence that NG+7 (Journey 8) is indeed the hardest difficulty. Some people claim that it gets harder past 7, so to dispel that notion, I just found the video that shows the damage numbers of NG+7 versus NG+8 here, and indeed, the attack rating is the same. I also experienced directly that NG+8 is the same as NG+7. Upon grinding the obese Angels near the Grand Archives bonfire in NG+8, I found that they are still at 96, 665 souls each.
Empirically, I just fought Soul of Cinder, who is one of the hardest Bosses for me, and he was just as hard on NG+8 as he was on NG+7 so we can safely say that NG+7 is where the difficulty increase stops.
I'm not going to give specific advice on how to beat each Boss, except for advice that would work for every build, since you may have a different fighting style. My fighting style is shield up, wait for all attacks to end, and attack, or if I'm nearly out of stamina, dodge out of the way and regain stamina.
I never understood why people find the SoulsBorne series so difficult, because every time I get killed, I just grind up levels. When I was seeking advice on how to beat higher NG levels, I was reading how a lot of people are sticking to the meta SL180, and I now see where the claims of difficulty lie. At that normal SL level, there's no way that I can achieve the NG+7 goal. If you really want to beat NG+7, the major advice is to grind, grind, grind your way to success.
I agree that I'm very much a grind queen. I was SL382 at the start of NG+7, so you can see how much easier that is compared to a normal build of 180. I started taking notes out of curiosity (I wished I did for the earlier NG cycles) and here were my stats at start:
So, my first advice is to grind levels, but you don't have to be over the top like I was. If you hit a roadblock, just level up. I tend to level up before a boss that I'm not good at, so I come into the battle with small amount of souls, so if I die, it doesn't bother me. Further, make sure you talk to Yoel of Londor who allows you to level up 5 times. Everyone hates the hollow look, but you can use the Purging stones to get rid of hollowing.
To save souls, I further abused the save scrum method. When I die with tons of souls to lose, I save that file and if I don't reach those souls, I then download and attempt getting those souls again until I'm successful.
The best early grinding spot is at Farron Keep Perimeter. The Dark Wraiths and Ghrus help you by killing each other. I used that grinding spot for NG (Journey 1) but only early game. At late game of NG, and on higher NG cycles, it's better to wait and use the best late game grinding spot at the Grand Archives bonfire. Use rapport on one Angel, and he'll kill the other. Then use rapport on the other 2 and you can easily whack them to death with no risk.
Use Covetous Silver Serpent Ring (if you have the Ringed City DLC there's a +3 version), Mendicant's Staff, Symbol of Avarice, and Shield of Want to boost souls. Also, wear the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring so you can sneak up on the Angels.
Grinding is rather boring, so I listen to music. I also grind whenever I talk with one of my friends who can talk for hours on end, which really helped a lot. Even without a garrulous friend, you can quickly level up by using the Grand Archives Angel method; it's amazing how much souls they give especially with the Soul boosting items, so it doesn't take much time. Further, it isn't that boring if you listen to your favorite music while doing so.
In terms of stat allocation, I would aim at the very least for the softcaps, which are VIG 50, END 40, VIT 40. STR/DEX/INT/FTH are all at 40, and then the next softcap is 60. So, if you wield a strength weapon, aim for STR40 then 60.
Whatever you're doing that's successful in NG, you can carry on with the same exact strategy through NG+3, leveling up as needed.
For some reason, NG+4 was the turning point, where the enemies hit extremely hard, often taking out 3/4 of my health or 1HKO because I was using the lightest armor possible that has the best stats for the Bosses' elemental attacks. I would put on the most fire-resistant but lightest gear possible for the Abyss Watchers, magic for Crystal Sage, and so forth.
However, with such light gear, the mid to late Bosses do so much physical damage, that it became exponentially easier when I used the heaviest possible gear (Havel's Ring is a must). As the Havel's Ring takes up a ring slot, I made it one of my goals to boost VIT up so I don't have to use Havel's and free up a ring slot. I eventually got my VIT up to 85 to get under 70%. I found out that, unlike past Souls games, you have the exact same running speed and i-frames from rolling when you're between 30% to 70% equipment load, so why not use the heaviest armor and push up to 70%? For some reason, I assumed that you run faster with more i-frame when you're under 50% which was why I was using very light equipment. Also, I was using light armor for the Fashion Souls, and heavy armor was not needed at the beginning NG cycles.
However, if you're a total master of rolling, then go under 30%, but only if you never make a mistake, b/c the NG+4 bosses can easily 1HKO or 2HKO. However, if you can dodge perfectly, you don't need any advice, lol.
If you use the shield up method, Greatshields with the highest stability are a must, along with wearing very heavy armor for poise. At NG+4, even with Havel's Greatshield, but using light armor, Gael would hit so hard that it takes up almost the entire stamina bar, and his next hit would break my poise, doing so much damage.
However, when I used the heaviest armor possible during NG+4, it was a revelation. I was able to shield all of Gael's attacks with enough endurance to either dodge or attack after each combo. On NG+6, I again only dodged after shielding all attacks when I run out of stamina, but other than that, always shield up.
At +6, Havel's Greatshield didn't have enough stability to sustain this amount of shielding. Therefore, I used the Greatshield of Glory, which has the highest stability, but stamina regen slows down a little. Even so, because I have so much stamina left, I didn't need fast stamina recovery until NG+7, when even the Greatshield of Glory didn't hold up. I then switched back to Havel's Greatshield, but by then, I got a little better at dodging so I didn't have to shield all the hits.
Because increased poise is akin to increasing the stability of your shield, I became addicted to poise, being a shield junkie, so my go-to armor once I got my VIT to 85 is Havel's Greatshield, Havel's complete set, except for the Winged Knight Gauntlets, as it has incredible elemental and physical defense, as well as great poise. I used the Moaning Shield for bosses with only physical attacks (Champion Gundyr) as it has higher stability than Havel's. But any boss with elemental attacks, I use Havel's.
The above setup of Havel's or Moaning shield and armor works for all the bosses on NG+7. I even used the Wolf's Ring +3 to add even more poise since Gael really sucks up a lot of stamina when you shield, but other bosses, I didn't have to use the Wolf's Ring. It's a relief to know that I can just stick with those pieces, as it was rather tiring to keep changing armor for each boss fight.
All of this to say that Heavy Armor adds protection, poise and stability so you can survive the rather heavy and strong attacks of Bosses in later NG cycles. And if you're a shield person, Greatshields are the key.
Regardless of what style you use, to make your life easier, I would use Pestilent Mercury (now called Mist with the most recent patch) against Darkeater Midir and let the poison do all the work. So the situations where you otherwise would hit Midir on the head, replace that with Pestilent Mist. It takes INT 30, so I would respec if you need to.
Midir used to be my hardest boss, until I watched this absolutely brilliant YouTube video by ThePhilosophersGames who breaks down every single attack. I follow his advice to the exact letter, except using Pestilent Mist instead of whacking Midir on the head, of course. Additional advice is to slap on Tears of Denial Miracle because you can easily get 1HKO. Midir gives you enough time to heal and survive. Then whenever there's an opening, put on Tears of Denial again. Now, if only ThePhilosophersGames can do videos on Gael, Sister Friede and Soul of Cinder...
Use Toxic Mist Pyromancy or the Storyteller Staff weapon art against Gael, and melee attack Gael for more damage. Hollowslayer Greatsword is superb against Gael even in NG+7, since Gael is hollow during phase 2 and 3, and the weapon is relatively fast. My refined Broadsword, even at 500 AR, was doing a measly 230 during NG+7, but the Hollowslayer was doing over 300 in phase 2 and 3. So, at higher NG cycles, I had to switch from the Broadsword to Hollowslayer.
To run past all enemies, it makes your life so much easier if you have INT 15 and use Hidden Body and a Lingering Dragoncrest Ring to make the spell last longer to save on your FP. Also wear the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring to mask sounds.
Lastly, the Ringed City DLC gives you the best rings, including Ring of Favor +3 and the Chloranthy Ring +3. I had both rings on at all times, literally. For grinding, the DLC offers Covetous Silver Serpent Ring +3, and the Gold +3 if you want to grind covenant items. Since I was going for heaviest armor and poise, ignoring elemental resist for the most part, the Stoneplate Rings +2 add to your elemental resistances. I would go for all the DLC rings in NG, when it's much easier.
Using the above strategy, I was able to solo all the bosses in the main campaign and DLC through NG+7!
TLDR:
If you have additional advice or want any specific advice, don't hesitate to comment below!Empirically, I just fought Soul of Cinder, who is one of the hardest Bosses for me, and he was just as hard on NG+8 as he was on NG+7 so we can safely say that NG+7 is where the difficulty increase stops.
I'm not going to give specific advice on how to beat each Boss, except for advice that would work for every build, since you may have a different fighting style. My fighting style is shield up, wait for all attacks to end, and attack, or if I'm nearly out of stamina, dodge out of the way and regain stamina.
I never understood why people find the SoulsBorne series so difficult, because every time I get killed, I just grind up levels. When I was seeking advice on how to beat higher NG levels, I was reading how a lot of people are sticking to the meta SL180, and I now see where the claims of difficulty lie. At that normal SL level, there's no way that I can achieve the NG+7 goal. If you really want to beat NG+7, the major advice is to grind, grind, grind your way to success.
I agree that I'm very much a grind queen. I was SL382 at the start of NG+7, so you can see how much easier that is compared to a normal build of 180. I started taking notes out of curiosity (I wished I did for the earlier NG cycles) and here were my stats at start:
NG+3: 307
NG+4: 327
NG+5: 343
NG+6: 360
NG+7: 382
NG+8: 400
So, my first advice is to grind levels, but you don't have to be over the top like I was. If you hit a roadblock, just level up. I tend to level up before a boss that I'm not good at, so I come into the battle with small amount of souls, so if I die, it doesn't bother me. Further, make sure you talk to Yoel of Londor who allows you to level up 5 times. Everyone hates the hollow look, but you can use the Purging stones to get rid of hollowing.
To save souls, I further abused the save scrum method. When I die with tons of souls to lose, I save that file and if I don't reach those souls, I then download and attempt getting those souls again until I'm successful.
The best early grinding spot is at Farron Keep Perimeter. The Dark Wraiths and Ghrus help you by killing each other. I used that grinding spot for NG (Journey 1) but only early game. At late game of NG, and on higher NG cycles, it's better to wait and use the best late game grinding spot at the Grand Archives bonfire. Use rapport on one Angel, and he'll kill the other. Then use rapport on the other 2 and you can easily whack them to death with no risk.
Use Covetous Silver Serpent Ring (if you have the Ringed City DLC there's a +3 version), Mendicant's Staff, Symbol of Avarice, and Shield of Want to boost souls. Also, wear the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring so you can sneak up on the Angels.
Grinding is rather boring, so I listen to music. I also grind whenever I talk with one of my friends who can talk for hours on end, which really helped a lot. Even without a garrulous friend, you can quickly level up by using the Grand Archives Angel method; it's amazing how much souls they give especially with the Soul boosting items, so it doesn't take much time. Further, it isn't that boring if you listen to your favorite music while doing so.
In terms of stat allocation, I would aim at the very least for the softcaps, which are VIG 50, END 40, VIT 40. STR/DEX/INT/FTH are all at 40, and then the next softcap is 60. So, if you wield a strength weapon, aim for STR40 then 60.
Whatever you're doing that's successful in NG, you can carry on with the same exact strategy through NG+3, leveling up as needed.
For some reason, NG+4 was the turning point, where the enemies hit extremely hard, often taking out 3/4 of my health or 1HKO because I was using the lightest armor possible that has the best stats for the Bosses' elemental attacks. I would put on the most fire-resistant but lightest gear possible for the Abyss Watchers, magic for Crystal Sage, and so forth.
However, with such light gear, the mid to late Bosses do so much physical damage, that it became exponentially easier when I used the heaviest possible gear (Havel's Ring is a must). As the Havel's Ring takes up a ring slot, I made it one of my goals to boost VIT up so I don't have to use Havel's and free up a ring slot. I eventually got my VIT up to 85 to get under 70%. I found out that, unlike past Souls games, you have the exact same running speed and i-frames from rolling when you're between 30% to 70% equipment load, so why not use the heaviest armor and push up to 70%? For some reason, I assumed that you run faster with more i-frame when you're under 50% which was why I was using very light equipment. Also, I was using light armor for the Fashion Souls, and heavy armor was not needed at the beginning NG cycles.
However, if you're a total master of rolling, then go under 30%, but only if you never make a mistake, b/c the NG+4 bosses can easily 1HKO or 2HKO. However, if you can dodge perfectly, you don't need any advice, lol.
If you use the shield up method, Greatshields with the highest stability are a must, along with wearing very heavy armor for poise. At NG+4, even with Havel's Greatshield, but using light armor, Gael would hit so hard that it takes up almost the entire stamina bar, and his next hit would break my poise, doing so much damage.
However, when I used the heaviest armor possible during NG+4, it was a revelation. I was able to shield all of Gael's attacks with enough endurance to either dodge or attack after each combo. On NG+6, I again only dodged after shielding all attacks when I run out of stamina, but other than that, always shield up.
At +6, Havel's Greatshield didn't have enough stability to sustain this amount of shielding. Therefore, I used the Greatshield of Glory, which has the highest stability, but stamina regen slows down a little. Even so, because I have so much stamina left, I didn't need fast stamina recovery until NG+7, when even the Greatshield of Glory didn't hold up. I then switched back to Havel's Greatshield, but by then, I got a little better at dodging so I didn't have to shield all the hits.
Because increased poise is akin to increasing the stability of your shield, I became addicted to poise, being a shield junkie, so my go-to armor once I got my VIT to 85 is Havel's Greatshield, Havel's complete set, except for the Winged Knight Gauntlets, as it has incredible elemental and physical defense, as well as great poise. I used the Moaning Shield for bosses with only physical attacks (Champion Gundyr) as it has higher stability than Havel's. But any boss with elemental attacks, I use Havel's.
The above setup of Havel's or Moaning shield and armor works for all the bosses on NG+7. I even used the Wolf's Ring +3 to add even more poise since Gael really sucks up a lot of stamina when you shield, but other bosses, I didn't have to use the Wolf's Ring. It's a relief to know that I can just stick with those pieces, as it was rather tiring to keep changing armor for each boss fight.
All of this to say that Heavy Armor adds protection, poise and stability so you can survive the rather heavy and strong attacks of Bosses in later NG cycles. And if you're a shield person, Greatshields are the key.
Regardless of what style you use, to make your life easier, I would use Pestilent Mercury (now called Mist with the most recent patch) against Darkeater Midir and let the poison do all the work. So the situations where you otherwise would hit Midir on the head, replace that with Pestilent Mist. It takes INT 30, so I would respec if you need to.
Midir used to be my hardest boss, until I watched this absolutely brilliant YouTube video by ThePhilosophersGames who breaks down every single attack. I follow his advice to the exact letter, except using Pestilent Mist instead of whacking Midir on the head, of course. Additional advice is to slap on Tears of Denial Miracle because you can easily get 1HKO. Midir gives you enough time to heal and survive. Then whenever there's an opening, put on Tears of Denial again. Now, if only ThePhilosophersGames can do videos on Gael, Sister Friede and Soul of Cinder...
Use Toxic Mist Pyromancy or the Storyteller Staff weapon art against Gael, and melee attack Gael for more damage. Hollowslayer Greatsword is superb against Gael even in NG+7, since Gael is hollow during phase 2 and 3, and the weapon is relatively fast. My refined Broadsword, even at 500 AR, was doing a measly 230 during NG+7, but the Hollowslayer was doing over 300 in phase 2 and 3. So, at higher NG cycles, I had to switch from the Broadsword to Hollowslayer.
To run past all enemies, it makes your life so much easier if you have INT 15 and use Hidden Body and a Lingering Dragoncrest Ring to make the spell last longer to save on your FP. Also wear the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring to mask sounds.
Lastly, the Ringed City DLC gives you the best rings, including Ring of Favor +3 and the Chloranthy Ring +3. I had both rings on at all times, literally. For grinding, the DLC offers Covetous Silver Serpent Ring +3, and the Gold +3 if you want to grind covenant items. Since I was going for heaviest armor and poise, ignoring elemental resist for the most part, the Stoneplate Rings +2 add to your elemental resistances. I would go for all the DLC rings in NG, when it's much easier.
Using the above strategy, I was able to solo all the bosses in the main campaign and DLC through NG+7!
TLDR:
- Grind
- Heaviest Armor possible
- Greatshields with highest stability if you use shields
- INT 15 for Hidden Body, Lingering Dragoncrest Ring and Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring to run past enemies
- Ringed City DLC's rings are very helpful (but not necessary)
The How of Happiness Review
Hello Lunatic! I'm SO sorry I didn't see your comment, haven't been checking my blog (been away from it) and clearly this is really late but just wanted to thank you for your advice!
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