I do wonder how many players gave up in the opening hours of the Scholars version. Really enjoying it now but it feels like the game has just started after an initial ~5 hour nightmare. I was wondering if the whole game was going to be like that. I image many with less patience may have bailed. Anyway need large titanite. I have not found a source and I used my 1 shard for my +4 long sword. Ive killed several Ironclad Soldiers but they haven’t dropped any.

I've beaten vanilla DS2 twice and Scholar of the First Sin twice. It's not that punitive; it's balanced out by the fact that you can eliminate enemies after multiple runs (no respawn after a point) and tailor make your own difficulty much more using bonfire ascetics. Like SpoonFULL, I also prefer it to DS3 for the DLC alone which are much closer to the classic DS experience. Good job persisting again Todd, keep it up, it's well worth it.

4 runs wow. Yes I’m sticking with it - it’s a ton of fun now.

Flexible Sentry and Dragon Rider down. Game is a blast now.

Have you found the Pyromancy Flame after beating the Sentry? I missed it the first time around :-)

I recall a Pyromancy drop of some kind and forgot to check it in inventory. Too distracted by the ship moving to Bastile with thoughts of Bonfire. I’ll check tonight thanks for the reminder!

Lost Bastille Ruin Sentinels down. Wasn’t expecting 3 on 1 damn! Good thing I had my Claymore reinforced to +4. Ripped all 6 Estus plus 2 or 3 gems to solo it. They killed me once. Scary fight! I can’t Pyro because my Attunement stat is -5 from the minimum to get a slot. Also finally killed that scary knight that rises from the ground? I got lucky and got behind him when he went for his Curse barrage. Big mistake pal!

Good work. You could have summoned an NPC in one of the cells leading to the sentinels' fog entrance. Also note that the area where the sentinels are contains at least 3 or 4 hidden/illusionary walls so it is worth rechecking this area.

I saw all the messages for that and hit every wall on the ground level to no avail. Maybe try the ledge?

DS2 is different in that hidden walls are activated by actually clicking the 'Action' or 'Activate' button on your mouse/controller on the walls rather than hitting them!

Got to love how the games has zero directions for such things

I have spent half of my first play through attacking walls with my weapons (and breaking my weapons as they degrade quicker in DS2) before discovering this!

The Lost Sinner down. I'm noticing that there are alot of heavy stamina damaging two hand wielders in this game. For me, having a high stability shield is much easier than going 2H with stamina sapping dodge roll. Its easier to predict the big swings and side step for immediate counter attack than have to recover for better positioning as the window of opportunity closes because you dodge rolled. The Lost Sinner killed me 3 times until I decided to stay in close and I didn't even need an Estus that time.

What was pretty funny was attempt #2 I was using the Old Knight Shield which is an awesome heavy round shield but with low durability. The Lost Sinner hits *so hard* I got the breakage warning just in that one fight. The fight was taking too long because I was trying to stay out of range and find opportunity. I blocked so many times I almost lost the shield. I had to drop my guard and start dodging and boy was that a short fight in the last moments!

Pursuer down, Scorpioness Najka down. She killed me twice impaling me both times before I could see her pattern. Even then she was a bit unpredictable.

You could have used the ring from the cat in Majula to speak with the Scorpioness other half and summon him to her fight. Also ensure to free the bird-like creature in the area leading to the Scorpioness fight as she would be able to trade boss souls with fancy weapons.

Hmmm don't recall a bird like creature to free? I already moved beyond that region too. Nothing there that wasn't hostile.

You can find the weaponsmith Ornifex in a hole from a crumbling ground just before the entrance to the path leading to the scoprioness fog gate. There are normally few lion-like humaniods around this ground which crumbles if you stand on it leading to the hole where the Ornifex is imprisoned. I think you will need a key from a petrified statue to open it.