I think this may be also valid to the PC version once it is released.
So what have you guys done for your characters? Do you prefer a str build, dex, str and dex, int, faith?
Since I have the guide, I can plan my build according to the equipment I want.
For example, I love using strength builds and love using great swords. Early in the game, I can get a bastard sword in the forest of fallen giants so I'll need to pump my str to 20 in order to use it. A little later in the game I can get a claymore from a merchant (pretty much the same as the bastard but with longer range), and finally for my main weapon late in game I'm choosing the Mastodon great sword which needs 30 str!
I'm also experimenting with making my str build a battlemage. I choose the warrior class so he starts out with 5 int, fth, and attn. To use a staff I need at least 10 int and to have 1 atunement slot I need 10 atn. You can imagine the amount of souls this is costing me.
I'll need to farm quite a few souls to be a better battlemage, but so far it seems pretty good. And if I don't like it, I can always use the soul vessel and respec my character.
Oh and a little tip, unless you're saving them for the lore or to do soul weapon trades, use the boss souls to gain more souls, it helps a lot in leveling.
I STARTED AS A SORCERER BUT IT TOOK ME 5 HOURS TO KILL THE 3 BOSSES AND AS A WARRIOR IT TOOK ME AN HOUR BUT IT DEPENDS ON YOUR STRATEGY, I LEVEL UP MY SORCERER TO LVL 40 IN THOSE 5 HOURS BUT STRENGTH IS REAL IMPORTANT FOR PHYSICAL FIGHTING CHARACTERS AND INTELLIGENCE IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL MAGIC TYPES.
Yeah, with my first build, also a strength build, I wasted quite a few titanite shards and large titanite shards on the Bluemoon Greatsword....which does not scale with anything....may be good as a raw weapon though, but I had to kill Behrnhart of Jugo for it. So I started all over again lol. This time around my build is a badass battlemage, although I need a few more attunement slots more spells and I need more badass spells.
I'm now at soul level 103. I'm planning to complete the shaded ruins and then the undead crypt because once you beat the undead crypt, the titanite merchant...if you found her at the beginning of Harvest Valley...will start selling titanite chunks, that way I can upgrade my weapons and armor to +9 and my claymore or mastadon greatsword to +10 with the slab that I've been saving.
Once I'm happy with my INT level, I'll add 7 more levels to my dex so I can dual wield claymores with the power stance!
My favorite build I've done is a hexer build with 50/40 int/faith and very little anything else. I used a non-infused Black Witch's Staff in my offhand and a Dark Rapier in the main hand which I'd buff with resonant weapon for huge damage. For spells I'd use Affinity, Great Resonant Soul, Soul Greatsword and a couple other spells. The spells did a bulk of my damage while I used the buffed rapier to finish opponents off or punish them if they tried rolling through Affinity toward me.
I was able to kill most folks I encountered within seconds of engagement using Affinity and Soul Greatsword. They'd try to dodge Affinity and I'd use SG or they'd get stunned by Affinity and I'd use SG. My opponents usually evaporate should the latter happen.
I had fun with it for a little while but winning so easily got rather stale so I went and tried a greatsword build that I had a lot of fun with. It was more challenging, but that of course was where the fun lies.