Co-invasions 101 (Souls Guide + Commentary)

[@jmnthem]

"Elden Ring is coming soon." 2 Years and a half years later. Relatively speaking, that's *soonish*.

[@annietheshadow5952]

in a cosmic sense

[@dogedude1535]

every day it gets harder to wait

[@pizza-for-mountains]

elden ring is here. praise the elden ring! praise the lord!

[@Crit-Multiplier]

@@pizza-for-mountains activity...... Suffering.....

[@anactualfennecfox1]

What happened to Verdahta? Their channel seems to be gone

[@iwnnafckmthmn]

Sunbros: protect the host! Red phantoms: kill the host! Mad phantoms: "as soon as I see some ass I'm kicking it!"

[@thatlittlemonstrosity]

That’s why I love bring a mad phantom I can do whatever I want, I can target the host and midfight make the last swing on a fellow red invader or if I feel so, I could guide the host through the level only to get them into an environmental trap so I would win without hitting once You never know when will I switch my target so you better watch out

[@explodingdaisies2676]

One thing you forgot to mention. If you see a red or purple with the blue symbol next to them, they are an overleveled summoned red or purple and are working with the gank. Dispatch them ASAP to free up the invasion slot. Great video. Keep it up!

[@del1000005]

Yep, the worst of the gankers do that.

[@abyssalrayz9499]

@@Fady117 not all the time. Some really great allies I've had just hate their aura.

[@kuranokyonshi]

then there are those that are password summoned but want to kill the host anyway

[@br3hbmc79]

Not gonna lie if I come in and see a pw summoned red ganking, I block them before killing to prevent the eventual resummon, once the gank is over I decide whether or not to unblock, sometimes you get to invade them by themselves and it makes for some fun

[@maxdv6136]

Imagine whatchin' unironically a PVP Dark Souls 3 guide in 2019 Summer! good job jm

[@justanobody366]

Imagine watching one in 2020 autumn

[@TheDog-i6x]

@@justanobody366 ayo

[@prinzluc1410]

I´m commit something that is called a pro gamer move, fellow kids.

[@kyleburnside9959]

Spring of 2021 says hello

[@daggercatz7297]

@@kyleburnside9959 ._.

[@zeddzorander1941]

Invasions with somebody else fighting by your side are the best. It's always great to see the synergy between two builds. And you have more time to analyse the situation, waiting carefully not hitting your ally, then striking at the right moment after his combo. I love the 2v2s turning into two duels, with the 4 of us waiting for the balance to be broken. "To your valour, my sword, and our victory together. Long may the Sun shine!" (toast gesture).

[@luismatias5985]

*toast*🍻

[@33korki77]

Im angry because i feel like i missed out on something great.

[@kwamemwangs2173]

@@33korki77 wdym

[@a1butcher]

@@33korki77it’s still active

[@Zathren]

I now understand why Arin Hanson was dying a lot once he got to the Valley. Bro only had like 20 Vigor.

[@Dead_End_Angel]

No one said the game grumps were game geniuses, also if he didn't stay low HP people would have a reason to be like, "you noobs needed HP, I played the whole game with 0.5 HP and didn't die a single time"

[@QuestionableObject]

@@Dead_End_Angel Let's players (people in general even) who play a shitload of different games should really deafen themselves to that kind of "criticism", wanna get through as much of the game in as timely a fashion as possible use the noobiest strats you can and faceroll it.

[@matthewnoybn6656]

@@QuestionableObject as a fresh ds3 newbe I thank you for the advice.

[@Razruer]

THE FIRST PART RINGS MORE TRUE THEN EVER PLEASE PLEEEAASE LEVEL YOUR DAMN VIGOR I HAVE BEEN NONSTOP ONESHOTTING WITH A *CANNON* AT LIMGRAVE

[@Unorthodox2049]

Hey Niko it's roman. Let's go bowling

[@nikolassila5682]

Hi! Sure thing!

[@abookofmatches]

愁い-Unorthodox hey Nino*

[@Zandyneer]

Here’s another one created by py-bun for uncle Dane kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqDbimuifcumaZI

[@elegate87]

For the last time roman I don't want to go bowling! hahahaha reference to Grand Theft Awesome 4 parody.

[@harryunderwood9387]

NO, BY THE GODS NO *Casts* *Sunlight* *Spear* .

[@eclecticspaghetti]

“Elden Ring is coming soon.” well, that aged poorly.

[@levitrap5192]

Eclectic Spaghetti y, is release date out?

[@Merty1388]

@@levitrap5192 2098 March

[@maskedmenreiki]

Levi Trap probably about June this year

[@Merty1388]

@@maskedmenreiki june this year? This aged quickly. Not earlier than Q4 this year. Q1 2021 is more plausable.

[@incineakechi5197]

June 2020 still literally no news! GDGTRGRHYJTRQEWHULUHEEWYT

[@iamamish]

OK re: note #2 and not attacking co-invaders who are wearing Untrue Dark. I completely agree, and this is good information to dispense in the community. However I think you missed an opportunity for note # 2.5 - please, for the love of God, remove your fashion rings when we're in a gank with multiple invaders! It creates a surprisingly large mental load to keep track of a friendly invader who isn't red, and it makes it that much more difficult for me, your co-invader, to avoid attacking you. Just as leveling vigor isn't just for you, but for the benefit of the team, so is removing that fashion ring when you have co-invaders.

[@BlitzkriegOmega]

Is 35 Vigor (after Prisoner’s chain) plenty? I’ve been doing a very damage-focused Quality build (40/60 so I double-hardcap two handed), but I still feel weird about my middling stamina and not-40 Vigor. Mind giving it a look over? The Right-hand weapon is the Old Wolf btw. i.imgur.com/GIdI8Ui.jpg

[@iamamish]

@@BlitzkriegOmega I don't invade at meta very much, and I'm not sure which weapons you are using, but your low absorption is probably a bigger deal than the vigor. If I were you I'd pump this build into Souls Planer, and then play around with reducing dex by some amount (maybe start with 5) and instead put that into vitality. Also stamina could be fine, depending on your playstyle. The more aggressive you are, the more stamina you're going to need. I think hitting players is way more important than absolute damage, and survivability trumps all other concerns at meta. So without actually looking at Souls Planner, but instinct would be to bring dex down by 20 and reallocate 5 points into vigor, and 15 into vitality, or some similar mix.

[@iamamish]

qy y e s

[@BlitzkriegOmega]

So lean my build more towards STR hard-cap only, get better armor and VIT. Gotcha. I’m just kinda used to playing at Meta. What other popular invasion bands are there? I know about the meme that’s SL10 and of course the Gank-Lord’s summoning list that is SL802 but not much else.

[@BlitzkriegOmega]

QY: “Baww fashion” Me: “Baww Hardcaps!” They hated iamamish, for he spoke the truth

[@saintriot]

Verdahta? Back in my day we called it Hash'em.

[@iroks9481]

Checked my sub box yesterday and saw his new name, almost unsubbed until I checked his posts and realized it was Hash’em lol.

[@Killerk328]

went to go check out their stuff and turned out i was already subbed and have watched all the videos guess i gotta watch em agian p.s. love you saint

[@PunkZombie1300]

Verdahta? You mean saint_riot's montage account?

[@davidf3974]

10 seconds in and I can tell we already have another editing masterpiece, the level of quality of your vids is astounding

[@BlitzkriegOmega]

Hey Invading Pyros. Please don’t use Vestiges Unless you are separated from the group. I specifically play as an Aldrich to avoid some of the friendly fire, but it’s still something that gets me killed very frequently. Also. Reds. Stop Deliberately attacking Aldritches. I’m more than certain you’re not colorblind enough to mistake a fellow invader as a Blue. You’re NOT a mound maker. Cut that shit out! Signed: A salty Aldrich who learned Curved Greatswords are parryable yesterday. Ps: To that one PC ganksquad with the overleveled Red to bottleneck invaders: good shit. I would never have thought of that. Very impressive cancer.

[@lunarixis9957]

Aldriches attack reds much more than vice versa from my experience

[@astronautis1674]

But I am party colour blind :(

[@gamester512]

Even though I tend to invade as a Mound-Maker, if there's another Invader present I always try to "play nice"....but then the other Invader almost always attacks me, even when the Host has 3 friendly Phantoms with them! T_T If I ever hit another Invader, it's always an accident, and one that I try to avoid.

[@zebraman7703]

I am a Aldrich and the second a red stops moving and shows his back you can bet I am blending his spine to viscera in a heartbeat

[@gabijota11]

@@zebraman7703 and you wonder why you get shit on 4v1

[@AcitoriaVakarianIdunno]

The legend of "Mace Boy" shall be shared for generations. His wisdom, immense. His bravery, even more so.

[@bunjastiks8226]

40 whole minutes of JM? Oh boy Edit: 40 minute video AND goldeneye music? Please JM I can only handle so much at once

[@Dead_End_Angel]

Nice ears, GoldenEye used to be a favorite N64 game of mine as well

[@Dead_End_Angel]

Nice ears, GoldenEye used to be a favorite N64 game of mine as well

[@aether3456]

This thumbnail seems very Balanced.

[@qaira6913]

As all things should be

[@Takeh07]

those knife throw blocks we're something else! Amazing Work

[@sour_milk_carton9930]

I know this is an 11 month old video, but thanks to the info from this video, I was able to win a co-invasion with a fellow red. At a time where the host ran to go summon more phantoms, instead of chasing them down, I decided to regroup with my red and show them where the host went. We may have been robbed of our tongues (disconnect) but we rejoiced together in the utter defeat of our enemy. Thanks Jm, we're not dead yet.

[@leonhard0199]

The intro is lit as fucc 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@ttimetotroll]

40 min of high quality structured video, original and entertaining commentary, awesome sound track and video editing with humble shoutsouts at the end... Dang it Jm, you spoil us.

[@cksupreme]

I can't believe it... Jim just tricked us into thinking we could be better invaders so he could show us his pro gamer clips. That absolute conniption-giver... For real tho: this is a fantastic video and really give the other invasion tip videos something to envy. It's funny how after you put around 500+ total hours into something, you start getting these subconscious "street smarts". Just sort of stuff that you figure and abide by on the spot but couldn't really write down. You sir found a way to do just that, and singlehandedly have covered every invasion tactic I've used and seen used. Plan, placement, and pursuit; you've really covered it all. I hope this video stands in the hall of fame for generations of invaders to come, it's got great advice (and not to mention some much appreciated choice cuts from the Hotline Miami 2 ost). In other words: My Thanks!

[@TheCanineContrarian]

Love the GTA opening! Also thanks for teaching Hosts how to be better Co-Operators against invaders applying these tactics (short of the "ally" damaging). Very genius to make a duo-meaning video.

[@jmnthem]

JustinWolf93 This implies that gankers have more than two brain cells.

[@mr.sillydog3981]

4:30 the dog approves this message. Great video JM. The average Aldrich Faithful IQ has just gone up by 20.

[@lovewilcox6874]

Up by 20 for 20 total xD

[@iamamish]

YAY - love ya dangitJM!

[@pincognito1938]

Lovely stuff, JM. Let us pray that your good word spreads. Also, the Fashion Souls of the two dashing Aldrich in the thumbnail and at 00:47 is, dare I say, impeccable.

[@aether3456]

Last time I was this early, Scott Jund still made videos about this game.

[@_MrBlack]

I miss him, he was a very good tactician.

[@iamamish]

I still refer new players to his content - no better place to learn the fundamentals of DS 3 combat

[@_MrBlack]

@@iamamish of course new players are genious but he was good in making efficient strats, you can't say he was bad.

[@ttextinction7273]

I dont know about him. Cant you refer me to his youtube or sth? Thanks

[@_MrBlack]

@@ttextinction7273 search DamnNoHtml Dark Souls 3. He have very good videos about how efficient using every weapon in the game. I mean, if a weapon have hyperamor, the pacing, how to exploit that weapon. Etc.

[@SahnigReingeloetet]

The intro goes super hard

[@VirusesX01]

choosing 007 OST is a big YES Amazing intro, amazing commentary, amazing coinvaders!

[@moses8984]

Not gonna lie when an invader comes in on duel and tries to gank, oh boy me and the host become comrades fast.

[@papashogun8794]

That intro has got to be the coolest thing I've ever seen

[@firelinkknight]

You’re doing God’s work, John. I fell in love with your channel since the first video I saw from you. «How to make a Build in Bloodborne». Back then I was a casual, and that vid helped me tremendously. But the times have changed and now I know some Soulsborne-invader kind of stuff, but still watching your «educational» videos with the same passion.

[@Swirleo]

Oh boi a jm upload, I was actually just rewatching a few or your older videos, neato

[@uptofate7162]

Swirleo oh boi a swirleo comment, it was very weird to see your comment as I’ve been watching some of your older Xbox videos :D xD

[@kaimerry1587]

Man, dark souls 3 really hammers home the theme of the "good" guys being the bad guys without having to lift a damn finger.

[@red_catharsis]

Lol just realized your co invader in the archives was g1370 ;) he’s a good friend and a great player! Awesome video as always JM you’ll always be one of my favorite content creators, gg :)

[@LoomingDisaster.]

Man hit me with the nostalgia right at the start

[@praiseit6848]

19:10 dang it jim! that Sunlight spear has cut you a new hairline what a hitbox! tiiiiight!

[@praiseit6848]

the GTA style intro is sick as well! keep up the good work! as long as there are still people who play that game??

[@AbysswalkerD]

That was one of if not the best intro to a video I've ever seen. I love GTA IV & Dark Soul's, and do to see them melded together so well was absolutely amazing! I liked the the video just because of that 👍👏

[@_MrBlack]

I'm more the solitaire wolf but I find your guide very accurate. When the host use the rotten finger and there's like 3-4 it's very neccesary to have patience and cooop with the other invader. While I invade along i'm one man army, in co-invasion I'm, the support, helping the invader stay alive and finish the jobs.

[@sordid1740]

I doubt it'll happen but I hope the player cap gets raised back to 6 in a future ER patch. Coinvasions were some of the best fun you could have with the Souls games and ER invasions are sorely lacking in that department. Also, I noticed that g1370 was your coinvader for Sample Co-Invasion #1. It's neat seeing crossover between two good channels like that.

[@Naim11443]

HOLY G1370 is a beast for sure whoever who doesn’t know who is he chek out his channel lol

[@giacomogiliberti2673]

The quality of this video is absurd, good job

[@gghh-iv2eo]

so No one is talking about that intro to me it the Best thing I've ever saw in a long time

[@liamsly2]

cracking video m8, you're a gem also bonus tip: summoned reds/purples are not co-invaders, treat them like you would any other summoned phantom

[@abookofmatches]

I haven’t watched this yet. This thumbnail though. That’s iconic. I don’t care. Iconic. That’s so damn good.

[@geraldbroflovski3216]

I love how well put together all of your videos are 10/10 as always dangitJM

[@cocacampbell4396]

You’re the best JM! The beautiful 3k on those lads in the dungeons made me realize how badly I miss PvP. Great stuff as always, so excited for Elden Ring.

[@EvaTheEpic]

Oh man this was great, I was so excited to see this and the wait was so worth it! That intro was spectacular, literally got shivers. The whole video was great, like a mini movie and I enjoyed every second of it. Of course some people may not like videos that long and maybe some parts could have been cut up a bit or shortened but overall it was great. But most importantly the soundtrack you used for the video was absolutely fantastic. I was getting more and more excited for every Hotline Miami song I heard, it's just that great! Never stop making videos and I will never stop watching them!

[@elegate87]

This is what makes the demon's & dark souls series awesome.

[@fodens3678]

If you really feel the need to emote at a phantom mid gank, hit them with a quick 1l wiggle instead. It still conveys a bit of cheekiness, but it's a fraction of the time emoting takes.

[@pedrom111]

Great video man, and what a great intro too, the music and the way the characters are put really adds a lot of personality into it, loved it.

[@gamester512]

I got a huge laugh from a random low-level invasion recently (using one of the 5 Cracked Red Eye Orbs Leonhard gives you so that I could then go about obtaining a regular Red-Eye Orb from the Darkwraith at High Wall if I won an invasion and got a Pale Tongue). I spawned in the Undead Settlement right next to the "Big Momma" praying in front of the burning tree where you can grab an Estus Shard, and I'm surrounded by the Host and 3 Phantoms as a *Sorcerer* when I spawn in (not an ideal situation by any means for me to literally spawn right in front of 4 hostile players, since they were also very quick to wipe out my PvE support before I finished my summoning animation), but I very quickly notice three things: the Host is *extremely aggressive* in that he is almost constantly rushing at me to attack me at melee range....one of his friendly Phantoms is simultaneously throwing *Firebombs* at me while the other two cut off my escape routes....and they haven't destroyed the nearby clusters of explosive barrels yet....so I just bait the host towards the explosive barrels and then I dodge roll away at the last second just as one of the Phantom's firebombs hits the cluster of explosive barrels while the host is standing right next to them, and the resulting explosion instantly killed the Host while I survived (the 3 Phantoms just stood there when the Host died, likely in disbelief at what just happened, they didn't even Emote). I was laughing my ass off for quite a while afterwards (and even funnier is that a Co-Invader showed up just in time to get a reward item from a successful invasion that they didn't even get to contribute to). I literally managed to *bait a Phantom into killing their own Host* when I was in a 4-on-1 that I would almost certainly have lost. That felt so damn good, I only wish I could have seen the faces of the Host and of the Phantom who accidentally killed their own buddy. :P

[@MrDarkness2518]

one of my favorite things about this game is that there is no in game voice/text chat, but you can still understand and almost communicate with what's available in the game, 33:45 to the end was my favorite part of the video, nicely done 👐👐

[@theiyrosthenes1639]

What an awesome video. I just wish all invasions were like the last one, where the gankers are not afraid of playing the level. On Xbox you’ll either see the whole level cleared or the gankers not willing to leave the bonfire areas. AND BTW THAT GUY IN ARCHIVES WAS THE LEGENDARY PARTIZAZAN MAN!!

[@HavelsRing96]

Man that gta style loading screen was spicy af

[@yujin_sumeragi]

Dang it, jm! I was like "wth am I watching? dunno, but it's really cool" for the first minute, but then you mentioned verdahta at the end, and I understood your sentiment completely. A criminally underrated guy. Oh, and nice vid, btw. Not the thing most new players research when trying to get into PVP scene, but that's the basics people should really start with, not the min-maxing - that comes later, when you've actually learned them street smarts. A thumbs up from me.

[@k_k_aisa]

Jimbo, your videos complete me, and Verdahta's intro is godlike.

[@padrian98]

This video is fantastic JM, i learned a lot with Saint videos and this one is the icing on the cake! Congrats

[@hatsuinu6232]

Fortunately for us... It is JM :3

[@danielastorga6853]

Damn son, your videos are awfully underappreciated. That GTA intro was exactly what I needed right now.

[@hishou2]

"None of us know what the next ten years are gonna bring" He was right. We had no idea

[@greedsin555]

iamamish is literally the most under rated dark souls content creator guy deserves 100 times the amount of subs he has

[@Por_QPine]

Oh hell yeah, what a great video, this’ll definitely help me get better. Thanks as always JM, love you BB 😘

[@LaterLumi]

If all KZbin videos were solenoids, your's would definitely be some of the best. Now to continue my seven month long wait for new maybe invasion game, assuming it comes out in March.

[@mainlyjm]

That intro was amazing

[@foolishmetaunedited1920]

This is a beyond astounding video, and I can actually apply this when I invade, especially gank city

[@riskleaf6079]

I really liked the second half of the video explaining grouping tactics. It will really help my invasion game .

[@GabrielAraujo-pz5mw]

great guide JM! Also I love the song in the end!

[@siggi4426]

This entire video is so good and i've watched it a bunch, but the intro....the intro is just on another level

[@Jeenine]

holy shit, sick intro!

[@cnash5647]

After 2 years, as a new invader, I keep getting more and more interested with the game. These videos have helped me get better at the game, thank you dangitjm.

[@Triicell]

That intro was genius man. Good work

[@josephcola9662]

To be fair with the "don't befriend a gank" segment, pretty much every clip you used had a purple. It's still a dxck move, but whatever the purple does is the purple's prerogative. The entire point of the moundmakers is that they're psychopaths, they'll do whatever they feel like, and trusting one is a gamble no matter what color you are. They're there for a chunk of someone's spinal cord, and if they can get it by chumming up to some gankers, then they can do that. I had one pontiff invasion a few months back where a purple showed up to a world with myself (red) two Aldrich's, and a host and two phantoms. The purple killed the two Aldrich's with the gank, while I killed one phantom, then the purple finished off the other phantom because his tears popped and he went to point down an Aldrich before healing. The purple went home, and I was left by myself to run down the host (who DC'd when I drained all his estus, because of course he would). And to this day, I have no doubt that if the purple had the opportunity to kill me, he would have. And as much as I despised what he did, I had to applaud him for masterfully managing playing a purple. Anyone else doing it, though, and you're just being a prxck.

[@big_man_]

the intro was phenomenal, jmbo

[@maxpwer8294]

That GTA IV intro is awesome btw

[@shindinder]

Rip Nemuri

[@Greatsword_Guy]

Bro you don't know how long I've been looking for this video again.

[@John_Notmylastname]

Figured I could watch a ds3 video without the daily reminder of Elden ring. I’m going hollow fellow nerds. It’s giving me conniptions. Excellent video fellow nerd.

[@hiob8566]

Sooo cool! Multiplayer fights never looked and sounded better with the Golden EYE music playing in the background! :))

[@alecetym6246]

You're going places jim keep it up love the intro

[@dungaloidblastobrain9515]

I love that gta loading intro

[@Dead_End_Angel]

I love the hotline Miami music in the background of your video man, it's actually super fitting.

[@nicholasspurr4349]

“It will take at least two braincells between the two of you, to tell your fingers not to hit eachother”

[@Makuta1213_]

Loved this so much that I think I'll forgive you for that "other" video. Here's to investing in vigor!

[@julianhernandez4229]

The intro alone made this video worth watching

[@calasay2688]

Amazing video, I don't think there's a soul that's watched this and didn't learn something new.

[@cerebraltempest9810]

incredible video, truly amazing

[@KalinGames]

those endings man... always ending on a positive note. Love ya man. Been watching a lot of your videos over the weekend, definitely a channel i´ll stick aroud, even tho im not into ds pvp that much (even got softband for forgetting to go offline while doing meme runs).

[@TheLuciano1806]

I hope everybody whatches this! One of the best ds3 videos ever for sure ! You just got a new sub

[@LgdVegetto]

Man, that Goldeneye music really kicked in a lot of nostalgia. Great video, and awesome tips!

[@valky5318]

40 minutes? My body and soul are ready.

[@mamasouls8546]

Another perfect video. "Very good!" Love ya mucho, JM! ❤

[@JustLaxxin]

Yesss Ive been waiting for this videoooo!!!!! Love your vids!

[@Katerspacedopwater]

Fantastic. I don't really play Dark Souls any more, also never really git gud at it, but i really enjoyed watching this. It's probbably the best guide of ds3 invasions i have ever seen. Really enjoyed the detailed dissection of the narrated 'case studies', it gives me a good idea of what is going on in your head while invading. Very educational! Should i ever want to plunge myself again into the bottemless pit of stress and neckpain that is Dark Souls, i'll think of these lessons.

[@Carianknight-r5z]

This is really great video man you did a really great job at delivering such an important informations about how to win invasions i hope enough invaders listen to you and do what you told them in this video :)

[@ttextinction7273]

40 mins of pure content. Thank you jm

[@BruttiF27]

Intro: Welcome to Irithyll

[@enivels5509]

Best person/uploader on youtube in the soulsborne community 😆 creative intro.

[@skydragonfight7612]

This is one hell of a great video that every single invader needs to watch eventually!

[@jaythegr33nundead8]

What an outright excellent crossover intro!! Absofuckinglutely loved it!!!

[@CH4R10T_TV]

Leveling casters is extra tricky in this game; if you play at a specific soul level, say, 125-ish, you've got your 27 Vigor, and usually around 24-ish Attunement for 4 automatic spell slots and ideal FP. You need plenty of Endurance due to spells using large amounts of Stamina, so it isn't unusual to play around 35-40. An Intelligence or Faith build has more leeway, especially if they focus more on buffs as they won't need the usual spell ring slots. If they only have 40 points in that stat and those ring slots open, running these HP boosting rings and having 39 Vigor -- that's the second soft cap, not 40 for some reason, it goes around 27-39-49 for those wondering -- and low-stat requirement weapons is easy. That is, /if/ that happens. If the caster player wants to operate at the SL120-125 range, and if they want to rely on spells for damage, and /especially/ if they're a pyromancer that needs 40/40 INT/FAI, then 27 or 29 Vigor is really all you can expect. With a build like that, you're probably using your two standard boost rings, Sage Ring and Clutch Ring for your build. There is another way for a pyromancer pure caster. Keep your Great Swamp and Witch rings. Get the Crown of Dusk. Level INT/FAI to only 35/35, but they the Scholar and Priestess rings to /effectively/ have 40/40. Fire Clutch can still be something you'll miss out on, but this will have to be good enough. Keep your STR/DEX to 12/10 -- only 12 Strength because you start with it -- and throw the points you saved into Vigor if you decide you need it. You can get 39 on that easily while keeping 40 Endurance. There are a lot of other little things you can try. Ultimately, you have to get very creative and I can't say the game isn't stacked against you in a lot of ways. Still, try it. It's a lot of fun, and for pure casters, I've tried them all but recommend the sorcerer pure Intelligence build.

[@ezioc.1998]

Very COOL. Fighting between bonfires in groups is a lot more fun (for me) than duels!