Can You Beat DARK SOULS III With Only Summoned Weapons?

[@TheBacklogs]

Thanks again to Khimyra for sponsoring this video! You can find them and their products at the link below: khimyra.com Don't forget to use the discount code "BACKLOGS" for 10% off your order!

[@spiralcrisis]

2 new ideas for Dark Souls 3 runs. Door shield only and weapon art only

[@gillloteen9475]

I noticed that katana zero ost background music

[@BrightonsPriest]

You sure I can’t talk you into a fist only run

[@freshboy3968]

Oh my, that Priscilla tail comment was quite an embarrassing videogame praise.

[@decentkiller1236]

Can you beat dark souls 2 using fist only weapons? Any fist only weapons are allowed with anything that can be used with them

[@monoclesquid9667]

The staff bonk is due to the staff’s length. Shorter staffs = less range, but also easier ‘sweet spot.’ Long staffs act like halberds and scythes with summoned weapons for the most part

[@HeyAddieImTojo]

Was looking for this answer, upvote this man! You are correct!

[@fernandosales8320]

I think it also factors in the fact that he didn't meet the strength requirements for the staves - you can see in the footage that when he one-hands them the staves show the red X for failed requirements. While he's two-handing the staves for the fights and thus meeting the strength requirements, that only works for the R2 bonk attacks - casting a spell is always a one-handed action.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

@@fernandosales8320 yeah, that'd probably do it. Hitting with the staff and not having enough strength is basically a guaranteed bounce.

[@SystematicChaos1000]

was also gonna say that it may have been that Wolnir has too much attack deflection for the staff. Which also would be explained by not meeting the strength requirement as mentioned earlier.

[@Lexsed]

Nah it's just the strength requirement, as the cast is considered using the staff one-handed basically. The chime and flame work fine since the base 7 Str is enough for those.

[@eugene8803]

A quick-tip for casting only runs. The saint-tree bellvine when equipped in the offhand increases your cast speed to maximum, you don't need the sage ring or dexterity.

[@bongosmcdongos4190]

It fuckin what

[@joaogomes9405]

@@bongosmcdongos4190 You should also never skip getting enough strength to one-hand the staff you're using, like lemon did. That and him not understanding how summoned weapon spells' sweetspots work was why he kept bouncing all the time with spells.

[@mkv2718]

i’m also wondering why he’s two handing a staff. it doesn’t do anything if his left hand is empty. no reason to not at least use a shield...

[@ForeverLaxx]

@@bentim7732 It does max it out. According to the Wiki it apparently provides +99 Virtual Dex for the purpose of spellcasting. Of course, your cast speed stops getting faster with 50 Dex so the number being so high doesn't matter other than to guarantee that you're always at max casting when you use it regardless of your leveled Dex stat.

[@Skenjin]

Thanks for the tip!

[@Dat_Scrub]

Dude that dark blade into life hunt scythe on Yhorm was actually slick as hell

[@shadowrosegaming3566]

Ah the combo potential of summoned weapons beautiful

[@PitchIncorrection]

“Never would’ve thought an NPC would give me so much trouble, though.” *flashbacks to Ymfah trying to beat Wilhelm in the Slav Knight Gael run*

[@KainYusanagi]

And that brings flashbacks to the Orphan of Kos challenge fights...

[@deadfurydbf9647]

Slav knight gael probably wears a tracksuit 24/7

[@desaturatedair]

ah yes, russian spy gael

[@wailord2642]

"summon weapons are a completely viable PvP build if you're fighting Gamer's Weekend" That.. That killed me

[@AaronCorr]

On my last sorc run another sorc practically cut me in half in the ringed city with a summoned weapon. Stood at my next bonfire, back towards me. I walked up, they turned around while casting the strongest summon sword. Either I died right there or they poked me while I was flabbergasted.

[@tylerwedl2109]

@@AaronCorr the strongest summon sword is old moonlight, which has both the magic blade and a projectile, which makes for 2 hits up close

[@T4XFRAUD]

Sad kyle noises

[@AgustinHaacker1026]

what does that mean?

[@wailord2642]

@@AgustinHaacker1026 he meant while fighting Kirk, and was referencing Gamers Weekend's thorn armor only run

[@Percival7116]

To all future melee casters out there, here’s some tips for this kind of run to help you guys out. 1. Sadly, the Izalith staff that Lemon was using is the worst possible one. Has amazing scaling for quality casting, but the fact that it has such a long pole means that the spells will actually start nearer to the end of the staff. This means that you will be hitting with the sour spot of the staff much more often, only hitting with the actual staff itself rather than the magic blade. Start off with the Sorcerer’s Staff and then use the Court Sorcerer’s Staff when you get it. Both of them have amazing intelligence scaling, and have no sour spot thanks to the casting point being on your fist so you’ll be hitting for full damage every time. 2. Always have enough strength and dexterity to use your catalyst. The reason why Lemon’s staff was bouncing the whole video? That’s why. Even when two-handed, the staffs can only go through a certain armor value before they start auto-bouncing like a melee weapon would. If you can wield the regular dagger weapon and it bounces off an enemy, then you can usually bet a staff you don’t have enough physical stats for will too. The only exceptions to this are the two aforementioned staffs, as they have no sour spot to bounce off of. 3. The Saint-Tree Bellvine is amazing. Decent spell power, and it has the effect of the +0 Sage’s Ring - increasing your dexterity by 30 virtual points for the purpose of spellcasting. Also comes in handy with a health regen weapon art too, so if you take some chip damage that you don’t want to waste an estus on, you don’t have to wait until after Aldrich to get the Sun Princess Ring. 4. If you want to use Flame Fan, you need to get the Pyromancer’s Parting Flame from the Ariandel DLC. Its flame burst on casting matches the range of the fan, hitting for roughly double damage each cast and shredding through enemy poise. These have been my tips that will help you optimize the build. Have a wonderful day and enjoy playing your FP management simulator.

[@papafrank2894]

Where do you get the ring?

[@Jacob-df5hr]

This actually sounds like a lot of fun, thanks

[@FokkeWulfe]

Any tips for someone who's never played Dark Souls, but is considering getting it.

[@SireGoofsalot]

​@@FokkeWulfebuy the game and install it

[@SireGoofsalot]

​​@@papafrank2894sages ring is in crucifixion woods, at the bonfire before the crystal sage, go left of the big crab right in front of it into the water and start heading towards southwest of the crab, you'll run into a room with one of the angry cross grave thing wearing guys, and in that room is the conjurors clothes and the sage ring

[@PressContinue]

We all heard it very clearly, didn't we? Backlogs literally and explicitly promised us that he WILL do DS1, 2 & 3 fist only next!

[@TheBacklogs]

Please no.

[@yov4042]

@@TheBacklogs Please yes.

[@mrshiftyreckless7708]

@@TheBacklogs you have no choice now

[@vertclecintron7015]

@@TheBacklogs Dark Souls 2 is actually relatively easy (and fun) to do a fists run on. You just have to voluntarily up the difficulty to get the good moveset at the start.

[@HamStrokers-Ejacula]

@@TheBacklogs The pact is sealed.

[@Nozthren]

I know that a spellsword is usually a blade and spell user; but you've captured (for me anyways) what a true spellsword actually is. Spells becoming the weapons you use. Looked awesome and I really wanna play Dark Souls now.

[@joshuaholland5279]

I thought they’d use a sword instead of a wand to cast

[@olu550]

​@@joshuaholland5279Dark Souls 2 has the Blue Flame, which is a sword you cast from. What makes it funnier is that since it's a weapon it can be buffed by resins or spells, which then buffs any spells cast from it

[@kamirostorino9416]

i made an artificer subclass for dnd5e alongside with some Eldensouls (elden ring and souls series) insipred spells that summon weapons.

[@zackwalker2172]

"This spot marks our grave" probably the most heard line of dialogue in a ds3 challenge run...

[@saltshaker8105]

Fr twin princes are menaces to magic builds

[@wexdust]

"Return from whence thou cam'st for that is thou place of belonging"

[@shathaan1763]

You may rest here too, if you like

[@5stargrim]

Legit got mad at the prince and his constant shit talking lmao. He handled my cleric like a baby on my second run through the game; I expected it to be easy like it was for my first one, a heavily armored ultra great sword char. It was not

[@cdogthehedgehog6923]

I never really got all the complaining about the twins. It took me like 7 tries with my dex faith build. Probably wouldve taken less if i dropped the faith part pfffffft

[@knightlypleasures3123]

Imagine being a massive, building sized knight and a mage walks up to you, figts you and parrys your massive great sword with a casual back hand slap.

[@Qallyx]

I mean, technically, you could've just summoned some friends and have them drop a good weapon for you... Technically a summoned weapon...

[@capperbuns]

InfiniteIQ

[@redacted2740]

i mean he already did one just waiting on 2 and 3

[@eat00002]

nah that's a summoned bros weapon

[@nikkimclellan-keizer7732]

You did it, you crazy son of a B#%ch you did it.

[@ravifox5559]

But he couldn’t…pc online services are shut down indefinitely until a certain security update can be made…even Elden Ring is launching without its online component due to this.

[@Dasgewt1]

For the mirror images on the crystal mage, you can skip that phase all together if you don't start attacking him until he casts homing soulmass. He can't disappear while the spell is up, so if you can damage him down before it fires off you'll only ever fight the one mage. Just dodge the other spells til he casts it. not sure how the damage is on this build, but for future challenge runs it's worth considering.

[@Gensolink]

you can also do 2 hit, go to the opposite direction of the remain soul masses, 2hit, and repeat until he dies or the mass fires off

[@Nick-mp1zh]

To elaborate on what Genoslink said, the soulmasses will only fire off if you're directly in front of the Crystal Sage, in like a 120 degree arc or so in front. If you strafe around him hard enough you can keep out of his line of fire, which is what they do in the speedrun too if I'm not mistaken

[@spankyjeffro5320]

One of the rules of this run was no exploits. This counts as an exploit and can't be used. Interesting, though. :)

[@Dasgewt1]

@@spankyjeffro5320 I didn't think manipulating boss ai counted as an exploit. I always considered it to be similar to baiting out an attack. It's not like you're breaking the ai like is possible with abyss watchers and others.

[@The412Devil]

@@spankyjeffro5320 having the summons fall down the ladder is an exploit too

[@anwd8646]

When you and Frieda traded kills you both had the same death animation. Awesome.

[@superantiguy4347]

Ok, so about the staff bonk, the reason your staff is deflecting is due to the fact you dont have enough strength to wield your catalysts one handed. When casting spells such as soul greatsword and flash sword you are considered using it one handed, as during the animation you use one hand for it even if you two hand it. The bonk happens to opponents with something called natural armor, and when you fail to meet the stat requirements for your weapon it'll just deflect right off of them. Similar thing happens with the pyromancers parting flame, don't have the stats you get the bounce with some spells.

[@highlightermarca-texto3281]

Isn't profaned flame a ranged spell?

[@gryphose1849]

Perhaps you meant Demon's Scar ("curved sword" transmuted from the Demon Prince soul.)?

[@superantiguy4347]

@@gryphose1849 I meant the pyromancies parting flame, I just forgot what it's called but the demon scar as well

[@QuestionableObject]

He really never looked up why this was happening? Lol

[@ToroidalZero4]

Can't you just 2 hand the staff??? (Out of the literal hundreds of hours I put into dark souls I never once used magic so Idk if you could dual hand the staves or not back then)

[@noshlinson8520]

Lemons personality instantly drew me into the series, the fact that he plays souls games what exactly what i needed to instantly subscribe to his channel. Love the videos man

[@SwedetasticGames]

Lightning Arrow is arguably the best spell in the entire Soulsborne series for: mobility, you can hold and even cancel it, and does fantastic damage for it's manacost.

[@stingerjohnny9951]

It’s DEFINITELY the best Offensive Miracle in the game in terms of damage per mana and convenience. Plus it’s just fun to use.

[@noalsono393]

I see that, but dark bead is just a shotgun.

[@SwedetasticGames]

@@noalsono393 For PvE, sure. Easier to counter than LA in PvP tho

[@rolfknappmann]

26:30 - *Midir Laser avoiding pro-tip:* The lasers are not THE easiest to dodge, but they are quite easy to dodge, because all you need to do is look out for Midir jumping back TWO TIMES. He will ALWAYS do that before the one-shot laser. What to do? - run towards him, as soon as he starts jumping, so you'll be behind or at least to the side of him and the laser won't hit you.

[@theftking]

One of the hardest-working people in gaming KZbin lol. Sick vid.

[@talosgak1236]

*Reaction streamers making 1000x more by doing absolutely nothing of fucking value* Kinda sad

[@AutumnReel4444]

I mean, he does skip bosses, but overall yes very agreed

[@dascreeb5205]

@@edohanma his videos are really well edited.

[@gremlinman9724]

ymfah, plateau peaks, and mitten squad are a bit more willing to waste their time imo

[@MikeWeezyMusik]

@@gremlinman9724 ymfah does ones without walking lol 😂

[@cosmicfails2053]

Idk if anyone else has suggested this, or if it's actually worth suggesting, but the Crystal Chime might have been useful in this run, Because 1) it can cast both Miracles AND Sorcereries, so less catalyst juggling 2) it's weapon art provides a heal so you can forgo Orange Estus a little to focus more on Blue 3) it gives dual Int/Faith scaling to Dark Spells which I'm pretty sure the scythe is

[@Percival7116]

That's Caitha's Chime that boost dark miracles. The Crystal Chime just allows you to cast both sorceries and miracles

[@cosmicfails2053]

@@Percival7116 ah thank you It's been a while since I've played DS3 myself

[@this_is_Muffin]

It scales with both, yes, BUT, doesn’t buff dark casting

[@no.3_194]

11:12 calling back to GamersWeekend’s armor of thorns run makes me so happy to be a fan of both of you 😭

[@automat3000]

Lol so happy 😭

[@eclipse8114]

You know, it’s really hard for me to watch videos that are longer than 10 minutes, but you make it so easy to just keep watching without getting bored

[@dr.spudies1555]

I like how sell out backlogs is just the elite knight armor but with a skeleton inside.

[@calemr]

His need for money drove him hollow. Which I think most of us can relate with, really.

[@GeneralBison]

Dead inside

[@dr.spudies1555]

"Oh pitty thy soul, you've gone hollow. Welp no better than put thy poor mad, tortured soul to rest"

[@Bluecho4]

@@calemr The ideal end goal for Capitalism is the complete hollowing of the workforce, so they labor endlessly with no capacity for complaint. As it turns out, the key to escaping the Undead Curse is Unionizing.

[@calemr]

@@Bluecho4 Sunbros are socialist. Who knew? I guess that makes the Darkwraiths AnCaps.

[@ΔημήτρηςΠ-σ3χ]

Hey Lemon. Although you probably won't see this message because you receive hundreds everyday, I just want to say your music taste is top notch in every video. Especially this one with Earthbound and Legend of Zelda. Others have stuff like Locoroco, Pikmin, Hotline Miami, it's rad. Keep at it man. You made one individual from the other side of the world happy.

[@brokemage1395]

I have a challenge for you that might be up your alley. Can you beat dark souls 3 as a caster, but without buying spells? Rules. 1. The only damage you can do is from spells. 2. You can use any magic from any school as long as you don't buy it. If you find it, spawn with it, or given to you then it's usable. 3. All armor, rings, etc is allowed. Feel free to edit the rules to make it more fun or try it with different souls games.

[@TheBacklogs]

Your name checks out.

[@heyauser7702]

If only old man could spare you some change ;-;

[@nikolaosboukouvalas449]

Sounds like a miracle build run as all the good sorceries and pyromancies are out. For a class, cleric has no starting damaging spells so either pyro or sorcerer. Pyro has higher faith, but his spell sucks. Sorcerer has better spells but low faith. Still the soul arrows can get you pretty far with some decent INT and heretic's staff and you can always respec later for the lightning spears and wrath of the gods. I'd go with sorcerer.

[@lukasmuller3989]

Sounds interesting. like a hobo wizard

[@brokemage1395]

@@TheBacklogs I honestly didn't consider my name when I thought of this. That's amazing. XD

[@JustCallMeTunde]

Early game Lemon: "I summon.... THESE HANDS!"

[@jranon9930]

Tried this once and never thought of the way of the white corona XD. It totally is a Xena weapon. This was a lot of fun to watch always love your editing. Glad you are getting sponsors and being awesome about testing them out for us first.

[@quint3ssent1a]

Coronavirus reference 😏😏😏😏 I'm amazed that he found a (very niche) use-case for this miracle. It's so shitty you need to hamstring yourself badly for it to become even remotely good

[@Retrovoider]

Incredible video as always. I really love the obscure reference to Takeshi's challenge

[@logans.7932]

“My plans were thwarted when the Crystal Sage cast Mirror Image” Backlogs you GOTTA do a challenge run or a just-for-fun playthrough in an old school D&D game like one of the Baldur’s Gates or Pool of Radiance lol

[@zacksarge2756]

You gave me so many ideas for DS3 challenges. It is so fun to play over and over. Sometimes very agonizing but fun.

[@ArkainSpawn74]

4:45 there is the vanquisher's seal in DS2 that makes fists do pretty decent damage, more so than ceastus, so don't completely write off fist only.

[@joaogomes9405]

Yeah, but you need to farm 50 awestones to get it. And good luck killing Rhoy 50 times in a row with fists only.

[@PotassiumLover33]

@@joaogomes9405 you could maybe try knocking him off the bridge? I used a dagger so idk if fists would stun him enough

[@hereniho]

@@joaogomes9405 just push him offthe bridge

[@walkingglasses6264]

@@joaogomes9405 You could also make Rhoy... accidentally slip of a bridge and get his awestone...

[@manjackson2772]

@@joaogomes9405 You can farm one of the early ogres

[@Qwhill101]

to be honest, based off technicality, you could’ve used stormruler during yhorms fight because the lore says the special attack is a “blade formed of wind”

[@jans353]

I simply adore the leaned-back voice over, makes me feel right at home here. Life gave me Lemon

[@noahsan92]

the fact that this video came out mere weeks before the world was introduced to the tactical nuke that is Carian Slicer is so funny

[@comradecatbug5289]

The bounce happens when the staff (not only the blade) hits the enemy. That's why the swords (which were casted with staffs) bounced back but the scythe (which was casted with a chime) didn't. EDIT: For the bounce you also have to not meet the strength requiriment for the staff. If you meet the requiriments it's also possible to only hit with the staff part (and miss with the blade), dealing only about 5-15 damage. You have to be extremely close for this and the enemy has to be human sized or smaller.

[@silentkhaos1176]

Neat to know. Never encountered this myself, but still nice to learn new things.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

It doesn't help that he had too little strength to meet the staff requirements as well

[@highlightermarca-texto3281]

@@theapexsurvivor9538 Ah so this happens if you hit with the staff, and don't have the physical stat requirements to use it?

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

@@highlightermarca-texto3281 probably happens with either to some degree, but definitely the strength requirement needs to be met to not bounce, because the sword is treated as a 1H'ed attack even if cast while 2H'ing the staff, meaning that the entire blade will bounce most of the time (certain frames may not trigger the bounce animation, but will still do bounce damage).

[@genevievegreene4684]

When he said *that* thing at the start…that sentence…that phrase we sometimes say when we think things will be easier than they actually are….If you know you know.

[@bankasai3120]

I love this run, I did this after the release of the second DLC when I realize Midir's boss soul had a summoned weapon. I loved the build, especially because I usually don't use gimmick builds.

[@SchizoRoider]

I like that you actually go thru every boss, most people that do stuff like this only do the required bosses

[@TheValiantBob]

With some of the spells and weapon arts we've seen in Elden Ring footage, really look forward to this challenge run being done again in that game

[@ryanclark5128]

Backlogs "Boomerangs are weapons. Terrible, terrible weapons." Australia: we need to talk to you.

[@Ben-ry1py]

The shadow legends burn was one of the funniest things ever. That one joke was totally worth the price of admission!😂

[@devinbuettgenbach2941]

Somehow I hadn't seen this one despite the fact that I'd have sworn I'd watched your entire library 10x over.

[@ruileite2634]

The delivery on "If it doesn't glow, it doesn't count" was really good!

[@futuristicbus61]

I finally beat (well haven’t beat, got SoC and nameless king left, both of whom I’ve fought) Ds3, so I can finally start watching ds3 challenge runs

[@noecarrier5035]

You're a diamond, man. Love your content. I'm really impressed by and appreciative for all your hard work. Even if you don't like Blasphemous!

[@namename2186]

People think the chosen undead is weak until they realise that you can literally parry eldritch horrors with your bare hands and kill them with enough punches too

[@mrreemann8313]

Loved the concept behind summonable weapons in dark souls 3, even tried to make a build like you did, but gave up due to how restrictive they can be. Farrow flash sword was basically the only spell I could rely on. I adore the concept of a mage who wields no weapons, but summons blades to fight in glorious melee combat. I hope elden ring has better summonable weapon spells.

[@sapateirovalentin348]

It does,Someone hacked the ntework test and disovered a giant summonable Hammer with a front flip attack and other equally cool stuff

[@The_Bird_Bird_Harder]

I hope you've enjoyed it. Can make whole builds around magic melee!

[@onefastsled]

@@sapateirovalentin348 turns out that hammer is a weapon, but the Summoned Weapon spells are actually VERY good lol

[@cthulwho9125]

@@onefastsled There is also a giant summonable hammer as well though.

[@spoi525]

Fists only ds2 SotFS version would actually be really interesting to see imo

[@SD-oi9gr]

I love watching these challenge runs without having to literally watch countless hours per run. Thanks for the editing!

[@kai_the_floofster1862]

10:08 Probably my favorite part of the video.

[@Ahammerdown]

The bit at 8:22 was delivered so well. Also I've been persuaded into making an int character for the first time ever because of this video now. This should be fun.

[@Renecromancer]

Have fun!

[@pleasantlymixed5860]

Nice Grimms Hollow profile pic

[@Ahammerdown]

@@pleasantlymixed5860 Yes, yes it is.

[@mofarhan3275]

The real tragedy is the fact that soul “spear” is technically a summoned weapon, it would have made this so much easier

[@tipsybak]

yeah and lightning spear as well

[@tipsybak]

@@deadhookerproductions1068 i was saying that based of the original comment. Lightning spear is just as much a spear as soul spear. Besides, lighting arrow is also according to you not technically an arrow since it is also a forward-piercing like attack yet lemon used it in the video anyway

[@jared-boynton]

@@deadhookerproductions1068 I mean, to be fair… way of white corona isn’t a summoned weapon either. It’s a DBZ destructo dish, not really a summoned weapon

[@crabsterzgt1692]

@@tipsybak I mean are you pulling back an arrow with a bow? but are you thrusting with a magical spear? No.

[@sileopatronus]

@@jared-boynton its easily described as a chakram

[@jamesspreadborough24]

This run encapsulates my favourite thing about dark souls games. You never know what bosses will or will not surprise you and slap you for being overconfident having knowledge of the bosses/game. Some things don't mix well and you never know what is lacking till you try, but can be overcome with a little rethink or preparation 😊 love the video

[@crankpatate3303]

funny how much trouble you had with midir, considering the lightning bow spell is one of the best weapons to use against him.

[@marcellokastro1947]

If you wanna do this here's some "summon weapons" you can use 1. Fireball 2 all lightning spears 3 fire wipp 4. The special ability in the pontiff knight curve sword

[@GuySwords]

Always wanted to try a run Like this. But i haven't gotten the time to play a lot lately. Nice to See you deliver in my failing ;) Keep it stront Lemon you content is Diamond and Gold together.

[@alunkard-geovane2685]

Whenever i see this kind of challenge when you need to use your fists you miss on content, i think its better to mod the weapow you need on the beginning

[@vengefulbird6918]

Oh come on lemon you can do ds2, once you get the vanquishers seal its like 200 base damage + like b scaling 8n strength

[@angelTechnician64]

"once you get the vanquisher's seal" is pulling a lot of weight here

[@capperbuns]

@@angelTechnician64 yeah...

[@winterdragon2004]

There is that npc invader in the grave of Saints who's garunteed to drop Awestones that you can respawn with bonfire ascetics. So as long as he can get ahold of 50 ascetics he should be fine

[@angelTechnician64]

@@winterdragon2004 soonest ascetic farm i know of is Aldia's, is there an earlier one?

[@winterdragon2004]

@@angelTechnician64 actually, double checking my source, I think you only really need one to put it into NG+, it looks like the invader respawns when resting at a bonfire.

[@charbelabouantoun8033]

14:28 any one else said in his head this youtuber arrived to the emergency room with nausea

[@miufke_]

A man presents to the emergency room with 40 int and no armor

[@rancidzulu7443]

26:40 it's way easier to just go running directly up to him. I always do that and I can't remember the last time I got hit by that laser

[@A_Real_Rascal]

Lemon won't see this, but here's some notes on this run: 1. Everyone has said this already, but the Izalith Staff and other long Staves are horrible for Summoned Weapons, as they bounce off very easily. You should use something like the Sorcerer's or Court Sorcerer's staff instead, as they have better sweetspots and scale better with Great and Flashsword, the only downside is Dark Edge is weaker. 2. Instead of leveling dex and wasting a spell slot with the Sage's Ring, just have the Saint Bellvine Charm in the offhand, it'll give you a "soft" +99 dex (in casting speed) and max out your casting speed. 3. In the Ringed City DLC, you take 0 fall damage only when you land on the heavy piles of Ash 4. The Midir Fire hit your back pretty clearly, don't see this problem with the hitbox here. 5. Midir's Laser is, iirc, a guaranteed OHKO in NG and also does so to many builds in NG+, so make sure to avoid it at all costs 6. For Lemon personally, if you want to parry in DS3 and you don't want to offhand a shield, just equip a Caestus. It'll give you the ability to parry, you can't block, and you can give it a Blessed infusion for passive recovery.

[@tmyrsr23.]

Wait midirs laser will always one shot you?

[@A_Real_Rascal]

@@tmyrsr23. Like I said, haven't tested it in a long time, but it one shots most of not all NG cycle builds

[@gamblersluck]

I feel like the aquamarine dagger could have been used. Its weapon art summons a sword.

[@henryhill8256]

I think this is my favorite of the 'Can you beat..?' series. Something about the editing and pacing just always pulls me back. Keep up the awesome content Mr. Lemon

[@TheDisplacerBeast]

1:09 thats not a chimera i dont think. It looks more like a manticore.

[@WatchingCrow]

Yeah brands and every day people don’t really know the difference since there have been so many depictions of chimeras as lion/goat/snake hybrids. It annoys me too but it’s just one of those things ya know?

[@kemosabe8814]

It's a manticore but I can understand why it would be called a chimera. Considering traditionally a manticore is supposed to have the head of a human, body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion and the Sanctuary Garudian does follow a chimeras scheme of lion head and goatish body minus the wings and tail. If you want to see a proper chimera and manticore play Dragons Dogma.

[@sgtpastry]

Chimera (Mythology): "The term 'chimera' has come to describe any mythical or fictional creature with parts taken from various animals, to describe anything composed of very disparate parts, or perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible, or dazzling." [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(mythology)] Though, the chimera is also a specific beast.

[@TheDisplacerBeast]

@@WatchingCrow yeah.

[@lylesinstrument-7908]

This video was amazing I can’t believe I’ve never seen your videos before I can’t wait to see what other challenges you’ve done

[@jeremiahbennett3004]

I've actually used these spells in my sorcery build, and early on they're pretty good

[@Pawnda_Bacon]

Hey lemon, just wanna thank you for all your content. Love every bit of it. I actually did this run myself and can see why you enjoy doing challenge runs. Keep up the good work my man

[@P4TH_NF]

Your videos are way more fun to watch than other peoples, you always make them great 🤩😀

[@Cyberwolf-jb5nz]

This run just shows that Way of White Corona isn't terrible. Its still not great, but it's serviceable

[@flynnsmith3453]

4:41 For Ds2 you can use the vanquishers seal for massive unarmed damage

[@TheXBladeist]

Gotta say, this was a great treat. The impact of the slapstick gags made me oh so very joyful Lemon. Keep it up!

[@skyprior3866]

Yes, yes, YES! I've wanted this for so long but I've got other thing to do in ds1 also fists is fair, it's what everyone has, they're permanent summoned weapons! The Sponsor Bit was great, yhorm must been an interesting fight if you didn't know the cheese which I learned not knowing about storm ruler. Its funny friede and gael are easy cause once you beat him once you got to perfect the timings then you've already done it and you have all future tries, which is a very fair system and proves how ds3 works, its a very fair game if you spend the time and you spent all the time. This was a good bit to tide us over till elden ring thank you and to the editors, family, friend's, patrons, and finally you lemon have fun and be excellent to each other.

[@pravinprabhakaran9683]

Thanks!

[@JustShir0]

Crown of Dusk would have come in handy this run, it increases your magic damage by 10%! (At the expense of taking a bit more)

[@TwilightFlower9]

He was using it around 10:25

[@ninacochrane569]

So fun fact about that Bounce mechanic. I tested this run myself a little while ago, and it's to do with strength requirements for Staves. While you are wielding the staff in 2 hands, there is no "2-Handed Swing" animation for the Sword Sorceries, and so they are swung one handed. Since you only had 7 strength with a 8 strength required staff, the bounce happened because you don't *technically* meet the stat pre-requisites to use it. It's not intuitive at all, but that's the game mechanics at work. (of note, this only effects you for enemies that are hit by the staff and the sword-energy)

[@CubedQ]

Wait… you found a use for Way of White Corona? I never thought I’d see the day anyone would. Even in a challenge run.

[@Schmeatboy]

You didn't know the power of the corona? Pathetic...

[@adrienlastname4663]

I love Lemon beating himself up to spare himself the wrath of the ad read knight.

[@Buden276]

it's crazy to see how different ppl struggle with different enemies. As you said you hated midir I was like: holy heck mididr is literally one of my favorite bosses of all time and I find him and his movement so easy right now :D

[@jackytris2874]

Fighting vordt without the music on should be a crime.

[@TheSinfulGamer]

I like how the massive piles of Ash in the Cinders fight is like "Look at how long this fires burned!" but when you finally step up to link it, you get nothing but embers, and sit solemnly, wondering if this is right

[@nh8489]

11:40 when he said "oh shit I forgot about the do-" My mind immediately went to "I FORGOT ABOUT THE DOLL" which made my heart stop for a moment because you do need the doll to get past the magic barrier. Keep in mind this happened within a fraction of a second, so I didn't process the fact he already beat the deacons, but it was kinda funny

[@alansmith6310]

so you wont do fist only, huh? *Do kirk roll damage only then*

[@lionheart4109]

Even better: kick only in DS1.

[@Niktuono]

The only souls game you can actually do a only fist challenge, and that is Dark souls 2. So I ask you to please do it.

[@vicortega2159]

Well, you can do dark souls 2 fist only run, it's pretty easy. You just need rank 3 in covenant of champions and from there it's a cakewalk

[@vicortega2159]

Yo, actually if you cheat yourself the Vanquisher's Seal, it probably would make a fun run

[@zenixkiryu]

Kind of funny how you'll consider way of white corona a summoned weapon but not any lightning spear spells.

[@burgroslav3542]

Come on man, you have done Salt and Sanctuary fist only, Dark Souls surely wont be that hard. In DS2, fists can deal a really decent damadge when you farm awestones for Covenant of Champions to get a damadge boost ring. Also amazing video, keep on going.

[@eliblevins-lm3py]

I did a fist only run of ds1,ds2,ds3 bloodborne, and elden ring and it was pain a total of 200+ hours

[@RelativelyBest]

This has probably already been pointed out, but at the start of Ringed City it's landing in the dredge heaps that negates fall damage, otherwise it works the same as always.

[@MeatSnax]

I know people have beef with DS3 being linear and I always thought it was just nonsense, but it does suck that you can rush end game areas to get a more powerful setup. I've always thought that was a big part of DS "difficulty selection", if you're having a tough time you can just look up items that will make your early game super easy.

[@inconspicuousrobot2685]

Honestly that’s why dark souls is not nearly as hard as people think it is, if I was told about the whole non linear thing and the overpowered builds I would’ve tried dark souls much earlier, I’m only at the first game but I’m thoroughly enjoying it

[@MeatSnax]

@@inconspicuousrobot2685 it's funny that you say that because I actually gave up on Dark Souls my first time trying it, I didn't realize there was a staircase around the corner to Undead Burg and thought my choices were New Londo or the Catacombs and didn't come back to it for 6 months lol. I did however end up with lots of very big swords from my time spent in those places

[@inconspicuousrobot2685]

@@MeatSnax i also do that a lot with souls likes or Metroidvanias, sometime my brain doesn’t function so I have to spend like 20 minutes running around to finally find the easily pointed out path to the rest of the game.

[@smallman932]

does anyone know the music at 14:27 ?

[@chasmkek]

Its called pillars of pepper. You might recognise it from ChubbyEmu videos :)

[@micahsean8664]

I fought Gael at least a dozen times to get one win, and I never saw him teleport. I love it when that happens.

[@bobbydonley7528]

I started a challenge run like this in Elden Ring. It started out fun, but there are some bosses that have absurd magic resistance like Rennala so I'm saving her for later. Loretta is also kind of a pain but once I get more magic or more flasks I should beat her pretty easy. I took a break from the run but this makes me want to get back to it!

[@Unclaimed_Username]

Fist-only is fine as long as you allow for fist weapons. The caestus carried me until i got the demon fists and from there I was basically undstoppable. Just remember your backdash attacks and to have your caestus in your offhand for parry purposes and you're golden. Now, if you want to *truly suffer* then I recommend beating the game using only the dragon stones. That is a hell I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

[@joelcarrasco8993]

I think the bumerang is not a weapon, it's a projectile, like the spears, there are spears but not a weapon. That's my opinion

[@mitchellclendening7682]

Well, it says it's a discus in the description, which is technically a weapon. So I kind of let it slide.

[@stuv1996]

Projectiles used with intent on harm are weapons.

[@joelcarrasco8993]

@@stuv1996 so, every projectile it's technically a weapon, the arrows and fire bombs are weapons, in that case

[@SENYA666]

8:38 ive never before seen an mana estus half empty

[@dragonlord4898]

Promotion Skip Button: 2:37

[@Probably_Laurence]

08:30 "was immediately curve stomped whenever he'd cast mirror image" dnd enjoyer spotted

[@xConflictGodzx]

So…. Fist only run when?

[@kerbethegodkiller2914]

Do you hate lemon that much?

[@Voltage256]

I laughed a little more at that "If you ask me to do a fist only run of Dark Souls 1, 2, or 3 the answer NEO!" than I should have lmao I swear I was chuckling at it for a good 10 minutes

[@heskiador2752]

"This spot marks our grave. You may rest here, too. If you like." - This line haunted my dreams during my first playthrough.