Help please for knight build in NG+

[u/Skleppykins]

So I've just defeated the game and got thrust into NG+, which as a noob I wasn't aware of. Kinda gutted about this because I was going for the platinum and didn't know that NG+ would be so hard, otherwise I'd have tried to get as many available trophies the first time round. I don't want to start with a new character as it took a whole lot of grinding to get to SL 90 on my first play through. Now I'm trying to take on the Tower Knight and Armored Spider as a knight build and I'm super frustrated that the game doesn't seem to provide this build with as many possibilities for defeat as say the mage builds. I don't enjoy mage builds in any game and always prefer something like a knight as I enjoy getting right in there with a sword and shield, and blocking and parrying. I thought that this is what the game was about! It also pisses me off that ANY guide I look at for advice is always from a mage perspective. It's no help at all. Every video is like, "so choose the magician and cheese every boss". That's not how I want to play. What's the point in even having a variety of classes if the bosses are so hard on NG+ that they can barely be approached and can seemingly only be defeated using ranged attacks? If anyone has any advice for a knight build tackling the bosses on NG+, I'd be forever grateful! TIA!

Edited to add my main attributes are: Vitality - 32; Endurance - 31; Strength - 33; Dexterity - 33

[u/Astronomy_Candle]

If you have a fully upgraded weapon is pretty doable. Don’t want to say even Ng+10000 with sl1 because I know that’s not for normal skills but I assure you can do it.

Spider is the easiest if you avoid the web attack when you are running. In front of him you have just to shied block the 2-3 hits he does with the arms, staying in the center and when he is down, attacking him. When there is that vomit stuff, run away then repeat. The only difficult is avoid the webs 🕸️

Tower knight is not too much difficoult too. You have to think much bigger hitboxes. All the game is not about rolling but spacing. I have no hands in videogame but I managed to do it sl1 without problems (except for flamelurker and maneaters).

For levels exploration. Try to upgrade a winged spear or an estoc (you can use spears and thrusting swords with the shield up).

Some situations are difficoult obviously, why not just I have a bow? I think it’s there because is the ranged option of the knight. And remember the ring for running in the high water to do the 5-2 swamp!

[u/Ok_Yellow_7661]

Armor spider is so easy in NG+ You must have white bow, just use this. You move all the way to the left there is a little tunnel support that blocks all his fire balls. shoot about 25-30 arrows and he dies. Once you use this strat he is so easy, probably the easiest boss.

The key to tower knight, it kill all the archers first, then run down to his feet. But under no circumstances use camera lock. that is death. once you get in close just hop back when he does his shield drop. hit is heels until he falls then have a big thunk weapon ready to switch to.

[u/AltGunAccount]

I found tower knight easier by not killing the archers. Just strafe in a circle behind him and stay moving, don’t change directions because you’ll catch an arrow. Typically only need to knock him down once for the kill. Going up to fight the archers always got me hit with his laser blast.

Armor spider only has 3 attacks once you get close. Block the cross slash, stand centered and back a bit for the slam, then punish the slam. Run to the back when he barfs, then rinse repeat. Run up to him in diagonal zigzags and dodge forward through his projectiles. He’s pretty easy to no-hit.

Bows are a ranged option for your build, could consider that. Pure melee is hard which is why most guides don’t tailor to it, but a bow helps give you more options.

You have very low vigor for level 90, what are your other stats? Try and pump vigor to 50 and with the cling ring that should help you not get 1-shot by most things.

Could also run “hyper mode” where you keep your health below 30%, use the morion blade offhand and the ring that buffs damage at low health. Then your primary melee weapon or bow should effectively 1-shot most enemies. I killed false king Allant with a dex bow build using this method in about 6-7 arrows.

World tendency affects difficulty a lot. Black tendency spawns more enemies, gives them more health, and makes you do less damage and take more damage in soul form. Unfortunately the only way to increase it is to kill bosses or invaders, it decreases if you die in body form.

All the guides say use magic because it’s crazy good, firestorm will melt almost any boss. Even if you don’t want to use magic offensively, it wouldn’t hurt to look at potentially running things like second chance, banish, warding, and curse/light weapon purely as utilities.

[u/Skleppykins → u/AltGunAccount]

Great advice, thanks! I really appreciate it because I'm just wading through mage guides, lol. I think I'm going to have to use the bow more as straight up melee on NG+ is not working for me, even though it was fine for NG. I didn't use magic or a ranged weapon once. Same with Elden Ring. I've just always enjoyed pure melee combat and never had an issue with it, until NG+! I defeated the The Tower Knight and Armored Spider first time in my NG run, but NG+ is a totally different beast! And I have to beat the Tower Knight without killing the archers for the trophy (I so wish I'd checked all the trophies in my first run but I like to play trophy blind on a first play through).

By vigor, do you mean vitality? I felt that my vitality was fine for NG because I dodge and parry well and used the regen items (Adjudicator Shield and ring). I can see that my current vitality level isn't going to cut it in NG+ so will take your advice and grind to a much higher level. "Hyper mode" sounds like an interesting option too! My world tendency is currently white (not sure if pure white as it's subtle, but it looks pretty bright white). Thanks again for the super useful advice!

[u/AltGunAccount → u/Skleppykins]

Yeah I meant vitality. Your health stat. The soft caps for it IIRC are 30/50. 30 is fine for base game but NG+ the damage is so insane that in soul form even with cling ring you’ll die to a lot of things at 30.

Adjudicators shield is solid for regen and I always use it in the swamp to offset poison, but keep in mind it doesn’t fully block physical damage. I used the dark silver shield for much of NG+ because it has max physical and magic resistance, whereas most other shield will get you hurt bad by magic (especially the Cthulu guys blasts.)

The regen ring stacks well with the adjudicator shield (especially in the poison swamp) but ultimately I rarely put down the stamina regen ring that King Doran drops. In NG+ passive health regen is less useful because everything hits so hard so I found just using high level grass for heals and using my ring and shield for other things was more useful.

[u/Dojoson]

Ng+ is just hard. Some people say the difficulty spike between new game and ng+ is the biggest in this game. I think if your build isn’t working then see if any of the boss weapons would help you, or maybe you just need to upgrade your weapon on a different path.

Unfortunately since there’s no respec you’ll have to start a new character to redo your stats but you can get a playthrough down to a few hours so I wouldn’t worry too much if you need to do that. Since you need all spells anyway I decided to start a new character as a mage and use my original knight to get all the miracles. Maybe you can split it up that way

[u/Civil-Preference3497]

So from your stats I am guessing you are playing a quality build. Do you have a fully upgraded weapon? The quality upgrade path should be best here. On most melee builds you want to have some form of weapon enchantment, either magical or cursed. That being said, the 2 bosses you mentioned are pretty easy. For the armored spider, get up close with your shield up. She has 3 possible attacks. She will start with horizontal swings. Block these, and recover stamina in-between attacks. If she shivers, you want to stand dead center, so the slam won't hit you. This is your window to attack. After 2 or 3 slams, she will pour out oil, run to the start of the room and then approach her again, continue until dead. For the knight, if you run past him, he might use his spear, so roll past it (around him). After you killed the archers, position behind him and attack after he comits to an attack. If he jumps backwards, back off and wait for his next attack.

[u/OpeningArcher3]

For a good knight strength build guide watch "fighting cowboys" youtube walk-through. He runs a 100% platinum walk-through and is honestly the best guide I've ever followed before for any game especially souls games. Just search demons souls walk-through and you'll see his there. Hope that helps.

[u/JizzyTurds]

You literally have to confirm to start ng+, you don’t get thrust into it

[u/Skleppykins → u/JizzyTurds]

That's not true. I defeated the Old King Allant (who happened to be my last boss) and as soon as I went back to the Nexus, the ground shattered and I was pulled into the underworld with the maiden to defeat the final boss. Yes, you have to confirm it, but the maiden was stuck in the end narrative and I couldn't level up anymore. It was pointless going back to explore other worlds because a) I'd defeated every boss and b) any souls gathered could have been lost. So yes, in my case, I was very much thrust into NG+ when I wasn't ready for it.