Dark Souls II Wiki

Dark Souls II

Dark Souls II is a 2014 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, the second entry in the Dark Souls trilogy. The player is the Bearer of the Curse, an undead who arrives in the ruined kingdom of Drangleic to find a cure for the curse of hollowing and is drawn into the failed legacy of King Vendrick, his queen Nashandra and the war against the Giants. Combat keeps the series' stamina-driven, animation-committed swordplay while adding power stancing, dual wielding, and a separate Agility stat that governs invincibility frames during rolls. The world branches out from the hub of Majula into four main paths, each ending in a Great Soul, and the game layers on soul memory matchmaking, bonfire ascetics, hexes as a fourth magic school, and nine covenants. Scholar of the First Sin is the 2015 re-release that moved enemy and item placement, added the Aldia storyline and Forlorn invaders, and brought the game to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and DirectX 11 on PC alongside all three Crown expansions.

• Agility and Invincibility Frames: Adaptability and Attunement both raise Agility, which sets how many frames of invincibility a roll or backstep actually has. Low-Agility builds are hit out of rolls that would be safe in the other Souls games, so stat allocation changes the feel of the dodge itself.
• Hollowing and Human Effigies: dying reduces maximum health in stages down to half, and a Human Effigy restores both humanity and the health bar. Effigies are the game's scarcest consumable early, which makes death cost more than in the first game.
• Soul Memory Matchmaking: online matchmaking is based on total souls collected rather than soul level, so farming or losing souls cannot be undone and long-term co-op and invasion brackets drift with playtime.
• Bonfire Ascetics and Company of Champions: burning a Bonfire Ascetic pushes that one area into the next New Game Plus cycle for better loot and harder enemies, while joining the Company of Champions covenant makes every enemy stronger for players who want a self-imposed hard mode.
• Power Stancing and Dual Wielding: holding two weapons that meet the strength and dexterity requirements unlocks a combined moveset with its own attacks, and the left-hand weapon can be two-handed on its own for a second full moveset.
• Four Magic Schools: sorceries, miracles, pyromancies and the new hexes each draw from separate catalysts, and hexes specifically cost souls as well as spell uses, giving Dark builds a distinct economy.
• Four Great Souls and Branching Progression: Majula opens onto four routes, each ending in a Great Soul boss, and the four can be cleared in any order before the shrine to Drangleic Castle opens.
• Nine Covenants: the Way of Blue, Blue Sentinels, Brotherhood of Blood, Heirs of the Sun, Rat King, Bell Keepers, Dragon Remnants, Pilgrims of Dark and Company of Champions each rewrite part of the multiplayer or PvE rules and reward their own tokens.
• Weapon Reinforcement and Infusion: weapons upgrade with Titanite to +10 or with Twinkling Titanite and Petrified Dragon Bone to +5, and infusions (Fire, Lightning, Magic, Dark, Mundane, Raw, Enchanted, Bleed, Poison) reshape scaling and damage type.
• Scholar of the First Sin Changes: the 2015 re-release rearranged enemy and item placement across every area, added the Forlorn invader and the Aldia storyline thread, raised the enemy count in several zones and bundled all three Crown expansions.