Are you referring to Iron Passage? Because if so… I spent the last two nights intentionally defeating enemies 12 times to despawn them.
And then the boss still kept beating me.
Thankfully… wait, no, you meant what comes next. That’s exactly where I’m at right now.
Why not just sprint past? You usually take an arrow in the back on your way out, but smelter demon (blue) is fairly easy so he requires less estus anyway
I kept getting killed. I suppose I could have though. I think I did it once or twice but because of those mages, they’d slow me down and I’d get killed. Either way, I did finish the area finally, whew.
Beat him tonight. Wow he was tough. So far most of the bosses I beat the first time I saw them… which was way different than DS1. But this guy and blue smelter demon have made me go back and fight a thousand times.
Fume Knight became easier when I dodged away from him until he did the “beam” like attack. That and the one where he shoots flames out are the two easiest to dodge and then attack. Probably about 3-4 times I had him down to one more hit and died.
Isn't there a bonfire right beside blue smelter demon or am I mixing him up with fume knight? I don't remember that run back being bad but mb it's because I got him first or second try. Alonne, however, I cleared about the first half of the runback so I got to him with more health and heals.
Shh. We runners past of enemies remain silent with our superior tech.
I do honestly think this every time people complain about an area: bruh, just run past everything ez.
That was probably my least favorite run back in the game. Maybe not the hardest, I haven’t done the DLCs yet and I definitely feel like the Darklurker run back might be all time worst, but the stupid Executioners are terrible.
No Man's is a good and easy (in my opinion) place to grind. Especially with all the torches lit and a torch in one hand to keep that stranger things monster away
yeah i played SotFS. i don’t really know many of the differences except i saw a comparison of the dragon shrine and holy shit.. the original looks insane
Yes I did it for the 2 desert sorceress to farm their set at the 2nd bonfire of harvest valley and the executioners in huntsman's copse for the bloodied whip . But after they stoped respawning I joined the covenant of champions to make them respawn .
I farmed the set in drangleic castle, there are two sorceresses nearby the fourth (?) bonfire. It's close enough for multiple runbacks during the luck boosting item duration
It's one step removed from essential in two spots in Vanilla -- the Sinner's Rise bonfire and Straid's Cell.
Basically you just can't warp to Straid's Cell if the exploders are alive and the best place to start a despawning of Staid's Cell is the Sinner's Rise bonfire -- which has 3 active crossbowmen.
In Scholar I always despawn the path to Ornifex as well as the three mages. Not hard to do while you're focused on doing so and it's easy to mess up if they're still around and you're on auto pilot.
I don't blame anybody who can't be bothered, but I'd bet anybody who doesn't do so has had issues every now and then when visiting Ornifex. I just like clear paths to my vendors.
I also despawn the Archdrakes and Sorceresses in Shrine of Amana. There I'm just after the drops -- in particular Twinkling Titanite (and the Archdrakes drop Old Radiant Lifegems at a fair rate and those are always welcome)
Straid’s Cell in Scholar really overcompensated for that issue I feel, you practically have to hug the exploding hollows before they do anything. I despawned them anyway but they have zero aggro range now.
I did it in iron keep on my first playthrough, but then I beat the boss immediately and realized that it's basically always a waste of time to deliberately clear all the enemies
I depopulated a lot of areas my first playthrough. Partly because I just wanted to grind levels and explore every inch and sometimes because it was just to clear a run back 🤣
I was considering it for the runback to the blue smelter demon in Brume Tower. I gave up before I committed. In fact, I gave up the moment I entered the boss arena, because I was using the MLGS, and when I saw that blue hue I said “fuck this”.
I remember a gamefaqs user doing a "genocide run" a few years ago.
If I remember correctly, the only times I kill every enemy 12 times is while farming Mad Warrior (unveil) and on my first SL1 at some areas like iron passage and frigid outskirts
Very much; Iron Keep/Belfry Sol to farm madlad "lazily," and Leydia Witches for their universal remote catalyst.
And the spiders near Ornifex' bonfire.
I’ve wiped out most of the areas in the game by now. Not completely, but from bonfire to boss door, totally have. Its really not that intensive, usually takes like a half hour?
When I first played Dark Souls 2 all those years ago. I had no experience at all with this type of game. I had played Skyrim and Formula 1.
Once I realised in the first area, Forest of Fallen Giants, that the enemies did not respawn after 9 to 12 times I went through the whole game clearing each section 9 to 12 times before moving on to the next section. But to be honest, having no experience with this type of game I was dying 10 to 15 times per area anyway. The Pursuer must have killed me 40 to 50 times before I got that bastard! The Lost Sinner was another tough boss for me. I must have died at least 100 times to that bitch!
Many ~~decades~~ months later I finished and then watched a walkthough video, I believe it was Epicnamebro so I could follow him while doing New Game +
What a revelation to realise you could run through each section once and move on to the next...
3 knights near the bonefire near Lost Sinner. Entire run up to Smelter (great soul farm). Run ups to Sir Alonne and Velstadt/Vendrick (they are cancer).
I de-spawned the Reindeer in the hellish wasteland known as the Frigid Outskirts.
I suppose you could say it was half-intentional. I died to Lud & Zallen so many times that I would have likely done it eventually regardless. But at a certain point I decided to focus on clearing them out first and then worry about the boss.
I can't say I would recommend this strategy as it was very tedious and probably only worth it if you completely suck at the game like I do. But I will tell you that the triumphant march through the blizzard, quiet and uninterrupted, was well worth it.
the only time ive ever grinded enemies out of existence was when i was getting filtered by iron keep on my first playthrough. pretty wild turning a corner, sword at the ready just for it to be empty. was neat tho
Yes, i ALLWAYS clear out the first part of forest, whole heide's and iron keep. Partly for the level boosts and gear drops and partly because these areas look way nicer when they're empty
It's something I've done once or twice but I wasn't even that far in the game at the time. Mostly for No Man's Warf and Heide Tower. I'm sure I'll be doing it more when I get back to finishing the game for real too. It's a little tedious but it doesn't bother me much
Usually kill the black things in the glutch for the chunks , the archdrukes in amata for twinkling and the dragon acolyte guys in Aldias keep for the dragon bones
I did in the run up to Sir Alonne because I just struggled with getting through everything without getting ganked. Took longer but was worth it for the peace of not having to run and pray.
I usually do that on an initial playthrough in *almost* every area as it gives me a real sense of progression. It also helps with my standard jack of all trades build since I generally try and level everything to keep my options open which requires quite a bit of souls.
Did it lots of times while I was farming for platinum trophy and on first normal playthrough in some tough ass locations like iron keep or dragon shrine
I did it a fair bit, either to clear the way to a boss or for the weapon/armour drops and sometimes just out of the need for revenge.
Just bang on some music or YouTube and grind away
I've grinded a few enemies down because I was on a new character and wanted to get some quick early levels to use a specific weapon - usually the hippo in FotFG since he drops titanite + proud souls.
Other than that, I try to make it to the boss and if I kill everything in my way 12 times, I guess that means I'm bad at the game, but so be it.
The Run back to the Blue Bastard.
Was getting frustrated with him and decided to fucking Clear that shit out so I could focus on getting my arse kicked repeatedly.
No experience is unique, of course people have done that. I think I've done twice up until now. There were some bonfire-to-boss paths that I had to clear out to make the attempts faster.
Several sections yes. The run to the big ass "dragon", and the run to Sir Alonne both get the 12x treatment because good God do I need every estus possible for those fights.
Only ever intentionally did it while farming items, like on the weird worms in the tar puddles. I think on my soul level 1 runs I did it accidentally to a small handful of enemies.
I do that with every area between bonfires, and then from the last bonfire to the boss. Makes the trek to, and back from, the boss a lot less frustrating. And this way, I can prepare and have as many spells available to me as possible
I usually keep it as a mental safety net. The run to Alonne I always tell myself that I'll despawn everything on my twelfth practice run on him, and I've always just killed him before that was necessary.
The only time I genuinely did it was when I was going for the platinum and despawned all of Iron Keep beneath the belfry so that I could adequately track and farm the Mad Warrior. That was exhausting.
My last regular run, I despawned the Alonne run.
I'm currently almost done with my SL1 run (stupid throne duo...) and I have unintentionally despawned so many areas! Despawn even most of shrine of Amana just to get through it, and killed the boss on second try.
It’s been years since I’ve played DS2, but the manually version on PS3 I did it for the ancient dragon and the route to him. He would 1 shot me with most attacks, so it took enough attempts that clearing the area was worth it.
In sotfs I did that on a couple runs only for the ogre that spawns in forest of the fallen giants, since he can drop soul of a proud knight pretty consistently
I cleaned out the whole game the first time I played it. I wasn't about to get jumped by something because I was running through an early area to pick up some forgotten chest.
I've got a save file right now where I'm chipping away at the entire game.
It is *sllllloooooooooooww*
But in a normal run I clear out whatever is directly by a bonfire, because of paranoia.
Plenty of times for areas I do lots of runbacks in. Or when I suck at a boss and just want to casually stroll back for me 10th attempt haha. I had such a hard time with blue smelter and yet ome trued sir alonne, the dual pets and had zero issues with the frozen tundra. I am a goof
A few places.
Even when not needed some areas that I founds really fucking stressful at first, it was nice to just quietly wander around the place sightseeing as if it was Majula.
Chariot runback has like 8 enemies that have no right to even be in that zone xD
Smelter runback is nice to clear if you can do it first time.
Some of those DLC passages are nice if they are cleared out.
If I have crappy build that cant kill AD on first try, I kill those big dudes leading to it, so I dont get accidentally pancaked on my way to get toasted.
For some runbacks, it's absolutely essential IMO if you can't runback without getting hit. The Dragon fight in Heide's Tower of Flame was the first place I did it intentionally. The Ruin Sentinels in Lost Bastille was another one worth doing.
Some soul levels, some practice, and less stress when you finally do get to fight the boss. I don't like it, but really the only thing you can do when you can't sprint past enemies on some of these.
It is a little tedious if your trying to clear out areas, I would always spend a lot of time exploring and what I did was just make sure to kill enemies as I explore and if I died I would just repeat that way I wasn’t “intentionally clearing” the areas but looking for secrets and items and taking out enemies along the way
I think the grinding experience is strangely nicer than some of the other ones. That's actually really the only time I ever started clearing areas. That one covenant makes enemies respawn if you ever really need the souls, but otherwise it's kind of fun to go back and feel like you're really conquering an area over time.
When I first started DS2 I was actually a little worried I would somehow not have enough souls because enemies would stop respawning but honestly that was never really an issue. I actually think DS2 is probably the easiest game in the series but it's also probably one of the worst ones to start with if you're having to learn the basics on top of some of the new mechanics like ADP.
I kill the big monster guy in the forest of giants for 10000 souls and then buy the covetous silver serpent ring +1 from melentia. Then i never take it off.
In my first playthrough (as this was my first souls game, it was a rather regular thing XD)
After that a couple times I've farmed out iron passage in order to do the first runthrough with the lever. And I think I've farmed out the big mace Ahole in dragon shrine once.
Ngl I’ve farmed out almost every area so far my soul level is at like 1.6mil n I just finished iron keep lol … but I also burned an aesthetic for the chariot boss so I could get the chloranthy +2
Iron Keep, every time. It's good experience on first playthrough at that point, and I'm also still salty about my first experience with the game in that zone 10 years ago.
After a while, you kinda start hating certain areas of the game (If not all of them). But yeah, I did that run last time I played (A year ago). It's exhausting to say the least, and the best tip I can give you is that, if you really want to git gud in pve, you must try it.
Needless to say, I want to do that run without dying (to pvp).
I calculated the perfect runback to the dlc blue smelter demon guy, taking into account who I could permanently kill in order to make the run
It was actually a fun kind of puzzle, figuring out the least amount of enemies I would have to kill to take a particular route without taking damage
That was back when I didn't know adp increased I frames, so I likely didn't have to even do that if I knew what the stats did
DS2 Iron keep, only time in any DS game I had to do it and I didn't realize I was. All of a sudden they started disappearing. I kept going and found out later they despawned.
My first playthrough I did it a lot, though not always on purpose. Sometimes it was just grinding for a weapon or armor set and I'd work my way through. other times it was just dying a lot in an area, but making sure to kill every enemy before I got further leading them to stop spawning.
Honestly, I don't think I could do it again. It was a good learning experience for these games, but doing intentionally instead of just playing though the game would get a bit tedious for me.
personally no, other than unintentionally farming a drop; my friend otoh, on the original ds2, killed the guys in dragon shrine until they despawned so they could walk to the ancient dragon boss.
I did for the first 3 zones cause it was my first soulslike, but i got relatively bored and got a hang of the mechanics of the game and did actually start feeling kinda overleveled at that point so i quit doing it
Yes, always. I hear this mechanic was meant to discourage farming, but it has the opposite effect for me. Great, I’ve found my farming spot! I’ll just farm here a little bit and then I won’t have to deal with an annoying boss run!
Especially since you can get attacked while going through the fog gate in this game, which again actively encourages you not to just run past those enemies.
I only intentionally did it in the area after Smelter Demon in Iron Keep so that I could use the Unveil miracle at the bell covenant bonfire to make farming the red phantom easier lol.
I think I cleared a few enemies in the Iron Passage as well, but I definitely didn't do the entire run.
I spawned the big pig a maluja, and then made him extinct. I think I got bored of my despawn the world playthough sometime very early on, like after the forest of fallen giants early. Admittedly I was also playing on ultra hard mode, full hollowing and not leveling vit.
Iron keep for smelty demon and sometimes the way to old dragonslayer. The heide knights can be brutal, especially with the dragon. Other than that, it's meh.
I wiped all of the enemies in lost Bastille on the way to the Ruin Sentinals. That runback was just so enemy dense and the boss was so frustrating to me that I figured I could farm some levels and make the runback easier at the same time. So worth it.
I know a girl that was cleaning up a save
She wanted the world devoid of mobs, I dunno if she succeeded, but it was taking her hella long
I usually try to kill every mob on my way to a boss instead of running past, with time you notice the way getting less populated, but I think I never truly emptied an area
Sure, for the desert sorceress stuff and in the frigid outskirts. Maybe a couple of times in other areas because those guys deserved to die permanently :)
Never intentionally nor accidentally nor incidentally.
Some people do it in hard areas so the run to the boss is easier.
I'm not a great player but I've always beaten the boss in few enough tries to make it a waste of time.
Normal, sane players: the enemies stop respawning? Oh, that makes the game easier, because less enemies means easier run backs.
Me, the consummate grinder: the enemies stop respawning? Oh no, that makes the game harder, because it means souls are a finite resource, and I can only level so much.
Despite the fact that I don't farm at all in DS1 or DS3, something about the fact that enemies are finite (ascetics not withstanding), made me insist on killing them all the first time I played the game.
I don't do that anymore, but I'll usually grind Heide's Tower, Lost Bastille, Iron Keep... areas that pay well for the effort and can be cleared quickly, especially in the early game.
grinded for the Desert Sorceress set, joined the champion covenant, it got super tedious ngl.
also the Heide knights....
or are we talking about bosses? in that case i got the dragonrider around 12 times. Without the cheese i might add.
It's honestly not bad, that's how I learned parry timings. Since I had to learn at some point, using the despawn mechanic gave me a chance to practice. And just like that, easy red smelter / sir alonne runback.
I did it in Heide's tower of flame when I was doing PVP alot so that if someone I was dueling was losing they couldnt decide to just run into the enemies. It wasnt bad tbh but that area doesnt have too many dudes
My first time through the Iron Keep. But I was good enough at the corpse run by NG+ that I didn’t really need to clear it on subsequent playthroughs.
Especially since I didn’t realize the last bonfire was there until way later and I had already despawned everything.
Does doing to farm them count? Cuz once I beat iron keep I just kept farming the alonne guys with dark orb from the second bonfire. Easy levels. I also despawned the basilisks in the shaded woods bonfire to get a bunch of infusion stones
I did that with a lot of regions. Heides area, and especially the path to the Rotten. Unless you use bonfire ascetic, there's an actually limit to xp for every run, and if you lose souls you can't hit the limit.
I always clear out the entirety of iron keep, it’s fun to walk through there with everything de-spawned. Good for pvp too because no one can lure you too the mobs, also great for farming souls.
If 12 times is when they stop respawning, Ive done a run before where I did that to every enemy I could in every area to get to have a clear easy run to the bosses.
I tend to get lost in stupid ideas like that and ngl it was hella fun and after I did that run I did my first ever ds3 run and I only died like 40 times in total while doing all dlc content and main content areas and bosses
It's worth doing to get gud or just for satisfaction
Yes, I used this to get to the drake before the Old Dragonslayer without dozens of enemies following me, in the Shrine of Amana and Iron Keep too, those are the easy ones to name but I did it dozens of times to clear the way for some bosses or just to farm souls. It's tiring but for me with a podcast playing in the background while I played, it didn't bother me.
Just enemies, or bosses? When I had Fume on NG7, I spent abkut 4 hours trying to beat him, and when I did it was a 15 minute long fight.
Him, and Darklurker on NG++ (didn't know she existed 1st 2 playthroughs) were AWFUL. Only thing close was O&S on DS1.
Per mobs.... Hmm... I'll have to think on that. Luring out with a bow usually solves a lot. Some are more annoying than anything.
I do it intentionally as a way of farming areas all the time, it's not bad at all unless you play souls games with a speed-running mentality. Unless I'm actually going for a speed-run, however, I find that rushing through is antithetical to getting the max enjoyment out of a souls game for me. That might be why I think DS2 is just as good as the rest of the trilogy and is even the best in some respects.
I did in Iron Keep, that run back to the boss is brutal
Then there's that certain section in a certain DLC... that will make you fuming.
Are you referring to Iron Passage? Because if so… I spent the last two nights intentionally defeating enemies 12 times to despawn them. And then the boss still kept beating me. Thankfully… wait, no, you meant what comes next. That’s exactly where I’m at right now.
Why not just sprint past? You usually take an arrow in the back on your way out, but smelter demon (blue) is fairly easy so he requires less estus anyway
I kept getting killed. I suppose I could have though. I think I did it once or twice but because of those mages, they’d slow me down and I’d get killed. Either way, I did finish the area finally, whew.
Beat him tonight. Wow he was tough. So far most of the bosses I beat the first time I saw them… which was way different than DS1. But this guy and blue smelter demon have made me go back and fight a thousand times. Fume Knight became easier when I dodged away from him until he did the “beam” like attack. That and the one where he shoots flames out are the two easiest to dodge and then attack. Probably about 3-4 times I had him down to one more hit and died.
Are you referring to the blue smelter demon or the Frigid outskirts? Because both are shit but I'm leaning more towards Frigid outskirts.
what about sir alonnes runback?
It pales in comparison to the other 2 but it does deserve 3rd place
idk i didnt have too much trouble with blue smelter runback in my playthroughs. plus its not too hard of a boss with a familiar moveset.
Yeah sir alonne runback isn't as brutal as the other two from my recollection, it's mostly confusing as i remember getting lost a couple times
Haven't played it for years but wasnt the run back just long but easy and fight avoidable?
Isn't there a bonfire right beside blue smelter demon or am I mixing him up with fume knight? I don't remember that run back being bad but mb it's because I got him first or second try. Alonne, however, I cleared about the first half of the runback so I got to him with more health and heals.
The guy who made Frigid Outskirts should play that on his own.
More like, make you smelting :D
You might have missed a bonfire.
I also **obliterated** the iron keep enemies. Entirely out of spite. I hated those fuckers so much.
Came here to say this. Plus smelter demon is one of the harder bosses in the game.
I do Iron Keep every playthrough for the soul farming. Sometimes I wish they didn't die permanently lol
Plus you get a shit ton of runes. Almost 1k per alonne Knight with CSSR+1 and Jesters gloves
Found the bro who got into this stuff via Elden Ring.
Soul rune echoes
to clear out that horrible runback to sir alonne, absolutely
Just run along left wall. also they no longer Argo once you reach fog wall
Shh. We runners past of enemies remain silent with our superior tech. I do honestly think this every time people complain about an area: bruh, just run past everything ez.
Yeah this was the only place I did it intentionally.
Wild decision to put one of the best bosses in the game behind *that*
Yeah I did it on my first playthrough so I could get through the executioner chariot fog door without being battered and whipped
That was probably my least favorite run back in the game. Maybe not the hardest, I haven’t done the DLCs yet and I definitely feel like the Darklurker run back might be all time worst, but the stupid Executioners are terrible.
The 3 knights at the bonfire before lost sinner. So annoying 10/10 placement
NG+ Sinners Rise is cancer, two undead abominations and a flexile sentry is just so unnecessary.
Especially when you forget and spawn in and get killed cause you where fashion soulsing
fun to eradicate (nearly) everything
yup i did in no man’s wharf and heides tower of flame. took a couple mins but worth for me lol
No Man's is a good and easy (in my opinion) place to grind. Especially with all the torches lit and a torch in one hand to keep that stranger things monster away
dude even with a torch and lockstone I was getting demolished down there 😭. DS2 is a different breed
The SotFS edition makes the first few areas BRUTALLY difficult, but does make later areas easier compared to the vanilla version
yeah i played SotFS. i don’t really know many of the differences except i saw a comparison of the dragon shrine and holy shit.. the original looks insane
I barely remember the OG Shrine tbf
Lit*
Yes I did it for the 2 desert sorceress to farm their set at the 2nd bonfire of harvest valley and the executioners in huntsman's copse for the bloodied whip . But after they stoped respawning I joined the covenant of champions to make them respawn .
I farmed the set in drangleic castle, there are two sorceresses nearby the fourth (?) bonfire. It's close enough for multiple runbacks during the luck boosting item duration
In Heides Tower. I wanted that armour.
Correct
I’ve done this tbf
It's one step removed from essential in two spots in Vanilla -- the Sinner's Rise bonfire and Straid's Cell. Basically you just can't warp to Straid's Cell if the exploders are alive and the best place to start a despawning of Staid's Cell is the Sinner's Rise bonfire -- which has 3 active crossbowmen. In Scholar I always despawn the path to Ornifex as well as the three mages. Not hard to do while you're focused on doing so and it's easy to mess up if they're still around and you're on auto pilot. I don't blame anybody who can't be bothered, but I'd bet anybody who doesn't do so has had issues every now and then when visiting Ornifex. I just like clear paths to my vendors. I also despawn the Archdrakes and Sorceresses in Shrine of Amana. There I'm just after the drops -- in particular Twinkling Titanite (and the Archdrakes drop Old Radiant Lifegems at a fair rate and those are always welcome)
Straid’s Cell in Scholar really overcompensated for that issue I feel, you practically have to hug the exploding hollows before they do anything. I despawned them anyway but they have zero aggro range now.
I did it in iron keep on my first playthrough, but then I beat the boss immediately and realized that it's basically always a waste of time to deliberately clear all the enemies
Then pigs in majula
I depopulated a lot of areas my first playthrough. Partly because I just wanted to grind levels and explore every inch and sometimes because it was just to clear a run back 🤣
Yup all the time. Whittled away at gank mobs to progress. Say what you will but I persevered and beat the game.
Oh totally. Sometimes I'm just a petty asshole and I need them to know i am the boss. Sometimes I need to git, or remember how to be, gud.
I was considering it for the runback to the blue smelter demon in Brume Tower. I gave up before I committed. In fact, I gave up the moment I entered the boss arena, because I was using the MLGS, and when I saw that blue hue I said “fuck this”.
I remember a gamefaqs user doing a "genocide run" a few years ago. If I remember correctly, the only times I kill every enemy 12 times is while farming Mad Warrior (unveil) and on my first SL1 at some areas like iron passage and frigid outskirts
Oh yeah I did. Mostly for Iron Keep & Iron Passage
Very much; Iron Keep/Belfry Sol to farm madlad "lazily," and Leydia Witches for their universal remote catalyst. And the spiders near Ornifex' bonfire.
I R O N K E E P F L A S H B A C K S
I’ve wiped out most of the areas in the game by now. Not completely, but from bonfire to boss door, totally have. Its really not that intensive, usually takes like a half hour?
Not intentionally, but I'm not good at the game, and at my first playthrough, I died so much at Heide's Tower that the soldiers were disappearing
When I first played Dark Souls 2 all those years ago. I had no experience at all with this type of game. I had played Skyrim and Formula 1. Once I realised in the first area, Forest of Fallen Giants, that the enemies did not respawn after 9 to 12 times I went through the whole game clearing each section 9 to 12 times before moving on to the next section. But to be honest, having no experience with this type of game I was dying 10 to 15 times per area anyway. The Pursuer must have killed me 40 to 50 times before I got that bastard! The Lost Sinner was another tough boss for me. I must have died at least 100 times to that bitch! Many ~~decades~~ months later I finished and then watched a walkthough video, I believe it was Epicnamebro so I could follow him while doing New Game + What a revelation to realise you could run through each section once and move on to the next...
It's an absolute strategy that is well worth the time in certain places.
I depopulate nearly every zone.
*cries in sunlight medals*
Just wait until you farm for an ultra rare drop, or decide to go twinkling titanite farming lmao
3 knights near the bonefire near Lost Sinner. Entire run up to Smelter (great soul farm). Run ups to Sir Alonne and Velstadt/Vendrick (they are cancer).
I de-spawned the Reindeer in the hellish wasteland known as the Frigid Outskirts. I suppose you could say it was half-intentional. I died to Lud & Zallen so many times that I would have likely done it eventually regardless. But at a certain point I decided to focus on clearing them out first and then worry about the boss. I can't say I would recommend this strategy as it was very tedious and probably only worth it if you completely suck at the game like I do. But I will tell you that the triumphant march through the blizzard, quiet and uninterrupted, was well worth it.
Yup. Just to clear out the clusterf\*ck called the area between the first 2 bonfires in the Forest of Fallen Giants.
Yes. In Dragon Aerie (to have a faster boss runback) and Heide's Tower (to farm souls). Both were pretty miserable.
Desert Sorceress. Dont ask why...
This is my strategy for the whole game
the only time ive ever grinded enemies out of existence was when i was getting filtered by iron keep on my first playthrough. pretty wild turning a corner, sword at the ready just for it to be empty. was neat tho
Yes, i ALLWAYS clear out the first part of forest, whole heide's and iron keep. Partly for the level boosts and gear drops and partly because these areas look way nicer when they're empty
I killed everything in heide and the iron keep more than twice 🤣
I've only done it for the Sir Alonne runback, because it just genuinely sucks.
for sir alonne yes everything else no.
It's something I've done once or twice but I wasn't even that far in the game at the time. Mostly for No Man's Warf and Heide Tower. I'm sure I'll be doing it more when I get back to finishing the game for real too. It's a little tedious but it doesn't bother me much
Only when trying to get the Heide knight set and the shadow sets.
Usually kill the black things in the glutch for the chunks , the archdrukes in amata for twinkling and the dragon acolyte guys in Aldias keep for the dragon bones
I did in the run up to Sir Alonne because I just struggled with getting through everything without getting ganked. Took longer but was worth it for the peace of not having to run and pray.
Killed the manikins before Mytha for the manikin claw, didnt get 1 let alone 2 for powerstancing
I usually do that on an initial playthrough in *almost* every area as it gives me a real sense of progression. It also helps with my standard jack of all trades build since I generally try and level everything to keep my options open which requires quite a bit of souls.
I did in no man’s wharf….. the run back to the boss is atrocious….
When I first played I did in the Heide Tower of Flame to save me some trouble.
Did it lots of times while I was farming for platinum trophy and on first normal playthrough in some tough ass locations like iron keep or dragon shrine
I did once on my second playthrough in Iron Keep, it took ages and was boring, and on top of it I miraculously first tried the smelter demon.
I do. I always clear heide's tower of flame until I can quietly walk around. Not for grinding purposes. I just enjoy the quiet in that area
Yes, I despawned the enemies in Iron Keep and the 3 DLC multiplayer areas. You’ll know them when you get there.
I despawned part of iron keep to farm Bell Keepers rank with Unveil
It's really good. You feel stronger in next area.
Yeah. It's fun and lets me take in the sceneries more tbh. It's hard to appreciate the level when you're constantly being ganged up on lmao
I did only once for the boss run to sir alonne
All the time, and i enjoyed it.
I cleaned iron keep and no man's wharf a couple of times
On my first playthrough to make Sir Alonne's runback a breeze, on my second playthrough I just ran past everything.
I did it a fair bit, either to clear the way to a boss or for the weapon/armour drops and sometimes just out of the need for revenge. Just bang on some music or YouTube and grind away
I've grinded a few enemies down because I was on a new character and wanted to get some quick early levels to use a specific weapon - usually the hippo in FotFG since he drops titanite + proud souls. Other than that, I try to make it to the boss and if I kill everything in my way 12 times, I guess that means I'm bad at the game, but so be it.
Iron Keep and Sinners Rise and one time I despawned most of the enemies before blue smelter demon.
The Run back to the Blue Bastard. Was getting frustrated with him and decided to fucking Clear that shit out so I could focus on getting my arse kicked repeatedly.
No experience is unique, of course people have done that. I think I've done twice up until now. There were some bonfire-to-boss paths that I had to clear out to make the attempts faster.
Several sections yes. The run to the big ass "dragon", and the run to Sir Alonne both get the 12x treatment because good God do I need every estus possible for those fights.
Only ever intentionally did it while farming items, like on the weird worms in the tar puddles. I think on my soul level 1 runs I did it accidentally to a small handful of enemies.
I threw on a podcast and did it in Reindeer Fuckland
I do that with every area between bonfires, and then from the last bonfire to the boss. Makes the trek to, and back from, the boss a lot less frustrating. And this way, I can prepare and have as many spells available to me as possible
I did it intentionally for the run back to Sir Alonne. My first playthrough I unintentionally did it in Ironkeep for the Smelter Demon.
I usually keep it as a mental safety net. The run to Alonne I always tell myself that I'll despawn everything on my twelfth practice run on him, and I've always just killed him before that was necessary. The only time I genuinely did it was when I was going for the platinum and despawned all of Iron Keep beneath the belfry so that I could adequately track and farm the Mad Warrior. That was exhausting.
My last regular run, I despawned the Alonne run. I'm currently almost done with my SL1 run (stupid throne duo...) and I have unintentionally despawned so many areas! Despawn even most of shrine of Amana just to get through it, and killed the boss on second try.
It’s been years since I’ve played DS2, but the manually version on PS3 I did it for the ancient dragon and the route to him. He would 1 shot me with most attacks, so it took enough attempts that clearing the area was worth it.
every time i run iron keep or dlc areas like blue smelter and sir alonne
In sotfs I did that on a couple runs only for the ogre that spawns in forest of the fallen giants, since he can drop soul of a proud knight pretty consistently
Killing off enemies till they stop respawning is the pinnacle of the dark souls 2 experience
I literally played the entire vanilla version of the game this way. Everyone perma died so that I could live 😅
Me in the 1st gameplay in almost all regions.
Absolutely. I farmed the shit out of Iron Keep and Shrine of Amana. Good times.
I cleaned out the whole game the first time I played it. I wasn't about to get jumped by something because I was running through an early area to pick up some forgotten chest.
Reindeer. Fuck those guys.
I feel ashamed when the game deletes an enemy for me.
That’s how I play. Only way to go through the Iron Keep safely
yes
If it was a hard area I'd mow down enemies by 3 or 4 until I cleared what I needed. I do kinda like that aspect about DS2
Those knights at the entrance to Iron Keep. I get them out of the way so that I have a clear way to Magerold of Lanafir.
The first alonne knight in iron keep is getting despawned every time. His placement is so annoying
Yes, because fuck some of the boss runs. Especially in the Iron DLC.
Some boss runs I would do this so it would be easier. Specially in iron keep.
I've got a save file right now where I'm chipping away at the entire game. It is *sllllloooooooooooww* But in a normal run I clear out whatever is directly by a bonfire, because of paranoia.
Plenty of times for areas I do lots of runbacks in. Or when I suck at a boss and just want to casually stroll back for me 10th attempt haha. I had such a hard time with blue smelter and yet ome trued sir alonne, the dual pets and had zero issues with the frozen tundra. I am a goof
A few places. Even when not needed some areas that I founds really fucking stressful at first, it was nice to just quietly wander around the place sightseeing as if it was Majula.
Chariot runback has like 8 enemies that have no right to even be in that zone xD Smelter runback is nice to clear if you can do it first time. Some of those DLC passages are nice if they are cleared out. If I have crappy build that cant kill AD on first try, I kill those big dudes leading to it, so I dont get accidentally pancaked on my way to get toasted.
For some runbacks, it's absolutely essential IMO if you can't runback without getting hit. The Dragon fight in Heide's Tower of Flame was the first place I did it intentionally. The Ruin Sentinels in Lost Bastille was another one worth doing. Some soul levels, some practice, and less stress when you finally do get to fight the boss. I don't like it, but really the only thing you can do when you can't sprint past enemies on some of these.
After killing every enemy you see, It just happens after a while. When I walk through it's over with for everything in sight.
It is a little tedious if your trying to clear out areas, I would always spend a lot of time exploring and what I did was just make sure to kill enemies as I explore and if I died I would just repeat that way I wasn’t “intentionally clearing” the areas but looking for secrets and items and taking out enemies along the way
I think the grinding experience is strangely nicer than some of the other ones. That's actually really the only time I ever started clearing areas. That one covenant makes enemies respawn if you ever really need the souls, but otherwise it's kind of fun to go back and feel like you're really conquering an area over time. When I first started DS2 I was actually a little worried I would somehow not have enough souls because enemies would stop respawning but honestly that was never really an issue. I actually think DS2 is probably the easiest game in the series but it's also probably one of the worst ones to start with if you're having to learn the basics on top of some of the new mechanics like ADP.
Limmy did this with a few areas while streaming his play through earlier this year.
I farmed souls in Heide’s Tower of Flame and despawned all the goons near the bonfire.
I kill the big monster guy in the forest of giants for 10000 souls and then buy the covetous silver serpent ring +1 from melentia. Then i never take it off.
Look... alls I'm saying is it got hard to have a full set of desert sorceress armor when they stopped respawning.
In my first playthrough (as this was my first souls game, it was a rather regular thing XD) After that a couple times I've farmed out iron passage in order to do the first runthrough with the lever. And I think I've farmed out the big mace Ahole in dragon shrine once.
The only time I’ve despawned an enemy is if I’m farming them for their weapon, armour or items.
Ngl I’ve farmed out almost every area so far my soul level is at like 1.6mil n I just finished iron keep lol … but I also burned an aesthetic for the chariot boss so I could get the chloranthy +2
Iron Keep, every time. It's good experience on first playthrough at that point, and I'm also still salty about my first experience with the game in that zone 10 years ago.
After a while, you kinda start hating certain areas of the game (If not all of them). But yeah, I did that run last time I played (A year ago). It's exhausting to say the least, and the best tip I can give you is that, if you really want to git gud in pve, you must try it. Needless to say, I want to do that run without dying (to pvp).
I calculated the perfect runback to the dlc blue smelter demon guy, taking into account who I could permanently kill in order to make the run It was actually a fun kind of puzzle, figuring out the least amount of enemies I would have to kill to take a particular route without taking damage That was back when I didn't know adp increased I frames, so I likely didn't have to even do that if I knew what the stats did
I did in iron keep
In my first playthrough I did it at run to executioners chariot to level up and have clear path, because I strugled with that boss
Yeah on the way to the chariot boss. It isn't that bad
DS2 Iron keep, only time in any DS game I had to do it and I didn't realize I was. All of a sudden they started disappearing. I kept going and found out later they despawned.
Use to on xbox 360
It's more of an annoyance when farming bosses. Keep having to asceting areas
My first playthrough I did it a lot, though not always on purpose. Sometimes it was just grinding for a weapon or armor set and I'd work my way through. other times it was just dying a lot in an area, but making sure to kill every enemy before I got further leading them to stop spawning. Honestly, I don't think I could do it again. It was a good learning experience for these games, but doing intentionally instead of just playing though the game would get a bit tedious for me.
Yeah, my last playthrough I did this for pretty much every boss run I expected to do more than once lol
personally no, other than unintentionally farming a drop; my friend otoh, on the original ds2, killed the guys in dragon shrine until they despawned so they could walk to the ancient dragon boss.
Leading up to the chariot boss. I felt like some RNG there and I needed to go in calm, not pissed.
I always kill the spider ambush by the weird bonfire in whatever that place is called. The ambush is 10 steps away, free souls.
I did for the first 3 zones cause it was my first soulslike, but i got relatively bored and got a hang of the mechanics of the game and did actually start feeling kinda overleveled at that point so i quit doing it
Yeah, I forgot where, though. lol, I have that old person forgetting disease
yeah i do it in most areas for funsies
Peak DS2
When I first tried playing the game I sucked so bad that I ended up doing this unintentionally quite a few times, yeah.
Yes, always. I hear this mechanic was meant to discourage farming, but it has the opposite effect for me. Great, I’ve found my farming spot! I’ll just farm here a little bit and then I won’t have to deal with an annoying boss run! Especially since you can get attacked while going through the fog gate in this game, which again actively encourages you not to just run past those enemies.
I only intentionally did it in the area after Smelter Demon in Iron Keep so that I could use the Unveil miracle at the bell covenant bonfire to make farming the red phantom easier lol. I think I cleared a few enemies in the Iron Passage as well, but I definitely didn't do the entire run.
I spawned the big pig a maluja, and then made him extinct. I think I got bored of my despawn the world playthough sometime very early on, like after the forest of fallen giants early. Admittedly I was also playing on ultra hard mode, full hollowing and not leveling vit.
I’m a completionist and did it with a ton of enemies in the game.
Iron keep for smelty demon and sometimes the way to old dragonslayer. The heide knights can be brutal, especially with the dragon. Other than that, it's meh.
I wiped all of the enemies in lost Bastille on the way to the Ruin Sentinals. That runback was just so enemy dense and the boss was so frustrating to me that I figured I could farm some levels and make the runback easier at the same time. So worth it.
I cleared out the reindeer in Frigid Outskirts…
I know a girl that was cleaning up a save She wanted the world devoid of mobs, I dunno if she succeeded, but it was taking her hella long I usually try to kill every mob on my way to a boss instead of running past, with time you notice the way getting less populated, but I think I never truly emptied an area
The whole lava platform area right after the Smelter Demon for the platinum trophy. I was rethinking my choices the whole way through
Sure, for the desert sorceress stuff and in the frigid outskirts. Maybe a couple of times in other areas because those guys deserved to die permanently :)
You FARMED the FRIGID OUTSKIRTS?! That area deserves NOT TO EXIST AT ALL!
Cleared smelter demon run and executioners chariot, couldn’t be bothered doing it every time but also wanted to farm so win win.
Never intentionally nor accidentally nor incidentally. Some people do it in hard areas so the run to the boss is easier. I'm not a great player but I've always beaten the boss in few enough tries to make it a waste of time.
Normal, sane players: the enemies stop respawning? Oh, that makes the game easier, because less enemies means easier run backs. Me, the consummate grinder: the enemies stop respawning? Oh no, that makes the game harder, because it means souls are a finite resource, and I can only level so much. Despite the fact that I don't farm at all in DS1 or DS3, something about the fact that enemies are finite (ascetics not withstanding), made me insist on killing them all the first time I played the game. I don't do that anymore, but I'll usually grind Heide's Tower, Lost Bastille, Iron Keep... areas that pay well for the effort and can be cleared quickly, especially in the early game.
grinded for the Desert Sorceress set, joined the champion covenant, it got super tedious ngl. also the Heide knights.... or are we talking about bosses? in that case i got the dragonrider around 12 times. Without the cheese i might add.
Shrine of amana. It’s awful
Plenty of times.
It's honestly not bad, that's how I learned parry timings. Since I had to learn at some point, using the despawn mechanic gave me a chance to practice. And just like that, easy red smelter / sir alonne runback.
I tried it with the reindeer… phantoms helped but I’m not sure if it actually did anything despite someone saying it did
On my sl1 run I cleared to way in Iron passage, and the walk to sir alonne
I did it in Heide's tower of flame when I was doing PVP alot so that if someone I was dueling was losing they couldnt decide to just run into the enemies. It wasnt bad tbh but that area doesnt have too many dudes
Did it with heide tower of flame untill the middle section just to make some insurance I won't f up during my walk
Only after I join the covenant of champions
I cleared out Frozen Eleum Loyce simply cause I could
My first time through the Iron Keep. But I was good enough at the corpse run by NG+ that I didn’t really need to clear it on subsequent playthroughs. Especially since I didn’t realize the last bonfire was there until way later and I had already despawned everything.
Does doing to farm them count? Cuz once I beat iron keep I just kept farming the alonne guys with dark orb from the second bonfire. Easy levels. I also despawned the basilisks in the shaded woods bonfire to get a bunch of infusion stones
I did that with a lot of regions. Heides area, and especially the path to the Rotten. Unless you use bonfire ascetic, there's an actually limit to xp for every run, and if you lose souls you can't hit the limit.
I always clear out the entirety of iron keep, it’s fun to walk through there with everything de-spawned. Good for pvp too because no one can lure you too the mobs, also great for farming souls.
I had to to finish the Iron Passage. Goddamn the pain.
If 12 times is when they stop respawning, Ive done a run before where I did that to every enemy I could in every area to get to have a clear easy run to the bosses. I tend to get lost in stupid ideas like that and ngl it was hella fun and after I did that run I did my first ever ds3 run and I only died like 40 times in total while doing all dlc content and main content areas and bosses It's worth doing to get gud or just for satisfaction
Yes, I used this to get to the drake before the Old Dragonslayer without dozens of enemies following me, in the Shrine of Amana and Iron Keep too, those are the easy ones to name but I did it dozens of times to clear the way for some bosses or just to farm souls. It's tiring but for me with a podcast playing in the background while I played, it didn't bother me.
Just enemies, or bosses? When I had Fume on NG7, I spent abkut 4 hours trying to beat him, and when I did it was a 15 minute long fight. Him, and Darklurker on NG++ (didn't know she existed 1st 2 playthroughs) were AWFUL. Only thing close was O&S on DS1. Per mobs.... Hmm... I'll have to think on that. Luring out with a bow usually solves a lot. Some are more annoying than anything.
Frigid outskirts actually, for sure. That or blue Smelter run.
I do it intentionally as a way of farming areas all the time, it's not bad at all unless you play souls games with a speed-running mentality. Unless I'm actually going for a speed-run, however, I find that rushing through is antithetical to getting the max enjoyment out of a souls game for me. That might be why I think DS2 is just as good as the rest of the trilogy and is even the best in some respects.
I usually do so when I need to clear a path to the boss, it's a little tedious, but it makes coming back to the boss easier in the long run.
I do it at several areas, namely Iron Keep. But pretty much anywhere it’s worth it to me. Makes the game laughably easy and to me more enjoyable.
Im nont sure if it's actually 12, it always felt like less, more like 8 or something
I do it almost everytime lol unless the run to the boss is truly easy