Prepped this for a night with my friend and I, it's the furthest and most cohesive game we've played since I got it almost a year ago. Knew we'd forget rules so I time-stamped it for our dumbass'. Thanks for breaking it down so clearly!
45 minutes seemed almost as intimidating as the rulebook itself, but this went really fast and answered basically all of my questions, thanks for this!
One rule I change just for fun is the encounter cards. Whenever we rest at a bonfire I put a new encounter card just to keep things fresh and unpredictable
07:45 - Resetting tokens - The luck token can be reset for 1 soul per character between encounters instead of resting at the bonfire 15:40 - Placing characters - You can't place any character on a spawn node, since those are not considered to be "entry nodes"! 18:22 and 19:33 - Target - The determined target will not remain the same throughout the monsters entire activation! The determined target will only remain the same throughout this monsters currently resolving behavior icon (movement or attack) and will be determined again for each following behavior icon. So, the nearest target for the movement icon, could be different than for the attack icon. 36:45 - Boss movement - The boss would have turned so the node in the upper right corner would be in the center of the back arc (since it is farther away from the target - aggro) and would have moved on that one, facing S! 41:45 - Boss souls reward - They actually add souls equal to 1 x [number of characters] x [sparks remaining] to the soul cache
These are all correct comments, I just wish editing videos post publishing was possible on UA-cam, but they removed annotations for some reason although I could just re-edit it on my end and republish
Since you pinned my comment, I fixed a typo I've stumbled upon considering more will see it. Figured that this has taken the pin status again though... whoops xD
he also missed that you can sell treasure in the campaign mode for 1 soul refund each, as long as it's not equipped, but treasure now also costs 2 souls to buy. this is important, because in a campaign, you can sell staring equipment once you've replaced it, since it exists in the treasure inventory, and if you have trash, but need a few more souls to level to something useful, you can basically sacrifice the rest to level.
Played a couple games of this now and I loved it to bits, after only two games I can tell it's gonna be my favourite bored game largely due to the fact of how true if is to the games! watched this before playing and it was a huge help!
I finally got hold of a copy of this game which I have been wanting for a about a year. Your videos really helped me get going and getting passed some rule hurdles early on, and were able to really just enjoy the game. Thank you and keep up the good work.
I’m not gonna lie this has been the most helpful video I’ve ever watched ever!!! Maybe it’s the way you explain or the way you show the playing material but I watched this 2 years ago played the game for about 6 months and haven’t touched it for 2+ years but every single rule is drilled into my head like my brain created a spot just for the rules. Thanks for this masterpiece. And do wish to see you play it again on the Chanel. 🙌
Thanks for the video. It's not easy for me to learn things by reading to myself. But when I have the book and someone to explain it, it makes everything so easy to understand.
This was great! love that you took the time to explain everything. I feel like after watching this and other videos I'm ready to open the box and play immediately when mine gets here.
Great video. I used it to verify a few questions I had with boss movements and arcs. This is a fun game, but it needs a tiered treasure deck. So many wasted souls drawing high level gear at the start.
Even though it is not official a lot of people made item variations that speed up the loot process and make the game more interesting (imho). You can find such loot rules in ds forum!
Can anyone explain exactly how the repeat icon works on player weapons? In the rulebook it says: "The Repeat icon allows the character to use that entire weapon option the number of times indicated in the circle. This represents such effects as combination attacks with a melee weapon or rapidly firing bolts from a repeating crossbow." Does that mean say on the Gotthard Twinswords you can spend 4 stamina to roll 2 blue dice to attack, and then the repeat icon tells you you can spend 4 more stamina to roll 2 more blue dice for an additional attack? Or do you spend 4 stamina for essentially 2 separate attacks both with 2 blue dice. And in either case can you use each attack on separate targets, like for example there are 2 enemies you can attack, therefore you use the first two blue dice attack on one target and kill it, and then use the other 2 blue dice attack to kill the other target on the same turn. I would assume you would have to spend another 4 stamina to repeat the action, since it says the repeat icon allows you to use the "entire" weapon option the number of times indicated. But then again that would mean spending 8 stamina in 1 turn, leaving you with 2 health almost killing yourself. It feels like the repeat icon for players is only talked about in that single spot and not really explained in depth at all.
Hey, got my copy today. Looking over the rulebook, on page 19 it says about souls gained from a boss encounter, "if the encounter is a boss encounter, add 1 soul per character to the soul cache for each spark remaining on the bonfire". So it would be 3 souls, one per character, times 3 sparks, so 9 souls. Unless I missed something. I'm trying to get the rules down before playing as best as I can. I don't mean to keep arguing with you. I really did enjoy your video.
you're correct- i made a mistake in my video in saying it was 2 per spark. Its sparks remaining times number of characters, so in your example, you're right
Awesome video, thanks. That really cleared up the boss fights for me. Two things though... 1) Adding time jumps to the info section for stuff would be awesome. 2) It would be really helpful to see a S&O boss battle play out... I didn't understand how they worked.. They have behavior cards for each of them, then behavior cards for both of them. I just guessed that once the first one dies, then you start using the combined behavior cards, as well as the heat up cards (since the heat up value was 0??)...
The behavior cards with both of them are used in the first part of the battle. When one of them dies, the other gains 10 HP (up to their max health) and cards from their unique heat up deck is used for the remainder of the battle (and ONLY the cards from their unique heat up deck). It's detailed on O&S's behavior cards.
Nice video. Something I wish you'd covered: when you beat a mini boss, you reset the maps and set up with the main boss in mind. The rule book mentions grabbing two different sets of cards and shuffling them or something. But it was a bit confusing. Look at "setup after mini boss" in the book.
i came here to double check that I was in fact missing a boss tile. i got my copy of the core game yesterday, and it was missing the tile with the spark dial, boss health dials, 5 souls token etc. As well as missing the boss encounter tile. i can still play by making paper icons, and i can't call steamforged customer service until tomorrow, but i swear if they tell me I'm out of luck i will not rest until i burn them alive
According to the rule book itself, bosses do not face the player when moving. They stay facing however they are facing unless they get a turn movement on their behavior cards. Or am I crazy
This game is easily modifiable to include a DM. You'd just have to write all your own flavor text to flesh out NPCs and the enivironment itself. This is not required however.
Really great overview. Nicely done! I am still unclear on the push mechanics, they seem a bit fiddly. I will need to watch that segment a few more times along with reading the rule book over again.
Thank you for this vid, it is my first big board game I have ever played and as a fan of the DS series I was very happy to get this but the rules I found were a bit hard to wrap my head around. Very good and detailed, really helped me understand the rules a bit better.
I'm pretty sure the person that breaks into the room first stands in front of the doorway and gets the aggro token, and the other players have to go to the sides. I saw Yogs play this and they had someone from Steamforged in the room too. So I'm fairly certain that's how you choose the player to get the token.
On page 19 of the rulebook (physical and digital version). The first paragraph reads: Once you've set up the enemies, terrain and traps, place the character models on the entry nodes beside the door aligned with the tile the party moved from. Next, choose which character led the way into the encounter and place the Aggro token on that character's model. You can find the online rulebook PDF at steamforged.com/dark-souls
So I was half right? Like the person who has been chosen to enter the room first gets the token, but they don't actually have to stand in front of the door? Ok.
Sure, but it might be easier to think of it like this: the group decides which tile to enter, they set it up, and place figures, then make a decision based on the tile information they have as to who takes aggro. You don't have to nominate a person to break down the door; it's a group effort
Spot on - from the rules: "Once you’ve set up the enemies, terrain, and traps, place the character models on the entry nodes beside the door aligned with the tile the party moved from."
At 39:05 When the gargoyle push the characters and he advance, why he push him a second time? if you follow the card boss it stated: Push move and magic attack?
pasdenicksti That’s just how push works. First, if you are already on the monsters node, you get a free push away from the monster (at no damage if it would cause any) THEN the monster moves onto you and pushes you again. This is because some push attacks cause damage, but the way monsters work is that they don’t move if they’re already on you, so a monster with a push that causes damage wouldn’t actually move (and therefore not do damage to you) if it was already on your node.
So if there's only one player playing, he gets a bonus of 16 souls to the cache. Does the party get anything if there's only 2 players? It seems like a party of two players is the hardest setup for this game.
Akrakorn No initial soul bonus for parties. Their advantage is that they get to spread damage around the party and getting more souls per encounter. I would say 1 player is the easiest and it gets harder as you add more players, but that's just my opinion because it's easier to manipulate the monsters how you want with less players
At 26:27 the enemy pushes him once, moving him to another node. Then pushes again for an attack. How did he know to do that first initial push off the node? When I look at the behavior card it makes it seem like it just pushes the character to an adjacent node for 5 damage.
Pg 21 of the rulebook under "Pushing", last paragraph: If the Push icon appears on an enemy's movement, immediately move each character on that enemy's node onto an adjacent node chosen by the players. So there you go, it does an initial push outside of its behavior, then starts it's actual behavior by moving towards its target (and subsequently pushing them again, but this time with damage because its a part of the monster's behavior.
So I wonder, would dual wielding weapons be a thing? i.e. left hand sword, right hand axe, perform with both weapons an attack (which would give you more dices to kill an enemy)
Question about character activation: it says only at the very start of activating, players can choose the order of characters to activate. And from then on the activation goes clockwise around the table. I guess thats the... Con? I guess...compared to other DC where you can choose any order of characters to activate. Comes with the planning and strategy of defeating an enemy. Back to my question, so if we have to go clockwise, do players have to physically move around the table to activate a plan/strategy?
Lance Selda i wouldn’t go so far as to rearrange the seating order every time. You simply pick who will activate first, then every subsequent turn is done in clockwise order around the table from that initial choice. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that- the game isn’t so hard that you need to switch up your seating order to game the system even more.
12ealDeal In that case, just wait as the retail release will be soon if it hasn't already happened. Check your local gaming stores or give them a call if they're expecting any shipments
I have one question that might be stupid but is bugging me out. If I'm in the same boss node in his front arc and I want to move in the adjacent node on his back how many movement I have to do? 3 because I move between: side arc, back arc and then adjacent node or just one because (as the handbook says) you can choose if move on an adjacent node or in one of the boss arc as your walk/run phase... The answer could be crucial for all the 1 range attack weapons obviously :P 2nd answer mean free weak spot, black dice bonus
That is an interesting question. The way I read it, you can move to any adjacent node OR an adjacent boss arc if they are on the same node as you. That means if you were in their front arc, you can spend one movement point to move to the node directly behind them (at range 1). Sounds like you figured out some killer technical that I have probably never taken advantage of
What about the split nodes in the boss encounter? If you are in a green and black/orange arcs do you get hit if in range? if you are in 2 greens do you get hit twice? If you attack while being in a half orange node do you get an additional black dice?
I found it!... On page 15 it says "Characters can also restore luck at the Firekeeper. A character must spend 1 soul to flip their Luck token to the ready side." BTW Thanks for making this video it is by far the best run down of the rules out there.
wait, after beating the mini boss you said set up the game again for the main boss. does that mean you gain back any Sparks you lost? does your tokens and estus flask reset as well?
wjh257 Yes, you go through the entire set up process again except you don't make new characters (you keep what you have) add 5 legendary treasures and the transmuted treasures into the treasure deck and of course set the encounters up on reshuffled tiles for the new main boss you've chosen. This means sparks reset and player tokens reset. Items in the party's inventory also remain
Medsas you can move diagonally. If you rotate a tile 45 degrees, you can see that it’s actually a 3x3 grid (with 4 extra spots in the corners) represented by dots if that makes it easier to visualize what is legal movement
@@CynicallyAwesome i know, i just wanted to point out that rotating it actually confused me even more than not rotating... so i wouldnt recommend teaching this tip personally
When a boss leaps on you, you get pushed off of the node and have to defend against damage. If you don't dodge that damage, do you then get pushed a second time? i.e. is the first push a 'set up push' like it is for the Hollow Axe Soldier? Also, do you get to choose any node to get pushed onto if the push is an attack push rather than a movement push (I remember reading that in a FAQ).
Thx for explaining. However i m wondering do the bosses' behavior decks need to be shuffled when they heat up? I remember that it is the way Dancer of the Boreal Valley working, and only does her.
yes. after heat up, you put in the one card and shuffle, but you do not need to shuffle anymore after that, so their pattern can repeat until the end of the fight (except for the dancer who reshuffles every time)
I'm baffled by the 16 souls gift at the beginning of a solo play. It seems far too much considering the scarcity of souls later in the game + the absence of splitting between players.
In the first campaign, do you have to fight the gargoyle twice back-to-back without getting to heal between fights? This seems to be the case but my friend and I weren't certain.
Thomas Corwin that's what I would assume too because that's what happens in the video game- you fight one gargoyle and the second appears as the first is dying, so good luck because you get no respite
Similar to how a player can choose to move before or after their attack, can they do the same with using Estus and swapping backups? For example can someone move, attack and then swap backup since they didn't do at the beginning of their activation?
CynicallyAwesome OK thanks. But according to "house rules" wouldn't it make sense in a certain scenario to let's say as an assassin attacks with the estoc (no longer bestoc, it sucks here), move and then swap the estoc out for a back up with a dodge die, giving now 3 dodge. In this case next turn he wouldn't be able to swap to the estoc to attack then swap back since there is only 1 swap per activation. Makes sense to me. As a huge souls fan with about 400 hours spread out all the games, the boardgame is really good I would say 80% translated from video game mechanics. Why does Force Miracle require INT!? A friend of mine drew it, I said no it's faith, I don't even care what the card says, it's a miracle, it's a faith requirement lol. Also some other weapons/armor with some unnecessary additional requirements that aren't seen in the game. I'm sure they were put in this manner for balancing in some way? But I'm already thinking of ideas to make my own adjustments just to make it that much closer to the video game experience. I do really like the endurance bar system, also hope parry dice mechanics will come out in an expansion pack, otherwise I'll make my own. None the less love the game.
One question, if there is a card with Gargoyle behaviour. For example Halberd Thrust where is one weak arc and 3 normal boss arc then where the Gargoyle will attack?
Adam Zourek if there is no green arc, it probably means the attack is targeting someone specifically- either the closest player or the player with the aggro token. Look at the card to see if it has the skull target icon or the soul-ball looking icon
@@CynicallyAwesome It has movement by 1 to aggro (with push) and as secend behaviour it has attack to aggro by 6 damage. Range of this attack is within 1.
Adam Zourek it attacks the person with the aggro token, which is the person who activated before the monster. If it can’t reach that person- the attack misses. You only use highest threat to break ties for the nearest player, not the aggro token. And if the nearest player is between two different characters, and one has the aggro token, you pick that player even if the other player has higher threat. Make sense?
@@CynicallyAwesome Yeah now make sense, thank you. And one more which I found. When I return to the bonfire do I must reduce one spark? Or its only choice? So i can use souls for buy stats and equipment, change this equipment and continue without using any sparks? Or i need to use sparks everytime I want to go to shrine? And also, when there is an attack to range 1, that means he attack everything by 1 note from him and also when person is on the same note as him? Or for this attack is person "between feets" save?
Hello again. I was curious about class specific weapons, like the Lothric's Holy Sword which is specific to the Herald I believe. Are these weapons tradable with your party? Like if I don't want to use Lothric's Holy Sword anymore as the Herald, can the Knight equip it or do the class specific weapons have harsh restrictions?
CynicallyAwesome Would the class it's tied to have to equip it first? Or is the only difference between normal weapons and class specific weapons just the bonus class items you get to add based on what heroes are playing?
So I have a question, one of the behavior cards on the titanite demon, Vaulting Slam, allows him to leap to the aggro character for 6 damage and then faces the aggro character to end its behavior. Say if there's a second person with the agro character, does he also take damage or just pushed?
The attack behavior itself most likely has the "hits all heroes on the node" icon, so yes, they would be fully affected by the push then attack damage (they get to dodge or block as normal)
CynicallyAwesome I just realized the card is also shown here lol 42:56. I guess the leap itself is always going to attack everyone that node because it doesn't have 'hits all heroes on the node' icon. That's why I was confused, because the behavior doesn't have the 'hits all heroes on the node' icon. Thanks for replying too by the way, me and my friends are playing this and so far enjoying it. 4 player game is tough lol
Andrew Powers It's exactly the same as weapons- target an enemy > choose an attack profile > roll dice for damage and apply hit effects, if any. In poison mist's example, it does not do damage, but it instead always applies it's hit effect (poison)
If i have a warrior thats dual wielding with a shield in the backup slot, when im ending my turn could i just equip the shield to defend better during enemy activation? Or can switching equipment only be done at the very beginning of an activation?
Thanks for replying! What do you mean by separate attacks? for example, I am dual wield Broadsword and Thrail axe (both of them use 2 black dice - both uses 0 stamina). When my turn to attack, am I only able to use one of them (roll 2 black dice only)?
Crash no, you make two separate rolls using the attacks you choose one after the other, resolving them individually. So for your example, you're fighting a silver knight and you have two weapons. You move in and decide to use your sword for two black, roll it and only do 2 dmg. Nothing happens. Then you decide to use your thrall axe and still decide to use the no stamina attack, so you roll 2 black dice again. Alternatively, you can use their higher stamina cost attacks, or they might have different upgrades which set them apart, but you still only make one attack of your choosing with each
Maybe I got it wrong, but in the campaign with 4 players it costs 8 souls for a spark and each fight gives 8 souls. So you can do 2 rooms for 16 souls, buy a spark for 8, sit down and then repeat the process infinetly, with a gain of 8 souls each time.
sure, but that's not terribly interesting. same thing as grinding in the video game- you can do it, but it takes away from some of the enjoyment, but to each their own
Awesome video. I was curious. Say the monster has range zero and it has a 1 movement with say push. Monster moves 1 space to the targeted hero, pushes him (lets say its not a damaging push) away 1 space. The hero decides where to be pushed. NOW the Monster is 1 space away and has Range 0 so he cant hit the hero..... Is this correct??? Seems silly that a monster would push a hero out of his range!
0:46-3:42 Dungeon setup
3:43-5:23 Hero setup
5:24-6:44 Treasure Deck setup
6:45-6:59 Solo souls bonus
7:00-8:02 Heroic Action/Estus/Luck Token
8:03-8:54 Stats/Level cost
8:55-10:26 Equipment explanation
10:27-12:00 Upgrade cards
12:01-12:49 Ember explanation
12:56-15:47 Encounter setup
15:48-16:17 Aggro Token
16:18-20:18 Enemy's turn/movement
20:19-21:46 Enemy attack/blocking
21:47-22:29 Damage/Stamina explanation
22:37-23:16 Dodging
23:33-24:51 Hero's turn/movement pt1
24:52-25:57 Hero attack
25:58-28:29 Movement pt2/Enemy attack icons
28:30-29:16 Traps
29:16-30:52 After the battle
30:52-32:18 Back to the Bonfire
32:31-35:04 Mini/Main Boss encounter setup/Gravestones
35:05-37:00 Boss movement pt1/attack
37:01-38:33 Hero movement pt1/attack
38:34-39:28 Boss movement pt2
39:29-39:50 Hero movement pt2
39:51-41:03 Boss patterns/Heat-up
41:04-41:58 Death/Victory
41:59-43:11 180 turn/Leaping
Prepped this for a night with my friend and I, it's the furthest and most cohesive game we've played since I got it almost a year ago. Knew we'd forget rules so I time-stamped it for our dumbass'. Thanks for breaking it down so clearly!
Thank you!
45 minutes seemed almost as intimidating as the rulebook itself, but this went really fast and answered basically all of my questions, thanks for this!
One rule I change just for fun is the encounter cards. Whenever we rest at a bonfire I put a new encounter card just to keep things fresh and unpredictable
My party died on the first mini boss, the gargoyle. We thought we were ready. We were not.
dark souls of board games
07:45 - Resetting tokens - The luck token can be reset for 1 soul per character between encounters instead of resting at the bonfire
15:40 - Placing characters - You can't place any character on a spawn node, since those are not considered to be "entry nodes"!
18:22 and 19:33 - Target - The determined target will not remain the same throughout the monsters entire activation! The determined target will only remain the same throughout this monsters currently resolving behavior icon (movement or attack) and will be determined again for each following behavior icon. So, the nearest target for the movement icon, could be different than for the attack icon.
36:45 - Boss movement - The boss would have turned so the node in the upper right corner would be in the center of the back arc (since it is farther away from the target - aggro) and would have moved on that one, facing S!
41:45 - Boss souls reward - They actually add souls equal to 1 x [number of characters] x [sparks remaining] to the soul cache
These are all correct comments, I just wish editing videos post publishing was possible on UA-cam, but they removed annotations for some reason although I could just re-edit it on my end and republish
Since you pinned my comment, I fixed a typo I've stumbled upon considering more will see it. Figured that this has taken the pin status again though... whoops xD
Remove something useful. UA-cam logic.
he also missed that you can sell treasure in the campaign mode for 1 soul refund each, as long as it's not equipped, but treasure now also costs 2 souls to buy. this is important, because in a campaign, you can sell staring equipment once you've replaced it, since it exists in the treasure inventory, and if you have trash, but need a few more souls to level to something useful, you can basically sacrifice the rest to level.
I'm sorry, what you mean by "Facing S", in the boss movement remark.
Super detailed and amazing video! It makes learning the game so much less intimidating. I can't thank you enough for putting so much work into this.
That was perhaps the best play through and explanation of Dark Souls I have watched so far. Looking forward to you future videos.
Played a couple games of this now and I loved it to bits, after only two games I can tell it's gonna be my favourite bored game largely due to the fact of how true if is to the games! watched this before playing and it was a huge help!
I finally got hold of a copy of this game which I have been wanting for a about a year. Your videos really helped me get going and getting passed some rule hurdles early on, and were able to really just enjoy the game. Thank you and keep up the good work.
I think this might be the clearest and easiest to follow explanation of a tabletop game I've seen yet. Thanks!
I’m not gonna lie this has been the most helpful video I’ve ever watched ever!!! Maybe it’s the way you explain or the way you show the playing material but I watched this 2 years ago played the game for about 6 months and haven’t touched it for 2+ years but every single rule is drilled into my head like my brain created a spot just for the rules. Thanks for this masterpiece. And do wish to see you play it again on the Chanel. 🙌
Thanks a lot dude. I've got ADD so i could not make it through the guidebook without losing focus!
Thanks for the video. It's not easy for me to learn things by reading to myself. But when I have the book and someone to explain it, it makes everything so easy to understand.
“So what’s the deal with traps” I’ve been asking that same question my whole life
At least you know when you unbox the game it's not going to have a raging hard-on. Oh no hang on, that was the Bailey Jay pre-order version.
This was great! love that you took the time to explain everything. I feel like after watching this and other videos I'm ready to open the box and play immediately when mine gets here.
Great video. I used it to verify a few questions I had with boss movements and arcs. This is a fun game, but it needs a tiered treasure deck. So many wasted souls drawing high level gear at the start.
But you can also trade 2 items for a soul. So your old gear can be useful in other ways.
Even though it is not official a lot of people made item variations that speed up the loot process and make the game more interesting (imho). You can find such loot rules in ds forum!
Just bought the game and waiting for it to be shipped, man I am hyped to play it!
Can anyone explain exactly how the repeat icon works on player weapons? In the rulebook it says:
"The Repeat icon allows the character to use that entire weapon option the number of times indicated in the circle. This represents such effects as combination attacks with a melee weapon or rapidly firing bolts from a repeating crossbow."
Does that mean say on the Gotthard Twinswords you can spend 4 stamina to roll 2 blue dice to attack, and then the repeat icon tells you you can spend 4 more stamina to roll 2 more blue dice for an additional attack? Or do you spend 4 stamina for essentially 2 separate attacks both with 2 blue dice. And in either case can you use each attack on separate targets, like for example there are 2 enemies you can attack, therefore you use the first two blue dice attack on one target and kill it, and then use the other 2 blue dice attack to kill the other target on the same turn.
I would assume you would have to spend another 4 stamina to repeat the action, since it says the repeat icon allows you to use the "entire" weapon option the number of times indicated. But then again that would mean spending 8 stamina in 1 turn, leaving you with 2 health almost killing yourself. It feels like the repeat icon for players is only talked about in that single spot and not really explained in depth at all.
Thank you for explaining! It saved us so much time in setting up the game and having to read the manuals while playing!
Hey, got my copy today. Looking over the rulebook, on page 19 it says about souls gained from a boss encounter, "if the encounter is a boss encounter, add 1 soul per character to the soul cache for each spark remaining on the bonfire". So it would be 3 souls, one per character, times 3 sparks, so 9 souls. Unless I missed something. I'm trying to get the rules down before playing as best as I can. I don't mean to keep arguing with you. I really did enjoy your video.
you're correct- i made a mistake in my video in saying it was 2 per spark. Its sparks remaining times number of characters, so in your example, you're right
Does that means that if you have 0 sparks left, the boss doesn't give any souls?
correct, so it would be in your best interest to not let it get that far down
Thank you so much for this, I read the manual last night and was thinking this was all a little daunting!
Awesome video, thanks. That really cleared up the boss fights for me. Two things though...
1) Adding time jumps to the info section for stuff would be awesome.
2) It would be really helpful to see a S&O boss battle play out... I didn't understand how they worked.. They have behavior cards for each of them, then behavior cards for both of them. I just guessed that once the first one dies, then you start using the combined behavior cards, as well as the heat up cards (since the heat up value was 0??)...
The behavior cards with both of them are used in the first part of the battle. When one of them dies, the other gains 10 HP (up to their max health) and cards from their unique heat up deck is used for the remainder of the battle (and ONLY the cards from their unique heat up deck). It's detailed on O&S's behavior cards.
Nice video. Something I wish you'd covered: when you beat a mini boss, you reset the maps and set up with the main boss in mind. The rule book mentions grabbing two different sets of cards and shuffling them or something. But it was a bit confusing.
Look at "setup after mini boss" in the book.
Juan Birrueta
That's what I explained in the beginning when I talk about setting up the equipment deck
i came here to double check that I was in fact missing a boss tile.
i got my copy of the core game yesterday, and it was missing the tile with the spark dial, boss health dials, 5 souls token etc.
As well as missing the boss encounter tile.
i can still play by making paper icons, and i can't call steamforged customer service until tomorrow, but i swear if they tell me I'm out of luck i will not rest until i burn them alive
How did it go?
This video is really helpful to visualize the rules, thanks!
Yo, nice tutorial. Could you maybe put the chapters into the video-timeline?
I was really confused when I first tried to play this. It was pretty daunting. Thanks for breaking this down so well. Now it doesn't seem so bad.,
According to the rule book itself, bosses do not face the player when moving. They stay facing however they are facing unless they get a turn movement on their behavior cards. Or am I crazy
Cleared up some loose ends and just little things we missed. Thanks for the upload.
I have watched other playthrough videos, buy this one is good for learning specifics. Good video!
So: not a Full-on roleplay game, no DM required, but a lil too expensive (still worth)
I am thinking of gathering money for this. Do you guys approve?
Approved, it is hours of fun and well worth it's price.
@@tommyschembri485 I ended up buying Fallout Wasteland Warfare. Also reccomend it, needs a little more figures and preparing, yet cheaper
Get tts on steam and ill play it with you!
This game is easily modifiable to include a DM. You'd just have to write all your own flavor text to flesh out NPCs and the enivironment itself. This is not required however.
Good summery. Just spent two hours learning this and came here to check if I missed anything! Great video.
The way you shuffled at 6:33 is amazing! I can't shuffle fast...
Pushes are confusing and a visual example like this is super helpful.
Great video! This was the only way I was able to trully understand the push mechanic.
Thank you. Great clear concise tutorial for a great dark souls board game.
Excellent tutorial, this is just what I needed to set everything up. :)
This was perfect! Thank you so much! Very well said, you spoke clearly and to the point. Awesome.
Very well instructed tutorial!
Really great overview. Nicely done! I am still unclear on the push mechanics, they seem a bit fiddly. I will need to watch that segment a few more times along with reading the rule book over again.
Hey, thank you for this great tutorial, it helped a lot ! :)
Thank you for this vid, it is my first big board game I have ever played and as a fan of the DS series I was very happy to get this but the rules I found were a bit hard to wrap my head around. Very good and detailed, really helped me understand the rules a bit better.
my first though of this board game is if i roll a die i lose instant
super instructive video, a great way to learn the game(after a couple runthrough)! thank you great job.
Thank you for the detailed explanation of the game! You helped me get through my first play run:) Cheers!
awsome! thank you so much - your video answered so many open questions for me!
Great video! Made me understand the game much better! Thanks!
This is very helpful. Thank you for doing this video!
This tutorial is amazingly good. Well done and thanks.
Thanks for not making an unboxing vide
Insanely deep game but seems like a lot of fun once you do get it down
14:45 can I get pushed on a barrel knot? And if so does it cost me 1 stamina?
I'm pretty sure the person that breaks into the room first stands in front of the doorway and gets the aggro token, and the other players have to go to the sides. I saw Yogs play this and they had someone from Steamforged in the room too. So I'm fairly certain that's how you choose the player to get the token.
On page 19 of the rulebook (physical and digital version). The first paragraph reads:
Once you've set up the enemies, terrain and traps, place the character models on the entry nodes beside the door aligned with the tile the party moved from.
Next, choose which character led the way into the encounter and place the Aggro token on that character's model.
You can find the online rulebook PDF at steamforged.com/dark-souls
So I was half right? Like the person who has been chosen to enter the room first gets the token, but they don't actually have to stand in front of the door? Ok.
Sure, but it might be easier to think of it like this: the group decides which tile to enter, they set it up, and place figures, then make a decision based on the tile information they have as to who takes aggro. You don't have to nominate a person to break down the door; it's a group effort
Ok, cool. Thanks man.
Spot on - from the rules: "Once you’ve set up the enemies, terrain, and traps, place the character models on the entry nodes beside the door aligned with the tile the party moved from."
At 39:05 When the gargoyle push the characters and he advance, why he push him a second time? if you follow the card boss it stated: Push move and magic attack?
pasdenicksti
That’s just how push works. First, if you are already on the monsters node, you get a free push away from the monster (at no damage if it would cause any) THEN the monster moves onto you and pushes you again.
This is because some push attacks cause damage, but the way monsters work is that they don’t move if they’re already on you, so a monster with a push that causes damage wouldn’t actually move (and therefore not do damage to you) if it was already on your node.
@@CynicallyAwesome exactly the piece of information I was looking for as this isn't explained in the rulebook at all appreciate the content
Great video. This really helps as the instructions are kinda vague. Seems like there may be some flexibility with "house" rules.
33:48 How many cards do you have in the gargoyle general behaviour deck? I have only 5 on my copy. And 3 heat up s. You look like you have many more.
I have the same, i just grabbed all the cards together when i picked up the behavior cards and separated them out afterwards- don't worry
So if there's only one player playing, he gets a bonus of 16 souls to the cache. Does the party get anything if there's only 2 players? It seems like a party of two players is the hardest setup for this game.
Akrakorn
No initial soul bonus for parties. Their advantage is that they get to spread damage around the party and getting more souls per encounter.
I would say 1 player is the easiest and it gets harder as you add more players, but that's just my opinion because it's easier to manipulate the monsters how you want with less players
@@CynicallyAwesome similar in the main game, if you spawn in help for a boss fight, the bosses health/dmg increases
thanks a lot I couldn't really understand the instructions and this really helped.
At 26:27 the enemy pushes him once, moving him to another node. Then pushes again for an attack. How did he know to do that first initial push off the node? When I look at the behavior card it makes it seem like it just pushes the character to an adjacent node for 5 damage.
Pg 21 of the rulebook under "Pushing", last paragraph: If the Push icon appears on an enemy's movement, immediately move each character on that enemy's node onto an adjacent node chosen by the players.
So there you go, it does an initial push outside of its behavior, then starts it's actual behavior by moving towards its target (and subsequently pushing them again, but this time with damage because its a part of the monster's behavior.
i thought my first playthrough was a bit easy, i wasn't adding a stamina for every dodge i made. welp, now i know.
thank you for this, the game certainly has a large learning curve
This is fantastic, thank you so much!
So I wonder, would dual wielding weapons be a thing? i.e. left hand sword, right hand axe, perform with both weapons an attack (which would give you more dices to kill an enemy)
Question about character activation: it says only at the very start of activating, players can choose the order of characters to activate. And from then on the activation goes clockwise around the table. I guess thats the... Con? I guess...compared to other DC where you can choose any order of characters to activate. Comes with the planning and strategy of defeating an enemy.
Back to my question, so if we have to go clockwise, do players have to physically move around the table to activate a plan/strategy?
Lance Selda i wouldn’t go so far as to rearrange the seating order every time. You simply pick who will activate first, then every subsequent turn is done in clockwise order around the table from that initial choice. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that- the game isn’t so hard that you need to switch up your seating order to game the system even more.
CynicallyAwesome thanks for replying so soon and thanks for the info :)
Question: Where do you all recommend buying a copy? The only games available on Amazon are from scalpers at the moment.
12ealDeal
In that case, just wait as the retail release will be soon if it hasn't already happened. Check your local gaming stores or give them a call if they're expecting any shipments
Much appreciated. Excellent work, by the way!
Check major conventions as they may have copies for an early release.
I actually went to a local retailer last weekend and saw it available. be prepared for your wallet to die though, its $120 retail
I paid more for it on the kickstarter.
Me and my boys steamrolled this game.
Quick questions: did you play the card game? And, if yes, do you prefer it to the board game?
very good tutorial, you should make more
Thank you. This video was immensely helpful. Sharing.
Fantastic video my dude!
I put the whole game away with no desire to play after i watched this video twice, lol. damn it
Dude Zeugirdor don't be a stanger. this is just a clone of super dungeon explore. They are just using the title dark souls for marketing.
I have one question that might be stupid but is bugging me out.
If I'm in the same boss node in his front arc and I want to move in the adjacent node on his back how many movement I have to do?
3 because I move between: side arc, back arc and then adjacent node
or just one because (as the handbook says) you can choose if move on an adjacent node or in one of the boss arc as your walk/run phase...
The answer could be crucial for all the 1 range attack weapons obviously :P 2nd answer mean free weak spot, black dice bonus
That is an interesting question.
The way I read it, you can move to any adjacent node OR an adjacent boss arc if they are on the same node as you. That means if you were in their front arc, you can spend one movement point to move to the node directly behind them (at range 1). Sounds like you figured out some killer technical that I have probably never taken advantage of
What about the split nodes in the boss encounter? If you are in a green and black/orange arcs do you get hit if in range? if you are in 2 greens do you get hit twice? If you attack while being in a half orange node do you get an additional black dice?
9NecroW9
A split arc counts as being in both at the same time, so for your examples-
yes (orange isn’t an arc that gets hit at all)
No, just once
Yes
Thanks!
22:24 traumatized for life
Cant you buy your luck token back for a soul after each fight?
I found it!... On page 15 it says "Characters can also restore luck at the Firekeeper. A character must spend 1 soul to flip their Luck token to the ready side."
BTW Thanks for making this video it is by far the best run down of the rules out there.
Good find! Didn't see that. it is a shame the book isn't organized to keep all these rules together, but it is what it is.
Yeah, the rule book is the 1 thing that isn't amazing about this game XD
wait, after beating the mini boss you said set up the game again for the main boss. does that mean you gain back any Sparks you lost? does your tokens and estus flask reset as well?
wjh257
Yes, you go through the entire set up process again except you don't make new characters (you keep what you have) add 5 legendary treasures and the transmuted treasures into the treasure deck and of course set the encounters up on reshuffled tiles for the new main boss you've chosen. This means sparks reset and player tokens reset. Items in the party's inventory also remain
CynicallyAwesome awesome, ty!!!!
main that rotate 45 degrees tip completely confused me, I thought you were saying you can only move left right up down and not diagonally...
Medsas you can move diagonally. If you rotate a tile 45 degrees, you can see that it’s actually a 3x3 grid (with 4 extra spots in the corners) represented by dots if that makes it easier to visualize what is legal movement
@@CynicallyAwesome i know, i just wanted to point out that rotating it actually confused me even more than not rotating... so i wouldnt recommend teaching this tip personally
INCREDIBLE! Thank you so much!
When a boss leaps on you, you get pushed off of the node and have to defend against damage. If you don't dodge that damage, do you then get pushed a second time? i.e. is the first push a 'set up push' like it is for the Hollow Axe Soldier? Also, do you get to choose any node to get pushed onto if the push is an attack push rather than a movement push (I remember reading that in a FAQ).
seanylewl
Yes and you get pushed away from the monster (although I haven't read any FAQs, so I don't know if they've changed it)
Thx for explaining.
However i m wondering do the bosses' behavior decks need to be shuffled when they heat up?
I remember that it is the way Dancer of the Boreal Valley working, and only does her.
yes. after heat up, you put in the one card and shuffle, but you do not need to shuffle anymore after that, so their pattern can repeat until the end of the fight (except for the dancer who reshuffles every time)
I'm baffled by the 16 souls gift at the beginning of a solo play. It seems far too much considering the scarcity of souls later in the game + the absence of splitting between players.
In the first campaign, do you have to fight the gargoyle twice back-to-back without getting to heal between fights? This seems to be the case but my friend and I weren't certain.
As if there were two in the room but only one fights you at a time?
Thomas Corwin that's what I would assume too because that's what happens in the video game- you fight one gargoyle and the second appears as the first is dying, so good luck because you get no respite
CynicallyAwesome Thanks we definitely need it. 💀
What are you using to hold the sparks dial together
So crazy! Thank you for sharing
Dude. Awesome video!!!!
surprisingly helpful. Good video.
Similar to how a player can choose to move before or after their attack, can they do the same with using Estus and swapping backups?
For example can someone move, attack and then swap backup since they didn't do at the beginning of their activation?
The MADGamer
Swapping weapons only happens at the beginning of your activation.
Using estus only says during your activation
CynicallyAwesome OK thanks. But according to "house rules" wouldn't it make sense in a certain scenario to let's say as an assassin attacks with the estoc (no longer bestoc, it sucks here), move and then swap the estoc out for a back up with a dodge die, giving now 3 dodge. In this case next turn he wouldn't be able to swap to the estoc to attack then swap back since there is only 1 swap per activation. Makes sense to me. As a huge souls fan with about 400 hours spread out all the games, the boardgame is really good I would say 80% translated from video game mechanics. Why does Force Miracle require INT!? A friend of mine drew it, I said no it's faith, I don't even care what the card says, it's a miracle, it's a faith requirement lol. Also some other weapons/armor with some unnecessary additional requirements that aren't seen in the game. I'm sure they were put in this manner for balancing in some way? But I'm already thinking of ideas to make my own adjustments just to make it that much closer to the video game experience. I do really like the endurance bar system, also hope parry dice mechanics will come out in an expansion pack, otherwise I'll make my own. None the less love the game.
Some ought mix this with 5e.
One question, if there is a card with Gargoyle behaviour. For example Halberd Thrust where is one weak arc and 3 normal boss arc then where the Gargoyle will attack?
Adam Zourek if there is no green arc, it probably means the attack is targeting someone specifically- either the closest player or the player with the aggro token.
Look at the card to see if it has the skull target icon or the soul-ball looking icon
@@CynicallyAwesome It has movement by 1 to aggro (with push) and as secend behaviour it has attack to aggro by 6 damage. Range of this attack is within 1.
So thats mean, it attack single target what has bigger agro to range within 1? correct?
Adam Zourek it attacks the person with the aggro token, which is the person who activated before the monster. If it can’t reach that person- the attack misses.
You only use highest threat to break ties for the nearest player, not the aggro token. And if the nearest player is between two different characters, and one has the aggro token, you pick that player even if the other player has higher threat.
Make sense?
@@CynicallyAwesome Yeah now make sense, thank you. And one more which I found. When I return to the bonfire do I must reduce one spark? Or its only choice? So i can use souls for buy stats and equipment, change this equipment and continue without using any sparks? Or i need to use sparks everytime I want to go to shrine?
And also, when there is an attack to range 1, that means he attack everything by 1 note from him and also when person is on the same note as him? Or for this attack is person "between feets" save?
Hello again. I was curious about class specific weapons, like the Lothric's Holy Sword which is specific to the Herald I believe. Are these weapons tradable with your party? Like if I don't want to use Lothric's Holy Sword anymore as the Herald, can the Knight equip it or do the class specific weapons have harsh restrictions?
OopsRuMad
The only restrictions are stat requirements
CynicallyAwesome
Would the class it's tied to have to equip it first? Or is the only difference between normal weapons and class specific weapons just the bonus class items you get to add based on what heroes are playing?
No. yes
Thanks.
So I have a question, one of the behavior cards on the titanite demon, Vaulting Slam, allows him to leap to the aggro character for 6 damage and then faces the aggro character to end its behavior. Say if there's a second person with the agro character, does he also take damage or just pushed?
The attack behavior itself most likely has the "hits all heroes on the node" icon, so yes, they would be fully affected by the push then attack damage (they get to dodge or block as normal)
CynicallyAwesome I just realized the card is also shown here lol 42:56.
I guess the leap itself is always going to attack everyone that node because it doesn't have 'hits all heroes on the node' icon. That's why I was confused, because the behavior doesn't have the 'hits all heroes on the node' icon.
Thanks for replying too by the way, me and my friends are playing this and so far enjoying it. 4 player game is tough lol
So how do spells work? The assassin can use Poison Mist with only one level up and I'm curious as to how poison and what-not works
Andrew Powers
It's exactly the same as weapons- target an enemy > choose an attack profile > roll dice for damage and apply hit effects, if any.
In poison mist's example, it does not do damage, but it instead always applies it's hit effect (poison)
CynicallyAwesome ohh gotcha. Thanks!
If i have a warrior thats dual wielding with a shield in the backup slot, when im ending my turn could i just equip the shield to defend better during enemy activation? Or can switching equipment only be done at the very beginning of an activation?
only at the beginning
CynicallyAwesome sweet thank you. Im guessing that also goes for using heroic ability and estus flask?
Those can be used at any time DURING your turn
I have a question, can you dual wield two one-handed swords? If yes, do I combine both required dice on each weapon to attack?
Crash yes and no. You can dual wield, but when you attack, you make separate attacks instead of making one big attack
Thanks for replying! What do you mean by separate attacks? for example, I am dual wield Broadsword and Thrail axe (both of them use 2 black dice - both uses 0 stamina). When my turn to attack, am I only able to use one of them (roll 2 black dice only)?
Crash no, you make two separate rolls using the attacks you choose one after the other, resolving them individually.
So for your example, you're fighting a silver knight and you have two weapons. You move in and decide to use your sword for two black, roll it and only do 2 dmg. Nothing happens. Then you decide to use your thrall axe and still decide to use the no stamina attack, so you roll 2 black dice again.
Alternatively, you can use their higher stamina cost attacks, or they might have different upgrades which set them apart, but you still only make one attack of your choosing with each
Ohhh okay I understand now. Thank you for answering my question :D
the spells are considered as Weapons?
I must have missed it. How do you detirmine who has the agro token? Simply by choice of players ? Does it stay on them through the entire encounter ?
You pick at the start of each encounter, then it gets passed at the start of each player's turn, so you start your turn > you get the token
Great tutorial. Thank you.
Maybe I got it wrong, but in the campaign with 4 players it costs 8 souls for a spark and each fight gives 8 souls.
So you can do 2 rooms for 16 souls, buy a spark for 8, sit down and then repeat the process infinetly, with a gain of 8 souls each time.
sure, but that's not terribly interesting.
same thing as grinding in the video game- you can do it, but it takes away from some of the enjoyment, but to each their own
Awesome video. I was curious. Say the monster has range zero and it has a 1 movement with say push. Monster moves 1 space to the targeted hero, pushes him (lets say its not a damaging push) away 1 space. The hero decides where to be pushed. NOW the Monster is 1 space away and has Range 0 so he cant hit the hero..... Is this correct??? Seems silly that a monster would push a hero out of his range!
That is what would happen, given that scenario. In practice, enemies with push always either have damaging push or greater than 0 attack range.
Cool. Thanks for explaining that. Yes, I see that now. Just fought a mini boss that pushed and followed up with a range 1 attack!