Can You Beat DARK SOULS 2 With Only Scythes?

hey it's lemon welcome to the backlogs

hope you're doing well after a long time

away I think it's finally time we

revisit the lands of Dr Lake it's been a

hot minute and what better way to

introduce ourselves than by trying out a

weapon type I've never used before

that's right I've never used a scythe in

Dark Souls 2 mainly due to them being so

overpowered in Dark Souls 1 I just

always want to play the game at a slower

Pace you know but today's the day time

to stop fearing The Reaper and un

shackle every boss in NPC we come across

from this Mortal coil today we're going

to find out can you beat Dark Souls 2

with only

Reapers all right let's get this party

started the main problem with this run

and the reason it took me so long to get

around to it is that reapers are a bit

hard to come by in the early game and

what is death without her signature

weapon I ask you so after choosing a fun

look for myself and picking The

Swordsman class I zip through the things

bet Twix race through Mula collecting

all the usual bits like some loose tit

night and esta shards then make my way

to the Victor's Stone why well remember

when I said that getting a scythe is a

bit difficult in the early game yeah no

I wasn't kidding around we've got some

bad times ahead of us and those bad

times start at Hyde's Tower of flame the

first problem of the Run may be

acquiring a weapon but the second

problem is that all the Reapers have

heavy stat requirements to even use so

rather than push that problem off until

later I figured we might as well show

off my usual grinding point for these

kind of runs just get this Knight to

start walking up the ramp roll past him

with with relative ease and watch as 400

Souls gets added to your bank account I

don't know what it is about this

particular patch of ground but the

knights just don't really know what to

do with it and you can pretty reliably

Make Them Fall to their deaths by

rinsing and repeating this process and

don't worry because we've joined the

company of Champions enemies no longer

have despawn limits so you can do this

as many times as you like and after

collecting a reasonable amount of levels

it's time to push forward the Dragon

Rider is the only boss in the way of our

first Reaper so I invited him to a light

swim he was a bit hesitant at first but

he warmed up to the idea eventually and

while gravity technically isn't a Reaper

don't worry we'll fight this boss again

later in dangl Castle I talk to Lisa and

exhaust her dialogue use all of my souls

to get 14 strength and 18 dexterity with

a few levels into endurance for

posterity then go back to Lisa who has

now moved to the room just before hides

Tower of

flame did you just use a key to move the

doorway and pretend it was a miracle you

and I are going to have words later but

not yet because we still need to Sprint

through the huntsman's cops to get our

first weapon behold the full moon sickle

the only Reaper available in the early

game and with the help of these poison

moths that hide in the trees we just

need to lure this artificial Undead

around the forest and wait for it to die

so we can loot its body any second now

any second now he's not going to get

poison dizzy well dang it now what the

hell do we do this is literally the only

Reaper we can get and it's not like I

can justn lur it off a cliff kind of

hard to get my prize if it's at the

bottom of the Abyss there is a small

fall in the middle of this area though

maybe if we lure it off the well I mean

at least we know it does damage now

unfortunately though that seems to only

apply to me the artificial Undead

doesn't seem to have taken any damage at

all from the fall no cool super cool

very exciting news I explored the entire

area hoping to find something I could

use to kill the enemy but there's

nothing not a single thing all of that

effort wasted wasted one does not waste

the firebomb Academy's efforts and avoid

being licked by the Flames do you know

who I am I am the Headmaster of this

Academy and I will have my and so after

several resets and a multitude of

explosives we finally got one a full

moon sickle flame for the fire goddess

fuel for the charcoal Throne now granted

we could have gone out of our way to

summon two friendly NPCs in the area

bashful Ray and kraton The Wanderer and

let them duke it out with the enemies

until the weapon dropped but if you

think I'm capable of that kind of

forward thinking you need to take me off

that pedestal you've got me on before I

fall and hurt myself I quickly leave my

Covenant since adding more difficulty to

this run is not my idea of good time

then check out my prize kind of looks

like an oversized one-handed Scythe like

the kind of use for farming not exactly

the kind of thing that will invoke fear

in my enemies but that's okay I'll teach

them to fear it all the same Kia huh

decent damage I guess but this move set

leaves a lot to be desired look at this

what is this weapon range not only that

but the damage is all over the place the

hit boxes too curses upon you enough of

this my guy we've only just started the

run if you had enough already you might

as well quit now you won't get me now

now don't fight it death comes for

everyone in the end even if this version

of death is a bit clumsier than I'd like

okay what that damage was 270 but that

damage was just 70 and now it's doing

192 honestly what the hell is this

weapon oh uh sorry Marin got distracted

by my own problems rest easy friend your

passing gifts have not gone unnoticed so

now that we have our armor of choice for

what is likely to be the majority of the

Run let's talk about those damage

numbers the Reapers in Dark Souls I have

a thing called sweet spots actually a

few weapons in the game do but with the

Reapers it's especially pronounced with

some players reporting over 11 different

damage ranges and you know what after

this challenge run I believe it now I

haven't done any kind of in-depth

analysis but I did try to attack from

multiple ranges and it seems like no

matter how close or how far away I

attacked I kept getting inconsistent

damage combine that with the wacky move

set this Scythe has and it's it's just

unpredictable at the best of times and

with enemies always moving around and

the move set of the Scythe pushing me

back and forth I think we're just going

to have to accept that this is what the

run is going to look like which sucks

because my least favorite thing about

games is inconsistent damage there's no

worse feeling than attacking an enemy

expecting them to fall dead and watching

as you low roll your hit and get killed

instead yall remember early Terraria God

I miss early Terraria any who on to our

next NPC kale our man here is obsessed

with maps but fails to realize that she

can't take anything with you at the end

[ __ ] on you you should have told me

before here take this a key to the

Manion huh interesting usually people

beg and scream when death comes for them

glad to find someone who's willing to

embrace it any regrets I can take off

your

mind that's fair it's hard to watch a

project we put our heart and soul into

go unfinished before our time is

complete but sometimes you just have to

learn to let go I used the key to the

mansion that I got from kale to collect

a few items namely some free tight KN up

on the second floor and the Estus flash

Shard guarded by Tony in the basement

then I upgrade my Reaper to plus three

bringing my damage to 182 which is great

or it would be if this stupid weapon

would actually do that damage with every

swing God this thing sucks but

complaining never got anyone anywhere so

rather than keep doing that let's push

forward I find and equip the chloranthy

ring which boosts my stamina

regeneration then find our next NPC hey

there Chief don't mind me just doing a

quick measurement well how about that we

got a fighter so much for you being mild

mannered by the by one of the main

benefits that Reapers boast in Dark

Souls 2 is that they can attack around

Shields except there's two problems with

that the first is that reapers are

incredibly slow so good luck getting a

hit in against most opponents and the

second problem is that you have to get

the reaper hit box around the shield in

the first place for it to work and I've

already said my piece about the Reaper's

hit boxes just like the Reaper's damage

when it works it works but I just can't

seem to get it to work consistently in

the end I was able to wait out Pate

until he overextended himself but it was

a bit closer than I would have liked we

need to find a better Reaper and

preferably soon but before we can go

hunting for a new weapon we might as

well clear out a few bosses with this

one since I already took the time to

upgrade it so good news bad news the

good news is that the damage looks

pretty solid the bad news is that it

looks pretty solid about 50% of the time

combine that with the slow attack speed

and yeah good times ahead it's such a

shame the damage is ridiculous when it

works but combined with the variable

damage and the attack speed and I can

see why most players never seem to

gravitate towards this weapon type but

that was against a boss with no armor

let's see if we can get the same results

on one that is coated head to toe in

metal plating yep and it's the same here

too sometimes it's 98 damage other times

it's 238 that's an incredibly wide range

but ranges are not slow and steady

damage will get the job done eventually

and with that both The Last Giant and

the pursuer are dead and gone now we

could put a few more NPCs to rest I mean

the fire keeper is even offering to do

half the job for us but but a few of

them still have a job to do so the fire

Keeper's time is not quite yet you

however you've served your purpose you

come unhinged my brother and souls I

know you're tired tired in your bones

and tired in your soul I'm simply

offering you

rest there it is moving on let's clear

out hid's Tower of flame considering

this weapon's move speed and damage I

have to remove all the enemies around

the map before heading norstein because

Gwyn knows that there's no way in hell I

can deal with more than one enemy at a

time with this unwieldy piece of iron

and after finally clearing the map and

removing the wyvern guarding the bridge

which took far too long it's time to

face off against the old dragon slayer

not much to see here it wasn't a

completely smooth fight but I think

that's for me being Rusty more than

anything else the price you pay when you

haven't played a Souls game in a few

months I suppose I release ornstein's

soul from its shackles so that it can

manifest again in Dark Souls 3 then move

on to our next NPC in need of Freedom

hello Tar gry this is no place for one

such as you be gone you are not needed

oh contr my friend you appear to be in

need of guidance and while I may not

look familiar I promise you that death

goes by many names I know it's scary but

I'm here to make that Crossing easier

come now give me your hand may you find

peace but not all Crossings are peaceful

some NPCs have rotten souls and seem to

know exactly what awaits them on the

other side which means they fight tooth

and nail in an attempt to fend off death

if only for a bit longer surprisingly

Lisa is actually pretty difficult she's

got a huge health bar and can heal

herself with a single cast she also

casts Wrath of the Gods on repeat which

does a hefty amount of damage if you get

hit with as long as this fight took I

began to get concerned that I might have

to come back when I had a better weapon

but then an epiphany even Reapers have a

move that doesn't worry about hitboxes

the backstab done properly you can even

chain it together into another backstab

letting you really build up the damage

combine this with the sudden realization

that I can actually Dodge through the

Wrath of the Gods and it's over backstab

the backstabber because it's easy and it

does a lot of damage I dodge my way

through no man's Warf make friends with

all the Pirates around town then meet

our next Target Luca I don't know you

and you don't know me things are better

that way sorry love but everyone knows

death at some point or another lucatiel

has a great sword that she Swings with

one hand which would be super impressive

if she could actually hit me with it

unfortunately for her though she's just

a bit too slow and I'm using the Scythe

so that's saying something ohy look

another NPC man there's a lot of you in

this game I am kilan and I have no

interest in the magic

[Music]

in no but you're about to now credit

where credit is due Carilion can hit

hard if you aren't paying attention that

Soul Spear is no joke and the little

homing Soul balls he shoots are a pain

to dodge as well but get him off balance

and he's just another glass Cannon Mage

uh-oh looks like someone forgot to

prepare water breathing today up next is

the flexile Sentry nothing to talk about

here just your attacks keep up the

pressure and do as much damage as you

can before the water in the arena gets

too high moving on I ride a ghost ship

into the night getting flashbacks to

acarina of time and a sudden realization

that I still need to beat Majora's Mask

without a sword then change complete

directions and decide to high tail it

back to the huntsman's cops all the way

back to The Executioner's Chariot this

fight is an exercise in patience more

than anything else just dodge past the

Chariot murder the Summoners along the

way then finish off any of the tonies

that are stubborn enough to still be un

alive you see that that Chariot nearly

they cut me in h and once the Chariot

Rider is killed all that's left is

little Sebastian again not a whole lot

to see here just dodge the breath

attacks and Hooves and let your

one-handed Scythe do all the talking

right that should give the daycare kids

enough glue for a while time for our

prize the Brotherhood of BL ah [ __ ] I

forgot the token well that's an easy

enough fix I go byy the kitty cat ring

from the kitty cat then strip down to my

skibbies to minimize damage and drop

down into the Mula well now I don't

understand why being naked does less

fall damage stop asking then after

falling with feels like forever we can

finally access a wooden chest near the

bottom and collect our Token of Spite

from there we can go back to the

Brotherhood of Blood and after giving

them my token and describing in

gratuitous detail how much I like blood

we can finally access their inventory

and there it is the great Scythe ready

and willing to serve now obviously we've

got a bit of catching up to do with this

weapon seeing as our current weapon is

at plus4 and has about 50 more damage

but the great Scythe does have better

scaling so it shouldn't be too long

before we're caught up and sure enough

there you have it great Scythe plus 4

doing just about the same amount of

damage that our sickle had unlike the

sickle though the great Scythe reach

makes up for all the other Reaper

classes shortcomings not only that but

because of the weapon's clear design

it's much easier to understand where

exactly The Sweet Spot hit box is which

means my damage output is generally

higher as well which is great because

that means that bosses like the Royal

Rat Vanguard are much easier to fight

and so we come to the king of the

rodents fun fact the Rat King Covenant

was my favorite Covenant back in the day

used it to get the achiev ment and

everything get thee gone we will

tolerate thy stench no longer what is

this the thanks I get after my years of

service oh hey I didn't know you could

walk or had attacking moves huh learned

something new today guess this Covenant

still had one thing to teach me well no

reason to stop ending Covenant relations

now time to give the Brotherhood of

Blood what it craves most oh my God is

that a mini Scythe can I have that you

cannot in fact have that at least not

one that size anyhow guess we'll have to

wait until dark souls 3i for that one

you can buy the Scythe of narama from

noena if you want but it does that thing

that most of the Reapers and Dark Souls

2 do and divides its damage between

physical and dark so that's a no-o for

me this time around I will however be

grabbing tit gr's chest piece since it

still grants me extra Souls but has

better defense on the armor I'm wearing

now oh and the fashion Souls I can't

forget the fashion Souls I'm told that

spiders are very in right now in Dr Lake

right where were we oh right the Lost

best deal I take down the pursuer a few

times and grab all the upgrade materials

in the area release the Ruin Sentinels

from their service with relative ease

first try let's go initially mess up the

bomb puzzle but use the power of

momentum to force the solution have a

chuckle when I realize that Dark Souls

still doesn't know the difference

between hell birds and sides then start

carving my way through the Gargoyles

once again my weapon speed is an issue

here which means finding openings and

being patient is going to be the name of

the game and although it was a bit close

patience once again proves to be a solid

virtue and I clear the Gargoyles on the

first try I take a short detour to

freeze strayed from his Stony prison for

reasons that will become clear later

then arrive at my final destination for

this particular piece of the journey the

Lost Center and uh yeah not a whole lot

to see here Dodger big attacks retaliate

and kind I got a bit greedy and tended

to try to string together more attacks

than I should have but in the end she

was just another first try boss another

Soul added to my growing collection

moving on I head back to the huntsman's

cops for the last time where we find

kraton hiding amongst the bones you set

me free

now I can find him oh I wouldn't worry

about the man with the strange ring my

friend death already found him now let

me free you properly I'd comment on

kraton's fighting style but uh he's

already dead I mean it looked like he

had the dragon slayer's Crescent axe so

that's cool I guess anyway onto the

skeleton Lords there can only be one

Highlander well this is looking to be

another one tribe boss the skeleton

hordes just can't handle the damage

output don't get me wrong I'm not

complaining I'm just surprised as all

changing over to a Reaper that had a

clearer hit boox really is making the

difference all right what's next I find

Clan who sells upgrade materials

throughout the game send her to Mula so

I can find her more easily when her time

eventually comes clamber my way through

the mines and into Earth and Peak then

arrive at the most important boss of

this entire run the Covetous Demon

that's not a string of words I ever

thought I'd say out loud big boy here

does his best to convince me that I

should be playing Pikmin right now

instead of Dark Souls and while his

logic is sound and his offer tempting my

new favorite series will just have to

wait because Covetous just gave us the

greatest gift of all I run back to stade

whose sole purpose in this run can now

be fulfilled the mock gesture nah just

kidding we're actually here for the bone

Scythe a boss weapon crafted from the

Covetous Demon Soul do you notice

anything interesting about it yep it's a

purely physical Scythe with a scaling

right from the word go the move set is

nothing to get too excited about since

it's the same as the great Scythe but

that scaling is really doing some work

with our damage already at 238 without a

single upgrade now there is one problem

because this is a boss weapon it

requires petrified dragon bones to

upgrade rather than simple upgrade

materials but also because it's a boss

weapon it gains massive amounts of

damage with each upgrade since it can

only be upgraded five times instead of

the usual 10 it's not ready to outpace

my great Scythe not yet but one more

upgrade should do the trick luckily for

us M have put up about as much fight as

a wet paper towel and with her defeat we

now have access to everyone's favorite

location the Iron Keep Hey look it's the

welcoming committee I have a strange

feeling that I'm going to be reloading

this area a few times so I decided to

kill off the two invaders that always

spawn in the beginning of the area

starting with armor or Dennis funnily

enough I think Dennis and his

counterpart fencer Sharon put up more of

a fight than the last four bosses

combined but that's pretty much part for

the course with fromsoft games I'm not

sure if it's on purpose or just because

having a humanoid enemy with the same

move sets as the player is just easier

to program but Invaders have always been

harder than any other boss in the series

just something I've noticed over the

years not sure if that's just a me thing

or if the community at large feels that

way too I bump into magal Merchant of

things and seller of stuff and I ask him

the important question that all living

souls should ask themselves on a regular

basis what I

do that's a good

question I suppose I must I've been

doing it for AG yet you suppose huh well

then I suppose you must be ready to die

since you've been doing that for ages

too even your weapon is confused about

its identity and purpose One does not

simply do a thing because they've been

doing it forever magal purpose is an

invaluable thing and you just lost yours

speaking in purpose let's talk about why

we're here to progress to the next boss

yes but also to collect something very

important seething frustration but also

if we actually remember how gravity

Works some petrified dragon bones there

are two that can be found before the

Smelter Demon which means we can now

upgrade our bone Scythe to plus two good

thing too because up next is a Smelter

Demon himself thankfully I fought this

boss enough times to know his timing and

can beat him without difficulty at this

point no matter the weapon since this

fight is more about stamina and Health

Management than anything else another

easy first try boss huh that's weird my

weapon durability looks a little lower

than it should be n I'm sure it's

nothing I reload the arena and kill the

pursuer when it spawns in getting myself

the Ring of Blades plus one carefully

navigate the lava bucket to grab the

Covetous gold serpent ring for one

particular part of the game later on

then push through the rest of the Iron

Keep until we reach the boss the old Old

Iron King would you believe that he's

easy would you believe that he died on

the first try well you should because he

is and he did another great Soul sent

across the river sticks two down two to

go I level up my strength to its soft

cap which means increasing my damage is

now completely reliant on getting more

petrified dragon bones then head over to

say hello to Gilligan hi who are you now

now you know who I am don't play dumb

all right what do you want what did I

just say a life gem you know those are

made out of human Souls don't you which

means you just made the mistake of

stealing a soul right in front of me

guess I'll just steal yours then right

that was a fun distraction but it's time

for the Next Great Soul the Roden

needless to say another easy boss I've

got all the adaptability and iframes I

need at this point to dodge through

anything the base game can throw at me

and just as the fight starts it's

already over and the rotten is sent back

to the stinking Earth that birthed it

another great Soul acquired one more to

go but before that we have several

wayward souls to collect starting with

benhart have you business with me why

yes yes I do I

benhart will be honored to CH you to

pieces with what that false sword you're

holding sorry Chief but even the true

moonlight great sword can't kill death

let alone that knockoff you're wielding

up next is Rosabeth I free her from her

Stone prison then begin to slowly free

her from this plane of existence she's

got at least three pyromancy spells

Fireball bigger Fireball and combustion

but outside of catching me off guard

with when she attacked me with 1 HP and

a dream she wasn't exactly a challenge I

head into the Shaded Woods grabbed the

chloranthy ring plus one for better

stamina regeneration then find our next

sorry Soul you may call me V girl if I

deserve a name in this sorry State don't

worry friend I'm here to remedy that

finally someone who accepts their fate

the running crying and begging gets kind