The Cohhilition

Cohh will be starting his Dark Souls 2 run at 8am on Monday, February 22nd!

Thanks to the voting by the Cohhmunity, he has a really great build to use for the game. It is a samurai build and will be as follows:


Koh, vassal of the new Shogunate Lord, is sent to this mysterious land to scout claims of the majestic wealth of a once-powerful nation. Looking to prove his worth and attain honor and strength to serve his master, Koh begins his quest not knowing the horrors that await him.

Rules of the build:
1: Starting class: Swordsman. Scimitar is primary weapon until obtaining another Curved Sword.
2: Can never use a shield. EVER!
3. If a shield is either bought or found, it must immediately be thrown to the ground and left there. Shields cannot be sold, traded, or manipualted in any way.
4. All weapons used must be starting gear, Curved Swords/Katana, or Long Bow/Throwing Daggers. As the first Katanas are not available until Iron Forge, Curved Swords are allowed but must always be two-handed. No Exceptions! (edit: Due to the most excellent Scholar Dull Ember changes, the Uchi can be obtained much earlier from McDuff. Praise it! Praise that Sun right now!!) - REM
5. Once a Katana becomes available it must immediately be used as a primary weapon no matter whether it's upgraded or has lower damage than the currently used weapon.
6. Helmets may not be used until obtaining Alonne's Set. Heavy armour should be avoided at all costs until Alonne's Set is obtained.
7. Being Hollow brings dishonour due to your hideous nature. If you can reverse Hollow, you must, OR YOU MUST KILL YOURSELF AT THE CLIFFS OF MAJULA TWICE AND LOSE ALL OBTAINED SOULS TO REGAIN YOUR HONOUR OR ENGAGE IN INVASION PVP!!
8. Firebombs can only be used to clear obstacles, not for battle.
9. Weapon Resins may be used but show that you are a coward and believe yourself weak. Your strength comes from within, through training and focus, not with cheap tricks.
10. The only time a weapon may be one-handed is when you are forced to wield a torch.
11. No Summons!!
Now let's look at the build. This is a guideline, not fixed in stone. Cohh may change anything in the build as he sees fit, but Shogun Redeyed will find him weak and will judge him accordingly.

Primary stats are:
DEXTERITY: (obviously) starting at 16 and can be increased as desired. This is your primary damage stat.
ADAPTABILITY: starting at 6 you will want to increase this to 26 (minimum) or above due to it increasing your iframes while dodging and how fast you sip the SunnyD. Also increases Poise and Endurance.
ENDURANCE: starting at 8 you will want to shoot for around 30 because if you can't roll and attack, you die.
VIGOR: starting at 4 your starting health will be low so consider leveling this stat first to 8 to give you some extra health pool.

Secondary stat:
ENDURANCE: If you can't fast roll, you are going to have a bad time. This is on here twice because it is that important.
All other stats can be ignored unless needed to wield a certain Curved Sword/Katana.


Credit goes to RedEyedMonster; thanks REM! <3

nuu

You can get Katana a lot earlier. Uchigatana can be bought from McDuff and Washing Pole is in Harvest Valley poison area... WP was added there with SotFS and with SotFS dull ember is in Bastille after Pursuer fight.

Exactly, you can get a katana after 2 bosses depending on your route.

What about dual wielding (like sword/sword or sword/dagger). Most samurai used both a katana and wakizashi (sometimes a tanto instead of wakizashi) together, called the Daisho ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daish%C5%8D ). From a story (and viewer perspective) I think this would be really cool.

However, for a gameplay perspective this could make things too difficult for Cohh since it requires learning knew move-sets & trying to figure out what weapons are compatible & best to use together. Also the stat requirements are different (1.5 x the highest stat requirement, for each stat, between the 2 weapons) This wiki explains it a lot better, and has a chart of compatibilities: http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/dual-wielding

No matter what Cohh does, I know this playthrough will be fun, and I can't wait for Monday. Praise the Sun, Le-Le-Le-Hue-Hue-Hue, may there be 500 deaths to appease the From Software gods.

I can't wait!
come on Monday.

[QUOTE="nuuriell, post: 32093, member: 15087"]Cohh may change anything in the build as he sees fit, but Shogun Redeyed will find him weak and will judge him accordingly.[/QUOTE]

Oh man. I am so in! The hype is real

Sounds like a good start, can't wait for Monday!

Can't wait to see that southern accent come out when Cohh starts to rage xD

[QUOTE="thereisnospoooon, post: 32125, member: 62528"]Can't wait to see that southern accent come out when Cohh starts to rage xD[/QUOTE]
I know right hha

Can't wait.
I love watching Cohh play DS.

[QUOTE="Crit_c, post: 32104, member: 62435"]What about dual wielding (like sword/sword or sword/dagger). Most samurai used both a katana and wakizashi (sometimes a tanto instead of wakizashi) together, called the Daisho ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daishō ). From a story (and viewer perspective) I think this would be really cool.[/QUOTE]

Actually, dual-wielding the sacred blade was considered a sacrilege. and thus against the Bushido code. A samurai would never dishonor himself by wielding a katana with his left hand. As for the wakizashi, it was mostly used as ceremonial or in-door weapon, because narrow corridors would hinder the use of a full length katana.

[QUOTE="jc_wijma, post: 32129, member: 47045"]Actually, dual-wielding the sacred blade was considered a sacrilege. and thus against the Bushido code. A samurai would never dishonor himself by wielding a katana with his left hand. As for the wakizashi, it was mostly used as ceremonial or in-door weapon, because narrow corridors would hinder the use of a full length katana.[/QUOTE]
Read the article. It says that in the 17th century Musashi promoted the dual wielding technique called nitoken. The technique has it's origins in the mid 15th century and was used a lot more in the Eisho period (early 16th century): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenjutsu see Nitojutsu at bottom.

Ya totally forgot the Dull Ember changes in Scholar but it just speeds up his ability to get a Katana which is what we all want in the end

In theory his weapon progression will probably be Scimitar +1 (from starting gear), Falchion from Majula Blacksmith, then onto the Uchi from McDuff. At least that's what I would do

I'm actually running a very similar build to this one but with 2 Handed Spear/ No Shield and I'm digging it. I call it the Zhao Yun Dynasty Warriors Build.

I actually voted for the archer build, but this one sounds pretty good too. Thanks RedEyedMonster for putting this amazing build together. It will be an awesome ride. I personally haven't played it all the way through yet due to Cohh getting me hooked on Fall Out 4 -- lol. I must get back to it real soon. Good Luck Cohh - HYPE!!!!

This build looks brutal..this playthrough will take a few weeks at least.

[QUOTE="Crit_c, post: 32137, member: 62435"]Read the article. It says that in the 17th century Musashi promoted the dual wielding technique called nitoken. The technique has it's origins in the mid 15th century and was used a lot more in the Eisho period (early 16th century): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenjutsu see Nitojutsu at bottom.[/QUOTE]

I didn't say it didn't existed. I said it was considered sacrilege among most samurais.

[QUOTE="jc_wijma, post: 32145, member: 47045"]I didn't say it didn't existed. I said it was considered sacrilege among most samurais.[/QUOTE]
Then what was the point in your retort if you know that it existed & was accepted to some degree? Your acknowledgement completely contradicts your original comment. You never said "most Samurai", until now, because you weren't acknowledging its existence & use by some Samurai at all. Ergo since it did exist & was used by some Samurai (especially during a certain period) it shouldn't be an issue. No one ever said the build had to operate according to a certain Kenjutsu style or specific path of Bushido.

:O Koh has given his loyalty to a new Shogun, and not to Shogun Torque? Or has the Dark One been promoted to Emperor?

So im confused, is double sword allowed with this build?

Good luck Cohh! I'm excited to watch the play through!