Can You Beat DARK SOULS III With Only Summoned Weapons? 

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I mean, technically, you could've just summoned some friends and have them drop a good weapon for you... Technically a summoned weapon...

"summon weapons are a completely viable PvP build if you're fighting Gamer's Weekend" That.. That killed me

"This spot marks our grave" probably the most heard line of dialogue in a ds3 challenge run...

A quick-tip for casting only runs. The saint-tree bellvine when equipped in the offhand increases your cast speed to maximum, you don't need the sage ring or dexterity.

Dude that dark blade into life hunt scythe on Yhorm was actually slick as hell

The staff bonk is due to the staff’s length. Shorter staffs = less range, but also easier ‘sweet spot.’ Long staffs act like halberds and scythes with summoned weapons for the most part

“Never would’ve thought an NPC would give me so much trouble, though.” *flashbacks to Ymfah trying to beat Wilhelm in the Slav Knight Gael run*

Lemon, the reason why your staff was bouncing off enemies (Tony in particular) is because the staff's length is also taken into account when using melee sorceries. If your staves hit anything considered a hard surface, the spell will bounce. Shorter staves are typically used in melee caster builds to reduce this factor, while the extra range can be nice, in PvP situations using shorter staves and getting in on someone with Flashsword can stunlock people who don't know how to get out of it. Goodluck next time you do this. :3c

We all heard it very clearly, didn't we? Backlogs literally and explicitly promised us that he WILL do DS1, 2 & 3 fist only next!

I like how sell out backlogs is just the elite knight armor but with a skeleton inside.

To all future melee casters out there, here’s some tips for this kind of run to help you guys out. 1. Sadly, the Izalith staff that Lemon was using is the worst possible one. Has amazing scaling for quality casting, but the fact that it has such a long pole means that the spells will actually start nearer to the end of the staff. This means that you will be hitting with the sour spot of the staff much more often, only hitting with the actual staff itself rather than the magic blade. Start off with the Sorcerer’s Staff and then use the Court Sorcerer’s Staff when you get it. Both of them have amazing intelligence scaling, and have no sour spot thanks to the casting point being on your fist so you’ll be hitting for full damage every time. 2. Always have enough strength and dexterity to use your catalyst. The reason why Lemon’s staff was bouncing the whole video? That’s why. Even when two-handed, the staffs can only go through a certain armor value before they start auto-bouncing like a melee weapon would. If you can wield the regular dagger weapon and it bounces off an enemy, then you can usually bet a staff you don’t have enough physical stats for will too. The only exceptions to this are the two aforementioned staffs, as they have no sour spot to bounce off of. 3. The Saint-Tree Bellvine is amazing. Decent spell power, and it has the effect of the +0 Sage’s Ring - increasing your dexterity by 30 virtual points for the purpose of spellcasting. Also comes in handy with a health regen weapon art too, so if you take some chip damage that you don’t want to waste an estus on, you don’t have to wait until after Aldrich to get the Sun Princess Ring. 4. If you want to use Flame Fan, you need to get the Pyromancer’s Parting Flame from the Ariandel DLC. Its flame burst on casting matches the range of the fan, hitting for roughly double damage each cast and shredding through enemy poise. These have been my tips that will help you optimize the build. Have a wonderful day and enjoy playing your FP management simulator.

Imagine being a massive, building sized knight and a mage walks up to you, figts you and parrys your massive great sword with a casual back hand slap.

Ok, so about the staff bonk, the reason your staff is deflecting is due to the fact you dont have enough strength to wield your catalysts one handed. When casting spells such as soul greatsword and flash sword you are considered using it one handed, as during the animation you use one hand for it even if you two hand it. The bonk happens to opponents with something called natural armor, and when you fail to meet the stat requirements for your weapon it'll just deflect right off of them. Similar thing happens with the pyromancers parting flame, don't have the stats you get the bounce with some spells.

For the mirror images on the crystal mage, you can skip that phase all together if you don't start attacking him until he casts homing soulmass. He can't disappear while the spell is up, so if you can damage him down before it fires off you'll only ever fight the one mage. Just dodge the other spells til he casts it. not sure how the damage is on this build, but for future challenge runs it's worth considering.

I know that a spellsword is usually a blade and spell user; but you've captured (for me anyways) what a true spellsword actually is. Spells becoming the weapons you use. Looked awesome and I really wanna play Dark Souls now.

Idk if anyone else has suggested this, or if it's actually worth suggesting, but the Crystal Chime might have been useful in this run, Because 1) it can cast both Miracles AND Sorcereries, so less catalyst juggling 2) it's weapon art provides a heal so you can forgo Orange Estus a little to focus more on Blue 3) it gives dual Int/Faith scaling to Dark Spells which I'm pretty sure the scythe is

Lightning Arrow is arguably the best spell in the entire Soulsborne series for: mobility, you can hold and even cancel it, and does fantastic damage for it's manacost.

One of the hardest-working people in gaming RU-vid lol. Sick vid.

When you and Frieda traded kills you both had the same death animation. Awesome.

26:30 - *Midir Laser avoiding pro-tip:* The lasers are not THE easiest to dodge, but they are quite easy to dodge, because all you need to do is look out for Midir jumping back TWO TIMES. He will ALWAYS do that before the one-shot laser. What to do? - run towards him, as soon as he starts jumping, so you'll be behind or at least to the side of him and the laser won't hit you.

11:12 calling back to GamersWeekend’s armor of thorns run makes me so happy to be a fan of both of you 😭

I have a challenge for you that might be up your alley. Can you beat dark souls 3 as a caster, but without buying spells? Rules. 1. The only damage you can do is from spells. 2. You can use any magic from any school as long as you don't buy it. If you find it, spawn with it, or given to you then it's usable. 3. All armor, rings, etc is allowed. Feel free to edit the rules to make it more fun or try it with different souls games.

10:08 Probably my favorite part of the video.

You gave me so many ideas for DS3 challenges. It is so fun to play over and over. Sometimes very agonizing but fun.

“My plans were thwarted when the Crystal Sage cast Mirror Image” Backlogs you GOTTA do a challenge run or a just-for-fun playthrough in an old school D&D game like one of the Baldur’s Gates or Pool of Radiance lol

4:45 there is the vanquisher's seal in DS2 that makes fists do pretty decent damage, more so than ceastus, so don't completely write off fist only.

Incredible video as always. I really love the obscure reference to Takeshi's challenge

Lemons personality instantly drew me into the series, the fact that he plays souls games what exactly what i needed to instantly subscribe to his channel. Love the videos man

Tried this once and never thought of the way of the white corona XD. It totally is a Xena weapon. This was a lot of fun to watch always love your editing. Glad you are getting sponsors and being awesome about testing them out for us first.

The bounce happens when the staff (not only the blade) hits the enemy. That's why the swords (which were casted with staffs) bounced back but the scythe (which was casted with a chime) didn't. EDIT: For the bounce you also have to not meet the strength requiriment for the staff. If you meet the requiriments it's also possible to only hit with the staff part (and miss with the blade), dealing only about 5-15 damage. You have to be extremely close for this and the enemy has to be human sized or smaller.

You know, it’s really hard for me to watch videos that are longer than 10 minutes, but you make it so easy to just keep watching without getting bored

Very interesting run and a super cool video! It's nice to see different spells getting the spotlight and not only one spell being the best solution to everything.

The shadow legends burn was one of the funniest things ever. That one joke was totally worth the price of admission!😂

The delivery on "If it doesn't glow, it doesn't count" was really good!

This video was amazing I can’t believe I’ve never seen your videos before I can’t wait to see what other challenges you’ve done

I like that you actually go thru every boss, most people that do stuff like this only do the required bosses

I simply adore the leaned-back voice over, makes me feel right at home here. Life gave me Lemon

With some of the spells and weapon arts we've seen in Elden Ring footage, really look forward to this challenge run being done again in that game

just found your channel a few days ago, my man you tell a great story and am loving all the content. you sir are a bonifide badass

Gotta say, this was a great treat. The impact of the slapstick gags made me oh so very joyful Lemon. Keep it up!

I love this run, I did this after the release of the second DLC when I realize Midir's boss soul had a summoned weapon. I loved the build, especially because I usually don't use gimmick builds.

Loved the concept behind summonable weapons in dark souls 3, even tried to make a build like you did, but gave up due to how restrictive they can be. Farrow flash sword was basically the only spell I could rely on. I adore the concept of a mage who wields no weapons, but summons blades to fight in glorious melee combat. I hope elden ring has better summonable weapon spells.

This honestly looks like a really fun build to play with, i might try this out myself

Love these vids, starting to run through them all! Keep it up!

You're a diamond, man. Love your content. I'm really impressed by and appreciative for all your hard work. Even if you don't like Blasphemous!

funny how much trouble you had with midir, considering the lightning bow spell is one of the best weapons to use against him.

Man i really love your videos. I found you today on RU-vid and i can say I watched a lot of your content :D love you and your style. Keep up good work

Your content is great! I love the voiceover and adlibs!=) Good work.

I love watching these challenge runs without having to literally watch countless hours per run. Thanks for the editing!

Oh come on lemon you can do ds2, once you get the vanquishers seal its like 200 base damage + like b scaling 8n strength

People think the chosen undead is weak until they realise that you can literally parry eldritch horrors with your bare hands and kill them with enough punches too

That's such a cool way to tackle yhorm, been binging your videos. Awesome stuff

26:40 it's way easier to just go running directly up to him. I always do that and I can't remember the last time I got hit by that laser

1:09 thats not a chimera i dont think. It looks more like a manticore.

I actually really enjoyed my follower's javelin only build it was a whole lot of fun just throwing javelins. They actually did a lot of dmg when u couple it with Leo's counter ring and a few other quirks

Love the Bugdom music at 11:35! One of my favorite songs.

The real tragedy is the fact that soul “spear” is technically a summoned weapon, it would have made this so much easier

Always wanted to try a run Like this. But i haven't gotten the time to play a lot lately. Nice to See you deliver in my failing ;) Keep it stront Lemon you content is Diamond and Gold together.

Great video, man, excellent editing and commentaries.

This was my first backlogs video holds up well one of my favorite channels

Incredibly underappreciated RU-vidr! You are an absolute legend who makes amazing videos. Keep up the the good work and you'll reach 100k subs and even more in no time!

I feel like the aquamarine dagger could have been used. Its weapon art summons a sword.

I like your content man nice and simple yet vibrant. You are very underrated and will take my sub.

Really enjoy all the content that you make always has me laughing my ass off at your reactions and the animated sceans Please keep up the good work.

The bit at 8:22 was delivered so well. Also I've been persuaded into making an int character for the first time ever because of this video now. This should be fun.

Awesome stuff, plus this one actually looks like a fun rather than purely frustrating challenge! Plus I doubt most folks have even played around with Way of White Corona.

4:41 For Ds2 you can use the vanquishers seal for massive unarmed damage

I think this is my favorite of the 'Can you beat..?' series. Something about the editing and pacing just always pulls me back. Keep up the awesome content Mr. Lemon

You sir, have earned my sub. I love challenge channels and your sense of humor hits good sir ❤️

I've actually used these spells in my sorcery build, and early on they're pretty good

Just discovered your channel a few days ago. Thank you for the entertainment ❤️ Also love the background music you chose for this one. Was the final song vs Soul of Cinder from TMNT IV???

def my new favorite dark souls channel keep up the great work.

So hype to see this love more backlogs

Your videos are way more fun to watch than other peoples, you always make them great 🤩😀

I loved the Takeshi challenge reference. Made me chuckle and reminisce watching it on Saturday mornings as a kid.

First video of yours I’ve seen sir, great content instantly subscribed.

so you wont do fist only, huh? *Do kirk roll damage only then*

follower's spear is technically an actual "real" summoned wpn...

This is basically how I played the game on my first playthrough. Sword Sorcery build was actually a ton of fun. Though I also used some soul arrows.

Ever since I played a sorcerer on lkke my 3rd ds1 run I’ve always loved the play style and been using it all the way up to ds3 and probably will do it when I get elden ring too

Yes, yes, YES! I've wanted this for so long but I've got other thing to do in ds1 also fists is fair, it's what everyone has, they're permanent summoned weapons! The Sponsor Bit was great, yhorm must been an interesting fight if you didn't know the cheese which I learned not knowing about storm ruler. Its funny friede and gael are easy cause once you beat him once you got to perfect the timings then you've already done it and you have all future tries, which is a very fair system and proves how ds3 works, its a very fair game if you spend the time and you spent all the time. This was a good bit to tide us over till elden ring thank you and to the editors, family, friend's, patrons, and finally you lemon have fun and be excellent to each other.

I've never seen any of these weapons bounce off, I swear that's only if you fail stat requirements. I feel we need old man to teach us about this

I actually did a run like this a year ago, but I used Logan's staff and then the Crystal Chime for mobs, Ivory Talisman, and Caitha's Chime, with a simple Caestus offhand for parries and FP regen. Honestly a fun run IMO

I found this channel today with the Xcom videos. I love it so much and feel a bingo coming.

So…. Fist only run when?

Crown of Dusk would have come in handy this run, it increases your magic damage by 10%! (At the expense of taking a bit more)

Blaster Master stage 2 in the background music love it lol

I know im late to the party, just started playing Dark souls 1 and having an absolute blast, and found your videos shortly after! Great content all around! Also, is that Blastermaster OST in the background??

it's crazy to see how different ppl struggle with different enemies. As you said you hated midir I was like: holy heck mididr is literally one of my favorite bosses of all time and I find him and his movement so easy right now :D

Wait… you found a use for Way of White Corona? I never thought I’d see the day anyone would. Even in a challenge run.

Somehow I hadn't seen this one despite the fact that I'd have sworn I'd watched your entire library 10x over.

I rewatch this video whenever I am feeling down, YOU GO LEMON

Well, you can do dark souls 2 fist only run, it's pretty easy. You just need rank 3 in covenant of champions and from there it's a cakewalk

I like how the massive piles of Ash in the Cinders fight is like "Look at how long this fires burned!" but when you finally step up to link it, you get nothing but embers, and sit solemnly, wondering if this is right

i was honestly really surprised how strong this build got. really great video

Just found your channel and I have been really enjoying it

Come on man, you have done Salt and Sanctuary fist only, Dark Souls surely wont be that hard. In DS2, fists can deal a really decent damadge when you farm awestones for Covenant of Champions to get a damadge boost ring. Also amazing video, keep on going.

Promotion Skip Button: 2:37

14:28 any one else said in his head this youtuber arrived to the emergency room with nausea