Even More DS3 Altoholism

 Well, I'm playing a Pyromancer now.

This is actually one of the characters I made back when I first got the game in... 2017 or something? It's funny how these games feel - your first playthrough feels insanely difficult, with you scrambling to hold on to every inch you make. And then, you come back to it, and you're like "ok, Catacombs of Carthus should take maybe an hour for me to fully clear." I had my cleanest-ever Wolnir kill on the first attempt - he hit me one time, but only pulled off basically one of his charges and then, as he was recovering, I took out his right-hand bracelet with my Carthus Flame Blade-buffed raw longsword. Easy peasy. I don't think he even had a chance to summon any minions.

The reason I'm excited about Pyromancy is that it's the build that can do all the spells. And, indeed, when you get into the late game, you start finding spell catalysts that scale with both Faith and Intelligence, and can often cast two types of spells. Thus, I figure, if I have good Intelligence as well as good Fatih, I'll be able to use these and really have a huge assortment of magic.

One thing I am being careful about here is not giving Irina any of the Dark Miracle tomes. Karla can only be rescued pretty late in the game, which is frustrating, but I'm going to dump a ton of tomes on her. It's ironic, actually, that I think that Sorcery Scrolls are the only spell item type that don't have any "dark" versions that Orbeck will refuse, when Karla seems mostly interested in Sorceries.

Still, on my pure Sorcerer, I've had to pass up most of the stuff Karla can teach because I have minuscule faith, and most of the Dark spells require a mix of faith and intelligence. Pyromancers, of course, get both in equal measures, so I'm currently standing at 25 of each, intending to push them both to at least 40.

Of course, that requires a pretty big level investment. Also, the basic spell attack - Fireball in early levels and currently Flame Orb - is a little trickier to aim than Soul Arrows, given that it goes in an arc. On the plus side, it does an AoE splash, so if enemies are grouped up, you can take out multiples at a time.

Also, being a ranged spellcaster, killing the Suleyvahn's Beast on the bridge to Irithyll is delightfully easy - you just run past the forcefield you need the doll for and then pelt them with just four Flame Orbs (this means I'll be able to help out Sirris with the first leg of her questline).

I'm just reflecting on the Catacombs of Carthus as a "level." One thing I find interesting is that you get about halfway through it before you even get the official bonfire for it (arguably more than halfway).

Anyway, I know there are some nuances to the way that various spell catalysts work on different kinds of spells - like, I think that some catalysts that are designed for dark sorceries only apply their faith scaling to that type of spell. So I'm not sure that I'll be able to just use, say, the crystal chime you find I think in the Grand Archives, which works for both Sorceries and Miracles, to be just as good with a Great Heavy Soul Arrow as my Sorcerer is with their Court Sorcerer's Staff.

But we're a little ways off from that.