How to Not Get BS'd in Dark Souls and Level Up Your Skills

PHoToS999's Guide to Not Being Backstabbed in Online PvP

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Table of Contents:
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Intro
The matter as it stands (netcode/basic stuff you need to know)
How to Prepare to Learn to Protect your Past Self (yeah, thats a mouthful)
How to Protect your Past Self (The stuff you'll learn on your own, but that I can suggest)
ZOMFG!!! You done got Backstabbed!!! WHAT IF HE CHAINS?!!! (What happens after a backstab)
How to Get Away
What the Heck Just Happened?! (Weird stuff and anomalies)
PARRIES!!!
Extro/Conclusion/Thanks/etc



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Intro:
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If you've landed yourself in this guide, no doubt you already felt the agony of Zwei
repeatedly being shoved up your heavily armored behind.
Not only that, they probably inexplicably teleport behind you to achieve this.
For the most part, people do not use lagswitches. As well, lagswitches are largely
ineffective unless your target is running away because it gives both people ample time to
backstab the other.


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The Matter as it Stands:
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Firstly, you must know how the online works. (I'm going to use Seussian terms for this.)
You see, when you are introduced to PvP, you are inherently lied to. The first lie is the
name itself: Player vs Player.
So, in your mind, you believe that when this box of PvP is opened, you have Thing 1 and
Thing 2, but in reality, you have Pandora's Box, and there are at the very least Thing 1,
Thing 2, Thing 3.5 and Thing 1/2.
What do you mean?!
Well, you're Thing 1.
Your opponent is Thing 2

Things 1/2 and 3.5 are where you have to really use your brain, because there can be things
in between those things, and things beyond those things.
These Things require strategy and foresight.
Thing 3.5 is your real opponent. He's really an invisible phantasm from the future.
"But wait! How is this possible?"

Lag makes many things possible. Thing 3.5 is the real japanese guy who keeps looking
skyward after he kills you. The moment you see that guy with a Zwei start running at you,
the real guy has already covered the distance.

Thing 2 actually doesn't exist for the most part except visually. He's really just a latent
representation of Thing 3.5, and that's why you get lagstabs: The real guy is backstabbing
you and the Thing 2, the visual enemy, has to catch up in the only way he can.

But we still have Thing 1/2 left.
Thing 1/2 is you, but it's also invisible. It's also not your faster counterpart.
Thing 1/2 is you, but handicapped in every way possible.

So now what happens when you get drug back twenty feet to get backstabbed, Thing 3.5 is
backstabbing Thing 1/2. Thing 3.5 can see Thing 1/2, because, on his end, he is Thing 1 and
your Thing 1/2 is his Thing 2.

If that didn't make sense, try this:
You are protecting your past self from a future enemy. Simple as that.

Now, back to the technical side.
When he backstabs you, you must occupy the space he is backstabbing, which is your Thing
1/2. The worse the lag, the more handicapped your Thing 1/2 is. This goes on and on until
his regular strikes hit you from twenty feet away and the netcode just doesn't care enough
any more to make a real effort.



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How to Prepare to Learn to Protect your Past Self:
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There are two parts to preparing to learning this:

1. Learn how to backstab.
The best place to start learning this is here: http://youtu.be/tpZeX-RCat8
EWGF is a  pioneer in all things technical within the Souls games and has a few videos on
the subject you should check out.

READ THIS: Click EWGF's channel on youtube. Subscribe now.
Then watch the rest of his videos. All of them.

1.5. If you're having a hard time grasping the online situation, this video will help out a
LOT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF6fYKkc8bk
That's what the lag really looks like.

2. Play online. Get a feel for the lag. The more you experience the latency, along with the
knowledge of what the heck is going on, you'll find your skills increasingly rapidly.
Experience based on knowledge is what gives the greatest rise in skill.

2.5. If you don't want to wait around for PvP, there are TONS of excellent people and
terrible people on YouTube you can learn from. One of my favorites is DarkSoulsmindseye.
Other sources you might enjoy are PeevePeeverson and Sansviedotcom. There are many, many
more on Youtube.
At the same time though, replay value pales in comparison to actual PvP.


BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY:
Take a break if you're getting frustrated.



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How to Protect Your Past Self:
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1. Learn your opponent.
Dance around doing some "shadowboxing" for a short while. You don't need to actually hit
him at this point, you're just finding out how he fights. If he likes to roll into you, he
very well could be trying desparately to get a roll bs.
The most important point of Shadowboxing is this:
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Make it looks real.
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1.25. Tips on Heavy weapon Shadowboxing:
 Keep them out of range or use rolling attacks. Just make sure they can't get in your face
with a single roll. This is a key point. If they are, in any way in range, it stops being
shadowboxing. If you get a hit in, then that's awesome, but don't be trying for it.

1.5 Tips on medium to large weapons:
 Use wide attacks. These can stop many kinds of BS attempts, but still, keep them at the
farthest range you can without being obvious. If you feel like you're being too searching,
add in some noobish looking stuff like random parries or whatever, but be safe. Never put
yourself in their range, especially if the lag is bad.

1.75.Tips on small to medium weapons:
Roll around and throw some attacks around. Roll through their attacks and ruffle em up.
Essentially it's the same thing, but now you have to get closer. Since you can't get close
without hitting them, sideroll. As long as you aren't changing direction RIGHT IN FRONT OF
THEIR FACE, you can sideroll and they won't be able to snag you usually. Essentially,
you'll be doing flybys without actually doing anything.

2. Know your lag/range.
If you know at least vaguely what kind of latency you have, you can gauge how close you can
come to your opponent without getting backstabbed.
This also translates into "When can I heal?" If you know the latency and your timing, you
can roll out of an attack and get far enough away to use a humanity.
I can personally attest to this since I was able to outlast a host and a phantom with only
humanity. Even if you get backstabbed once, it's cool, find the range and heal again.

3. Know your weapon.
If you can't feel that swing speed of your weapon, you need to practice with it.

4. Know when you're about to get backstabbed.
If you can tell when a backstab is inevitable, you can sometimes prevent it.
Yeah, I just said that.
THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!!! IF YOU KNOW IT CAN'T BE DONE, IT CHANGES THE OUTCOMES?!!!
*mind goes supernova*

There are few ways to do this:
A) Backstab him. EWGF talks in his videos about this. You can cirlce around at the last
moment to bs him. You can also go for a double bs.
For a video of the double bs, I'll re-use this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF6fYKkc8bk

B)Use an offhand weapon or a fast attack to interrupt him or (Most importantly) cancel the
damage. EWGF also talks about this.

C) Use a thorn piece and roll into your opponent. This is the same as B), but doesn't
require a fast weapon. Since the roll speed doesn't matter, only that you hit him, this can
cancel any backstab attempts, even roll bs attempts as long as it lands. Personally, I
almost always wear a Piece of Thorn.
A piece of thorn can actually foil all backstab attempts when used properly, even if you
have the fattest roll.

D)Know where your opponent(s) is/are at ALL times.
Gankers can be tougher than Smores since they can BS you, so knowing where they are at all
times and NOT allowing them to maneuvre you around is key. If they don't know how to get
you maneuvred, you can just take potshots whenever you want after you've gauged their
skills. Eventually they'll run out of estus.

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E)Don't get close to your opponent
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If they can't get near to you, then your past self is probably not going to get hit either.
This what will keep you alive in ganking situations.




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ZOMFG!!! You done got Backstabbed!!! WHAT IF HE CHAINS?!!!
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Man, no big deal. If you've got the everything else down, you're cool.
Firstly, get away, BUT DON'T TURN AWAY UNLESS THE LAG PERMITS.
Again, EWGF's vids will help you with getting away, plus the new patch has made chainstabs
harder, if I've heard correctly.

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The methods of escaping a chain backstab:
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1. Just gtfo. Roll away.
This method is the most likely to get you chained since most people just go for a vanilla
chain and aren't as well knowledged as you are now.

2. Roll into your opponent.
This method is a little more difficult, especially if you are getting ganked, but the
possible rewards are far greater.
A) They're less likely to chain you.
B) If you can roll bs, you just got a free ticket for revenge if that guy's just waiting to
chain.  Teach him why to not be so ready to chain.

3.If you watched EWGF's videos like I told you to, this one you already know: Stand still.

4. This one is my favorite, and tends to work (I can count how many times it has failed on
a pair of amputated arm stubs):
This one requires really good timing, but even if you don't hit it spot on, you're not
likely to get bs'd.
First, lock on to the guy that bs'd you asap.
Second, point the movement stick (or rather prepare to point. If you move too soon, you'll
break the non-bs frames, but you can point it in his direction anyway. Even though you can
be bs'd, you're still not likely to) in the direction of the locked on opponent.
Third, wait until you're getting up and you see a swing happening, or just wait a moment.
Fourth: Roll like you've never rolled before.

5. Parry.
This works on the same principle as 3 and 4, but you have to wait to turn around properly
before you can parry. As long as they're going for a chain or an on-wakeup hit, you'll
almost always get the parry.




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How to Get Away:
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There are a couple of ways to ensure the battle continues if you are low on health or get bs'd.

1. Backstab someone.
 If you're playing 1v1, then just bs the guy, gtfo and heal. Do not heal after he has stood
up. Even if you end up with a double, it can give you enough space to heal sometimes. If
you immediately go for a bs afterwards, you might actually get it. Plus, it's sometimes fun
to just keep backstabbing to see who messes up first. It's a huge mental endurance thing.

BIG TIP:
If you didn't think "I need to heal" as you were backstabbing him, and the thought only
occured to you after you bs'd him, you probably don't have enough time. You could chain
right now, but that's a matter totally up to you.

1.5. Backstab a Phantom.
 The host is probably going to estus him up, so he's your best bet for gtfo'ing and
healing.

2. Use rolling tactics to bait an attack and sprint out of there.
 This works better for heavy weapon opponents, but for a smaller weapon opponent, if you
can bait an attack properly, you can still sprint out. If you have proper knowledge of the
area, you can use environmental hazards or enemies to help you get some healing time.

3. Find or wait for some friends. You can keep anyone at distance almost indefinitely,
especally if you have fast roll or ninja roll. It's far alower than 2, but is far less
risky with the same ending, as long as you can evade your opponent(s) for that long.

5. Fake them out.
 Pretend to run away. This is for those who don't have 40 end and simply can't get away.
 By fake them out, you pretend to run away, and then turn around and bs/parry/smash/etc
someone. you can pretend to turn around a few times, just to get them accustomed to you
doing that, but if they're close enough, do a lock bs or whatever your favorite variation
is.
 A lot of the time, they'll be too surprised to use their own bs to cancel your bs.


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What the Heck Just Happened?!
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This is a section on the weird stuff you might encounter if all four Things decide to get funky.

1. Twenty feet away, how does that even reach?
 If you've played online PvP for very long at all, you've probably encountered the situation where nothing you do can take you out range, even though you're twenty feet away. Why does this happen?
It's due to a hiccup in the netcode which stacks with lag.
Essentially, your Thing 1/2 just decided to stand still.

If you'd like the technical side, the netcode has skipped the position portion of the code, so even though you're moving, the movement is not being sent and the hit detection is stuck in that place.
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How to escape it
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You can't escape it per se, but you can still make it to where your opponent can't do anything. There are two ways (that I know of) to escape this:
A) Get in there and backstab him, since he obviously can't see you moving. All attacks from you will still register, especially backstabs. If you're close in, parries will also work.
B) Raise your shield and gtfo while you can, just make sure to time it properly so you can regenerate your stamina as needed.
C) Black Crystal or lagswitch out.
 If you can use a black crystal, go for it.
 If you have your router nearby, or even have a lagswitch, you can turn the connection on and off repeatedly to deteriorate the signal to an unuseable state without getting logged out of PSN. This is great if you encounter hackers or spellswitchers (if they make a come-back).

That is not to say I thin you SHOULD do this. In fact, I think you SOULD NOT do this. I would recommend going with options 1 and 2 as much as possible.

2. Mierda occured during a backstab. Wtf mate?
I've heard some really weird stuff can happen during a bs, and I have seen some weird stuff.
In fact, I was doing some testing on Server and Smough's hammer when I caught this footage:
http://youtu.be/0_6iTH1BryA
That happened after I backstabbed this guy. IGBX had one guy run on thin air all the way into the sunset.

There are also some really weird things that happen in conjunction with damage before/during/after a backstab. These are in most common to least common.
A) Backstab damage will be negated and your hit may or may not hurt the other guy.
B) Backstab and the hit will still register.
C) Backstab will register bu your hit will not.
D) Backstab damage will register, but you will be free to do whatever the heck you want during the animation. This one is kinda disconcerting because you're watching what should be yourtself getting backstabbed, but you're walking around. I was so astonished, I forgot to heal as my opponent kicked what should have been me away. The damage still registered, so I went down soon after, but it was weird.

E) Obviously, a lot of weird stuff can happen. Sometimes, there's nothing you can do. At the same time, you've probably experienced a TON of weird things that you didn't even see because they were on the other guy's end. That's why it only seems to heppen to you and not them. You might have chalked it up to his noobishness or your skill, put on a smile and felt great because YOU FRIGGIN KEELED DAT BISH!!!
So really, the other guy probably didn't see anything weird and thought he was just that awesome.

3. Double Gank backstab
This is when you messed up so badly that TWO uys successfully backstabbed you at the exact same time and you got the damage for both.

You deserved that one.

I'll fill this section with more stuff as it comes.

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PARRIES!!!
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If you have learned all the stuff about netcode and Thing 1/2, 1, 2, and 3.5, this shouldn't be a big step in difficulty or logic.

Essentially, you, Thing 1, must parry Thing 3.5. There are two ways to do this: Blind and set-up (stolen straight from EWGF).
http://youtu.be/EKwaL9v5wqg
That's his tutorial on parries. It's good.

A) Blind.
This one requires two things: Knowledge of what your opponent likes to do and knowledge of the lag time. It's easier for slower weapons, because some of them you can just parry as the animation begins, but for everything else, you have no chance that way. This works best against weapons likt rapiers and the thrusting attacks of longswords.

B) Set-up.
This one is the easiest by far. You're going to need an r1-masher for this one though.
So you take the first hit of whatever it is on your shield, and immediately after it hits and you are able to, you parry. This works best against claymore and mura kind of weapons.  It works the least against daggers.
Incidentally, this is also best against people who try to stunlock.

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Big Note/Tip
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Parries have a lot to do with how close you are to your opponent. Some attacks, like the thrusting attack of the Balder Side Sword and rapier types can be parried from farther away. The closer you are to your opponent though, the more likely you are to score a parry.
This is why spears are nigh unparry-able.

This is also why parries can be extremely risky, because the best way to punish a miffed parry is a backstab. So it you just thought he was going to attack and parry, but he doesn't, you might get backstabbed.

This is a huge part of the metagame right here. Essentially, if you miff anything, you can be backstabbed and punished, but if you gauge your opponent right, they'll miff and you'll punish them, whether by stunlock, backstab, parry, bleed, Lloyds, toxic, wotg, dark bead, by healing yourself, etc.

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Extro/Conclusion/Thanks/etc
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Firstly, don't assume you'll learn all this instantly, or even in a week. This is a
difficult game, like chess. It requires a lot of practice and strategy, but with a little
practice, you can become a lot better. You may not be super-1337-epic-pra0, but you'll be a
good sight better than most.

Here's to knowledge. Enjoy it however you would like to. If you make a bomb using this
knowledge, well, that's incredible, but I don't support it unless you're a patriotic
American or staunch ally.


I really hope this has dispelled the myth of "The only reason you don't get bs'd is because
your connection is awesome."
To be honest, my connection is the purest form of sh** available. It's very reliable too,
it goes down every saturday around noon and comes back up monday evening.

Well, First and foremost of the thank yous, I would like to thank my parents, because
without them, I would have nothing and wouldn't exist.

Secondly, thanks to ewgf and all his buddies, such as Pepero and Jumi, for their excellent
research, as well as Superguyincognito and his buddy, who did the double bs video I talked
about twice.

I would like to thank all my buddies in my chat and on gfaqs, cuz they're just awesome. If
you're reading this, you know who you are.

I would like to thank IFDragon too, because he found the link for the double bs for me.

And I would like to thank From Software, for making such an excellent game.

Lastly, I would like to thank you for reading this far. Have fun!