Dark Souls Enisle Turtling

Turtling 101:

A breakdown and analysis of the playstyle and setup of enisle2004.

https://www.youtube.com/user/enisle2004/videos


Sections:

    1. The Build
       1-1 Weapon Choices
       1-2 Shield Choices
       1-3 Ring Choices
       1-4 Magic Choices
    2. Tactics
       2-1 Shield Poking
       2-2 Hardswapping
       2-3 Countering


--- 1. The Build ---

    http://mmdks.com/2vq8

    - 56 poise
        Enough poise to tank a 2h GS running R1.
        Could potentially be upped to hit the 61 poise break of black flame/BKGA/two 30 poise hits.

    - MoM + 50 vit
        Pretty self explanatory, turtles want a lot of HP.

    - 40 END
        Also easily explained, turtles need stamina.
        Sun armor/Wanderer Manchette/Maiden Skirt provides excellent defense and elemental resists,
           and fits exactly under the weight limit.

     -- 1-1 Weapon Choices --

         Estoc:

            Pros
                - Low Stamina Consumption
                - Fast Shield Pokes
                - Decent Damage
                - Decent Range
                - Buffable
                - High Criticals
                - Light
                - Running R1s for rush downs

            Cons
                - Low poise Damage
                - Debatably bad R2s

            Overview
                THE weapon for turtling, a great combination of damage, range, and criticals.
                The shieldpokes come out faster and uses less stamina than spears.
                With proper spacing, the very tip of the weapon cannot be parried.
                The high critical damage makes any attempt to BS or parry you subject to a likely more
                   damaging counterstab.
                The running attack is a great finisher when you have whittled someone down to chip range.
                The R2s are decent, but are the slowest attacks the weapon has, and are not well suited
                   to turtling.
                While enisle does not often buff, a pine resin can add a decent 30 extra damage per hit,
                   which when shield poking, can add up.
                Any powerful buffs are ill suited to the playstyle, as they put your damage on a time limit.


         Silver Knight Spear:

            Pros
                - Higher Base damage than Estoc
                - Better Poise damage
                - Better Range

            Cons
                - Higher Stamina Usage
                - Terrible Critical Damage
                - Slower Shield Pokes
                - Cannot be buffed
                - Heavier

            Overview
                With the better range, poise break, and damage, one would think this to be
                   the superior option for a turtle.
                However, the larger stamina usage, slower shield pokes, and absolutely abyssmal BS damage
                   do not well fit the playstyle of a turtle,
                   e.g. placing all risk of being punished upon the opponent, and little on yourself
                With the spear, you are more open to being guard broken, more susceptible to being punished
                   for a poorly spaced shieldpoke, and the lack of BS damage can easily be taken advantage of.
                That said, it does have some suitational usage, and while not often used by enisle,
                   it is a decent counter to the short range that curved swords posses.


     -- 1-2 Shield Choices --

         Eagle Shield:

            Pros
                - Extremely High Stability
                - Extremely High Lightning Res
                - Lowest Weight and STR requirements for a greatshield

            Cons
                - Low Fire and Magic Res

            Overview
                95 PHYS / 55 MAG / 45 FIR / 75 LIT | 84 STAB
                The bread and butter of his playstyle, used when the opponent is using physical attacks only.
                The 5% chip damage is entirely negligble when shieldpoking.
                While it possesses below average fire defense, and slightly above average magic defense,
                   neither of these are particularly terrible and can suffice if needed for a short duration.


         Black Knight Shield:

            Pros
                - High Stability
                - Extremely High Fire Res
                - Decent Lightning Res

            Cons
                - Pitiful Magic Defense

            Overview
                100 PHYS / 25 MAG / 95 FIR / 65 LIT | 74 STAB
                The second most used shield, due to pyromancy fitting on almost every build.
                Still retains very good stability, the second highest of med shields.

         Crest Shied:

            Pros
                - High Mag Res

            Cons
                - Below Average Stability
                - Below Average Fire/Lit Res

            Overview
                100 PHYS / 80 MAG / 55 FIR / 45 LIT | 66 STAB
                Not as often used, the lower stability makes turtling much more difficult,
                   and most spells are easy to rollstab.
                It does however, have good usage against MLBH/MLGS and DMB/CMW users.


     -- 1-3 Ring Choices --

        First Tier

            RoFaP:

                The single best ring for this build, an invaluable increase to stamina AND HP.
                This should be the first ring, no doubt about it.

            Wolf:

                Provides poise, easy enough to explain. However, unlike havels it can be swapped out
                   for other rings and still maintain fast roll, this is useful for...

            Red Tearstone:

                 This should be the ring in the second slot when you are low on hp.
                 "Berserker Turtling" as he calls it, can easily turn a match around.

        Second Tier

            Hornet:

                If you can hit a reasonable poise breakpoint without wolf, this should be the second ring.
                People are going to be trying to BS a turtle, and counterstabbing will happen.

            Leo:

                While shield poking lets you easily get counters, the low AR of the estoc means this
                   will not be of much use. It has some benefit, just not as much as the above rings.


     -- 1-4 Magic Choices --

         Black Flame:
            Really the only spell enisle uses. Compliments the estoc well as it has low poise damage.
            When used in the offhand, the stun it produces can easily combo into a R1 from the estoc,
               or a BS if their back is towards you.

--- 2. Tactics ---

     -- 2-1 Shieldpoking --

        The main tactic for a turtle, is obviously the shieldpoke.
        The entire playstyle is based around forcing your opponent to attempt to bypass your shield,
           then capitalizing on their attempt.
        Should your opponent fail to try countering it, they are simply getting poked to death.
        Knowing when not to shield poke is just as important as knowing when to shied poke,
           watching a few videos can easily give a feel for this.
        Stamina management is paramount, if you get low on stamina, you roll away and let it regen.

     -- 2-2 Hardswapping --

        Absolutely neccessary to the overall playstyle.
        Starting with the eagle shield for physical attacks.
            If they use Pyromancies, swap to the Black Knight Shield.
            If they use MLBH/MLGS or CMW/DMB, switch to Crest Shield.

        Swapping to RTS while low on HP is another such use.

     -- 2-3 Countering --

        The real meat of effectively using the build comes here, knowing how and when to counter tactics
           other players use to bypass that brick wall in front of you and them.
        Basically, if they arent displaying the intent to use these, you should be shieldpoking,
           otherwise counter them and continue on.

        Backstabs and Rollstabs:

            One of the most common strategy used when people see repeated shieldpokes:
               Circle around and wait for you to shieldpoke in order to poise BS you.
            While it is by far the most common tactic, it is also the easiest to counter,
                Instead of shield poking, you counterstab them.

            A subset of this is rollstabs, which involves people repeatedly rolling towards you,
               the counter being to simply circle around while they roll towards you and BS them.

        Parrying:

            Self explanatory, they try to parry your shieldpokes, multiple counters to such a tactic exist.
                - Poking at the very edge of the estoc's range, meaning they can only get a partial parry.
                - Circling them to punish their parry recovery with a BS.
                - Black Flame

        Mashing:

            A somewhat common tactic, though not often used by anyone half decent.
            The opponent stands still and mashes attacks in an attempt to guard break you.
            The answer is obviously to shield poke them into oblivion, then roll away before
               running out of stamina.
            However, be careful...as this is sometimes used to bait the shield pokes in order to BS or parry you.

        Bleed:

            Similar to mashing, but still worth a mention.
                - You can use red moss to remove your bleed build up if given enough room.
                - By timing a roll at the instant your bleed meter becomes full, you can cancel the damage
                     received, effectively zeroing out the bar.

        Dead Angles:

            Facing away from you in an attempt to abuse the blocking mechanic to score a hit through your shield.
                - Most dead angles have terrible range, so backpedaling out of range
                     followed by a shieldpoke is a decent way to handle them.
                - By facing away, they basically give you their back, and a free BS should you have
                     the poise to tank their hit, the trade is always favorable.
                - In the case of dead angle WoG, instead of poise BSing, simply roll BS it.

        Shotel:

            Also similar to dead angling, the shotel's R2 attacks bypass shields.
                - The R2 is slow, and is easily poise BSed.
                - The shotel has poor range, and whipping out a spear and kiting is a reliable counter.
                - Black Flame can easily shut down this should they not have the poise to tank it,
                     they will not win the trade with it.

        Black Flame:

            Although swapping to Black Knight Shield can virtually nullify the damage,
               the stamina damage is still high.
                - The first BF can be shield poked completely safely, but afterwards
                     you should roll away to regen stamina.

        Spear:

            Some players will get tired of your turtling and whip out a spear to kite you and poke from a
               distance, or try to turtle themselves.
                - Kiting you accomplishes very little for them besides delaying the fight,
                     spears have terrible guard break so you are completely safe behind it.
                - In the case of a turtle, spears have awful BS damage, and it is very likely they
                     are not used to the playstyle.

            Feel free to BS their shieldpokes into oblivion, you have the advantage.
            Trying the other tactics above is also valid.

        Kicks and Poison:

            Laughably useless against a turtle.
            The kick does terrible stamina damage, and poison does very little damage and can be mossed away.