Before you even start reading this guide, I am informing you that this is my first formal guide, and that I do not own the DLC. Please feel free to leave constructive critisism in the comment below, but hatemail will not be appreciated (but I will still read it).

Before we learn how to fight, dodge, and git gud, we must first establish some elementary principles. This guide will be referencing the Mouse and Keyboard controls, because for some reason FROM hates the PCMasterRace and the prompts are all for controllers.

Movement is performed with WASD, as it is in most games. The camera position is altered by the movement of the mouse, and pressing down on the middle mouse button or on 'Q' will center the camera on where your character is facing. Press and hold left alt to walk, while holding down on spacebar to sprint. Pressing spacebar without holding any other key down results in a backstep, while holding a movement key down causes a roll in the direction your keys indicates. The elusive jump can only be performed by pressing Left Shift while sprinting. It isn't worth it to jump unless are a completionist who *must* have every item they see.

Are you still with me? It's time to talk about changing weapons and item slots. To change your quick item slot, scroll downwards or press the down arrow button. To change your spell slot, scroll upwards or press the up arrow. In all seriousness, spells aren't for noobs because you can only casts them a few times before you have to resort to trying to kill things with a small stick. To change the right hand weapon, hold shift while scrolling up, and to change the left hand weapon hold shift while scrolling down. The keyboard equivalents are pressing the right and left arrows, respectively.

Now that we have these basic principles understood, we can progress to learning how to run for your life fight things.

Combat. Many may think this is the most important part of the game, and they are probably right. You have to kill things to beat the game no matter how much of a pacifist you are. I will give you a brief breakdown to translate from controller talk to K+M talk concerning combat.

R1 - Your main attack with your right hand weapon. Left Click.
R2 - The attack you shouldn't use because its so slow. Hold Shift while left clicking. The longer you hold the stronger this attack gets.
L1 - 90% of the time this means blocking with your offhand weapon. Right Click.
L2 - Use a Weapon art. This is either parrying or doing something with your actual weapon. Left Control, or Shift + Right Click.
2-Handing: Just what it sounds like. Press F to use your weapon with 2 hands, gaining a strength bonus. Hold F to use 2 hands for your offhand weapon.

Before we even discuss attacking, we must first talk about blocking. Don't block unless you know that you will get hit. Holding a shield up reduces your stamina regeneration speed, and it is often better to roll because blocking an attack causes your stamina to deplete, reducing your chances for counterattacking.

Now that you know how to attack, we must discuss strategies. There is only one strategy worth knowing in the early game, and that is known as R1 spam. spam click at your opponent while locked onto them (Q, remember) and then roll away so they can't hit you back. This does not work in PvP because people will parry you or just use a shield so they take no damage. For PvP, swing twice with R1s and then roll away. If you do anything else you are either a PvP noob who is about to die or you know what you are doing.

R2 has exactly one usage: Maximizing damage after you knock your opponent over. If for any reason your foe has fallen, quickly 2 hand your weapon and charge an R2 to deal lots of extra damage when they stand back up. Be warned that this doesn't work in PvP.

I will not discuss weapon arts (L2s) here unless this guide is well received, because I lack motivation to test them all out to say which ones are good where.

As you likely know, your health does not naturally regenerate in Dark Souls. You must use special infusions or spells to heal, so try not to get hit too much or this section of the guide won't help since you will have already died.

The main game has 5 major types of enemies, which I will go over in some detail. I have grouped them based on their difficulty to fight. Most enemies in each group can be dealt with in similar ways to others within the group, though there are of course exceptions. The groups are as follows: Swarm Enemies, Filler Monsters, Poise Users, Non-respawnables, and Bosses.

Swarm Enemies:
These enemies are either passive or deal so little damage that you can ignore them to take out bigger threats if necessary. Fodder primarily is found on the High Wall, the Undead Settlement, and the Cathedral of the Deep. Unless you are underlevelled or are using weak weapons, they should die in 2 hits. They have few to no soul drops, so you really should just walk past them. However, in large numbers they can quickly overwhelm you, making your best option to cull their ranks periodically.

Filler Monsters:
Not counting select end game areas, these monsters can pack a punch and don't die as quickly as you would like, but they don't pose often threat in small numbers. These can be found in every part of the game. Optimally you should roll through their attacks and stunlock them with R1s, but getting a swing off and then running or using a bow is perfectly fine as well. Don't let yourself get cornered, though, as then you are certainly doomed. Often found with Swarm enemies, some take advantage of the distractions to land slow and powerful attacks you would otherwise easily dodge or block.

Poise Users:
This category can be partailly broken down into large enemies and shield users, though there are significant overlaps between them. Enemies with shields often serve to test your patience, as they take minimal damage while blocking and wait to strike until you leave yourself exposed. They also allow you to perform devastating ripostes should you break their gaurd - dealing massive damage and making you invulnerable for the duration of the attack. Most shield users can be staggered normally, though some - knights - fall both under this category and as large opponents. Knights and most creatures larger than you use a mechanic known as 'Poise', a stat your armor gives you. Every weapon has a hidden 'Poise Damage' stat, larger weapons dealing more poise damage. Large foes will not be staggered until this occurs, making attack spam a death sentence. Take your time fighting these opponents; learn their movements and roll through their attack for the few opportunities they leave for you.

Minibosses:
These enemies do not respawn. This category includes both Hostile NPCs and creatures that do not respawn upon death. The NPCs follow many of the same rules as the player (with the notable exception of unlimited spellcasting ability), while the enemeis vary greatly in ability. Most, if not all, use poise. Minibosses are often found with few to no other enemies near them, and have health pools larger than other monsters. Most common is the Mimic, a false chest that will try to eat you should you open it. As they are the most common, I feel it is my duty to inform you of how to spot them. Mimics breathe slightly when observed through binoculors, and the chain attached to the chest faces the player. If in doubt, throw an 'Undead Hunter Charm', it puts it to sleep and allows you to safely extract the powerful item held within.

Bosses:
Honestly, you are better off looking at another guide for bosses. I will add slightly specific information on each boss if I am requested to do so.

You may be wondering 'when should I heal'. The answer to that is simply when you have a window to do so. Do not heal if you are at 90% health, but if you know your Estus heals for 60% of your health and you are at 50% health, its better to heal sooner than later when you could get 2 shot because you didn't want to waste your estus.

I just spent an hour typing and proofreading the other sections in a guide that may or may not be read by anyone besides myself. I'll write this section if people ask it of me.

Come to think of it, I've said that a few times in this guide already. Please don't ask me to do everything at once.