Choosing Your Destiny: A Complete Expert Guide on the Best Starting Gifts in Dark Souls 2

As an esteemed undead warrior who has conquered the cursed lands of Drangleic over a dozen playthroughs, I am uniquely qualified to offer authoritative guidance on the best starting gift options in Dark Souls 2. The key is matching these early boosts with your preferred build and playstyle to maximize advantage.

While later areas feature potent weapons and mighty spells, the first desperate hours often determine an undead’s fate. New champions would be wise to heed my counsel; these gifts directly impact early survival based on their unique effects. I aim to illuminate the upsides and downsides so your beginnings are not terminally brief.

Onwards, brave undead. Destiny awaits.

What Do Starting Gifts Offer?

When first awakening in the decrepit chamber at Things Betwixt, you may select one of eight possible starting gifts before being cast into Drangleic. Choose carefully, as this permanent boon can profoundly sway fortunes during early struggles.

Potential rewards range considerably in utility:

• Consumables – Single or limited use, but valuable temporarily (e.g. Homeward Bone)
• Passive Upgrades – Continually benefit player until end-game (e.g. Life Ring)
• Combat Items – Altering battle dynamics against enemies or invaders (e.g. Seed of a Tree of Giants)
• Trade Goods – Barter for unpredictable rewards from NPCs (e.g. Petrified Something)
• Difficulty Boosts – Respawn areas with enhanced foes for better loot (e.g. Bonfire Ascetic)

Now let us analyze each in detail, weighing potential upsides against possible limitations or drawbacks.

No Starting Gift – Prizing masochism

Indeed, one may begin their quest entirely giftless by choosing ‘No Gift’. Veterans seeking the harshest challenges out the gate occasionally select this option, depriving themselves of any early edge.

In my early foolishness, I too once fancied denying myself gifts in the name of bravado. Humbled by having my pride shattered continuously against basic enemies, I soon thought better of it. Consider the additional struggles you invite:

• Expect frequent deaths from standard foes until mastering movement and combat
• Gathering essentials like Lifegems becomes substantially more tedious
• 80% increased invasion rate compared to Human Effigy choice (Source)
• Decreased soul gain compared to using Bonfire Ascetic (Source)

In summary, I cannot in good faith recommend this for newcomers. However, for seasoned juggernauts pursuing further trials, it may offer precisely the right level of suffering.

Homeward Bone – Limited but useful escapes

This gift bestows a singular Homeward Bone, permitting one tactical retreat to your last rested bonfire without forfeiting hard-earned souls. Additional bones may be located exploring Drangleic later:

• Provides 60 seconds of speedy graveyard evacuation
• Ideal after accruing large soul hauls from bosses
• Recovers souls following failed invasions by hostile spirits

However, its lone use means benefits are short-lived. Once exhausted, its utility disappears altogether. Considering more lasting or renewable gifts are available, this is rather limited in scope. Still, one well-timed escape can salvage millions of souls that might be lost otherwise.

Human Effigy – Restoring the flesh

The Human Effigy gift reverts Hollowing, restoring earnest warriors to the wholesome flesh they possessed in life prior to the curse. Benefits are instant but temporary:

• Fully restores Health – Revives you to 100% HP instantly (does not heal gradual HP loss)
• Enables Online Play – Allowing both cooperative and hostile multiplayer interactions
• Removes Hollow Penalties – Stops incremental max health reductions from dying (caps at 50% total) (Source)

However, effigies become quite scarce if overused, and repeated deaths will rapidly return you to a hollowed state. With no replenishing supply, wasting them could be dire later on when embered state is vital for successive boss attempts. Plus, certain story events permanently nullify these effects in a given playthrough, rendering surplus effigies worthless.

If engaging in frequent online play, ration them sparingly. For those who prefer solo journeys, other starting options have superior lasting impacts.

Life Ring – Modest but lasting vitality gains

This glittering band containing a struggling spirit creature boosts max health 5% permanently, unless replaced or dying repeatedly.

• Grants increasing HP gains as vitality rises through leveling
• Stacks with enhancer rings found later for greater health
• Remains useful well into mid and late game

Now this may sound underwhelming compared to the dramatic restoration of Human Effigy. However, by protecting against that initial critical blow or enabling you to survive encounters that would kill a non-augmented player, the humble Life Ring truly proves its value.

All builds benefit from enhanced vigor in early areas. Once the curse fully takes hold in Drangleic, heroes find themselves losing max health permanently upon each death. This passive ring helps mitigate that perilous decline. After all, you cannot reclaim souls or advance the quest without your life!

Seed of a Tree of Giants – Creative but limited chaos

This gift empowers you to turn Drangleic’s hostile creatures against invading spirits for a brief moment by crushing a magical seed:

• Causes enemies to aggressively target invading players
• Also impacts cooperative phantoms unfortunately
• Lasts 60-90 seconds once activated (Source)

Now, experiencing a devious invader being mobbed by enemies certainly delivers some vengeful satisfaction. However, effects are confined only to select zones once used. Plus, without care, you may still be overwhelmed and beaten to a bloody pulp by your own minions.

In my extensive experience invading and assisting other players, seeds proved more of a surprising nuisance than decisive match-changer. Their impacts are too short-lived and unpredictable to be a truly reliable starting gift option. Nevertheless, clever players can leverage this temporary chaos for memorable wins.

Healing Wares – Essential consumables for early game

If starting deprived and destitute, this gift provides immediate resources to treat wounds and toxins exploring Drangleic’s dangers:

• 10 Lifegems – Slowly restore lost health over time
• 3 Radiant Lifegems – Faster health recovery over time
• 1 Old Radiant Lifegem – Large instant heal
• 5 Poison Moss – Curing toxic status buildup

Now mind you, these limited consumables are no complete substitute for skills and strategy in confronting ever-stronger foes. However, having these tools available undeniably takes the edge off the brutal learning curve, buying you extra leeway.

As a general tip, use Lifegems to recover from minor hits between fights, while saving Radiant Lifegems and Old Radiant Lifegems for critical emergencies mid-battle needing large immediate health influx. Poison Moss should be used cautiously whenever toxic meters begin filling from certain enemies, as poison rapidly chips away health until cured.

With prudent use, these satchels of healing items enable you to go much further against the grain before forced to improve.

Bonfire Ascetic – New risks and rewards revisiting areas

This gift imbues nearby regions with added danger whenever burned in a bonfire, calling upon forces to respawn all enemies as intensified New Game+ versions.

Why invite further threat you ask? Beyond masochistic appeal, the Ascetic also causes vanquished bosses to return, presenting opportunities to:

• Gain rare loot – Certain boss souls transmute into exclusive weapons at the blacksmith
• Earn abundant souls – Bosses and enemies award vastly more souls when strengthened
• Gather upgrade materials – Many areas feature useful crafting components

However, utilize Ascetics judiciously. Once used, an area grows continuously more challenging with each additional offering, while boss souls from repeat victories provide diminishing soul rewards after two victories. Plan wisely which key zones to reset for greatest gains.

And here is the critical catch: Using an Ascetic to revive an area boss permanently prohibits summoning assistance! You must win alone against amplified versions without cooperative phantoms. Time your attempts accordingly with proper preparations and power.

Petrified Something – Cryptic trades can yield great fortune

Without doubt, this inconspicuous item sparked the most intrigue for me personally when first selecting a gift. Its vague description reveals little, instead hinting at bizarre exchanges. What wondrous opportunities could this ‘something’ unlock? As a foolhardy youth, I selected it blindly despite its obscurity, which ultimately proved quite fortuitous indeed…

This covetous gift enables players to barter the enigmatic object with Dyna and Tillo, a pair of strange birds dwelling beside the first bonfire at Things Betwixt. And their rates are wildly inconsistent – premium ultra rare armaments and spells in one trade, mere trash in the next!

By offering the Petrified Something, heroes open themselves to Destiny’s whims – capable of acquiring mighty end-game weapons long before ever proving one’s worth to wield them against appropriate enemies. Within the first hour, a player could conceivably attain Mythic blades like:

• Moonlight Greatsword – Legendary magical longsword (+5 Intelligence, strong magic damage)
• Dragon Bone Smasher – Enormous striking hammer utilizing dragon bones (+50 Strength to wield 1-handed) (Source)

Now, fate could just as readily gift you useless chunks of rock too, so temper ambitions lest hopes crash violently against reality’s rocks like so many corpses against Drangleic’s stone ramparts. Nevertheless, no other starting gift carries as much disruptive potential so early. Those whom fortune favors may seize greatness ahead of schedule!

Best Starting Gifts Aligned to Playstyle

As evident throughout my appraisals, context around builds and preferred play-dynamics shapes the ideal suggestions:

For beginners, focus foremost on survivability. Therefore, Healing Wares provide that needed crutch during initial learning pains, while Life Ring passively bolsters vigor against repeated failures.

Dextrous spellweavers naturally require tools to rapidly unlock greater spells and catalysts. Hence, the Bonfire Ascetic allows hastily gathering upgrade materials and soul essence by forcing key locations into New Game+ states prematurely.

Those seeking well-rounded quality builds benefit from either petrified trades for potential quick gains, or the permanent health buffer of Life Ring – especially if including melee weapons.

Single-minded brute force melee builds arguably profit most from Life Ring as well for its static health uplift, though riskier players may opt for trading the Petrified Something to hopefully score a heavyweight weapon outpacing normal progression speed.

Avid invaders should strongly consider Human Effigy to readily enable multiplayer experiences, while fight club duelists may take Seed of a Tree of Giants to introduce controlled chaos against opponents to test their adaptability when surrounded.

Finally, veterans yearning to re-experience early game bloodshed should by all means plunge themselves headfirst into the abyss by choosing No Gift and embracing pure agony. Reforging oneself against hardship builds character!

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And so we conclude this extensive inquiry into the design and efficacy of starting gifts in Dark Souls 2. With knowledge comes power – use it judiciously! However you ultimately choose to launch your journey across Drangleic, keep your wits sharp and reflexes sharper still. Neither curses nor blades distinguish between the learned and foolish once set loose unto the fray. Now, shall we begin? Glory awaits!