All resources in this guide can be found in the Dark Souls Discord Server[discord.gg]. These documents can be found in the pinned messages in the #ds2-pvp-question-and-resources channel under the DARK SOULS II category.

Blue Acolyte[www.nexusmods.com] is an anti-cheat and quality-of-life mod for Dark Souls II. By using it you are protected from cheaters online, and will be able to find active invasions regardless of your soul memory, along with a variety of other useful features.

PvP Mule Saves[drive.google.com] for PC. New characters created on these save files will have access to all items, with all bonfires unlocked and all spells fully spiced to the minimum requirement. These files are intended to be used for making PvP characters quickly. The "Leveled Mule" includes all equipment fully upgraded, for making leveled duelist characters. The "Invasion Mule" allows you to upgrade the equipment yourself, and includes a writeup that recommends upgrade levels for different Soul Memory tiers in invasions. Note that this replaces your current save file.

Control Scheme setup guide[docs.google.com]. Covers various ways to set up your inputs in Dark Souls II. If you are using a mouse at all, then make sure to navigate to the keyboard and mouse sections and read about the doubleclicking bug. You will have significant input delay on your mouse buttons if you do not set this up properly.

Center Deadzone Mod[www.nexusmods.com]. Removes the game’s axial joystick deadzones in favor of a radial deadzone. This allows for complete 360 degree freedom of movement.

Starting Resources Document[docs.google.com]. Covers many of the software and tools mentioned in the pins already, but with deeper explanations and is condensed into one document for easy sharability with new players. Includes instructions on how to set up borderless fullscreen without mods.

joby's older "Comprehensive" spreadsheet for competitive DS2 PvP[docs.google.com].It's slightly outdated compared to the next spreadsheet by joby, but has more information and is still a good reference.

joby's "Digestible" spreadsheet for competitive DS2 PvP[docs.google.com]. Both of these sheets are a good starting point, but are by no means the end of the rabbit hole. If an experienced PvPer tells you something that contradicts these guides, believe them, or test it yourself. joby's third "Forbidden" spreadsheet is a secret, and few have found it.

Tutorial for the DS2 Armor Optimizer[docs.google.com]. A powerful tool for determining optimal armor setups in duels that also takes some time to learn how to use.

Example SL155 dueling setups[soulsplanner.com] on soulsplanner. Some of these are templates, some are designed to demonstrate broad build optimization concepts to people wanting to learn to make PvP builds, and some are simply optimal setups for weapons that require dedicated statlines and equipment. Read through if you want to know what optimized dueling builds look like, and ask questions in the Dark Souls Discord (link at top of guide) about anything you want to know.

Community tier list[docs.google.com], ranking the relative strength of weapons and spells in dueling scenarios. No tier list for DS2 can be truly comprehensive, given the variety of potentially undocumented weapon synergies, but this list is useful as a rough guideline for how weapons generally are understood to fare against each other.

YouTube playlist of various Dark Souls II tech and glitches.

Sheets with calculator functions require you to make a copy in order to use.

Build Planners:
Comprehensive Damage Calculator[docs.google.com]
https://soulsplanner.com/darksouls2

Weapon & Equipment Comparisons:
Weapon Data[docs.google.com]
Shield Block Scaling[docs.google.com]
True Counter Modifiers[docs.google.com]

Poise:
Basic explanation on poise
Weapon Poise Damage[docs.google.com]
Hyperarmor Multipliers[docs.google.com]

Framedata:
Weapon Framedata[docs.google.com]
I-Frame Calculator[docs.google.com]
Parry Framedata[docs.google.com]

Stamina:
Stamina regen calculator[docs.google.com]
Stamina costs sheet[docs.google.com]

Buffs & Heals
Buff Duration Chart[docs.google.com]
Buff AR Calculator[docs.google.com]
Healing Miracle Scaling[docs.google.com]

The game is fine

Basic video on latency interactions

Longer, more detailed video about latency

"Why you got facestabbed" video

More about facestabs

Netcode visualization spreadsheet

This guide is the culmination of over a decade of research, information gathering and compiling by the DS2 PvP community. It has been a massive labor of love for everyone involved, and I am pleased to bring these resources to you here.

orange arena[discord.gg] is a dedicated Discord server specifically focused on Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin PvP, and the most active members in the PvP scene frequent here.