Dark Souls 3 – Fixing Random Dodge Directions on PC

It could be the controller as I have personally had many old controllers like the thrustmaster and honestly found them to be pretty bad, I cannot really answer if it is the controller as you are the only one with your controller, if anything look at it in the settings (Control Panel > Controllers) and see if the controller reacts to button presses quickly and properly (As in pushing forwards and then letting go doesn't cause you to take a step back.

The second thing is it could be dark souls, dark souls has a certain timing to many of these attacks that take time to get use to. There are delays in swings because your character has to draw their sword back or pull their foot up and kicks requires specific timing.

The timing for the kick is to press the attack button and forwards at the exact same time. Not one slightly ahead of the other but nearly exactly at the same time, the reason is sometimes you want to move forward and attack and not kick so the timing is specific to ensure you kick when you want to kick and attack any other time.

Secondly the plunging attack requires you to not jump off or roll off initially. I don't know if you're doing that but it will delay your attack. Just walk off the ledge at the boss and as soon as you start falling hit the attack button and you should perform a plunging attack. It can actually be done a little too late and seem like you'll miss it only for it to land.

I use a PS3 controller with a tool to make it function like a XBOX 360 Controller and the game reacts perfectly too it and I can perform all these attacks just fine.

PC — Xbox 360

• W, A, S, D - Forward, Back, Left, Right.

• I, J, K, L - Camera controls (Second analogue stick)

• C, X, V, B - D-pad

• Page Up, Page Down - RB, LB

• Insert, Delete - X, Y

• Menu / Stats pages, etc: End

• Q - A

• E - B

• Lock on: O

• Gesture menu: G

• Controls your rolling, dashing, diving, etc: Space

• Toggle 1H/2H Grip: Alt

• Right Weapon Attack, Heavy: U, LMB

• Right Weapon Attack, Light: H, RMB

• Left Weapon Action / Block: Shift

• Left Weapon Action / Parry: Tab

• Confirm: Enter

• Cancel: Backspace

^{Note: If the Xbox 360 controller button is not written, it is not known what the equivalent button is. Please consider suggesting an edit to this answer, or commenting about it, if you know them.}

Source(s): I've got Dark Souls. The keyboard controls are really not intuitive but all of the above are what you get. The in-game hints system is pretty much useless as it lists the keys for the 360 controller. For example, when telling you to do a critical attack it was listed as "when falling, press RB" - menus didn't say what that was but it's easy to work out when you start playing.

My advice is - get a controller. The game is very fun and playable with the keyboard and mouse but you will probably start to hate life, especially with the lock on if you're using a mouse since it is highly sensitive and just pressing one of the attack buttons can switch targets so your attack misses and you die.