STR builds are the underdog.

[Vermilion Knight]

Im sorry but 99% of everyone saying they beat the game use Dex or Magic.
STR has some of the most punishing weapons to use, and for fast bosses, I'd say it's actually impossible to use colossal weapons against them. Most of the time, even if I land a super well times hit and focus to roll after an attack, I trade damage because my weapon is simply far to slow for a clean hit with no damage.
I hope FromSoftware really changes either attack speed, or damage done with STR weapons, because right now Dex is not only faster, but some builds do way more damage than even colossal weapons and it just feels like a joke.

[DonJuanDoja]

STR is not supposed to put out as much dps as dex and casters. They have armor and greatshields and stagger and other benefits.

Seems like all anyone cares about is dps and that's obviously not how they designed the game to max dps for every class.

Faith has same thing with lots of support spells, not as much damage as INT spells/weapons

If STR could dps like dex and int casters no one would pick dex or int because why not have the armor and stamina pool and staggers too if you can still put out as much dps.

[Mepho]

I started aiming for a "classic" str build with dex on the side and the big iron, but in the end settled for a basic ♥♥♥♥♥ 40 vit 40 end 40 str 40 dex and right now I'm dumping my extra points in dex because what I actually use scales better.
Ultra greatswords feel that bit too slow for the average enemy.
UGSs seem to be mainly int or faith scaling and are all several times heavier than other options with very similar damage.
I crafted myself Radhan's UGS thinking at least I could DW without losing half my carry capacity, but even that requires int and I can't justify spending 6 random levels or 1+a talisman slot just to equip that ON TOP of all the other drawbacks.

So yeah, unless you wanna go full tank with a 1handed and a tower shield, I don't see how pure str is viable unless you accept gimping yourself.
I got stuck with my bloodhounds fang from the very first evening I started this game and I've yet to find any reason to change it. In fact I doubled down with another great curvesword in offhand with bleed and it's retardedly strong.
I really wanted to go big boi stronk arms but I can't find a way to do it without feeling I'm gimping myself.

[Supreme Honkifex]

Then more power to you if you do use STR

[Kyutaru]

Tell me again STR sucks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfRoNu71uQE

Colossal weapons may be what suck, not STR. Different topic.

[Vermilion Knight]

Originally posted by DonJuanDoja:

STR is not supposed to put out as much dps as dex and casters. They have armor and greatshields and stagger and other benefits.

Seems like all anyone cares about is dps and that's obviously not how they designed the game to max dps for every class.

Faith has same thing with lots of support spells, not as much damage as INT spells/weapons

If STR could dps like dex and int casters no one would pick dex or int because why not have the armor and stamina pool and staggers too if you can still put out as much dps.

If you havent noticed Armor does nothing in this game?
I have over 2000 HP and I can still die in about 3 hits from certain bosses. That's not being "tanky" I have to play just as safe as everyone else. Did you also forget you can run a Dex build and literally wear the heaviest armor in the game also?

[XTAKK]

Strength is great for coop, make yourself a human tank with your greatshield and colossal weapon and put on shabiri's woe talisman to get the enemy to always focus on you instead of your host. Get high poise, high hp, and you can be the team mascot for any coop adventure. You just aren't playing the way it's intended in this game, albeit in the past games it has been more evenly balanced regardless of what class type you go for.

[Vermilion Knight]

Originally posted by Kyutaru:

Tell me again STR sucks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfRoNu71uQE

Colossal weapons may be what suck, not STR. Different topic.

Hes literally using Bleed bro. Did you even watch the video?
Everyone and their mom knows that bleed is a broken meta that makes this game a cake walk. I don't even have a weapon that is viable for bleed, and I shouldn't have to find an exploit in the game to beat a boss.

[Pixel]

I think if you use the dumpling, roars, roar ring, tons of strength, while 2h'ing weapon you likely do great damage, esp if combined with jump attacks and jump armor and ring.

[dande48]

I beat the game for the first time using a strength build. They stagger great. STR also gives you extra defense, more than double any other stat.

[Kyutaru]

Originally posted by Vermilion Knight:

If you havent noticed Armor does nothing in this game?
I have over 2000 HP and I can still die in about 3 hits from certain bosses. That's not being "tanky" I have to play just as safe as everyone else. Did you also forget you can run a Dex build and literally wear the heaviest armor in the game also?

Armor does plenty actually. You just don't stack it. You have to use the armor plus the talismans plus spell buffs plus the perfumes sometimes because the closer to 100 you get, the more extra durability matters to how much damage you take. Without even using more than Confessor armor, a phys resist talisman, Golden Vow, and the Ironjar Aromatic, I was able to stand toe to toe with Malenia and wail on her while only taking minor damage from her "whirlwind of death" move that one shots lesser beings. The entire combo did less than half my health. Health matters a lot less than mitigation at the higher end of the game because you easily get passive healing from a variety of sources and being super tanky makes every health point count for triple.

[GroovyHobo]

Hoarfrost was the only thing that made str builds usable and now you can't even use that anymore. Lol

[Pixel]

Originally posted by dande313:

I beat the game for the first time using a strength build. They stagger great. STR also gives you extra defense, more than double any other stat.

True and if you want to stagger more if possible the ash that adds more stagger to attacks is the way to go.

[Mesond]

70 strength. 20 faith. 50 vigor. Mimic. Death sword. Melina. Laugh.

It honestly turned her into a joke.

[Funpire]

Originally posted by DonJuanDoja:

STR is not supposed to put out as much dps as dex and casters. They have armor and greatshields and stagger and other benefits.

Seems like all anyone cares about is dps and that's obviously not how they designed the game to max dps for every class.

Faith has same thing with lots of support spells, not as much damage as INT spells/weapons

If STR could dps like dex and int casters no one would pick dex or int because why not have the armor and stamina pool and staggers too if you can still put out as much dps.

Endurance is about carrying things. Just because you have high strength doesn't mean you can carry all the +20stone items as most high strength items have weight unlike dex items... You can pick or choose, but unless you are high sl, this logic fails.

[Vermilion Knight]

Originally posted by Taramafor:

70 strength. 20 faith. 50 vigor. Mimic. Death sword. Melina. Laugh.

It honestly turned her into a joke.

Bro come on the Mimic? That's not what Im talking about here. I mean literally a 1v1 fight.