Claymore vs Zweihander vs (Guts) Greatsword

[[G.W.] Sunbro Greg]

Hello, everyone, thanks for taking a moment to read my question.

I've finished the game, doing some PVP and PVE with friends mostly. I decided to not wait for the consensus on the pvp-meta-level to appear, so I kept on leveling, and at the moment hit the mark of 350+ rl. Having a real blast, never knew that leveling up past the meta requirement could be so much fun.

That being said, even on the levels that high, there is a lot of PVP, as I'm not the only one like this =)

I'm a full quality build with 99/99 STR / DEX, and as I absolutely hate magic and status effects and primarily play with straightswords / greatswords / colossal swords and colossal weapons, I wanted to ask you people for advice on the three candidates for my future escapades.

1) Claymore. I very much like Claymore, as it brings me way back into older souls-games, as well as it has an amazing (I think the best one) movesets in the game. I especially like the R2 poke with crouch/roll poke, alongside with wide sweeps of 1h R1. It's versatile, and relatively fast. I paired it with Quickstep and so far it's been awesome!

2) Zweihander. POWER UP THE BASS CANNON. Just like Claymore, this chunk of metal brings me back, too. I very much love its length and its moveset, as well. It is also comprised with R2, crouch and roll pokes, alongside with wide, sweeping R1s. Slapped Great Hunt on this bad boy, to see them people fly. The only few things I'm concerned about are its slow speed and the general idea that FROM seems to have, that if the weapon has lower stat requirements, then it has to be worse than all other weapons in its weapon class group. At this level, I not longer care about stat reqs or weight. The redeeming quality of this blade is its amazing moveset with pokes, and its length.

3) Never watched anime, but every one calls it Guts greatsword. A bit of googling helped me acquaint myself with the concept. Looks cool! So, this weapon is the one that hits hardest of all the three. It also kinda has a poke (crouch and roll), which is, ironically, quite easy to use and pops out really fast, it also has wide sweeping strikes. Add Lion's Claw AoW, and this thing becomes the apex weapon for killing stuff. What I'm not sure about, is does it swing as fast as Zwei, and what about its length? I legit took a ruler, and on my screen it appears longer than Zwei, yet people claim that Zwei is one of the longest weapons in the game. The other thing is the lack of a designated R2 poke. I still dunno... is having a crouch poke better than having crouch poke and R2 poke in PVP? Crouch poke seems to pop a bit faster.

So, once again, for my current build (99 str 99 dex, no magic, no status, weight unimportant) in the end-game, which one of the three weapons would be a better bet?

Thank you for your answers in advance.

[Kain]

Claymore, I love the Greatsword, but for pvp it's too slow. The Claymore moveset is a bit better and as you said that poke is excellent.

None of them I believe are great for pvp given their speed, there is a reason most people use katanas or even whips, people will say all weapons are equal, but it's not true, speed is the most important thing.

[Morton Koopa Jr.]

Guts' greatsword is in this game? gawddamnit. I hadn't encountered the greatsword UGS yet; I just assumed they didn't bring it back for this game.

[Morton Koopa Jr.]

Gonna avoid looking at your response, Kain. No disrespect. Still trying to avoid spoilers as best as I can haha

[Argonaut]

Claymore best great sword 4 games running.
Greatsword best ultra.
Zweihander best ultra that isn't greatsword.

FYI in PvP moveset and ash of war matter a lot more. Like knowing that glinstone pebble -> R2 or storm stomp -> R2 with claymore and zweihander is a true combo(cannot be rolled out of) while with greatsword it isn't.

[Slim Jong Un]

I've never used Zweihander because using an 8 pound sword like a 40 pound club looks stupid as hell.

[Kain]

Originally posted by Morton Koopa Jr.:

Gonna avoid looking at your response, Kain. No disrespect. Still trying to avoid spoilers as best as I can haha

Deleted it then. Sorry.

[paladin181]

Greatsword is good, and fainting attacks with those wide sweeping attacks can be good for roll catching if you get someone with a twitchy finger.

[[G.W.] Sunbro Greg]

Originally posted by Argonaut:

Claymore best great sword 4 games running.
Greatsword best ultra.
Zweihander best ultra that isn't greatsword.

FYI in PvP moveset and ash of war matter a lot more. Like knowing that glinstone pebble -> R2 or storm stomp -> R2 with claymore and zweihander is a true combo(cannot be rolled out of) while with greatsword it isn't.

That’s a bloody good point! But then again, what if I do storm stomp and crouch poke with Greatsword, won’t it also work?

And another one - if you were to pick between Zweihander and Claymore in pvp, which one would it be and with which ash of war? And, most importantly, why?

[[G.W.] Sunbro Greg]

Originally posted by Kain:

Claymore, I love the Greatsword, but for pvp it's too slow. The Claymore moveset is a bit better and as you said that poke is excellent.

None of them I believe are great for pvp given their speed, there is a reason most people use katanas or even whips, people will say all weapons are equal, but it's not true, speed is the most important thing.

I gotta admit, using claymore or broadsword after trying out all those fancy weapons feels like coming back home after a long trip. The trip was nice, but when you’re in your own castle - things are cozy and familiar.

[[G.W.] Sunbro Greg]

Thank you all for the answers! Hoping for more insight!

[Oi, gi'us yer beer]

Still no clue if Zwei is longer than Greatsword and if Stormstomp can true combo into crouch poke

[[G.W.] Sunbro Greg]

Originally posted by Oi, gi'us yer beer:

Still no clue if Zwei is longer than Greatsword and if Stormstomp can true combo into crouch poke

this.

[Homeless.]

Using both GS and Claymore, have no use for Zwei

[[G.W.] Sunbro Greg]

Originally posted by Homeless.:

Using both GS and Claymore, have no use for Zwei

Why not zwei, in your opinion? Is it shorter than UGS and has worse moveset?

[Kenopsia]

Have you considered using them all and making your own decision?