Is sword and shield a good option until end of game?

[Griever]

Or should I go with greatsword or colossal or other type of strength weapon?
I feel really solid with my trusted longsword and shield, and feel a little slow trying a greatsword. Heavier weapons feel impossible to use during bosses as the wind up is so long.I also love the longsword I found, because it gives me slashing and piercing movesets, which is so well balanced.

Another question...I'd like to try a magic character, which is more viable and fun, the faith/priest type of character or the more classic mage with sorcery? Sorcery seems like the usual Dark Souls blue bolts.

[Fineous🔥]

You are fine with just a shield.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2906386427

[C1REX]

This guy is showing that shield + spear strat is still valid.
He would melt Malenia 4x faster if he used mimic and a bleed spear.
I definitely don't see shields as useless. Especially great shields.


https://youtu.be/iDig6_Giat4

[Sabaithal]

Sword and shield are reliable enough. Its true the classic combo doesn't excel in any field, but it has no real weaknesses either, and its easy to use and master effetively.

Though yeah, by the time you reach mountaintop of giants I would drop the "balanced" weapons and intentionally try to make your character overpowered, because with some of the late-game enemies you really do need to be as powerful as you can make yourself.

Probably the easiest thing to switch to would be sword and shield to greatsword and greatshield.

[BurlsoL]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย C1REX-PL:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย BurlsoL:

The problem however is that the premise of standing still and blocking attacks fails against many of the enemies that do largely AoE effects so you are still dependent on dodging for most fights making the shield generally less useful than a weapon you can power-stance or 2-hand wield.

It really depends of your shield and build but some shields are crazy good.

Here is a short video showing my fight against crucible knight ng+7. I recorded this for another topic about shields not being that good.
At max difficulty he hits very hard and eats your stamina. I intentionally didn't do a single roll to prove that you can block almost anything in the game without much problems. It's also waaay easier than perfectly timed rolls between attacks in long combos.

https://youtu.be/2doW9GjEims

Against humanoid enemies, certainly.

Against enemies that deal status effects, not so much.

Against enemies that aren't humanoid and do many large AoE attacks instead of direct physical attacks... nope.

[Pack 4 Potatoes]

You won't do a lot of damage against bosses if you use sword and shield, unless of course you have a blood loss build or learn to parry very well.

If you switch to two-handing a great sword, you will still be able to block, but it will cause you to take damage. This is a fair trade to deal more damage and it will inspire you to dodge harder, since you can't rely on blocking.

[Clail]

Sword and shield is great, blocking is plenty useful, I would argue especially against AoE's despite whatever conversation is going on in this thread. There's just a lot of people who don't understand shield mechanics entirely.
And you can still deal good damage either through combo attacks with faster weapons, or 1handing heavier weapons.

[C1REX]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย BurlsoL:

.
Against humanoid enemies, certainly.

Against enemies that deal status effects, not so much.

Against enemies that aren't humanoid and do many large AoE attacks instead of direct physical attacks... nope.

Can you give some specific examples?
Do you mean that against some enemies shields aren’t good? Or you mean just specific attacks they have?
I really can’t think of an enemy where a good shield doesn’t help. Sure, some enemies have attacks that you don’t want to block but you can block other attacks.

[Pack 4 Potatoes]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย C1REX-PL:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย BurlsoL:

The problem however is that the premise of standing still and blocking attacks fails against many of the enemies that do largely AoE effects so you are still dependent on dodging for most fights making the shield generally less useful than a weapon you can power-stance or 2-hand wield.

It really depends of your shield and build but some shields are crazy good.

Here is a short video showing my fight against crucible knight ng+7. I recorded this for another topic about shields not being that good.
At max difficulty he hits very hard and eats your stamina. I intentionally didn't do a single roll to prove that you can block almost anything in the game without much problems. It's also waaay easier than perfectly timed rolls between attacks in long combos.

https://youtu.be/2doW9GjEims

At a high enough level, being naked and throwing pots is viable. Just saying, your stats look maxed out nearly.

[Sabaithal]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย C1REX-PL:

Can you give some specific examples?
Do you mean that against some enemies shields aren’t good? Or you mean just specific attacks they have?
I really can’t think of an enemy where a good shield doesn’t help. Sure, some enemies have attacks that you really don’t want to block but not all attacks.

Well anything that uses grab attacks frequently, since they bypass blocking altogether. The thing is there aren't that many enemies that do that, aside from basic zombies and one major boss.

Other than that, I suppose anything that hits REALLY hard can drain a lot of stamina even with a good shield. Its generally better to try and dodge those attacks if you can which might be more difficult than just biting the bullet and blocking. Though again, not many enemies that apply to that. So shields are very much still useful.

I would definitely try and upgrade to greatshields by the time you reach endgame areas though.

[C1REX]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pack 4 Potatoes:

You won't do a lot of damage against bosses if you use sword and shield, unless of course you have a blood loss build or learn to parry very well.

I think you completely forgot about weapon skills/ashes of war.

If I use some of the strongest weapons in the game like let say moonveil and spam L2 there is almost no damage penalty for adding a shield. Rivers of Blood doesn’t get any weaker if I add a heavy shield.

[Sabaithal]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย C1REX-PL:

I think you completely forgot about weapon skills/ashes of war.

If I use some of the strongest weapons in the game like let say moonveil and spam L2 there is almost no damage penalty for adding a shield. Rivers of Blood doesn’t get any weaker if I add a heavy shield.

Also guard counters do quite a bit of damage, not to mention stance damage.

[Pack 4 Potatoes]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย C1REX-PL:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pack 4 Potatoes:

You won't do a lot of damage against bosses if you use sword and shield, unless of course you have a blood loss build or learn to parry very well.

I think you completely forgot about weapon skills/ashes of war.

If I use some of the strongest weapons in the game like let say moonveil and spam L2 there is almost no damage penalty for adding a shield. Rivers of Blood doesn’t get any weaker if I add a heavy shield.

I guess, but i don't think spamming L2 is going to deal nearly as much damage as using R1 with a two-handed weapon. Just by simple fact you can probably get 3-4 R1 attacks off in the time it takes to perform L2 with the moonviel.

[C1REX]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pack 4 Potatoes:

I guess, but i don't think spamming L2 is going to deal nearly as much damage as using R1 with a two-handed weapon. Just by simple fact you can probably get 3-4 R1 attacks off in the time it takes to perform L2 with the moonviel.

People don’t use moonveil to spam R1. There are better katanas for that.

Good ashes of war are preferable over regular attacks. Otherwise nobody would use them and waste FP.
If your weapon has a good ash of war and that is the main damage dealer against bosses there is very little reasons to not add a shield.

[C1REX]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pack 4 Potatoes:

At a high enough level, being naked and throwing pots is viable. Just saying, your stats look maxed out nearly.

I’m level 400 something. All stats at about 60 what is standard softcap. Stats are high but it’s also hardest difficulty.

Decent greatshields start from about 30STR. At 50STR you get access to the best shield in the game. Softcap for stamina is 50. This are the only two stats that matter for shields.
You can easily get similar result at lvl150.
60VGR, 50STR, 50END and about 20 more points for other stats.

https://8bitdesign.dev/en/elden-ring/?name=No+Name&classType=1&vigor=15&mind=10&endurance=11&strength=14&dexterity=13&intelligence=9&faith=9&arcane=7

[BurlsoL]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย C1REX-PL:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย BurlsoL:

.
Against humanoid enemies, certainly.

Against enemies that deal status effects, not so much.

Against enemies that aren't humanoid and do many large AoE attacks instead of direct physical attacks... nope.

Can you give some specific examples?
Do you mean that against some enemies shields aren’t good? Or you mean just specific attacks they have?
I really can’t think of an enemy where a good shield doesn’t help. Sure, some enemies have attacks that you don’t want to block but you can block other attacks.

There are many enemies where shields are not necessarily useful. The dragons come to mind. While the shield might absorb single hits, it does nothing against breath attacks and will usually knock you off balance unless you pumped heavily into stamina and have high poise. As attacks are slow, blocking becomes less effective than just dodging.

Then there's Fallingstar beasts, lava worms, crystallians, red wolves, and most everything that does meaningful bleed, rot, or frost status buildup.

May be fine when you're in the 400+ range, but below 120, most the things that pose any real threat would end up staggering you too easily if you rely on mostly blocking.

Blocking can work, but it is more of a skill thing because instead of just dodging every attack or just not being near it, you have to recognize attacks you can block verses what you can't.