Dex/faith min-maxing

[Xendo]

I'm doing research for a current dex/faith build and narrowed down my early game weapon to 3 potential choices

Cross-Naginata w/ keen
Guardian Swordspear w/ keen
Vulgar Militia Shotel w/ sacred

I want the golden vow ash on the shotel, but not sure the faith scaling early game will be worth the damage hit unless I grind upgrades by sequence breaking. What should I use that could last me until around the time I get Vyke's War Spear

Warhawk's talon are also a contender for a sword and shield playstyle

[Magic A. I.]

In my experience, you don't really need anything special before you get Vyke's spear. Protective buffs help a lot, but they don't last, and recasting them in early game is a pain because of FP constrains and lack of talismans. Personally, I used Bloodhound's Fang right until I got the spear and never felt the need of changing it before then. If you are going to use a shield though, then Barricade Shield is always a solid option that does very good job at punishing light attack spammers both in PvE and PvP, and it's better to have that AoW at the ready than Golden Vow or any other buff.

[Vinnolo]

just use treespear with sacred blade, once you get w/e weapon you will use later on respect those 3- 4 int levels, or use the winged scythe

[MULTIPASS]

Bloodhound fang with bloodflame blade is a pretty dope combination for dex/faith, and the godslayer's greatsword is an amazing dex/faith colossal sword if you can swing it.

[Alby]

Originally posted by MULTIPASS:

Bloodhound fang with bloodflame blade is a pretty dope combination for dex/faith, and the godslayer's greatsword is an amazing dex/faith colossal sword if you can swing it.

Yezzir. GSG puts in work

[Magic A. I.]

While I used Godslayer throughout the major part of the game, I must say that it is awfully ineffective against dragons and certain other similar foes. This doesn't mean that it shouldn't be used, but that you should be prepared to use something else with it for foes that just don't fall down.

[Logical Maneuver]

Honestly I would just go with the twin blade for dex/faith, 10 str 18 dex. It's such a fun weapon for 2h heavy staggers and it has a great move set (little secret I never see used because lock on addiction is backstep into stab for a very good poke/roll catch). I put sacred on it or use fire/blood grease until Liurnia then I get blood flame blade/keen. I don't use a shield (but you could it's pretty much a straight sword then) so I put Golden Vow on a dagger or whatever I want on my hip/back to look cool that's within medium load.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCgdiV6uMk8

All the weapons you list besides the War Hawk take quite a bit of strength for "min-maxing" a dex build early and will take away from your faith/vigor/mind. Also there could be quite a bit of farming there aside from the Naginata, and even that is a trip. Where as you can just drop off a cliff, jump over a wall, and grab the dual blade right out the door and progress naturally.

Edit: Also down the road you can look forward to Eleonora's Poleblade, which is an absolute monster.

[Magic A. I.]

Originally posted by Logical Maneuver:

Edit: Also down the road you can look forward to Eleonora's Poleblade, which is an absolute monster.

And that is the thing to kill dragons with.

[MULTIPASS]

Originally posted by Magic A. I.:

Originally posted by Logical Maneuver:

Edit: Also down the road you can look forward to Eleonora's Poleblade, which is an absolute monster.

And that is the thing to kill dragons with.

A weapon that does slashing and fire damage, the 2 weakest types to use against dragons?

[Magic A. I.]

Originally posted by MULTIPASS:

Originally posted by Magic A. I.:

And that is the thing to kill dragons with.

A weapon that does slashing and fire damage, the 2 weakest types to use against dragons?

Yes. It has bleed and its weapon skill lets you fly through everything dragons have. I absolutely destroyed Placidusax with it yesterday.

[UnholyDentist]

Dex/faith isn't as effective, there aren't any decent dex/faith stat scaling weapon I know of. Converting generic weapons dex to faith scaling is not a good idea, since holy damage is weak in general.

If you want faith based build, then either go with str/faith, or full faith caster.

If you want dex based build, go with dex/arcane bleed or dex/str melee.

[MULTIPASS]

Originally posted by UnholyDentist:

Dex/faith isn't as effective, there aren't any decent dex/faith stat scaling weapon I know of. Converting generic weapons dex to faith scaling is not a good idea, since holy damage is weak in general.

If you want faith based build, then either go with str/faith, or full faith caster.

If you want dex based build, go with dex/arcane bleed or dex/str melee.

The previously mentioned godslayer's greatsword is dex/faith scaling and wrecks all the way to endgame, and there are also a couple of decent dex/faith scythes. Holy falls off against endgame bosses, but faith also gets the flame affinity for fire damage. Dex also has synergy because of the casting speed increase which is great for many faith spells - take it to 40 and add radagon's icon to get max casting speed.

[UnholyDentist]

Godslayer's greatsword is B category at best. The Winged Schyte is a higher C. What can 'wreck' the game is down to other factors. Some people can wreck the game with a club. I don't think dex/faith is a good match in general, mediocre builds result from it.

[Xendo]

Originally posted by Logical Maneuver:

Honestly I would just go with the twin blade for dex/faith, 10 str 18 dex. It's such a fun weapon for 2h heavy staggers and it has a great move set (little secret I never see used because lock on addiction is backstep into stab for a very good poke/roll catch). I put sacred on it or use fire/blood grease until Liurnia then I get blood flame blade/keen. I don't use a shield (but you could it's pretty much a straight sword then) so I put Golden Vow on a dagger or whatever I want on my hip/back to look cool that's within medium load.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCgdiV6uMk8

All the weapons you list besides the War Hawk take quite a bit of strength for "min-maxing" a dex build early and will take away from your faith/vigor/mind. Also there could be quite a bit of farming there aside from the Naginata, and even that is a trip. Where as you can just drop off a cliff, jump over a wall, and grab the dual blade right out the door and progress naturally.

Edit: Also down the road you can look forward to Eleonora's Poleblade, which is an absolute monster.

The twinblade is my go to right now. That backstep move is my favorite as well, stylish finisher and great in pvp cause of the surprising range

Edit: I also have a build planned for Eleonora's Poleblade and am very much looking forward to it

[Xendo]

Originally posted by UnholyDentist:

Godslayer's greatsword is B category at best. The Winged Schyte is a higher C. What can 'wreck' the game is down to other factors. Some people can wreck the game with a club. I don't think dex/faith is a good match in general, mediocre builds result from it.

I agree, I don't ever see dex and faith builds, which is why I thought it would be an interesting combo

[UnholyDentist]

Originally posted by NotEvenEpic:

Originally posted by UnholyDentist:

Godslayer's greatsword is B category at best. The Winged Schyte is a higher C. What can 'wreck' the game is down to other factors. Some people can wreck the game with a club. I don't think dex/faith is a good match in general, mediocre builds result from it.

I agree, I don't ever see dex and faith builds, which is why I thought it would be an interesting combo

You can totally enjoy non-meta builds, I do as well. Even just for the sake of playing the game from a different angle.