STR Build or respec?

[Zulu]

I'm around level 90, with a +14 Zweihander, 35 Strength and 0 brains. I like my big sword, and it kills most enemies in one or two hits. It cleaves bosses, I killed Rennala recently with... six or seven hits. It's fun to steamroll people and whack them with ye olde greatsword.

But it's boring. It has a simple moveset, it's slow, heavy and I can't powerstance it yet. I tried coupling it with a dagger or straight sword for some style and maybe a little variety, but it just decreases how much damage I can do so I end up two-handing the Zweihander anyway.

I tried a powerstanced katana, the Bloody Helice, a twinblade, and they were all so cool to use and had refreshing movesets. Should I respec to DEX and dump STR to use that stuff? I feel like I wasted stones upgrading the greatsword if I do. I love the brainless bonk sword build but I wanna double hand some katanas and stuff, man.

[MULTIPASS]

It's not too late to respec, you can get unlimited stones to upgrade standard weapons to +12 at this point in the game.

[SoundsOfNight]

Jarcannon

[Automaton-37467]

Try different ashes of wars, they usually change it up enough for me

[LuckyCheshire]

You might want to consider investing in Faith next, and using some different spells (especially buffs) to augment your build.

But if you find other builds refreshing, I'd say go for it. In the long run, +14 is a pretty small investment. And if you find you don't like whatever build you try, you can always just respec back. I often switch around my builds a few times before settling down with one for a run.

Also, you can try some different Ashes of War with your Zweihander, and mix things up that way. Up to you! The point of the game is to have fun, not necessarily to always have the 100% most effective setup at all times.

[Sato]

You should absolutely try other weapons, don't feel some kind of attachment to the sword. it's a weapon, just enjoy the game, experiment with other weapons, I am a bonk enjoyer myself but I also have a dex variety, now if you really want to focus on one weapon just use different ashes of war and you won't get bored, as for the stones you only need to get the bell bearings and you have infinite stones.

[Honk1]

You don't have to respec. You can use twinblades, katanas and other stuff on your strength build whenever you don't feel like the using the big sword. Just use a heavy infusion - it works with all infusable weapons - or use somber weapons scaling with Str. If a weapon naturally leans into Str, you can even put a Bleed or Frost infusion on it without Int or Arcane and still get good Str scaling and good status build up. Here are some good weapons for Heavy infusion in classes you mentioned:
Twinblade: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Gargoyle%27s+Twinblade
Katana: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Meteoric+Ore+Blade (has an int requirement, but is mostly a Str weapon. You can also just Heavy-infuse the Uchigatana)
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Great+Epee

[Zulu]

Originally posted by Loathsome Dung Eater:

Try different ashes of wars, they usually change it up enough for me

I tried a couple of them but I don't have that many for the Zweihander :(

Originally posted by LuckyCheshire777:

You might want to consider investing in Faith next, and using some different spells (especially buffs) to augment your build.

But if you find other builds refreshing, I'd say go for it. In the long run, +14 is a pretty small investment. And if you find you don't like whatever build you try, you can always just respec back. I often switch around my builds a few times before settling down with one for a run.

Also, you can try some different Ashes of War with your Zweihander, and mix things up that way. Up to you! The point of the game is to have fun, not necessarily to always have the 100% most effective setup at all times.

Thanks! I considered Faith too, I might try that now or in another run!

Originally posted by Satose:

You should absolutely try other weapons, don't feel some kind of attachment to the sword. it's a weapon, just enjoy the game, experiment with other weapons, I am a bonk enjoyer myself but I also have a dex variety, now if you really want to focus on one weapon just use different ashes of war and you won't get bored, as for the stones you only need to get the bell bearings and you have infinite stones.

Thank you, I'll keep an eye out for bell bearings.

[Zulu]

Originally posted by Honk1:

You don't have to respec. You can use twinblades, katanas and other stuff on your strength build whenever you don't feel like the using the big sword. Just use a heavy infusion - it works with all infusable weapons - or use somber weapons scaling with Str. If a weapon naturally leans into Str, you can even put a Bleed or Frost infusion on it without Int or Arcane and still get good Str scaling and good status build up. Here are some good weapons for Heavy infusion in classes you mentioned:
Twinblade: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Gargoyle%27s+Twinblade
Katana: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Meteoric+Ore+Blade (has an int requirement, but is mostly a Str weapon. You can also just Heavy-infuse the Uchigatana)
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Great+Epee

Oh! I'll check that out before considering a respec, thank you!

[Urist Microcline]

I also recommend trying other weapons. Pretty much all 2 Handed STR weapons is the exact same bonk playstyle but with different damage numbers. Ashes of War can help spice it up but Zweihander STR Ashes of War are essentially the same thing of bonk with different damage numbers.

Maybe try Faith. Faith has all of the spells, damage, healing, buffing, status effects, DoTs and some really cool Faith weapons like Cipher Pata and Coded Sword.

[LuckyCheshire]

Originally posted by Zulu:

I tried a couple of them but I don't have that many for the Zweihander :(

I really recommend the Lion's Claw AoW, if you haven't come across it yet. You can find it really early on in Caelid, in Fort Gael.

[Autumn]

Honestly, I do feel like Strength and Faith are pretty boring compared to Int and Dex. If you don't enjoy how Strength plays I'd recommend switching to one of those two.

[Zulu]

Originally posted by Honk1:

You don't have to respec. You can use twinblades, katanas and other stuff on your strength build whenever you don't feel like the using the big sword. Just use a heavy infusion - it works with all infusable weapons - or use somber weapons scaling with Str. If a weapon naturally leans into Str, you can even put a Bleed or Frost infusion on it without Int or Arcane and still get good Str scaling and good status build up. Here are some good weapons for Heavy infusion in classes you mentioned:
Twinblade: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Gargoyle%27s+Twinblade
Katana: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Meteoric+Ore+Blade (has an int requirement, but is mostly a Str weapon. You can also just Heavy-infuse the Uchigatana)
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Great+Epee

Update: I got the Uchigatana, so I heavy infused it together with the Nagakiba, upgraded them to +7 and powerstanced them. One hit with L1 does half the damage of my Zweihander, but I can hit quicker and got some points in Faith for some healing incantations. Good to know I can still be a Strengthchad while using a katana, thank you!

[Vinnolo]

Originally posted by Zulu:

Originally posted by Honk1:

You don't have to respec. You can use twinblades, katanas and other stuff on your strength build whenever you don't feel like the using the big sword. Just use a heavy infusion - it works with all infusable weapons - or use somber weapons scaling with Str. If a weapon naturally leans into Str, you can even put a Bleed or Frost infusion on it without Int or Arcane and still get good Str scaling and good status build up. Here are some good weapons for Heavy infusion in classes you mentioned:
Twinblade: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Gargoyle%27s+Twinblade
Katana: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Meteoric+Ore+Blade (has an int requirement, but is mostly a Str weapon. You can also just Heavy-infuse the Uchigatana)
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Great+Epee

Update: I got the Uchigatana, so I heavy infused it together with the Nagakiba, upgraded them to +7 and powerstanced them. One hit with L1 does half the damage of my Zweihander, but I can hit quicker and got some points in Faith for some healing incantations. Good to know I can still be a Strengthchad while using a katana, thank you!

level up faith to 15, and use flame grant me strength, its one of the most broken buffs in the game for fire and physical based characters, you can also use the clawmark seal to use your strength for some of the scalings of spells

[euder rings]

respec for 60 vigor and 54 strenght, put heavy scaling on the zweihander, i always run a level 94 build with 60 vigor and 54 strenght and easily clear the game with it, u can use zweihander, any greatsword, or the colossal sword all very good with this style build

[Gamerzilla]

On my Str chad I go back and forth between a Greatsword (various) and 2 different 1H spear/other depending on fight, with a Greatshield (Visage Shield). This and just enough int & faith for buffs makes you able to handle any circumstance you can encounter.