Which early weapon to invest in?

[Fried Noodles]

I'm playing as an Orlian Preacher start.
After much bumbling around, I've found some important items/characters and now have the ability to upgrade my weapons.

I've raised my Radiance to 25. I have the means to equip the Pieta Lightsaber that everyone loves so much, but lack the resources required to actually purchase the thing.

I've been alternating between my starting hammer (I've purchased a second one, but decided I don't care for dual wielding) and the Bell Staff. (Also have two, but find a single weapon to be more reliable).

The Hammer seems to have a tiny bit more damage, but it really feels like the Bell Staff hits harder.
Maybe it's slower or something? Greater reach too.

I have ~25 of the things that the weapons want to upgrade so I could potentially just do both if I really wanted.

Also need to upgrade my catalyst though.


Also as PIeta's weapon is some fancy 'Remembrance' thing, does it use a different resource to improve? Like Somber Smithing or Twinkling Titanite.

[Medina_Rico]

Pieta's weapon and all other boss weapons upgrade with the same materials as everything else.

Enemies (except bosses) kind of scale with you, so you never really get a good edge over them. Even the mindless enemies. So it's OK to use whatever you're ok with now (maybe upgrade a couple of times if you think it'll help) until you get enough to buy Pieta's weapon. Just make sure you soulflay any memories you come across to help you get her weapon faster. You can even buy a few from that Mohul guy if you're only a few short. Getting 40 can take a but, unless you're helping kill bosses or killing the red reaper.

I'm not sure exactly what the difference is with your weapons, but. Maybe the hammer stuns enemies more and that's the main difference. You'll have to test. I was dual wielding short swords, and my charged heavy didn't stun. I'm now using a single heavier long sword and the charge attack stuns enemies.

[Faptor]

My recomendation is gear towards Devotions Might greathammer. Its running heavy attack flattens most enemys and hits like a tank.
28str
28Rad

Use Pietas sword until you get this glorious weapon. If you spec properly you can duel weild them for added fun but I mainly just use the hammer now.
Pie-Eaters sword is really good if you dont want to waste points on strength.

[Fried Noodles]

Yeah I'm only on like 24 or 25 of the blue giblets, so I'm a ways off even if I buy as many as I can.

28 STR feels like it's a fair ways off, but I'll see whenever I pick the thing up. Respec is a thing, so it wouldn't be too much of a bother to switch over if I want later on when I have more levels.

[楊玄。杨玄。LangrisserWWE]

Whatever weapon you fancy really. You will know better after you complete your first play thru. I can tell you what weapons other than Pieta is cool to use for early investments(upgrades, they are very very limited) but these preferences are usually subjective.

[Medina_Rico]

Just want to add.

There's 4 tiers of upgrade materials. The first two tiers are easy to come by and you can eventually buy unlimited amounts from the blacksmith. The third tier is a lot harder to come by, though they can be dropped/farmed by certain enemies and bought in a limited amount. And the 4th tier is basically like a titanite slab.

I say that to say to try not to use 3rd tier materials and save them for Pieta's sword. Until then, just use whatever but remember. Pieta's weapon only scales with Radiance and you don't need any strength or agility to wield it. So keep that in mind when upgrading your character in the meantime.

[cfcurasi]

For Radiance, I heavily recommend dumping points into strength until you hit 20 so you can use the bloody Glory grandsword. It's a small sacrifice to make for one of the best weapons in the game, High bleed build up high Radiance scaling and great range making a boss Slayer. You can also get it really early if you buy the pilgrims perch key and do a suicide run for it from the Bell room vestige

[DickyDiscord]

It really depends on your playstyle IMO. That said, I'd probably focus on the stats of your chosen weapon type, as early game that kind of matters the most with your weapon choice. If you're planning on going great swords, I'm rock'n' a Bloody one that scales with Strength and Radiance. Ignoring the Strength stat and only leveling Radiance, Endurance, Vitality for most of the game. That said, I don't think it really matters until you know what the +10/+5 stat requirements are, as over leveling doesn't really impact gameplay much with any weapon until your weapons are boosted.

You also need to know what buffs/debuffss you're going to rock with the weapon, as well as the runes that weapon can use.

Would also advise hitting the first soft-cap for every stat you level, before overleveling any particular stat on a first playthrough.

That said, part of the problem with giving advise right now is they keep changing the movesets, damage output, and enemy behaviors. Which kind of matters because to me it's more a question of the best weapon for each individual enemy.

The biggest problem however, is what i first said. It depends on your playstyle. If just wanted to 1-Hit even most bosses, I'd be duel wielding hammers as per the maths several updates ago, the highest damage output was in the 10K range with them. Meaning 10 second boss fights for most bosses in the game. Haven't had time to re-run the maths, so can't say this is still possible. Mainly, because that greatsword I'm using has been either nurffed or the enemies buffed. Was 1-Shotting almost every enemy in game at +4/+6. At +10 that's rarely happening in those same areas.