Faith build and sunlight blade: raw vs normal.

[Cyan]

So, for the first time in years, im doing a faith run and it has been far more fun than expected, and while i have my trusty bastard sword at divine +8, i was wondering if i should make an extra bastard sword to buff with sunlight blade. First i thought that raw would be the best option since im not dropping a single point in str or dex anymore, but some people say i should stay on the normal path to buff the normal bastard sword.
Any recommendation or tips for this predicament?

[Krono]

Take a look at this website: https://www.mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/

[CazadorDeLobo]

Rather than providing you with a raw template of a character builder with literally no insight towards your questions, I'll actually give you my advice.

Raw doesn't increase the base damage of weapons higher than the standard path will. It stops at +5, and doesn't become +10. Therefore, a +14/+15 weapon is a better option in all cases.

Sunlight Blade adds damage based on the talisman's Magic Adjustment, and the lightning damage alone penetrates a great deal of defense. That said, a faster weapon might be better for the purpose of doing this kind of damage, such as a straight sword, or a battle axe.

If you level up dexterity, you reduce the time it takes to cast miracles, spells, and pyromancies. I would recommend doing so for the purpose of wielding the Silver Knight Straight Sword - this requires 16 str, 22 dex, can be buffed, and has superior base damage to other straight swords(328 total damage with minimum stats at +5). It's not a significant investment of stats for something very practical and deadly.

[AnKalameet]

Originally posted by Wulf Hunter:

If you level up dexterity, you reduce the time it takes to cast miracles, spells, and pyromancies. I would recommend doing so for the purpose of wielding the Silver Knight Straight Sword - this requires 16 str, 22 dex, can be buffed, and has superior base damage to other straight swords(328 total damage with minimum stats at +5). It's not a significant investment of stats for something very practical and deadly.

Dex doesn't begin to increase casting speed until 30, at which point the scaling of the BSS makes it largely superior as a buff option, as it is lighter than SKSS and has a vastly superior moveset/reach with only 10 less physical AR.

[Shadowdrake]

Baller swag sword + 15, darkmoon talisman, 50 faith, sunlight blade or dmb.

Leo ring, crown of dusk or crown of the dark moon, whatever armor u want that makes u fast roll.

Baller shield + 15 or no shield for swag points.

make sure u have enough poise not to get stunned by pve enemies in one hit

[CazadorDeLobo]

Originally posted by AnKalameet:

Originally posted by Wulf Hunter:

If you level up dexterity, you reduce the time it takes to cast miracles, spells, and pyromancies. I would recommend doing so for the purpose of wielding the Silver Knight Straight Sword - this requires 16 str, 22 dex, can be buffed, and has superior base damage to other straight swords(328 total damage with minimum stats at +5). It's not a significant investment of stats for something very practical and deadly.

Dex doesn't begin to increase casting speed until 30, at which point the scaling of the BSS makes it largely superior as a buff option, as it is lighter than SKSS and has a vastly superior moveset/reach with only 10 less physical AR.

While I didn't know that dex for casting speed was useless until 30 dex, I will say that recommending a weapon that requires a full investment in a stat OP says he doesn't want to use doesn't seem very helpful to him. Also, moveset doesn't make really any sort of difference in PvE. Well, not the same kind of difference as it does in PvP. This isn't about PvP, I'm assuming lol

[MaenaZ]

I love how B@stard's sword censoring makes the OP seem like a cuss-throwing maniac.

I'll have to agree with Wulf Hunter here. At lowish levels of Strength and Dex, as far as buffing goes, Silver Knight straight sword is *probably* your best choice, although you would have to improve those stats since it requires 22 dexterity. However, it is very useful and versatile thanks to its strong attacks being rather quick and channeling well with weak attacks, but more importantly *doing more Poise damage than other Straight Sword strong attacks*. I.E. I like to use a one-handed running R1 + R2 combo to stun Capra Demons, and two handed it is sufficient to break a DLC's boss buffing animation with a short combo without much problem. Furthermore its weight is exactly the same as a B@stard Sword's making weapons swaps easy. A Silver Knight SS' moveset is also superficially similar to a B@stard Sword's, which you're used to, if faster and 'lighter'.

However, you may not wish to upgrade your Dex that far (which I recommend anyway, but it's your build).

A Normal +15 Weapon is generally the strongest option as long as you have high enough stats to utilize its scaling. Since you won't be going that way, choosing an alternative that helps out with the damage output is better.

In this case I'd suggest :
- Going for a weapon with Bleed, particularly Barbed Straight sword (10 str, 10 dex), Uchigatana (14 strength 14 dex) or a Flamberge (16 strength, 14 dex). The last one is a Greatsword like the b@stard sword but it lags behind in damage on most builds because of its Slashing damage type and slightly lower base damage. However, in this case, you'll be depending on the damage from the buff while using the 'bleed' as an alternative/extra and taking advantage of the fact you're likely to be pretty familiar with greatsword moveset.

- Going for one of the Gargoyle weapons (Tail Axe or Halberd; particularly the Halberd, but you may dislike that it stumbles on miss that both have). Those are generally good in terms of damage, the Halberd doesn't have a strong scaling relying mostly on base damage, and they boost your bleed and poison resistance. The axe requires 14 str, 14 dex, the halberd requires 16 str, 12 dex.

- Going for a weapon with inferior scaling or no scaling. Here I can only recommend either the Shotel for quick movement and higher base damage for a Curved Sword (It has mildly better Strength scaling than other Curved Swords but inferior Dex scaling making it always lag in damage on 'scaling' builds, but better at lower levels and upgrade levels) or Obsidian Greatsword (for which you need to cut the tail of a DLC boss). Shotel requires 9 strength and 14 dexterity, Obsidian Greatsword requires 20 strength and 16 dexterity *but* it is artificially slowed down compared to other Greatswords.

[AnKalameet]

Originally posted by Wulf Hunter:

Originally posted by AnKalameet:

Dex doesn't begin to increase casting speed until 30, at which point the scaling of the BSS makes it largely superior as a buff option, as it is lighter than SKSS and has a vastly superior moveset/reach with only 10 less physical AR.

While I didn't know that dex for casting speed was useless until 30 dex, I will say that recommending a weapon that requires a full investment in a stat OP says he doesn't want to use doesn't seem very helpful to him. Also, moveset doesn't make really any sort of difference in PvE. Well, not the same kind of difference as it does in PvP. This isn't about PvP, I'm assuming lol

That was merely a "if he does in fact choose to upgrade his dex to that point, he should switch weapons." If he keeps his dex at 22, SKSS is the best choice.