Strength build PvE

[linux ISO collector]

I'm doing my first playthrough using strength weapons and trying to get a feel for this sort of build. The biggest thing for me, is that STR weapons are super heavy in terms of encumberance. I love doing tons of poise dmg with the great sword/axe/clubs.

But I feel like I've hit a sort of contradiction. I wanna run a big weapon because its part of the fun of this build. But in order to run a great sword/axe/club you need poise so your swings aren't interrupted. But if you run heavy armor, your stamina gets depleted super quickly and you lose the fast roll. So then, do I have to choose between fast roll and having poise? and which one do I go with?

[Groen90]

No need to choose, just put on some stamina regen item and deal with the fatroll; fatroll is not >that< bad, and with all the defense heavy armors give you, you don't really need to roll at all most of the time. Put on a greatshield too and you have easymode.

[cooperman]

No not realy https://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls3/253562

[Groen90]

Originally posted by cooperman:

No not realy https://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls3/253562

lol DS3

[MaenaZ]

To avoid fat rolling strength builds usually use Havel's Ring through much of the early and mid game.
This lets you mid roll as long as you level up Endurance along with Strength with a lot of fairly good mid and mid-heavy armors.

Later on pretty much everyone puts on Ring of Favor and Protection anyways.

If you don't want Havel's Ring and prefer to get light armor there's always the Wolf Ring that boosts poise by +40 which can be useful early game-wise.


Also like Groen90 said, you can fat roll as long as your armor is reasonably upgraded and you have a good high stability shield (Silver or Black Knight if you want to parry, any Greatshield if you don't care about that).

[TrueArchery]

Yeah just deal with abysmal movement.

If you do the depths and enter blighttown from there, you can grab the greataxe and the eagly greatshield. They're quite decent.

In the forest you can grab the stone set. It cannot be upgraded but is absurdly good at the beginning.

With that you're pretty much set and don't ever need to roll, even though I'd replace the shield with a better 100 percent phys block one later in the game.

[linux ISO collector]

You guys don't run grass crest shield with str builds?

[Taco Cat]

just get more endurance and put Havels ring and the ring of fap

[TrueArchery]

Originally posted by Man of School:

You guys don't run grass crest shield with str builds?

Grass crest or nothing if you can roll properly (flip, fastroll or medium roll).
An actually good shield for blocking if you cannot roll properly or not at all.

[linux ISO collector]

I see, thanks all for your help

[Xenos]

A good workaround for medium rolling in decent armor is to grab the Paladin Set in the Tomb of the Giants (Wiki it) and wear that instead of super heavy armor while using a greatshield or strong medium shields.

As somebody who has done a lot of different playthroughs, the Silver Knight Shield and Balder Shield's stability is perfectly acceptable for common enemies, provided you have enough stamina. (Which you will, by leveling up endurance to carry more weight).

If you just need poise, consider grabbing the Wolf Ring from Darkroot Woods to get that massive poise boost.

In terms of shields and defense, try and get these shields:
1) Crest Shield: High magic defense and good enough stability when at +5. Fantastic for the 4 Kings.
2) Black Knight Shield or Black Iron Shield: Both have amazing fire defense, but you aren't always able to get your hands on a BKS. The BIS weights much more, but at least it has solid stability.
3) Eagle Shield: Don't let the 95 physical damage resistance deter you, it barely makes an impact. It also has absolutely massive lightning resistance, making it perfect for Ornstein and Smough, the Sanctuary Guardian, and stuff like that.

If you put enough 35 points into endurance, you can wear full Paladin armor with a Greataxe and Eagle Shield and still medium roll using only Havel's Ring. Don't get seduced by the Ring of Favor and Protection as a heavy weapon user, or else you'll get screwed when you are forced to take it off for the 4 Kings fight and can't walk anymore.

[Baby don't hurt me]

be naked
im a naked Smough hammer user
it's just PVE

[TrueArchery]

Originally posted by Xenosium:

Don't get seduced by the Ring of Favor and Protection as a heavy weapon user, or else you'll get screwed when you are forced to take it off for the 4 Kings fight and can't walk anymore.

Trying to avoid spoilers here, but this is really a non-issue. People do that fight at SL1 by facetanking them in the Stone Set or the like. Not rolling, not dodging, just R1 and healing.

The FaP Ring is pretty unarguably the best ring in the game and you honestly never make a mistake if you wear it.

[linux ISO collector]

Not spoiling anything. I already got all achievements using dex build. I simply wanted to try the full STR experience. It only counts if I use a big ass weapon right?

[TrueArchery]

Originally posted by Man of School:

Not spoiling anything. I already got all achievements using dex build. I simply wanted to try the full STR experience. It only counts if I use a big ass weapon right?

I guess. Technically anything with (mostly) str scaling counts but it's about A S T H E T I C S I guess

[Average Citizen (Not FBI)]

Originally posted by TrueArchery:

Originally posted by Man of School:

Not spoiling anything. I already got all achievements using dex build. I simply wanted to try the full STR experience. It only counts if I use a big ass weapon right?

I guess. Technically anything with (mostly) str scaling counts but it's about A S T H E T I C S I guess

*Aesthetics

But if anyone cared about that, the Lord's Blade armor set would have been in Dark Souls 3, but it isn't.