Is the Bandit Knife the best dagger?

[Hot Dog Master]

I wanted to upgrade a dagger :D

[Groen90]

Probably not for crit damage, the best for that is the Silver Tracer... I think?
But bandit's got that sweet bleed on it though

[CherryKakyoin]

It has insane crit damage, has bleed effect, can be upgraded to +15 and can be enchanted with resins and weapon buffs, it's a pretty solid weapon.

The dark silver tracer is also a great weapon, it has even higher crit damage on top of being easier to upgrade (Bandit dagger requires a slab to get to +15), it can also inflict toxic.

[undakovrist]

Yes, the Bandit's Knife is generally the best dagger. It competes with Dark Silver Tracer in crit damage (and is stronger when Crystal), has bleed that doesn't have horribly slow buildup (unlike Priscilla's), and has the highest AR of all daggers (tied with the Dagger) with 40dex.
The Dagger has more useful r2s which deal thrust damage, if you care about that, but that would have limited use anyway.

[Vellision]

the bandit dagger is imo the best dagger

[N3310]

On a build with 40 str and 40 dex, silver tracer does about 7 more damage per bs. Bandit dagger has bleed, though, so it's more worth to use that, seeing as a 7 health difference is barely noticable, but a random bleed here and there is VERY noticable.

[Call Sign: Raven]

My easiest playthrough was when I chose Thief and did the class challenge, where you don't change his equipment and whatnot. That forced me to play the whole game with the Bandit Dagger, and boy does it make things easy.

I never really fiddled with it in Dark Souls 2, but I got the same results in Dark Souls 3. That weapon is probably one of the best in the game, for both 1 and 3.

Anybody ever bother with it in 2? Bleed was pretty awful in 2, especially for PvE.

[AnKalameet]

Silver Tracer has better crit damage by a tiny bit, but Bandit has bleed. If Tracer could kick-combustion combo, I'd pick it over Bandit, but I don't know if it does. If it doesn't, Bandit takes it.

For a low dex build, Bandit can be made Chaos and is a clear winner.

[Groen90]

Originally posted by Harrison Ford:

Anybody ever bother with it in 2? Bleed was pretty awful in 2, especially for PvE.

I can't remember a single instance where bleed was useful in DS2, and I did try a full bleed build both in pve and pvp. Ended up turning it into a full poison build, now THAT was good ♥♥♥♥

[Call Sign: Raven]

Originally posted by Groen90:

Originally posted by Harrison Ford:

Anybody ever bother with it in 2? Bleed was pretty awful in 2, especially for PvE.

I can't remember a single instance where bleed was useful in DS2, and I did try a full bleed build both in pve and pvp. Ended up turning it into a full poison build, now THAT was good ♥♥♥♥

Exactly. I remember reading somewhere from someone that made a great metaphor regarding PvP builds. It went something like this:

"Bleed and poison in PvP builds are like condiments on food. You don't serve them as the main dish, but they help to spice up the main course with some extra flavor."

And yes, DS2 had the best poison and toxic. That ♥♥♥♥ was just brutal.

[Freeman]

Bandit's knife, Dark silver tracer, Priscilla's dagger (u can bleed up first with bandit and end with priscilla to do 500 bleed dmg)

[nulle]

Priscilla's dagger is 50% bleed out, not 500 bleed dmg.

[MaenaZ]

Yes if you can buff a weapon or run a low level build with chaos or lightning dagger and focus on parrying.

No if you cannot buff a weapon or run a mid-high level build.

Essentially the combo of buffability, having 15 upgrades and high crit does make it the best dagger in many ways but you still need to be able to utilize its potential.

Also there's the option of going Priscilla's Dagger instead vs enemies that can be bled but not parried.

[Freeman]

Originally posted by System:

Priscilla's dagger is 50% bleed out, not 500 bleed dmg.

500 means 50% of player max health

[Call Sign: Raven]

Originally posted by NFK†:

Originally posted by System:

Priscilla's dagger is 50% bleed out, not 500 bleed dmg.

500 means 50% of player max health

Does bleed trigger differently for players than it does for bosses? I've never gotten 50% health on a boss using bleed.

[MaenaZ]

Yes, bleed damage is reduced on bosses several times.