Good/Best Greatshields and Great Weapons

[Huggles the Cat]

Hi, I'm looking to experament with my first build using some sort of great weapon and/or great shield but i'm having trouble narrowing the choises down. There seem to be a lot that have varied heavy attaks that could all be usfull while some only have a drawback of being super heavy.

Let's start a discussion about what some of the best and most interesting great weapons there are to make a fun build with (can be OP, RP, or Troll, whatever) so me and other's can figure out their builds.

[Groen90]

Best greatshield: Artorias', or Havel's if you can handle the strenght requirement...

About weapons, there's not really a "best" weapon, and I'm not an expert of big weapons, but the Zweihander is a classic, and all the black knight ones are very good damage wise, but their strong attacks are really slow. I like these ones the most, but there's also others that are pretty interesting because of their strong attack like Grant's WOG, the stone greatsword's TWOP and the dragon ultragreatsword's long range shockwave.
Also I think the great machete and the demon's greataxe are very good STR weapons, but I never really tried them out... maybe I should...

[Fashionbeast]

Depends, how good are you with (pure) STR weapons. Some have fun movesets (like the one Groen90 mentioned), but they are not popular pvp weapons for a reason.

[Katharsis]

you should try all by yourself. But my favs are Great Club, Zweihänder, black knight sword, dragon greatsword.

[Squerol]

♥♥♥♥ greatshields, go with target shield.

[TehForcer]

For greatshields people always say that best is artorias but it really only has highest stability, so not the best IMO. il try to shortly go over the good and bad things of the greatshields.
I should already mention that having over 80 stability as it is is already more than enough for blocking.

Eagle shield: If your running short on weight load this is the one you would want to go with(6 weight). has average defenses and 95% defense against physical but that 5% shouldnt be a problem. Obtainable almost from the start of the game. 16 str needed only

Black iron: 16 weight on the heavy side, has amaizing fire defense, average against magic/lightning. Above average greatshield which is quite usefull against fire basicly. picked up in anor londo. 34 str needed.

Giant shield: has a bit lower stability than the others but it has above average defenses in all area's. weigh's 18 points so its also on the heavy side. Can be bought. 36 str needed

Artorias greatshield: has highest stability (88) which is always the same no matter how much you upgrade it, need to give a boss soul for it tho. has good fire def and can block status effects like the spider shield. 34 str needed

Havel's greatshield: is the best shield on paper with amaizing defenses all around and high stability, but its the heaviest greatshield (26 weight) and needs 50 str. Can be just picked up in anor londo.


Personaly id choose between Eagle shield and Giant shield, or perhaps havel's greatshield if you can suffice the weight.

As for str weapons some of the better ones are: Greataxe, Butcher's knife, dragon king greataxe, large club, dragon tooth, man-serpent gs, giant's halberd, Demon great machete, greatsword (UGS), All black knight weapons are top tier aswell.

the weapons depend on your own playstyle as most of these are quite slow weapons and all, so if youre gonna get 50 str i recommend trying them all.




Edit: YAY WALL OF TEXT

[AnKalameet]

It should be noted that while amazing for pve, greatshields are much less useful in pvp.

[TehForcer]

Originally posted by AnKalameet:

It should be noted that while amazing for pve, greatshields are much less useful in pvp.

they are good for tanking majick Keepo, just run at them dirty majick users.

[Bones]

Greataxe is a good str weapon. I would suggest it over the Demon variety.

[Huggles the Cat]

Originally posted by TehForcer:

For greatshields people always say that best is artorias but it really only has highest stability, so not the best IMO. il try to shortly go over the good and bad things of the greatshields.
I should already mention that having over 80 stability as it is is already more than enough for blocking.

Eagle shield: If your running short on weight load this is the one you would want to go with(6 weight). has average defenses and 95% defense against physical but that 5% shouldnt be a problem. Obtainable almost from the start of the game. 16 str needed only

Black iron: 16 weight on the heavy side, has amaizing fire defense, average against magic/lightning. Above average greatshield which is quite usefull against fire basicly. picked up in anor londo. 34 str needed.

Giant shield: has a bit lower stability than the others but it has above average defenses in all area's. weigh's 18 points so its also on the heavy side. Can be bought. 36 str needed

Artorias greatshield: has highest stability (88) which is always the same no matter how much you upgrade it, need to give a boss soul for it tho. has good fire def and can block status effects like the spider shield. 34 str needed

Havel's greatshield: is the best shield on paper with amaizing defenses all around and high stability, but its the heaviest greatshield (26 weight) and needs 50 str. Can be just picked up in anor londo.


Personaly id choose between Eagle shield and Giant shield, or perhaps havel's greatshield if you can suffice the weight.

As for str weapons some of the better ones are: Greataxe, Butcher's knife, dragon king greataxe, large club, dragon tooth, man-serpent gs, giant's halberd, Demon great machete, greatsword (UGS), All black knight weapons are top tier aswell.

the weapons depend on your own playstyle as most of these are quite slow weapons and all, so if youre gonna get 50 str i recommend trying them all.




Edit: YAY WALL OF TEXT

You may be a wall of text but your's was incredibly insightful and i hope is as helpful for other's coming to read this as it was for me. thanks dood.

[AnKalameet]

Originally posted by TehForcer:

Havel's greatshield: is the best shield on paper with amaizing defenses all around and high stability, but its the heaviest greatshield (26 weight) and needs 50 str. Can be just picked up in anor londo.

Havel's Greatshield also features a very nifty buff to your poise as well as granting your body heavy deflection when using its L2 (or R2 if in the right hand). Uses 300 of the 500 durability at a time, howerver.

[Wereworm]

The large club is amazing at +10, I've been using it for a long time an it is still useful

[TrueArchery]

I had quite much success with the Greatsword (UGS).
It has this sweet 3shot potential and always supports fighting without lockon like I'm used to.

Also, Silver Pendant, Crest Shield or a fast roll screw up any Dark Bead mage.