Isn't lightning weapons much better than +15?

[Avean]

I am going through damage calculators and lightning +5 gives about 80-100 more damage than a +15 upgrade. Ofcourse +15 weapons can be buffed, but considering you go lightning, you can completely sack upgrading the stats any more than just the requirements for the weapon and focus entirely on vitality and endurance. That makes you extremely more powerful.

Is it that imbalanced or am i thinking wrong here hehe.

[Maechen]

What stats are you checking with? Also elemental weapons have 2 defenses to pass through.
For example a +15 claymore at 40/40 has 532 AR.
A lightning claymore +5 has 514 AR.

[Rarayn]

I have no idea what kind of calculators you used to arrive at this conclusion. Different damage types are tried against different defences, not added up and tried against a single defence. Split damage will just about always be considerably weaker than pure physical damage for this reason.

[paladin181]

Also, D/B, C/C, or B/E scaling will give you superior damage with 30+ in the right stats.

[Maechen]

On top of that, you need 2 weapons really. A lightning weapon will do nothing to Ornstein for example, a chaos one will do nothing to queelag and bosses in Demon ruins/Lost Izalith.

[Go0lden_Archer]

+5 Lighting dmg is lower then +15 with right stats set, but if you want to level other stats, then going elemental is the best choise, aye.

Originally posted by dondi:

On top of that, you need 2 weapons really. A lightning weapon will do nothing to Ornstein for example, a chaos one will do nothing to queelag and bosses in Demon ruins/Lost Izalith.

Nah, I've ran through game using Iaito +15 once. Then using claymore +5 lighting and then +15. You really don't need a second weapon, it only depends on the playstyle.

[Zamus]

Originally posted by Archib@ld:

Nah, I've ran through game using Iaito +15 once. Then using claymore +5 lighting and then +15. You really don't need a second weapon, it only depends on the playstyle.

He mentions it if you are going into elemental path, while it's not needed it's adviceable to always carry a different elemental weapon to deal with enemies that have high defense against one of them, against Ornstein I remember my +5 Lightning falchion doing sligthly less damage than my +5 Fire one, like wise for queelag my +10 Falchion with only minimal stats was doing way more damage than my +5 Fire.

[Maechen]

Originally posted by Archib@ld:

+5 Lighting dmg is lower then +15 with right stats set, but if you want to level other stats, then going elemental is the best choise, aye.

Originally posted by dondi:

On top of that, you need 2 weapons really. A lightning weapon will do nothing to Ornstein for example, a chaos one will do nothing to queelag and bosses in Demon ruins/Lost Izalith.

Nah, I've ran through game using Iaito +15 once. Then using claymore +5 lighting and then +15. You really don't need a second weapon, it only depends on the playstyle.

I meant some bosses elemental defense. Try running the game at ~10 sl or lower with only a fire or only lightning weapons. A chaos weapon fully upgraded will do less than 20 damage on queelag, or ceaseless discharge,demon firesage etc. You need a lightning one for these, unless you don't mind a 30 minute fight. Also, a lot of bosses have weak fire resistance. Ornstein,Sif,4 kings. So it's always good to have both for low sl runs.

[Frankie-Z-]

stats bonus + buff usually will outperform any enhanced weapon ..
enhanced weapons are good when you're dumping stats into faith or intelligence ..
if you're a pure strength or pure Dex ,, you can usually do more damage with a maxed out and buffed weapon .. unless it's a chaos weapon and you're using dex and humanity bonus

[Ambugaton]

Even the numbers on the weapon AR calculators are misleading. The actual damage done by elemental weapons is lower because the damage is checked against two defenses.

[jadkni]

What Ambugaton said. It's what kills weapons like the Greatsword of Artorias, which would otherwise probably be the best weapon in the game in terms of raw damage... though I believe the magic damage does make it actually superior in PVP against people who wear the dusk crown to most other greatswords.

[Maechen]

There is some good uses for elemental weapons. Once i made a Vit stacker with 2,5k health and 44 end pvp character. It was actually pretty successful but I got bored after a bit. For builds like this,chaos and ligtning were great. This build is not for looks,it's just a vit gouging build.

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=329494512687268464

Could perhaps be optimised a little better, but it worked pretty damn well.

[Shifty Mario]

Originally posted by Ambugaton:

Even the numbers on the weapon AR calculators are misleading. The actual damage done by elemental weapons is lower because the damage is checked against two defenses.

What this guy said. Trying fighting Artorias using an elemental vs +15 with right stats and see what does more. In PVP, an elemental weapon will tickle a heavy armor player.

[Ambugaton]

Originally posted by Shifty Mario:

Originally posted by Ambugaton:

Even the numbers on the weapon AR calculators are misleading. The actual damage done by elemental weapons is lower because the damage is checked against two defenses.

What this guy said. Trying fighting Artorias using an elemental vs +15 with right stats and see what does more. In PVP, an elemental weapon will tickle a heavy armor player.

Yeah... Even with the Zwei: the difference on my heavier build between being hit with a Zwei by a Giantdad (Chaos) and being hit with it by someone who actually has the stats to take real advantage of it is huge. The Giant dad hurts, the zwei with stats hurts BAD. And for lighter weapons taken along an elemental path, tickle is the right word.

The only weapon I take down an elemental path for higher levels is the avelyn or crossbow, and that's because I usually use them as a finisher, and even a little extra lightening damage going through a shield works. On my leo build though, +15 all the way even with those.

[Lord Jerec]

Originally posted by dondi:

There is some good uses for elemental weapons. Once i made a Vit stacker with 2,5k health and 44 end pvp character. It was actually pretty successful but I got bored after a bit. For builds like this,chaos and ligtning were great. This build is not for looks,it's just a vit gouging build.

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=329494512687268464

Could perhaps be optimised a little better, but it worked pretty damn well.

So you only have 12 Strength on this guy? Does it not really count for much in this game then?

[melonLord]

Originally posted by Lord Jerec:

So you only have 12 Strength on this guy? Does it not really count for much in this game then?

Only if you're not using anything that requires strength. He's using elemental weapons that dont scale with any stats so strength doesnt matter for his build.