Weapon damage and weapon buffs.

[Hurricane]

I cant seem to work out DS1 as the system is so weird compared to 2s, 2s is alot better too imo.

I currently have killed everything bar the dlc dragon and the last boss with my claymore lightning imbued +3 and tbh the damage is terrible...

Ive watched people doing 500 damage per hit to bosses and im like huh?

I know weapons scale on dex or str and my weapon wont since imbued but it worked really well until artorias, doing 130 per each 2 hand strike is ♥♥♥♥...

My question is how much damage do the spell enchants add? I know its only 60 sec buff but a 15+ weapon and an enchant = the best damage? I dunno why darksouls forces you to always play hybrid to get the best dps... i mean faith/int stack with weapon buffs was darksouls 2 best dps also!

So do i need to go into faith and int to get more dps? I dont like slow weapons, the claymore is pretty slow and my new dex build with the spiderqueen sword is much faster and better dps due to the speed.

[Fyrex]

If you have maybe 25 in Str and Dex a Claymore +15 is the better choice, even without a buff. With a buff it has much more damage than a elemental weapon.

So if you have a quality character, go for the normal upgrade path.

[Fnarr]

All dlc bosses have high resistances, that's why elemental weapons are ♥♥♥♥ against them. If you have high str and dex it's much better to have a +15 claymore, than a lightning or fire one. You don't even need a weapon buff to do decent damage if your str and dex are high enough.

The damage added by the sorcery and miracle weapon buffs scale with catalysts/talismans and your int/faith. I think at 30 faith (lowest you need to use sunlight blade or darkmoon blade) the weapon buff adds around 350 additional damage to your weapon (darkmoon blade is stronger if you level up in the covenant). The crystal magic weapon is somewhat weaker as a buff, but you get three castings compared to one for sunlight/darkmoon blade.

[svatem1]

in ds1 only unbuffed weapons can be buffed and buffs scale with the mag adj of catalyst/talisman

so the way to make max dmg is by having weapon with good scaling (and softcapped appropriate stat) maxed to +15 normal way + good catalyst/talisman (which means the ones that scale good with int/fth + softcapped appropriate stat) to cast good buff (sunlight blade/darkmoon blade)

[Hurricane]

Thanks for the replies and wow! 350 more damage :\ so its probs best to go minimum stats for the weapon and then focus the buffs to get more dps faster and then drip feed the scaling stats?

I think i rekt my first character as i have 50 edurance :P i didnt know 40 was cap and armor is pretty useless in this game.

I have really bad str and dex stats with this warrior build, i think 26 str and 16 dex or something, i just stacked vit and end then went lightning claymore for fast dps.

So with my dex character its best to get 35-40 dex then move onto int to buff the weapon? Seems dex is 100 times better than str in this game as the weapons hit much faster and do around the damage damage per hit! But also you can 1 hand them much ealier compared to the silly 50 str ones.

So a balder sword 15+ with a buff and thats how i get 500+ damage per hit?

PS: this is strictly for PVE as PVP is a mess in these kinda games.

Some buffs you cant use if you kill certain bosses or not apart of certain guilds, so would int and the int weapon buffs be the best way to go?

[svatem1]

40 is only cap for stamina, you can use it for better armor/heavier weapons though
dmb can add 400+ ar by itself

Originally posted by Hurricane:

Thanks for the replies and wow! 350 more damage :\ so its probs best to go minimum stats for the weapon and then focus the buffs to get more dps faster and then drip feed the scaling stats?

I think i rekt my first character as i have 50 edurance :P i didnt know 40 was cap and armor is pretty useless in this game.

I have really bad str and dex stats with this warrior build, i think 26 str and 16 dex or something, i just stacked vit and end then went lightning claymore for fast dps.

So with my dex character its best to get 35-40 dex then move onto int to buff the weapon? Seems dex is 100 times better than str in this game as the weapons hit much faster and do around the damage damage per hit! But also you can 1 hand them much ealier compared to the silly 50 str ones.

So a balder sword 15+ with a buff and thats how i get 500+ damage per hit?

[Hurricane]

I know 40 is stam cap but 10 points short of str is many souls! leaving me 10 points of str less damage = rekt until NG+ which i wont bother as the dex builds just seem much better all round...

[Shifty Mario]

Buffs can add a lot. What you're looking is something about 300s for buffs. Only 30 Fth needed to get that out. As for damage, know that Dark 1 uses a type of defense system where you're penalized for doing less than their defense and get a bonus for going above. This is why you can hit 1000 on regular hits sometimes. That lightning claymore has low physical and lightning vs mid-high physical and lightning defense. Your damage is probably half of your AR or less with that. This is why elementals aren't good in PVE.

Buffs add damage based on your adjust with the spell tool. This damage is the same across all weapons. Faster weapons usually benefit from it if they do more than the defense. Gotta go hybrid no matter what if you want to buff. If you want to look up the damage buffs can do, look up a darkmoon falchion build.

Furysword should do more since it does ~300 fire at max. That's enough to go through most fire defense.

[svatem1]

wtf do you have with NG+?
there's no barrier and there's no sense to assume you should do something later or sooner, as long as you have enough souls, you can level up right now..

THE culprit is - it's desirable to keep your SL low, because you won't be able to invade/summon after certain point

Originally posted by Hurricane:

I know 40 is stam cap but 10 points short of str is many souls! leaving me 10 points of str less damage = rekt until NG+ which i wont bother as the dex builds just seem much better all round...

[Hurricane]

Originally posted by Shifty Mario:

Buffs can add a lot. What you're looking is something about 300s for buffs. Only 30 Fth needed to get that out. As for damage, know that Dark 1 uses a type of defense system where you're penalized for doing less than their defense and get a bonus for going above. This is why you can hit 1000 on regular hits sometimes. That lightning claymore has low physical and lightning vs mid-high physical and lightning defense. Your damage is probably half of your AR or less with that. This is why elementals aren't good in PVE.

Buffs add damage based on your adjust with the spell tool. This damage is the same across all weapons. Faster weapons usually benefit from it if they do more than the defense. Gotta go hybrid no matter what if you want to buff. If you want to look up the damage buffs can do, look up a darkmoon falchion build.

Furysword should do more since it does ~300 fire at max. That's enough to go through most fire defense.

I see so its like a resistance shield and once you breach that shield you do full or more damage? But under the shield you do half?

Still weird to me! As explained i dont wanna rely on a guild weapon buff as once i kill the boss the dps drops or i cant use the spell ect.

I think crystal weapon is the next best buff? So what catalyst is the best to get? Obv i wanna try stay as low int as possible but having some spells for range damage would be nice.

@ svantem1 i probs will switch to sholar of the first sin edition before really going into NG+ with DS1 , i already made a new Dex hero lol!

[Shifty Mario]

It's not half, but the damage does drop the lower the AR is. If this is to be believed, the damage is exponential with different formulas above or below the defense.
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/396507-dark-souls-stats-i-damage-formula-and-analysis

edit: The way defense works in this game is the reason why twinks have such huge advantage over new characters. Humanities + upgraded armor means you'll do pitiful especially with an unupgraded weapon unless it's a crutch or a heavy.

Two best buffs: darkmoon, sunlight. Next is crystal. Darkmoon can give huge amount the higher you are in the covenant. No need for buffs. Just go physical unless you are an elemental. The best catalyst depends on that stat.
Int: oolacile ivory, sorc and equivalents, logan's
Fth: thorolund, canvas, darkmoon

[Hurricane]

Originally posted by Shifty Mario:

It's not half, but the damage does drop the lower the AR is. If this is to be believed, the damage is exponential with different formulas above or below the defense.
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/396507-dark-souls-stats-i-damage-formula-and-analysis

edit: The way defense works in this game is the reason why twinks have such huge advantage over new characters. Humanities + upgraded armor means you'll do pitiful especially with an unupgraded weapon unless it's a crutch or a heavy.

Two best buffs: darkmoon, sunlight. Next is crystal. Darkmoon can give huge amount the higher you are in the covenant. No need for buffs. Just go physical unless you are an elemental. The best catalyst depends on that stat.
Int: oolacile ivory, sorc and equivalents, logan's
Fth: thorolund, canvas, darkmoon

Thanks for that, i really hate the damage forumulas in these games... it makes many weapons useless and many upgrades useless. DS2 is a bit better with faith and int helping elements other than magic ect.

So overall i just want to 15+ a weapon i like and then buff it via going int or faith buffs?

Seems my goal is not to get the oolacile ivory as its best cat below 30 int and get to 15 int for magic weapon and then 25 for crystal?

So some ways to go yet :P

The darkmoon drops damage as soon as you kill the boss so i wont be relying on that and its faith based?

So do cats upgrade like weapons like DS2 or just stay like they are?

[Shifty Mario]

The damage formula does work for PVP except daggers still do garbage normally. At least the damage formula isn't as dumb as elemental resist for Dark 2. Possible immunity.

I wouldn't use int or fth for a buff only. Might as well use others spells too. Int doesn't perform well at low amounts and is quite terrible in PVP. If you're thinking of soulmass or dark bead, know that it's still subjected to defense rules so if enemy has high spell defense, you're not doing much normally. Spell tools cannot upgrade except for flame.

Darkmoon may lose some damage, but it's still powerful. Base darkmoon and sunlight both have same multiplier.

[Hurricane]

Originally posted by Shifty Mario:

The damage formula does work for PVP except daggers still do garbage normally. At least the damage formula isn't as dumb as elemental resist for Dark 2. Possible immunity.

I wouldn't use int or fth for a buff only. Might as well use others spells too. Int doesn't perform well at low amounts and is quite terrible in PVP. If you're thinking of soulmass or dark bead, know that it's still subjected to defense rules so if enemy has high spell defense, you're not doing much normally. Spell tools cannot upgrade except for flame.

Darkmoon may lose some damage, but it's still powerful. Base darkmoon and sunlight both have same multiplier.

Im sure i read darkmon and sunlight cant be used once you leave the guild/covenant?

The str of the buff is int/faith + the cat yes?

I always wanted to try some spells even if to clear some trash so will level my int maybe to 30 in NG then more NG+

I dont plan to pvp, i mean look at the people who play to pvp! They literally spend all their lives pvping in darksouls lol... its not even fun, the pvp is 1 shot/back stab most times, DS2 has better pvp and i hope the new DX11 makes it even better with more people :D

Currently my BSS is only 300 dps while my spiderqueen sword is 450, the spider sword has a sweet move set too its super fast!

I dunno if i wanna use the BSS its kinda meh and has no cool fire effect :P took me ages to farm it too! 8 shields before it dropped :\

So another DEX weapon recommendation? I prefer swords and need reach like the queen sword, i maybe try some katana but the uchi has an awful move set too imo.

[svatem1]

darkmoon cannot, sunlight can

Originally posted by Hurricane:

Originally posted by Shifty Mario:

The damage formula does work for PVP except daggers still do garbage normally. At least the damage formula isn't as dumb as elemental resist for Dark 2. Possible immunity.

I wouldn't use int or fth for a buff only. Might as well use others spells too. Int doesn't perform well at low amounts and is quite terrible in PVP. If you're thinking of soulmass or dark bead, know that it's still subjected to defense rules so if enemy has high spell defense, you're not doing much normally. Spell tools cannot upgrade except for flame.

Darkmoon may lose some damage, but it's still powerful. Base darkmoon and sunlight both have same multiplier.

Im sure i read darkmon and sunlight cant be used once you leave the guild/covenant?

The str of the buff is int/faith + the cat yes?

I always wanted to try some spells even if to clear some trash so will level my int maybe to 30 in NG then more NG+

I dont plan to pvp, i mean look at the people who play to pvp! They literally spend all their lives pvping in darksouls lol... its not even fun, the pvp is 1 shot/back stab most times, DS2 has better pvp and i hope the new DX11 makes it even better with more people :D

Currently my BSS is only 300 dps while my spiderqueen sword is 450, the spider sword has a sweet move set too its super fast!

I dunno if i wanna use the BSS its kinda meh and has no cool fire effect :P took me ages to farm it too! 8 shields before it dropped :\

So another DEX weapon recommendation? I prefer swords and need reach like the queen sword, i maybe try some katana but the uchi has an awful move set too imo.

[Tups]

INT breakpoints:

15 INT - Great Magic Weapon with Oolacile catalyst - 180 mag adj * 1.1 = 198 dmg
25 INT - Crystal Magic Weapon + Oolacile catalyst - 180 mag adj * 1.4 = 252 dmg
32 INT - Crystal Magic Weapon + Tin Crystal catalyst - 254 * 1.4 = 355
40 INT - CMW + TCC - 381
50 INT - CMW + TCC - 410

The TCC halves you spell use though.

Between 29 and 39 INT, Sorcerer's, beatrice and Izalith are even if you don't want to use the TCC. Logans for above 40.

DMB breakpoints at Rank 3 in DM covenant = mag adj * 2.1.
~17 less dmg per lower rank.

30 - canvas - 172 mag adj - 361 dmg (32FTH vs 32INT = 355 vs 369 (SLB = 315)
40 - darkmoon -191 MA - 401
50- darkmoon - 226 MA - 474 dmg

Sunlight blade = 1.8
Does a bit less dmg than DMB and CMW but it does lightinig dmg instead of magic which ignores Great Magic Barrier users(GMB only works vs magic, not lightning or fire)
Also useful if you don't want to bother ranking up in the justice league and rather be a darkwraith invader.

Faith is kinda better but requires more stat investment and the lightning spears are junk in this game. With only 16 INT you can have a modest ~200 dmg buff plus dark beads which is OP yoloswag. I feel INT and DEX builds go better hand in hand because of the passive bonus increase in cast speed from high DEX. Other than WotG, faster cast speed isn't needed for miracles since most of them are pre-buff spells.