Avoid grief, don't use STR heavy armor builds.

[shelledfade]

Been playing for a while now with heavy slow weapons/shield and heavy armor, pure melee build, high STR and dex, and gotta say, its pretty bad.

It starts off kind of good in beginning of the game, but goes way downhill from there. Using pursuers +3 greatsword atm.

Some things to know:

1. Most of the hard enemies have follow-up attacks that are quick, which will hit you usually just as you finish or try to begin your next attack with a slow weapon (greatsword, big maul, ect). These enemies don't get stunned when you hit them with a power attack or normal swing, making big weapons a real pain to use and its hard to deal decent dps against these enemies making it crap for PVE. PVP it is equally as bad, its just too easy to dodge. Just wait for the guy to swing then cast magic on him... it's just bad.

2. Slow swings means slow DPS, and less hits against boss means overall less dps in PVE, sad but true.

3. You can't dodge a lot of attacks using heavy armor unless you have below 70% weight unlike in dark souls 1, and a lot of attacks in PVE bypass blocking with a shield, unlike dark souls 1, making it virtually pointless going sword/board.

4. S-A ranked weaps vs elemental weapons. Basically, I do less dmg with 45 strength with pursuers +3 greatsword at the moment vs somebody who has little strength, little dex, and is using a elemental weapon such as lightning/magic/fire on a quicker weap. Sad but true... strength seems really bad in in this game... I'm around soul level 130'sh or so atm so I'm just basing this on what I've experienced and what I've seen, and looked up.

5. Ranged attacks with magic, combined with quicker swinging elemental weapons that already do very good damage compared to using a larger weapon with an S-A rank, is also a plus that you don't get.

6. Putting lots of points into strength/dex or strength to 45-50, means you have a lot less points to put into ADP. ADP is surprisingly good. It is a stat that speeds up the process of using items in combat, raising your shield AFTER getting attacked, and makes your dodging better. The problem with these high str and dex builds early on is that you don't really have any points left for adp afterwards.

There's just no point right now in going Full-melee builds. Even full-melee build with quicker weapons with dual wield isn't better than doing the same as a caster going dual-wielding, because elemental weapons don't scale well with str-dex stats which means they're going to be doing more damage even in melee than you are, which means its really pointless going full-melee.

I'm not sure about later builds like SL 300-400 regarding heavy armor when you can actually use it when having below 70% weight, but in these early builds I gotta say, its really terrible.

Learn from my pain please and don't go str builds or full-melee builds early in the game. They may work way later in the game but 1 - 150 SL they are quite bad, and 150 is most of the first playthrough Soul level anyway. Str needs to be buffed for sure.

[NukeJockey]

My first playthrough on 360 was with a 50 STR, heavy armour build, dual wielding a large club and a giant club, I'd hit for over 1200 with a normal power stance attack, then still have the stam to back off if need be. STR is totally viable in DS2, you just need to have the right build and play it properly.

Another character I'm playing at the moment is dual wielding 2x caestus and 2x clubs, wearing no chest armour as well as holding a shield and I dodge and roll and hit for 800+ or pound people/enemies into submission with my fists.

*EDIT* I found very few enemies that couldn't be staggered as well, while there are some, I don't think there are enough to complain about and it certainly doesn't make me want to stay away from STR builds.

[shelledfade]

Originally posted by h.IV+NukeJockey:

My first playthrough on 360 was with a 50 STR, heavy armour build, dual wielding a large club and a giant club, I'd hit for over 1200 with a normal power stance attack, then still have the stam to back off if need be. STR is totally viable in DS2, you just need to have the right build and play it properly.

Another character I'm playing at the moment is dual wielding 2x caestus and 2x clubs, wearing no chest armour as well as holding a shield and I dodge and roll and hit for 800+ or pound people/enemies into submission with my fists.

*EDIT* I found very few enemies that couldn't be staggered as well, while there are some, I don't think there are enough to complain about and it certainly doesn't make me want to stay away from STR builds.

most of the better bosses don't let you get away with such slow-moving attacks though, a lot of enemies that cannot be stunned are in the same boat.

[Xara]

I am using the Alva Armor +10 and two Greatswords (the Ultra Greatsword) +10 - and I am wrecking everything. For ranged I got myself a Dragonslayer Greatbow with Destructive Arrows. Only had to use a Shield 3 or 4 times thus far.

I pretty much started the game this way and I am beating it this way.

[BALANCE]

I'm powerstancing mastodon halberds and i can't complain

[shelledfade]

Originally posted by iC Xaragoth:

I am using the Alva Armor +10 and two Greatswords (the Ultra Greatsword) +10 - and I am wrecking everything. For ranged I got myself a Dragonslayer Greatbow with Destructive Arrows. Only had to use a Shield 3 or 4 times thus far.

which ultra greatswords?

[Xara]

Originally posted by Shelledfade:

Originally posted by iC Xaragoth:

I am using the Alva Armor +10 and two Greatswords (the Ultra Greatsword) +10 - and I am wrecking everything. For ranged I got myself a Dragonslayer Greatbow with Destructive Arrows. Only had to use a Shield 3 or 4 times thus far.

which ultra greatswords?

Greatsword.

[PowerViking]

45 str build with Pursuer's Ultra Greatsword and Havels. Hovering at ~95% load so I'm fatrolling. Just beat NG without major problems. Attacks from bosses that can be blocked use 20% stamina and unblockable attacks are telegraphed so early you can just walk away without getting hit.

Though I have to admit that I'm not going near any Warrior Giants (the big one with two clubs). I just cheese them with poison throwing knives.

[Wi-SiWi]

>elite knight armor
>broad sword
>str build

[shelledfade]

Originally posted by iC Xaragoth:

Originally posted by Shelledfade:

which ultra greatswords?

Greatsword.

yeah, WHICH ONE lol.

[Onion]

Originally posted by Shelledfade:

Originally posted by iC Xaragoth:

Greatsword.

yeah, WHICH ONE lol.

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Greatsword

[Panic Fire]

Fun facts, using an ultra greatsword with a tower shield is ussually a bad call. Instead 'Tanky' builds should sport spear/halbers/lances. Shield poking is your bread an butter. Just make sure you have the vitality to poke and take another hit. Makes a lot of the boss fights spectacularly easy.

Second Fun Fact

You should almost always do infusions. There are only a few very very rare cases where its worse to do an infusion than a normal +10. This isn't dark souls. So go ahead and back that halberd into a +10 fire halberd it will significantly increase your dmg.

[Xara]

Originally posted by Shelledfade:

Originally posted by iC Xaragoth:

Greatsword.

yeah, WHICH ONE lol.

IT'S NAME IS GREATSWORD FOR GODS SAKE

[JordanU]

I myself decided to go with a heavy defense build, not even focusing on dps. And I do not know wh you are saying you will be encumbered if you go with a heavy build, I'm only SL 42 and I manage to keep my encumberment steady at 68%

[Daizangan]

the weapon name is greatsword.... the giant sword that looks like its broken and made of stone

[Panic Fire]

Originally posted by JordanU:

I myself decided to go with a heavy defense build, not even focusing on dps. And I do not know wh you are saying you will be encumbered if you go with a heavy build, I'm only SL 42 and I manage to keep my encumberment steady at 68%

Because hes using ultra greatswords which are throwing his weight over the top.