My evaluation on equipment and builds

[Nathaniel Prime]

I'd like to share my thoughts on the value of different equipment and builds possible. I invite you to disagree with me on any point - I would be happy to learn more of the nuances in this game. Let's start with weapon classes.

Small melee weapons - Generally, the bigger it is the better it is. At the very low end we have the derpy dagger class of weapons, and some swords that are close to being daggers. Fortunately it provides a boost to something all builds can use (willpower) when levelling it. Still, daggers themselves are almost completely useless. As bonus nonsense, daggers don't have any striking weapons.

Medium melee weapons - One-handed swords, maces, and axes. The middle-of-the-road option. I'm generalizing a bit, but these have decent damage, good speed, poor range. Definitely a step up from daggers and such but that's hardly a great achievement. One strong positive here is that if you want to stick to one type of fighting (i.e. up close melee), you can use a mace in one build and a sword in the other, and you'll be golden against every defense type in the game.

Long melee weapons - Spears, pole axes, and whips. These have a distinct advantage over medium melee weapons. Unsurprisingly, long melee weapons have a long range. I never found much use in the whips personally, but the tainted ranseur is very good. A major downside is that this entire class of weapons is dedicated

But none of those matter much, because...

Heavy melee weapons - Greatswords, greathammers, and greataxes. They have superior damage, range, knockback, and damage over time compared to any other melee class of weapons. That combination just can't be overcome by any other class of melee weapon. Or, in my opinion any other type of weapon at all.Jaws of Death are the ultimate boss killer, and the Trinity Scepter can smash all hardened targets to oblivion. Between those two, or their earlier relatives (which you can find strong specimens of in the early game), there is no enemy with a defense type which will give you trouble. The combination of damage, range, and knockback in particular means you'll be able to hit a lot -hard- of enemies from safely out of range and then finish them off while they're still stunned from your initial attack. The Trinity Scepter is king of this strategy.

Shields - Regardless of specific classification, they all do the same thing. They're not very good against regular enemies because simply rolling out of the way is almost always the better option. They do have a plus side though - If you grab the giant iron knight's shield (forgot the name, 100% resist to all damage) you can use it against some bosses to great effect. There are several bosses who can't even hurt you as long as you've got your shield up.

Ranged - Flintlocks. These are a fun one. They do pretty good damage and have a medium range. The most interesting part of flintlocks is that you'll hit anything near you if you point the gun in even kind of the right direction. Still, a longer range would be nicer. On the plus side, you can clear out crowds of weak monsters like nobody's business.

Ranged - Bows/Crossbows. Crossbows seem to be weaker versions of bows that can be one-handed, so I lumped them together. While I'm more of an aggressive player, I do like being able to stand back and pelt enemies with arrows without taking any damage. This works surprisingly well against many bosses, too. These are powerful and a very safe option if you don't mind killing things a bit slowly.

Spells - Magic User. The flashiest offense in the game. While it looks awesome to be shooting streams of lightning and fire everywhere, spells don't quite hold up to some of the other really good options. They do only marginally more damage than an offensively oriented Jaws of Death fighter and are much more finicky and complicated to use. The two issues they suffer from are elemental imbalance (which can kill you FAST if you make a mistake) and the fact that they are the only type of class that can run out of attacking oomph. All of their attacks have a very slow windup time, making enemies who like to get in close a serious threat. These can be very powerful is used properly, but require a ton of skill to get not a whole lof of advantage compared to the defensive might of bows or shields, or the boss-obliterating power of the greatscissors and greatmaces.

Spells - Cleric. The offensive options are interesting but not as strong as those of the magic user. They've got a couple of tricks up their sleeve that make them incredibly useful though. The main one is Divine Will, which recharges your stamina insanely fast. Their defense buffs are good as well. The only thing that is really disappointing is the spectral sword you can summon - it seems awesome until you realize that it is giving bosses invincibility frames and thus causing your attacks to miss.

So, thoughts? Have I got it all wrong? Anything super strong I'm missing?

[TheDoctor]

Originally posted by Nathaniel Prime:

Still, daggers themselves are almost completely useless. As bonus nonsense, daggers don't have any striking weapons.

dagger combos are OP AF. It's not one hit great sword but it's really not useless. People try to use dagger as it was a sword.

[Viddaric, Flesh Robot]

If you think Magic is underpowered in this game, you clearly didn't use it the same way I did. Assuming you're using staves instead of wands and have gotten to the point in the game where you get the ring that increases both damage and imbalance, Magic is completely, ridiculously overpowered and trivializes every boss in the game. Join the Keepers of Fire and Sky to load yourself up with crystals and it becomes even more broken. In fact I'd suggest not using it because it's basically the game's easy mode, much like in Dark Souls.

[CtenosaurOaxacana]

I've used a number of weapon options in the game, but I'd like to point out one thing about greatswords and greataxes that makes them challenging: timing is everything. Sure they can one-or-two-shot a lot of enemies, but unless you also pile on a lot of heavy balance/poise armor, then you must time it well. Otherwise, not only will you get your attack cancelled, but the faster and stronger enemies will punish you severely. The OP 1-hit KO becomes a reward for patience.

[TheDoctor]

When i first posted here i didn't have any magic experience but now... HA HA HA HA magic underpower :X

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207288918

Killing a ng+ boss without sky crystal

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1207288914

[Scythia]

One thing I found really disappointing about guns: they shoot out a plume of fire, but only hit one enemy at a time.

[Nathaniel Prime]

After three games to NG+3 or higher, I am certain that guns are the best. They have an ease of use that nobody else can match and do very nice damage. Greatscissors do more damage and are competetive late-game, and magic is... flashy, but requires a lot of gear and strategy to be not quite as good as somebody with no specialized gear and strategy using guns.