Advice on buffs/infusion

[BloodyBlades]

So I'll be starting a new game and wanna do a buff build question is which is better early to mid game? I get Magic weapon very early but I wont be able to get magic stones (unless im lucky enough to get from snuggly) until I get to the crypt. Then there's miracle buffs, I will get Lighning stones soon as I join that the blue bros but I wont be able to get sunlight balde until again getting to the crypt.

[NineChameleon]

I'm reasonably sure Resonant weapon is one of the most potent buffs in the game with decent INT and FTH and you can get it quite early. But for the early bosses, Magic weapon is actually very useful as a lot of them are either neutral or weak to magic. Whereas the DLC bosses are resistant to Dark and Magic most of the time. Exception being Fume Knight who has a slight magic weakness as far as I know. Fire weapon is pretty meh, but its still a useful tool.

If you are going to do multiple elements/magic types. Keep your weapon un-infused. The elemental infusions are really only good for the dedicated stat builds. If you want all the buffs in game they wont be as useful as say, raw or simply upgrading.

BUT You may want to consider a mundane infusion if you are aiming to use all the buffs. Keep all your stats the same and it could be helpful. Since you're already going to be raising INT and FAITH the same amount.

[76561199005789870]

scaling sucks. meet the bare minimum requirement to wield your weapons and infuse for extra ar.
if youre a competitive pvper, have multiple copies of the same weapon with every element because people will swap resistances

[Nuubie]

Each time you are summoned as a shade you are rewarded with silky stone. So wear the agape ring, farm some stones and you are good to go. You dont even need wait until crypt.

[Gigolo]

fire, next dark, midgame of course

[TrueArchery]

Originally posted by NineChameleon:

If you are going to do multiple elements/magic types. Keep your weapon un-infused. The elemental infusions are really only good for the dedicated stat builds. If you want all the buffs in game they wont be as useful as say, raw or simply upgrading.

BUT You may want to consider a mundane infusion if you are aiming to use all the buffs. Keep all your stats the same and it could be helpful. Since you're already going to be raising INT and FAITH the same amount.

Don't listen to any of this.

(Almost) Always use buffs on an infused weapon. They scale off your total AR and infused weapons have noticably higher AR than uninfused ones. Unless an element is very much resisted you'll benefit. Raw can be good at low stats, typically on innate elemental weapons, otherwise it's usually a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ uninfused version. Mundane is a meme period. Do not level your stats like that, that's literally being dumb because you gimp everything on your character. Health, stamina, damage etc. pp.
Elemental infusions don't rely on your stat spread. Often it's the exact opposite, those infusions cripple scaling and the main damage increase comes from the increased base damage. The exception are innate elemental weapons as their elemental scaling is (for Dark Souls 2 standards) good. Former physical weapons get like mid-30ish AR for leveling stats from the starting values to the softcap, that's like 10% of their AR at most, often a lot less.

More details about buffs are on the wikidot.

You can farm basilisks for infusion stones.

A really good buff is Dark Weapon. It's in the second strongest tier of buffs (together with Sunlight Blade and Crystal Magic Weapon). You can get it very early. It doesn't cost souls. It has many uses. It lasts for a long time and its max duration caps relatively early (24 Int). It's generally not resisted (but lightning is the overall better element for PvE).
In PvP it's even the best damage type because typically dark is the lowest defense. As said, some people will adjust their gear to cripple your elemental damage, but those people are in a minority.
All in all I'd go for this.

Upon further reflecting after calling it trash some time ago Flame Weapon is kinda nice due to no stat requirements, no duration scaling (= you have max duration regardless of your Int/Fth) and a couple of uses, but the damage type is the worst and it's among the weakest spellbuffs. It's essentially the early game buff that is not actually early game content so it's more of a minimalistic addition to physical builds with virtually no noteworthy Atn, Int and Fth investment. You should use a different infusion element (ideally lightning) due to the damage type being the worst and the hilarious fact that fire-infused weapons are the only exception to a consistent pattern - which is that same infusion- and buff-element get a very slight bump in damage - as they literally do the opposite.

[NineChameleon]

Originally posted by TrueArchery:

Don't listen to any of this.

Well I guess I misunderstood what was being asked then? I was under the impression that buffs only scaled off of the catalyst they were cast with. Not the weapon stats. Cause im reasonably sure my Resonant weapon Dark longsword does damage on par with a Resonant weapon +10 Longsword against enemies neutral to dark if not a bit less because the enemy is resisting more of the damage.

But yeah I might've misunderstood? I guess?

Either way mundane isn't a meme. People use it to make good low level builds all the time and make under powered weapons decent. What we really need is information on the type of build OP is really doing.

"buff" is kinda vague.

[JellyPuff]

@NineChameleon:
You didn't misunderstood. Buffs are based on weapon AR (iirc, except Magic and Flame Weapon, which are based on the weapons magic and fire damage respectively). Stats only affect duration and what casting tool you use does not matter at all, except casting speed, i guess.
Since physical defense has a flat damage reduction and elemental resistance is percentage based, depending on which enemy you fight, the difference between infused (+RW) and uninfused (+RW) may be marginal. Also keep stats, rings and counter damage in mind when testing damage.

And no, mundane is only good for making joke weapons, like Ladle, Broken Sword or Work Hook viable. It certainly isn't a good choice for low level builds. It's the exact opposite - you gotta go max level (or close to) if you want to get any mileage out of it for most weapons.

OP specifically said "Miracly Buff" and "Sunlight Blade". Nothing vague about that.

[NineChameleon]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

OP specifically said "Miracly Buff" and "Sunlight Blade". Nothing vague about that.

The OP question has been changed since I answered I think.

[TrueArchery]

Originally posted by NineChameleon:

Originally posted by TrueArchery:

Don't listen to any of this.

Well I guess I misunderstood what was being asked then? I was under the impression that buffs only scaled off of the catalyst they were cast with. Not the weapon stats. Cause im reasonably sure my Resonant weapon Dark longsword does damage on par with a Resonant weapon +10 Longsword against enemies neutral to dark if not a bit less because the enemy is resisting more of the damage.

But yeah I might've misunderstood? I guess?

Either way mundane isn't a meme. People use it to make good low level builds all the time and make under powered weapons decent. What we really need is information on the type of build OP is really doing.

"buff" is kinda vague.

In all the other Souls games but Dark Souls 2 buff damage scales with your casting tool. In Dark Souls 2 it scales with the weapon they're casted onto instead.

And Mundane IS a meme. Compare AR. Laugh at how bad it is. Especially at low levels.

We don't really need more details. OP's asking for the best buff build low-mid level. He actually didn't specify whether he wants to go for Sunlight Blade in the end btw.
The answer is rather simple, Lightning infusion and Dark Weapon. Maybe switch it up later for Sunlight Blade, but Dark Weapon is already really good. Ideally pair it with any of the low stat requirement weapons - Rapier, Bandit Axe, Longsword,...
Innate elemental weapons like the Heide Knight Sword benefit from matching elements, but SLB is lategame content, so...
And exploiting weaknesses isn't really worth it because you don't get the equally strong alternative buffs until late into the game. Magic, Great Magic and Flame Weapon are noticably weaker.

Originally posted by NineChameleon:

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

OP specifically said "Miracly Buff" and "Sunlight Blade". Nothing vague about that.

The OP question has been changed since I answered I think.

It has not. You can see whether posts were edited. Jelly for example edited his post, you can see that at the bottom of his post.

[BloodyBlades]

Originally posted by NineChameleon:

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

OP specifically said "Miracly Buff" and "Sunlight Blade". Nothing vague about that.

The OP question has been changed since I answered I think.

I wasn't vague. I asked between two buffs specifically, and by those two buffs mention you should get an idea of the build I am making, just talks common sense tbh. But I thank you nonetheless for some help I suppose.

Originally posted by TrueArchery:

Originally posted by NineChameleon:

If you are going to do multiple elements/magic types. Keep your weapon un-infused. The elemental infusions are really only good for the dedicated stat builds. If you want all the buffs in game they wont be as useful as say, raw or simply upgrading.

BUT You may want to consider a mundane infusion if you are aiming to use all the buffs. Keep all your stats the same and it could be helpful. Since you're already going to be raising INT and FAITH the same amount.

Don't listen to any of this.

(Almost) Always use buffs on an infused weapon. They scale off your total AR and infused weapons have noticably higher AR than uninfused ones. Unless an element is very much resisted you'll benefit. Raw can be good at low stats, typically on innate elemental weapons, otherwise it's usually a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ uninfused version. Mundane is a meme period. Do not level your stats like that, that's literally being dumb because you gimp everything on your character. Health, stamina, damage etc. pp.
Elemental infusions don't rely on your stat spread. Often it's the exact opposite, those infusions cripple scaling and the main damage increase comes from the increased base damage. The exception are innate elemental weapons as their elemental scaling is (for Dark Souls 2 standards) good. Former physical weapons get like mid-30ish AR for leveling stats from the starting values to the softcap, that's like 10% of their AR at most, often a lot less.

More details about buffs are on the wikidot.

You can farm basilisks for infusion stones.

A really good buff is Dark Weapon. It's in the second strongest tier of buffs (together with Sunlight Blade and Crystal Magic Weapon). You can get it very early. It doesn't cost souls. It has many uses. It lasts for a long time and its max duration caps relatively early (24 Int). It's generally not resisted (but lightning is the overall better element for PvE).
In PvP it's even the best damage type because typically dark is the lowest defense. As said, some people will adjust their gear to cripple your elemental damage, but those people are in a minority.
All in all I'd go for this.

Upon further reflecting after calling it trash some time ago Flame Weapon is kinda nice due to no stat requirements, no duration scaling (= you have max duration regardless of your Int/Fth) and a couple of uses, but the damage type is the worst and it's among the weakest spellbuffs. It's essentially the early game buff that is not actually early game content so it's more of a minimalistic addition to physical builds with virtually no noteworthy Atn, Int and Fth investment. You should use a different infusion element (ideally lightning) due to the damage type being the worst and the hilarious fact that fire-infused weapons are the only exception to a consistent pattern - which is that same infusion- and buff-element get a very slight bump in damage - as they literally do the opposite.

Thanks, I appreciate the help, I have done flame weapon and resonant since I didn't mention it and wanted to build something new since I am just looking to play just to 100% the game. I will most likely go for the lighting stone since I get them far sooner then the magic ones.




Also, sorry to the both of yall, I know it its been past a week since I posted. I have been busy with work and getting ready for Xmas =/