Rapier OP

[Sorcerer King]

I know this is a stupid question but I see people use the rapier through the whole game and have little to no armor on? Does armor effect the damage of the rapier? Should I instead of wearing a full armor set while 2 handing the rapier go for light or no armor and that'll make it stronger?

[Pyramid Bread]

Well rapiers are one of the highest DPS weapons in the game and equip load directly influeces stamina recovery. Less weight = faster stamina regen, more stamina = more attacks.

Also with light setups you can roll further, meaning you can get in, poke a few times, then roll once and you're basically a mile away.

[Pyramid Bread]

See: tactics for fighting Fume Knight

[Zann]

Rapiers also have high counter damages, which makes them very good for anything you can counterhit without getting hit yourself. Many bosses and large mobs fall into this category.

And for normal mobs, the quick attacks mean you can usually strike first (often landing a counterhit) and break their poise. This works for PvP too.

As for the low armor, the people that make PvE videos (I guess that's what you're refering to) typically are playing in high NG grades, and there your armor matters little outside of elemental resistances. Even with the heaviest of heavies you're going to get killed quickly if you get caught, so they go for high mobility instead.

[Sorcerer King]

Oh ok thanks! The weight doesn't effect how much damage output each hit does right? It's just the stamina? I'll go for a lighter build

[DonVISIONe]

if u want to use a rapier also make sure to use the leo ring. u get more dmg with it on counter attacks with spears, rapiers lances and such

[Texasaur]

Estoc is bestoc

[TrueArchery]

Originally posted by AJStylesRS07:

Oh ok thanks! The weight doesn't effect how much damage output each hit does right? It's just the stamina? I'll go for a lighter build

Neither effects how your damage-output is. That's just the Attack-Rating, counter-hits and Ring-selection and buffs.
Weight-load affects stamina-regeneration, as said. It has nothing to do with your damage, at least not directly.

Flynn's Ring should be mentioned though, it gives +50 AR at 60 equipload (as the max. stat, not the %, equals 14 Vitality or 9 Vit w/ 3rd Dragon Ring, IIRC). To maintain that bonus and also fast stamina regeneration to be able to attack mutiple times quicker, you basically have to sacrifice much armor so that it'll be just as good to go naked for the stamina-regen.

TL;DR: Rapiers are perfect for boss-slaying due to high counter-damage, low stamina consumption and weight and hence insane dps.
Basically you go Leo Ring, Flynn's Ring, Ring of Blades +2, Chloranthy Ring +2 while being naked except for a +10 Rapier (or better Espada Ropera or Ice Rapier) which you buff with a Resin of the element that the boss is weak to. This setup offers +100 flat AR on your Rapier and a couple % (about 15 IIRC) more damage on counter-hits while having lightning-fast stamina-regeneration. There's simply nothing better against bosses.

TL;DR#2: The best way to use Thrusting Swords in PvE is naked.

Originally posted by Texy:

Estoc is bestoc

The Estoc is actually one of the worse PvE-Rapiers, unlike in Dark Souls III.

[Juno Brier]

Pretty sure thrusting damage is more effective than slashing damage against most bosses due to a lot of them being armored. So that kinda helps.