Mundane build, viable in PVE?

[Kal]

So, I've been trying a mundane build lately out of curiosity, and I'm questionning its effectiveness more and more.
My stats are 20 across the board, and I dual wield two +10 mundane daggers. I use a pyromancy flame for the occasional time where I need magic (or a nice AoE with Flame Swathe) and a mundane short bow (though I'm considering switching to dark) with lightning/dark/flame arrows depending on the situation. As for the rings, I use the stone ring, the second dragon ring (haven't reached dragon sanctum yet), a silver serpent ring +1 and a ring of blade +1.

It works ok to pretty well on normal enemies, though I find the short range crippling more often that not, but the problems arise when I'm facing bosses.
I mean, sure, I do decent damage with fast attacks, but I can't stunlock bosses with daggers, not even with the stone rings. So, during the bosses' windows of opportunity, I can more often that not use only one or two powerstanced attacks, for 2-4 hits total. That's not a lot of damage, compared to what I could do with a more specialised build.
I'm at the undead crypt right now and only being able to deal ~200 damage to Velstadt at a time makes me sad.

In the end, it can be really strong against enemies with low poise, but as soon as I run into tanks (either big dudes like bosses or old knights, or invaders with heavy armor), I'm stuck into spending 5 minutes running around, slowly chipping away at my enemy's health bar while hoping I can dodge consistently enough to finish him before he manages to hit me 3/4 times and kill me.
Which makes me think that might be more viable for PVP than for PVE.

So, I'd like your opinion. Am I doing something wrong, or should I just respec into something more efficient?

[Dusk of Oolacile]

You're problems are coming from the weapon choice, not the mundane infusion. Try your usual weapon mundane infused, and it'll work better.

[Kal]

My usuals weapons are heavy hitting, slow weapons. Mundane isn't good on these types of weapons.

[Undisclosed]

What are your stats?
Also you can get the 3rd Dragon RIng in the Dragon Shrine which you should have reached by now if you are using a mundane build.

[Kal]

My stats are 20 across the board and no, I haven't reached the Dragon Shrine yet. I'm still at the undead crypt right now.

[Undisclosed]

Ok then you should propably just beat the game before you start thinking about PvP and fancy builds...
(And if you don't - use the Ladles!)

[Kal]

No offense but... did you read the post? I specifically asked about PvE. I have absolutely no intention to do PvP at any point in my game.

[Houndedheller]

Sounds like a weapon choice problem more than anything else. You would have the same problem using daggers for any build. Last time i tried a mundane build i used Santier's spear.. don't know if that's still good though?

[Kal]

From what I've read, it's been heavily nerfed when infused with mundane, loses 85% of its base damage (instead of 50%).

The thing is, from what I've understood, mundane is mainly useful on fast hitting, low AR weapons, otherwise you'd be better off enchanting them in dark or raw.

[garjian]

The problem is that you're using two Daggers.

When power stancing daggers it is essential that your left hand is a Bandit's Knife or Thief Dagger, because of the rolling attack.

Also, try a Parrying Dagger in your right hand.
You gain a very strong parry, but more importantly, your R1s have forward momentum, so you don't lose range after a combo like normal daggers, and you can catch rolls.

Every dagger has its uses, so you really ought to try then out before dismissing it. I'm sure most daggers are more powerful without Mundane after the nerf though.

[Kal]

That's why I was asking ; since I haven't reached dragon aerie yet, I have to farm for mundane stones, so I wanted some advice before "wasting" them.
I didn't know mundane daggers had been nerfed, though.
What weapons are good with mundane then? I don't need to stick to daggers, I can change if need be.

[garjian]

Try Broken Straight Sword.
It's already a great weapon because of it's ludicrously low stamina consumption. I don't know how Mundane is on it, but I reckon that'll work well.
Durability might be an issue in PvE, but just make 6 of them.

[Kal]

Oh yeah, didn't think about this one. I'll give it a try, beside having a bit more reach can't hurt. Thanks.

[Undisclosed]

Originally posted by garjian:

Try Broken Straight Sword.
It's already a great weapon because of it's ludicrously low stamina consumption. I don't know how Mundane is on it, but I reckon that'll work well.
Durability might be an issue in PvE, but just make 6 of them.

The Mundane scaling carries on even if your weapon breaks.
And the BSS has low base damage by itself so this shouldn't be a huge problem.
(Also like i said: TRY LADLES!)

[Skooma King]

Mundane is for magic and faith. It's semi broken. Should be paired with a katana, sword or spear not a heavy weapon.

[TrueArchery]

Good weapons:
Mail Breaker, Broken Thief Dagger, Thief Dagger, Broken Straight Sword, Ladle