Weapon buffs power.

[Crypto Gamer]

So in short gonna finish DS2.

My question is.

Does the infusion of the casting tool matters for the weapon buffs dmg.
Eg. dark infusion for dark weapon etc.

[Willheart]

Haven't been in Dark Souls for a while but as far as I remember:

No. The actual spell determines the 'multiplier' for damage gained, while the weapon's base damage (without scaling) determines the 'base value' which is multiplied. Should be that simple.

So you can use the worst catalyst, unupgraded and uninfused and still get the 'best' damage on your Dark Crypt Blacksword +10 with 'Dark Weapon'.

[AerSilver ♞]

Nah, not in DS2. It's based on your weapon AR.

[JellyPuff]

Consumable weapon buffs are based on the weapon's base AR, but favor their respective element, so a Gold Pine Resin works best on weapons with lightning on it already, like the Heide Knight Sword for example. They cannot be applied to infused weapons.

Spellbuffs are purely based on the buffed weapon's total base AR (total damage, physical and elemental, without scaling bonuses). They don't care about any particular element and you can buff pretty much every melee weapon, infused or not (from the top of my head, the Moonlight Greatsword cannot be buffed at all).
That means, that buffs tend to be the most effective on infused weapons, since that often increase the total base AR. Due to how elemental damage resistance works and how well your weapon infuses, it may not always be the right choice to infuse, though. Elemental resistance is purely %-based in DS2 (and everything at least resists 10%), but that also means that split damage between multiple elements doesn't matter too much.

Most spellbuffs have their duration scale with one of your stats though. The rule of thumb is, if you cast it with a staff, the duration scales with INT and with a chime, it scales with FTH. Check the buff's wikidot for exact numbers (their damage formulas aren't 100% accurate, though, especially for "Magic Weapon"!).

[Lu2]

idealy you will use sunligh blade buff on lighning infused weapons etc but splited damage is not that bad so its up to your imagination . some weapons cant be infused nor buffed at all . some weapons can be powered with 3 elements even , i think its drakeblood greatsword but my memory is foggy

[Crypto Gamer]

Yeah I was aware of many things.

I am lower lvl so using dark weapon with 24 int for max 99 second duration.

Sunlight is too stat costly for me at the moment.

Split dmg is not that bad in DS2 cause elemental is % based reduction and not ratio based like in DS1.

So it seems in DS2.

For weapon buffs base dmg is the most important and my weapon infusion seems to be 70%+70% dmg so 140% base dmg.
Likely differs by weapon.

Dex scaling is so weak in this game compared to DS1......

So I will change my 40 dex to dark weapon buff+more health+min dex.

[Lu2]

Originally posted by Crypto Gamer:

Yeah I was aware of many things.

I am lower lvl so using dark weapon with 24 int for max 99 second duration.

Sunlight is too stat costly for me at the moment.

Split dmg is not that bad in DS2 cause elemental is % based reduction and not ratio based like in DS1.

So it seems in DS2.

For weapon buffs base dmg is the most important and my weapon infusion seems to be 70%+70% dmg so 140% base dmg.
Likely differs by weapon.

Dex scaling is so weak in this game compared to DS1......

So I will change my 40 dex to dark weapon buff+more health+min dex.

flame blade doesnt require stats and its still more powerful then ( high ?)magic blade . eigtherway you can incese sunlightblade or crystal magic blade to 10 stat requirments . sure buff last only 20 instead 60 (?) sec but its still equaly powerfull . you do can extend buff time with some gear and ring on another hand . thats just tip for low soul memory "agape ring" build coop pvp or whatever

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by Crypto Gamer:

Dex scaling is so weak in this game compared to DS1......

So I will change my 40 dex to dark weapon buff+more health+min dex.

In DS2, DEX scaling in general is weaker than STR scaling, so a C/C-weapon is more of a STR weapon. A and S-scaling DEX weapon still have good scaling and just like with STR, S-scaling for DEX also gives another big bonus between 70 and 80 DEX. An example of a beast of a S-scaling DEX weapon is the Blacksteel Katana. At 80 DEX with RoB+2 and Flynn's, it's totally busted, which is in parts thanks to it's high counter-damage.
DEX weapons tend to have higher counter-damage values in general, compared to STR weapons which more than makes up for the weaker scaling. Counter-damage in DS2 is pretty broken and not just reserved for thrust-weapons, but all weapons can have it. Counter-damage also takes scaling bonus, infusions and weapon buffs into account, which is one of the reasons, thrusting swords, especially the Ice Rapier (which barely looses phys DMG infused), are so strong.

[Lu2]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

Originally posted by Crypto Gamer:

Dex scaling is so weak in this game compared to DS1......

So I will change my 40 dex to dark weapon buff+more health+min dex.

In DS2, DEX scaling in general is weaker than STR scaling, so a C/C-weapon is more of a STR weapon. A and S-scaling DEX weapon still have good scaling and just like with STR, S-scaling for DEX also gives another big bonus between 70 and 80 DEX. An example of a beast of a S-scaling DEX weapon is the Blacksteel Katana. At 80 DEX with RoB+2 and Flynn's, it's totally busted, which is in parts thanks to it's high counter-damage.
DEX weapons tend to have higher counter-damage values in general, compared to STR weapons which more than makes up for the weaker scaling. Counter-damage in DS2 is pretty broken and not just reserved for thrust-weapons, but all weapons can have it. Counter-damage also takes scaling bonus, infusions and weapon buffs into account, which is one of the reasons, thrusting swords, especially the Ice Rapier (which barely looses phys DMG infused), are so strong.

i think they forgot nerf ice rapier infusion . no other weapon act like that . its great offhand weapon against healing duelist lol . soul spear always get them in time ,no facehealing alowed ...unlike ds 3 or elden ring . ice rapier makes it even more easier punish these from distance .

alone sword is cool looking counter weapon , no one use it since base damage sucks and cant be infused . but damn so fun to use

[Edgarek]

Originally posted by Lu2:

i think they forgot nerf ice rapier infusion . no other weapon act like that . its great offhand weapon against healing duelist lol . soul spear always get them in time ,no facehealing alowed ...unlike ds 3 or elden ring . ice rapier makes it even more easier punish these from distance .

alone sword is cool looking counter weapon , no one use it since base damage sucks and cant be infused . but damn so fun to use

Multiple weapons has infusion benefits similar to ice rapier. As an example Majestic GS 290 splits into 180/200 base dmg.

Alonne katana really powerful and has even stronger S dex scaling. Combined with weapon buff its easily could do 800 dmg.

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by Edgarek:

Multiple weapons has infusion benefits similar to ice rapier. As an example Majestic GS 290 splits into 180/200 base dmg.

Alonne katana really powerful and has even stronger S dex scaling. Combined with weapon buff its easily could do 800 dmg.

Where the Ice Rapier differs significantly, is it's fast attack speed, thrust-typing on physical dmg, stamina consumption and very low stat-requirements for what it does. This weapon can also deal over 800 dmg on counter hits, depending on enemy resistances. The next best thing, the Espada at 40 DEX can "only" deal 600 dmg vs. medium resistances /w RoB/Leo/Flynn + any x1.3 base AR mult spellbuff and that one's still OP for PvE.

Chaos Blade is also pretty nutty with it's 160 (!) counter damage. That one can reach 900 dmg on hit with the right setup vs. not too resistant enemies. But there's the self-damage, higher requirements and it swings slower. Still silly DPS, that should only be reserved for the highest requirement, slow ultras.

If you want something, that responds well to buffs, but you don't want to worry about counterhits too much, infuse the Red-Iron Twinblade with lightning or dark and spam R1. Not sure why the devs only ever buffed one twinblade and why by this much.

[AerSilver ♞]

Ice Rapier is nice for punishing chuggers if you don't want to invest too much into attunement for something like a Forbidden Sun, also it's a hatemail magnet so that's always a plus. Just keep in mind it has poor poise damage so maybe combine it with a Stone Ring, also very easy to sidestep it since it has a narrow hitbox. For PVE bring repair powders with you, you'll need them.

[Edgarek]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

Where the Ice Rapier differs significantly, is it's fast attack speed, thrust-typing on physical dmg, stamina consumption and very low stat-requirements for what it does. This weapon can also deal over 800 dmg on counter hits, depending on enemy resistances. The next best thing, the Espada at 40 DEX can "only" deal 600 dmg vs. medium resistances /w RoB/Leo/Flynn + any x1.3 base AR mult spellbuff and that one's still OP for PvE.

Chaos Blade is also pretty nutty with it's 160 (!) counter damage. That one can reach 900 dmg on hit with the right setup vs. not too resistant enemies. But there's the self-damage, higher requirements and it swings slower. Still silly DPS, that should only be reserved for the highest requirement, slow ultras.

If you want something, that responds well to buffs, but you don't want to worry about counterhits too much, infuse the Red-Iron Twinblade with lightning or dark and spam R1. Not sure why the devs only ever buffed one twinblade and why by this much.

Chaos blade could deal even more damage with spear powerstance and Leo ring. With RTSR active in a glass cannon build, powerstance attack easily deals 1500+ damage. Its melts even high NG+ bosses, like Sinh dragon.

[Ocebeee]

yes

[Crypto Gamer]

I think counter damage in Dark souls 1 only affected"thurst"type physical damage even if weapon had more damage types.



So in DS2 counter damage also affects weapon buffs+dmg?


Hm I liked chaos blade in DS1 as a katana user might check it out in DS2 too.

It is sad that bleed is so useless in DS2 PVE.....

Wikidot list flame weapon having 90 second duration.

It is fixed or it scales with any stat like other weapon buffs?

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by Crypto Gamer:

It is sad that bleed is so useless in DS2 PVE.....

Wikidot list flame weapon having 90 second duration.

It is fixed or it scales with any stat like other weapon buffs?

Yeah, counter damage in other soulsgames is only on thrust type damage and a fixed % (+20% in DS1 and +30% in DS3). In DS2, it can range from +0% to +60%, depending on the weapon. When viewing the weapon stats, it's the number next to the returning arrow-icon.

And yeah, bleed in DS2 is trash for both PvE and PvP. There's only a single useful scenario; Fighting Vendrick with no Giant Souls.

Also yes, Flame Weapon's duration is fixed but it's also the weakest spell buff together with Magic Weapon (again, their formulas on wikidot are wrong, they don't give flat dmg or scale only of a weapon's element)
Fire type is the most commonly resisted element, but besides the ATTN slot, it has no requirements at all, which makes it basically free (even in terms of ATTN, if you use Black Witch Hat, since it gives 1 ATTN slot). It's the "i don't wanna level INT and FTH"-buff.