Fun viable pve weapon advice

[Julian]

TLDR: in ds3 and now ds2 I’m finding most weapons too awkward or low dps for my str/dex build, any advice for non sword weapons and how to have fun with them?

Hi all,
Context: I’m on my first play through (str/dex) and I have beaten several bosses and I beat DS3 last year.
I’m finding that in both ds3 and now ds2 I just pick up a good straight sword (Irithyl in ds3, the flame infused one near the beginning of ds2) and it’s considerably better than anything else. I took it to be like an easier mode in ds3 so I only used it when I was struggling but then I just infused and reinforced another straight sword and it Now seemed better than most anything else. I want to have fun with other weapons but the move set and dps just seems superior. I must be wrong though, right?

Thanks.

[Wodipu]

There is no non sword fun here, its a melee game. So dont be a char with that funny little stick swinging around, take good steel in your hand

[Boreal]

The Dragonrider arsenal is a lot of fun, I really love the halberd, though it’s not exactly easy to use in DS2. You can get a ton of cool weapons by trading souls with Straid, and Ornifex has some great options too, but getting to her can be trickier.

Almost all weapons in the game are strong, except for the meme ones like the ladle and the broken swords, even the Bandit Dagger can be good depending on your build.

As for the movesets, swords and axes definitely have some of the best in the game, but you shouldn’t ignore a weapon just because of that.

Just please... don't use the "longsword" or "greatsword" for the entire game, that's boring.

[Willheart]

Axes or Lances are very strong and pretty fun. My favourite is the Crescent Axe because it's a weird mashup of movesets, so you can switch from 1-handed to 2-handed and it can deal with pretty much any situation, only downside is 'sweetspot' damage (if the long handle hits the enemy first, you deal reduced damage, but it's not hard to manage unlike halberds).

[JellyPuff]

Anything is PvE viable. Even a Ladle, if you put in some extra work, especially if you use both "Make this viable pls"-rings (or "Make this OP pls" on already strong weapons).
Flynn's Ring[darksouls2.wikidot.com] and Ring of Blades - for up to a combined flat damage increase of 100. Flynn's in this game is kinda busted and nothing like it's nerfed DS3 counterpart.

Just use what you think has a fun moveset and build around that. Slap RoB/Flynn's on, if you think your damage is lacking.

Of course, DPS-wise, many weapons are just objectively superior. It's a RPG and a FromSoft one no less, so expect not exactly a masterclass in weapon balance. But as long as most of those are viable, i don't mind a few bonkers outliers, like the Ice Rapier. Straight Swords are actually kinda "meh" for PvE. Other than having generally good movesets, they aren't particularly noteworthy DPS-wise and fire-infusion isn't exactly good either, due to fire being commonly resisted by PvE enemies.

If you want to be the most optimal, you can just rock the good old basic Rapier/Mace combo for most of the game (Mace when fighting heavy armor dudes, since they often take extra 30-50% from strike-type damage). The Rapier only needs 12 DEX (the Mace only 12 STR) and has already high base damage, so you can just focus on Vigor, Endurance and Adaptability softcaps. You can swap the Rapier for straight upgrades later in the game or just lightning/dark infuse and forget about DEX. Rapier also has high counter-damage.

In DS2 only, every weapon has a counter-damage value and it can range from from 100 (none) to 160 (+60% damage). In other soulsgames, it's a fixed number and exclusive to thrust. That makes katanas in DS2 really strong, too, due to most of them having 150 counter damage and swinging relatively fast. Counter-damage might the most abusable mechanic, after Lifegems in DS2, because the bonus takes into account TOTAL weapon damage, so scaling, infusions, ring bonuses, buffs, etc and then it applies.
JFC, it's not critical hits, like backstabs. You'll deal counter-damage, when trading hits with an enemy or when whiff-punishing their attacks, right after they miss.

If you want something fun, but still have high DPS, use the Red-Iron Twinblade. Twinblades only show up in this game and Elden Ring and the Red-Iron Twinblade is by far the strongest.

[NightmareGats]

Ice rapier to kill any host or phantom

[Crypto Gamer]

Once you have high health lighting infused chaos blade katana+dark weapon or later sunlight blade+sacred oath will melt most PVE foes very fast due to 160% counter dmg.

[mikta]

If you are both STR and DEX idk what to recommend because with most weapons you get one to the value required by the weapon and other as high as you can. Try looking for weapon that scales with both at the same time or respec.

I'm currently on DEX build alternating between Partizan and Pate's Spear (for Bosses, PvP).

[NeroDivergent]

Originally posted by Julian:

TLDR: in ds3 and now ds2 I’m finding most weapons too awkward or low dps for my str/dex build, any advice for non sword weapons and how to have fun with them?

Hi all,
Context: I’m on my first play through (str/dex) and I have beaten several bosses and I beat DS3 last year.
I’m finding that in both ds3 and now ds2 I just pick up a good straight sword (Irithyl in ds3, the flame infused one near the beginning of ds2) and it’s considerably better than anything else. I took it to be like an easier mode in ds3 so I only used it when I was struggling but then I just infused and reinforced another straight sword and it Now seemed better than most anything else. I want to have fun with other weapons but the move set and dps just seems superior. I must be wrong though, right?

Thanks.

ds2 is the easiest game in the series so it doesnt matter honestly. whatever you have fun with is whats good as long as it scales well with your stats youll chew threw most things.

[Backstabba]

Two good Strength/Dex (Aka quality) early game weapons that aren't swords are the normal Twinblade and the Grand Lance. Both can also be used for status effects if you want to as well.

A possible weapon for Strength Dex build is Santier's Spear if your willing to go out of your way to break its insane 500 durability to transform it into its true form(Which has infinite durability once transformed).

Santier's Spear is an ironic choice for it because it lacks physical scaling entirely but requires 20/22 strength/dex, making it so only quality builds can use it until end game.

[Julian]

On a related note, I'm wondering if I shouldn't be saving my titanite so much.
I typically stay 1-3 levels under the max possible for what I have access to so that I can reinforce a few weapons to cover different situations as well as so I don't spend them on a weapon that becomes obsolete.
Actually it's probably more than that now as I have a couple slabs and my highest weapon is +3 or 4...

[JellyPuff]

Titanite is plentiful as loot. They're also farmable (even slabs). Chunks and Twinkling Titanite are probably the most annoying to farm/get, if you run out of spots to loot/buy them from.

Regular Titanite Shards can just be bought from Chloanne in unlimited quantities after beating Iron Keep. Unlimited Large Titanite Shards are available even earlier from McDuff at Lost Bastille, so there's no reason to hold back on upgrading all your weapons to at least +6. +6/+7 is also what most areas before Drangleic Castle are balanced around, given the open-ended nature of the early/mid game.

[Crypto Gamer]

Yeah in Dark souls 2 upgrade mats are much more common than in DS1 or 3.

[Julian]

Ok. Thanks.
I’m in the windmill and yes, they’ve been showering me with the basic titanite.

I didn’t give McDuff the whatever because he called me an imbecile…

[Stalker Fairy]

2 of my chars went stabby stabby: my main used the Heide Knight Spear, an alt the Grand Lance.

The Heide Spear's weakness is the rolling attack, which sucks. Else, its a matter of juggling between light and heavy attacks. Light -> Light -> Heavy is my go to.
Before I got the spear, I was mainly using the Heide Knight Sword as well. Needs abit of practice to use well, and one of its moves, unlike most swords, is a thrust, thus is useable in narrow spaces as well.

The Grand Lance has the charge attack which, frankly, borders on gamebreaking imo.

Another alt started as a Sorcerer spellcaster, before eventually moving on to the Moonlight Greatsword(which was the point of the char).
Before I got it, however, I was using both the Hand and Bandit Axe.