Dark Miracle Build

[Seven Dancing Cats]

I'm attempting to create an unorthodox build that uses dark miracles, but they're quite the challenge and I could use some help. I've created two variants and I need help choosing which one to use and how I could tweak them to perform better.
https://soulsplanner.com/darksouls3/43465
https://soulsplanner.com/darksouls3/35580

[Artale]

Originally posted by Arwen:

maybe i am wrong but if you would like to make a dark miracle build why in the 1st case you invest so heavily in dexterity, and in general why do you invest in intelligence - i know that it is for dark damage, but would it not be better to invest in faith and use ligthning infusions (i know it is not dark but your damage output will be higher) or buff your weapons with dark blade? E.g. if you use crucifix of the mad king (invest in strength instead) and murky hand scythe you will be using weapons with innate dark damage. In addition, you should probably use ring +2 to increase casting speed (yet it will still be way too slow for gnaw)?

Haven't checked the links but Dexterity increases cast speed.

[Seven Dancing Cats]

Originally posted by Arwen:

maybe i am wrong but if you would like to make a dark miracle build why in the 1st case you invest so heavily in dexterity, and in general why do you invest in intelligence - i know that it is for dark damage, but would it not be better to invest in faith and use ligthning infusions (i know it is not dark but your damage output will be higher) or buff your weapons with dark blade? E.g. if you use crucifix of the mad king (invest in strength instead) and murky hand scythe you will be using weapons with innate dark damage. In addition, you should probably use ring +2 to increase casting speed (yet it will still be way too slow for gnaw)?

Using Dark Blade takes a while to cast and can be punished. The first build uses 40 dex to get cast speed and scale with Scythe, but I'm leaning towards the more rounded build with Saint's Bident and Sage +2. Increasing Faith above 45 stops scaling with dark miracles so it's a no-go.