Fun/Effective Dex weapons for PvE

[Abyssrocker]

Hello everyone,
I recently started a dexterity "Bloodborne Hunter" type build and I was curious to hear any recommendations for appropriate weapons to try that are fun and effective in PvE.

- I was not initially all that happy with the sellsword twinblades, although I still have to pump some upgrades in them to give another shot now that my endurance is higher to keep on the pressure, alongside the obvious sharp infusion. The biggest drawback was frankly that the Hollowslayer Greatsword, between its range, sweeping attacks, and high damage + bonus damage against most enemies made it a more effective way to slay the baddies.

- Given the theme, I was curious how the Warden Twinblades might fare for their bleed ability, especially if I drop points into luck down the line. Likewise, there is the choice between Hollow vs Blood Infusion, with everything I've read pointing to the former to maintain infusions. My only question here, and in general with bleed proc, is if this is true in PvE?

Naturally, a duel warrants the ability to buff with carthus rouge, but it seems tedious and wasteful to constantly keep up against regular enemies. Boss fights are a different story, but most are resistant/immune to bleed other than the Demon in Pain/From Below/Prince.

So far, the main struggle is actually getting one to drop early on with just a crystal Saber at the Cathedral of the Deep, and I'm questioning if it's even worth the bother because of the damage numbers and same bleed proc as most other bleeding weapons.

- Curved Greatswords have some pretty odd numbers all around, with the above and beyond best being the Exile Greatsword, except it and its second, the Harald Greatsword, both definitively being strength first weapons (and heavy as all hell). I might consider those two for late game if I decide to throw more points into strength because of the Exile's blood fashion.

From this class, how does the Carthus Greatsword fare? I would imagine that the bleed proc isn't really worth it due to the slow speed/high stamina cost, and I might as well buff a Flamberge instead; I actually had great results with one on another strength character against the aforementioned Ringed City Demon's because at least it has naturally high bleed built in alongside an overall effective moveset.

Lastly, I farmed for the Old Wolf Greatsword, so I can also combine the pontiff ring for bloodborne inspired healing.

- I touched on the two twin Curved Swords, but is it worth it for either the Falchion, Follower Sabre, or Carthus Sword/Shotel? Again, the same considerations on bleed apply to the latter two, whereas I simply haven't gotten to the former items.

- Ultra Greatswords seem counterintuitive as all hell, but the Astora Greatsword is worth mentioning for its numerous combat attributes, alongside very low weight.

The Farron Greatsword is also just a fun weapon when it works, although stamina investment feels necessary to not be left out in the open without enough leftover to dodge or finish a sliver of enemy health. The additional parry weapon art is a fun war to turn the tables on those cocky pontiff knight's as well.

- Lastly a couple fun surprises at I found were the Ashes of Ariandel Crow Quills, but especially the Crow Talons! I'm in Irithyl stunning the hell out of Pontiff Knights, but my favorite aspect is how little stamina they draw. I also had the absolute easiest time against the Sulyvahn's Beast on the bridge with a carthus rouge buff - have never killed one with so little effort. These are definitely a pleasant surprise that I'd recommend if you have high dexterity. The damage output is lacking against, for example, the Dragonsayer's Axe NPC you are summoned to fight alongside Sirris, but otherwise, it does a shocking amount of damage to the local enemies. The biggest advantage is that you can unleash fury but still have enough stamina to roll away from even pontiff knight attack spams. The range is also not too shabby for being claws.

I still would have to upgrade the Crow Quills to give a direct comparison, but, they're the more interesting amongst thrusting swords due to the two handed addition of quills to mix up the moveset.

[Jeremy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=broeFcIMmyI

[Abyssrocker]

Originally posted by Jeromeperson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=broeFcIMmyI

Great video! I never looked into Farron Flash sword as a sort of trick weapon, but it's a cool idea. My current build isn't intelligence focused, but it's something that I'll keep an eye on.

I also upgraded the mercenary's starting sellsword twinblades up a bit and I'm floored by the difference they're making in Irithyll. I've been sparring/farming souls with the pontiff knight's and fire witches, and the moveset is very adaptable, while the sweeping attacks can catch multiple opponents. For instance, I'll drop down to kill the fire witch by the church bonfire, clip the two invisible witches by the gate, kill the one shield pontiff knight by the fountain, then run up to the trio and (typically) kill the unshielded knight with two l1s while simultaneously stunning the fire witch.

I'd definitely recommend them for anyone skeptical - especially after the Iudex Gundyr fight and they're seemingly weak performance. Against the right mobs (not resistant to slash of course), they can really go to two and make you feel like a real hunter.

So far, the hollowslayer greatsword has been an appropriate and effective secondary weapon to keep around, especially when I need to keep the distance. Really, it's just hard to beat the HSGS, and it does make me wish that hollow infusion also gave a similar bonus alongside the luck scaling. Now that would have opened up so many pve doors that its a real shame.

Between the Crow claws and sellsword twinblades experience, I'm starting to think that it was a good choice not to bother continuing to farm for the warden twinblades, but now that I have the golden serpent ring, it might not be so bad to try.

As a final thought, I'm definitely going to look into a ranged sidearm like the arbalest - at least once I get to the point when I'm investing back in vitality.

[Crowley42]

I can lend you a pair of twinblades if you think it would be too tedious to farm one.

[Abyssrocker]

Originally posted by Crowley 42 (MTF ε-7):

I can lend you a pair of twinblades if you think it would be too tedious to farm one.

Thanks for the offer, but after a few more runs, I landed two in a row in the Chapel of the Deep.

I'll definitely give them a try against Sister Friede when I reach her just to see if I can get a nice, massive bleed proc.

I just took the sellsword blades for a go against Pontiff Sulyvahn and inadvertently discovered a nice extra bonus: doing the R2, I jumped at the precise moment to dodge under one of his swings. It gave me a nice memory of when I did something similar using the Farron Greatsword against Gael.

[darklinkpower]

For PVE, I use this setup most of the time:
- Sellsword Twinblades in right hand, dual handed
- Old Wolf Curved Sword (+15% damage, +heal) in left hand. Just used for the buff
- Pontiff's Right Eye (+15% damage)
- Lloyd's Sword Ring (+10% damage)
- Two other preferred rings.
- Gold Pine Resin for buffs (+95 damage)
With my lv 80 character, it goes from ~350dmg, to around ~580dmg if I recall correctly. it's a really effective setup for bosses and PVE in general. I think you can add Cartus beacon for even more damage.

[Vectura]

Today I learned that with a high-dex build the Murakumo is actually quite nice to use. The moveset, though not particularly interesting, doesn't seem to have any major downsides and the damage is decent. The dex scaling is S with sharp, which of course helps. The weapon art is also not particularly interesting, just a spinning slash (though a heavy attack followup has some nice range in case the enemy moved back). It does require a bit of strength to wield though, which you may not like for a pure dex build.

[Left-Hand Path]

If you aren´t bored of straight swords yet, Lothric Knight ss get´s an S scaling with sharp infusion.

[Abyssrocker]

Great suggestions!

I finally - FINALLY - had a Carthus Curved Greatsword drop and upgraded it immediately because RNG was a fickle mistress for a while. On the plus side I inadvertently scored several regular carthus curved swords, shot else vertebrae shackles, and even a few embers for the single CCGS.

Maybe I was just tired, but it seemed ever so slightly quicker than the Marakumo, and holding it in one hand might actually have had less stamina drain than two handing. Overall, I am only missing the Harald Curved Greatsword since I haven't reached the Ringed City, but for now, I'm impressed by the CCGS's appearance at least.

I also hit the 40 dexterity point, so I think t I'm going to keep pushing that forward. I'm only playing pve, so I'm not concerned about soul level metas. Alongside that, I'm debating on the pve merits of upgrading luck over strength for hollow infusions and better bleeding.

The main drawback is that some weapons simply lose out on damage scaling, especially those that already benefit more from sharp (even with low strength scaling, it's better than zero luck scaling). As an example, I sadly found that the Irithyll Straight Sword just doesn't really cut it without the extra strength - but at least the sellsword twinblades made short work of champion Gundyr after I gave up on the frost damage strategy halfway through the fight. I know there is the Rapier, but other than the Crow Quills, the rapier class is the opposite of fun for me.

I also sadly had missed the barbed straight sword because I killed the deacons before realizing that I had forgotten the NPC invader in the chapel of the deep. So if I were to go for luck/bleeding, I'd still have the warden twinblades, Carthus Swords, Crow Talons, and try to remember to not die before the middle of the chapel in NG+.

Lastly, while not weapon related, does anyone have a good recommendation for light headgear to cover a crispy bacon hollow? I've been going for a Bloodborne aesthetic, and I'm still waiting on the Leonhardt mask because I want to finish Sirris' quest first - and we all know how whiny she gets over dealing with anything Rosaria.

[Taddy Mason]

frayed blade made from Midir's soul. requires 40 dex to use, but it is so worth it. fun and effective.

[Crowley42]

> Light headgear

Armor doesn't matter at all, just go for what looks the best. Leonhard was made to look like a BB character but appart from him nothing really resembles that game. Maybe The crystal sage's hat if you don't mind the big rim. Hodrick's helmet could look good too, but I assume you want to finnish his questline then as well.

[Crowley42]

Originally posted by Taddy Mason:

frayed blade made from Midir's soul. requires 40 dex to use, but it is so worth it. fun and effective.

Katanas are the least fun Dex weapons, they all do the same with one special attack that differs. Frayed Blade is effective in PvP but not in PvE, very good weapon, not very interesting though imo.

[Taddy Mason]

Originally posted by Crowley 42 (MTF ε-7):

Originally posted by Taddy Mason:

frayed blade made from Midir's soul. requires 40 dex to use, but it is so worth it. fun and effective.

Katanas are the least fun Dex weapons imo, all of them does the same with one special attack. Frayed Blade is effective in PvP but not in PvE, very good weapon, not very interesting though imo.

appreciate the difference of opinion. the frayed blade does innate dark damage and its special attacks are pretty cool. i can understand why you wouldn't like it, though. i don't normally use katanas either-i use the ringed knight straight sword, but that's a strength based weapon and not what the OP was asking about.

[Taco Cat]

Lucerne is good for PvE and PvP, I use it a lot :P
The carthus curved greatsword has crazy scaling for dex, so it's a good idea to grab that too.

[Jeremy]

this may be the light headgear you are looking for
https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Pharis's+Hat

[Taco Cat]

Originally posted by Jeromeperson:

this may be the light headgear you are looking for
https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Pharis's+Hat

M'lady