Sharp vs heavy claymore

[deuceyd]

want to do a build centered around the claymore, should I go warrior and go heavy claymore or mercenary and go sharp claymore?

[General Malarky]

What else were you intending to do with the character?
Which armour set has the better defensive stats?
What is the current meta regarding Str vs Dex vs Hybrid?
What Soul Level are you aiming for?

[Taco Cat]

What type of build are you aiming for? Pure AR or what?

[deuceyd]

Well im thinking if I go heavy, then warrior pure 66 str etc but if I go sharp mercenary then maybe 40dex/40int and Idk If Id get more Ar that way buffing with crystal magic weapon.

[deuceyd]

Oh and Id aim this build to stop at like sl125

[Taco Cat]

Originally posted by Deucey D:

Well im thinking if I go heavy, then warrior pure 66 str etc but if I go sharp mercenary then maybe 40dex/40int and Idk If Id get more Ar that way buffing with crystal magic weapon.

I think that str faith gets more AR than dex faith, however I focus on whatever sort of other weapons I want to use. Unlike DS1, DS3 provides an abundance of upgrade materials, so you're not limited to one weapon. Perhaps you should take a look at other weapons and decide then.

[General Malarky]

Originally posted by TacoCat:

Unlike DS1, DS3 provides an abundance of upgrade materials

At least DS1 let you farm for Slabs. (Then again, you also needed slabs for upgrading armour)

[deuceyd]

Oh I cannot go the faith route, I love str builds but when I do those I usually just go with weapons with warcry like the great club or weapons that cant be buffed to begin with, that way I can remain pure str and not have to invest in buffs. Because I hate faith, it isn't viable at all in the early game, the spells cost a ton, the offensive miracles suck. I know people can pull them off really well later on, but you can do so much more so much earlier with the alternatives (pyromancy especially).

I know im not limited to one weapon but I've played through the game with several, just wanted to try out with the claymore because its got so much going for it. Good damage, versatile moveset (good for pvp), found super early in the game which I love. Hell, I've probably played through the game with any weapon you can get your hands on at high wall of lothric or undead settlement. Minus the whip...

[Taco Cat]

Originally posted by Grand Pope General Malarky:

Originally posted by TacoCat:

Unlike DS1, DS3 provides an abundance of upgrade materials

At least DS1 let you farm for Slabs. (Then again, you also needed slabs for upgrading armour)

Which have a .1% drop rate or something like that, plus you can get only 3 per playthrough if you do onion bro's quest (quests get tiresome). In DS3, you can pick up to 15 slabs per playthrough.

[General Malarky]

"♥♥♥♥ drop rates" is pretty "par for the course" around here, ain't it? *shrugs* I recall farming up a bunch for a couple characters. Not only were the slabs nice, but so was the soul-farm and general experience gained from fighting tougher enemies.

[Taco Cat]

Originally posted by Deucey D:

Oh I cannot go the faith route, I love str builds but when I do those I usually just go with weapons with warcry like the great club or weapons that cant be buffed to begin with, that way I can remain pure str and not have to invest in buffs. Because I hate faith, it isn't viable at all in the early game, the spells cost a ton, the offensive miracles suck. I know people can pull them off really well later on, but you can do so much more so much earlier with the alternatives (pyromancy especially).

I know im not limited to one weapon but I've played through the game with several, just wanted to try out with the claymore because its got so much going for it. Good damage, versatile moveset (good for pvp), found super early in the game which I love. Hell, I've probably played through the game with any weapon you can get your hands on at high wall of lothric or undead settlement. Minus the whip...

ah well the best infusion for PvP is the dark infusion, which is best on a 27/30/30/30 str/dex/faith/int build, or you could just go with 40/40 int/faith and some into dex (for better min maxing). For PvE, chaos infusion would be better. The only issue is that you gotta stick with a raw infusion for a while, so you could just stick with a str or quality build instead.

[Ambugaton]

Originally posted by Deucey D:

want to do a build centered around the claymore, should I go warrior and go heavy claymore or mercenary and go sharp claymore?

Just my opinion, but I always loved the claymore. I was beyond pleasantly surprised at how well it scales with heavy infusion on a pure str build because I always thought of it as a Quality weapon. Went through NG++ with a heavy claymore on a 66 str build and never had an issue, and I don't use buffs just because I always forget about them :P

At 66 str you're at 554 AR unbuffed with heavy infusion. Even on a 40/40 quality build you're only at 524 unbuffed with refined infusion, and on a 40 dex with sharp you're only at 483.