Pyromancy vs Sorcery vs Miracles

[Ta'veren]

Some background:
I'm doing 2 playthroughs at present, one as "Flameknight" where pyromancy augments a build around melee abilities (mostly switching between straight swords, Ba$stard sword and now maybe the Dragonslayer Axe that I just earned), and the other as a Spellsword with sorceries augmenting a melee build again mainly using straight swords.
Both builds use medium-light armor, which limits my ability to wield really heavy weapons (e.g. I find the Claymore almost too heavy at 9 to make it worthwhile).

The ask:
So far I find sorcery really useless (both pve and for the invaders), except for great magic weapon, and pyromancy only moderately useful, except for flaming weapon and against those slimes in the catacombs.
As far as miracles go, I only use Heal, which is a benefit to both builds, but otherwise miracles seem to really suck (lightning spear seems a joke)

Does anyone have a better experience with incorporating some magic into their builds?

Any suggestions for progress? I am SL 56 I think, in Irithyll of the Boreal Valley. The enemies are no problem, but I always like to play a character with magic use, and so far it feels like pure melee is far superior, except for the weapon buffs, and heal.

Any comments on weapon choices? I experimented with estoc/Rapier, but really dislike it, find spears weak compared to DS 1 & 2, and am very disappointed with how bad greatswords seem compared to DS 2, where I loved them

Cheers for Oz, and thanks for your advice and input

The Unkindled, Garion of Riva

[lpnlizard27]

DS3 pyromancy is all fubar.

The spells used to have no requirments so a SL1 pyromancer was an effective play style, now we need faith and intelligence.

They Fu#ked it up...

[BONES]

You can still use the Chaos fire orb at sl1 since it has no stat reqs.

[Hunubul]

You could just use raw astora sword. Infuse astora sword with raw, you can find it in high wall of lothric. It's a beast.

Hybrid build is useless. Sorcery is only good if you dedicate yourself for it, at higher levels. Pyromancy is ok, but most of the time it's just boring and spamming one spell. You can use those with raw astora.

OFC when you are done you can reallocate points.

[Call Sign: Raven]

Generally speaking, magic when mixed with melee, is only good for mixups. The best way around PvE is to focus your efforts into one strategy. That way, you can maximize your character's abilities. For example, my last playthrough consisted of getting the Great Axe, infusing it with Heavy, and then getting 66 strength as soon as possible to steam roll the game.

If you are using a hybrid build with magic, you have to focus on getting magic as powerful as possible, otherwise it's just a waste of your resources. In my experience, it's always been better to put the emphasis on magic and then back it up with a good melee weapon.

In Souls games, magic is highly situational and particularly in Dark Souls 3 where everything is so much faster than your casting speeds.

As far as weapons go, you are wise to use the B astard sword. If you know what you are doing with that weapon, you will go very far. Make it refined, get 40 strength and 40 dex and you will see some magical things happen.

[Call Sign: Raven]

Originally posted by Ponion:

You could just use raw astora sword. Infuse astora sword with raw, you can find it in high wall of lothric. It's a beast.

Hybrid build is useless. Sorcery is only good if you dedicate yourself for it, at higher levels. Pyromancy is ok, but most of the time it's just boring and spamming one spell. You can use those with raw astora.

OFC when you are done you can reallocate points.

Astora sword is only good for early to mid game. End game it doesn't perform as well as say, a Heavy Broadsword.

[Ta'veren]

Thanks, these are already confirming what I pretty much experience.
I have the Astora SS +7, and it works well, but I find it kind of dull to play the same weapon all the time. It does perform well though, especially when I buff it. Those Irithyll knight go down in 3 hits.

I love Greatswords though, and have been playing with the idea to get the Farron GS (I know Artorius's GS is better, but it's such an interesting moveset). I also have the Hollowslayer.
Ba$tard sword carried my all the way through DS2 SotFS, until I started using the drakeblood, so it's a favorite.

Hm, looks like time to visit Rosario for a rethink

[Oosquai]

I've had lots of fun with a cleric build that uses the brigand daggers buffed with Darkmoon Blade. Quickstep under slower weapons and spam them down with rapid hits of the buff. Lightning Weapon works fine too if you don't want to put in the effort to get DMB. I complement this with Lightning Stake (melee surprise), Sunlight Spear (potion chuggers), Dohry's Gnawing (kiters), and Medium Heal (... hate mail generator?). Also, I use the canvas talisman weapon art to make sure I get the casts off in melee range. SL120. I get murdered plenty whenever I misjudge a dodge, but it's exciting and fun, and I think that collection of spells feels like the most well-rounded and useful.

That being said, I probably agree with the posts above that hybrid builds tend to give up more than they gain. If you want to go hybrid, you might try staying in the lower levels (assuming you're looking to PvP). I haven't experimented too much with this, but I'd guess 60 and lower will keep you in a range where pure strength and quality builds haven't quite optimized their stats to overpower your hybrid style.

Good luck!

[AH-1 Cobra]

Chaos/Dark infused Longsword has pretty decent scaling stats. That's an option for a hybrid caster. It's got more AR than the Dark Sword now. And requires little to no points in STR/DEX to use.