ok, drakeblood greatswod ...

[mitc1111]

I've been switching between my Hollowslayer and my Black Knight Sword, both of which are leveled up as far as I can currently (about 7 or 8). They both do about 450 damage. One's better against hollows and the other against demons ...

But, I have this +7 drakeblood sword that does magic and lightning along with physical. If I infuse it with a fire gem ... the total damage for physical, fire, magic, and lightning would be 528.

On paper that would be my best weapon. But, things have defences to magic and fire esp. when each AR is low by themselves. And it looks sort of short, I mean not much reach. Am I just wasting a fire gem on a weapon that wont stack up to my HS and BKS?

[Average Citizen (Not FBI)]

Split damage is bad unless you're doing a low SL run/PvP.

Look at each individual damage type on a split damage weapon as its own weapon and evaluate it based on that metric. Drakeblood has 3 damage types, which means 3 different defenses are applied to it, so its damage is reduced three times whereas a single attribute weapon would only have its damage reduced by one defense stat.

[Jeremy]

Although it looks like it would do more damage that is not the case. Split damage is not the best in this game. The drakeblood greatsword is actually really good. Buff this weapon with either magic, or lightning and you will have preety good results with it.

[cridus]

Yeah even in pvp it's pretty good even with three different types of damage.

[mitc1111]

It seems like I always upgrade and try different swords (Flamberg, Astoria, BKS, Drakeblood, etc) but always go back to the Hollowslayer. There's something about the Hollowslayer that just ... I dont know. It just works better somehow. I just bored with it and want to find something new and great.

But it's always back to the Hollowslayer.

[Artek [General]]

Hollowslayer has a two-handed moveset that covers a lot of vertical ground, unlike the "smashing" greatswords that hit in a straight forward line (unless one handed).

Drakeblood GS is basically the missing link between straight swords and greatswords. It has the lowest weight, fairly reasonable stat requirements and can destroy PvE enemies in early game thanks to split damage.
But in late game enemies have high defenses, so split damage becomes worthless and so does the sword (unless buffed with lighting / magic which compensates and turns damage into something COMPARABLE BUT NOT HIGHER to that of other greatswords.

Ultimately, Drakeblood GS is the little brother of greatsword family. Its the shortest greatsword (could be smaller than bastiardo swordo), but by some cruel joke on FromSoft's side it has NOTHING to compensate.
Well, it does has "amasing" raw damage potential, but only against enemies that do not have any defenses. Which is not a lot of enemies...

Ironically, there was a short period when FromSoft almost fixed the poor thing and gave it amasing raw-infusion scaling which turned the thing into a brutal one-shoting shotgun (which it should be, considering its the shortest greatsword) but then they removed that.

Maybe there's some super-late game potential, with 40/40 quality build + 60 FTH/INT lighting / magic buff that destroys everything, but that's SL200+ nonsense.

Hollowslayer is ultimately a superior sword in every possible ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ way (same two-handed moveset, higher reach, higher damage, bonus damage against hollows, two-handed thrust, not required to be buffed 24/7).

I'm honestly buffled why Drakeblood Greatsword even exists at this point.
And i'm saying that as poor thing's fanboy who made multiple playthroughs with it alone.

[cridus]

the hollowslayer has a ton of hyper armor for being a greatsword and hits very hard. expecially the thrust attacks, even better on counterattacks with the leo ring.

p.s. oh, another very very good greatsword is the twin princes' one.

p.p.s. I used the blessed-infused drakeblood greatsword with my strength/faith build and it was good enough to be used in pvp at level 125. I know it doesn't make much sense with its 3 different types of damage, but it did pretty well, I didn't miss the hollowslayer much.

[Ambugaton]

I had such high hopes for the drakesblood when I first picked it up. Was beyond underwhelmed by its performance though... as others have said, split damage + crappy range = mostly useless compared to other greatswords. I even used a slab on it to try to find some use for it. There really wasn’t one that couldn’t be done better with another weapon.

I fell in love with the claymore in DS1, still love it and went through most of my first DS3 playthrough with it. Second playthrough I tried the hollowslayer... wow. Amazing in pve for all the reasons stated, and another: it’s SO light on stamina usage, seriously about the same stamina drain as a longsword. Solid in pvp too, the earlier hyoerarmor + Leo ring can be brutal. That toon has become my main, in NG++ with him now and in all three playthroughs about the only time I switch out weapons in PVE is the BKS for demon boss fights.

[psheue]

The Drakeblood GS was my favorite GS in DS2. Those beautiful R2s... in DS3... yeah, it´s kinda disappointing.