Was the Dark Sword nerfed today? And why is it regarded so highly?

[Jamers]

I've been rocking my Fire Longsword from the get go, and I assume I'm approaching the endgame now. Longsword's treating me fine, but I'd like to switch it up as I've not dedicated any Chunks to upgrading yet.

In investigating weapons, I keep reading that the Dark Sword is amazing, OP, etc. Can someone give me the rundown on why it's considered to be so strong? Also, was it nerfed in the patch that dropped today?

Thanks!

[Shepherd]

I don't believe the Dark Sword was changed in any way. I've been using it since early on in my first playthrough (halfway through NG+ right now, still using it).

It's good because you can infuse it with a refined gem to get the scaling to B/B on dex / str making a quality build (40 dex / 40 str) hit really hard with this weapon at +10. This is what I've been doing and it's working extremely well in PVE and PVP.

You could also put a heavy gem in it to get str scaling to A. I've also heard of people using the hollow gem and hitting really hard with luck scaling.

It's not some uber instant win weapon, but it's really good and easy to acquire / upgrade, plus it has a decent moveset. Personally I'm getting bored of it and am looking for some different weapons but I can attest that it's a solid weapon.

[Nichtswisser]

It has the same moveset as the longsword (apart from the special attack) and with decent stats ends having around a 40 points higher attack rating. It uses up a little more stamina per swing but that does not really matter.

And no, it's wasn't nerfed. Which would also achieve very little since pretty much all straight swords are currently kinda OP.

Compared to katanas = they attack faster, hit harder, and use up less stamina per swing

Compared to great swords = they hit nearly as hard, attack faster, and use up far less stamina per swing

[Connatic]

Well Great swords would supposed to have been buffed. I wish they gave numbers to show exactly how and where.