Black Knight Halberd

[Cokemanjr]

My friend claims using the black Knight Halberd did not ruin his first play through. He knew initially how strong the black knight halberd was because he watched a speed runner use the weapon and clear the game in 34 mins. He started the game and ran there and got the weapon and proceeded to easy clear the game with me and another friend. We claimed it made his experience of dark souls 1 bad. But he says due to his experience in all the other souls game dark souls 2 3 and bloodborne that the weapon made no deference. Just curious what other people have to say to.

[nomoreblues]

weapons are overrated - everyone seems obsessed by finding and owning the OP weapon (TV overdose IRL)

watching a speedrun to beat the game will provide help like this:

7% effectiveness by showing a strong weapon
93% effectiveness by watching the speedrunner doing all the stuff

[munkdunk]

I wouldn't say using any certain weapon would ruin a first play through. The BKH is super good, but once you learn the boss/enemy patterns someone who has souls experience likely will think that DS1 is fairly easy regardless of the weapon used. I believe its more likely that watching the game played, especially in a speedrun environment, and playing with a group of friends that can cut bosses/mobs down too quickly is a more effective way to ruin a first play through. I love DS1 since I played it for thousands of hours on release so my opinion of it compared to the rest of the series may also be extremely biased.

[Alaric the Visigoth]

To be honest I agree. While BKH obviously reduces the difficulty significantly, the most fun to be had with weapon variety is in later runs or NG+, by this point you have already learnt the gameplay quite deeply so its fun to try out new weapons. Just my take on it

[HighLanderPony]

I think you can still have fun with the lore, setting, mysteries, exploring, etc. Weapons only change the combat. And tbf, I used a lightning spear from the moment I got it and it still wasn't too hard. It's more of a game to be experienced than to be hardcore beaten.

[lancealot59]

Black Knight weapons are little better than the Drake Sword. They're great for noobs who need to be carried by a relatively overpowered weapon, but honestly, they're not that great. At least in PvP. Very easy to be parried. PvE honestly who cares, it doesn't even matter, really. Use whatever you want.

[BananaKaboom]

Weapon tiers are a thing, and the BKH comes in higher because of its damage, moveset, and being easier to fully upgrade. If you get it early, it can definitely carry you through the game, but that just means it's one of many good options.

[n1x0r]

Another thing that carries you through the game, is allowing weapon upgrades to contribute to your damage and spending your early soul level points in vitality and endurance.

If the weapon has a high strength requirement, use it two-handed to further save on points.

Early weapon upgrades are easier to do with weapons using twinkling titanite, demon titanite (if you look up locations), and dragon scale.

Getting either lightning +5, chaos +5 or +15 normal weapons isn't too bad for experienced players. But likely impossible for new players considering locations of slabs and embers.

As for the weapon, as long as it fufills these requirements, it doesn't matter too much. But better damage/DPS is preferred.

Examples pure damage, start to late game:
Black knight halberd (Start-ish)
Black knight sword (Start)
Black knight greataxe (mid to late)
Black knight greatsword (Start)
Obsidian greatsword (Late)
Silver Knight Straight Sowrd (mid)
Silver knight spear (mid)
Gravelord sword (start, with know-how)

Examples split:
Blacksmith Giant hammer (Mid - NPC only matters if you plan to stay in NG)
Queelaag's furysword (mid)
Demons spear (Start to mid)

Examples for lightning or chaos:
Reinforced club
Battle axe or Gargoyle tail axe
Greataxe
Gargoyle halberd
Great club
Flamberge
Zweihander (Yes; the giant dad is actually a decently optimized build. Try instead to use mask of mother/child and accept mid-rolling).
^Most of these weapons are generally high AR as queelag's furysword is better than the faster weapons alternatives, such as lightning or chaos falchion.

Any weapon on this list can carry you through NG with minimum stats to wield two-handed, 49 vitality, and 40 endurance. Afterwards, just branch into your magic, faith or quality build.

If the weapon is easily wielded 1-handed, then I suggest upgrading the silver knight shield when you get it in anor londo if you are a shield user.

My personal favorite is the gravelord sword. It can be reached within 2 minutes of reaching firelink and has no RNG like black knight halberd. The requirements are low in comparison to BKH. Fun fact: Before BKH the gravelord sword was used for speedruns.

If you look up how to get the gravelord sword, remember that you can despawn skeletons by going to the main menu...

The same build-strategy can generally be used in the other souls games, through the upgrade materials is usually barred behind zones and their bosses. My favorite DS3 weapon is currently the black knight sword for its preserverence weapon art, twinkling upgrade, and high base damage :)

TLDR; the weapon does make the game easier, in my opinion.

[TheEvilDead]

Is no one bothered by the fact that he basically watched A FULL PLAYTHROUGH before he played the game himself?! THATS how you ruin your first playthrough, not because of an OP weapon.

[Call Sign: Raven]

I ruined my first playthrough by trying to beat the game with a +5 Longsword, not knowing that you could upgrade. Totally got stuck at 4 Kings and almost gave up. Started a second playthrough and instead of going blind, I checked stuff online. I find that after doing some reading about the game on the wiki, that it made any future playthrough better.

So, I'm gonna agree with your friend, I wouldn't say he ruined his playthrough.