So should I be levelling both STR and DEX?

[Kira]

I'm a bit confused. Do weapons only rely on one stat, or both to calculate damage? I'm in Anor Londo with 30-something strength since that, vitality and stamina have been my focus, but now I'm wondering if I should put some into dex. I use medium armour and a longsword, no magic. Thanks for any help!

[didirou]

https://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/weapons

You're welcome :-)

[Faelivri]

Str and Dex build is called "balanced build". Look for weapons that scale with both stats, like Longsword for example. Gives you flexibility with what you can equip. If you do not want to go for that, I suggest to look up for weapons that you want to use and first put just enough to wield them, them on whatever it scales with. Example to this one: Chaos Blade requires 16 str and 14 dex but scales only with dex, so it should be you main focus. There are weapons that do not even require dex like Butcher Knife (which I simply adore).

TL:DR Choose a weapon, get enough stats to wield it, pump into whatever it scales with. Nothing wrong with balanced build.

[Thundaga]

It depends on the weapon. You:

a) Have to meet the stat requirements to use the weapon at all, and these tend to vary wildly with strength compared to Dexterity (two handing the weapon multiplies your strength by 1.5x for the purposes of meeting the requirement)
b) Can continue to raise the stats based on the scaling of a weapon. For example a weapon with B scaling in strength but D in Dexterity will benefit from strength more. Some weapons even have damage types that scale with Intelligence or Faith.

There are a few weapons that scale equally with both Strength and Dexterity, and some that while primarily scaling with one stat still benefit from the other stat.

With your 30 strength character you can look into weapons like Halberds or Greatswords, or if you continue pumping strength you can get into weapons like Great Clubs, Great Axes, Ultra Greatswords and whatnot. If you level Dexterity you can benefit more from Longswords that have C/C scaling.

[ImHelping]

At the very least, a pittance of 14 DEX even on a STR build is good to let you grab the attention of enemies from a safe distance with the longbow.

[DamZe]

Resistance is your go to stat to level up until you reach at least lvl90.

[Nosa]

get STR to 16, level dex to 10, get a chaos +5 Zweihander. dump everything else into END and VIT for HP and better armor. also get a grass crest shield. The Pyromancy flame doesnt scale with any stat, so just level that up for free damage

[𝓡𝓮𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓒𝓪𝓽]

It depends on the weapon and the scaling of the weapon. For example, if you were making a build around the Balder's Side Sword you would meet the minimum Strength requirements and pump the rest into Dexterity since the weapon's AR scales with Dexterity. If you're planning on going for a 40 Strength/40 Dexterity build you would use a weapon that benefits from such stats, we call this a Quality Build.

Longsword is a balanced choice. It has a C scaling in both Strength and Dexterity, so I would personally go for a Quality Build (40/40) and pump 40 points into both Endurance and Vitality for an all around, balanced straight sword build. This will also put you around the meta PVP level (120).

If you don't want to use Dex weapons, two-handed weapons are going to be your main focus for the stats you have now. If you're curious about weapons and their scaling with certain stats, check this link out.

https://darksouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Weapons

[Kira]

Cool! So it sounds like it would be worthwhile to pump some points into Dex for my longsword and go for a 'quality' build - I did look that up and it sounds like what I'm looking for. :) Thanks very much everybody!

(Also, DamZe, I made that mistake in my first run. NEVER AGAIN.)

[ImHelping]

Originally posted by Crispy:

Cool! So it sounds like it would be worthwhile to pump some points into Dex for my longsword and go for a 'quality' build - I did look that up and it sounds like what I'm looking for. :) Thanks very much everybody!

(Also, DamZe, I made that mistake in my first run. NEVER AGAIN.)

Still not as cruel as telling DS2 newbies "No you just need to learn to dodge better" when it's all about the agility stat.

Man, starting with worse I frames than a DS1 fat roll on some classes is worse than staring out with a broken sword or no pants.

[Abtorias]

Don't level dex. Ever.

[ImHelping]

Originally posted by Abtorias of The Gym:

Don't level dex. Ever.

Counterpoint. Being able to plink stuff with a longbow to aggro stuff on your terms is worth the price of admission every time. Unless you've got some specific SL tryhard build that can't afford 14 dex.

Oh no, ONE level put into DEX is going too far for a warrior!

[_Shakyor_]

Resistance>STR&DEX

[didirou]

Well, I put the link of the calculator for a reason. Why don't you use it? If you do, you would see that the best stat for the longsword is 27 STR / 40 DEX.
It's pretty simple tbh. Just use the calculator and you can min/max every weapon that you like and not be fed crappy information.

[Rai]

1. make thief
2. dump everything into dex
3. only use daggers
4. backstab, ripost, and crit your way to victory

[FlabTheInHaler]

People saying resistance, are trolling right? xD