Advice on weapons

[guy.lateur]

My main weapon is a +15 B*stard Sword. I also have a +5 Silver Knight Spear and a +5 Demon's Spear. I still have all the boss souls and a crapload of titanite, in all variations (except demon).

Does anybody have any tips on some good weapons to upgrade/ascend? Eg, I heard Chaos Rapier is extremely good? Maybe also something with Fire/Crystal/Magic? Something that builds up bleed? I might as well use all that stuff I've collected, right..

Edit: a little more info: I don't use a shield, I like to fast roll, so I've almost always got Havel's Ring on. I'm not interested in PvP, and I like sunbroing.

My current main stats are (SL 98) 30/40 vit/end, 24/22 str/dex, 19/19 int/fth. I'll probably bring int to 25, so I can use Homing Crystal Soulmass & Crystal Magic Weapon. I'm aiming for 30 fth, so I can use Sunlight Blade & Great Lightning Spear.

That would bring me to SL 115, which would mean I still have 10 levels to play around with. I'm assuming 125 is still the PvE meta SL, right? Unless I can think of something better, I'll probably those last levels into Endurance, so I can put on some decent gear while still fast rolling.

In the meantime I also got myself a +5 Black Knight Halberd, which I can really only use while mid-rolling, but which does an insane amount of damage. Maybe I should just get used to mid-rolling..

[nomoreblues]

the range of possible ways to go is very big with this game.

It's totally possible to spread stats and beat the games PVE - it's actually the only way to experience the variety of different combat strategies in a single playthrough.

However you pay the obvious price of being less efficient by doing that.

But as a beginner you get rekt in PVP anyway (and you stay"PVP beginner" until you dedicaed at least 100+hrs to just PVP) and it will show no big difference.

You still might want to keep in mind: if you like melee combat most, the most efficient way is go ordinary normal path with ordinary weapons in general. It's nice to "feel" your power grow considerably by leveling str and/or dex

[guy.lateur]

Here's my reasoning for leveling up the way I did. I'll agree it's probably not the best reasoning, but that's just the way it played out for me.

30 Vit is the first soft cap and seems to give plenty of health, so I left it at that. 40 End is also the soft cap, and as I've said earlier, I like the fast roll, so beyond a certain point I'm actually more interested in the extra Equip Load it gives me than in the extra Stamina (which is also nice, of course). As mentioned before however, I may drop this ambition, seeing as it's quite hard to keep that fast roll, especially later in the game -- unless you have insane amounts of Endurance. See also suggested build below.

I went for 24 Str because I wanted to use the Pike, but actually it turns out I'm not using it at all. I leveled up Dex to 22 so I could use the Silver Knight Spear (which I actually quite like because it's fast, and because it's very handy in the Catacombs and in the Painted World).

I also put some levels into Attunement (@ 14), so I have 3 slots -- which is at least 1 too many.

I went for 30 Faith so I could use Sunlight Blade & Great Lightning Spear. I was planning on going for at least 25 Int to be able to use Homing Crystal Soulmass (24) and Crystal Magic Weapon (25).

I was planning on sticking around SL 125 because I like to sunbro, preferably without a password. Yesterday evening for example, I put my sign down at the Manus fog and got summoned at least 20 times in a couple of hours. That's the way I like it. I wouldn't want to level myself out of 'random' co-op. OTOH, as someone suggested, I may indeed consider leveling up this char without limit and going for the NG+'s with it, and experimenting with whatever weapon/spell I can think of. I'd then start a new char with more focused stats and keep that at around 125 (or even lower, see below). As mentioned earlier, I'm not interested in PvP.

So what would this new char look like? I'd keep Vit & End the same for now. I wouldn't need 24 Str (not using the Pike), but I'd like to be able to 2-hand the Black Knight Halberd, requiring 22 Str. I'd still like to use the Silver Knight Spear, so Dex would also be at 22. Let's also say I get Attunement to 12, so I have 2 slots.

Leveling up Fth to 30 to gain access to 2 spells I'll probably never use (Sunlight Blade & Great Lightning Spear) was insane. I do find myself using Homeward quite often, so let's say we bring Fth up to 18. This also gives me Emit Force, which is nice.

Same thing kinda goes for Int. I do sometimes use Fall Control and Great Magic Weapon, which requires 15 Int. And if I bring it to 16, I'd also get Great Heavy Soul Mass, Remedy & Resist Curse, which could come in handy.

So here's the proposed stats of my new char (SL 89, Warrior):
Vit/End: 30/40
Att: 12
Str/dex: 22/22
Int/Fth: 16/18
Using Havel's & Chloranty ring, Stone Armor Set, Black Knight Halberd, Sunlight Talisman and Sorcerer's Catalyst, this just puts me into fat roll. If I put a couple more levels into End, that's solved.

So what y'all think of this build? Staying at that lower SL (say between 90 and 100) probably also helps for 'spontaneous' sunbroing, I guess.

[Apathy]

Oprindeligt skrevet af guy.lateur:

Here's my reasoning for leveling up the way I did. I'll agree it's probably not the best reasoning, but that's just the way it played out for me.

30 Vit is the first soft cap and seems to give plenty of health, so I left it at that. 40 End is also the soft cap, and as I've said earlier, I like the fast roll, so beyond a certain point I'm actually more interested in the extra Equip Load it gives me than in the extra Stamina (which is also nice, of course). As mentioned before however, I may drop this ambition, seeing as it's quite hard to keep that fast roll, especially later in the game -- unless you have insane amounts of Endurance. See also suggested build below.

I went for 24 Str because I wanted to use the Pike, but actually it turns out I'm not using it at all. I leveled up Dex to 22 so I could use the Silver Knight Spear (which I actually quite like because it's fast, and because it's very handy in the Catacombs and in the Painted World).

I also put some levels into Attunement (@ 14), so I have 3 slots -- which is at least 1 too many.

I went for 30 Faith so I could use Sunlight Blade & Great Lightning Spear. I was planning on going for at least 25 Int to be able to use Homing Crystal Soulmass (24) and Crystal Magic Weapon (25).

I was planning on sticking around SL 125 because I like to sunbro, preferably without a password. Yesterday evening for example, I put my sign down at the Manus fog and got summoned at least 20 times in a couple of hours. That's the way I like it. I wouldn't want to level myself out of 'random' co-op. OTOH, as someone suggested, I may indeed consider leveling up this char without limit and going for the NG+'s with it, and experimenting with whatever weapon/spell I can think of. I'd then start a new char with more focused stats and keep that at around 125 (or even lower, see below). As mentioned earlier, I'm not interested in PvP.

So what would this new char look like? I'd keep Vit & End the same for now. I wouldn't need 24 Str (not using the Pike), but I'd like to be able to 2-hand the Black Knight Halberd, requiring 22 Str. I'd still like to use the Silver Knight Spear, so Dex would also be at 22. Let's also say I get Attunement to 12, so I have 2 slots.

Leveling up Fth to 30 to gain access to 2 spells I'll probably never use (Sunlight Blade & Great Lightning Spear) was insane. I do find myself using Homeward quite often, so let's say we bring Fth up to 18. This also gives me Emit Force, which is nice.

Same thing kinda goes for Int. I do sometimes use Fall Control and Great Magic Weapon, which requires 15 Int. And if I bring it to 16, I'd also get Great Heavy Soul Mass, Remedy & Resist Curse, which could come in handy.

So here's the proposed stats of my new char (SL 89, Warrior):
Vit/End: 30/40
Att: 12
Str/dex: 22/22
Int/Fth: 16/18
Using Havel's & Chloranty ring, Stone Armor Set, Black Knight Halberd, Sunlight Talisman and Sorcerer's Catalyst, this just puts me into fat roll. If I put a couple more levels into End, that's solved.

So what y'all think of this build? Staying at that lower SL (say between 90 and 100) probably also helps for 'spontaneous' sunbroing, I guess.

Chloranty Ring isn't good in DS1 like it is in other games. If you want more stamina I'd suggest Ring of FaP because it's going to give you more carry weight and HP as well. Outside of that I'd say it's kind of a waste to split that many points between Faith and Intelligence. Your goal should be a minimum of 30 for either. So pick one or the other imo, and since Sunbros are a Faith covenant you should probalby go Faith. With your strength and dex being like that you're making a quality build so you're going to want weapons that have good scaling in both. The BKH has good damage output but scales poorly with your stats. It's a Strength weapon with a D in scaling for Strength. You're better off going Strength/Faith and using a pure strength weapon and using buffs like Sunlight Blade or Darkmoon Blade (30 faith each).

https://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?b=d2Fycmlvciw0MCwxMiwzMCwyNCwxMywxMSw5LDMwLDAsNjAsNDksNDYsNDksMywzMSwyNSwxNTMsMCwxMjgsbm9ybWFsLG5vcm1hbCxub3JtYWwsbm9ybWFsLDAsNjYsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDQsd29vZGVuLHdvb2Rlbix3b29kZW4sd29vZGVuLDEsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMA==

This is what I came up with. You still get stamina regen from the mask and shield, you get a good strength weapon you can buff that'll hit for a fair amount, and you still have mid roll. SL 87 with 12 SL to play with to get to 99. I'd raise endurance to 40 and put the other stats into vitality but you do you.

[guy.lateur]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Apathy:

Chloranty Ring isn't good in DS1 like it is in other games. If you want more stamina I'd suggest Ring of FaP because it's going to give you more carry weight and HP as well. Outside of that I'd say it's kind of a waste to split that many points between Faith and Intelligence. Your goal should be a minimum of 30 for either. So pick one or the other imo, and since Sunbros are a Faith covenant you should probalby go Faith. With your strength and dex being like that you're making a quality build so you're going to want weapons that have good scaling in both. The BKH has good damage output but scales poorly with your stats. It's a Strength weapon with a D in scaling for Strength. You're better off going Strength/Faith and using a pure strength weapon and using buffs like Sunlight Blade or Darkmoon Blade (30 faith each).

https://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?b=d2Fycmlvciw0MCwxMiwzMCwyNCwxMywxMSw5LDMwLDAsNjAsNDksNDYsNDksMywzMSwyNSwxNTMsMCwxMjgsbm9ybWFsLG5vcm1hbCxub3JtYWwsbm9ybWFsLDAsNjYsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDQsd29vZGVuLHdvb2Rlbix3b29kZW4sd29vZGVuLDEsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMA==

This is what I came up with. You still get stamina regen from the mask and shield, you get a good strength weapon you can buff that'll hit for a fair amount, and you still have mid roll. SL 87 with 12 SL to play with to get to 99. I'd raise endurance to 40 and put the other stats into vitality but you do you.

Ok, thanks for your suggestions. The Ring of FaP is a great ring, although it slightly bothers me that you lose it if you unequip it. Then again, when your char is finalised, why would you want to unequip it, right?

Interesting idea to go for either Int or Fth. Fth indeed seems the logical choice based on my sunbroing intentions. About the Darkmoon Blade: is that covenant still active? Because like I said I suck at PvP, and I don't really have any intentions of getting much better at it. So I'll need quite some activity before I'll realistically be able to attain rank 1 in that covenant and get that miracle.

Finally, what do those Dragon Head/Torso symbols next to the corresponding armor mean? I thought you either used those dragon stones or you used armor? I also won't usually be in the Dragon covenant, which will significantly reduce their power, if I'm not mistaking.

[The Great Brambino]

Oprindeligt skrevet af guy.lateur:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Apathy:

Chloranty Ring isn't good in DS1 like it is in other games. If you want more stamina I'd suggest Ring of FaP because it's going to give you more carry weight and HP as well. Outside of that I'd say it's kind of a waste to split that many points between Faith and Intelligence. Your goal should be a minimum of 30 for either. So pick one or the other imo, and since Sunbros are a Faith covenant you should probalby go Faith. With your strength and dex being like that you're making a quality build so you're going to want weapons that have good scaling in both. The BKH has good damage output but scales poorly with your stats. It's a Strength weapon with a D in scaling for Strength. You're better off going Strength/Faith and using a pure strength weapon and using buffs like Sunlight Blade or Darkmoon Blade (30 faith each).

https://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?b=d2Fycmlvciw0MCwxMiwzMCwyNCwxMywxMSw5LDMwLDAsNjAsNDksNDYsNDksMywzMSwyNSwxNTMsMCwxMjgsbm9ybWFsLG5vcm1hbCxub3JtYWwsbm9ybWFsLDAsNjYsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDQsd29vZGVuLHdvb2Rlbix3b29kZW4sd29vZGVuLDEsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMA==

This is what I came up with. You still get stamina regen from the mask and shield, you get a good strength weapon you can buff that'll hit for a fair amount, and you still have mid roll. SL 87 with 12 SL to play with to get to 99. I'd raise endurance to 40 and put the other stats into vitality but you do you.

Ok, thanks for your suggestions. The Ring of FaP is a great ring, although it slightly bothers me that you lose it if you unequip it. Then again, when your char is finalised, why would you want to unequip it, right?

Interesting idea to go for either Int or Fth. Fth indeed seems the logical choice based on my sunbroing intentions. About the Darkmoon Blade: is that covenant still active? Because like I said I suck at PvP, and I don't really have any intentions of getting much better at it. So I'll need quite some activity before I'll realistically be able to attain rank 1 in that covenant and get that miracle.

Finally, what do those Dragon Head/Torso symbols next to the corresponding armor mean? I thought you either used those dragon stones or you used armor? I also won't usually be in the Dragon covenant, which will significantly reduce their power, if I'm not mistaking.

Very few people split Int/Faith on a build, it's not worth it. You're better off getting lots of damage in one category than ok damage in both.

Also, those dragon stones are just there if you want to have dragon armor, they're not active.

[kamikazi21358]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Apathy:

Brambino's posts (maybe anyone's new posts idk) are getting flagged by Steam's automated system. If you're subbed and go there when they're posted they'll have some weird message.

Tbf this literally just happened to one of your posts, so it is probably a steam thing or something.

Oprindeligt skrevet af guy.lateur:

Ok, thanks for your suggestions. The Ring of FaP is a great ring, although it slightly bothers me that you lose it if you unequip it. Then again, when your char is finalised, why would you want to unequip it, right?

It was the same for me, though after review, it’s abilities are actually so good that it is just worth it to wear anyways. 20% more health, stamina, and equip load is actually so good, that I did the math (at least for endurance and vit over 25-30, if you want very low vit/end for some reason, idk), the Favour and Protection is more efficient to wear and neglect points in vitality and endurance, than it is to say, wear a darkmoon ring for extra attun., or something like that.


If you want to know what I mean,
Like the hard caps for vit and endurance is 50 and 40, which means
1500 HP
160 Stamina
80 kg equip load [or whatever the unit is supposed to be]

If you wear the Ring of Favour and Protection, and want equal or slightly better stats than this, you can get away with 37 vitality, and 31 endurance, and get better stats —
1513 HP
163 Stamina
85.2 kg equip load
saving you 22 points by wearing the FaP ring and neglecting vit/end, and still have slightly better stats.

For reference, what 22 points could do,

>Presuming you’re not going over 50, 2 attun. slots at minimum (more if your lower), with 2 points left over, meaning unless you’re wanting more than 10 attun., the argument rings are inferior outside of special cases. Even both slots with the 2 rings to add 2 attun would be inferior to leveling attun with FaP ring.

> 44 strength with a great club (as an example) has 663 attack 2-handed, while 693 attack with 66 strength, while still having superior stats than 50/40 vit/end.

> Havel’s ring gives 120 equip load at 40 end, while the FaP does the same at 60. Although this is more than the 13 you take from vit to get it to the 50 equiv (1513 with 37+FaP), you get 32 more stamina. So if all you care about is equip load, then with the same stat allocation, it does win slightly (120 vs 111.6 at 53 endurance), but you get more stamina though FAP ring.

> 44 intelligence with manus catalyst on paper does 949 magic damage with crystal soul spear, while 66 does 1014 damage. Dragon crest ring increases it more, but without the other benefits, and I would imagine you would want it + FAP for max efficiency (which then, 1216 damage is possible).

> 50 faith with sunlight talisman does 819 damage with sunlight spear. 842 is done with 72 faith. 72 faith and sun firstborn does theoretically 1010 damage, while 50 faith only does 982 on paper. As far as I know, no other ring increases this, so the only way to get higher than 1000 is to change talisman (idk if sunlight is the best or not) or to indirectly increase it with FaP ring, by reallocating stats to faith rather than 50/40 vit/end.

> Or simply speaking, just using deprived as the test class, 50 vitality and 40 endurance with no other leveling puts the character at level 74. 37 vitality and 31 endurance, at the cost of just 1 ring slot, puts your character at level 52, giving better than 50/40 vit/end allocations (5013hp,163stam,85.2e/l), 22 levels lower.

Essentially, unless you want some very special case specific aspect for your character, theoretically the Ring of Favour and Protection is extremely useful for almost every type of character, unless you specifically want some sort of special case or whatever (like 12 attun., or both dragoncrest rings, or bellowing dragon. ring + dusk ring and not care about HP, or 120+ equip load with Havel ring, but you need the other ring slot for something else, or whatever the case.)


And it is good for new characters anyways, so even if you want to wear a different ring later, by the time you are confident in the vit and end levels being high enough and stuff, it is possible you could have access to another Ring of Favour anyways (because you should be able to get 2 per game, and 2 in ng+, etc.).

[guy.lateur]

Oprindeligt skrevet af kamikazi21358:

Oprindeligt skrevet af guy.lateur:

Ok, thanks for your suggestions. The Ring of FaP is a great ring, although it slightly bothers me that you lose it if you unequip it. Then again, when your char is finalised, why would you want to unequip it, right?

It was the same for me, though after review, it’s abilities are actually so good that it is just worth it to wear anyways. 20% more health, stamina, and equip load is actually so good, that I did the math (at least for endurance and vit over 25-30, if you want very low vit/end for some reason, idk), the Favour and Protection is more efficient to wear and neglect points in vitality and endurance, than it is to say, wear a darkmoon ring for extra attun., or something like that.


If you want to know what I mean,
Like the hard caps for vit and endurance is 50 and 40, which means
1500 HP
160 Stamina
80 kg equip load [or whatever the unit is supposed to be]

If you wear the Ring of Favour and Protection, and want equal or slightly better stats than this, you can get away with 37 vitality, and 31 endurance, and get better stats —
1513 HP
163 Stamina
85.2 kg equip load
saving you 22 points by wearing the FaP ring and neglecting vit/end, and still have slightly better stats.

For reference, what 22 points could do,

>Presuming you’re not going over 50, 2 attun. slots at minimum (more if your lower), with 2 points left over, meaning unless you’re wanting more than 10 attun., the argument rings are inferior outside of special cases. Even both slots with the 2 rings to add 2 attun would be inferior to leveling attun with FaP ring.

> 44 strength with a great club (as an example) has 663 attack 2-handed, while 693 attack with 66 strength, while still having superior stats than 50/40 vit/end.

> Havel’s ring gives 120 equip load at 40 end, while the FaP does the same at 60. Although this is more than the 13 you take from vit to get it to the 50 equiv (1513 with 37+FaP), you get 32 more stamina. So if all you care about is equip load, then with the same stat allocation, it does win slightly (120 vs 111.6 at 53 endurance), but you get more stamina though FAP ring.

> 44 intelligence with manus catalyst on paper does 949 magic damage with crystal soul spear, while 66 does 1014 damage. Dragon crest ring increases it more, but without the other benefits, and I would imagine you would want it + FAP for max efficiency (which then, 1216 damage is possible).

> 50 faith with sunlight talisman does 819 damage with sunlight spear. 842 is done with 72 faith. 72 faith and sun firstborn does theoretically 1010 damage, while 50 faith only does 982 on paper. As far as I know, no other ring increases this, so the only way to get higher than 1000 is to change talisman (idk if sunlight is the best or not) or to indirectly increase it with FaP ring, by reallocating stats to faith rather than 50/40 vit/end.

> Or simply speaking, just using deprived as the test class, 50 vitality and 40 endurance with no other leveling puts the character at level 74. 37 vitality and 31 endurance, at the cost of just 1 ring slot, puts your character at level 52, giving better than 50/40 vit/end allocations (5013hp,163stam,85.2e/l), 22 levels lower.

Essentially, unless you want some very special case specific aspect for your character, theoretically the Ring of Favour and Protection is extremely useful for almost every type of character, unless you specifically want some sort of special case or whatever (like 12 attun., or both dragoncrest rings, or bellowing dragon. ring + dusk ring and not care about HP, or 120+ equip load with Havel ring, but you need the other ring slot for something else, or whatever the case.)


And it is good for new characters anyways, so even if you want to wear a different ring later, by the time you are confident in the vit and end levels being high enough and stuff, it is possible you could have access to another Ring of Favour anyways (because you should be able to get 2 per game, and 2 in ng+, etc.).

Wow, those are some elaborate calculations you've done there, thanks for sharing! And also thanks for reminding me that you can get another Ring of FaP at the nest. I guess I'll just have to wear it now.. ;-)

[PRREDATOR4]

Go with a claymore. scales well with strength and dex. Low base damage but scaling more than makes up for it.

[The Great Brambino]

Oprindeligt skrevet af PRREDATOR4:

Go with a claymore. scales well with strength and dex. Low base damage but scaling more than makes up for it.

I'd agree if OP didn't sink levels into int/faith. He could very well use magic weapon or sunlight blade on a claymore if he picked one or the other.

[Apathy]

You can farm for all Covenant items from enemies. It's just that the drop rates are terrible to incentivize you going online and earning them that way.

Oprindeligt skrevet af The Great Brambino:

Oprindeligt skrevet af guy.lateur:

Ok, thanks for your suggestions. The Ring of FaP is a great ring, although it slightly bothers me that you lose it if you unequip it. Then again, when your char is finalised, why would you want to unequip it, right?

Interesting idea to go for either Int or Fth. Fth indeed seems the logical choice based on my sunbroing intentions. About the Darkmoon Blade: is that covenant still active? Because like I said I suck at PvP, and I don't really have any intentions of getting much better at it. So I'll need quite some activity before I'll realistically be able to attain rank 1 in that covenant and get that miracle.

Finally, what do those Dragon Head/Torso symbols next to the corresponding armor mean? I thought you either used those dragon stones or you used armor? I also won't usually be in the Dragon covenant, which will significantly reduce their power, if I'm not mistaking.

Very few people split Int/Faith on a build, it's not worth it. You're better off getting lots of damage in one category than ok damage in both.

Also, those dragon stones are just there if you want to have dragon armor, they're not active.

The only game in the Souls series where people split evenly in Faith/Int is DS2 and that's solely because of how Dark Magic (Hexes) and Pyromancies work. If you're using either for a build you're going 30/30 into both Faith and Intelligence to get the most out of Hexes and Pyromancies.

[kamikazi21358]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Apathy:

The only game in the Souls series where people split evenly in Faith/Int is DS2 and that's solely because of how Dark Magic (Hexes) and Pyromancies work. If you're using either for a build you're going 30/30 into both Faith and Intelligence to get the most out of Hexes and Pyromancies.

Dark Souls 3 does something similar with Pyromancy too I think, it scales with both faith and intelligence, along with dark and chaos weapons.

[The Great Brambino]

Oprindeligt skrevet af kamikazi21358:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Apathy:

The only game in the Souls series where people split evenly in Faith/Int is DS2 and that's solely because of how Dark Magic (Hexes) and Pyromancies work. If you're using either for a build you're going 30/30 into both Faith and Intelligence to get the most out of Hexes and Pyromancies.

Dark Souls 3 does something similar with Pyromancy too I think, it scales with both faith and intelligence, along with dark and chaos weapons.

Aren't chaos pyromancies and dark magic the only things that rely on both? I know there's catalysts and talismans that scale with both as well.

[Apathy]

Oprindeligt skrevet af The Great Brambino:

Oprindeligt skrevet af kamikazi21358:

Dark Souls 3 does something similar with Pyromancy too I think, it scales with both faith and intelligence, along with dark and chaos weapons.

Aren't chaos pyromancies and dark magic the only things that rely on both? I know there's catalysts and talismans that scale with both as well.

No, DS3 has regular Pyromancies like Fire Orb requiring both. DS3 has the worst pyromancy though it's why I didn't mention it. Casting in general seems trash in DS3 though.