___ ___ ___ ___ ___
/\__\ /\ \ /\__\ /\__\ /\__\
/:/ _/_ _\:\ \ /:/ _/_ /:/ _/_ /:/ _/_
/:/ /\__\ /\ \:\ \ /:/ /\ \ /:/ /\__\ /:/ /\ \
/:/ /:/ _/_ _\:\ \:\ \ /:/ /::\ \ /:/ /:/ / /:/ /::\ \
/:/_/:/ /\__\ /\ \:\ \:\__\ /:/__\/\:\__\ /:/_/:/ / /:/_/:/\:\__\
\:\/:/ /:/ / \:\ \:\/:/ / \:\ \ /:/ / \:\/:/ / \:\/:/ /:/ /
\::/_/:/ / \:\ \::/ / \:\ /:/ / \::/__/ \::/ /:/ /
\:\/:/ / \:\/:/ / \:\/:/ / \:\ \ \/_/:/ /
\::/ / \::/ / \::/ / \:\__\ /:/ /
\/__/ \/__/ \/__/ \/__/ \/__/
_ .-') _ ('-. _ .-') .-') _ .-')
( ( OO) ) _( OO)( '.( OO )_ ( OO ) ),--. ( OO ).
\ .'_ (,------.,--. ,--.).-'),-----. ,--./ ,--,' \ |(_)---\_)
,`'--..._) | .---'| `.' |( OO' .-. '| \ | |\ `-'/ _ |
| | \ ' | | | |/ | | | || \| | ) \ :` `.
| | ' |(| '--. | |'.'| |\_) | |\| || . |/ '..`''.)
| | / : | .--' | | | | \ | | | || |\ | .-._) \
| '--' / | `---.| | | | `' '-' '| | \ | \ /
`-------' `------'`--' `--' `-----' `--' `--' `-----'
.-') .-')
( OO ). ( OO ).
(_)---\_) .-'),-----. ,--. ,--. ,--. (_)---\_)
/ _ | ( OO' .-. ' | | | | | |.-') / _ |
\ :` `. / | | | | | | | .-') | | OO )\ :` `.
'..`''.)\_) | |\| | | |_|( OO ) | |`-' | '..`''.)
.-._) \ \ | | | | | | | `-' /(| '---.'.-._) \
\ / `' '-' '(' '-'(_.-' | | \ /
`-----' `-----' `-----' `------' `-----'
_ (`-') (`-') _ (`-')
\-.(OO ) _(OO ) \-.(OO )
_.' \,--.(_/,-.\ _.' \
(_...--''\ \ / (_/(_...--''
| |_.' | \ / / | |_.' |
| .___.'_ \ /_)| .___.'
| | \-'\ / | |
`--' `-' `--'
---------------------------------------------------
EWGF's Build, PvP, and Strategy Guide (version 1.3)
---------------------------------------------------
Versions Information
- Version 1.0:
Guide completed
- Version 1.1:
Small cosmetic changes
Some fixed errors
- Version 1.2:
Small cosmetic changes
Updated Legality (0099)
Updated "Stunlock" section with Claw/Knuckle push-lock (0009)
Small update on "Spears" (0030)
Small update on "Katanas" (0023)
Updated introduction to "Understanding Stats" (0001)
New section "PvP Morality" added (0098)
- Version 1.3
Small cosmetic changes
Large update on "Warding Versus Second Chance" (0016)
New Section "PvP Rings" added (00RG)
Added more ASCII art
---------
Contents:
---------
(0000) - Introduction, and about this guide
Basics of the Basics
(0001) - Understanding Stats
Builds:
(0002) - Strength-Based Builds
Traditional Crushing Build
Dragonbone Smasher Variation
(0002.i) � Common Strength Weapons/Utilities
(0002.ii) - Strength Builds Explained
(0003) - Dexterity-Based Builds
Traditional Sharp build
2-Hand Only Variant
(0003.i) � Common Dexterity Weapons/Utilities
(0003.ii) - Dexterity Builds Explained
(0004) - Faith-Based Builds
Standard Variable Faith build
(0004.i) � Common Faith Weapons/Utilities
(0004.iii) - Faith Builds Explained
(0005) - Blueblood Sword builds
Standard 2-handed build
Standard 1-handed build
(0005.i) � Common BBS Weapons/Utilities
(0005.ii) - Blueblood Sword Builds Explained
(0006) � Northern Regalia Builds:
Northern Regalia Vitality Gouge
Northern Regalia Griefing Variant
(0006.i) � Common NR Weapons/Utilities
(0006.ii) - Northern Regalia Builds Explained
(0007) - Standard Meat Cleaver Build
(0007.i) � Common Meat Cleaver Weapons/Utilities
(0007.ii) � Meat Cleaver Builds Explained
(0008) � Magic-Based Builds: a variable primer
(0008.i) � Common Magic Weapons/Utilities
(0008.ii) - Magic Builds Explained... Somewhat
Non-Specific Build Information and Basics:
(0009) - What is �Stunlock�?
(0010) - Talisman of Beasts: the best item in Demon's Souls?
(0011) - Hijacking spells from Sage Freke
(00CT) - Character Tendency and You
Comparisons:
(0012) - Shield Math (a brief comparison)
(0013) - Basic Shield Q&A (things you should know about shields)
(0014) - Weapon Buffs Part 1: Which is the best?
(0015) - Weapon Buffs Part 2: Light Weapon versus Curse Weapon: Which and Why?
(0015.i) - Results and Conclusions on Light Weapon vs. Curse Weapon
(0016) - Warding versus Second Chance: Which and Why?
(0017) - Negative Status (Plague vs. Poison vs. Bleed)
(0017.i) - Negative Status: When should I use it and Why?
Techniques:
(0018) - Off-hand Katana/dual wielding: broken as hell
(0019) - Parrying in PvP: Setup Parries & Blind Parries: a brief primer
(0019.i) - Setup Parries & Notes
(0019.ii) - Blind Parries
(0019.iii) - A few final notes on parries
(0020) - Backstabs: a brief primer
(0020.i) - Pivot BS (otherwise known as Unlocked BS, Running BS)
(0020.ii) - Circular BS
(0020.iii) � Rolling BS
(0020.iv) � Counter BS
(0020.v) - Lag-related BS issues
(0020.vi) - A few final notes on backstabs
Weapon Primers:
(0021) - Great Axes/Blunts
(0022) - Poles
(0023) - Katanas
(0024) - Asian Swords
(0025) - Large Swords
(with additional contribution on Claymore by theDeadsider)
(0026) - Rapiers
(0027) - 1-Handed Swords
(0028) - Daggers
(0029) - 1-Handed Axes/1-Handed Blunts
(0030) - Spears
(0031) - Claws/Fist Weapons
(0032) - Great Swords
(with additional contribution on DBS by rhzkao, and Mo_Food)
(0098) - PvP Morality
(0099) - Guide FAQ & Legality & Other Stuff
___ ___ ___
___ /__/\ ___ / /\ / /\
/ /\ \ \:\ / /\ / /::\ / /::\
/ /:/ \ \:\ / /:/ / /:/\:\ / /:/\:\
/__/::\ _____\__\:\ / /:/ / /:/~/:/ / /:/ \:\
\__\/\:\__ /__/::::::::\ / /::\ /__/:/ /:/___ /__/:/ \__\:\
\ \:\/\ \ \:\~~\~~\/ /__/:/\:\ \ \:\/:::::/ \ \:\ / /:/
\__\::/ \ \:\ ~~~ \__\/ \:\ \ \::/~~~~ \ \:\ /:/
/__/:/ \ \:\ \ \:\ \ \:\ \ \:\/:/
\__\/ \ \:\ \__\/ \ \:\ \ \::/
\__\/ \__\/ \__\/
-------------------------------------------------
===(0000) - Introduction, and about this guide===
-------------------------------------------------
"It is far harder to kill a Phantom than a Reality."
- Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth and Other Essays
Welcome to my guide! Here is a brief intro before we get started. Enjoy!
-------------------------------------------------------
Q: What is the purpose of this guide? How did it start?
-------------------------------------------------------
A: There is little consolidated PvP information out there in the world about
DS. There's some scant traces here and there, but seldom a large resource of
information. There was plenty of information is regards to PvP, but boy was it
ever faulty. It was clearly written by people who did nothing more the
occasional invasion, and that's it.
This guide IS NOT all-inclusive. There is a lot of information here, but it
does not include every facet of Demon's Souls PvP. What it can do however is
give you a very strong push in the right direction.
Also, even though this is aimed at PvP these builds are great for low-level
PvE. Try em'.
I started a GameFAQs account (after being a long time reader of it's FAQs) just
to discuss this game. It didn't take me long to puzzle out almost every optimal
build (after spending years tempering PvP builds in D2:LOD). So, I started
writing this guide.
Believe it or not, this is like the 5th or 6th version.
The wheels really got rolling when GameFAQs user Damoene posted a thread about
optimal PvP builds strategies, and I just randomly started pasting my
information into his thread. After that we came up with a version 1, and
version 2. Long-and-short of it, Damoene worked as hard on the clerical side,
with some solid editing and fine-tuning, as well as filling in my gaps
(notably his hard work on BBS/Cleaver) as I've worked on writing it.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What should I know about Demon's Souls before reading this?
--------------------------------------------------------------
A: You should have a competent grasp on game mechanics. I explain most stuff
in some degree of depth, however, you should still know what a Parry is, or
what a Push is. You should know about Character Tendency, World Tendency,
Eye Stones, etc.
You should also know how to get stuff. I'm not including farming info, the
locations of weapons, or anything like that. That stuff is outside the
jurisdiction of this guide, and readily available in quite a few places on the
web.
Also, all builds are aimed at the 120 level. This is where the most stern
level of PvP takes place. You can make proper adjustments to go higher or
lower depending on your needs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: This guide is big. How the heck can I find what I want in this mess?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A: Ctrl +F
There's a table of contents, and almost everything is coded by a bracketed
number. Punch it into the search function to quickly and easily find what you
need.
----------------------------------
===(0001) - Understanding Stats===
----------------------------------
Stats are the most rudimentary thing in Demon's Souls after basic game play.
Knowing how to properly increase your stats will determine the quality of your
build. However, you can't really know what to increase and by what amount, if
you don't know what they do or where you should potentially stop.
Stats at
large govern the damage for spells, miracles, and almost all weapons. However,
all stats in Demon's Souls suffer from one thing: Diminishing Gains.
This means you get the biggest jumps in damage from your stats from 1-30.
31-50 will still provide decent growth, however 51-99 is god awful. So you'd
think this would encourage balanced builds right? Not at all. What this
instead means is you'll focus keenly on a few choice stats (always Vitality),
or find a series of �sweet spot� gains for utilizing particular setups
(BBS/Cleaver).
Although this guide is strongly dedicated to builds, there's no need to follow
any exact formulas I've outlined (some have leverage anyways, and although
these builds may be proven, doesn't mean you shouldn't consider homebrew
builds). If there's one section a new player can benefit from it's this one.
Even if you decide to ignore the build templates, you can it least get a good
idea about how to spend your stat points wisely, and make a tight build of
your own.
--------
Vitality
--------
Effects:
- Maximum HP increases.
- Carrying weight increases (the total amount of weight in items you are able
to carry in your inventory).
Important breakpoints:
- 10 VITALITY = 572HP, 90 pounds of carrying weight
- 20 VITALITY = 792HP (+220), 110 pounds of carrying weight
- 30 VITALITY = 1100HP (+308), 130 pounds of carrying weight
- 40 VITALITY = 1325HP (+225), 150 pounds of carrying weight
- 50 VITALITY = 1500HP (+175), 170 pounds of carrying weight
- 60 VITALITY = 1588HP (+88), 190 pounds of carrying weight
- 99 VITALITY = 1900HP, 190 pounds of carrying weight
Important breakpoints notes:
As you can see, Vitality falls off completely after 50. Beyond that, it's
largely a waste of points. It peaks in gains from 20-30, so, you should largely
consider taking it to it least 30. However even with it's decreasing gains,
it's still good very good up to 50.
------------
Intelligence
------------
Effects:
- Maximum MP increases.
- Spell memory slots increase (the total number of magic spells you may equip).
Important breakpoints:
- 14 INTELLIGENCE = 2 spell slots, 97MP
- 15 INTELLIGENCE = 100MP without accessories
- 18 INTELLIGENCE = 3 spell slots, 119MP
- 24 INTELLIGENCE = 4 spell slots, 157MP
- 30 INTELLIGENCE = 5 spell slots, 200MP
- 40 INTELLIGENCE = 6 spell slots, 280MP
Important breakpoints notes:
As you can see, the effectiveness of investing into Intelligence largely
tapers-off after 18. Between 15-18 should always be your goal, as you require
100MP to cast Second Chance, and some builds rely on Curse Weapon which
requires 3 spell slots.
---------
Endurance
---------
Effects:
- Maximum stamina increases.
- Equip weight increases (you are able to wear increasingly heavy armor
without suffering movement penalties).
- Fire resistance increases.
- Poison resistance increases.
- Bleed resistance increases.
Important breakpoints:
- 10 ENDURANCE = 91 stamina, 39 pounds equip weight
- 20 ENDURANCE = 110 stamina, 49 pounds of equip weight
- 30 ENDURANCE = 133 stamina, 59 pounds of equip weight
- 40 ENDURANCE = 160 stamina (maximum stamina), 69 pounds of equip weight
Important breakpoints notes:
160 stamina is the maximum, and Endurance should never exceed 40 because of
this cap. A lot of people will debate continuously on the merits of slightly
less Endurance versus the full 40. Although their points are often valid, I do
not believe they are correct in regards to every build (although you could
make a case for the various levels of stamina drains between weapons, 160
stamina is never a build mistake). You actually get the best gains from 30-40
Endurance. With stamina being the most precious resource in the game I see
little need to shave off any in favor of a paltry amount of life or damage.
--------
Strength
--------
Effects:
- Physical damage increases on appropriate weapons. Please note this �damage
increase� is only applicable to bare-handed attacks, or to weapons that
receive a bonus according to Strength.
Important breakpoints notes:
Strength breakpoints aren't relevant. You will always want the minimum
possible unless you are pumping Strength, or trying to use a certain weapon.
KEEP IN MIND that you can cut down on a third of a weapons Strength
requirement by 2-handing the weapon. This can save you points if you decide
your build/style is suited to a 2-handed style enough to abandon 1-handed use
altogether.
---------
Dexterity
---------
Effects:
- Physical damage increases on appropriate weapons. Please note that again,
this increase is only relative to weapons that receive a bonus according to
Dexterity.
- Falling damage decreases.
Important breakpoints notes:
Dexterity, like Strength should not be invested into unless it's required for
your build. Yes, this largely means abandoning the use of a bow in PvM,
however if you are not ready for that commitment then you are not ready for
a perfectly tuned PvP build.
-----
Magic
-----
Effects:
- Spell power increases (note that this is only spell power, and not miracle
power).
- Physical/magical damage increases on appropriate weapons. Please note that
again, this increase is only relative to weapons that receive a bonus
according to Magic.
Important breakpoints:
- 6 MAGIC = Base Magic for a Temple Knight. If making a Strength or Dexterity
build, this should stay at 6 (unless hijacking spells).
- 10 MAGIC = required to learn spells from Sage Freke or his apprentice,
however note that Yuria DOES NOT require 10 Magic to teach spells (IE Cursed
Weapon). HOWEVER, you may level your Magic to 10, and then delevel it to base
6 Magic while still retaining all the spells you have learned (although to
remember them you will need to speak with Yuria).
- 12 MAGIC = effective use of Northern Regalia
- 16 MAGIC = effective use of the Insanity Catalyst
- 18 MAGIC = effective use of the Blueblood Sword
- 30+ MAGIC = beyond 30 Magic the dreaded Light Weapon + Insanity Catalyst
combo will begin to have diminishing returns on further points invested into
Magic. It would be considered wise to stop here if using this combination.
If you are pushing for increased damage, taking it slightly further would not
be completely unwarranted though.
- 50 MAGIC = the maximum Magic you should aim for with a caster build. Beyond
this gains are hilariously paltry.
-----
Faith
-----
Effects:
- Miracle power increases (note that this is only miracle power, and not
spell power).
- Miracle memory slots increase (the total number of miracles you may equip).
- Magic damage resistance increases.
Important breakpoints notes:
The one and only breakpoint required to know is 16 Faith to have 2 miracle
slots, and thus use of the mighty Second Chance. I cannot express how
important this is. Investments beyond 16 should be reserved for a Faith build
only. The sole argument to the contrary is with Meat Cleaver builds.
----
Luck
----
Effects:
- Item drop rates. The frequency at which items drop increases. There is some
debate to what Luck actually does in terms of increasing drop rates... weather
it increases the total number of items dropped, or the quality.
- Disease resistance increases.
- Increases the damage of the Blueblood Sword.
Important breakpoints notes:
Luck should never be increased for any reason. The only case to the contrary
would be if you're using the Blublood Sword.
As for the gains associated with the Blueblood Sword, you get the highest
gains up to Luck 20, thus it would be wise to stop there if using that weapon.
Increasing it further is not a mistake if craving greater damage, however
anything beyond 30 may largely be a waste as the gains become rather paltry at
that point.
------------
===Builds===
------------
"There is a Shadow under this red rock."
- T.s. Elliot, The Wasteland
Here we'll be going over several builds, and generally variations on each of
them. These builds represent the latest PvP climate in DS, and as such are
widely proven by both myself, and many other prominent PvP players.
.-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-. .-.-.
'. S )'. t )'. r )'. e )'. n )'. g )'. t )'. h )
).' ).' ).' ).' ).' ).' ).' ).'
------------------------------------
===(0002) - Strength-Based Builds===
------------------------------------
Traditional Crushing Build
SL120 Temple Knight (1 point remains)
Vit - 50
Int - 18
End - 40
Str - 50
Dex - 12
Mag � 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained)
Faith - 16
Luck - 7
Dragon Bone Smasher Variation
SL120 Temple Knight (0 points remain)
Vit - 67
Int - 18
End - 40
Str - 34
Dex - 12
Mag � 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained)
Faith - 16
Luck � 7
--------------------------------------------
(0002.i) � Common Strength Weapons/Utilities
--------------------------------------------
- Common Strength Weapons Include the Following:
1) Dragonbone Smasher +5
2) Meat Cleaver
3) Bramd
4) Baby's Nail +5 (backup)
5) Crushing +5 Weapons
5a) Best basic shells for �Crushing� include: Claymore, Great Axe, Crescent
Axe, Guillotine Axe, Knight's Sword, Mace, Mirdan Hammer.
6) (Special) Morion Blade & Clever Rat's Ring (as left hand weapon when
two-handing main weapon)
-------------------------------------
(0002.ii) - Strength Builds Explained
-------------------------------------
1) The pros of this build play to its powerful 2-handed damage bonus,
knockdown on various weapons and its ability to crush blocks. All this in
addition to the absurd damage of its weapons.
2) Strength builds have the benefit of using any shield at will (except
potentially a Tower Shield due to weight restrictions).
3) This build comes in 2 flavors: Regular, and Dragonbone style.
3a) The difference being that a Drangonbone build is capped at 34 Strength
to effetively maximize DBS's 2-handed bonus. It then gouges Vitality,
effectively taking advantage of DBS's incredibly high static damage, and
ignoring its diminishing gains while being held in the 2-handed grip, and
still maximizing its 2-handed damage.
3b) The regular build sacrifices Vitality to access a much wider range of
weapons in the Crushing upgrade tree (including an even scarier DBS).
4) DBS and Cleaver get top marks for uniques and the dreaded Great Axe is top
dog from the Crushing tree. Most Crushing +5 weapons are still extremely tight
(notably Claymore, Crescent Axe, and of course the always mighty Mirdan Hammer
). Any of these are top choice. Naturally, Hyper Mode gear should find its way
into your inventory if you plan on hosting/farming BPs.
5) The above stat-point distributions of both builds allow you to equip a
cracked Talisman of Beasts for use of the Second Chance miracle and the bugged
version of the Curse Weapon spell. Leveling Magic to 10 allows you to learn
Sage Freke's spells, then promptly deleveling it back to 6 allows you to keep
those points invested into Magic while still accessing the spells you've
learned (you will require Yuria however to remember spells).
Although you can learn Freke's spells, you'll probably still stick exclusively
with Yuria's Curse Weapon (in which case jumping hoops for leveling and
de-leveling Magic to learn Freke's spells can be considered avoidable).
6) The biggest flaw is that the 1-handed weapons are less than superb, which
hampers your ability to harass your opponents. You are left with 1-handed
Swords, 1-handed Axes, and 1-handed Blunts... all of which are less than
desirable (exceptions include Guillotine Axe and the Knight's Sword). Because
of this, Baby's Nail often starts to look really solid as a secondary equip,
thus the abundance of DBS/Nail combos in unison with Vitality gouging.
Knight's Sword I find personally to be slightly superior to Guillotine Axe do
to increased riposte/backstab damage.
7) Again, you may be wondering why the DBS build only has 34 Strength. There
is an in-depth discussion about this in the Great Sword section which I urge
you to look at if you're stuck choosing between these two build variations.
__ __ __ __
/\ \ /\ \ /_/\ /\ \
/ \ \____ / \ \\ \ \ \ \_\
/ /\ \_____\ / /\ \ \\ \ \__/ / /
/ / /\/___ // / /\ \_\\ \__ \/_/
/ / / / / // /_/_ \/_/ \/_/\__/\
/ / / / / // /____/\ _/\/__\ \
/ / / / / // /\____\/ / _/_/\ \ \
\ \ \__/ / // / /______ / / / \ \ \
\ \___\/ // / /_______\ / / / /_/ /
\/_____/ \/__________/ \/_/ \_\/
-------------------------------------
===(0003) - Dexterity-Based Builds===
-------------------------------------
Standard Sharp Build
SL120 Temple Knight (0 points remain)
Vit - 45
Int - 18
End - 40
Str - 18
Dex - 50
Mag � 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained)
Faith - 16
Luck - 7
Two-Hand Only Variant
SL120 Temple Knight (4 points remain)
Vit - 45
Int - 18
End - 40
Str - 14
Dex - 50
Mag � 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained)
Faith - 16
Luck - 7
---------------------------------------------
(0003.i) � Common Dexterity Weapons/Utilities
---------------------------------------------
- Common Dexterity Weapons Include the Following:
1) Gripless/Hiltless +5
2) Meat Cleaver
3) Blind +5
4) Baby's Nail +5 (backup)
5) Sharp +5 Weapons
5a) Best basic shells for �Sharp� include: Secret Dagger, Shotel, Kilij,
Uchigatana, Sais, Estoc, Winged Spear.
6) Tearing +5 Weapons (backup)
7) Mercury +5 Weapons (backup)
9) (special) Morion Blade & Clever Rat's Ring (as left hand weapon when
two-handing main attack)
--------------------------------------
(0003.ii) - Dexterity Builds Explained
--------------------------------------
1) Hiltless gets top marks as a main in PvP for the Dexterity build. A Katana
style weapon that does even more damage than the dreaded +5 Sharp Uchigatana.
Sais/War Scythe comes in at a close second with its Mirdan Hammer style of
attack and high damage. Meat Cleaver is surprisingly amazing. It's the only
S-Ranked Dexterity weapon that gives you a large benefit in the 2-handed
stance and effectively shield crushes. Sharp Kilij +5 is an incredibly strong
1-handed weapon, and an Estoc in the right hands can absolutely ruin people.
2) For harassing weapons you have a wide range to choose from: Secret Dagger,
Shotel, and Kilij are all particularly brutal as harassing weapons, also
providing the largest swing in tactics on offense (as the 1-handed Strength
weapons are not as quick, or nuanced as either a Shotel, Secret Dagger or
Kilij, thus providing less swing factor). Naturally, Hyper Mode gear should
find its way into your inventory for all occasions.
3) In the same vein as the Secret Dagger/Shotel switch, you can use a
Estoc/Winged Spear switch in unison with a shield. This can present a series
of problems for certain opponents, and should not be ignored.
4) The above stat-point distributions of both builds allow you to equip a
cracked Talisman of Beasts for use of the Second Chance miracle and the bugged
version of the Curse Weapon spell. Leveling Magic to 10 allows you to learn
Sage Freke's spells, then promptly deleveling it back to 6 allows you to keep
those points invested into Magic while still accessing the spells you've
learned (you will require Yuria however to remember spells).
Unlike Strength, depending on your style you can largely get away without
using Curse Weapon, which opens up the door to things like Warding, Cloak and
clouds.
5) 18 Strength gives you access to the strongest Dexterity weapon:
Gripless/Hiltless. You can also equip a Dark Silver Shield, or if you feel
like something with a bit more hit resistance, Steel Shield is an incredible
alternative if you find yourself sucking up attacks with a shield a lot. Also,
if you find the HP drain of Hiltless to be a bit too much, you can always
counterbalance that with a +5 Adjudicator's Sheild.
6) Finally, base Strength on a Temple Knight lets you gouge 4 more points into
Vitality/Dexterity. The choice shield now becomes +10 Kite Shield with 14
Strength, still allowing you to use the dreaded Hiltless/Uchigatana
two-handed as well as the Sais/War Scythe.
7) Dexterity without a doubt features the largest array of tactics and very
promising equips:
- Fatal Secret Dagger/Estoc for those adept at backstabs/ripostes.
- Dual Katana style
- A Mirdan Hammer style switch in the form of War Scythe.
- Turtle combos with Estoc/Winged Spear.
- Meat Cleaver
- Shield evasion with Blind & Shotel (it should be noted that Shotel is
superior).
- Shield combos nicely with the arguably finest 1-handed weapon: Kilij.
The widest array of melee tactics in the game by far. There is always a new
and interesting way to fight. If you decide to �steal� Freke's spells, then a
trip to Yuria and a few equip changes are the only difference between a
Dexterity and a Stealth build.
.--. .
_.._ |__| .'|
.' .._| .--. .| < |
| ' __ | | .' |_ | |
__| |__ .:--.'. | | .' || | .'''-.
|__ __|/ | \ || |'--. .-'| |/.'''. \
| | `" __ | || | | | | / | |
| | .'.''| ||__| | | | | | |
| | / / | |_ | '.'| | | |
| | \ \._,\ '/ | / | '. | '.
|_| `--' `" `'-' '---' '---'
---------------------------------
===(0004) - Faith-Based Builds===
---------------------------------
Standard Variable Build
SL120 Temple Knight
Vit - 47-50+
Int � 15 (18 if wishing for a 3 spell slot variant)
End - 40
Str - 14-20 (14 Base allows for Mirdan Hammer use, 18 allows 2-handed Great
Axe use, and 20 allows for a 1-handed Guillotine Axe)
Dex - 12
Mag � 6 (10, then delevel to 6 once Sage Freke's spell are obtained)
Faith - 47-50
Luck � 7
Note on allotments: Depending on your desired Strength/Intelligence you could
go a few ways. Some people strongly prefer the use of 1-handed Guillotine Axe,
although I personally would choose a Knight's Sword due to increased
riposte/backstab damage. However, if I were to make a fresh Faith build
tomorrow I would almost certainly have 18 Strength for 2-handing a Great Axe.
If you choose both 20 Strength and 18 Intelligence you will need to make a
3-point sacrifice of either Vitality or Faith. Largely, since 2 slots are all
I'd want (Warding), I'd probably keep Intelligence at 15. The only other
1-slot spell of note would be Poison Cloud.
-----------------------------------------
(0004.i) � Common Faith Weapons/Utilities
-----------------------------------------
- Common Faith Weapons Include the Following:
1) Large Sword of Moonlight
2) Blessed +5 weapons
2a) Best basic shells for �Blessed� include: Mirdan Hammer (of course),
Crescent Axe, Great Axe, Knight Sword, Guillotine Axe, Claymore, Great Sword.
3) Baby's Nail (backup)
4) Morion Blade & Clever Rat's Ring (as left hand weapon when two-handing
main weapons)
5) Scraping Spear
6) Istarelle
--------------------------------
(0004.ii) Faith Builds Explained
--------------------------------
1) Faith is without a doubt the finest beginner's build in Demon's Souls. You
do not require enchants, you have lots of life, great HP regeneration, a large
bonus to magic defense, free spell slots, a neat little AOE you can send
people sailing off a cliff with and the stifling Anti-Magic Field. There is no
end to how good this build is.
2) +5 �Blessed� weapons get top marks, with the ever-powerful Mirdan Hammer
and terrifying Great Axe leading the pack (followed by the mighty Claymore and
the Crescent Axe). Closely trailing is the awesome Large Sword of Moonlight,
which CANNOT BE BLOCKED. This thing can tear apart turtles with relative ease.
Naturally, Hyper Mode gear should find its way into your inventory.
Istarelle is greatly overlooked due to high Dexterity requirement. However,
since the physical damage is almost non-existent you can use it with Ability
Shortage, and it still works great. An interesting choice for Faith builds.
3) You are given virtually every other advantage over those builds. With the
15 Intelligence required to access Second Chance mana (100MP) you are given
two spell slots to do with what you will! This opens up the doors to things
like Cloak and Poison Cloud, and the ever-present Warding.
4) Almost every build has to make sacrifices that a Faith build does not have
to make, providing Faith users with a distinct advantage. For Strength/Dex
builds you sacrifice life for damage. For gouging builds like NR/DBS you
sacrifice versatility in favor of Vitality gouging. Blueblood sacrifices HP
and versatility and even the use of a shield in favor of pure damage output.
All the melee builds aside from NR sacrifice spell slots in favor of Cursed
Weapon/Light Weapon. All other builds do not benefit from the notable magic
defense provided in a Faith build.
5) Regaining 18HP per second with the Adjudicator's Shield, Regenerator's Ring
and a +5 Blessed Weapon is nothing to laugh at. This puts time clearly on your
side in battles of attrition. Every time your opponent can't kill you, you
rapidly begin to regain life. HP regeneration is only good if you have a lot
of it, and Faith builds have the most.
6) The only clear disadvantage is reduced damage when compared to virtually
ever other build. However, the damage is still enough to claim kills on all
but the most Vitality gouged opponents. If somebody is really whoring the
grass munching bust out Baby's Nail to put the battle back on your side. Since
most Faith builds don't have the insane killing capability of
Strength/Dexterity/BBS builds, you will find yourself reaching for your Nail
a bit more then you'd like (a necessary evil). Again, this is where the free
spell slots come in handy. Dropping a Cloud post backstab as I had mentioned
previously is a great strategy, and doesn't mess with your tempo.
7) Due to the large amount of magic damage on weapons, you will have improved
results against Warding, and casters with lowered magic defense. Yet another
bonus.
,---,. ,---,. .--.--.
,' .' \ ,' .' \ / / '.
,---.' .' |,---.' .' || : /`. /
| | |: || | |: |; | |--`
: : : /: : : /| : ;_
: | ; : | ; \ \ `.
| : \| : \ `----. \
| | . || | . | __ \ \ |
' : '; |' : '; | / /`--' /
| | | ; | | | ; '--'. /
| : / | : / `--'---'
| | ,' | | ,'
`----' `----'
-------------------------------------
===(0005) - Blueblood Sword Builds===
-------------------------------------
Standard 2-Hand BBS Build
SL120 Royal (2 points remain)
Vit - 40
Int - 15
End - 40
Str - 12
Dex - 18
Mag - 30
Faith - 18
Luck - 25
Standard 1-Hand BBS Build
SL120 Royal (1 point remains)
Vit - 40
Int - 15
End - 40
Str - 18
Dex - 18
Mag - 30
Faith - 18
Luck - 20
---------------------------------------
(0005.i) � Common BBS Weapons/Utilities
---------------------------------------
- Common BBS Weapons Include the Following:
1) Blueblood Sword
2) Insanity Catalyst
3) Dark Silver Shield (or low Strength required shields)
4) (special) Morion Blade & Clever Rat's Ring (as left hand weapon when
two-handing main attack)
--------------------------------------------
(0005.ii) � Blueblood Sword Builds Explained
--------------------------------------------
1) This build's biggest strength is also its largest weakness. Since stats are
spread thin to equip the BBS you do not have a fall back weapon in the event
of it breaking. However, so long as the sword remains intact it is a ferocious
weapon. The same stat spread also keeps its Vitality under the standard 50,
which is something to consider if you value gouged HP.
2) While the BBS is a crucial part of the build, the spell Light Weapon when
cast with an Insanity Catalyst is where a large portion of your damage comes
from. Try to keep this spell active at all times. Opponents familiar with the
build may seem passive at first, but often they're simply stalling before they
mount an assault, or it least waiting for you to become overly aggressive and
make a potentially fatal error. You can expect experienced duelers to really
begin to apply pressure once Light Weapon wears off.
3) When a BBS is wielded in both hands, like all long swords, it can stunlock
the opponent with a series of fast R1 attacks in succession. This can kill a
large chunk of the general Demon's Souls PvP populace within seconds. The only
build that will seemingly resist a swift death is Faith builds with gouged
Vitality wearing a DSS on their backs to further increase their passive magic
resistance. But even this �resistance� is relative, as a proper BBS user can
bring even the mightiest Faith builds to it's knees if they are given
opportunity.
4) The build variants are hardly different, and the more players will
generally opt towards the one with more damage and no shield, while people
trying a BBS build for the first time should use the secondary one.
Considering 2-handed �better� is relatively mixed here. If you're good with
parries, you could make a convincing case in favor of a 1-handed BBS build,
adding a more varied selection of strategies to your bag, mixing 1-handed and
2-handed use.
5) Turtles with DSS +5 can become a problem too. While they can't withstand a
full stamina bar of attacks, it's not uncommon for them to be able to make a
few calculated blocks and escape with a well-timed roll while you whiff on
your last swing... as they eagerly countdown towards the end of your Light
Weapon buff. Mix in the 2-handed heavy slash and pushes to destroy their
guards quicker.
6) Continuing with push, it's a particularly strong move in the hands of a
skilled BBS player. First off, it deals damage with Light Weapon. Secondly, it
guarantees the following swing, and said swing will do additional Direct
Damage. Finally, since it sets up a swing, it can setup a brief stunlock
(hampered only by range). Truly a brutal technique for very little stamina
investment if you whiff (although as with most swings you must take care with
your attempts).
7) Due to extreme magic damage, BBS annihilates Warding. Also, since casters
take extra damage from magic due to reduced magic defense, BBS can put them
away quickly with even probing swipes (see: 1-handed running R1).
8) Experts with both larger and longer weapons can present two notable
problems (Claymore users can be particularly hard to handle on the range
front, followed quickly by polearm users). They can either a) poke you outside
of your active range, or b) swing into your combos with uninterruptible
attacks, and crush you. Try to make them whiff on a swing or two first before
attacking (which is a solid tactic anyways).
GA/CA/MC will 1-2-3 swing into your combos with this vital piece of knowledge
at their disposal: they will eat one BBS hit and cancel your R1 string, while
you will eat 1-3 Great Axe hits. Since you're swinging, it's likely to be all
3 hits. Effective attack crushing at its finest.
Poles are slightly different. Often firing ranged pokes at first until finally
trying to line you up for a R1 string as you approach for a R1 string of your
own.
_ _ ___
| \| | | _ \
| .` |===| /egalia
|_|\_| |_|_\
_|"""""|_|"""""|
"`-0-0-'"`-0-0-'
--------------------------------------
===(0006) - Northern Regalia Builds===
--------------------------------------
Northern Regalia Vitality Gouge
SL120 Temple Knight (0-6 points remain)
Vit - 76
Int - 15
End - 40
Str - 14-20
Dex - 14
Mag - 12
Faith - 16
Luck - 7
Northern Regalia Griefing Variation
SL120 Temple Knight (0-6 points remain)
Vit - 61
Int - 30
End - 40
Str - 14-20
Dex - 14
Mag - 12
Faith - 16
Luck - 7
--------------------------------------
(0006.i) � Common NR Weapons/Utilities
--------------------------------------
- Common NR weapons include the following:
1) Northern Regalia
2) Dragon +5 weapons
3) Baby's Nail (backup)
4) (special) Morion Blade & Clever Rat's Ring (as left hand weapon when
two-handing main attack)
---------------------------------------------
(0006.ii) - Northern Regalia Builds Explained
---------------------------------------------
1) A small weakness of the build is that your secondary weapons are
substandard (often resorting to less then optimal weapons as backups). Again,
this is largely a minor problem as a Baby's Nail +5 makes an incredible
secondary choice. Naturally, Hyper Mode gear should find it's way into your
inventory.
2) Continuing with Hyper Mode, it's not uncommon to see the 70-plus Vitality
NR builds run Hyper Mode exclusively for duels. The only reason I wouldn't is
because of the headaches associated with buffing it.
Also, this style of playing means you'll generally want to play on body form
to really benefit from this. If you're fine with being an eternal host, go for
it. If you want something exciting... avoid.
3) The 2nd build is the one-and-only casual variant in my guide that isn't
devoted to gouging. It's designed more for a nasty bit of sneaking about, and
griefing your opponents. This is a more casual build aimed at old school
tricks from before this game was being nominated for GOTY all over the place,
and often invasions were 1v1 games of cat and mouse.
4) Another notable weakness is the the rather easy ability to parry R1 > R1
chains at higher levels of play. If you suspect your opponent is trying to
setup a parry, be weary of performing R1 swings in succession.
5) Friend's/Foe's Ring seems to have rather impressive results with this build
(although this may be largely attributed to the fact that I see it seldom
used except on hosts and new players, and thus the damage was largely less
than impressive). However, due to this, my lack of surprise against almost
everything else in PvP, this particular surprise nearly got me killed (where
generally I'm like �sweet, another NR user�). I can imagine others could be
caught by a similar shock.
Despite NR users all should technically deal similar damage, I found it varied
greatly person to person (from neutral CT NR to host NR, to soul form NR, to
Friend's/Foe's NR, to Hyper NR). Frankly, you never know what you're getting.
6) As a Large Sword of average range, it presents no particular strengths or
weaknesses in terms of matchups (unlike Claymore which has many solid matchups
due to its increased range). Even its absolutely worst matches often result in
a series of R1 trades. Large Swords are odd beasts in this glorified game of
paper/scissors/rock. The only problem you'll find is sometimes finishing
evasive opponents.
7) The mix of physical and magic means it performs admirably in the face of
Warding. Always a bonus.
8) These two particular builds are sample builds (the Gouge build seems
obvious, the Grief Variation is a bit less so, however they're all pretty
liquid). The +/- 6 Strength variation on both of them that allows for
exclusive 2-handed use if so desired.
___
( )
___ .-. .-. .--. .---. | |_
( ) ' \ / \ / .-, \ ( __)
| .-. .-. ; | .-. ; (__) ; | | |
| | | | | | | | | | .'` | | | ___
| | | | | | | |/ | / .'| | | |( )
| | | | | | | ' _.' | / | | | | | |
| | | | | | | .'.-. ; | ; | | ' | |
| | | | | | ' `-' / ' `-' | ' `-' ;
(___)(___)(___) `.__.' `.__.'_. `.__.
------------------------------------------
===(0007) - Standard Meat Cleaver Build===
------------------------------------------
SL120 Temple Knight
Vit - 40
Int - 18
End - 40
Str - 34
Dex - 30
Mag - 6
Faith - 25
Luck - 7
Notes on allotments: The 25 Faith can be argued to go towards Vitality or not.
This is a preference and again this could be argued as the biggest variable in
the build. If you want to use Meat Cleaver to some degree of uniqueness, I'd
probably go with 25 Faith. If not, and you find yourself missing that last 10
Vitality, I recommend sticking instead with a Crushing build using Great
Axe/Crescent Axe as they're largely an improvement on a Meat Cleaver build
with low Faith.
------------------------------------------------
(0007.i) � Common Meat Cleaver Weapons/Utilities
------------------------------------------------
- Common MC Weapons Include the Following:
1) Meat Cleaver
2) Dragon, Crushing, and Quality weapons
3) Baby's Nail
4) Dark Silver Shield
5) Talisman of Beasts
-----------------------------------------
(0007.ii) � Meat Cleaver Builds Explained
-----------------------------------------
1) Like the BBS and NR builds before it, this build focuses one using one
weapon 90% of the time. While the stat allocation in this build allows for use
of Crushing and Dragon weapons with more ease, it is still not advisable.
It could be viewed somewheres between a BBS build (stat spreading on multiple
damage stats like BBS) and a Crushing build (similar style of attack to and a
combination of Curse Weapon Great found in Crushing builds) for strict
comparison.
2) When combined with Curse Weapon, the Meat Cleaver's 2-handed rolling attack
is a deadly force. Timing this correctly with powerful follow-ups will leave
your opponent running to heal. Be forewarned, said attack is punishable by
rolling BS
Although inferior in damage output to a Crushing style build using using a
Cursed Great Axe, Cleaver still has a clear advantage on the range front
improving Polearm matches, and it also has the ever-present backstab vacuum
Cleaver is famous for.
Crushing builds with Crescent Axe & Curse Weapon can be viewed similar in this
respect.
3) The build unfortunately has no variants, and if you are looking for more
weapon variety while still using the Meat Cleaver, I suggest a Dexterity
build, or potentially a Crushing Build.
4) Similar to BBS this build suffers from a wide stat spread, keeping your
Vitality at 40-ish or so. This can cause you to suffer at higher levels of
play. Consider a Crushing build with Crescent Axe (similar damage, similar
range, same move set) if you're concerned. The only primary difference between
the two is that Cleaver does considerable damage through certain shield blocks
and Warding that a Crushing build simply can't due to Cleaver's on-board magic
attack. If this is worth more then your Vitality, then go with Cleaver.
5) Cleaver has solid matchups against almost everything, with Katanas probably
being its worst weapon matchup followed by expert DBS/GS players (although I
wouldn't exactly call DBS a bad matchup). People adept at rolling backstabs
and used to fighting Great Axe/Cleaver can punish repeated roll attacks very
badly. If you suspect your opponent is fishing for backstab attempts, be weary
of those Fatal Estocs.
Finally DBS will gladly trade their insanely powerful-while-running 2-handed
R1 for roll spam, as they get to eat a grass after the trade, and you don't.
Also, poles are still an ever-present threat even to the mighty Cleaver.
6) Cleaver is one of the few weapons that gets a great return on Sticky White
Stuff. This is solid in longer duels since you aren't forced to eat a spice
before re-applying Curse Weapon. This also means Cleaver can still perform
quite admirably without Curse, and again opens up spell slots to things such
as Warding. Without a doubt this is the largest distinction between Cleaver
and his Crushing GA/CA cousins. This is also good for wrecking Warding.
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----------------------------------------------------
===(0008) � Magic-Based Builds: a variable primer===
----------------------------------------------------
SL120 Royal
Vit � 8 - X
Int � 12 - X
End � 8 to X
Str � 9 - X
Dex � 12 - 13
Mag - 50
Faith � 16 - 18
Luck � 7
Notes on allotments: As you can see, this is hardly a build, mainly because
Magic builds are so incredibly liquid unlike melee which you can easily
distinguish a handful of optimal builds, and certain concessions between
variations on those builds.
The only standard considerations are pumping Magic to 50 and Faith to it least
16-18. The biggest variables are almost everything else, especially
Endurance/Intelligence. You need to think carefully: how much melee do you
want to incorporate into your Magic-based build? Is it a melee build using
Crescent/Moon weapons, or a caster build, or a hybrid? Let's take a look at
three radically different stat allocations:
Pure Caster Vitality Gouge (6 points remain, able to use ToB, SL 120 Royal):
Vit � 50
Int � 40
End � 8
Str � 9
Dex � 12
Mag - 50
Faith � 18
Luck � 7
Hybrid (0 points remain, unable to use ToB, SL120 Royal):
Vit � 40-50
Int � 24
End � 30-40
Str � 10 (2-handing Sais/Kilij)
Dex � 13 (required to properly wield Sais)
Mag - 50
Faith � 16
Luck � 7
Strict Melee (0 points remain, unable to use ToB, 1-handed Katana requirements
met, SL120 Royal)
Vit � 41
Int � 15
End � 40
Str � 18
Dex � 13
Mag - 50
Faith � 16
Luck � 7
As you can see, the 1st one is a very all-in style of caster. It will rely
largely on spells to see you through (although you could easily sink a point
into Strength to handle a Kilij 2-handed for when you're in dire straits).
The second represents a casting/melee mix, and as you can see, you're forced
to make some hard decisions right out of the gate. Even with paltry
Intelligence, and incredibly low Strength this build suffers from low MP and
either low Endurance or low Vaitality.
This is a problem you run into when playing these sorts of hybrids (they're
spread even thinner then most MC/BBS builds). Now, if you feel like taking it
to SL130, your build improves quite a bit. You can access ToB and potentially
move 6 more points into Intelligence to Crack 200MP, and still have 2 points
to make a 40/42 or a 32/50 Endurance/Vitality mix. This is a lot better. Where
other builds will simply be padding Vitality for minor amounts of HP at this
level, hybrid builds really come together at the 130-140 range.
Even on the 3rd strict melee build you can't hit even close to traditional
50/50/40 stat spread we like to generally aim for. Not exactly optimal for a
build that doesn't compare directly to Strength/Dexterity/BBS/Cleaver builds
on the damage front.
These 3 particular builds are just 3 random builds of many made to reflect to
variation on setups relying on Magic. Basically, a pure caster can make a very
twinked build as long as melee stays out of the equation. The second you start
adding melee, you need to consider your now rapidly growing stat spread. There
are no optimal Magic 120 PvP builds for this reason, at least no hybrids. Sure,
the 1st build is very twinked, but you largely will need to win with spells
(no easy feat against skilled opponents). The 2nd build is unfocused and
sloppy at this level (I prefer the 3rd build a bit more than the 2nd, but it's
still not looking too sharp at 120).
-----------------------------------------
(0008.i) � Common Magic Weapons/Utilities
-----------------------------------------
1) Insanity Catalyst/Talisman of Beasts/Wooden Catalyst
2) Crescent/Moon +5 weapons
2a) Best basic shells for �Moon/Crescent� include: Almost everything.
Anything you can potentially handle since anything can be made with the Moon
upgrade path.
3) Kris Blade/Monk's Collar/Ring of Magical Sharpness
4) Stormruler (special)
5) (special) Morion Blade & Clever Rat's Ring (as left hand weapon when
two-handing main attack)
----------------------------------------------
(0008.ii) - Magic Builds Explained... Somewhat
----------------------------------------------
1) Magic builds run the gamut from heavy caster, to melee-supplemented, so
outlining specific traits of the builds is largely a flawed principle.
Strategies, and explanations are variable... and although a complete strategic
summary would be impossible, I'll cover a few things here.
2) Spell access is obviously the biggest draw here. How much you have is
determined by your Intelligence, and how much you can rely on it is determined
by your Intelligence/Catalyst of choice.
3) If you're heavy melee having access to powerful versions of every weapon is
absolutely incredible. This is the biggest draw from the melee standpoint. A
solid Great Axe and 2x Katanas on the same build!? Yikes.
4) The ability to land spells successfully can be tricky. Most spells have
varying degrees of use (although, I'll go on record and say that almost
anything involving fire is generally pretty good).
5) Ignite and Firestorm are player killers. There's no doubt about it. A
properly tuned Firestorm with iCat can land for 1.4k+ easily if you're lucky,
and Ignite isn't too far behind. They're both tricky to land in PvP depending
on the skill of your opponent (although the very 'skilled' tactic of �running
up to a guy and spamming Firestorm/Ignite� can randomly work, I don't
recommend it).
A point-blank Ignite can surprise people that aren't expecting it, but that's
largely Ignite's one trick aside from trying to land it post
backstab/knockdown. You can also treat Ignite like a backstab, but often you're
better actually BSing, and trying to land an Ignite on wakeup. Even then, roll
spam will almost always escape an Ignite attempt if they suspect that's your
plan.
Stormruler to Firestorm and backstabs to Firestorm tactics are really quite
effective. Combined, they give you two radically different ways to land a free
Firestorm, as well as pop free heals and spices. Stormruler in particular is
another tactic largely viewed as �cheap� in PvP. This is probably the easiest
way to PvP with a strict caster.
6) Firespray is great for dealing with people who whore Hypermode. It's in fact
the best way of handling PvP Hyper in the game safely.
7) Your catalyst/talismans should always be used in the off-hand. This means
that Kris remains in the main-hand which you can backstab with, and panic spam
if need be.
8) For hard-hitting projectiles, you got Fireball and Soul Ray. They're both a
mixed bag. Both will Phantom Hit, but don't count on it if your opponent is
evasive. Fireball is a bit better up close, and seems to be harder to get
away from in addition to doing more damage, plus splash damage.
9) Homing Soul Arrow is a mixed bag. I know people that swear by it, but I
think I've eaten it maybe 3 times in all my PvP. The problem is that it
triggers outside of its own range, so a roll back will almost always cause it
to miss. This is hard sell at 40 MP a pop and 2 spell slots. The best use of
it is in a 1-2 punch in with aggressive melee advances (well I think, others
seem to think differently). They may dodge your HSA, but will they dodge your
melee assault at the same time too? Potentially... but people are deathly
afraid of those little glowing balls once they're up, especially if you're
running them down which can give you a distinct tactical advantage.
Good for mind games.
10) If planning on a heavy melee supplement and using Moon weapons, you have a
bit more swing on your Magic stat (since the added parameters on Moon aren't
all that high to begin with, you can go much lower than 50 Magic). You could
spruce up Vitality, Endurance or whatever is lacking, but this comes at a
price of spell power. Yet another difficult decision in the SL120 bracket.
11) The biggest advantage is the literally endless amounts of variation. You can
always bring a completely different set of spells and/or weapons out to really
keep people guessing. It's the only build in the game that beats Dexterity in
terms of tactics (and it beats it by a large margin).
12) You never have to worry about Warding it least, and you can handle a large
portion of shield blocks with melee and spells.
13) When invading opt for Foe's Ring over Ring of Magical Sharpness. Friend/Foe
are actually superior on the spell damage front.
14) The weaknesses are numerable and considerable:
- Depending on your build, you might not have a weapon to panic spam with.
Even if you do you may have much less HP/stamina then your strict melee
opponents.
- Anti-Magic Field can cause you problems if you're a hardcore caster. However,
I never consider it a large issue outside of the horrid lag that's associated
with it. They have to sacrifice Second Chance for it. If you're a melee
variant, this will almost certainly give you an advantage. Ironically, the
miracle that everyone says destroys casters is the least of your worries.
- Kris/Monk's Collar/Ring of Magical Sharpness all lower your magic defense.
This isn't just spell defense either... this is magic defense. This means
Blessed Weapons/Moon Weapons/BBS/spells that deal magic damage... anything
with magic damage will deal more to you. Not good.
- The damage on Moon/Crescent is about on par with Blessed (IE higher then
Crushing/Sharp, but much lower when said Crushing/Sharp weapons are
enchanted). Low in other words. A strict melee build with a minimal 100MP for
Second Chance would mix all the low damage of a Faith build, with the
less-then-superb stat spread of a BBS build. As stated previously, this seems
sub-optimal. I suppose if you like the idea of Great Axe & Katanas with a
sprinkling of spells, it's pretty hard to pass up.
------------------------------------------
A Final and Major Note About Magic Spells:
------------------------------------------
Although I do discuss spells briefly in some degree of depth you could almost
certainly make a rather sizable sub-guide about the use and application of
spells in PvP alone (unlike say miracles, which mostly suck).
I've used a caster quite a bit in PvP, but I can tell you with great humility
that I simply don't know enough ins-and-outs of PvP spell-casting to really
provide a strong reading experience on how to use them. Yes, I've faced them
quite a bit too, but I refuse to write at length about something I don't feel
comfortable with.
This is an open invitation to any spell-caster PvP players out there. If you
think you have some valid points you'd like to contribute, drop me a line and
we'll discuss it further.
-----------------------------------------------
===Non-specific Build Information and Basics===
-----------------------------------------------
"Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence
of consistently applying the basic fundamentals."
- Jim Rohn
Here we'll be discussing information that's relevant to every build (mostly).
It's mainly a few points I've decided to outline immediately after builds
because I consider them somewhat fundamental in creating proper builds. Let's
begin!
----------------------------------
===(0009) - What is �Stunlock�?===
----------------------------------
Stunlock is the ability to score consecutive hits (generally, R1 swings) that
cannot be blocked, or interrupted. This is akin to say combo hits in a
fighting game. Basic melee dueling without any advanced tactics can be boiled
down to achieving stunlocks. This is probably the most fundamental piece of
knowledge (besides good spacing) in DS PvP.
Weapons with a high stunlock capability are desired simply because you can
score free repeated hits. There is a reason that this is the first thing I've
included in the the �Basics� section, and not in the �Techniques� section:
understanding stunlocks is the most important part of dueling.
There are several factors to calculating a weapon's proclivity to combo hits.
Here are some things to think about:
- The type of weapon
Each type of weapon has a pre-determined ability to combo. Try to find out
what yours is by dueling with it. Nothing fancy here, other then learn by
doing.
- 1-handed or 2-handed stance.
Very few weapons have the capability to combo in one hand. 2-Handed stance
will generally increase your combo capabilities with various weapons. In
addition, 2-handed attacks generally apply more damage allowing you to better
potentially kill your opponent in a series of successful hits.
- Range
The closer the better generally. Some stunlocks slowly push your opponent out
of range, causing you to whiff earlier then you'd like. Longer weapons are
also able to score potentially an additional hit than shorter weapons in the
same class.
- Push locks
Pushes can start or continue certain weapon locks (these are a bit more skill
intensive then swinging your weapon wildly, while praying to the Stunlock
Gods). This is largely the case for 2x Katana combos, however I've also seen
it done to a lesser extent with larger weapons, such as a 2-handed Claymore
(although they can't score a series of combo hits, even a couple hits is worth
considering). It should be noted that successful hits preceded by push attacks
deal additional Direct Damage. Also, many push locks using an off-hand Katana
are largely inescapable (and thus broken).
Many believe that the Katana combo in particular to be a game exploit...
although the truth behind if it was intended or not remains unknown.
A similar and nearly equally broken lock can be performed with a simply a rapid
series of main-hand pushes using a Knuckle/Claw weapon, however you're
required to use Light Weapon to deal damage with it.
- Hidden factors
The above ones are mostly common sense, but certain weapon seem to have
varying degrees of stunlocks that appear to hinge on game mechanics that are
less obvious or completely obscured altogether. For example the ability of a
Large Blunt/Large Axe seems to be able to combo with its 2-handed 1-2-3 combo
swings... sometimes... while other times it's quite escapable. Also, stunlocks
seem to vary in the number of hits in succession you can score (again, I
believe this is due to unclear game mechanics, possibly a Counter Hit system,
but usually it's just attack range).
------------------------------------------------------------------
===(0010) - Talisman of Beasts: the best item in Demon's Souls?===
------------------------------------------------------------------
Talisman of Beasts (ToB). It's hands down the most useful item in the game.
Nothing comes close to the diversity and pure awesomeness of ToB. It literally
can do anything. Let's review:
ToB can be used in 3 very distinct ways:
1) Normally.
2) �Cracked�.
3) �Pushed�.
-------------
1) Normal ToB
-------------
This is the general tool. It provides so-so spell power and the weak miracle
power in a single package. Nothing special here really, other than it's still
great. Traditional use is anything that exceeds its requirements within reason
(18 Magic and 18 Faith).
----------------
2) �Cracked� ToB
----------------
This is what you'll see the most of at high levels of play from melee builds.
It's commonly referred to as �Cracking� or �Bugging� ToB.
A Cracked ToB is simply using a ToB while not meeting its requirements. It's
much like not meeting the requirements for a weapon, you can still swing it,
it just doesn't do any damage. The same goes for ToB. By not meeting it's
requirements, you can still cast both spells and miracles with it... they will
just be incredibly weak.
The sheer brokeness of this is in casting spells that aren't governed by
spell/miracle power (see: Second Chance/Warding). These spells simply just
�work�. They are indifferent to your spell/miracle power.
This becomes especially important for Curse Weapon (using it with a Cracked
ToB is commonly known as �Cracked/Bugged" Curse Weapon).
The bonus from Curse Weapon as we've discussed in not variable. It's
indifferent to your spell power. However, the HP loss per second does hinge on
your spell power. This means when you use a Cracked version of Cursed Weapon
you get the same damage bonus you would normally, however you actually take
less damage.
Yes.
You can read that again:
By not meeting the requirements for ToB and using Curse Weapon, you actually
improve it by reducing the HP loss per second.
With 6 Magic (a Temple Knight's base Magic) Cracked Curse Weapon will siphon
between 0-2 HP per second all the way up to 1500HP (it probably goes higher
before shifting to 3HP loss per second, but I haven't tested it personally).
The variable figure (0HP, 1HP and 2HP) will hinge on your total HP (generally
being in soul form w/ no Cling Ring, being in soul form with Cling Ring
equipped and being in body form will cause these HP drain variations).
That's Cracked ToB in a nutshell. Broken as hell.
---------------
3) �Pushed� ToB
---------------
This one is much lesser known than his Cracked cousin.
Pushing ToB is what happens when you gouge Faith and Magic to absurd levels
and use ToB as a catalyst for extreme spell damage, pushing it beyond the
capability of Insanity Catalyst (iCat).
We all know that weapons have scaling, but a lesser known fact is that
catalysts (and of course ToB) have scaling in regards to spell power.
Now initially, iCat is far and away the best catalyst, however iCat scales
only with Magic, whereas ToB scales with both Faith and Magic. Now the Magic
scaling on iCat is superior to either the Faith/Magic scaling on ToB
individually, however the combined scaling of ToB inevitably leaves iCat in
the behing by a small margin. Here's a test I've recently performed:
iCat: 45 Magic/Any Faith = 610 Damage
ToB: 45 Magic/24 Faith = 548 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/30 Faith = 574 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/35 Faith = 588 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/40 Faith = 601 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/41 Faith = 603 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/42 Faith = 607 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/43 Faith = 610 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/44 Faith = 614 Damage
While diligent testing is largely incomplete and sensitive in nature, you can
see you're basically required to pour basically double the stats to match
iCat.
Rule of Thumb: if your Faith and Magic are equal, your ToB will out-damage your
iCat. After testing at level 712, ToB does outdamage iCat by a considerable
margin. There are two exceptions to this rule: Light Weapon and Enchant Weapon.
They will always have superior results with iCat.
This obviously isn't for everyone at the SL120 range.
However, a build based on this could really catch up at SL 140 where most
builds have run into walls of diminishing gains, by SL 140 you can make up the
Vitality gap seen in gouged builds, and be shy a small portion of HP from most
melee classes. I may outline a �ToB Push� build later.
From a strict PvP standpoint, it's very narrow, requires precise building and
playing since you are allotted lower Vitality than traditional iCat caster
builds if aiming for SL 120 (making such a build too much of stat spread).
From a PvE standpoint, it turns the game into a total joke. Incredible
leveling gains and the ability to utterly annihilate anything though several
NG+s.
You can certainly make it fly if you're willing to make some concessions to
Vitality and Intelligence if you're craving a pure caster however.
-----------------------------------------------
===(0011) - Hijacking spells from Sage Freke===
-----------------------------------------------
It is widely considered that 10 Magic is required to learn spells. This is a
falsehood in two repects:
1) Yuria has no requirement for teaching spells.
2) Although Sage Freke does indeed require 10 Magic, he doesn't seem to have
any problem with you learning his spells, and then deleving your Magic stat
to base.
This is good for a few reasons. Mainly, you can learn Curse Weapon without
pumping Magic to 10 (Yuria teches this regardless), and if Freke has any
spells you'd like (Warding, Cloak, Clouds) you can learn them without
investing 4 points into Magic (well, not permanently investing them that is).
This is a rather large boon for Faith builds that have free spell slots, and
nothing to do with them. It's also great for dual Katana wielders that rely
heavily on off-hand combos, and feel as though they would be better served by
say Warding over Curse Weapon (rare, but it's popping up at higher levels of
play).
--------------------------------------
Suggested Spells to Hijack from Freke:
--------------------------------------
- All Clouds
- Warding
- Cloak
-----------------------------------------
===(00CT) - Character Tendency and You===
-----------------------------------------
One basic game mechanic I will discuss briefly is Character Tendency (or �CT�)
and it's relevance to PvP. CT is a stat that hinges on your overall alignment
towards good or evil (so to speak).
Basically if you kill hosts or Blue Phantoms as an invader your CT shifts
towards Black (or if you kill friendly NPCs in your own world).
If you kill specific in-game NPC BPs or invading player BPs your CT shifts
towards White.
Pretty obvious stuff you probably already know. However CT alters a few things
in PvP:
1) With Black CT you will deal more damage as a BP.
2) With White CT you will deal more damage as a Blue Phantom, or whenever
you're playing in your own game as a host or in soul form.
3) Black or white CT is required to effectively handle Northern Regalia
(obviously, and yes, Demonbrand/Soulbrand).
The big thing of note here is of course the damage.
The figures I've been provided with by GameFAQs user Garl_Vinland (a cool
handle) look something like this:
For Blue Phantoms/Hosts:
Black CT = +10%
Neutral CT = +20%
White CT = +30%
For Black Phantoms:
Black CT = +30%
Neutral CT = +20%
White CT = +10%
Regardless of the exact figures, they're at large unimportant. All that you
really need to know is this: Keep your CT working for you at all times.
If you're constantly bouncing between being an invader and being a host you're
putting yourself at a disadvantage. The �fix� to this simple enough to execute
however:
- If you like to invade... keep invading!
- If you like to host... keep hosting!
Most of the time you're going to have the CT that best serves you, but if
you're trying to squeeze the most possible damage out of your character keep
this information in mind.
-------------------
=== Comparisons ===
-------------------
Here we'll briefly discuss some more open-ended material. We'll be comparing
shields, weapon buffs, status attacks, and Warding Versus Second Chance.
Nothing fancy... let's get to it!
--------------=--------------------------------
===(0012) - Shield Math (a brief comparison)===
-----------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Purple Flame Shield +10 facts:
------------------------------
- Purple Flame Shield (PFS) is a heavy shield, with L2 you can shield bash.
- Requires 22 Strength.
- Can be upgraded to +10 using Hardstone.
- At +10 has 100% physical damage reduction on block, 90% fire damage
reduction, and 40% magic damage reduction. It has 82% hit resistance.
----------------------------
Dark Silver Shield +5 facts:
----------------------------
- Dark Silver Shield (DSS) is a light shield, with L2 you can perform a parry.
- Requires 16 Strength.
- Can be upgraded to +5 using Colorless Demon Souls.
- At +5 has 100% physical damage reduction on block, 70% fire damage
reduction, and 100% magic damage reduction. It has 65% hit resistance.
- Gives you a passive magic damage reduction on both attack, and defense
(similar to Ring of Magical Dullness).
-----------------------
Steel Shield +10 facts:
-----------------------
- Steel Shield is a heavy shield, with L2 you can shield bash.
- Requires 18 Strength.
- Can be upgraded to +10 using Hardstone.
- At +10 has 100% physical damage reduction on block, 37% fire damage
reduction, and 30% magic damage reduction. It has 82% hit resistance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 3x Small Shields (Heater Shield +10, Kite Shield +10, Knight Shield +10)
facts:
------
- All 3 shields are light shields, with L2 you can perform a parry.
- Heater Shield requires 11 Strength, Kite Shield requires 12 Strength, and
Knight Shield requires 16 Strength.
- All 3 can be upgraded to +10 using Hardstone.
- All 3 at have 100% physical damage reduction on block, 70% fire damage
reduction, and 30% magic damage reduction.
- At +10 Heater Shield has 72% hit resistance, Kite Shield has 75% hit
resistance, and Knight Shield has 78% hit resistance.
----------------------
Tower Shield +5 Facts:
----------------------
- Tower Shield is a heavy shield, with L2 you can shield bash.
- Requires 30 Strength.
- Can be upgraded to +5 using Colorless Demon Souls.
- At +5 has 100% physical damage reduction on block, 90% fire damage
reduction, and 70% magic damage reduction. It has 85% hit resistance.
- It should be noted, that Tower Shield tips the scales at a gargantuan 30
pounds (to give you an idea of how heavy this is, at 40 Endurance you can only
wear up to 34.5 pounds of gear before your movement becomes impeded).
------------------------------
Adjudicator's Shield +5 Facts:
------------------------------
- Adjudicator's Shield is a heavy shield, with L2 you can perform a shield
bash.
- Requires 14 Strength.
- Can be upgraded to +5 using Colorless Demon Souls.
- At +5 has 90% physical damage reduction on block, 50% fire damage reduction,
and 10% magic damage reduction. It has 50% hit resistance.
- Gives you a passive HP regeneration bonus rated at 8HP per second at +5.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
===(0013) - Basic Shield Q&A (things you should know about shields)===
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shields are an important part of the game often. 2-Handing a big weapon can
usually carry you to success, but sometimes you will need the raw speed of a
surgical tool, and the defensive capability of a fine shield. Here are some
factoids about shield use that you will need to know, alongside some questions
I've dealt with:
Q: What does �hit resistance� do?
A: It determines how much stamina will be drained on block and by extension
if an attack will crush your guard. Also when combined with stamina a
composite is determined on how the effectiveness of certain guard break
attacks (notably pushes) will affect you.
Hit resistance is the single most important attribute next to physical damage
resistance. A shield with high hit resistance will allow you to make repeated
blocks for less stamina.
Q: What's �guard crush�?
A: Guard crush is when a blocked attack successfully drains your stamina
completely though a block. You repel back, and are left wildly open. Weapons
have varying degrees of guard crushing with blunts being top choice, while
piercing weapons are the worst.
Q: What's damage resistance/damage cut%? How does it compare to hit
resistance?
A: Damage resistance is how much damage you take on a successful block
(successful block is a block which does not crush your guard). A shield with
100% damage resistance will prevent all damage to you on successful block. A
shield with less damage resistance will allow a percentage of the damage to
slip though even on a successful block (extremely bad). Only shields with
100% damage block are usable.
Damage resistance comes in three types:
- Physical (this must be 100% to even consider a shield)
- Magical
- Fire
100% physical is required, while the others are not nearly as important.
Again, hit resistance determines the amount of stamina required to block.
Q: So, I should go with a shield with the highest hit resistance then and 100%
physical damage resistance right?
A: Not quite. Hit resistance is important. But it's not the sole qualification
you should consider when choosing a shield. Consider this: the Strength
required to wield a certain shield. You should NEVER be sinking points into
Strength just to equip an afterthought item such as a shield.
Also, although hit resistance is the �Star Player� on the series of attributes
on a shield, it doesn't exactly mean it will fit your play-style the best.
Case-in-point: Dark Silver Shield. At +5 it features a so-so 65% hit
resistance, however it's the only shield that boasts 100% physical, 100%
magical, and 70% fire and it can parry. These exceedingly high damage
resistances plus the ability to nerf Large Swords/Poles with parries make it
very easy to overlook the lower hit resistance (and for good reason). A lot of
veteran players contend that DSS+5 (with it's arguably bad hit resistance) is
the best shield in the game.
Q: Why do you list Heater Shield/Kite Shield/Knight's Shield as the �3x Small
Shields?�
A: Because they are very functionally similar with each having only slight
changes in required Strength and maximum hit resistance.
These are all commonly overlooked shields that are great for low Strength
builds. A lot of builds boost Strength for the minimum 16 required for DSS
when any of these shields would have been an excellent substitute (in the case
of Knight's Shield, if you have 16 Strength and crave greater hit resistance
it's a great choice).
Q: How come you don't talk about the �Dark� upgrade path?
A: Because it sucks hard. Your hit resistance is locked-in when you start on
this upgrade path which makes it useless. All it does is make really bad
versions of a DSS+5.
Q: Why is Steel Shield on here and Large Brushwood/Rune Shield and some of the
other light shields not in your list?
A: Steel Shield is Demon's Souls biggest secret. It has 82% hit resistance on
a shield that only requires 18 Strength! The big thing here is that a lot of
Dexterity builds (and Blueblood build) stop at 18 Strength to use
Hiltless/uchigatana, and default to DSS+5, while not knowing about the
awesomeness of Steel Shield +10. Some builds even boost Strength to 22 to use
a PFS+10, which is a huge mistake.
The reason Brushwood isn't on here is because it's bad. It requires 4 more
Strength then a PFS, and you get less hit resistance in exchange for 10% more
fire resistance. That's a terrible trade-off.
The other light shields do not offer 100% damage resistance, and thus are
garbage.
Finally, Rune Shield is like a really bad version of DSS. At +5 it has a
pitiful 50% hit resistance, making it a total piece of junk. Avoid Rune
Shield. The only thing it's good for is boosting your passive magic defense...
largely unimportant (which DSS does too).
Q: DSS... what's your opinion?
A: It's incredibly good in many PvP situations. There are an many opponents
that will use Crescent +5 and Blessed +5 and other weapons (notably an Light
Weapon enchanted Cleaver/Blueblood, and Northern Regalia) that deal large
amounts of magic damage that will quickly make other shields a complete joke
regardless of hit resistance. It's in these cases that the incredible damage
resistances of DSS becomes a great advantage. If you can wear it, there's no
reason not to keep it in your inventory even if you don't have it equipped.
With the recent advent of parrying being viable in PvP, I see no reason not to
consider this the best shield in the game. My DSS has killed many foes.
Q: Wait, Adjudicator's Shield doesn't have 100% damage resistance, and
terrible hit resistance! It sucks! What gives?!
A: Well, it's not a shield per-say. Adjudicator sits on the back of players
very comfortable with their 2-handed style while it nets them 8HP per second.
It's more of an accessory than a shield. And when combined with the might of a
+5 Blessed weapon and the Regenerator's Ring, you're going to be recouping
18HP per second. For blocking, it's absolute trash however.
Q: Tower Shield... what's your opinion?
A: It's really heavy. Like, if you're willing to make mad sacrifices for an
extra 3% hit resistance over PFS/Steel Shield, then power to you. Some people
swear by Tower Shield... but more often then not it's people that make their
character accommodate the build for a shield. This is the exact opposite of a
tuned build: messing with everything for a small contrivance like a shield.
Q: What's your number one piece of shield-related advice?
A: Make your shield work for your build, not the other way around.
------------------------------------------------------
===(0014) - Weapon Buffs Part 1: Which is the best?===
------------------------------------------------------
If you're playing with weapons that can be buffed in PvP you'll want to buff
them. It just goes without saying. BBS builds are a joke without buffing, and
Crushing builds aren't far behind. Sure, you can still kill people with
relative ease, but if a buff saves you one swing, it's worth it. Dueling is
largely a game of spacing, and timing proper attacks/counters... in these
instances you will want to do the most damage possible.
There are several weapon buffs:
- Turpentine (disposabe item)
- Black Turpentine (disposable item)
- Sticky White Stuff (disposable item)
- Enchant Weapon (spell)
- Light Weapon (spell)
- Curse Weapon (spell)
Out of the gate, I will tell you that Light Weapon and Curse Weapon are far
and away the best. Also Turpentine and Enchant Weapon are easily the worst
(we will not discuss those Enchant/Turpentine, because they are bad frankly).
Almost always you will want to go with either Light Weapon or Curse Weapon
(the following section details an in-depth comparison of the two). The only
reasons you will ever want to go with Sticky White Stuff (SWS) or Black
Turpentine (BT) is a build choice related to how you play your character in
your meta game.
Basically, because of the abundance of Cursed Weapon, Warding has returned as
a considerable buff post cracking Second Chance at higher levels of play to
stifle the surge in builds revolving around Curse Weapon. So, if you're using
both Warding and Second Chance, and you have an enchantable weapon, you will
want to consider using SWS/BT (unless you instead opt to use a Moon/Blessed
weapon of course, for your build or meta game choice).
Naturally on Faith/Moon builds you're going to use un-enchantable weapon
anyways, but if you're a Crushing/Sharp build, and you like the idea of having
Warding in your stable, then feel free to switch up your setup as you see fit.
Once you effectively hijack all of Freke's spells, there's no reason not to
try it frankly, and no risk involved. You might like Warding as a backup in
certain duels, but you might miss the damage of Curse in the long run. Your
call.
It's not much (thus why I indicated that Curse/Light are superior adding in
the multiple 100's of damage), but it's better then nothing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(0015) - Weapon Buffs Part 2: Light Weapon versus Curse Weapon: Which and Why?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I contend that most of my writing is very accurate, and well-proven. However,
since there is some debate on the nature of this, I can only offer my
experience and the tested knowledge of others (notably TMR Raven).
Q: Right. Well, what's better Curse Weapon or Light Weapon?
A: This is going to be a long answer... so bust out your reading glasses.
Each has it's distinct set of advantages, and disadvantages. So, let's
systematically go through those.
The basics. How they work.
- To boil it down to basic fundamentals, this is what you should know:
1) Curse Weapon affects your DAMAGE ONLY, and not your ATTACK RATING (AR).
This is how much life your opponent loses AFTER ATTACK RATING (AR) VERSUS
DEFENSE HAS BEEN CALCULATED. ONCE THIS FIGURE HAS BEEN CALCULATED YOU GET 50%
MORE DAMAGE TO WHATEVER DAMAGE HITS YOUR OPPONENT'S HP BAR WHEN USING CURSE
WEAPON.
2) Light Weapon affects your ATTACK RATING (AR) ONLY. This means that the
bonus from Light Weapon is applied to your attack, and then your opponent's
defense versus your AR is calculated, then DAMAGE APPLIES NORMALLY.
This means they both work on fundamentally different levels. They apply their
bonuses differently. Here's the point-by-point:
Curse Weapon requires 3 spell slots, Light Weapon requires 2.
+1 Light Weapon
Curse Weapon requires 100MP, Light Weapon requires 50MP. However you need
Insanity Catalyst to make Light Weapon effective, so they basically costs the
same.
- Tie
Curse Weapon degrades HP over time, Light Weapon doesn't.
+1 Light Weapon
Curse Weapon's benefits greater from the 2-handed stance then Light Weapon.
+1 Curse Weapon
Light weapon has 2 distinct advantages against shields over Curse Weapon.
First, since it adds AR, it will crush blocks easier. Second, since it
provides magic AR, you can cut through all shields on block except one (Dark
Silver Shield) due to the general lack of magic damage resistance on most
shields. These are two large advantages over Curse Weapon.
+1 Light Weapon
Curse Weapon provides a 50% damage bonus as we discussed earlier (not a 50%
bonus to your Attack Rating), Light weapon adds a static AR bonus (the bonus
taken from a composite of your Magic stat and your wand's spell power).
This is one of the larger points.
What this means is that Curse Weapon isn't affected by outside factors when it
comes to the damage bonus. You get 50% more damage after physical defense
prevents damage... no questions asked.
This also means that Light Weapon when used properly can add a large bonus to
small and fast weapons (notably daggers) that Curse Weapon simply cannot rival.
The Rule of Thumb is this: 30 MAGIC + LIGHT WEAPON + INSANITY CATALYST WILL
OUTPERFORM CURSE WEAPON UP UNTIL ABOUT MID-300's IN AR!
So this is a split decision:
+1 Curse Weapon for being better on high Attack weapons
+1 Light Weapon for being better on low Attack weapons
Curse Weapon requires much less stat investment to be used properly in
unison with Second Chance (18 Intelligence, 16 Faith, and base Magic), Light
Weapon requires much more (15 Intelligence, 16 Faith, 16-30 Magic). There's a
7-21 point difference there in a basic Temple Knight build. Note that Light
Weapon shows promising gains up until about 30 Magic.
+1 Curse Weapon
Curse Weapon is effective with a �cracked� Talisman of Beasts, Light Weapon
loses loses a lot of punch when using anything other then Insanity Catalyst.
This can be a problem if you plan on using Second Chance. It means you have to
do one of the following:
a) Forgo use of a shield to wield both a talisman and an Insanity Catalyst.
b) Use Light Weapon with Talisman of Beasts severely hampering it's
effectiveness.
c) Not use Second Chance.
d) Not use a backup weapon.
e) Dig wildly through your inventory.
f) Not use a shield.
This is a really hard call, and it often means abandoning a shield or a
secondary weapon altogether in favor of simplicity (which is quite reasonable
with say Blueblood Sword).
Another downside to this is the constant switching of a talisman and Insanity
Catalyst means you have to be on the ball for taking an old spice. Notably,
not when have Insanity Catalyst equipped, and you're trying to recast Second
Chance... as you wont get enough MP back because of it's halved while Insanity
Catalyst is out.
+1 Cursed Weapon
Curse Weapon's damage bonus is physical (or rather the damage bonus is a 50%
mirror of both the amount and type of damage of the weapon it enchants), Light
Weapon's AR bonus is magic.
What this means is that you get better damage results regardless of the
numerical output when using Curse Weapon since your opponent will only be
resisting your overall physical damage. Look at damage, not the number on your
character screen. Here's a theoretical example:
1) We have a 300 attack rating nondescript sword.
2) We can Curse Weapon this 300 attack rating sword. It's AR remains the same,
but it's damage has increased by 50%.
3) We can Light Weapon this same weapon for 180 magical AR, to have a total of
300 physical AR and 180 magical AR (460 AR split 300/180). The figure of 180
AR is considered standard on Light Weapon with Insanity Catalyst equipped and
16 Magic.
4) Each enemy has both physical and magical AR resist (let's say on our
example enemy resists 100 physical AR and 100 magical AR). Note that physical
and magical AR resist is actually complicated to calculate on the fly, so
we're going to use these arbitrary figures for simplicity's sake.
5) The Curse Weapon sword will deal 300 minus 100 (physical AR minus physical
defense) for 200 damage on an successful attack. After this, the Cursed Weapon
bonus is applied. The attack will instead deal 300 damage (200 damage +50%).
6) The Light Weapon sword will deal 300 minus 100 (physical AR minus physical
defense) and 180 � 100 (magical AR minus magical defense) damage for a total
of 280 damage on an successful attack.
7) The same test is conducted, except this time we have 30 Magic when we use
our combo of Insanity Catalyst & Light Weapon. This time Light Weapon enchants
our 300 damage nondescript sword for 240 magic AR (this is a tested figure).
8) The Light Weapon sword will deal 300 minus 100 (physical AR minus physical
defense) and 240 � 100 (magical AR minus magical defense) damage for a total
of 340 actual damage on an successful attack.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(0015.i) - Results and Conclusions on Light Weapon vs. Curse Weapon
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The result is that more of our Curse Weapon bonus actually made it to the
opponent's HP, and didn't get sucked up by magic defense initially. However,
as we added a 30 Magic version of Light Weapon + Insanity Catalyst we got
better results. However, these figures aren't accurate and we'll get to
something more conclusive shortly.
Now keep in mind, there are some cases where the AR on Light Weapon being
magic is not relative (see: Blueblood Sword & Meat Cleaver). In both of these
cases they have existing on-board magic damage that already breaks an
opponent's magic defense. When either of these weapons are used with Light
Weapon it will make a much larger impact in damage output.
+1 Curse Weapon (after lengthy deliberation, it wins on the diversity front)
In the end, cracked Curse Weapon starts pulling away from Light Weapon +
Insanity Catalyst + 30 Magic at about the mid-300's range (despite our �test�
above Curse Weapon actually starts beating out Light Weapon at around the
340-360-ish range).
This was only in the case of weapons with equal AR (which is arguably easier
to get with the additional 21 stat points from using Curse Weapon).
- S-Ranked weapons with 90 or greater BASIC AR (+0, non-upgraded) should be
used with Cursed Weapon exclusively (exceptions being Direct hit weapon with
Master's Ring, Meat Cleaver, and Blueblood Sword).
- Weapons with 85-89 BASIC AR can be considered fair use for either Curse
Weapon or Light Weapon. However because of the 21 additional stat points
required to use Light Weapon effectively I believe again Curse Weapon has a
distinct advantage.
- Weapons below 85 BASIC AR usually benefit more from Light Weapon.
-----------------------------------------------------------
===(0016) - Warding versus Second Chance: Which and Why?===
-----------------------------------------------------------
As you may have noticed, in all of the builds 16 Faith is mandatory. This is
to access Second Chance, which I, and a good chunk of the PvP populace believe
is superior to Warding. Let's discuss why in another point-by-point:
- Warding provides a massive boost to physical defense, probably several times
greater then a full set of Brushwood (this may not even be the case, it could
just be a % damage cut). It costs 50MP, and 2 spell slots. It lasts for 40
seconds only, and must be rebuffed after its duration. It should be noted that
the defense bonus granted by Warding does not hinge on Magic stat/Spell Assist
like previously believed (it used to be widely believed that Warding's
effectiveness was determined by Magic stat, but I can tell you that with my
diligent testing that this simply isn't the case). This means it retains it's
full effectiveness with a Cracked ToB.
- Second Chance returns you to life with 50% of your life total once you die.
It costs 100MP, and two miracle slots. It lasts indefinitely (until it's
"broken"), then must be reapplied.
- Warding wears off within it's 40 seconds, Second Chance doesn't. This is
probably one of the larger advantages to Second Chance (SC).
- Second Chance provides an advantage against magic damage while Warding
doesn't. This is especially important with the arbitrarily large number of
Faith builds out there, and the growing number of battle mages sporting deadly
Moon weapons, and of course the ever looming threat of BBS. This advantage to
Warding is massive.
- Warding protects much better then SC in situations where it's good. This is
great when your opponent is smacking extra hard with Curse Weapon
Crushing/Sharp weapons allowing you to take several hits with little worry
instead of 3-5.
- Warding can be cast quickly in combat, and is very difficult to interrupt.
This is important for a spell that has a 40 second time limit, and/or you're
in heated combat. Mainly, being able to cast it in combat rather easily makes
it a large boon.
- Both can be effectively used with a cracked ToB. Awesome.
------------
The Verdict:
------------
- Overall SC wins, it's simply much more diverse. Keep reading however.
Not having to reapply it, and its enduring degree of usefulness in every
situation simply beats Warding's set of advantages.
If you have to choose one, always choose SC. That doesn't discourage me from
saying using Warding is incredibly good too in unison with SC. The meta-game
is shifting towards players using both Warding and Second Chance if they can
swing it (battle mages, Faith builds, NR builds, and even Dexterity builds with
2 Katanas are throwing out Curse Weapon in favor of Warding). With the rapid
cast speed on Warding, it's easy to use in heated combat (unlike the slow
casting speed of SC).
The fact the some of the advanced Katana players are switching to Warding and
buffing with Sticky White Stuff/Black Turpentine is a very strong testament to
how good Warding is in the ever-evolving meta. While Strength/BBS builds
largely may not access it without sacrificing their very essential buffs, I
expect at higher levels of play Warding backups post cracking SC will become a
considerable contender, and likely more common. Also, other then time, there's
virtually no sacrifice to learning it (level to 10 Magic, learn Warding,
decrease back to base 6, use Yuria to remember spells).
=========================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional submission on Warding submitted by GameFAQs user, Aneed4speed:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
"So in my invading session today I was lucky enough to come across quite a few
'Warders' who managed to give me a few backstabbing opportunities. I recorded
the damage inflicted with Warding on and off - thanks to cousin who has
nothing better to do. Anyways here are the figures:
My SL was 100, and Dex at 34. I was using a Cursed Sharp Uchigatana +5. I got
to BS 4 blues both with and without Warding. The hosts all had SC... nice
combination IMO. It should be noted I was also wearing a Foe's Ring.
Blue #1
- 356 damage with Warding
- 1106 damage without Warding (lethal)
(Damage cut to 31%)
Blue #2
- 312 damage with Warding
- 1005 damage without Warding (lethal)
(Damage cut to 32%)
Blue #3
- 398 damage with Warding
- 1178 damage without Warding (lethal)
(Damage cut to 29%)
Blue #4
- 298 damage with Warding
- 1002 damage without Warding (lethal)
(Damage cut to 33%)
Warding does work!"
------------------------
Additional notes by EWGF
------------------------
I would also like to thank Aneed4speed's cousin.
Good job on the paperwork sir.
As you can see, this supports my long-standing theory that Warding cuts
damage by about 66% or so to about a 3rd. This makes you exactly twice as
tough as a Second Chance user in regards to all-physical damage (it's actually
4 times more effective though from a mathematical outlook):
- Second Chance provides 50% more life. 150% life in total.
- Warding takes damage to about a 3rd, which basically provides 200% more
life. This gives you 300% life in total.
The only real variable is when your SC cracks. Say you're using SC and you
have 100 HP remaining, and you get hit by a Cursed Hiltless BS. Well, it's
only going to take the remaining HP in your 1st bar (100 HP) and not go into
your 50% SC bar. So, instead of taking 1000+ damage, you take 100 instead.
This may be dreadfully obvious to most PvP players, but I probably should have
outlined it earlier anyways.
The point here is that this is in fact a neat little pseudo damage prevention
inherent in Second Chance.
------------------------------------------------------------
===(0017) - Negative Status (Plague vs. Poison vs. Bleed)===
------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, there are 3 negative status effects in the game:
- Bleed
- Poison
- Plague
Right out of the gate I'll tell you that Bleed is total junk. Yes, I said it.
I don't care if it's the 600 Bleed damage from a +5 Makoto, it's still outright
trash. Forget Bleed, it sucks. The problem with Bleed is that damage over time
by itself is a total joke. You can heal through it with relative ease, while
with Plague/Poison this can be a little more risky and difficult.
The real competition here is between Poison and Plague. Let's review:
- Poison steadily lowers HP (rated at 5HP per second). Nothing fancy there
really. However it also cuts heal effectiveness in half. That's the real
beauty of it. That means a New Moon grass will only give them 50% of their bar
back... pretty good seeing as people generally pop heals when they're in dire
straits. Endurance governs ones ability to resist Poison. Weapons that can
inflict Poison can do so through shield blocks.
- Plague is basically the same thing with a few fundamental differences. Life
loss over time (variable), and halved heal effectiveness. However it has one
large advantage over Poison: it slows stamina recovery dramatically. That's
pretty big in close fights where every ounce of stamina is a boon. Luck is the
stat that determines resistance to Plague. Weapons that can inflict Plague can
do so through shield blocks. Plague also lasts a while generally (I'm told
Death Cloud will last 10+ minutes).
Q: So, Plague is the best right? Screw Poison!
A: Yes... but that doesn't mean you should completely ignore Poison because
Plague is superior. Case in point: Poison has numerous methods of delivery,
while Plague only has 2. Also, Poison's methods of delivery are also cheaper
(on the MP front, 15MP versus 30MP) and more diverse. It's also huge that
Poison Cloud is only 1 slot, while Death Cloud is 2. This means Poison Cloud
can be paired with warding for a mere 18 Intelligence, pretty good to
consider.
For Plague you have Baby's Nail and Death Cloud.
For Poison you have any Mercury weapon, Kunai, and Poison Cloud.
This gives the diversity points largely to Poison seeing as both its weapons
are more varied in terms of play style and Poison Cloud is both cheaper and
requires less spell slots then Death Cloud. Finally, Kunai are great jamming
both poor attempts at heals and attempts at slower casting spells/miracles
(notably Second Chance).
If I were to carry a single Negative Status weapon, it would be nail for
certain... but don't let that discourage you from trying Kunai and
Poison Cloud.
---------------------------------------------------------
(0017.i) - Negative Status: When should I use it and Why?
---------------------------------------------------------
I'm a sincere advocate of Negative Status. You've probably already puzzled
that out if you've read the gear section in the builds that generally include
Baby's Nail in required gear. However, as much as I advocate it, I can tell
you to use it sparingly. Negative Status is not meant for every occasion. It's
a tool designed for specific duels. If you go around constantly trying to to
Plague/Poison people you'll die a lot. Seriously, try it against tuned
dual-wielders, and see how long you can stay alive using Negative Status
tactics. As a �tactic� it's meant to be used under specific conditions.
There are two exceptions to using Negative Status in duels where you don't
think you'll need it:
1) Laying a Cloud post backstab is always a good tactic.
2) Using Kunai to punish sloppy heals, FS spam, and sloppy attempts at
re-buffing Second Chance.
The time I find myself reaching for my Nail/Mercury Uchigatana is when I'm
invading usually (generally BPs hover around the 1000HP area and really don't
require Negative Status tactics to claim victory).
Another thing is that Faith/Moon builds can sometimes have trouble with
HP-gouged hosts due to inferior damage (I go for status attacks most often on
my Faith build, as it can be hard to finish someone with a Great Axe especially
if they're tight on heals). Faith builds also have free spell slots potentially
for clouds, which means you don't have to dig through your inventory to swap
to a status weapon.
Hosts that land solid heals and are one or more of the following are usually
suitable targets for Negative Status:
1) Exceptional turtles
2) Incredibly HP-gouged
3) Use Stormruler/Great Swords for free heals
Again, if you're getting wrecked, try to focus on staying alive instead (go
figure). Use your judgment on this. Negative status at its best is designed to
tip close duels in your favor. You can win battles of attrition this way.
Keep in mind that if your opponent has Darkmoon/Lotuses in his belt, forget
status attacks. They're entirely garbage in these instances.
----------------
===Techniques===
----------------
"Technique is what you fall back on when you run out of inspiration."
- Rudolf Nureyev
PvP at it's most basic levels can be boiled down to two things:
- Spacing
- Timing attacks
Correct spacing is fundamental in achieving victory in PvP as well as
properly timing attacks. This in PvP in it's most rudimentary form, and as
such should always be considered.
With that being said both of these things are incredibly intuitive. You will
generally attack when you believe you can land a hit, and space yourself and
evade to avoid being hit. There isn't much to say there.
However, there are a near infinite other techniques involved in blocking,
using specific weapons, parrying, backstabbing, and other techniques that are
slightly less intuitive. All weapon setups except one can be boiled down to
making a series of basic judgment calls on when to swing, and what swing to
use (the only clear exception is using an off-hand Katana).
Backstabs and ripostes are a bit more technique-intensive and you can easily
benefit from a bit of extra knowledge on how to execute them if you aren't
familiar with them. Herein we'll discuss some techniques, and setups
commonly
found in PvP.
------------------------------------------------------------
===(0018) - Off-hand Katana/dual wielding: broken as hell===
------------------------------------------------------------
Arguably, the only way to fight with two weapons in PvP is with a Katana in the
off-hand and specific weapons in the main-hand (although I'm guessing there's
probably more undiscovered beauties like this).
It goes like this:
Due to the crazy off-hand swing speed of Katana, you can chain off-hand swings
with main-hand pushes. Only certain weapons have the push speed available to
make this work (other Katanas, 1-handed Swords, Daggers, Spears, Poles etc).
This stunlock is completely inescapable if performed correctly with the right
main-hand weapon. Also, since all your attacks are preceded by a push, you do
incredible bonus damage (it's not uncommon to crack close to 2k while
invading if using a main-hand Dagger for a 6-hit combo). The amount of hits
you can chain depends on the stamina drain of the push weapon when used for a
push. I can tell you that a dagger allows one extra swing if used as a push
weapon over a Katana.
Naturally, the inclination is to go towards a main-hand Katana, because it's
the Golden Standard. Also, you can chain off of a running slash which is great.
Harassing swings and killer combos wrapped together with the broken Phantom
Hitting of R1 to L1. This is a fine combo, however, mess around with what you
like. "Try Stuff" is basically the moral of the story (I find myself griping
about the lack of push for both small Asian swords and Rapiers).
At high levels of play, this is one of the setups you'll see commonly. And
most people who use it, are extremely good with it. I've never fought bad 2x
Katana users (just some that were better than others frankly). It should be
noted that the brokenness extends beyond a main hand Katana (although a
main-hand Katana is probably the most well-rounded because of the insane
power of its running slash). I personally use a Secret Dagger, however other
prominent PvP players around use everything from Winged Spears to Sais.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Help! I'm having major problems fight against 2x katanas! What can I do?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A: Of all setups I get mail/questions about, handling tough dual Katana players
is the most common aside from poles.
There isn't too terribly much depending on what you're packing.
Rapier/Shield combo is the only truly less-then-favorable matchup for katanas.
The blocking poke punishes them at almost every turn, and almost completely
eliminates BS games (due to a glitch outlined in the Backstab section).
The same could be said about Spear/Shield combos using while-blocking pokes,
but it's not quite as effective.
If it's Cursed Hiltless you're looking at, go for the highest Hit resist shield
you can handle reasonably (probably a +10 Steel shield, or a +10 Knight), and
go to town. They can't crush guards at all, and will constantly eat pokes.
Since this setup largely eliminates BSes, the incentive will be to punish
only you on your errors. The only clear counter a katana player has is the
relative ease of parrying blocking pokes.
Scraping Spear when used in such a way almost makes it impossible for a dual
Katana player to win seeing as a mere 7 swipes or so will destroy a katana. In
this case the onus is on the katana player to win almost immediately, which is
exceedingly hard considering they can't easily bypass your block. Scraping
Spear with a shield is a setup almost anyone can use.
Poles and Great Axe/Blunts can still give Katanas a good run for their money:
- Cursed Poles can still kill a person regardless of skill levels with complete
ease. Also, 2-handed R2 has Hyper Armor, which allows you to use it much like
a Great Axe R1. Pole R2 into a R1 string has some merits, letting you swing
suicidally into potential deadly katana strings much like a Great Axe, and make
a trade in your favor. It doesn't stunlock, unless the katana player decides
to make a 2nd swing between your R2 and your first R1.
- Great Axe still has it's Hyper Armor 1-2-3 combo which can punish sloppy
katana thrusts (or anything) with a swift death.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(0019) - Parrying in PvP: Setup Parries & Blind Parries: a brief primer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
What is a parry/riposte?
If you have a parrying shield on your left hand (all Light Shields aside from
Spiked Shield) you can deflect an enemy's attack with a properly timed L2 parry
that will put them in a critical state for a brief period (they can't move
while in this critical state). During this time most normal hits will deal
Direct Damage. However, you can also do a special riposte attack (R1) that will
do a TON of damage. Ripostes are extremely lethal in PvP, often taking a full
bar of life. Fatal Estoc with a Foe's Ring will do somewheres in the
neighborhood of 1700 damage on riposte in PvP. That means it will kill anyone
in one shot with under 60+ Vitality quite consistently (at least cracking their
Second Chance). Even weapons not designed for ripostes will easily crack the
1k mark, which is nothing to scoff at.
There is a consensus online that parrying is impossible in PvP due to the
invariable lag between players. This is somewhat true. Players do lag, making
parries impossible without proper training. But I am here to say that parries
are quite viable with some diligent practice. Naturally, this is something that
has migrated from Asian servers, and it's no surprise that it's extremely
tricky, and requires large amounts of practice.
The main thing is you need to unlearn everything about parrying from PvM, and
instead focus on the rules I'm about to outline below.
- The difference between parries in PvP and parries in PvM:
In PvM parrying is simple. You use a visual reference of your opponent's attack
to properly time a successful parry. In PvP, it's not like that due to lag
(thus the consensus that parrying it impossible). However, it can still be
done with almost the same level of accuracy as in PvM once you get used to it.
Don't just go out and randomly try to parry in PvP without some practice. Try
a friendly Red Stone duel with somebody you know to puzzle out the timing.
Bring a whole host of unmodified/clean weapons to practice with. Switch back
and forth between them constantly, and get a feel for each one.
Get ready to lose some duels too while learning this. It wont come instantly.
In fact I'll attest that I'm still losing throwing this out, however I'm also
improving at it.
Each weapon in both 1-handed and 2-handed stance has a different parry window.
Some are excruciatingly difficult to parry (1-handed Swords I found to be the
hardest in either stance, almost impossible in even a practice setting for my
skill level for now), while some are simple (Katanas, Hammers, Large Swords,
Spears).
THE GOLDEN RULE: Poles, Large Swords, Spears, Rapiers and Uchigatana pushes
combos are the easiest. Everything else will take plenty of practice. If you're
not comfortable parrying it, don't force it if it's a difficult duel you're
in. Save it for opponents that aren't exactly top-notch, or if you going to
play defense (farm BPs). Also keep in mind that some weapons are simply too
fast to consistently land Setup Parries. Perfect it in practice first... then
apply it to PvP.
We are going to talk about 2 types of parries:
- Setup Parries
- Blind Parries
--------------------------------
(0019.i) - Setup Parries & Notes
--------------------------------
- When trying to line up a Setup Parry... you're required to block the first
hit generally. In PvM you can do a Blind Parry on your opponent's first
strike... however in PvP this is exceedingly difficult to start with, which is
the biggest contributing factor that led to the consensus that it's impossible.
Thus a �Setup Parry� is creating a trap by blocking the 1st hit in a series of
R1 attacks and parrying the 2nd.
Rule #1: you are required to block the first hit (as such a shield must be
used... off-hand parrying weapons will not work). Also, this makes unblockable
weapons impossible to parry due to staggers.
- Once the first hit is blocked you are ready to parry the following strike if
your opponent follows up with another hit.
Rule #2: you can only parry the 2nd hit or beyond in a succession of string
hits.
- There is no visual reference to follow due to lag... but generally after the
first hit lands, immediately perform a parry (they may not even be swinging
yet) to land a successful parry. Certain slow weapons require a slight delay
(�delay� being relative... we're talking about milliseconds here).
Rule #3: after the first hit lands on your shield... parry almost immediately
regardless of what is represented visually.
- Sometimes after scoring the parry you will need to approach your target
slightly to land your riposte. If you don't, you'll simply attack normally
(this can actually be good with a high stunlock weapon). The period of time
between a parry and a riposte is often referred to as either �Riposte Time� or
a �Riposte Window�. You get used to feeling this out with some practice. I
never tested it with a stop watch, but I believe it's about a second and a
half give-or-take a few milliseconds.
Rule #4: scoring the parry is only half of it... you still have to land your
riposte. Approach your target. With practice you will get a feel for your
Riposte Window.
As side note to riposting, you do have time to do things between the parry
animation, and when you can score a riposte (IE you can do stuff during
Riposte Time). I practiced my Setup Parries originally in the following
fashion in PvP:
1) Block the first hit.
2) Parry the second.
3) Switch to two-handing my Great Axe while simultaneously approaching my
target during Riposte Time.
4) Perform the riposte.
You can switch gear between the parry and the riposte. This isn't practical
generally out of the gate, but I've grown accustomed to switching to 2-handing
my Great Axe while in Riposte Time (as I can't actually hold my Great Axe
one-handed).
-------------------------
(0019.ii) - Blind Parries
-------------------------
Blind Parries are parrying the first hit in a string of attacks (being "blind"
for almost a total lack of assumption). Once you get use to Setup Parries you
can generally give Blind Parries a shot.
These will really surprise (and kill) people. There's nothing like parrying
the dashing thrust of a katana. Basically, your timing and the knowledge of
your opponent's attack patterns must be great since you don't have the time
between blocking your opponent's first attack into parrying their second to
puzzle out what you're going to do. This makes Blind Parries fundamentally
more dangerous in nature, and prone to whiffing. You have to commit to a Blind
Parry, and you also don't have the luxury of a raised shield beforehand to
repel swings.
The clear advantages are that since you're not fishing for R1 strings you can
parry opponents that expect Setup Parries and do not R1 spam into a raised
shield (or attacks that are just too fast to consistently Setup Parry). You
can also parry single attacks that aren't normally followed by a second swing.
Also, since you aren't required to block the first hit, parrying weapons can
be used.
I've learned using it on telegraphed swings (Katana thrusts, DBS 1-handed R1,
Sais/Hammer 2-handed R1, and Large Swords), but so far, so good ("so good"
being relative, each hit has it's own parry window, but they're all generally
quite early in terms of swing animation... in other words, I'm still eating
hits as I sort it all out). But I've advanced into some pretty tricky
territory like rolling into BBS R1 spam and parrying instantly (I've gotten
this to work quite a bit now).
There are no particular rules or techniques to this style of parrying other
than you need incredible timing, and the ability to predict your opponent very
accurately. One �suggestion� I didn't mention on Setup Parries (although it
applies to Blind Parries too) is don't spam parries if you whiff on your
attempt. This will get you killed fast. If you miss, raise your shield and
evade (if using a parrying weapon, just evade).
Although if you parry spam you might land the occasional parry now and again,
more often then not you'll simply die incredibly fast. I still see self-labeled
�advanced� riposting players that spam parries wildly every time you get near
them. I almost always feign attacks, and then punish with a backstab (although
going R1 to R2 works nicely too). Spamming parries is also incredibly ugly,
and sucks all of the style out of it.
-----------------------------------------
(0019.iii) - A few final notes on parries
-----------------------------------------
- Although there are reports of 2-handed Great Weapons being parried in this
way (while-rolling GA R1), I haven't seen it or done it. I've tried at length
with GA while-rolling R1 & GA 1-2-3, but with no results. I'm inclined to say
these testimonies were false, or lag-related (weapon glitched).
- If you get hit-staggered but still score a successful parry, if you're quick
you can still land a riposte. Sprint quickly towards your opponent while you're
in Riposte Time (he can't move, remember) and attempt a riposte. Sometimes you
will do a glitchy dashing slash right through them that looks pretty sweet,
while they slump to the ground in a normal riposte animation and take their
riposte damage.
- Daggers, 1-Handed Swords, Rapiers, and Katanas all provide increased riposte
damage over other weapons of equal attack power (the same for backstabs).
Cursed Hiltless will deal the most riposte damage possible with Fatal Estoc
following. This of course is in conjunction with proper stat allocation.
- I consider parrying an opponent that doesn't want to be parried probably the
most difficult thing to do in PvP. It's also the most stylish.
----------------------------------
(0020) - Backstabs: a brief primer
----------------------------------
Backstabs (BS) are great. They hurt a lot, look swell, and with a bit of
practice and some know how you can land them nearly at will against many
players. A backstab is fundamentally what happens when you score an attack at
a specific range and angle on a standing (or even rolling) opponent. If
performed correctly, you will critical your opponent for a large sum of damage.
Many players rely on this tactic to see them to victory (see: Fatal players,
good players, anybody), and for a good reason: It works.
Like anything, at higher levels of play it becomes more difficult. Good
opponents cannot be BSed as easily as poor ones. This stands to reason just
like anything else. Before we get into a few advanced techniques, we're going
to discuss the basics.
Although we wont cover all the techniques, or every nuance to them, we're going
to go over a few for certain in some level of detail (at least the ones that
have worked well for me, and other contributors). Because of this I consider
this section at large incomplete. Here' are a few factoids to get us started:
- The angle to perform a backstab does not require you to be totally facing an
opponent's back. If you're on your opponent's peripheral and you have the
proper angle you can still score a BS.
- Rolling can often cause BSes to not deal damage due to a clear glitch. I'm
not sure which part is the glitch however... the fact that you can BS someone
while they're rolling, or the fact that it deals no damage. If you're going
for a heal and you expect a BS attempt, feel free to mash roll. Often you wont
take damage.
A very similar glitch I've discovered makes BSing an opponent who's locked-on
to you with a raised shield basically impossible. Almost 100% of the time the
BS will not deal damage.
- After scoring a successful BS often the best tactic is to munch a quick
grass/spice. You can also lay a cloud if you have one, or worse a Firestorm.
Often since your opponent has invincibility frames while rising, it's unwise
to spam attacks, as they will usually roll spam to safety.
The only other tactic of note is repositioning for a 2nd BS (BS
Chaining), but often players will roll spam on wakeup meaning you will
seldom be rewarded with damage.
- Daggers, 1-Handed Swords, Rapiers and Katanas all provide increased BS
damage over other weapons of equal attack power (the same for ripostes). Cursed
Hiltless will deal the most BS damage possible with Fatal Estoc following
barring of course proper stat allocation. Basically anything with potential
piercing damage.
- Certain BS tactics are prone to punishment/jamming by weapons with quick
arching swings. Keep this in mind when attempting some of the techniques I
will outline later.
- When you enter a BS animation, you're invincible. Nice when facing down
multiple foes, who will spam into your back while you're backstabbing.
- Two people can backstab each other simultaneously. This is something you can
expect to see at higher levels of play... and is commonly referred to as
�Counter BS�. What will often happen is both players will appear to be BSed at
the same time, but neither will take damage.
-------------
BS Techniques
-------------
Here we're going to discuss some basic techniques. Although they initially
have much disctinction between them, as your BS game evolves you will likely
make a blend of these, and other BS techniques not discussed here.
Try these out, and experiment on your own.
I have included swell little paint drawings to give you some visual
assistance. Make a note of them.
----------------------------------------------------------------
(0020.i) - Pivot BS (otherwise known as Unlocked BS, Running BS)
----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
Visual Aid:
---------------------------------------------------
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/9623/pivot2g.jpg
---------------------------------------------------
Pivot BS is the standard non-lock BS attempt. It's fast, and although initially
tricky, it becomes rather easy, and it's the best BS to train you for other
styles.
Basically, you disengage lock, and sprint towards your opponent's right or
left side. Once you reach a proper angle, simply turn and attack (the degree
does not have to be 180, as long as you're in their deep peripheral, it will
work).
This is a great way to get the hang of non-locking BS attempts, and works
wonders. Some weapons can swing punish it, so try to alternate between right
and left attempts (swings that can punish to one side can't necessarily punish
to the other as easily). This is also the easiest BS to see coming, and people
will often attempt a Counter BS.
-----------------------
(0020.ii) - Circular BS
-----------------------
-----------
Visual Aid:
------------------------------------------------------
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/8963/circularbs.jpg
------------------------------------------------------
Circular BS is a great way to spice up your BS game with a lot of the basic
skills you can pick up from learning Pivot BS (naturally... it's mostly just a
variation on a Pivot BS).
Basically, you engage your opponent in largely a straight line (lock-on off of
course), and run a semi-circle around them and effectively angle yourself in a
backstab position to score your BS. A pivot isn't necessary in many instances
depending on how tight the arc on your circular movement is. Naturally, it can
also be done without a long approach by simply circling.
This is a great BS attempt that has some interesting things to note.
Since the only thing that's really important is the circular arc, you can go
for it at close range. Also, if you approach in a straight line opponents will
have a more difficult time trying to guess which way you're going, or if
you're even attempting a BS. It also dodges swing punishing a little bit better
(although you're pretty prone to random panic spam a bit more).
All-in-all, still great.
-----------------------
(0020.iii) � Rolling BS
-----------------------
-----------
Visual Aid:
-----------------------------------------------------
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/7328/rollingbs.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------
This one is the trickiest of the three methods outlined here, but it's also
one of the neatest.
First off, it's designed to be done at close range, with lock engaged. This
varies your BS game even more.
Basically, you time a roll with an opponent's swing, and effectively roll
through an opponent's attack leaving their backside exposed, thus prone to a
BS. The biggest advantage is the sheer ability to surprise an opponent with
this. But the disadvantages are obvious.
Mainly, it's not going to work well against any weapon that can panic spam
(you'll just roll through the hit, and they'll turn around and continue to
spam in your face.) Also, it's the easiest BS attempt to roll spam out of. Not
good.
Another interesting choice overall however.
----------------------
(0020.iv) � Counter BS
----------------------
-----------
Visual Aid:
-----------------------------------------------------
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/6228/counterbs.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------
This is less of a BS attempt, and more of a defensive maneuver to be used
against BS attempts on you. If you recognize an attempt at a Pivot/Circular
BS you can Counter BS by attempting your own on the opposite side.
What will often happen is that both players will become BSed, but neither will
take damage (it looks rather odd frankly, as you both slump over to invisible
opponents). Awesome. If you're counter BSed, that should tell you that you
face an opponent of at least some pedigree, and you should almost not try
another attempt outright (not yet it least).
This is where you get into mind games territory with good opponents, and
extremely tough fishing. Everything from swing punishing, whiff punishing, and
BS attempt punishing, BS attempt mixups, as well as traditional fighting will
come into play in these bouts. Good luck.
--------------------------------
(0020.v) - Lag-related BS issues
--------------------------------
You will see 3 major forms of lag-related BSes, and you should recognize these
just for the sake of knowing. Often the opponent can't help this, and you
really can't defend from them due to inherent latency problems from P2P
connections in PvP. There's not much to do, other then try your best to win in
these situations.
1) Vortex BS
Often in extremely bad connections your opponent will land a BS and it will
not register right away. Then randomly you'll just slump over in a heap from
an invisible BS animation, fall to the ground, and take BS damage with your
opponent nowheres near you. This is an extreme level of lag frankly, and there
isn't much you can do about it. Wont happen to terribly often.
2) Magnetic BS
This one is another result of major lag. You can be quite far away from your
opponent, and all the sudden you will rapidly gravitate towards them (back
first of course) and eat a BS as though there weapon was magnetic. Kind of
funny looking, but again not much fun to get hit with. These ones aren't to
terribly common either.
3) Front-side BS
This one is a product of only a small amount of lag (which actually makes it
the worst). An opponent when attempting a Pivot or Circular BS will BS you
from an agnle that appears to be almost directly in front of you. These are
the worst because often the lag is manageable, and these mostly occur in
situations when your opponent is good at landing BSes already. Although you
can swing punish if you swing early, they can frequently walk right though
your attack with Hyper Armor frames (as they've already entered into BS
invincibility from their end) and BS you. This sucks, and is quite a bit more
common then the other 2.
------------------------------------------
(0020.vi) - A few final notes on backstabs
------------------------------------------
Q: Are those all the known BS attempts?
A: No. However the only common one absent is Lock-Engaged BS, but it's very
similar to a pivot BS, except you don't pivot, and you're locked-on (go
figure).
Q: What's your biggest BS advice?
A: Knowing when to forget BS attempts. I can put anyone in the game on thier
back in PvP no problem with a BS. However, I've been laid out A LOT by R1
spam while I was reaching for BSes I shouldn't have been going for to begin
with. It's personally the biggest weakness in my game. Don't make it yours
too. Know when to drop attempting a BS.
-----------------------------------------------------
Q: Help me! I'm getting BSed all day! What can I do?!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
A: There are a few things that can lower your chance of getting BSed:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
- Pick a weapon that punishes BS attempts with it's swings.
Remember, horizontal swings although slower can generally punish better
with wide swing arcs.
- Learn to recognize BS attempts, and punish with said weapon.
Another tip is to throw your swings early, especially if you're facing off
against a strong front-side BS player (see: lagger). Throwing your swings
early will tag them better. Also, this stops them from walking through your
punishes with Hyper Frames (basically, you hit them, deal no damage, and eat
a BS). Remember, the game is running slightly ahead of what's on screen. As
such you must make the proper adjustments.
- While locked-on with a shield raised, whoever you're locked on to
will not be able to properly land BSes.
Like the rolling problem with backstabs, this one is very similar. You can
still of course take a BS while attacking even with L1 pressed, except in
the case of Rapier/Spear while-blocking R1 pokes. Estoc stuffs BSes hard
because of this problem often punishing attempts, and flat-out never
taking damage from BSes when they do land.
------------------------------
Weapon Analysis and Discussion
------------------------------
"Any tool is a weapon if you hold it right."
- Ani DiFranco
In this section, I'll be outlining weapons by category. Now, although not all
weapons of a particular type are created equal I will try in some respects to
provide you with an idea of which ones are superior to their classmates, and
thus an informed decision. Now, sometimes there are other distinctions to
think about other then simply damage (reach, available upgrade paths, etc.),
but often damage is the clinching factor. Luckily, for things like range we
usually aren't forced to make hard decisions (Claymore is the longest Large
Sword, and the highest damaging for basic versions of Large Swords, same with
Estoc for Rapiers).
Finally, this is the section where information will largely start to overlap
with previous sections (BBS notably). The information here, as well as the
information in the build-specific section will have a bit of overlap due to
the fact that some builds largely utilize 1 weapon. Just a heads up if you
find yourself reading duplicate material.
------------------------------
(0021) Large Axes/Large Blunts
------------------------------
Best in Class:
- Great Axe
- Crescent Axe
- Meat Cleaver
Worst in Class:
- Brand
- Great Club
- Dozer Axe
These weapons do absurd damage, have many uninterrupted swings, and make use of
the particularly broken while-rolling 2-handed AOE attack.
They absolutely annihilate even the hardiest blocks, and can randomly stun-lock
with their 1-2-3 combo attacks.
There's a reason that the number 1 ranked BP killer in North America
(xxDemonhunter) uses a +5 Blessed Great Axe:
- It's insanely powerful.
Trying to block something like this is almost certainly a death sentence, as
often even the first hit will guard crush all but the most determined blocks,
meaning you can eat the 2nd and 3rd hits of their combo for often death. Also,
a lot of Large Axe/Blunt attacks have a little AOE stun effect which can
prevent you from capitalizing on an axe user even if they whiff.
Also, the one-handed light attack can knock-back opponents if it lands,
allowing you to munch a grass.
Proper spacing is good against Great Axe (or the awful Brand/Dozer), meaning
they will need to rely on the while-rolling swing. However, against Cleaver
and Crescent Axe they can maintain incredible spacing with their basic combo
swings.
Katana's high speed, power, and lunging strike can make a bad matchup for Large
Axes/Blunts and so can the mighty DBS. But again, Great Axe is just one of
those �whoops, you're dead� kind of weapons that can kill you with absolutely
no warning.
It should be noted that a Cursed Crushing Great Axe can easily two shot most
BPs.
-----------------------------
Large Axes/Large Blunts Pros:
-----------------------------
- Absurd Damage.
- Generally annihilate blocks.
- While rolling attack is horribly overpowered.
- Can often swing into attacks that would normally cause a stun.
- Cleaver/Crescent Axe have great range, decent matchups against poles.
- 1st 2-handed slash of combo punishes overly aggressive attempts at
backstabbing from your left (their right).
- Sometimes potentially bad whiffs are salvaged by neat little AOEs on attacks,
stunning opponents that would normally punish you.
- Direct Hit can keep your damage variable. Good if an overly aggressive
opponent tries to make a trade in an attempt to crack your Second Chance.
- Cleaver is great with Sticky White Stuff in lieu of Curse Weapon due to
existing on-board magic damage. Good for rebuffs in heated duels.
-----------------------------
Large Axes/Large Blunts Cons:
-----------------------------
- Good grass munchers can be hard to deal with due to insanely high stamina
consumption of attacks, making it difficult to finish off evasive opponents.
- Great Axe/Brand have poor range with many attacks.
- Extra inputs resulting in whiffs are particularly bad, taking a large portion
of your stamina, as well as potentially leaving you prone to a backstab.
- Stamina pigs. 3-swing combo will drain a full stamina bar.
- The speed and power of Katanas can make for a brutal matchup. DBS users that
abuse the while-running 2-handed attack can make it hard to mount an assault.
It's better then all your swings except for the while-rolling, and attempting
to do a while-rolling swing into the dashing DBS attack is a bad trade.
- Vulnerable to rolling BS attempts.
- You never know when 1-2-3 swings will stunlock.
- Prevalence of Great Axe/Cleaver in PvP means almost everyone is decent at
fighting it.
-------------------------
(0022) - Polearms Weapons
-------------------------
Best in Class:
- Mirdan Hammer
- Sais/War Scythe
- Halberd
Worst in Class:
- Phosphorescent Pole
Experts with Polearms can be excruciatingly difficult to handle. They will
beat you with good spacing, a solid combo hits in succession, and considerable
speed. Polearms boast an unmatched mix of great damage, decent speed, decent
stamina usage, and large hit-boxes.
Pole users will almost always forgo the use of a shield to sling a +5
Adjudicator's Shield on their back for 8HP per second regeneration. All these
factors combined make for exceptionally difficult duels with very few viable
counter-strategies. Knock-back weapons (notably Cleaver and Crescent Axe) can
be quite effective using 2-handed strikes against inexperienced pole users...
but generally you must rely on exhausting their stamina bar (or it least
whiffing a swing) to first mount an assault.
This gets even harder if they're using Blessed weapons as their HP regeneration
further increases, and PFS+10 will not stop the damage on block from a Blessed
weapon (DSS+5 will, and it will also increase your passive magic damage
defense, lowering their damage on successful hits at the cost of becoming
guard crushed easier).
It should be noted that with Curse Weapon, a pole user's ability to end a
fight quickly is the stuff of legends rivaling BBS/Katana setups for sheer
killing speed. I've been killed as a host with 1500HP by a Cursed Sais in 3
hits, which tells me he was hovering in the 750+ range per strike. With the
ability to stunlock rather easily, this can mean a swift death.
The only arguable out is the relative ease to parry a Polearm, but since
generally nobody in North America parries because they simply don't know how,
poles are seen as a very cheap weapon with virtually no weaknesses. Even then
this "weakness" can be played through with some minor adjustments to how
you approach players who you believe will attempt a parry.
The bottom line is this: it's a high-damage, fast, long weapon with no real
weaknesses.
-------------
Polearm Pros:
-------------
- Great Reach.
- Solid Stunlock capabilities.
- Great damage.
- Decent against non-parrying turtle players due to shield crushing.
- Excellent both offensively and defensively.
- Prone to Phantom Hitting.
- Incredible ability to punish whiffed attacks.
- Somewhat difficult to backstab due to quick, tracking attacks.
- Low requirements.
- Combined with Curse Weapon, Sais/Hammer can obliterate people in seconds.
- Play style is easy to learn. Press R1. Repeat. Great for beginners, but
powerful enough to reach advanced levels of play.
- Even with all the counter-strategies and people used to fighting Poles, you
can still wreck even the most seasoned duelers with ease.
- One of the few weapons that can punish roll spam.
- R2 has Hyper Armor. Good for creating traps into R1 strings.
-------------
Polearm Cons:
-------------
- Virtually none. Somewhat prone to parries.
- Natural play-style (see: spam R1) can be somewhat vulnerable to Crescent Axe
and Cleaver style of attack when used by capable opponents.
- Lack of varied swings. Absolutely no mixup.
- Hate mail.
---------------------
(0023) - Asian Swords
---------------------
Best in Class:
- Kilij
- Shotel
Worst in Class:
- Everything else
The Kilij is an Asian Sword that's incredibly quick, high-damaging, and boasts
a fine stunlock in two hands. They are probably one of the best weapons in the
game for both 1-handed and 2-handed use. Kilij is by far the best in class
(except for Shotel, which is used largely for its shield evasion, and doesn't
really warrant a direct comparison).
Asian Swords are incredibly aggressive weapons that reward a ruthless style of
play. Fast jamming strikes, solid damage, good stunlocks allow you to be
relentless on your advances with all but Poles/Spears. Large Axes/Blunts
require a bit of caution due to Hyper Armor swings, but they will likely be
equally scared of you if you're playing aggressively. It also should be said
that a proper build with a decent Kilij has insane panic swinging capabilities
if you get backed into a corner.
The limitations I've outlined below are obvious, but generally Asian Swords
are backup weapons anyways. You can certainly main a +5 Kilij, but I probably
wouldn't. Not to slight it either, but it has a bad matchup against poles
(unless you're adept at parrying, then the matchup becomes solid) and has to
fish for backstabs against Great Axes/Blunts post roll-spam, and whiff punish.
It should be noted that Blind evades shields, but Shotel is a superior weapon
for this in PvP (usually, there appears to often be lag issues with the
ability to evade shields).
-----------------
Asian Sword Pros:
-----------------
- Remarkable damage, often surprises opponents. Cursed Weapon with Kilij easily
competes with higher pedigree Dexterity/Strength weapons. Really, in a 2-handed
grip a Cursed Kilij will stand on even ground with a Cursed Polearm for damage
output. Don't underestimate.
- Running/rolling attacks string nicely into R1 slash combos.
- Decent stunlocks.
- Ability to jam larger weapons on whiff with rolling/dashing R1s is gross.
Great for jamming heals if you can close that initial gap and they're itching
for grass.
- Fast, sweeping slashes can punish a lot of backstab attempts if played
properly.
- Rewards an aggressive, in-your-face style of play.
- Panic swings are nuts.
- Good Sword & Shield style.
-----------------
Asian Sword Cons:
-----------------
- All have paltry range, making Polearms in particular a horrible matchup
unless using a parrying shield.
- All but Shotel/Blind are stuffed badly by DSS+5.
- Inability to finish due to lack of long-range attacks.
- Push is replaced with silly hop attack. It has Hyper Armor... but it still
sucks.
- Combo attempts on GA/CA/Cleaver can be fatal due to uninterrupted swings.
---------------------
(0024) - Large Swords
---------------------
Best in Class:
- Claymore
- Northern Regalia
- Morion Blade (as an off-hand weapon for Hyper Mode)
- Stormruler (as a knockback tool)
Worst in Class:
- Bastard Sword
- Soulbrand/Demonbrand
- Large Sword of Moonlight
- Flameberge
Large Swords provide the biggest mixed bag in the whole game... running a large
gamut of good, so-so, and terrible weapons with 2 specialty weapons thrown in.
Claymore is the best in the class, and rightfully so. It boasts decent damage,
incredible range, and respectable shield crushing abilities. Claymores are
deceptively long, and easily poke past even a pole's comfortable range with the
wide, arcing swings (which is surprising that it's so much longer then all the
other Large Swords except for Stormruler, which really isn't a weapon).
Their ability to score hits on opponents while rolling is nothing to laugh at
either. Worth using to defend against various aggressive weapons, and to
punish roll spam alone... this thing is a solid, and largely given nothing more
then a passing glance.
It has a neat little rolling swing too that produces a nearly 180 degree arc
around your character. This can be a curse and a blessing. The swing is good,
but sometimes you throw it out after a roll when you'd much prefer a basic
2-handed swing. This often means you'll need to make a slight delay to
compensate, which will often cause you to whiff altogether anyways.
Flameberge would be total trash, but it's still marginally decent simply
because it has different upgrade paths available to it then Claymore (Sharp,
Crescent).
I still probably wouldn't make a +5 Flameberge unless I was really
bored. Bastard Sword however is absolute trash. Stick with Claymore.
Of course, who could forget Northern Regalia? Solid damage... and low
requirements. The range isn't close to Claymore, but its become a cult weapon
now online. I believe it's the most popular weapon among the average Demon's
Souls populace, and largely its own category unto itself. Directly comparing
it to Claymore is rather unwise however... since it has zero stat scaling, and
generally requires you to build around it. With that being said, it's still
insanely good.
Large Sword of Moonlight is a decent weapon, and goes largely overlooked (for
obvious reasons... it's only passable). 100% magic damage (albeit the damage
is nothing to write home about even with high Faith) and unblockability make
it an interesting weapon. Again, it's not as long or as good as Claymore, but
I've dueled with it quite a bit and was pleasantly surprised.
I would say it's pretty darn good, and sometimes it's incredible, as it's
impossible to block and thus largely parry. A neat little weapon, but not
something I would run as a main for competitive PvP with Claymore/NR still
holding the monopoly on all things that rock.
Stormruler in the right hands is a force to fear. The damage is nothing, but
its ability to send your opponent flying is no joke at all. If you see someone
with a Monk's Collar sporting Stormruler, you better believe if you get hit by
it you're going to get Firestormed as you slowly rise to your feet after eating
a hit from SR. That's bad news. It's also good if you want to heal... just
smack them, and pop some grasses and spices. The Stromruler to Firestorm
technique in particular inspires hate mail from anyone. Swell for sending folks
off ledges too.
Generally things to note are that 2-handed grip R1 can punish BS running
attempts, however it's prone to rolling BS... somewhat (�somewhat� as it
sometimes hits rolls, and the swing is not particularly slow). Also, swing fest
at point blank range can be disastrously bad, as many opponents have quicker
initiation on their swings, and improved stunlocks. If you both trade R1s under
these circumstances, you can often escape unharmed due to a brief stun.
-----------------
Large Sword Pros:
-----------------
- Basic R1 slash often punishes backstab attempts.
- Claymore has incredible reach... the rest not so much.
- Claymore can punish almost everything... the rest not so much.
- 2-handed Rolling R1 is decent. Nice for poking.
- Decent damage.
- Decent shield crushing.
- Stormruler is absurdly overpowered with anyone that uses Firestorm, and
munchers.
- 2-handed push to R1 slash is surprisingly fast, and hurts.
- Most matchups are winnable, with few being very unbalanced. The meter stick
of DS.
- Claymore is the best weapon in the game for punishing roll spam consistently.
Unreal.
- NR hurts bad, and crushes Warding. Builds that use it come equipped with
Warding, SC, and potentially other nasty spells. Also, a lot of HP.
-----------------
Large Sword Cons:
-----------------
- Ability to stunlock is weak.
- Speed leaves something to be desired.
- Easiest weapons in the game to parry if you R1 spam.
- Swing fests at point blank range can go very badly.
- Pretty stamina hungry.
- Although R1 punishes Pivot/Circular BS attempts, it's weak to Rolling BSes.
- Stormruler to Firestorm is friendship Kryptonite.
===========================================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional submission on Claymore submitted by GameFAQs user, TheDeadsider:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
===========================================================================
�Claymore's strength is the arc swing, R1 2-handed. Stop using R2. This is the
weapon designed to kill spastic gymnasts, and the trick to using it is
pressure. Get so close your rubbing shoulders with them, connect once or twice,
and see how they roll. If you swing around halfway through the animation, the
arc and range (great range for such a weapon) means you tag them again.
STOP SWINGING NOW!
They roll, you walk to follow and do it again, again and again and they'll die.
The pressure is key. Tagging them each time they roll either kills them or
draws another roll until empty. When they stop rolling out, just throw out
another swing and you're likely to connect again. Just be sure you time a
totally empty stamina bar with the death. Often they will try to counter by
rolling in weird directions, and 75% claymore will still catch them due to
range.�
----------------
(0025) - Katanas
----------------
Best in Class:
- Hiltless
- Uchigatana
- Makoto (for Low-Level Dueling)
Worst in Class:
- None
A Katana is the epitome of elegance. Speed, reach, style, power and varied
tactics of play. It's a beautiful package, one I've been advocating since I
started playing that's only really starting to show dominance now.
Everything about it is great. Including the absurdly over-powered off-hand
style.
The strengths are many, the weaknesses are few.
The style when used at its peak is very aggressive. The best players I've
fought with Katanas were virtually relentless using the 2-katana, or 2-handed
styles.
Poles can be a bad matchup, but because of the damage it falls oddly
close to a BBS in nature then anything else, where a single combo can easily
crack your Second Chance or kill you.
Rapier/Shield and Spear/Shield combos can be exceptionally difficult to handle
due to katanas utter inability to deal with a hearty block. The problem is
compounded by the while-blocking pokes of Rapiers/Spears. Again, this
often means the katana player will revert to a punishing play-style to handle
this.
Great Axe 1-2-3 can still blow away a katana player too with relative ease if
the katana player is overzealous.
Back to a Katana's strengths. You get a nicer suite harassing moves then most
weapons with such combos, and solid range at the cost of its most vicious
combo requiring a little practice to pull off unlike R1 spam. No Curse Weapon
required for two Katana style either, which is totally nuts.
Finally, the 2-handed grip is not to be underestimated, although seldom seen.
Katanas already hurt enough, but I can tell you that 2-handed grip makes them
hurt a lot worse. The R1 swings are faster, and the damage is greater, despite
combos only running 2-3 hits max, and swings being harder on the stamina bar.
Running thrust is again insanely scary in 2-handed grip with reports of it
cracking 900 damage in single stroke (setup was Curse Weapon/Hiltless/Foe Ring)
since the running thrust can actually Direct Hit. I tested it in soul form
without a Foe Ring, and achieved very close to this figure.
------------
Katana Pros:
------------
- Solid Damage.
- While running attack is horribly overpowered (probably the best attack in
the game). It can chain nicely into other attacks too.
- Off-hand swing is quick... so quick it broke the game (see next point).
- Most broken combo in the game (off-hand slash to main-hand push).
- 1-handed light slash can punish backstab attempts if thrown early enough.
- Off-hand slash can easily punish BS attempts too.
- Sword & Shield style is great for harassing and finishing.
- Most attacks have Phantom Range.
- If you get used to the push combo, then you don't even need Curse Weapon
anymore. This opens up to things like Warding/Clouds.
- 2-handed Hiltless with Curse Weapon easily competes with BBS in sheer killing
power. 2-handed grip is widely underestimated.
- Punishes heals incredibly hard in either 1-handed or 2-handed grip.
- Cursed Hiltless is on par with Fatal Estoc for riposte/BS damage. Scary.
------------
Katana Cons:
------------
- Breaks fast to Scraping Spear. 8 or so swipes.
- While running slash can be punished by Great Axe/Crescent Axe/Cleaver
R1-R1-R2/R1-R2. A really bad trade.
- Hiltless drains life even on Phantom Misses. Dumb.
- Can get wrecked easily by Hammer/Sais if careless.
- Incredibly good parry players can punish running slash. Not typical however.
- Sucks against shields.
- Spear/Rapiers used with shields can be exceedingly difficult to handle.
----------------
(0026) - Rapiers
----------------
Best in Class:
Estoc
Worst in Class:
Everything else
Rapiers (well Estoc really) are quick, damaging, and awesome counter-poking
tools (one of the best jamming weapons in the game too due to Phantom Range
and speed). All other rapiers (see: not Estoc) are at large junk, and should
be viewed as such (unless you're down with the uselessness of trash like
Mailbreaker, and Spiral Rapier). Again, damage from Cursed/Light Weapon Sharp
Estoc will often catch people off guard, as it only takes a few thrusts to
bring many opponents to the ground in PvP.
while-rolling thrust is hands down the best heal jamming move in the game.
There's no doubt about it... it stifles heals bad. In fact, its the only
weapon that can reliably stop a heal from going off in my experience.
Who could of course forget the while-blocking thrust?
After spending quite a bit of face-time with while-blocking pokes, it's
probably out-and-out the best tool for handling the ever-present Dual Katana
setup. This alone makes Estoc a strong PvP choice in a meta where a large
portion of the field uses Katanas.
With a high Hit Resistance many other weapons can succumb to this too. You'd
be shocked how well this works in a field of players who never use shields.
The only negative to while-blocking pokes is you really have to micro-manage
your stamina to accommodate both blocks, and pokes.
Its weaknesses are numerous. Its linear attacks can miss quite frequently, and
because of this you're prone to backstab tactics. Also, the stunlock capability
isn't exactly the best, and panic swinging with an Estoc will almost certainly
get you killed.
Shield blocks can cause a problem, and so can longer weapons (notably poles,
and Great Axes/Blunts that can swing into your attacks). If used as a backstab
instrument, your GA/GB matchup improves greatly.
Continuing with shields, Rapiers can fall victim to easy parries.
Finally, push has been replaced with a handsome looking retreating thrust that
doesn't seem to hit anything. Slightly better then the Asian sword replacement,
but not by much frankly, and still a poor substitute when directly compared to
a push (yes, I know it has Hyper Armor).
------------
Rapier Pros:
------------
- Solid damage.
- Certain thrusts can Phantom Hit.
- Sword & Shield style is great for both harassing, setting up parries, and
turtling with blocking jab.
- Solid 2x Katana Matchup.
- Impressive backstab/riposte damage.
- Great for jamming.
- Good Phantom Range (sometimes, it's all over the place frankly).
- Rolling thrust is solid. Best heal jamming in the game hands down.
- Incredible choice as a Fatal weapon. Best un-buffed BS/riposte in the game.
- Widely underestimated.
------------
Rapier Cons:
------------
- Linear attacks are prone to missing.
- Stuffed badly by shields. Easy to parry.
- Worst weapon for wild swinging.
- Stunlocks are mediocre at best.
- Push attack is replaced with a silly retreating thrust.
- Prone to backstab tactics due to linear attacks.
- Longer weapons can punish Rapier whiffs, and uninterrupted swings can crush
all your attacks.
- Certain styles of play require a really close watch on stamina.
- Difficult to master disruptive/punishing style of play with no panic swings
to fall back on. Aggressive opponents can be difficult to handle because of
this. Probably the most advanced weapon to use if not solely fishing for BSes.
-------------------------
(0027) - 1-Handed Swords:
-------------------------
Best in Class:
Blueblood Sword
Knight's Sword
Worst in Class:
Everything Else
1-Handed Swords provide a nice mix of almost everything at the cost of range
and only so-so damage (BBS and probably Cursed Crushing Knight's Sword are the
sole exceptions on the damage front).
You get a nice mix of 2-handed stunlocks, 1-handed harassing swings, a solid
push attack, decent BS attempt punishing, and high riposte/BS damage. Nothing
to frown about there.
But the so-so speed and lack of range however can make some common matches
excruciatingly hard (see: Pole/Spear/Claymore). Also, since the speed is less
than that of smaller Asian swords, you cant exactly jam opponents like you
would like to when compared to 1HS's Asian cousins like Kilij. Because of this,
they're slightly less aggressive, more or less waiting on your opponent to
make a mistake (this kind of makes sense to me since they have both admirable
stunlocks and increased riposte/BS damage).
This makes 1-Handed Swords potentially the trickiest weapons in the game to
play. Although BBS R1 stunlocks will see you through, you really can't say the
same for something like Blessed Knight's Sword +5. So, if you're using
something like that... how should you play it?
Mix quick 2-handed stunlocks with advanced BS/riposte attempts, and harass
with dashing 1-handed slashes, and R2 thrusts. Even then, the basic flaws of
1-Handed Swords can come down to them basically just not being strong enough.
Frankly, BBS can be played quite well with good spacing and simply 2-handed
R1s, but this isn't the case with Knight's Swords (it should be noted that BBS
is quite untypical of a 1HS).
Just like their Asian cousin, I believe (aside from the incredible brokenness
of BBS) 1-Handed Swords are probably best suited as backup weapons (although
my experience has only been with BBS/Blessed Knight's Sword & not a Cursed
Crushing Knight's Sword as I would have liked).
--------------------
1-Handed Sword Pros:
--------------------
- Punishes whiffs on slower weapons.
- 1-handed dashing attack is solid.
- 1-handed thrust attack can Phantom Hits occasionally... also it has
surprisingly good tracking.
- Incredible push attack.
- Can punish sloppy BS attempts with fast and arcing 1-handed swing and
2-handed spam.
- Good BS/riposte damage.
- 1-handed R1s are decent panic spam against certain situations. 2-handed R1s
make incredible panic spam.
- Sword & Shield style is good for fishing for ripostes/BS while still
applying pressure.
- Large variety of play styles (2-handed stunlocks, riposte/BS fishing,
1-handed harassing).
- BBS with Light Weapon/iCat can kill people in seconds. Sticky White Stuff is
still decent with BBS due to existing on-board magic damage. Good for rebuffs
in heated duels. Annihilates Warding, and is immune to Scraping Spear/Acid.
--------------------
1-Handed Sword Cons:
--------------------
- Range leaves something to be desired, matchups against Large Sword/Pole users
can be very difficult because of this.
- Matchups against shield users can be bad.
- Be weary of combo/BS attempts on Large Blunt/Large Axe users. They have
uninterrupted swings/Hyper Armor, meaning you'll potentially eat their 1-2-3
or R1 > R2 combos, and they'll eat 1 hit from you.
- Speed is only so-so for a weapon of it's range. Asian Swords trade a little
bit of range for quite a bit more speed.
- A lot of bad matchups: Large Sword/Large Blunt, Spear/Pole, Large Swords.
- BBS is painfully bad unbuffed.
- Damage is so-so aside from BBS & potentially Cursed Crushing Knight's Sword.
- Without the range and power of the exceptional BBS, 1-Handed Swords are at
large difficult to claim victories with at higher levels of play. A technical
and hard weapon to truly master once you get beneath the surface of what
appears to be a simple weapon.
----------------
(0028) - Daggers
----------------
Best in Class:
Secret Dagger
Baby's Nail
Worst in Class:
Parrying Dagger
Dagger
Daggers are neat little weapons, that are mostly what you'd expect them to be:
fast, low-damage, and incredible stamina economy.
There's no such thing as whiff punishing a Dagger, they're just too fast, and
require such little stamina to swing. Combine this with solid stunlocks, great
backstab capabilities, incredible jamming, and a really fast push and you've
got yourself a a neat little weapon. Fills multiple rolls incredibly well.
There really isn't much to say.
Also, since Negative Status can be applied through shield blocks, they're the
best weapon for Poison/Plague (the only weapon for Plague mind you) with a
single stamina bar almost always guaranteeing infection.
In terms of swings you aren't really looking at much: The 1-handed R1 spam
stunlocks nicely, and while-rolling thrust is great for probing and harassing
opponents. But hey, it's a Dagger.
The only clear downsides are the low damage, and low range... meaning you can
have an exceedingly difficult time with longer reaching weapons. Also, the
risk-to-reward when assaulting Great weapons leaves something to be desired,
as you require quite a few hits to equal one hit from them in terms of damage
output. Also, since the swing arc is very narrow, you can find yourself in the
receiving end of backstabs more then you'd like. Finally, it's not too hot
against shields.
Overall, it shines best as a backup weapon unless used as a BS tool. Low
damage at large overshadows it's use as a main.
------------
Dagger Pros:
------------
- Fast as hell. Impossible to punish.
- Best weapons for applying Negative Status.
- Solid backstab/riposte damage. Great for fishing for BS/ripostes too.
- Unreal stamina economy. You always have plenty.
- Great for jamming slower weapons.
- Rolling thrust is decent for harassing.
- Fast push speed... can be used in off-hand Katana locks.
- Interesting choice when used with 30 Magic iCat/Light Weapon combo.
- Good punishing on whiffs.
- Funnest Hyper Mode weapon in the game.
- Mad style when used as a straight-up weapon.
------------
Dagger Cons:
------------
- So-so damage makes them almost unusable as a main unless used as a BS tool.
- Short range can make Poles/Spears/Large Swords very difficult.
- Narrow, short-range swings will rarely swing punish backstab attempts.
- Engaging Large Axe/Large Blunt weapons head-on is exceptionally unwise.
- Weak against shields.
--------------------------------------
(0029) - 1-Handed Axes/1-Handed Blunts
--------------------------------------
Best in Class:
Guillotine Axe
Worst in class:
Mace
Morningstar
War Pick
Pick Axe
Battle Axe
Yes, yes... I know 1-Handed Blunts and 1-Handed Axes technically belong in
different categories, but they have similar attack patterns. None of this
matters regardless because 1-Handed Blunts (and Battle Axe) are mostly inferior
to Guillotine anyways. Out of all 6 of these weapons, Guillotine is the only
one worth using. Let's discuss.
Guillotine combines a somewhat similar package to 1-Handed Swords (obviously
things like the thrust have been changed) with Direct Hit, boosted Attack
Rating, and improved shield crushing at the cost of higher requirements,
slightly less range, and reduced BS/riposte damage. The trade is surprisingly
good, and Guillotine ends up being a powerful little package more suitable for
simply scoring stunlocks.
Crushing versions using 2-handed R1 spam in unison with Curse Weapon are oddly
close to BBS in terms of wicked point-blank stunlock potential (this is
despite AR figures, Direct Hit helps). Indeed, nothing to frown at. Panic
swings of course can absolutely beast people because of this.
Again we run into similar problems that 1-Handed Swords run into:
Range makes Pole matchups less than favorable, it's pretty short. Trading
swings with a GA/CA is bad, as generally they'll eat 1 hit and you'll eat
1-3 hits due to Hyper Armor. Be weary of combo attempts against Great
Axe/Cleaver because of this.
It loses the punch of fishing for BS/ripostes that 1-Handed Swords have for
two reasons: 1) 20 Strength for 1-handed use means a lot of Faith builds wont
use it 1-handed, and 2) as mentioned earlier the BS/riposte damage is low. It
does however improve shield matchups which is great to consider.
All in all, the damage makes it superior to Knight's Sword, and close to BBS,
but since it's a single equip in usually more traditional builds you are
offered other equips to diversify your game unlike BBS. An interesting but
fine choice as a main or a backup.
---------------------------
Pros (Guillotine Axe only):
---------------------------
- High proclivity to Direct Hit, and decent AR can make it hit pretty hard,
on par with BBS. Awesome damage.
- Solid stunlocks.
- Good panic swings. They can put people away fast in a slug fest.
- Running 2-handed R1 is decent for punishing heals.
- Decent push.
- Crushes shields incredibly well.
- Pretty sharp looking, mad style points too.
- R1 spam is decent for punishing sloppy BS attempts.
- Rewards an aggressive style of play.
-----
Cons:
-----
- Low range makes pole and other matchups less then optimal (see: Katanas).
- Attempting stunlocks on GA/CA/Cleaver can be suicide due to uninterrupted
swings/Hyper Armor.
- High Strength requirement may place 1-handed use out of some builds reach
(not so bad really, since most players will want to use it exclusively
2-handed anyways).
- Lack of variety when used alone.
-------------
(0030) Spears
-------------
Best in class:
Winged Spear
Scraping Spear
Istarelle
Worst in Class:
Short Spear
Mirdan Hammer's pokey little cousins, Spears, are an odd but interesting
choice. There is a bit to say, and they effectively combine (to some extent)
both a Rapier and a Pole with some odd results. Let's discuss.
Spears first and foremost are great for poking. I can't say that without a
little bit of laughter frankly (of course a Spear would be good for poking, why
wouldn't it be?). And the pokes are decent both 1 and 2-handed which is nice.
Of course, they have some Phantom Range on a good portion of their attacks,
and as piercing weapons they have pretty good riposte/BS damage.
It should also be noted that they can attack and block in unison which is good
against certain setups (notably 2x Katanas). Although not quite as effective
as an Estoc at dishing out hits this way, they're still really good for this.
Arguably Scraping Spear and a shield is the best answer in the game to Dual
Katanas if played properly.
Finally, they can create a push combo with a Katana, which is always swell,
and they can stunlock in the 2-handed stance which is fine too. The swing
initiation is a little bit quicker then a pole too which is nice.
Spears sacrifice a bit of damage for all this diversity over their Pole
cousins... and some people will naturally miss this. Also, the hit detection
isn't quite as large horizontally due to thrusting attacks, which is the
biggest thing you lose.
Despite being a poking weapon, they don't really have any good harassing
swings (unlike say Estoc's while-rolling swing). This is actually rather
disappointing since a swing similar to the while-rolling Dagger/Rapier would
have been have been a welcome addition. This means Spears are played very
defensively, relying more heavily on well-timed strikes with proper spacing
then almost anything else.
There isn't much to say frankly, because it's so close to a marriage between a
Pole and a Rapier and largely all these points have been gone over in some
depth in various sections (aka again don't start trying to swing into 2-handed
GA/LC/Cleaver spam or you'll die).
-----------
Spear Pros:
-----------
- Great reach.
- Solid speed.
- Phantom Range.
- Can stunlock with an off-hand Katana.
- Can attack with a raised shield. Good Katana matchups.
- Good both 1 and 2-handed. Decent stunlocks in 2-handed grip.
- Great for punishing due to speed and range. Not far off a Claymore really.
- Diverse tactics. Most of the swings aren't awful either which is nice.
- Decent panic spam in 2 hands.
- 1-handed R2 is great. Surprises people if used sparingly.
- Istarelle is greatly overlooked due to high Dexterity requirement. However,
since the physical damage is almost non-existent you can use it with Ability
Shortage, and it still works great. An interesting choice for Faith builds.
- Second strike of R2 > R2 combo catches people off guard, and hurts.
-----------
Spear Cons:
-----------
- Linear attacks seem to be more prone to missing due to horizontal hit box
being smaller (aka is misses more).
- Tracking ability is all over the place.
- 1-handed use can get you BSed.
- Low damage when compared to it's Pole cousins.
- Not terribly good against shields. Easy to block and parry.
- Scraping Spear gets mad hate mail despite the fact it's trashy.
- Extent of aggressive use involves walking into range and mashing R1. No
solid aggressive pokes/swings can make it hard to finish evasive muchers when
they're on the run. R2 > R2 is the best decent mixup overall, but it's still
not too good, and very prone to parries if predicted.
---------------------------
(0031) - Claws/Fist Weapons
---------------------------
Update Soon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(0032) Great Swords (*special thanks to Mo_Food for help with this section)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best in class:
Dragonbone Smasher
Great Sword
Worst in Class:
(None)
The biggest, baddest weapon is saved for last. Great Swords have one big thing
going for them: insane 1-shot potential.
There's not really much to say here about the rest of the good stuff. They have
massive hit detection, Phantom Range, insane knock back potential, retarded
damage modifiers on all their swings, and are slow as hell.
The strengths and weaknesses are really incredibly obvious.
Again the damage is not to be underestimated, ever. This is the only weapon in
the game that surpasses Great Axe for one-shot potential with normal swings.
Cursed DBS can BS for insane amounts of damage, bringing even the most
HP-gouged hosts to their knees.
Also, the running 2-handed R1 is the second best running attack in the game
(giving Cursed Hiltless a run for it's money). Running 2-handed R1 again has
massive 1-shot capabilities against Phantom opponents. It's safe to say that
in Phantom vs. Phantom duels Cursed DBS is going to take a full HP bar most of
the time.
Pretty good for a relatively fast swing with a massive arc and Phantom Range.
Also, at advanced levels of play, �feigning� a running swing, and going for a
pivot BS makes for tricky mind games that can often end fights with even some
experienced opponents.
Also, it's one of the few weapons that's pretty good on wakeup due to the
massive hit detection and Phantom range on most swings, you can sometimes tag
roll spam.
The 1-handed style is actually incredibly good. R2 > R1 is insanely fast, and
can catch people off guard if used sparingly.
Finally, people are terrified of these things frankly. They're just downright
scary (Cursed DBS for sure, GS not quite as much).
Now for the bad.
Almost every swing is vulnerable to rolling BS attempts, and whiffs are
exceedingly punishable from basically every weapon in the game.
Good grass munchers can be exceedingly difficult to kill if you cant 1-shot
them outright.
They absolutely cannot harass, and have very little variety of swings.
Finally, aggressive quick weapons can be a nightmare if they really start
bearing down on you. This runs the gamut from Poles to Katanas to even stuff
like a properly played Kilij and Great Axe roll spam.
Another problem is the oddly large lack of Hyper Armor on many swings is
rather discouraging frankly.
In the end, despite numerous shortcomings, GA/DBS is a contender. Although the
hefty Strength requirement may keep GS strictly in a 2-handed grip of most
Faith/Moon builds that potentially wish to use it, DBS still remains an
ever-present force on it's own.
-----------------
Great Sword Pros:
-----------------
- Cursed DBS can kill body form hosts with one backstab.
- Mind games when you're feigning running R1 But really attempting a BS can be
outright terrifying, and end duels fast.
- 1-shot capabilities against BPs/Smurfs are high.
- Massive hit detection, and Phantom Range on almost every swing.
- Knock back on almost every hit gives you free heals.
- Running R1 is the stone-cold-nuts. You can trade with any swing in the game
and often come out on top, and even score a free heal afterwards to boot.
- Can score hits on wakeup due to massive hit detection and Phantom Range even
if an opponent is roll spamming.
- Cursed DBS's insane 1-shot capability makes even it's worst matchups
winnable.
- Can potentially swing into stunlocks with it's uninterrupted attacks if well
anticipated.
- Some of the 1-handed swings are actually usable. R2 > R1 is awesome.
- Rolling 2H R1 has Hyper Armor, and can have a roll buffered in to cancel most
of the animation. Used very sparingly is can actually hit people on occasion
for insane damage. Good when used as a retreating roll (credited to GameFAQ's
user Throwmasta).
-----------------
Great Sword Cons:
-----------------
- Slowest weapon in the game.
- Takes some getting used to lack of swings, and playstyle. Not for everybody.
- Best mixup is fishing for backstabs.
- Munchers can be exceedingly difficult to finish due to slowness, and insane
stamina consumption.
- Almost everything can punish whiffs with a stunlock. Great Axe/Cleaver can
punish whiffs with repeated roll spam.
- Swings are vulnerable to rolling BS attempts.
- Warding is especially bad for Cursed DBS as it's hard to land swings to
begin with, and they can rebuff with relative ease.
- Aggressive opponents with quick, reaching weapons can be hard to handle.
Useless in panic situations.
- Despite insane damage, actually not all the good against shields.
- Although 1-handed swings are decent... they're also easy as hell to parry.
===================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional submission on GS/DBS submitted by GameFAQs user, Rhzkao:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
===================================================================
�For a Strength build, 50 and 75 Strength have about 15-30 AR difference. This
in itself makes the Vitality-gouged version seem slightly better if you plan
on using DBS strictly 2-handed.
However, having 50 Strength has a very useful additional benefit of using the
DBS 1-handed with high damage potential. To some extent, the 1-handed DBS
moveset is arguably more useful than the 2-handed.
- 2-handed DBS has the running R1, that's about it. The rolling attack sucks.
R2 is decent.
- However 1-handed DBS running R1 is still very quick. It's a vertical slash,
so side dodging is effective against it.
- What's especially useful about a 1-handed DBS is the rolling R1. Though not
as effective as a GA ground pound (since it doesn't cover 360 degrees) the
DBS/GS 1-handed rolling also benefits from Hyper Armor (uninterrupted swings).
And any effective rolling attack is very useful against most opponents. Plus
the 1-handed R2 is about equivalent to a 2-handed R1 at 50 Strength, and
finally the 1-handed R2-R2 is actually quicker than 2-handed R1-R1.�
------------------------
===(00RG) - PvP Rings===
------------------------
�Knowledge is always accompanied with accessories of emotion and purpose.�
- Alfred North Whitehead
Unlike armor (which makes a remedial difference) Rings drastically effect your
character. Surprisingly a lot of rings have some merit in PvP (obviously
the effectiveness of some is greater then others). I will briefly outline
which are PvP worthy, and largely ignore those that aren't.
This is one of the few sections I will openly steal info from the English DS
Wiki too.
----------
Cling Ring
----------
There's nothing to say here other then it's mandatory for Soul Form PvP. Never
leave home without the mighty Cling Ring.
-------------------
Friend's/Foe's Ring
-------------------
Pretty much mandatory for BP/RSS and smurf PvP. They provide a slick 20%
damage boost, and give off no visible aura. Absurdly strong.
Have both... love both.
---------------
Clever Rat Ring
---------------
When your HP is below 30% of your total, your Attack power increases by 50%.
Mandatory for Hyper Mode, and one of the best Body Form rings. A must have.
Recognizing the aura this has is important when facing it, luckily it appears
to overtake all other auras, so it's quite visible. Thank God.
Also tied for the best PvE ring in the game.
-------------
Dull Rat Ring
-------------
When your HP is below 30%, your defense increases by 50%. Not shabby at all.
Especially effective when your opponent relies on stunlocks to hit as this
ring can buy you a free hit or two. Very underrated, and a great Body Form
Ring.
----------------------
Eternal Warrior's Ring
----------------------
Increases rate of stamina regeneration by about 8 stamina per second. Not too
bad. This ring was really popular a while ago, but it's mostly taken a back
seat to Rat rings for hosts. It's still pretty solid though. It really shines
when used with armor with no Stamina Regeneration penalty.
-------------------------
Thief's/Gravrobber's Ring
-------------------------
Stealth Rings are swell. Keep in mind that they don't stack, the strongest
stealth Item/Spell simply overtakes all the others. The big thing to note is
that Cloak is superior to the Thief's Ring, so if you're playing a ninja then
there's no real reason to run a Thief's Ring if you're on the ball with your
casting.
Tied with Clever Rat for best PvE ring.
------------------
Regenerator's Ring
------------------
4HP per second is pretty meager... but it stacks up nicely with an Adjudicator
and a Blessed weapon. Last time I checked 18HP per second wasn't bad. Not the
best ring in town, but it's still slick for any Faith players guarding home
turf.
-------------
Master's Ring
-------------
Increases Direct Hit damage by 15%, decreases damage for all other attacks.
We're getting to the bottom of the barrel here. Pretty good with a Guillotine
Axe user who's hosting though.
-------------------------
Ring of Magical Sharpness
-------------------------
Increases magic attack power while decreasing magic defense... great for a
Body Form caster, but Friend & Foe outperform it by a very, very small
margin, so you shouldn't use it while in Soul Form. However, it does stack
with a Foe's Ring... which could be some fun with Firespray.
Required equipment for any serious caster.
-----------------------------------------
===(0098) - PvP Morality: A Brief Note===
-----------------------------------------
�There can be no high civility without a deep morality.�
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
When I initially wrote this guide, I had written a brief section about PvP
conduct, but concluded it was too heavy-handed and pious even for me, and
felt it simply had no place in a dedicated strategy guide.
However, after getting numerous mails, making posts on various websites, and
having some in depth discussions about the matter, I've decided to include my
meager opinion on the subject in this revision.
These discussions were undoubtedly instigated by the recent overwhelming large
influx of players who have resorted to less then admirable tactics on the
battlefield (again, my opinion).
As you know, Demon's Souls is a fragile PvP landscape. Because of this, how we
treat our fellow players is going to effectively alter our future PvP
experiences.
And it's a rabid jungle out there, full of soul-starved fiends that aren't
interested in honorable combat, or a challenge, or even your precious Demon
Souls for that matter... all they want is to �Watch the World Burn�.
I have a simple piece of advice:
- Don't be one of those players.
Each player you jump in 4-1 is potentially another BP that will cease to
invade.
Each RSS player you dishonorably gang up against is another potential player
who will refuse to drop their RSS later.
Each player you invade at SL 30 with your +5 Dragon Mirdan Hammer �Noob
Crusher� build is potentially another player that gives up on the game.
Yes, the game is based upon this crazy guerrilla PvP system, and you're right,
nobody has any right to tell you how to play, and yes, it can be fun to be a
bad guy on occasion (which is fine). But exercising these tactics at length
only hurts the online play of the game by costing it players.
I thought I'd end the guide with this, because it seems like despite me barking
orders, and giving strict instruction I enjoy this game a lot, and I'd like to
stiff competition thrive for some time to come.
It's the Wild West out there gentlemen... see you on the battlefield.
Good luck... I leave it to you.
=================================================
-------------------------------------------------
===(0099) - Guide FAQ & Legality & Other Stuff===
-------------------------------------------------
=================================================
-----------------------------------------------------
Q: Who wrote this guide? Who would you like to thank?
-----------------------------------------------------
A: I wrote this guide (EWGF), with quite a bit of help from other people
(primarily Damoene, without whom this guide would not have been possible). But
plenty of others put in some testing, contributions, and gave me some input.
As without this help the guide would be incomplete, I would like to personally
thank them:
- TMRaven (who gets a big thanks)
- NOSCOPEHERO
- HIM
- Rhzkao
- Mo_Food
- The Moonlight Knight
- TheDeadsider
- Garl_Vinand
- Throwmasta
- Aneed4speed
- The Operators of the English Wiki (Stooge & Ikar). Cheers on your work with
Namco Bandai. You deserve it for your incredible work.
I would also like to thank my clan mates (Umbasa Brothers) for their indirect
contributions to the cause by providing me with a incredibly hard and diverse
dueling landscape. I would especially like to thank Vector and Jag for being
stand-up guys. Finally, I would like to reserve a special thanks my close
friend DJ Boissonneault for his help in my initial beginnings in the game and
PvP.
Finally, a large thanks to From Software, and Atlus. Thank you for this great
game. I would also like to extend a thanks to Namco/Bandai for giving our
friends across the pond a proper DS experience.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: I think I've got information you could use. How do I contact you?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A: I have set up an email regarding all queries:
[email protected]
I will check this email on a weekly basis. If it's something of consequence
that requires more in-depth conversation, I may add you to my personal
messenger once I've concluded you're not insane.
If I decide to go ahead with your information you will be properly credited.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: I've read your guide, and I've seen similar builds elsewhere! What's the
deal you thief?!
----------------
A: My information has existed for many months prior to this FAQ on the GameFAQs
forums, as an open discussion led by myself, Damoene, and plenty of others
previously. I've seen PvP �builds� popping up on certain websites that have
looked oddly similar to my own, and even discussed the same written points.
However, since many builds can optimized, it's not unrealistic to think that
two people could have come up with the same idea. Either way, I've been finely
tuning my builds since the release of this game, and my builds have been
traveling word of mouth since then.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Q: What websites are allowed to use this guide and it's contents?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A: GameFAQs, and either of the Demon's Souls wikis may use this at their
leisure in part, or as a whole. Anyone else must ask permission, which almost
certainly will be considered. The following 2 websites have been approved:
- Neoseeker
- Super Cheats
Nobody else currently has my permission to use this, so if you see it let me
know ([email protected]). Regardless of who is currently using it, I retain
the right to pull the guide from anywheres at will as it still remains my
property. This almost certainly shouldn't happen unless someone is doing
something they shouldn't be doing with it.
-----------
-----------
Legal Stuff
-----------
-----------
This FAQ may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission.
Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is
strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
Demon's Souls is a 2009 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Licensed to and
published by Atlus U.S.A., Inc.
Copyright 2010, B. P. Pearce aka EWGF
.------..------..------..------.
|E.--. ||W.--. ||G.--. ||F.--. |
| (\/) || :/\: || :/\: || :(): |
| :\/: || :\/: || :\/: || ()() |
| '--'E|| '--'W|| '--'G|| '--'F|
`------'`------'`------'`------'
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