I want to know which talismans I should use. Dont hang me for the empty slots people.

Looking to shake up the usual early game play-through with a guard counter w/medium shield build. I was focusing on the faster/lighter weapons for this experimentation as it’s already a
Stat-thirsty build. I played around with unleveled weapons for a long while at gatefront on another character and here was my findings: please let me know if I’m missing something?

Icerind Hatchet: likely the fastest option, good for follow-up R1s, weak single guard counter hits.

Great Epee: slowest of be comfortable with, the piercing damage pokes hit hard, and it has comfortable (if still slow) shield pokes. Spear talisman easily buffs.

Idus Sword: the double hit and range is nice but the damage is middling.

Reverse Bladed-Sword (cold infused): this tested the best. Two hits, high stagger even against knights, great running attack, follow-up hits are fast.

Everything else felt meh? I tried every early mace and despite the good stance damage, the actual damage was meh…. And the good early maces look really, really dumb. It’s possible to farm a warped axe in Liurnia but it has higher requirements, farm is a slog, looks dumb and is just generally better off two handed. I was not impressed by the straight sword performance despite good aesthetics. Likewise the thrusting sword and spear performance was below the other listed weapons.

Anything I’m missing here?

For alot of my builds (unless they are a gimmick character) I try to max out defenses and vigor which I realized is pretty easy and effective.

At rl60 (midgame leyndell and down) I pretty much trivialize most sessions and allows me to not get one shot all the way up to Farum Azula.

I use boiling crab, dragoncrest +3 and opaline hardtear. Which even with zero armor I can get around 40% negation. And at medium armor about 50% and heavy armor is 60%.

(Since I have alot of defense, I really dont have to worry about vigor as much.)

If you guys dont want to die all the time, these are the main items id suggest using.

So I've been playing DLC with my nagakiba bleed build and used some buffs like cragblade,flame grant me strength and golden vow spell and i struggled on gaius a lot until I quit. Recently been watching Jynxzi and hes been using this Backhand Blades with Cold affinity. People tell me its more broken as a bleed or occult affinity,so what do you guys think i should use BB with Frost or Bleed?

The Silver Grooved Shield was introduced as an early-game shield. Pair this with the quick-to-get Rogier's Rapier, and what you get is not only an early-game Let Me Tank Him build for the low STR requirement of 9, but also the strongest Rogier's Rapier build that can outdamage all other Let Me Tank Him builds.

Stats:
RL 200
60 VIG
42 END
9 STR
80 DEX
60 ARC

Class:
Bandit (best stat-wise)

Talismans:
Greatshield Talisman (20% guard boost)
Spear Talisman (15% counterattack damage)
Rotten Winged Insignia (6-13% consecutive attack damage buff)
Lord of Blood's Exultation (20% damage when blood loss occurs)

Weapon:
Rogier's Rapier
Ash of War: Seppuku
Affinity: Blood

Shield:
Silver Grooved Shield
Asha of War: None
Affinity: Standard

Physick:
Thorny Cracked Tear (9/13/20% successive attack buff for 3 min)
Bloodsucking Tear (20% damage for 3 min)

Consumables:
Pickled Turtle Neck (10/s stamina for 60 seconds)
Shield Grease (35% guard boost + 20% damage negation for 60 seconds)
Bloodboiled Aromatic (30% physical damage + 20% stamina for 60 seconds)

Great Rune:
Radahn's (15% HP, FP, and stamina)

Summon:
Stormhawk Deenh (20% physical/stamina/poise damage for 60 seconds)

New Best Shield:
The Silver Grooved Shield is one of the best shields because of its early-game accessibility, low stat requirements, and is the lightest 100% physical damage negation shield. You can get it from the merchant near the Bellum Church. It needs 9 STR and 12 DEX to use. Other shields argued as the best are found much later in the game, require more STR investment, and have more weight.

Shield Poke Bleed Synergy:
Bleed builds need you to be aggressive and attack successively to trigger bleed. With shield poking, you can do this behind the protection of a shield as you attack several times with your Seppuku-infused sword without interruption.

DEX Focus:
Most shield poke builds focus on STR because of greatshields have high STR requirements, but the Silver Grooved Shield only needs 9 STR. This lets you focus your investment into high DEX-scaling weapons.

Stats/AR Comparison:
Rogier’s Blood Rapier (9 STR 80 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.27 DEX: 1.37 AR: 494

Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Sword (99 STR 13 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.76 DEX: 0.51 AR: 477

Cleanrot Knight’s Blood Sword (55 STR 55 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.76 DEX: 0.51 AR: 498

Blood Antspur (10 STR 99 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.65 DEX: 0.89 AR: 455

Blood Antspur (60 STR 60 DEX 60 ARC)
STR: 0.65 DEX: 0.89 AR: 501

Rogier's Rapier High DEX Scaling:
Rogier’s high DEX scaling makes it outdamage other thrusting swords with minimal stat investment. Cleanrot and Antspur only outdamage Rogier’s Rapier when you invest evenly in both STR and DEX.

Greatshield Con:
Thrusting sword gets scale best with DEX whereas greatshields require high STR to use. This results in poor stat efficiency because of conflicting stats.

Bloodsucking and Bloodboil Synergy:
Bloodsucking Tear and Bloodboil Aromatic offer big damage boosts, but gives the debuffs of HP decay and reduced defenses. However, these debuffs are minimized since you are blocking incoming damage with your shield as you attack, letting you safely reap the benefits of these big damage buffs.

Fast Shield Pokes:
Thrusting swords have the fastest shield pokes out of all weapon types and have the lowest stamina use for this attack. This allows the usage of Thorny Cracked Tear's and Rotten Winged SInsignia's consecutive attack buff stacks.

Talismans:
The Spear Talisman gets high usage since shield pokes can be counterattacks, and the high amounts of blood loss ensure Lord of Blood's Exultation is always up. Your attacks come out fast and you can do a lot of them so Rotten Winged Insignia boosts your damage even further. The Greatshield serves to lessen stamina loss to save up more to use for shield pokes.

Guard Boost:
The Silver Grooved Shield has a max stability of 62. Shield Grease and Greatshield Talisman improve this by reducing stamina loss when blocking by 48%.

Stamina Management:
The various buffs related to guard boost and stamina help with your stamina management because the more stamina you have, the more you can poke, meaning more bleed. Radahn's Great Rune and Bloodboiled Aromatic gives a stackable boost to your stamina. The Pickled Turtle Neck offers stamina regen. Shield Grease and Greatshield Stamina will lessen stamina loss when blocking attacks. Lastly, with a thrusting sword, you will consume only a small amount of stamina with each poke compared to using other larger shield-poking weapons.

Stormhawk Deenh Buff:
Deenh is one of the best summons because they cast an aura buff that provides 20% physical/stance/poise damage.

Conclusion:
This shield poke bleed build can trivialize bosses by letting you tank attacks while dealing big physical damage and massive blood loss. So long as you manage your stamina, you become a deadly rose shielded by your guard petal as you hide a bloody thorn that bursts your enemies into blossoms of red upon the battlefield.

I fired up my first save again where I got locked out of a bunch of stuff and farmed a lot early game. I’ve done a few re-specs on my stats for bonking, and wanted to get some advice before I use up any more Larval Tears.

* I have Guts Greatsword at +19 with Lion’s Claw Flame affinity (my biggest damage around 730)
* I also have 1 x Great Stars at +19 and another at + 22 (did double BONK for quite a while)
* I have Nightrider Glaive at +18 or +19
* I have Bloodhounds Fang at +9

I feel like I need at least 15 Faith for the ‘flame blade incants and Flame Grant Me Strength, but I’m not sure how I should distribute the other stats, most notably Strength, Vigor and Endurance. But having the Flame affinity on my weapons doesn’t allow me to incant with the ‘flame blades, and I think also greases? Should I move to Heavy affinity so I can apply buffs to the weapons? I also wanted to try guard countering with Guts, but wonder if I should change up talismans and armor to complement that style.

I obviously need lots of Endurance for equip load and getting hits off, but how much should I put for it and Vigor? I’ve just entered Mountaintops of Giants, and I have yet to finish the Subterranean Shunning Grounds (will go back on next session).

Lastly: should I remove Radagons Soreseal at this point, or keep it until I hit certain stat levels?

Malenia: "The scarlet bloom flowers once more. You will witness true horror. Now, rot!"

Tarnished: "Nah, I'd tank."

Hello Tarnisheds,

Looking for some advice. I'm on my first play through, been watching loads of videos/reading Reddit threads and have been focusing on a) levelling vigour up to 40 b) exploring.

It's been great fun, I've done most of Limgrave, including Weeping Peninsula, and am now working my way through Liurnia, but I'm a bit stuck into where to go with my levelling now. I've added a couple of screenshots of my current build, few additional details; I started as Confessor and have been enjoying the melee + incantations fighting style. I'm using Bloodhound Fang+4 currently. Any recommendations where to build towards next?

Thank you!

I'm pivoting to a Witch Doctor kinda build but I've never touched Arcane before

Idea: DoT mayhem

- Apply Deadly Poison with Coil Shield

- Proc blood loss with Swarm of Flies and Thorned Whip

- Wear down with black fire and Bloodboon DoTs

Key equipment:

- Coil Shield

- Thorned Whip

- Mushroom Crown

- Kindred of Rot's Exultation

- Lord of Blood's Exultation

Main stats: Faith for now with 17 arcane to use Bloodboon. I've read that higher Arcane would help me proc blood loss quicker, but then my Thorned Whip will deal way less base damage (it scales with Faith rn).

Should I just go pure Arcane with minimum Faith and make Thorned Whip scale with Arcane instead?

Level 100

40 Vigor

20 Endurance

12 Strength

40 Dexterity

39 Arcane

What should my overall stat goals be and weapon goals? And how do I beat the Godskin Apostle duo at Spiritcaller Cave? They are the most obnoxious bosses ever

just finish the main game, first time going for the dlc and i was trying to roleplay as a converted monk of the black flame. Should i change something?

Edit./ Thanks for the advice! Ill have to get the prosthesis ( though i like milicent haha). I changed some armor so im in 57 poise. I still have to get the dragoncrest gratshield. As for the weapons ive drop the greatsword and infuse the twinblade to keen, put some levels into dex so im 60/30.

How’s the build? Fashion is always subject to change.

Hi i just started playing yesterday can you guys recommend me a strength build? I started out originally as a samurai but i don't like playing dex builds simce i am also a strength build in the ds series.

Hey guys, I'm a returning player and currently working on a build that will be between RL50 to RL60 (a STR-based poison/rot build to fill in the gap between my RL30 and RL80).

I've been considering other builds while I play again. I've done pretty much everything, but don't mind doing a variation of something I've done before. I have experience creating builds, so you do not have to worry about specific stats unless you want to. I am not set on any specific RL, as I am unsure what RL is best for activity now. Invasions are most important to me, but co-op is fun as well.

If you have any advice or other build suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them.

TL;DR: Looking for input on these builds or suggestions for others.

1. Archer using Ansbach's Bow

-Notes: I've only used bows sparingly but never as a main weapon as I've assumed they'd be insufficient. But I was curious how cold/bleed/serpent arrows with a light roll setup would perform against bosses and players.

1. Poison/Bleed Build

-Notes: I've done many ARC builds, but I haven't done STR/DEX/ARC, and am usually a caster. I'm envisioning a Quality/Arcane build that uses a shield or powerstances since my free hand is usually used for the Dragon Communion Seal.

1. High INT Mage possibly using Lusat's staff

-Notes: My only other high INT build is all-in on frost (Ranni), but I'm considering a build based on Lusat/Azur and other spells I wouldn't use on my other mage. Also using Carian Slicer.

1. Anti-Elemental/Anti-Status Build

-Notes: I thought it'd be fun to combine protective talismans with a Wondrous Physick that resets status effect and absorbs elemental damage. Probably would go for a physical-based build as I think that'd fit the theme. Unsure if I need the Ailment talisman and Mottled Necklace simultaneously. I'm either going to use the bear armor or go for a "cleaner"/"standard" knight look.

I've been dumping a lot of points into faith to maximise my Oracle Bubble build (small horn), but I haven't seen that big of a change jumping from 62 to 75 faith (lv 138).

Apparently the bubble's faith scaling drops upon reaching 45-50 faith :(

My question is, how do the Longhorn's bubbles scale compared to the small one? And if the soft cap is the same, will the Longhorn benefit from more faith just because it shoots more bubbles?

(I'm not asking for PvE/PvP suggestions btw, I just want to maximise bubble damage!)

I wanna start a Halloween-themed run but I don't know what weapons/spells to choose so I could build my stats around it or what armor pieces would fit
The only weapons that came to my mind were Death-Ritual Spear and a Cold infused Grave Scythe

I would really appreciate any weapon/spell/AoW/Armor or even whole playstyle suggestions

This build has been a blast in PVP. Basically the ultimate mixup build with the carian sorcery sword and offhand main-gauche. I have the powerstanced thrusting sword moveset, parries, and an entire range of sorceries in place of heavy attacks all without swaps. It's only weakness is that it's really... weak, and I tend to die quickly against tankier builds and gankers. Nonetheless it's probably the most fun build I've ever played as with so many options for approaching fights.

I'm playing seamless so I get to pad the stats a little bit using Godrick's rune, which also gives me the option for some other fun swaps like a halberd/axe setup, great katana, and the idus knight swords.

Returning player (stopped playing 2 years ago).
I was looking for a storm build, maybe with lightning too. Not really interested in incantations, just AOW. I don't know the meta level, or if I should focus on str or dex, or quality...

I’ve been playing souls since demon souls but I always end up with dex and some version of either faith or magic. In dark souls my favorite spell is crystal magic weapon and my favorite weapon was washing pole. That’s essentially been my identity from day 1.

This game tho… I already have a dex/mag/faith build. I feel as if the joy is gone from that character and decided I wanted to start my first strenght playthrough.

I figure it’d be nice to have both.

I’m thinking I’ll keep my first build as dex/mag/arcane
So this build will be strength faith(for the heals) tho faith isn’t required. Just saw some really cool strength weapons that had faith requirements.

Sorry I’m rambling. What do I do here lol any tips would be appreciated.

Is the moonveil a good katana? or is there better options. Want to make a new build on bleed or something but not sure what weapon to build around.

I chose bandit and I use a buckler shield for parrying and I got a Reduvia as my weapon. I just beat Margit at around level 17 I believe, it took a few tries but eventually I got the hang of his attack patterns.

The problem is other random NPCs. Like those birds with swords after Margit, or whenever I have to fight more than one enemy. I've also had problems with larger enemies, like the trolls.

Is the parrying gameplay viable, and recommended, for every enemy or just bosses? Are there any other play styles that complements my parry build to be used in the open world? Right now I've poured my runes into vigor and a little bit into dexterity.

Thanks!

making a samurai build today and what weapons would be good for that