I don't want to farm bladestones. Should I start pumping str for my hunter?

[RunBeagleRun]

I decided to take a break from my royal character for a while and have been playing with a hunter. I am around level 55 now with 30 dexterity. The sticky compound lbow+5 is indeed beastly and enemies are dropping like flies, but my winged spear+9 is just woefully underpowered for me. I know the obvious choice would be to meltstone it then go for a sharp upgrade, but I think bladestone farming would seriously hamper my enjoyment of this game.

So I'm wondering... would it be a waste to pump both strength and dexterity and use a crushing+5 weapon? The pure greystone was sooo easy to get for me. For this build I wanted to invest in lots of vitality, endurance, and dexterity, and some faith, but now I'm wondering if I should invest in strength as well. Would this send my soul level up to high for me to be competitive in PVP?

And which weapon do you suggest making into crushing? I want something with good speed, and a guard breaking ability would be nice. I'm interested in the guillotine axe, would anyone with experience with that weapon suggest making it crushing? Alot of people suggest dragon, but I realize the lack of stat scaling makes those less effective after first cycle, and I want something I can stick with for a whle.

Thanks alot!

[Tomo012]

Just farm the stones. We all have to do it. Either that or find someone willing to trade with you.

[FiOth]

Why would you need a Sharp weap anyway? From my experience most unique weapons have something better to offer in the long run than custom made ones, and Tearing weapons imho are better than Sharps.

So, even if you want to go for a DEX build you can always use a Tearing or maybe a Blind or some other unique piece.

If you already have the Trophy Sharps are a waste of time I think. Don't bother.

[Sferzar]

You say that but Sharp is ideal for people with rather large amounts of Dex.

And yes, you should go for Blind if you don't want to farm Blade Stones. But the thing with Blind is, that well, its Blind.

[GuyIncognito]

Why would you need a Sharp weap anyway? From my experience most unique weapons have something better to offer in the long run than custom made ones, and Tearing weapons imho are better than Sharps.


Most unique weapons cannot be buffed with magic or turpentine. When you apply "light weapon" to sharp kilij +5, the R1 button damage becomes ~460 (!) (at Dex 40, Str 40, Mag 18 ).

[FiOth]

Why would you need a Sharp weap anyway? From my experience most unique weapons have something better to offer in the long run than custom made ones, and Tearing weapons imho are better than Sharps.


Most unique weapons cannot be buffed with magic or turpentine. When you apply "light weapon" to sharp kilij +5, the R1 button damage becomes ~460 (!) (at Dex 40, Str 40, Mag 18 ).

You are right.

BUT The Northern Regalia (which doesn't even scale) has a dmg of 540 - no enchantments since they don't apply - with PCT. So, I guess you get my point.

[GuyIncognito]

Why would you need a Sharp weap anyway? From my experience most unique weapons have something better to offer in the long run than custom made ones, and Tearing weapons imho are better than Sharps.


Most unique weapons cannot be buffed with magic or turpentine. When you apply "light weapon" to sharp kilij +5, the R1 button damage becomes ~460 (!) (at Dex 40, Str 40, Mag 18 ).

You are right.

BUT The Northern Regalia (which doesn't even scale) has a dmg of 540 - no enchantments since they don't apply - with PCT. So, I guess you get my point.

No, I don't get your point. The northern regalia is a slow large sword and I don't use it often. The kilij gets the shot in quicker (with a quick combo, you can deal a lot of damage) and is more useful with walls around: it completely destroys everything in world 3-1 and 3-2 (with anti-magic field). However, if I want pure knock-down power (and range), the meat cleaver does >600 R1 damage with my stats and "light weapon."

[FiOth]

Why would you need a Sharp weap anyway? From my experience most unique weapons have something better to offer in the long run than custom made ones, and Tearing weapons imho are better than Sharps.


Most unique weapons cannot be buffed with magic or turpentine. When you apply "light weapon" to sharp kilij +5, the R1 button damage becomes ~460 (!) (at Dex 40, Str 40, Mag 18 ).

You are right.

BUT The Northern Regalia (which doesn't even scale) has a dmg of 540 - no enchantments since they don't apply - with PCT. So, I guess you get my point.

No, I don't get your point. The northern regalia is a slow large sword and I don't use it often. The kilij gets the shot in quicker (with a quick combo, you can deal a lot of damage) and is more useful with walls around: it completely destroys everything in world 3-1 and 3-2 (with anti-magic field). However, if I want pure knock-down power (and range), the meat cleaver does >600 R1 damage with my stats and "light weapon."

Let me elaborate then. A weapon that does NOT scale (Regalia) can deal 540 if you have reached one extreme in CT, which makes it more powerful (and thus effective for a player who can dodge and move well) than most custom made weapons. The Meatcleaver can reach insane amounts of dmg BUT to reach those heights the character using it must have invested in STR, DEX and FAITH. Three stats. Oh, and don't forget. The Cleaver IS a unique weapon.

My argument was never about how good the NR is. It was about how many of the unique weapons in the game are more combat worthy that custom made ones. There is always something to cover the task at hand if you take the time to find it and - more or less - you said it yourself by bringing up the Meatcleaver.

My advice - to close the subject on my part - : Use a special weapon. If you are going to invest in STR get a Dragon Bone Smasher. If you are gonna use a DEX based build go for a Blind or something similar. Be versatile if you want and carry weapons for specific situations (like corridors etc.) but use the best you can get. The only case in which custom made weapons are superior imho is the Bows' department. There is no beating the Sticky Compound Long Bow +5. ;)

[GuyIncognito]

Why would you need a Sharp weap anyway? From my experience most unique weapons have something better to offer in the long run than custom made ones, and Tearing weapons imho are better than Sharps.


Most unique weapons cannot be buffed with magic or turpentine. When you apply "light weapon" to sharp kilij +5, the R1 button damage becomes ~460 (!) (at Dex 40, Str 40, Mag 18 ).

You are right.

BUT The Northern Regalia (which doesn't even scale) has a dmg of 540 - no enchantments since they don't apply - with PCT. So, I guess you get my point.

No, I don't get your point. The northern regalia is a slow large sword and I don't use it often. The kilij gets the shot in quicker (with a quick combo, you can deal a lot of damage) and is more useful with walls around: it completely destroys everything in world 3-1 and 3-2 (with anti-magic field). However, if I want pure knock-down power (and range), the meat cleaver does >600 R1 damage with my stats and "light weapon."

Let me elaborate then. A weapon that does NOT scale (Regalia) can deal 540 if you have reached one extreme in CT, which makes it more powerful (and thus effective for a player who can dodge and move well) than most custom made weapons. The Meatcleaver can reach insane amounts of dmg BUT to reach those heights the character using it must have invested in STR, DEX and FAITH. Three stats. Oh, and don't forget. The Cleaver IS a unique weapon.

My argument was never about how good the NR is. It was about how many of the unique weapons in the game are more combat worthy that custom made ones. There is always something to cover the task at hand if you take the time to find it and - more or less - you said it yourself by bringing up the Meatcleaver.

My advice - to close the subject on my part - : Use a special weapon. If you are going to invest in STR get a Dragon Bone Smasher. If you are gonna use a DEX based build go for a Blind or something similar. Be versatile if you want and carry weapons for specific situations (like corridors etc.) but use the best you can get. The only case in which custom made weapons are superior imho is the Bows' department. There is no beating the Sticky Compound Long Bow +5. ;)

I guess Northern Regalia is a great argument against upgrading large swords and the meat cleaver/dragon bone smasher are great arguments against upgrading giant swords or clubs. BUT, the blind--even though it ignores shields--since at Dex 40, it's still very weak, I have serious doubts about it. Also, the scraping spear is pretty weak (my +10 winged spear out-damages it, significantly). So there are at least *some* weapons worth upgrading.

And no doubt the sticky compound long bow +5 is the best weapon in the game. :)

[lordlaurin]

I'm SL 165 at the moment and the only melee weapon I use is a crushing knight sword +5. I just love the handling (speed, range, combos) and with STR 99 the damage output really nice (even with lower STR I killed most enemies with one R2 hit, now I'm on NG+++ and it still rocks, even in PVP).

So my point is, that if you want to use a fast weapon, then I wouldn't use a unique one at all. The only fast weapon with a good damage output is Blind, and here a sharp or tearing uchi +5 is also better. Large swords and clubs are another story, since here it's hard to get a better upgraded standard weapon than meat cleaver/DBS or Northern Regalia.

[RunBeagleRun]

I braved the swamp in 5-2 to get the blind sword, and I have it upgraded to +3 at the moment. I'm eager to try it out in PvP. Thanks for the advice guys, I have mostly been using my sticky +5 bow in PvE, and having blind should give me an edge in PvP as well. I think I will go sharp on a winged spear but just stop at +4.

[MisoSowee]

May as well go tearing. It's like 30 damage base damage but it retains S multiplier and a ton of bleed as well.

[Dominions]

May as well go tearing. It's like 30 damage base damage but it retains S multiplier and a ton of bleed as well.

It's easy to get Tearing weapons to +5 ... depending on the weapon type (since there are only a handful of unique weapons per type) it'll be the best a Dex-based character can wield until they find a pure Bladestone.

Personally I use a lot of custom-made weapons. The special weapons I could be using effectively with my STR based character are all worse than Crushing Great Axe +5 at least until I'm done pumping Colourless Demon's Soul into my Moonlight and Ajudicator Shield.

[RunBeagleRun]

I have a pure suckerstone so I think I might try a tearing weapon in the meantime.Any suggestions for which weapon I should choose? I'm interested in trying out my war scythe but I hear uchi's are good as well.

[Dominions]

Why not just swing both weapons around a while to get a feel for them?

The only thing I can think of is that Polearms have a much better move-set as two-handed weapons... if you're more of a shield-user it might be best to avoid them for that reason.

[Nr_eZ]

are you only looking at NUMBERS? if so,thats why i always rape these BP's 1v1 w/their "BIG DMG" weapons.

you cant add standard and magical dmg together w/o remembering its BOTH standard x amount of dmg + magical x amount of dmg or x amount of fire dmg. if the target is well protected vs magic attacks,then swords like that are only dealing the standard power. thats why you cant say stuff like "thats the best weapon in the game" bcuz what is it good for really? the game has combinations of attacks and defenses. i dont think you've looked at it thoroughly enough. doesnt make sense to have the highest magical dmg weapon vs a dude w/the highest defense vs magic, right?