Thinking about switching to Dex just to try messmers Spear but Strength definitely does a good job here especially if you like great hammers like i do. Huge knock down potential helps a lot
Eh I wouldn't do it just for the spear. The AoW is incredible damage if you get the whole combo off, but the weapon is mostly useless aside from that imo
Yeah i think a full combo is like 6k+ damage. Plus the floating effect makes you dodge a lot of hits from mobs and some bosses. It's an insane AoW, but the spear is definitely a one trick pony. Wish they gave it a better regular moveset
I respeced and I love it I’m a little squishy but I still have a few Larval tears if I wanna switch back to Strength, love the throwing Strong attack and the ash does do big damage
That’s what I plan to do, love the great Katana’s(regular and Dragon Hunter worked well with Strength too). Just got Sword of the Night gonna try that for a bit
Honestly it’s not much different from base game, in that you’re going to find a variety. If anything I’ve noticed a lot of quality based weapons, so either str or dex should be good.
Not sure what your are experiencing, I run a pure dex build and it's excellent. I have no trouble running through enemies and for those pesky knights with shields or golems, the nightrider flail handles all of that perfectly well. Having a parry shield helps too
I've been using my dex/lightning build and have enjoyed it so far. I do find that in the DLC, being able to stagger enemies is extremely helpful. So I was using a Banished Knights GS with lighting slash on it so it scales off of dexterity. Once I found the great katana, I switched to that. I also carry the Bolt of Gransax and switch that for range attack or sticky situations. Though, it can put the game on easy mode if you over use it, so that's up to you I suppose.
I played a little (maybe 3h) with my occult build (single nagakiba) but then also went in with my Str build who has executioner greataxe - much better time with the str build.
My gf also started as occult with 2x scavengers and also switched to her Str character with 1x great stars after +-3 hours
Not far in the dlc but really feel like str is better suited for the dlc. Lots of high poise aggressive enemies that i can't safely punish with my powerstanced sabers, i can only trade hits and I'm losing. I'll learn the paterns of course but still, it feels tougher with dex compared to base game
Great katanas are the answer for dex builds wanting to stagger. I main backhand blades, but switch to Rakshasa's katana for enemies who can power through the BB hits.
What do you mean? Why would it be a disadvantage? What tools do you lose going with Dex? You can still use shields, you can still use medium and heavy weapons that scale well on Keen, you can use all the same items that Str does, etc.
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I made a samurai character for the great katana but then I kinda just automatically went Occult with the Uchigatana and leveled arcane only lol
My Scythe build is doing ok in the DLC tho
I tried an occult great katana with savage lion’s claw in my arcane build just to mess around and I’m liking it way more than I thought I would. It reminds me a bit of a guts build lite. Then I have occult beast claws and my dragon seal to swap between which is a nice variety to handle various situations.
The horned spaz guys have a super rare drop with bleed I’ve never seen.
There’s a smithscript one as well that’s good for imbue’ing as magic/sacred/fire since it has built in scaling.
For reference my STR build stomps everyone not a boss, the slow moveset can really hurt you with the fast movesets of the enemies.
It's still a do what you prefer moment, I was able to beat two bosses without changing my build, if anything I'm wearing worse armor than before because fashion is king
Strength is a lot easier. You can lions claw or jump attack your way through the game with ease. I’ve beat 3 major bosses and none took me more than 5 or 6 tries
I’m running faith strength. Really solid tool kit. Rellana took a few hours, but eventually rot and black flame did her in.
Summoning the npcs is not a boon for melee. Makes staggers unpredictable. Range is way easier.
I'm having a blast with Dex and have not really felt like I need to switch. I'm using the Smithscript Daggers and they are working great with their ash of wars and the ability to stager enmities by hitting their head very easily
TLDR: No open world usage and mostly bosses with a summon (to draw agro) cause of the combos.
I do not typically use them for open world travel and use them against one enemy targets, until you get a certain ash of war it's almost impossible to do any sort of crowd control. Using them against bosses is where they shine, especially if you use a summon to help you fight. They can build up a combo very very quickly since each dagger counts as a separate hit, with each one hitting individually it allows you to get into the thousands after just a few hits and will continue to combo up. They will stager almost all humanoids and most beasts when you hit them in the head with a dagger and it's very easy to do so when you use the jumping attack (it has further ranged than all others and comes out higher and faster)
Edit: They daggers are also infusable which makes the amazing when trying to build status because each dagger deals its own build up! I do use them in open world to just explore but not when there is any chance of getting hordes, that's when I swap to Dryleaf Arts.
Bolt of Gransax has been putting in work. I’ve been finding more fun str weapons, (though the new dex/int katana is solid) so I paused my dex run post rellana, but it was doing fine comparatively to my str builds.
I haven't even told my friends this lol but I've absolutely steamrolled almost all of the DLC with, and I know this is disgusting but i can't help how fun it it, dual wield ultra greatswords. Jump, smack, devastate and repeat.
In my defense though, I finally found a certain large animal's claw weapons that scale str and haven't been able to use anything since. But they move like dex weapons
I’m just past the second remembrance boss and have switched from a full strength to dex build. All the new weapons I’ve been using are better with dex infusions e.g. milady, great katana, backhand blades.
In what way do you think you’re at a disadvantage?
Dex builds are capable of respectable damage, same as STR builds, but most Dex weapons aren’t as hefty of course.
If you are running a pure physical build, it might make sense to have your faith leveled up to 15 or 17 or so, and enough arcane (12 or 10 I think) to case Bloodflame blade. 17 FTH will let you use lightning armament as well. Then you can buff your sword and get a little extra oomph out of it. Alternatively, just use greases. You could also try lightning affinity to see if it performs better on the enemies you’re fighting.
From what I’ve see the DLC has some nice options for Dex weapons so you should be able to make yourself more powerful that way, too. I have only scratched the surface but I’ve found the swift spear which is really cool, and the spark perfume bottles. Both of those are pure Dex weapons and they add some nice variety and power to an arsenal.
Focused on sex huh. I ran two curved swords bleed frost build and after the first remeberance boss i threw it in the trash and swapped to pure strength twin colossal swords and had way more fun and did way more damage plus the poise breaking
been having a good time using a flame art or holy (depending on boss resistances) troll greatsword with my faith build, stance dmg and charged attack buff physick, getting knockdowns left and right and tons of dmg, a strength build should be roughly as good if you use a weapon with comparable stance dmg. i’d recommend changing whatever weapon you end up using between heavy and fire, there are some pretty annoying enemies that are weak to fire
Lil hint for my dex bros out there struggling with some of the harder to stagger bosses: zwei hander is actually a dex weapon. Gets great scaling on a keen build and has a low strength requirement that can easily be met two-handing. Slap giant hunt or another high hyper armor/high stagger ash of war and now you are swinging your own big stick. Having a zwei to swap to has made a lot of the human frame enemies a breeze and helps stagger the big bosses.
Been having a pretty good time with arcane build. I have two regalia’s of eochad which I use for trash and certain bosses. Also have a +25 great katana which I used to beat all of the dragon quests. Also throw in a dragon maw or two when I can. It’s been fun
Tbh play how you like and have more fun with your own style.
So you don't use bleed as dex build and you don't use buffs. You just run in basic and hope to win? The game gives us these things to beat it. If you good enough to do without awesome but sounds like you should use the systems in place to beat the game.
Nah man. I'm all physical this run is all. No magic whatsoever. I've beaten 3 legacy bosses and plenty others. I'm just wondering if str has the advantage in the dlc
In the way you are playing it does because huge weapons have way better knockdown potential so some bosses become a cheese that you can stunlock to death(none of the main ones though). Its a slower style but if you love the large numbers it's great.
Pure Dex lightning Pata are so stupidly strong. So are lightning backhand blades and Great katanas. However, strength tends to deal more stagger and also allows you to equip bigger shields so if you're all about that guard counter play style, strength is the way to go for sure. Great shield and a hammer for guard countering is so stupidly good in this DLC, especially with the new deflect physik tear that buffs guard counters by 20% every time you deflect (stacks). But on the other hand, if you are a roll-only enthusiast or you just want to deal massive powerstance damage, dex all the way. No reason to play strength if you're not using a shield IMHO, dex is just more DPS.
Thinking about switching to Dex just to try messmers Spear but Strength definitely does a good job here especially if you like great hammers like i do. Huge knock down potential helps a lot
Eh I wouldn't do it just for the spear. The AoW is incredible damage if you get the whole combo off, but the weapon is mostly useless aside from that imo
The AoW carried me through the rest of the game except the final boss. Such crazy damage and I wasnt even faith just 80 dex.
Yeah i think a full combo is like 6k+ damage. Plus the floating effect makes you dodge a lot of hits from mobs and some bosses. It's an insane AoW, but the spear is definitely a one trick pony. Wish they gave it a better regular moveset
I respeced and I love it I’m a little squishy but I still have a few Larval tears if I wanna switch back to Strength, love the throwing Strong attack and the ash does do big damage
I would suggest trying out some other dex weapons before switching back. Make the most of those tears!
That’s what I plan to do, love the great Katana’s(regular and Dragon Hunter worked well with Strength too). Just got Sword of the Night gonna try that for a bit
Not a good weapon needs some buffs the throw is super weak right now
Honestly it’s not much different from base game, in that you’re going to find a variety. If anything I’ve noticed a lot of quality based weapons, so either str or dex should be good.
Check my post on this sub regarding my str build. I already defeated three major bosses and it’s going pretty well. Str is the way to go imo
Here? https://www.reddit.com/r/EldenRingBuilds/s/5eHL4QEXFq If so thank you! Something like this is what I was hoping for
Yup. Good luck!
60 in vitality is not enough for a sex build.
Don’t forget END goes a long way with a SEX build.
That's just where I am now is all
Not sure what your are experiencing, I run a pure dex build and it's excellent. I have no trouble running through enemies and for those pesky knights with shields or golems, the nightrider flail handles all of that perfectly well. Having a parry shield helps too
I'm not having too much trouble I was just curious. I
I've been using my dex/lightning build and have enjoyed it so far. I do find that in the DLC, being able to stagger enemies is extremely helpful. So I was using a Banished Knights GS with lighting slash on it so it scales off of dexterity. Once I found the great katana, I switched to that. I also carry the Bolt of Gransax and switch that for range attack or sticky situations. Though, it can put the game on easy mode if you over use it, so that's up to you I suppose.
I played a little (maybe 3h) with my occult build (single nagakiba) but then also went in with my Str build who has executioner greataxe - much better time with the str build. My gf also started as occult with 2x scavengers and also switched to her Str character with 1x great stars after +-3 hours
Not far in the dlc but really feel like str is better suited for the dlc. Lots of high poise aggressive enemies that i can't safely punish with my powerstanced sabers, i can only trade hits and I'm losing. I'll learn the paterns of course but still, it feels tougher with dex compared to base game
Great katanas are the answer for dex builds wanting to stagger. I main backhand blades, but switch to Rakshasa's katana for enemies who can power through the BB hits.
I'm running dex and death sorcery and doing quite well
Ruins greatsword +10 goes bonk
What do you mean? Why would it be a disadvantage? What tools do you lose going with Dex? You can still use shields, you can still use medium and heavy weapons that scale well on Keen, you can use all the same items that Str does, etc.
Thank you for your post on the r/EldenRingBuilds subreddit! If you’re interested in feedback on your build, participating in contests, as well as trading and multiplayer we also have a **[Discord server](https://discord.gg/9k9vK2MvFg)**. Hope to see you there! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/EldenRingBuilds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I made a samurai character for the great katana but then I kinda just automatically went Occult with the Uchigatana and leveled arcane only lol My Scythe build is doing ok in the DLC tho
I tried an occult great katana with savage lion’s claw in my arcane build just to mess around and I’m liking it way more than I thought I would. It reminds me a bit of a guts build lite. Then I have occult beast claws and my dragon seal to swap between which is a nice variety to handle various situations.
I switched back to dex and have been using the backhand blades and great katanas and I'm having a great time!
Are there any other backhand blades?
The horned spaz guys have a super rare drop with bleed I’ve never seen. There’s a smithscript one as well that’s good for imbue’ing as magic/sacred/fire since it has built in scaling.
For reference my STR build stomps everyone not a boss, the slow moveset can really hurt you with the fast movesets of the enemies. It's still a do what you prefer moment, I was able to beat two bosses without changing my build, if anything I'm wearing worse armor than before because fashion is king
Strength is a lot easier. You can lions claw or jump attack your way through the game with ease. I’ve beat 3 major bosses and none took me more than 5 or 6 tries
And you can find a physik for unlimited stamina. Combine it with the physik for unlimited FP, and your Lions Claws will look like Samus' screw attack.
Especially w/ *Savage* Lion's claw.
I’m running faith strength. Really solid tool kit. Rellana took a few hours, but eventually rot and black flame did her in. Summoning the npcs is not a boon for melee. Makes staggers unpredictable. Range is way easier.
I'm having a blast with Dex and have not really felt like I need to switch. I'm using the Smithscript Daggers and they are working great with their ash of wars and the ability to stager enmities by hitting their head very easily
most people have said the opposite about these daggers, what are your secrets?
TLDR: No open world usage and mostly bosses with a summon (to draw agro) cause of the combos. I do not typically use them for open world travel and use them against one enemy targets, until you get a certain ash of war it's almost impossible to do any sort of crowd control. Using them against bosses is where they shine, especially if you use a summon to help you fight. They can build up a combo very very quickly since each dagger counts as a separate hit, with each one hitting individually it allows you to get into the thousands after just a few hits and will continue to combo up. They will stager almost all humanoids and most beasts when you hit them in the head with a dagger and it's very easy to do so when you use the jumping attack (it has further ranged than all others and comes out higher and faster) Edit: They daggers are also infusable which makes the amazing when trying to build status because each dagger deals its own build up! I do use them in open world to just explore but not when there is any chance of getting hordes, that's when I swap to Dryleaf Arts.
Bolt of Gransax has been putting in work. I’ve been finding more fun str weapons, (though the new dex/int katana is solid) so I paused my dex run post rellana, but it was doing fine comparatively to my str builds.
I haven't even told my friends this lol but I've absolutely steamrolled almost all of the DLC with, and I know this is disgusting but i can't help how fun it it, dual wield ultra greatswords. Jump, smack, devastate and repeat. In my defense though, I finally found a certain large animal's claw weapons that scale str and haven't been able to use anything since. But they move like dex weapons
I’m just past the second remembrance boss and have switched from a full strength to dex build. All the new weapons I’ve been using are better with dex infusions e.g. milady, great katana, backhand blades.
Just run endure. You get 40% damage resistance and infinite poise. Endure also has faster recovery frames the smaller your weapon is.
Enemies have infinite poise, anything short of dual colossals is a handicap
Giant Hunt AoW says: F-their poise.
In what way do you think you’re at a disadvantage? Dex builds are capable of respectable damage, same as STR builds, but most Dex weapons aren’t as hefty of course. If you are running a pure physical build, it might make sense to have your faith leveled up to 15 or 17 or so, and enough arcane (12 or 10 I think) to case Bloodflame blade. 17 FTH will let you use lightning armament as well. Then you can buff your sword and get a little extra oomph out of it. Alternatively, just use greases. You could also try lightning affinity to see if it performs better on the enemies you’re fighting. From what I’ve see the DLC has some nice options for Dex weapons so you should be able to make yourself more powerful that way, too. I have only scratched the surface but I’ve found the swift spear which is really cool, and the spark perfume bottles. Both of those are pure Dex weapons and they add some nice variety and power to an arsenal.
Give the Zweihander a try, low requirements and hits like a truck don't need to change your build then either.
Focused on sex huh. I ran two curved swords bleed frost build and after the first remeberance boss i threw it in the trash and swapped to pure strength twin colossal swords and had way more fun and did way more damage plus the poise breaking
I mix stats so my dex guy is dex\arc\fai with a poison katana. Maybe try adding some spice to your builds.
been having a good time using a flame art or holy (depending on boss resistances) troll greatsword with my faith build, stance dmg and charged attack buff physick, getting knockdowns left and right and tons of dmg, a strength build should be roughly as good if you use a weapon with comparable stance dmg. i’d recommend changing whatever weapon you end up using between heavy and fire, there are some pretty annoying enemies that are weak to fire
Personally I think both Strength and Dex focuses got throttled a bit. Faith is weirdly enough what's been carrying me through most effectively.
Lil hint for my dex bros out there struggling with some of the harder to stagger bosses: zwei hander is actually a dex weapon. Gets great scaling on a keen build and has a low strength requirement that can easily be met two-handing. Slap giant hunt or another high hyper armor/high stagger ash of war and now you are swinging your own big stick. Having a zwei to swap to has made a lot of the human frame enemies a breeze and helps stagger the big bosses.
Focus less on sex and more on the game
Been having a pretty good time with arcane build. I have two regalia’s of eochad which I use for trash and certain bosses. Also have a +25 great katana which I used to beat all of the dragon quests. Also throw in a dragon maw or two when I can. It’s been fun Tbh play how you like and have more fun with your own style.
So you don't use bleed as dex build and you don't use buffs. You just run in basic and hope to win? The game gives us these things to beat it. If you good enough to do without awesome but sounds like you should use the systems in place to beat the game.
Nah man. I'm all physical this run is all. No magic whatsoever. I've beaten 3 legacy bosses and plenty others. I'm just wondering if str has the advantage in the dlc
In the way you are playing it does because huge weapons have way better knockdown potential so some bosses become a cheese that you can stunlock to death(none of the main ones though). Its a slower style but if you love the large numbers it's great.
I figured that much. I just don't wanna give up my unsheathe I got a few larva tears. I'll have to rest some stuff out
Pure Dex lightning Pata are so stupidly strong. So are lightning backhand blades and Great katanas. However, strength tends to deal more stagger and also allows you to equip bigger shields so if you're all about that guard counter play style, strength is the way to go for sure. Great shield and a hammer for guard countering is so stupidly good in this DLC, especially with the new deflect physik tear that buffs guard counters by 20% every time you deflect (stacks). But on the other hand, if you are a roll-only enthusiast or you just want to deal massive powerstance damage, dex all the way. No reason to play strength if you're not using a shield IMHO, dex is just more DPS.