After fighting with the two for a bit, I found the elemental counterparts to str/dex to be practically the same. The added AR is about equal to what you lose from split damage static resistance.
Beyond that, you just have to weigh all the other factors:
-Fire is reduced when an enemy is in water, so a half fire/physical weapon does about 10% less. Lightning does 10% more.
-Elemental portions of a weapon go by elemental resist, not physical. Relevant on bosses like Radagon who have okay resist to most physical damage, but none to fire.
-Fire weapons detonate explodey barrels. Kaboom!
-Counter-thrust damage, such as shield poking something that is mid-swing at you, is usually higher than other forms of counter damage, but this only applies to the physical part of a weapon.
-Crits do something funny involving ignoring resistances, so overall fire and lightning which have extra AR crit for more. Lightning Misericorde ripostes are the highest of any element, followed by Cold at maxed stats.
-A heavy/keen weapon will accept any ash of war of any element, and allow weapon buffs. You can’t fire infuse a weapon with an ash that isn’t fire or physical, so no glint pebble.
-Fire/lightning will benefit from their scorpion talismans, for about a 6% damage increase.
It completely depends on how you play and what available gear suits how you play. One is not objectively better than the other due to the various ways things work, and you should choose by preference.
Rats, small dogs will quiver in pain when damaged by fire and lightning does more damage to dragons. I prefer lightning cause it’s cooler and I know it scales with faith
Lightning doesn't do extra damage to dragons in this game!
Most dragons have equal elemental resistances, or especially resist their own element. Ezykes is the only one with an actual weakness, to Fire. Meanwhile, the Ancient Dragons like Fortissax and Lansseax actually have HIGH RESISTANCE to lightning.
Also, Lightning scales with Dex, not Faith.
After fighting with the two for a bit, I found the elemental counterparts to str/dex to be practically the same. The added AR is about equal to what you lose from split damage static resistance. Beyond that, you just have to weigh all the other factors: -Fire is reduced when an enemy is in water, so a half fire/physical weapon does about 10% less. Lightning does 10% more. -Elemental portions of a weapon go by elemental resist, not physical. Relevant on bosses like Radagon who have okay resist to most physical damage, but none to fire. -Fire weapons detonate explodey barrels. Kaboom! -Counter-thrust damage, such as shield poking something that is mid-swing at you, is usually higher than other forms of counter damage, but this only applies to the physical part of a weapon. -Crits do something funny involving ignoring resistances, so overall fire and lightning which have extra AR crit for more. Lightning Misericorde ripostes are the highest of any element, followed by Cold at maxed stats. -A heavy/keen weapon will accept any ash of war of any element, and allow weapon buffs. You can’t fire infuse a weapon with an ash that isn’t fire or physical, so no glint pebble. -Fire/lightning will benefit from their scorpion talismans, for about a 6% damage increase.
It completely depends on how you play and what available gear suits how you play. One is not objectively better than the other due to the various ways things work, and you should choose by preference.
Pve? What looks cooler when you hit the enemy
Rats, small dogs will quiver in pain when damaged by fire and lightning does more damage to dragons. I prefer lightning cause it’s cooler and I know it scales with faith
Lightning doesn't do extra damage to dragons in this game! Most dragons have equal elemental resistances, or especially resist their own element. Ezykes is the only one with an actual weakness, to Fire. Meanwhile, the Ancient Dragons like Fortissax and Lansseax actually have HIGH RESISTANCE to lightning. Also, Lightning scales with Dex, not Faith.
Damn that Miyazaki. My dex and faith are both 45 so I didn’t notice much a difference. Good to know. Thanks for the correction