Where to go with my build?

Hi all,

I am new to Dark Souls and to this forum. I got hungry for it watching a playthrough

Here I am, I am really impressed of the game, the mostly helpful online players (except by invaders who do not bow before fighting ...) and had not tooo much problems yet.

Right now I entered Anor Londo and am ~SL57. I use a Lightning Spear +4 for narrow spots and smaller enemies. For bosses and Knights I got the Black Knight Sword +3.
Rings: Stone Protection and Havel. Balder Shield +2. Armor depends on the bosses/areas.

I don´t know yet which weapon I will continue to use, but I also got some Clubs, many different halberds, the Balder Side Sword and so on.

I want to play a PVE strength melee build (or strength and dex to be able to use many weapons), till now everything worked perfect. But what should I continue to level in the future for the next bosses and areas. Am I missing some essential stuff if I don´t level anything special?

Vit 20
Att 10
End 30
Str 31
Dex 19
Res 11
Int 8
Fai 10

Would be nice to get some suggestions
Regards!

http://mmdks.com/499f a variant of my black knight weapon build. since you already leveled past 18dex i'd suggest to go for 22 to enable the silver knight weapons (a good spear and a good straight sword is something a str build really lacks). that way you have access to a good option in every weapon class and 16.5p to have really awesome weapon combinations (just ask if you need some suggestions in that department).
cheers

Silver knight weapons will do pitiful damage at 22 dex though. This build looks best suited towards "quality". IMO go 40/40/40 on end/str/dex. That way not only can you use black knight weapons, you can also walk around with greatshield of artorias and its absurd 88 stability, turtle poke with spears effectively, 2h a zweihander at +15 and flatten people with extreme power, or even pull out a composite bow and hit really hard.

How high of a level do you want to get for PvE though? You're already pretty high for a regular new game.

BTW, if you really want to go str in PvE, IMO go all the way to 50 and use havel's shield. You can pretty much block/bash your way through most of the game with it. Some of the most threatening magical/elemental attacks in the game become a joke in the face of that shield.

What is a "quality weapon"? Sorry, only play since 2 weeks now and don´t find an explanation.

How far I will level up in NG I don´t know yet. Till now I have killed these Bosses:
Stray Demon, Taurus Demon, Capra Demon, Moonlight Butterfly, Gaping Dragon, Iron Golem, Queelag, the fire boss after queelags sphere, Hydra and the Gargoyles. Think thats all of them. If necessary I will grind some souls and level up.

At first I wanted to do a Strength PVE build with those big *** weapons. Then I had quite some fun with the lightning spear, because of the quick reactions. Now the Balder Side Sword dropped, which is more Dex than a Strength weapon

I got quite some weapons in my bag, but don´t know yet which one to level up. My BKS is +3, the lightning spear +4. I got a great club, which I don´t really understand. Everybody tells how cool this weapon is, but for my build (yet) it does minor damage and is slooooow.

But thanks so far for your support

Hi Simon,

"Quality" weapons are weapons which scale (more or less) equally with strength AND dexterity. Examples of this are the longsword, claymore, broadsword and to a lesser extent black knight sword and zweihander.

As MeInTeam suggested, going for 40 Strength and 40 dexterity would be very good because it will allow you to use nearly every weapon in the game effectively. If you have enough souls you can always increase your strength to 50 for the big strength weapons (great club, great axe etc).

As you play more you will probably discover that you prefer certain types of weapons over other types, and having a 40/40 build will make you versatile so that you can easily switch between many different weapons depending on the situation!

Thanks for explaining the quality thing

I have built quelaags fury sword for Ornstein and Smough and Ariamis (the red sack-boys) and love it So I will go for 40/40 and will be able to use pretty much anything. Even if not as good as 50 in one stat ... but this way its more versatile.

Right now I am something like level 67 and use Quelaags fury sword +4, lightning spear +4 and bks +3. Depending on which enemy I am facing.

Thanks guys!

Another note. If you have 40 strength and 40 dex, than lightning weapons (like the lightning spear) will be less effective than +13-15 weapons. 400 physical is better than 240 physical+240 lightning. Try not to worry about it too much and just have fun though.

Since you're a new player go for the 40-40 experimentation build and use as many different weapons as you can to see what you like.

But for the future, these are my preferences:

STR build: 40-50 STR, 10-18 DEX
40 STR is plenty for most builds. But the Demon's Greataxe has a particularly rewarding 1-handed move set if you go to 46 STR, so that's my recommendation. 50 is for Havel's Shield and possibly the Dragon King Greataxe although that doesn't technically scale with STR.
10 DEX allows you to use the Stone Greataxe and the Zweihander(more of a quality weapon but still good) Go to 18 if you want to use Black Knight weapons, all of which scale with STR.

DEX build: 14-16 STR, 40 DEX
14 STR is enough to wield Katanas and the Great Scythe. 16 is recommended since it allows you to use the Eagle Shield and the Black Knight shield, both of which are nifty for any build. There's also the Chaos Blade and Lifehunt Scythe you might want to try, which require 16 STR.
40 DEX is really all you need for this build since the weapons don't have high requirements the way they do for STR builds, and you don't get much extra damage past 40.

Quality build: 27-34 STR, 30-40 DEX
27 STR is popular since 2-handing your weapon automatically gives you a 50% STR boost. This means it's the equivalent of having 40 STR if you hold the weapon in 2 hands. Try 34 if you want to use heavy shields.
30 DEX is good if you want to focus on weapons that scale more with STR, such as the Battle Axe or the Zweihander. 40 if you want to use weapons like the Halberd or Claymore, but you can also get great damage out of DEX weapons that way so it can be a fun build.

For ANY melee-based build, I recommend going to 40 END for maximum stamina.

Thanks a lot. This helps, too
Will keep it in mind!