greatsword of artorias build

hey guys,
i just "beat" the game for the first time, wee. (well, i've lost to gwyn about 10 times with about 1 hit left, lol - my parry skills are weak)

I've decided that i wanted to try a "different" build. and play a new game rather than continue my current character to ng+.


My last build with something like:
vit 20
end 33
dex 30 > balder's side sword / lightning spear / ricard's rapier
int 20 > working towards crystal weapon (greater magic weapon)
str 16 > eagle shield
+ Power within

For my new build, i was thinking about converting a char i was originally planning to make a 2h greatsword/ultra-greatsword char into an "artorias" build. Nothing special about the build besides being <50% weight and using greatsword of artorias.


My questions are:
1) is that sword (and its scaling) good enough to be a legit weapon end-game and ng+?
2) on the wiki it says divine 140 - does that mean it does physical + 140 divine? or does that mean it just does 140dmg to undead?
3) Is it safe to assume that the cursed version is not worth it unless you get it on a second play through?
4) Since the attacks are slower than dex builds, is it safe to assume that magic weapon/crystal weapon don't add a ton to the build?
5) is there any sense in giving up on the INT stat at minimum req in favor of going the Faith stat for that line of miracles. I kinda like the concept of a faith version of the character, but i have no idea the numbers and which talismans/catalysts are optimal for keeping the point investment to a minimum.

I feel like mentally the faith build makes more sense for an artorias build, but i might lean towards going INT since i am not the greatest souls player around. I haven't experimented with ng+ yet, but i'd imagine the difference would go a decent way in helping me out. A big concern of mine is the 4 kings on ng+. I always feel like when i play i do significantly less damage than other people i watch doing lets plays on youtube for example, including people not trying to min/max. I think i figured this one out in that it's because i didnt keep my sword max upgraded at smith, i just upgraded it as i went and had the shards and didnt worry about it too much.




and side note -
if *you* were going to make an artorias build, what armor would you use? the shield/sword are obvious, and probably faith, but what armor?

I see tons of people using armor online that i would guess is ornstein's armor. Is his armor that good that its worth chasing? Seems like it would still end up in the 25-50% weight range with havel's ring, which would be similar to just using havel's armor with havel's ring and havel's armor has better resistances/poise. Or maybe i'm wrong and people get this armor into the 0-25% range?


Any other tips/suggestions for doing an artorias tribute build?

It's very impotrant to me that the damage output of this char be high and viable for NG. I lack teh game skill to compensate for weaker weapons.

Right now i'm leveling str/dex/int up (using claymore, scales with str/dex and int for magic weapon) - i went higher in end/vit than i would have if i started from scratch (re-purposing another char i made) but i should be able to get this weapon around end game (SL77, i believe). Then SL87 for the shield (str 34 =X )


Anyway, long post, but i appreciate any input. I picked this game back up since giving it up last year after beating anor londo and then hating tomb of giants (thank goodness for cast light spell, i never knew about dusk). Frigging loving this game since there is more information floating around out there.

PS, didn't care at all for hte bed of chaos fight =P felt like very cheap deaths getting pushed just off the ledge and into the holes, then getting set on fire when under the middle of the tree enroute to winning. I could also live without the tomb of giants area hah.


Looking forward to responses/input.

oh and shout out to epicnamebro - even though i havent really played since december and never got past anor londo, i still periodically would watch hsi videos just to hear his commentary. Love his "use/play whats fun" mentality rather than just min/maxing and beating the game. His lets play daily prepare to die edition got me to pick up this game from the shelf and fall back in love with it, tomb of giants be damned.

If you want to use the shield as well, you're better off with the Cursed Greatsword of Artorias. It will deal more damage than the divine version and you don't need to increase Int/Faith past 18. That means you'll increase Dex to 40 for maximum AR. But if you want things interesting I recommend you choose the divine version for fun and keep Dex at minimum (18), and increase both Int and Faith, 45 and 50 respectively. Attunement should be 23 so you get slots for sorceries and miracles. Wrath of the Gods, Lightning Spears and Great Heal are excellent PvE miracles. You'll be good with <50% equipload medium roll (it'sthe perfect roll for PvE in my opinion) and some armor for poise (I recommend you choose the one you like the most). Some short answers:

1. Yes.
2. No.
3. No, the cursed version is more powerful.
4. Can't buff the Greatsword of Artorias.
5. Yes I would that.

you said no to question #2... how does that work then? what does the 140 mean under divine on the wiki? what does that represent?
what is the benefit of 140divine? i have no concept of how that mechanic works.

also, thank you very much for telling me you cant buff the sword - that would have been a giant shocker for me to find out.

also, i don't understand how cursed is stronger. this may be my weakness in understanding the game's mechanics.
Cursed is: CCCC with dmg at +5 of 237 physical @+5
Normal is: CCBB with dmg at +5 of 180phy and 127 magi

seems like normal = 307dmg, with some positible magic mitigation.

also, normal scaling would enable you to focus better on int/faith

Yeah the mechanics work like this:

237 phys damage vs. their physical defence

vs

180 phys vs. their physical defence
127 magic vs. their magic defence

A weapon that does for example, 200 base damage with C scaling might have a +100 bonus from stats. A weapon with 150 base damage with C scaling might have a +75 from stats.

So by focusing on one type of damage, it can break through easier.

If I were you, I would take this weapon later on in NG1 or NG2, and not in NG0. Plan for it, but take another cool weapon you were interested in until you get there.

IV_Mark_VI wrote:Yeah the mechanics work like this:

237 phys damage vs. their physical defence

vs

180 phys vs. their physical defence
127 magic vs. their magic defence

A weapon that does for example, 200 base damage with C scaling might have a +100 bonus from stats. A weapon with 150 base damage with C scaling might have a +75 from stats.

So by focusing on one type of damage, it can break through easier.

If I were you, I would take this weapon later on in NG1 or NG2, and not in NG0. Plan for it, but take another cool weapon you were interested in until you get there.

using the char planner, i cant find a combination of stats that make the cursed weapon do more damage.

i guess i dont understand why going up against 2 resistances is inferior to 1 resistance.
resistances are a percentage, right?
so 180 - 20% = 144
120 - 20% = 96
144 + 96 =240

180+120 = 300
300*.8 = 240



even if it hits 2 20% resistances... 20% phys and 20% magic... it still comes out the same, which means teh higher hte number, the better as far as i can tell?

or is this not a percentage, an actual number that gets subtracted? Cause then i could see 2 resistances being much worse than 1?

No, doesn't work like that. Resistances are not a percentage.

The character planner will only give you one total number, and defence doesn't subtract a percentage of damage.

No one has the equation down, but there has been testing done. Higher attack rating vs appropriate defence is better than two weak attacks.

It's not a straight subtraction either, but that's closer to the mark.

tard01 wrote:you said no to question #2... how does that work then? what does the 140 mean under divine on the wiki? what does that represent?
what is the benefit of 140divine? i have no concept of how that mechanic works.

also, thank you very much for telling me you cant buff the sword - that would have been a giant shocker for me to find out.

Don't really know, and most of the wiki neither, but it seems it's a percentage of how much damage you do to enemies weak to divine. And sorry for my laziness, Mark explained you pretty well why "weaker" pure physical AR deals more damage than "stronger" split AR. We don't know when the split AR becomes stronger, but I usually say it's stronger when there's a 200 AR difference between pure and split. However, for the true version to have maximum AR, it needs 40/40/40/40 in the respective stats, meanwhile the cursed version has to have 40/40, only 2 stat investment, which is usually more powerful when you impose yourself SL caps (ie. SL 120).

Even if you don't, your weapon won't be great until a really high level.

SO grab somethign else first, then switch over.

I'd go for this:

27str/40dex/ and some into vit/end. Lots of weapons you can use. Then hit either INT or Faith until it gets to 40, unlocking lots of spells and effective weapons.

You'll be able to PvP more effectively, which is the best way to rack up souls.