OMG Claws are awsome!

I have never bothered with the forest hunter covent, and i tried the fist weapon you can buy in the burg, it sucked. For this char though i wanted some pvp practice so i joined the FH, had some souls to burn and bought 2 claws. There so fun to use and look badass, so far ive been wrecked every time i tried to use them in PVP I think mostly it my technique thats lacking. They have decent damage at lightning+2 155/155 they hit fast and have a bleed of 300 so i think there potential there. I'm torn on what to do, go with a high poise set up and just get in there face and go to town, hopefully they drop first, or keep it light and jump around like a crack head.
I almost want to start a new char and dump everything in to vit and end, then fully upgraded the claws to lightning+5. Then rock as much poise as i can, idk what do you guys think? Is there any hope for them i never see anyone use them, or wips for that matter.

P.S. not going to go for BS in my opinion that part of the game is very broken, if it happens o well but i don't try for them.

I don't really think the claws are bad, just hard to use as duals, or a weapon at all for that matter. As for using them, i would probably have the lefthand claw go with lighting +5 or chaos +5 and the right one +15 normal so that you could use any kind of buff. I would also probably go with fast to mid rolls, as long as there's some poise so that you won't get stunlocked, but that's just me. What level were you thinking of anyway?

Having a spamming-contest with high poise isn't necessarily very smart because it's so easy to get parried, and you aren't going to win if you face someone with poise and a heavier weapon. On the other hand, the same goes for being easy to read with roll attacks and so on...

Conclusion: Wear something that'll make you look even more badass 8)

(And creds to you for not going for backstabs! It's so boring to face someone with unusual weapons, but then they never even take a swing at you...)

Wasn't speaking of spamming contests though, i was more thinking of the idea of keeping it at rolls, but still being able to survive a stunlock.

RAITIR wrote:
Conclusion: Wear something that'll make you look even more badass 8)

This.

The riposte on the claws look awesome.

yeah i usually go for looks anyway, the one chick i made that had the claws was in either black clerics or hollow warrior top, goldhemmed arms/legs no head armor on either set up. Both looked badass but yah know, not the best lol.

Well i started the new guy, even if he sucks as long as he's fun ill keep him going. As far as lvl cap IDK at first i was thinking keep it low so there hp arnt as high, but I'll still have to deal with super powered weapons, and prob get one shotted regardless.

Then theres PVE as it prob not going to do awsome in PVP no matter what, could do ok but... So maybe pile on resistance?

Just tried something real quick here, probably not the best, but hey, it's something right?
SL 100:
http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=2172823344867751

how about this at lvl 60 http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=4863714804324621

just noticed i screwed up, take one point from end and add it to dex

Does the claw-offhand do that quick jab thing?
I've thought of using a caestus as an offhand for a quick damaging jab.

Rynn wrote:Does the claw-offhand do that quick jab thing?
I've thought of using a caestus as an offhand for a quick damaging jab.

No, it has a slower horizontal swipe. Caestus is better if you need a quick hit.

its the same as the strong attack on the right hand, you get that and a decent parry. After 3 normal attacks adding a off hand attack seams to speed up the animation. Ive tryied it after one and two normal swings but theres a slight pause thats not there if you do three normal attacks first.

Side note, ironically some dude that was helpping me in the parish, dropped a claw+5, yay i get to play with it early

So far my wolverine build is going ok, its definatly super fun. Just from the pure badassness of it. Its made for some of the greatest jolly coop ive ever had. The gaping dragon fight was epic, the summon didnt have super gear so it was probably a 15 min fight. solaire went down and the summon almost went down at least twice.

They are definatly lacking in the damage department right now. I went in to darkroot to get the covenet so i could buy the second claw, and i bet i backstabbed that invisable knight 10 times. The tanite deamon was a close one two. I just got in his face and went nuts, then backed off when under 1/2 hp to heal.

Also i just noticed another attack with the claws, the back step animation is different ( and quite cool looking) if you follow up the back step with a normal strike, you do this cool looking rushing slash.

Currently rocking the hollow warrior armor, chain leggings, gargoyle helm, 1 claw and a spiked sheild. havles and ring of favor. definatly the funest build ive made so far, liking the bash with the shield to

well im in anorlondo GOD DAMNIT i hate BS's!!!!!!!!!!! I got way more hp then i normally have at this lvl, not great armor but its upgraded quite a bit, and i get one shotted by a freaking dagger, so stupid. the really *** part is he BS me first with i think the grvelord sword and it didnt kill me, but the tiny dagger i can bairly see one shots me. any way i like the build its fun a side from *** people who take advantage of broken game mechanics its going well

yeah.. daggers really have nothing going for them except their backstabs though... also i bet it was elemental right? in which case judging from the armor you said you were wearing thats why it did so much damage, hollow stuff has crap elemental defense...

i get that they dont have much elses but the damage is a bit crazy, if you didnt back stab could any weapon if unblocked one shot some one with 1400hp? if there is o well but if not then why can the little dagger?

any way got my stuff back, undeadifyied my self and got a summon. the claws did really good agenst O&S, even super O it did pretty good. If From software reads this though, they need to extend the hit box for the claws, ive had a lot of hits go through mobs and not damage them. I rapped the iron golem that was cool, stood under him and just went crazy, once he dropped to ne knee it was over muhahaha

the big weapons can do that sort of damage on normal strikes provided you use powerwithin or the red tearstone effect to boost damage.

Try wearing ornsteins armour and you'll be a golden lion of death
Also I've had some luck with the claws I just recommend keeping a sheild on hand for if your getting swamped

A part of why fist weapons are difficult to use is their incredibly low poise damage combined with the lack of some major redeeming factor. In terms of poise damage, fist weapons compete with thrusting swords, daggers, and I believe whips -- all these groups have the lowest poise damage in the game. Daggers have high critical modifiers to go with their low weight and fast attacks, though, and thrusting swords can attack from behind shields, tend to have excellent range for their weight class, and deal piercing damage.

The other issue is that highly effective characters have synchronicity between their poise and the poise damage of their weapons. Remember, an enemy cannot attack you if they're staggered, so dealing high poise damage is a defensive trait as well as an offensive one. If you have 80 poise and the claws, but your adversary has 40 poise and a claymore, they're going to stagger you first because of the synchronicity between their poise value and their weapon; the claws do such little poise damage that they allow adversaries to trade with you freely, meaning that the trade will be less a case of poise and more of poise damage.

Fist weapons lack any redeeming features that make up for their lack of poise damage, whereas daggers and thrusting swords have good criticals, and the latter group also has a range of other advantages. But fist weapons require you to get so close that you're almost certainly opening yourself up to attack, and you're always going to lose the trade or the poise contest in general.

Just had the easyest sif fight so far, these things rock! also helpped two people kill him.

As far as PVP tatics i was thinking get in make a hit or two then get back out, and try not to trade with them. If i did load up on poise and wanted to trade i might have a shot through bleed damage?

What about this

I call it the Sun Lion
http://tinyurl.com/9bmnqsu

P.S the free ring slot is for personal preference, change it up for what mood your in it gives some variety

I had some awsome looking fights with the wraiths down in new londo. They do that cool slow walk thing, so i started doing it. Only putting my shield up as they strike and moving slowly most of the time. It made the fights look so much better, watch some pvp matches everyone is twiching and jumping every wear it looks wrong. It would be nice if you used stamina when doing anything but walking.

Def like the claws im gonna stick with them on this build and see what happens, probably just going to use one though. Theres no real benifit to dual weild them, you get one slow attack and a parry. meh with a shield i can block and still parry, way better.

umm a silly question what happens if you fat roll and use the rolling attack? the speeds are so different... could i use the rolling attack as a quick dodge if im a fat roller?