Some research about Dark Sorceries and Manus Catalyst

I did some damage tests with the Dark Sorceries and Manus Catalyst. The rumors about Manus cat boosting Dark Sorceries and their increasing damage with the Str stat are going to be clarified. I used both an Oolacile Catalyst and the Manus Catalyst, and the spells for comparison are Dark Orb and Great Heavy Soul Arrow.


-Dark Orb is weaker than Great Heavy Soul Arrow on most common enemies (I used the Hollow Crossbow Archers).


Oolacile Catalyst (180 Mag Adj)
Dark Orb: 309
GHSA: 352

Manus Catalyst (220 Mag Adj)
Dark Orb: 428
GHSA: 453


As you can see the difference in "increase" of the dark sorcery is very low. It could be related to the high Str of my build (26 Str).



-Str at 26 and 27 with Manus Catalyst:


Dark Orb: 428 and 433
GHSA: same as above (constant)


Str indeed increases the damage done by the Dark Sorceries, but it's a very low increase. Could have increasing returns with higher Str. Oolacile Catalyst values remained constant.



-Dark Orb and GHSA damage on Crystal Golems with Oolacile Catalyst:

Dark Orb: 60
GHSA: 71

Crystal Golems have very high magical defense. Don't know why from says that dark sorceries do physical damage lol. GMB also nullifies them.


So there it is. If you're thinking about using Manus Catalyst then stop increasing Int at 32 for Pursuers and increase Str to 40. You can also use it as low weight main Str weapon since it has same moveset as a greataxe. Awesome!!!!!

Gave you +1 for that. Good work.

So is there any use for the manus catalyst, except for that it can be used as a side weapon?

I would use it as a main weapon, since it has same moveset as a greataxe you can 2 hand it and hopefully stun someone. It is very slow however, like a Demon's Greataxe. From seems to also nerf greataxe stunlocking because after the first swing it delays a bit. As a side weapon I think it's too slow to be able to do any kind of combo. Maybe it can be used to break poise and then stunlock with 1 handed R1s of a Man Serpent Greatsword for example.

Very great research there Wyrm.

By the way I've been passing this video around and perhaps it would help add to your research if you are doing any more.

https://youtu.be/4_gRAnQbkPE

While it is mostly PvP this video shows the difference in casting times between low dex and 45 dex on the new dark sorceries.

And this guy did a research on number of frames.

https://soulswiki.forumotion.com/t10790-comprehensive-survey-of-dexterity-s-impact-on-sorcery-casting-speed

It's very interesting how the slower spells get a significant increase in speed.

That's a pretty useful thread. To the Resources thread!

The manus cat attack speed is faster in the left hand than the right. Also, I sometimes find it useful to cast a spell, and then whack them in the face when they role under it. It really only works when they don't have enough poise to take the hit tho.

Yeah I noticed that, in the left hand it seems to be able to do some stunlocking.

Its all part of the game I think unless you set up a duel, I like it that anything goes and **** people try to gamg up, the feeling of killing them over rides the bad of getting your *** whipped in an unfair fight, just how I feel

^Wrong thread?

I think you may have posted that in the wrong thread.

Good to see a thread like this one. I don't know if I'm missing something but when I was doing some testing with Soul Arrow I noticed that the Manus catalyst is NOT better than the Crystalization catalyst, and my character has 71 STR. I thought it was supposed to be the best?

Because only Dark Sorceries get the boost from Str with Manus cat.

Ah, I see, thanks for the info 8)

I'll probably be adding this to the Resources thread soon by the way Wyrm.