Heavy Equipment Recommendations

After watching a few youtube videos Ive decided to try making a super heavyweight toon, like heavy poise armors, heavy shield, fat roller, heavy weapon. I don't ever play this way, so I thought it might be fun. Problem is Im not really sure what to use as far as weapons are concerned, and I thought I'd ask for advice just because it seems like whenever I see people discussing bigger weapons I usually see at least a couple of people commenting on how easy some of them are to parry. I definitely don't want to make myself a parry magnet considering I'll probably be getting BSed constantly due to my slow speed. Any ideas? One of my first toons is a faith build that uses the Grant, so Im not going to do that again,

Black Knight Greatsword?

I've never been much of a fan of the BK arsenal, although I have to admit I've never really tried that one. It upgrades powerfully enough to contend with weapons you can upgrade how you will? I'm not sure if I want to invest in faith at all, so buffing isnt entirely out of the question. I just made sure to get the DGH from the Asylum Demon so I could try that too.

Right now I'm thinking stat wise that I'm going to focus on VIT,END, and STR only probably, but I may or may not throw FTH into the mix as well. I haven't decided yet.
I'm also considering giving one of the Arty weapons a try. I've never done that before either. Always just seemed like you had to spread your stats out too much for it to be worth it.

If you're looking for a heavy-hitting str weapon, try out the Demon Greataxe. I've been using it constantly for the past few days on my med/fat rolling tank build. I've been parried a few times using the 2h r1 but that just means you need to be careful about attacking. I love its moveset, I can't tell you how many times I've hit someone with a second 1h r2 because they thought I was out of stamina. And you will almost always come out on top when it comes to trading hits, except for maybe people who buff.

Try it out and see if you like it! If you plan on doing only fat roll, keep the cleansing greatshield or havels greatshield for those dark magic spammers. It shuts them right down

The Arty weps aren't massively worth it, even the Abyss Sword only reaches Mura levels of damage, and that's with a much heavier stat investment. As far as Str weapons go, I really like the Demon Great Machete. It's almost as strong as the DGA, requires less stat investment, and has a much better moveset. I'm also a big fan of the Black Knight Halberd, it scales mostly with Strength and gets comparable damage to the split scaling polearms. If you want faster Str weps, the Butcher Knife and Man-serpent Greatsword are good choices.

I'm definitely thinking something big and slow that hits really hard. I've read constantly that great swords are the easiest weapons to parry. I can't really say from personal experience, as I've never really learned how to do it in pvp. I love the Great Axe. If the Demon's GA is anything like it that's absolutely one to consider. I'm planning on using Havel's GS. I have a dragon build I use it with and it's more than proven itself to me. So I'll have at least 50 STR for that anyway.

If you're heavy shield + weapon you have to use a weapon that has good 1 handed attacks. There's no point in having a heavy shield if you're going to rely on 2 handing it, as most of the heavy Str weapons are used. The best "heavy" weapons with good 1 handed movesets are the curved greatswords. As you're planning to fat roll I won't recommend any of the clubs, since they shine on rolling R1s. A DGM would be a good choice since it has good stunlocking. I think from nerfed greataxe stunlocking but I'm not sure. If greataxes are nerfed then I don't recommend them since their other good attacks are the rolling R1s. A good tank could use a greatsword although it has to be one handed since the stunlock got nerfed.

Tanks rely on stunlocking or turtling. A good tank could be able to tank +3 spear hits while trying to stunlock the spear user. In this case a Falchion could be very effective. You could use a BKH as Ghadis recommended, although I hate some halberds' movesets. In any case if you show us the build I can specifically tell you if it would work or not.

I would, but I'm really not entirely sure how I want to do it yet. In fact I'd take advice on that note too. I started with a Bandit, and at this point the only thing I'm positive that I know I want to do is 50 STR. I'll also definitely want to go at least 30ish with both VIT and END. Possibly a little more with END. I really don't know. It's so radically different than all my other builds, and really how I've played these games from the very beginning.

Im also considering going 150ish instead of my usual 120. I'd probably only do that though if I decide to include FTH, because I could make myself a dark moon and ring pvp without having to worry about my SL being too high to find opponents

Zwei/DGM are my choices. Roll R1 is great. And, you can unlock and swing behind you to surprise those roll BSers.

I actually have been trying the Zweihander with what was my first build. I completely butchered it stat wise as far as being any kind of cohesive build because, obviously, I didn't really understand what I was doing yet, still just experimenting. So to salvage the slot I've just been leveling him endlessly, and I tried the Zwei, among other things. I wasn't all that impressed. People were ripping me a new @$% hole. It just didn't feel like it was hitting much harder than the Claymore was, which was what I was using with that build to start with, but it was way slower and giving people a chance to BS me on pretty much every swing. Which they took me up on. Over and over and over.

Although with the DGM getting the endorsement that it is, I'll give it a try. You can buff demon weapons cant you?

I forgot you have to have high HP as well, since you'll be backstabbed and you'll be tanking hits in order to swing your slow weapon and trying to stunlock. I would say 1800 HP is a good minimum. If you want 50 Str you could try Havel's Shield + elemental Murakumo. An elemental Pike as backup for some turtling, Black Flame/GC is they are too aggressive. Or you could try a greataxe but check of they can still stunlock first. I forgot that the Greatsword 1HR2 thrust is very powerful, similar to the Claymore's but slower speed.

Without being parried, Zwei/DGM, because you can dead angle with them. Plus they can both be buffed of course.

I've actually been dying to try the Murakumo. I've started to a few times and ended up using something else. That's kind of an exciting prospect. I'm also a big advocator of the Pike. If I'm going to have a GS I'm absolutely planning on carrying a poking weapon in my inventory just to supplement a wider range of situations.

@Wyrm: 1800 HP would be what like 40ish VIT? Something in that neighborhood? I'll most likely be RoFaPing as well, so that'll take on some of that load.

@Tolvo: So I've been meaning to bring this up anyway. What the hell is dead angling? I keep hearing this term and I have no idea what that is.

You swing, then look another direction. The attack hits your enemy regardless if they are blocking or trying to parry. There are ways to block/parry dead angles, but most players have no clue.

So I take it you have to not be locked on for that to work? Thanks BTW

By look in another direction you mean turn your character right? Not just look in another direction with the camera? That actually explains why it's called dead angling huh? Angling your swings to the side?

Face your character a different direction, away or a bit to the side are typical ones. Ultra Greatswords have excellent dead angle zones.

I highly suggest if you are going to be fat-rolling to grab the Avelyn. It helps if you can't chase; faster than miracles and more accurate than the sunlight spears.

Going to have to practice that one. Maybe I'll just youtube it. I've been meaning to youtube the whole BS counter business anyway. I've heard there's one guy in particular that did some great instructional videos on that stuff.

^ Yeah I definitely plan on having a CB as a secondary in my shield hand. Already using the light CB in fact.

PlasticandRage wrote:Going to have to practice that one. Maybe I'll just youtube it. I've been meaning to youtube the whole BS counter business anyway. I've heard there's one guy in particular that did some great instructional videos on that stuff.

^ Yeah I definitely plan on having a CB as a secondary in my shield hand. Already using the light CB in fact.

All I'm saying is why not go heavy or Avelyn if your going to be fat rolling? A few points of encumbrance couldn't be that bad, unless it puts you in TWoP state. D:

Yeah Im agreeing with you. Weight isn't going to be an issue at all, and since speed will be, it'll be good to have a quick ranged attack at my disposal

EWGF, I think I have some of his videos in the new Resources Thread.

Yeah that's the guy. I'm actually watching the first one right now.

@PlasticandRage- For me the Zweihander is by far and away the best (of the few I've tried), with the Greatsword and the Man Serpent Greatsword coming in a joint close second. I also love the R2 attacks of the Black Knight Sword and the Black Knight Greatsword, which are brutal in the extreme, but for me the buid-up on both is way too slow making them impractical to use. I am yet to properly try any of the other large weapons, as prior to my latest runs I would always stick with my trusty BSS, and so am not in a position to advise on any of these... G

I ended up giving the Zweihander another shot, just because it was the first oversized weapon I came across that I could one-hand, and yeah, I'll be eating those words about now. It's definitely a pretty hardcore weapon. I don't plan on sticking with it, but it deserves more credit than I gave it.

if youre gonna go with 50 str and no(or almost no) dex go with have's shield and DGM, but if youre gonna go with a quality build the zwei/gs will serve you much better since they have a better moveset. you can always use the stone shield and do something like this http://mmdks.com/8v1