A few more questions

Which dagger AND rapier have the highest backstab damages?

Is damage from poison significant enough to even notice? Is Toxin significant enough to notice? What about both of them combined?

If I don't have the DLC, would someone who's nice enough be able to give me things from the DLC(I'd love to get my hands on Ciaran's equipment)?

I'll edit if I come up with anymore questions.

What's your platform and soul level? For DLC trading.

Attacking with a poisoned weapon doesn't necessarily win battles, but it's added pressure that can help you to gain the upper hand. Toxin, on the other hand, is very potent, and worth inflicting if you can.

Both will absolutely be noticed though. Especially if you've already widdled down some of their health. Poison at lower SL's can be very effective also. I've been using the Guardian Tail a lot recently, and one thing it's good for is waiting for them to stop to try to cure themselves. Leaves them opened for whatever.

I'm not sure about the daggers. I don't ever use them, but I've seen people using the Parrying and Bandits daggers probably more than any others. I've heard the new one is really good also.

Thanks for the info Plastic. And I'm SL 11 on XBOX

Yeah, can't help you there than. I'm on PS3.

Oh well. At least I know that it's possible. I'm sure I'll run into someone who's willing to give up her stuff during one of my trades.

LunarFog wrote:Which dagger AND rapier have the highest backstab damages?

Bandit's Knife and Mail Breaker IIRC.

The dark silver tracer has the highest raw bs damage however the bandits knife can be accessed much earlier and can be buffed for added damage. Parrying dagger is probably the most used but that's only for it's left hand parry.

Rapier's are really only preferred for riposte's following a parry however the basic rapier would probably be the best for riposte's.

Both poison and toxic are useful for pressuring players and if ignored can take chunks out of your opponent. They also have the enormous bonus of reducing your opponent's stamina regeneration which means they can make less moves and are very likely to suddenly run out and be left with nothing to guard.

Are you planning on leveling your character in any way?

AzureCrow wrote:

Are you planning on leveling your character in any way?

I'm not leveling her in any way. She's level 11 now. 16 Dex, 12 Strength, and enough attunement to have 3 spell slots.

My weapons will be:

Righthand 1: A dagger for 1 hit backstabs
Righthand 2: A rapier for reliable fighting, OR a bow
Lefthand 1: Pyromancy hand
Lefthand 2: A buckler shield OR a bow

I'm still thinking of spells, but Chaos Storm or Fire Tempest for one spell, and either Great Chaos Fireball or Great Combustion for the other.

Andfor item's I'll have Lloyd's talismans, poison knives, dung bombs, and maybe some other things that could harass people.

AzureCrow wrote:They also have the enormous bonus of reducing your opponent's stamina regeneration which means they can make less moves and are very likely to suddenly run out and be left with nothing to guard.

Really? I didn't know they did that. That's awesome

Why keep it at lvl 11? Low level invasions? Can't think of another reason since PvE isn't really concerned too much about backstabs/ripostes.

If you're going with dagger/rapier, definitely have a buckler over a bow. Without the threat of potentially parrying someone you allow them to control the fight more.

Poison is my favourite buff as well. It slowly eats away at their health, and if you stay on them, they can't pop a moss without risking being backstabbed. Great for people that turtle with shields. That, combined with the stamina loss, and I believe a psychological effect as well. I've used dung pies, but haven't used many poison throwing knives. The knives would be able to stun someone with no poise (unsure how much poise damage they do; how much poise do you need to overcome them?) which can be useful for cloth armour wizards.

I'd just focus on poison or toxic; trying to inflict both won't change much IMO. The main effect is to hurt their stamina recovery and slowly eat away at their HP. After you inflict it, stay on them, but the ball is in their court to finish you quickly, or try to create space and pop some moss.

Yep. You're right Mark, I'm going to be doing LOTS of low level invasions. Don't worry though. Unless they bring it on themselves, all I'll do is just drop them a few cracked-eyes and leave so they can invade too.

PlasticandRage wrote:

AzureCrow wrote:They also have the enormous bonus of reducing your opponent's stamina regeneration which means they can make less moves and are very likely to suddenly run out and be left with nothing to guard.

Really? I didn't know they did that. That's awesome

Yea it was the go to for countering dragon glitchers for a while, It's not anything crazy but probably enough to offset a green blossom on a light build.

And at OP I'd suggest try moving the glove to right hand and using the bandit's as a main with the buckler and bow on left. You shouldn't really need to constantly swap at that level and if you do menu swapping should suffice. Unless you plan to use buff resins in which case just menu swap the bow for the glove when necessary.

I use a sl 10 16/16 gravelord that's always a nice change of pace from high level pvp, it exists in the hopes of catching challenge runner's and now and then I get ruined, like riposte'd by a great soul arrow ruined.