How do I strength?

I am thinking about it right now, and cannot possibly think of an Ok way to play strength. Let's consider the possibilities:
Well, i'm thinking of playing Smough's hammer, just coz' it looks cool

- Light with Hammer
You would have to push your stats to near breaking point, most likely using Hav/RoFaP combo, so no variety for you. Min armour, and you would have a little HP to play with. In this case, you would likely get only one or two chances to land a hit before your opponent just kills you. And the very nature of strength weapons negates any bonus from fast roll.

-Tank with hammer
Now I know this is often used to good effect, but whenever I see this, my reaction is "You gotta be trolling" You would have high HP, high armour rating (GIANTS, GIANTS, GIANTS, BECOME UNSTOPPABLE) , which is pretty good. But dem backstabs will ruin your day. Without a quick slasher weapon, half your HP is pretty much gone. I know kicks have been used to good effect, but I have not mastered this art.

-Mid with magic support w/ hammer
This legit seems like a good idea, and maybe the best out of these options, but then again, that's not saying much. With out the High Int to make dem spells really hurt, their mainly to scare off Bs'ers with the thought of it. Combustion and Dark bead would be good for this, but I cannot think of any follow up you could take with this. I was also reading the recent thread about the Dex weapons, and one of the points is really legit. In Dex tank Vs. Str tank, of equal skill level, Dex will almost always win, they can out poise, out manouver, and outswing a Str tank. But that is for another time

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Str builds, I quite like them (dat scrubness), I can just never utilise them to full effect, and have never vs.d anybody that could either. This post is really just looking for a way Str builds without the Demon Great weapons. I just like my Smough's hammer as it is. Unbuffable, and unbelievable. Anyway, tell me what you think and if you have one, a good way to play Strength. In the meanwhile, I will fix up a Smough's/magic build.

tanking builds or fast rolling great hammers/clubs are the most effective in PVP.

that said…if you want to play a strength build, do it for the giggles not for the winning. otherwise it's just going to be a exercise in frustration.

fair enough

Usually when using strength weapons you are better off playing unlocked and using some prediction by anticipating backstabs and changing the direction of your attack while mid animation atleast on the slow strength weps which are the large majority, also consider using the BKGA although the wep is considered a bit cheap / easy to parry you can anticipiate people parrying fishing and kick them on your second hit, the r1s are actually quite fast aswell which is nice for big str weps.

The only thing I like about STR is that you can 2 hand and get max scaling with less stat investment. That, and the special weapon abilities of course.

You have access to high damage range w/o bows, TWoP without faith, and dead angles/stunlock.

I don't think low poise is a good idea though.

the way to win with str is to not compromise on poise and mobility. you can easily fastroll with 76 poise with havels and wolf ring and have a large club and a offhand weapon. people are too used to the fap ring...i was too, but for my 40str build i had the revelation^^ http://mmdks.com/1lyh tanky, fast, hits like a truck. i switch to man serpent sword regularely mid-fight for a change of pace and have my heavy crossbow next to the ghostblade for the last hit. it's really strong and versatile, most fun i ever had in pvp.

first of all you gotta be in the right mind set, you're gonna get roll bs'ed or at leas they will try to roll bs you, and I mean everyone is going to try and will roll bs you. of course most people that do nothing but roll bs kinda suck and their strategies end up back firing but watch out for any decent pvp'er that roll bs' cause youre prolly gona die. if you're just starting, I would start with the msgs and large/great club they easy to use and unlocking with any of them is a good idea, remmebr the little hammers are awesome, specially against r1 spammers since they will get stunlocked first, specially if you have the reinforced club.

with the great weapons like the greataxe or demon great machete the best thing you can do is unlock to dead angle or delay your hits so you don't get parried, make sure you see what they're doing too, if they're two handing they're weapon go for a roll r1, if they have their shield up it probably means they're gonna try to parry your roll r1 so roll r2 to make them miss the parry and make them go splat. just pay attention to your opponent and try to read him and you should be good.