Good bleed weapons at an early level?

I started a new guy and I am wanting to fight the stray demon. My usual strategy is to bleed him with the bandit knife, but I started with the knight this time round and lack weapons which can bleed him. I currently only have the morning star, and I could obtain the reinforced club, but both are very slow and ill-suited to the fight. Does anyone have any suggestions that don't involve farming the hollow thieves?

Become a forest hunter by talking to Alvina, then speak with Shiva. Then go to Btown near the water wheel and buy something from him. Washing Pole, Uchigatana, Claws, there are a lot of great weapons there.

You could also kill the undead merchant and take his Uchigatana

No, the Talismans!

Katanas are my personal preference for bleed weapons and dex builds. They have great speed, and damage if you're going dex. And since they're fast, you can build up the bleed fairly quickly.

I personally killed the undead merchant once I had all I wanted like the bow, and stocking up on the consumable and such. The uchigatana that early is so OP

ARSP wrote:You could also kill the undead merchant and take his Uchigatana

My buddy accidentally killed this merchant before he figured out that it is wise to roll into barrels to break them, and he ended up using the Uchigatana for most of the game. He loved it.

Any weapons I can get without joining covenants or killing npcs? It seems like the death scythe is my only option at this stage, but I will try out the morning star.

i wish there was a broken glass mixed into tart resin thing that gave weapons bleed capability when applied... and yeah the great scythe seems to be your best bet or maybe the barbed sword but thats a chance drop from kirk... if you havent killed him in the depths do so and hope you get the sword. also you could go for the iaito katana in upper blighttown if you have 20 dex

sparkly-twinkly-lizard wrote:i wish there was a broken glass mixed into tart resin thing that gave weapons bleed capability when applied..

Ahaha great idea! Reminds me of the Barman Shanker dagger from World of Warcraft lol. Would be so funny to use a broken bottle as a weapon for on-line dueling. Bar fights!

Im reluctant to use the iaito because Im no sure how I want this toon to turn out, so 20 dex may be a waste in the long run. The morning star will probably do.

I know you want bleed, but the claymore is easy to get early, only requires 16 str, and is pretty effective in just R2 stabbing him to death from behind, particularly if you get him stuck in his AoE attack loop.

befowler wrote:I know you want bleed, but the claymore is easy to get early, only requires 16 str, and is pretty effective in just R2 stabbing him to death from behind, particularly if you get him stuck in his AoE attack loop.

I want him to suffer for the pain he caused me on my first playthrough...

The Bandit's knife has a good drop rate, post-patch. If you go farming for it, it shouldn't take long. I usually get one every time I go down there. It's probably your best bet, since it has practically no stat requirements, and it bleeds bosses really well.

buy a flamberge... BEST. BLEED. WEAPON. EVER. Ok, I may have a bit of a bias toward this weapon but it's one of my favorites as it's also a heavy hitter when two handed.

I like using the washing pole a sword that has the range of a halberd now that's nice

By early I mean darkroot/parish level of early.

Your best options are either Bandit's Knife or Great Scythe. The Uchi too, if you don't mind killing the merchant. Depends on what kind of stats you're willing to level.

Try poison? idk for that boss i usually just hide under arches and emerge once hes used his aoe since it doesn't seem to reach under those arches to terribly much unless he's standing in there with you...