An arguably better weapon for low level players than the drake sword.

I got it one of the first times I went under the bridge but I did have Demon's souls experience. So "shoot dragons" was ingrained. From under the bridge my bow did better damage to the tail than head or wing so I stuck with that and out of nowhere.....here's a sword. With the master key I could see getting the other option just as easily and just as accidentally.

It seems like the wielder's preferences are getting left out of the discussion as well too. Despite having higher damage options early I stuck with a standard broadsword for a while because I wasn't sure how hard it would be to get materials to upgrade so I rarely did it. The moveset and style was more effective for me than switching to something else, despite damage output. I also use a bow a lot in PvE. Bows are inherently way weaker than melee and magic but with the right mindset a far "better" weapon for some people.

I got the Drake by knocking it off its face, you don't have to know about the tail. I didn't start playing till after patch 1.05, I guess. Great sword when you're brand new, but does get old. Similar to Quelaag's Furysword for me. Loved it for a while then moved on.

Here's a random question Silver Knight Straight Sword +5 vs Blader Swag sword +15 for a faith build with 16strength 22 Dex 50 faith using ether weapon enchant for miracles.

Oo1Zer0 wrote:Here's a random question Silver Knight Straight Sword +5 vs Blader Swag sword +15 for a faith build with 16strength 22 Dex 50 faith using ether weapon enchant for miracles.

Balder Swag sword all the way. At +14/15 it scales A with dexterity so I'd put dexterity up to 40 to capitalise on that. It's also got a meaty thrust combo. The SKSS is cool, but not very practical, with only a C in dexterity.

Wade_Wilson wrote:

Oo1Zer0 wrote:Here's a random question Silver Knight Straight Sword +5 vs Blader Swag sword +15 for a faith build with 16strength 22 Dex 50 faith using ether weapon enchant for miracles.

Balder Swag sword all the way. At +14/15 it scales A with dexterity so I'd put dexterity up to 40 to capitalise on that. It's also got a meaty thrust combo. The SKSS is cool, but not very practical, with only a C in dexterity.

With the above mentioned stats SKSS does more damage. Repeated thrusting is impractical in pvp unless you want to get BSed. The second r2 strike on the SKSS is a wide swing so if the first overhead slam is dodged they can't easily BS you right after. Both weapons are good its a matter of playstyle & moveset preference.

Those are two of my most-often used weapons with my main guy. I love running around with them all charcoal-resin'd up.

Oo1Zer0 wrote:

Wade_Wilson wrote:

Oo1Zer0 wrote:Here's a random question Silver Knight Straight Sword +5 vs Blader Swag sword +15 for a faith build with 16strength 22 Dex 50 faith using ether weapon enchant for miracles.

Balder Swag sword all the way. At +14/15 it scales A with dexterity so I'd put dexterity up to 40 to capitalise on that. It's also got a meaty thrust combo. The SKSS is cool, but not very practical, with only a C in dexterity.

With the above mentioned stats SKSS does more damage. Repeated thrusting is impractical in pvp unless you want to get BSed. The second r2 strike on the SKSS is a wide swing so if the first overhead slam is dodged they can't easily BS you right after. Both weapons are good its a matter of playstyle & moveset preference.

Thats why I suggested 40 dexterity, at that level the BSS does much more damage. Also, thrusts are great in pvp if you dont lock on and track them.

incorrect, at 40 dex the BSS and the SKSS do the exact same damage fully upgraded (+15 and +5 respectively) due to skss's higher base damage. unless you want 50 dex its a matter of movesets. plus the skss is like the excalibur of this game imo (either it or the astora straight sword...) also regarding the early weapon question i usually do what zero does but with the lucerne i pick up in the catacombs. all i need to do is go ther with 9 shards and pick up the 1 green leading to vamos then i can kill bk's in 1-2 bs's and easily farm the depths or btown for more green.

First play through I hadn't a clue what I was doing early on. My starting class was a bandit so I had an axe, which I found pretty handy. Got me past the Taurus Demon without too much trouble anyway. Trouble is, it was slow and when I found out about the Drake Sword I got me a bow and went for it. After I got it I used it consistently through the early part of the game.

I'm not arguing that Astora's Sword or a fire weapon isn't better but you can't get hold of these as early on as you can the Drakes. In order to upgrade Astora's you have to farm Twinkling titanite and you have to get past two Drakes and an Undead Dragon to get it in the first place. Not easy for a low level character. As for a fire weapon, first you have to upgrade a standard weapon, then get green titanite from the Depths and/or the swamp. Not an easy trip. What I'm trying to point out in my long winded fashion is that the emphasis here is on early and the Drake Sword wins hands down in this department.

The fire Zwei +5 is amazing, but I agree that it's not the most readily available at start-of-game. Farming leeches and getting to Vamos aren't bad, but only if you know what you are doing. I did it with my most recent character, and he was two handing that beast well before level 20. Low endurance be damned, few mobs live though a single hit, much less two! That said, my first character did use the Zwei reasonably early, but not until I had the 24 str, for fear of no shield. Once you get it to Fire +10, NG is easy mode.

Well, for new people: Drake Sword

For experienced low level people: Gravelord Sword.

Astora Straight Sword it's useless. It does negligible damage, even at +5 and with high faith. A new guy using Twinklink titanite in that weapon it's just wasting resources. The Drake Sword does 200+ damage at +0 and can be obtained in an easier new-friendly method than the Catacombs run. Also the Catacombs run requires you to dodge the titanite demon.

Personally I think the best uber weapon at low levels is probably the Claymore. It's one of the few powerful weapons that requires very little stats. 11 str(2h) and 10 dex is all you need and there is more than one class that can use it at starting level. All it takes is making it to the bridge and past the Dragon. It starts out weaker than the Drake Sword but by the time it's +5 which doesn't take very long, it's already in close competition. Awesome move set, great range and it stun locks quite easily.

If you're willing to drop into the depths entrance you can grab the large ember and just head back out before even going deeper. Also I'll saying making it to Vamos is no more difficult than making it to the coffin to join Nito's covenant. If you can manage to pick up 2 stacks of green titanite(2 lucky drops from slugs) or 10 large shards(takes a little longer but same enemies) then you can also have a +10 or a +5 raw as well. +5 raw is stronger than +10 normal if you don't raise your str/dex and you can always break it back down to +5 normal if you choose to change it later. Considering you can buy charcoal pine resin cheaply, a +5 raw claymore with a stack of resin is very powerful for little work.

I feel like this has been beaten to death, but no I don't think getting to Vamos is as easy as getting to Nito's chamber.

Nito: go past the first necromancer to open the door, run around 3 skeletons, fall down, run around the titanite demon to pick up the eyes, run back around the titanite demon, and you have a very powerful weapon.

Vamos you need to go through more interiors, run around more skeletons in narrower passages, then fall down to Vamos's chamber. Assuming you survive all that, some of the skeletons will follow you down and seriously screw things up. As far as I can see, the only way to do this when you're fresh into Lordran, is by quitting and loading game a few times on your way down, to reset the skeletons. Otherwise you'll get chased, ganged on, cornered, and killed instantly.

My friend just got Dark Souls, and I've been giving him some advice. I told him to skip the Drake Sword (it gets useless very quickly, and while you use it you could be getting used to a better weapon with more longevity instead), and kept insisting he stick with the Claymore. Didn't take him long to fall in love with that weapon, and he never needed the Drake Sword.

It arguably does take a bit more work, though with that in mind any trip to the catacombs is suicide for a truly new player. My point was more to the effect of if you can make it to the coffin then it doesn't take much more work to get to Vamos. I've had those skeletons fall down on me before as well after stupidly not killing the Necro in the room with the pit. In retrospect I think a simple game exit/reload might have solved it. As it was I had to kill the skeleton, talk to vamos long enough to do a quick upgrade, rekill the skeleton, repeat... Was a pain

Gravelord sword is very similar to claymore moveset, it just requires more stat investment so Claymore was a less costly option. For someone's first playthrough though there is nothing wrong with getting str/dex both up fairly high if only to be able to play with different weapons and find one you like.

Quit/ reload is so handy sometimes! I have to force myself not to use it.

The claymore is a greatsword, whereas the gravelord sword is a curved greatsword. They're similar because they're both greatswords, but their differences come from the fact that one is curved and the other straight. (Sorry if I just pointed out the obvious there!)

As for Str/ Dex, that's also something I recommend on first playthroughs. I showed my friend where to get the Zwei, Winged Spear, Estoc, Claymore, Iaito, and Partizan, among others, and he started off with the Scimitar. That's a good range of weapons there! He was smart enough to raise his stats to be able to try out each one. I told him no weapon is really better than another in Dark Souls, they all have their pros and cons and ideal situations, so it's good to try them all, know what you like, and where to use it best.

well for someone who is new to the game drake sword IS the best sword for that stage of the game. for me either the gravelord or raw claymore +5 with black resins or both.

FruitPunchNinja wrote:well for someone who is new to the game drake sword IS the best sword for that stage of the game. for me either the gravelord or raw claymore +5 with black resins or both.

Yeah, raw weapons make wonders if you're new and at a low level. My first EVER playthrough I was playing with a mage, and when I got to Andre, I bought a Battle Axe and used it my entire playthrough. Raw Battle Axe +5 works great! Then after I advanced more deeply I changed it to enchanted +5 and it did like 500+ damage.

Also, to make a +5 Raw weapon you don't need a Slab.

^Not even chunks! Only large shards. Come to think of it, raw is actually a very good option until you can farm chunks.

I'm going to check my BB to see if I've got a raw weapon stashed away in there. Trouble is, I've got so many weapons I'm spoilt for choice but the one's I use most are the Fire Uchi+10,Gravelord+5, Compound Lonbow+14 and Dragonslayer Greatbow+5. I've got loads of other weapons maxed out that I scarcely use like Orney's spear, Dragon Greatsword etc. This is because I'm woefully ignorant about their capabilities. I must experiment more.

Heh not many people seem to like the drake sword. On my first playthrough I used it up until i got the the blacksmith in Anor Londo as didn't really know what I was doing. I didn't have too many problems though. At this point I changed to Queelag's Furysword.

Drake sword has to be the most powerful/easiest to get for new players if they have no real previous experience with the game. On my very first playthrough, back on release, I got it myself. However, I soon discovered that this sword was one of the biggest crutches ever placed in a game by the developers. It was not an upgrade to what I had - it was an I WIN button. An upgrade would of been a weapon with 10/20 or so % extra damage. Not something that was roughly twice as powerful, or more, than I was currently using. I used it for a little bit, but then I ditched it for a normal weapon. I didn't get Dark Souls because I wanted an easy game. If I remember it right, I went for the Zwei and never looked back. Guess in retrospect, the Zwei can be argued as a big I WIN button too, but at least it wasn't as powerful as the Drake Sword right off the bat. Felt good using it though. Very MANLY!

MORE POWER - ARG ARG ARG!

The same, to a perhaps slightly lesser extent, can be said about the lightning spear. Which in my hands met a similar fate. "Oh look, shiny new spear" - poke-poke-poke from behind shield - "I WIN!". No thank you. Also, spears are kind 'girly', aren't they?

I've come across this kind of criticism about the Drake Sword before i.e. that it's too powerful too early in the game. I have a theory though that From made it available so that less experienced players get a leg up early on, so that they wouldn't give up and quit playing because they wanted as many people as possible to enjoy what they'd created. In doing so they recognised that not everyone is a hotshot gamer and let's not forget it's required for the Knight's Trophy. After all, once you've got it, you don't have to use it. There is nothing to stop you playing through the game naked armed with just a stick (broken sword hilt) if you want to.

SlakeMoth wrote:I've come across this kind of criticism about the Drake Sword before i.e. that it's too powerful too early in the game. I have a theory though that From made it available so that less experienced players get a leg up early on, so that they wouldn't give up and quit playing because they wanted as many people as possible to enjoy what they'd created. In doing so they recognised that not everyone is a hotshot gamer and let's not forget it's required for the Knight's Trophy. After all, once you've got it, you don't have to use it. There is nothing to stop you playing through the game naked armed with just a stick (broken sword hilt) if you want to.

Exactly! I think that really helpful for new users is the point of this thread, rather than what is the most powerful weapon one can possibly attain at the start of the game. The Drake Sword, though many of us experienced players look down on it, can carry a new player through early parts of the game that they would otherwise possibly give up on. When I start a new character, I skip the Drake Sword because I want to challenge myself- then again, I know exactly where every enemy is hiding and can pretty consistently parry them. When I played NG, I stocked up on arrows and shot the Bridge Wyvern's tail off on the suggestion of a friend, and that sword was a godsend against many enemies. As I progressed, I started forcing myself to use other weapons get better at combat and eventually found a more powerful weapon (Fire Zwei + 10), but at the time I picked up the Drake Sword, it was far and away the most powerful.

Astora's straight sword is also a great early choice, and I think if anyone I know is just starting the game that I'd recommend they run for it early rather than shoot arrows for the Drake Sword. Two reasons- (1.) it has stat scaling, so they'll feel the progression of leveling up, and (2.) it doesn't require a silly AI exploit.

I'd also have them make a suicide run into the graveyard for the zweihander.

I wouldn't send a new player into the catacombs, especially without a divine weapon.

^But then again, this thread wasn't necessarily created with "new players" in mind. Its original point was just "low level" players. It kind of got derailed when everyone started assuming it meant newbies.

Either way, a lot of good suggestions were made in this thread.

Newbies: Drake, Astora's, Claymore, etc.

Experienced: Gravelord, Fire Zwei, etc.