Let me give you a nibble of advice. I will start with equipment and spells, and the stats should come out of it. I will also assume you have a maximum SL, somewhere around level 120, otherwise you can take my advice and continue going in a similar direction. One last thing, I prefer my builds to be optimized, and you probably already cannot do that, I will attempt to make it as best as possible, but if you want 100% optimization, you'll probably want to start over and cut the fat.
If you want to be a spellsword, you'll probably want to use Crystal Magic Weapon, which requires 25 INT, that is a key spell for characters that want to maximize damage with a buff to a sword. 25 INT is nice, but any extra will add damage to your weapon, plus if you can get to 31, that increases your Crystal Soul Mass from 4 masses to 5, which is a nice spell for spellswords to protect themselves as they go in for the kill.
You'll need to choose a weapon that is enchantable, I'm not going to give you a list, or a heavy suggestion on which one to choose, but I can give you the advice on what I think on for weapons.
I feel that, when you choose a weapon, you must like the weapon you use, there are good weapons, and there are fine weapons (and some terrible, your Drake Sword may look good now, but it is really a terrible weapon). As long as you like your weapon, and you are willing to adjust your character to make it work, most weapons are able to work. Most of the time, if a weapon has high requirements (and/or for this entire list), low (especially no) scaling, low base damage, lack of something special, bad moveset, or terrible range, that can be a limiting factor to if you like a weapon, and if the weapon is good. I would suggest you spend some time, looking at weapons, experimenting with what you can, summoning phantoms and asking them what they are using, so you can get some experience without spending too much points into stats that could be wasted. I will give you an example.
My favorite weapon is a Gargoyle's Halberd, if you are unaware what it looks like, please take a moment to look it up. What I really like in it, is the moveset and range (I feel these are sometimes hand and hand). I say that if you dislike its moveset/range, the weapon won't preform as well as if you did like it. Weapons that you like will be better for you, because you will develop an attachment to them, and will naturally learn how they move and become comfortable with them. Look for a weapon you enjoy using. My weapon has a slow-medium swing speed, but I don't usually feel overextended because I'm very comfortable with it.
Another thing I like, it has high base damage, and not poor scaling. You see, no weapon that deals non-physical damage types (if it does lightning/magic/fire damage) is a buffable weapons. These weapons are pretty effective through NG+++, and against other players perhaps into level 120 (depending on weapon), but after that, you should have enough points to use a buffable weapons. Let me tell you a bit on how damage is done.
The Gargoyle's Halberd has high D scaling in STR, and low D scaling in DEX. A weapon has different levels of scaling, the higher the better, and less common. As you upgrade a weapon, usually the weapon increases this letter. The letters have different levels within them (as in, high D and low D), I don't know of anything that indicates the exact details on it. The letters are E (terrible, usually ignore this), D (poor to ok, depending on weapon power), C (very average and solid, weapons with C scaling in DEX and STR are usually considered good weapons), B (usually on more specialized weapons, designed to be used by stronger players or more dexterous players), A (very rare, usually on upgraded weapons only, very good too), and S (very very rare, only a few weapons have S scaling. I would say its the best, but usually these weapons happen to need the S scaling to do any damage, usually S scaling weapons aren't too good purely because the weapon that has it isn't good, don't be deterred if there is an S, but usually S weapons just happen to be not be too good, here is the reason why).
Now the Gargoyle's Halberd has high D and low D scaling, which isn't good, but what that means is that a part of the weapons base damage is added to the final damage. Here is a good example, At around 50 STR and 50 DEX, my Gargoyle's Halberd has around 530 or so Attack Rating (this is the number you compare weapons with, from now on, I will call it AR), but the base damage is only 287. Even though the scaling is bad, the weapon base damage is so high, that the final damage is good, think of it this way (I must stress, these numbers about to come up aren't real, they are just examples), it has 287 starting AR, and a high D in STR scaling with says, "because your STR is 50, give an extra 1/2 AR to the final AR", that adds another 143 (half of 287, rounded down) to it, increases it's AR to to a total of 430. Now if you compare it to another weapon, which say, has S scaling, if the weapon has 287 AR, the S scaling says, "because your STR is 50, give an extra AR to the AR", you get 574. Now in this (once again, artificial) example, you can see how strong S is to D, but usually weapons that have S scaling have lower base damage, heck the two weapons with the highest scaling in DEX have such low base AR's that you only get 300 and 400 AR at 99 DEX. As your stats increase, the letters do more work for you. An S scaling at 30 DEX will have less effect than 50 DEX. I wish I could give you a better and more precise example, I hope you understand.
So I like my damage and love my moveset. You need to find a weapon that you love, and is a fine weapons to use for your character. Most good weapons have C/C (as in C scaling in STR and C in DEX, from now on, this will be the format, STR/DEX), you'll want to have your STR and DEX at 40 to get the most out of your weapon damage, depending on your level and how much you can give to them. Weapons with D/B, E/B, I think its more appropriate to have something more like 30/50, but it depends on the weapon, check before you put your points away. I wouldn't pass 50 for most weapons, 60 is a little too high, but I feel acceptable for some weapons. Any higher is just too wasteful. Things like B/D or B/E I would suggest more like 50/30, once again, check first.
Ok, so now we have your weapon covered, sort of. Now we can talk shields and Equip Load. You'll want to have your END at 40 for almost every character. That is when your Stamina stops increasing, I'm sure you understand how Stamina works, I will just say that its very very important that you have maximum. With the Ring of Favor and Protection on, you will have the max of 192 Stamina, which is good. It also gives you enough bleed resistance that if you are wearing armor, you shouldn't worry too much about bleeding out all the time, and some more Equip Load (EL), so you can wear heavier armor. First you'll need to think about your shield and if what you would like from it. The Grass Crest Shield is usually an on back shield. Its ability to block isn't very impressive. Any shield that have 100 Physical block is usually a possible shield. If you feel you are going to dodge more, I suggest you choice a shield with higher Stability. Stability is how much impact your shield takes for you, a higher Stability the better, so if you are rolling and dodging more, the hits you block, you'll be less likely to be staggered. If you intend to take more hits and retaliate, I usually suggest you use a shield with higher resistances, higher resistances the less damage you'll receive from fire/magic/lightning attacks, so you can save your Stamina (instead of rolling) and simply attack back when you are done blocking, protecting you from too much damage. Most of the time, however, shield that are great or good have both qualities, at 16 STR, you can use a lot of the great shields, so you shouldn't be limited on that, you will mostly limited on your EL. One more thing though, you need to think about before that. Greatshields, which very good at blocking, cannot parry, and while in PvE that works just fine, in PvP, the ability to parry, even if you can't do will well enough to actually do it, will adjust how someone fights you, and in a way, protect you also. Usually Greatshields are too heavy to be used effectively, but sometimes builds can make use of them.
Your EL is a very important number, while there are variances to rolling, you need to choose if your character needs to roll fast, roll medium, or if you don't intend to roll unless needed. Just a quick exert here.
There is a ring called the Dark Wood Grain Ring (DWGR), I'm not going to hate on it, but really, it is the best ring overall, what it does is increase your EL for fast rolling by 2, and makes your rolls into an overall better handspring, just to keep in mind. At 40 END, you'll have 40 EL tohandspring with this ring, and 40 END and Ring of Favor and Protection,you'll have 48. These are better than fast rolling, but takes up a ring slot, and I personally believe the ring is very stupid and it makes you a better player if you avoid it, but it is the best ring and it will make the game much easier.
At 40 END, you will have a total of 80EL, and with the Ring of Favor andProtection on, its 96, I suggest you keep these numbers in mind, they will adjust what armor you use.
If you are at 100% EL to 50.01% EL, your character will fat roll (as its often called), and run slowly. This is considered laughably bad in most PvP, but its not too bad in PvE, just remember, rolling will still protect you, but when you fat roll, you need to expect to take hits, andavoid rolling unless needed. You also cannot punish players who try to run away or heal because you can't move fast enough to do so.
At 50-25.01% EL, you will medium roll, because of the DWGR, most players also scoff at medium rolling in favor of handsprings, while in actuality, its actually solid. Medium rolling is just fine, and you will run enough to punish people usually, but you will have trouble catching people who run.
At 25-0% EL, you will fast roll. While the medium roll is good, fast rolling is like amazing something good compared to medium rolling. You will always be able to run away (or keep pace with them), catch someone and punish people who don't think out their actions carefully.
At 50-0% EL, with the DWGR, you'll do a handspring. The handspring is slightly slower, but covers more distance and makes you invincible a much longer time. Your character otherwise can run just as fast as fast roll too.
OK. Jeeze I'm getting carried away here huh? Anyway, with armor, you need to consider the EL before other things. After that, you need to decide if you want more Poise (which is very important, it prevents you from staggering when something hits you, it allows players to hit without being interrupted by quick attacks) or if defense is good enough. Poise isn't everything, but it is only done in amounts that matter on heavier armor, if you want a good amount of Poise, you will probably medium roll or handspring.
Sorry if I repeated anything that you already knew. Lets talk about stats now.
We've already discussed STR, DEX, END, and INT.
With Vitality, a solid build will need at least 30, and its better to be more around 50. After 50, your returns per point aren't really worth it, but with the Ring of Favor and Protection on, you can get it up to 60 and it not being too wasteful. I suggest 50 for all builds that can afford it, 30 is really pretty low, especially without the Ring of Favor and Protection.
Attunement needs to be around 12-19, after that, unless you intend to cast a lot of spells, you're getting wasteful, maybe 23, but that is pretty high for spellswords, which gives you 6 slots. I can't give you the exact number, because its related to your desire to cast other spells, but I probably would like 19 or 23, I prefer to cast more spells, and be a little more spammy. Do not have it past 50, because it does nothing, or at a value other than 10, 12, 14, 16, 19, 23, 28, 34, 41, 50, as these give you an extra slot each (1 to 10), anything in the middle is a waste.
Do not increase your Resistance, I only have one time I suggest a slight increase, its just not worth it for most people.
Your Faith is already too high. Usually players will choose either Miracles/Pyros, Sorceries/Pyros, Pyros, Miracles, or Sorceries. All 3, or Miracles/Sorceries are less common because they require more stat investment than solid 120 builds can afford. I usually suggest (other than perhaps restarting) that you make your weapon buffs Sorceries, and make your self buff Miracles. At 16 FAI, you can use Replenishment, a not too good, not too bad heal yourself over time spell. At your current 14, you can use Magic barrier, which is limited in application, but effective when usable. At 18 is Tranquil Walk of Peace, which used to be damn overpowered, but has been nerfed so much to 10 seconds, making it nearly worthless for most players. At 20 is Karmic Justice, but its not too effective either, since its really hard to activate against anything. At 28 is the overall, best Miracle, Wraith of the Gods, which is a fairly powerful AOE spell that pushes them back and gives you good breathing room. If you want to increase to that, you also may want to increase your ATT another 1-3 slots for your Miracles. You can also use Heal, which isn't very good against players (too slow), but is quite good in PvE, and is helpful to a host if you like to co-op.
I hope this has been helpful, I like helping people. Please ask more questions if you have them!
by demonwolf14 Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:15 pm
