Board Thread:Dark Souls/@comment-9375302-20130603170334/@comment-96.48.25.0-20131208130138

Well, some people like trap characters, so..., who says Gwydolin can't get love?

Anyway, as someone has pointed out in this wiki only (caculation table not available elsewhere), Int, Faith scaling are better in the long run, meaning much later levels. Feel free to check the Scaling page. Str, Dex will probably do better in the earlier levels.

There are very few weapons that reach S and let alone A scaling, and most of those that reach A will only do so with a Slab. IIRC, you only get 2 regular slab in the game and 1 of each color other than the regular one. Blue Slab is almost pink rat tail level to impossibly to farm for, so regular, red and white are you leftover options. Red, because you can get a second slab without farming, and white has more respawning targets to farm with. It's very easy (but time consuming)to farm for regular slab since there are 11 targets per run. Therefore your choice for one game run is 2 normal +15/lightning +5 (nerfed), 2 chaos or fire +5 (heavily nerfed), 1 enchanted +5/magical +10, and 1 divine +10/occult +5.

For some extremes, an Enchanted +5 Great Club has 823 AR at 99 Str, 99 Int. I don't know if anything can go higher than that. Even with 99 Str, Dex, Int, Faith (that's all 99 for all 4), the GS of Artorias can only get 720 AR.

For the argument Magic v.s. Enchanted, it's almost always better to go enchanted unless you can pump enough souls into its secondary scaling stat to get the minium return for a few extra pts of damage, that unless the scaling is high enough, is never worth it.

Pushing to its extremes, assuming 99 in all damage scaling stats, if we take Claymore for an example, Normal +15 = 571, Magic +10 = 646, Enchanted +5 = 664, Divine +10 = 656, Occult +5 = 651. The difference isn't that big, and many would like to point out that with normal, you can boost it with CMW, or SLB. The problem with that is, well, it obviously only lasts 60 secs (or 90secs). And even with 922 AR (buffed with say logans), you still won't hit 1300 like a CSS spell. And you still need to pump enough pts into Int or Faith to use those spells, you also better hope you kill fast enough in 1-3 mins.

Anyway, after all that, I sometimes feel the whole damage thing is moot, because unless you like using the weapon, it won't be useful to you no matter your build. The moveset is probably > than damage. There is also the weight issue, which migh triumph any weapon damage argument, unless you don't mind been slow or you don't feel like armor. The other side of the issue is whether or not the enemy you are facing has weakness or resistance to your damage type. That takes the entire argument about which is better and throws it out the window. Even if Divine is better than Occult or vice versa, if your enemies is strong against Divine, than what?

Of course, these are all PvE arguments, not PvP.

Random thoughts:

For a Str + Faith build, Grant could be a nice contender, 779 AR if you pursue those 2 stat to the end. There are some who likes it.

For pure Str or Dex builds, a lot of people favour either Black Knight or Silver Knight weapons in their respective choices.

For more Dex builds, the katanas are obvious favorites for many, but if you didn't get to buy them, you are left with Iaito (Swamp treasure), Murakumo or Chaos Blade. Iaito is a good choice given its moveset, if you are used to it. Murakumo is heavy, so at 12 units, a lot of people might consider other choices that has similar or less weight. Quelagg's Furysword scales with Dex, but it also need 10 soft humanities to reach its potential. Of course, no Dex builds can get away with Painting Guradian Sword or Balder Side Sword. In the end, both are personal choices. Do note that an Enchanted Painting Guardian Sword will reach Int scaling of S when +5. Almsot forgot, Ricard's Rapier is also nice if you can use its special movesets effectively.

For more Str, Butcher's Axe (mildred) and Large Club are good choices, since one has poison and the other scales well and has low req.

For Int builds, Enchanted +5 is probably the highest damage modifier for most weapons if all else is equal, (that's probably why the blue slab is so hard to farm), so there are lots of choices. I'll ignore normal weapon selection and go with special weapons. Velka's Rapier, an excellent Int weapon that uses Int to deal Occult damages. It's 1 unit lighter than Estoc and slightly faster. If you like a spear but want to keep the Wing Spear for elemental damage, Channeller's Trident is not that bad of a replacement, but it is 1.5 units heavier. (just remember not to use the dance without meaning to)  Moonlight butterfly horn is a special case in that, the damage is extremely low but it's purely magical and probably has the one of the longest reach in game. An Enchanted Lucerne or Gargoyle's Halberd isn't bad if you want to go that route.

Faith Builds, Divine is "usually" better than Occult but individual weapon can vary. A Divine +10 Claymore is popular, Flamberge isn't bad either, since it has bleed. The GSOA is usually considered a "Faith" weapon even though it has 4 stat scaling modifiers, and it's probably due to its divine damage. Some love it while some hate it, up to you. Gargoyle Halberd is also decent for Divine upgrades, but it's 0.5 units heavier than Lucerne. However, GH can be farmed. I like a Divine Gargoyle Tail Axe due to its angle of attack, it's perfect for baby skeletons. Dragonslayer Spear, while it's a unique Faith weapon, is not that good in my opinion. It's too heavy and the req. is steep. If it was 8 units and 20/20, it might be worthwhile. A lot of enemies are resistant to lightning as well. As things stands, you might be better off with a +5 Lightning Wing Spear, it's 4.5 units and much lower req.

Argh...., I've drone on too long, never drink a whole pot of coffee at wee hours at night.