Talk:Raw (upgrade path)/@comment-25950924-20150118012454/@comment-4511886-20150118072718

You can get it much earlier. I'm using it on a build where I'm not going to get the Very Large Ember anyway, and it's doing wonders. If you want something really strong, really quick, then this is what you're looking for. The only real downside is that you need to farm more Large Shards to get a weapon to +10, since you can just descend weapons at blacksmiths.