I'll probably look like a newb for this but...

How do i calculate a weapon's AR/ how do i know how much AR i need to stunlock?

Ar does not attribute to stunlock.
The weapon class does. Like a straightsword with 900 AR will stunlock worse then a greatsword with 120 AR

okay. But how do i calculate AR and what is it used for then?

A weapon's AR is listed in your stats. The AR is tricksy, though, because it gets reduced by armour but nor does it always show all your bonuses. For instance, two-handing a weapon increases your damage due to additional strength, but there's another "invisible" bonus that doesn't show up in your AR. It seems to depend on the weapon, or perhaps its level. But the bonus seems more significant for straight swords and curved swords than anything else, at least in my experience.

Essentially, AR is your raw damage against a target with 0 defense. So you can generally expect your real damage to be less than your AR, although with the invisible two-handing bonus, your real damage can sometimes exceed your AR. Basically, AR is a good general guide of how much damage you'll be dealing in relation to all the conditions present in a battle. You'll probably deal something like half your AR or less to an exceptionally tough enemy, but you'll deal most of your AR to weaker mooks.

As for poise damage, that has nothing to do with AR. Every weapon has a poise damage value according to its weapon class. I'm playing it fast and loose here, but these are the general values, the first being a one-handed light hit and the second being a two-handed light hit. No idea about heavy attacks.

• Daggers, Fist Weapons and Thrusting Swords: 6/10
  
• Straight Swords, Curved Swords, Katanas and Spears: 20/30
  
• Greatswords, Axes and Hammers: 30/50
  
• Ultra-Greatswords, Large Axes and Large Hammers: 50/70

There are some exceptions in each group, but for the most part, this is how it works. Also note that the values up there are general; if you want to resist a two-handed sword hit or a one-handed greatsword hit, I'd recommend having something like 36 poise, just to make sure you don't get taken unawares.

Poise stacks with continuous hits, and seems to recover after a few seconds (three or four, perhaps?). So one ultra-greatsword hit, two-handed (which I believe deals exactly 75 poise damage) is worth four one-handed straight sword hits. Both will stagger an adversary with the same poise value, but the ultra-greatsword gets it done more efficiently.

Thanks for that c:

Siegfried. wrote:A weapon's AR is listed in your stats. The AR is tricksy, though, because it gets reduced by armour but nor does it always show all your bonuses. For instance, two-handing a weapon increases your damage due to additional strength, but there's another "invisible" bonus that doesn't show up in your AR. It seems to depend on the weapon, or perhaps its level. But the bonus seems more significant for straight swords and curved swords than anything else, at least in my experience.

Essentially, AR is your raw damage against a target with 0 defense. So you can generally expect your real damage to be less than your AR, although with the invisible two-handing bonus, your real damage can sometimes exceed your AR. Basically, AR is a good general guide of how much damage you'll be dealing in relation to all the conditions present in a battle. You'll probably deal something like half your AR or less to an exceptionally tough enemy, but you'll deal most of your AR to weaker mooks.

As for poise damage, that has nothing to do with AR. Every weapon has a poise damage value according to its weapon class. I'm playing it fast and loose here, but these are the general values, the first being a one-handed light hit and the second being a two-handed light hit. No idea about heavy attacks.

• Daggers, Fist Weapons and Thrusting Swords: 6/10
  
• Straight Swords, Curved Swords, Katanas and Spears: 20/30
  
• Greatswords, Axes and Hammers: 30/50
  
• Ultra-Greatswords, Large Axes and Large Hammers: 50/70

There are some exceptions in each group, but for the most part, this is how it works. Also note that the values up there are general; if you want to resist a two-handed sword hit or a one-handed greatsword hit, I'd recommend having something like 36 poise, just to make sure you don't get taken unawares.

Poise stacks with continuous hits, and seems to recover after a few seconds (three or four, perhaps?). So one ultra-greatsword hit, two-handed (which I believe deals exactly 75 poise damage) is worth four one-handed straight sword hits. Both will stagger an adversary with the same poise value, but the ultra-greatsword gets it done more efficiently.

The exact poises are 17, 36, 53, and 77 for two handed.

^^ Happy to help.

^ And thank you for that.