Critique my build and playstyle please

I will post the build, and two youtube videos one of me winning and one of me losing.

Here is the build I have no shield because whenever I use a shield, I tend to turtle, so I am forcing myself to take risks.

me winning

Me losing


Thoughts?

If you want to avoid turtling I suggest the dark hand, at least you can parry with that. Parries make you a much more powerful and surprising player. Anyway put the dark hand in instead of the bow since you already have some from of rang with the pyro flame. Also I'd suggest trying to get around 40 poise so it's harder to get stunlocked. Also (if you're in Britain/those timezones) Happy New Year.

Thanks. I will equip the wolf ring instead of leo, and replace pyro with dark hand.

I suggest keeping the Pyro flame, that is some good stuff. Bows are a bit meh in PvP (in my opinion please don't brutally murder me) and really don't hit as often as a well timed Great Combust.

Also don't be scared to just not parry. Parries are nothing but risks, and you don't need them to win. It depends on your playstyle - whether you'd rather parrying, pyro, or bows. They're all useful, only in their own ways.

Replace the bow with a shield, perhaps the grass crest shield for it'd stamina boost for the sliver spear which drains a lot. You should still be able to fast roll with that. A poise of 22 is a little easy to get stunblocked with so do what hyra says with the wolf ring. Fire tempest is a hard pyro to work in your favor, but it's great against unsuspecting players. It really shows in close corner areas. However the main thing about your play style is your 30 vit. You can't take many hits from str based weapons, especillay(?) 2-hand greatswords. After seeing both videos I' cant say much. Mainly because in your losing video you invaded an obvious backstabber who heals, which breaks testing.

If you don't mind me asking what console do you play on? If it's xbox I would like to try your build for more research.

Can I critique your capture resolution and audio desynch instead?

If you have access to the Dark Wraith set, it weighs less, and has better defensive stats than the Thorn set, and they mix and match nicely. You only need one piece of the Thorn set equipped to do roll damage too, so you wouldn't be losing that by switching it up.

Also, I recommend the Falchion over the Scimitar. It's a superior weapon in pretty much every way. Rips through poise like a champ.

Also, and I kind of hate to say this, you only lost that fight because you were failing to properly punish him when he was healing. You were owning him before he started doing it. If you're fast rolling, and you're that close, there's no reason you can't run in for the BS when somebody tries to estus. Even if you don't get to them before their health is restored, you should do enough damage with your BS to negate any health they regained, and at the same time make them think twice about continuing to do it.

The Letter X wrote:Also don't be scared to just not parry. Parries are nothing but risks, and you don't need them to win. It depends on your playstyle - whether you'd rather parrying, pyro, or bows. They're all useful, only in their own ways.

+1 because you're like me.

too much end, 40 end is more than enough for a dex build, if you dont care about parrying use the short bow or comp bow instead of the pharis bow since theyre faster and better for a duel. i would do this if you decide to remake your build http://mmdks.com/m8a and either go 50 vit or pyro and a little vit. the set up is what i use on my dex build so it was only to show how awesome the scythe is.

Okay, watched the second video and the most obvious thing it you were way too defensive. You lost to that guy because you let him heal again and again and again. Spears are defensive weapons, but if some guy's backing off to heal, get in his face. ****, that guy couldn't even poise through your attacks. Just two-hand and spam R1 at him, he would've gone down easy.

In fact, two-hand more in general. A lot of the time you're just kind of sitting there with your pyro flame, doing nothing with it, you could be two-handing during that time.

Also, your build... I don't know where to start with it. No offense, but it's pretty bad.

Saturday-Saint wrote:Also, your build... I don't know where to start with it. No offense, but it's pretty bad.

Nah it's not that bad, but it has some pretty big flaws. First off you were way to defensive inboth vids. I felt that you were hesitant in the one you won and the losing one a little nervous. Spears are offensive with the reach they have and strike quick. The one with smough's hammer was slow and left more openings to attack. The healer defense was weak and while you dodged some of the attacks you did not make use of the openings he left from his slower attacks.

However the main problem with your build is your vit. As I said before you can't take many hits but you rely on the armor and your playstyle. My main build has 36 vit but I trained that weakness to becoming almost no issue. If you are going to use that, you need to work on a combat style that blend offense with defense.

Saturday-Saint wrote:Okay, watched the second video and the most obvious thing it you were way too defensive. You lost to that guy because you let him heal again and again and again. Spears are defensive weapons, but if some guy's backing off to heal, get in his face. ****, that guy couldn't even poise through your attacks. Just two-hand and spam R1 at him, he would've gone down easy.

In fact, two-hand more in general. A lot of the time you're just kind of sitting there with your pyro flame, doing nothing with it, you could be two-handing during that time.

Also, your build... I don't know where to start with it. No offense, but it's pretty bad.

Hahaha Saint. I agree 1100 HP is way too low for a melee build. You either want to get max HP (1800) or minimum HP for a glass cannon build. 1500 HP works if you are a really good player that doesnt get bsed. Also your poise, you either go +40 or 0 poise for fast roll, or 93 poise for a medium roll tank. 62 poise if you want a more tanky fast roll. 22 poise is only good if you are using Str weapons since their weight is so high and you want high HP instead of poise.

You're a bit too defensive. In both fights, you could stun them with one hit. I would've just have 2h the spear and went to town with them. Try to not back away as much, and attack more often.

Thanks for the advice guys!

I will have to remake my build, and be more offensive.

Keep in mind you shouldn't be aggressive all the time with a spear, but if you can one-shot peoples' poise with a light or medium weapon, the best strategy is often to two-hand and just spam R1 at them.