Newbie questions

I couldn't find a "Ask your newbie questions here" topic, sorry :silent:

I have a few questions that I couldn't get specific answers, so I am hoping that you guys could help me out :roll:

1) I am still to find out what kind of build I want, I am thinking about Faith/Dex, a weapon upgraded on Normal Path + Weapon Buffs.

My build so far: Build

Ps: I used 2 points on int for accident and this game has a godlike auto save (seriously).

I just finished Depths and went so far with Drake Sword, just yesterday I realized that my Halberd does more damage then Drake Sword .
Now I am farming to get Balder Side Sword.

At first I was heading into divine weapons, but people say that they aren't good damage-wise.

Am I doing it wrong? I know that dex/faith build will allow me to use one of the best weapon buffs in the game, is it correct? I like the utility faith gives too... But since my SL is 31 I still can go back I am open to suggestions. (I have 51k souls to spend atm)

2) How weapon buffs works exactly? I mean, how much they increase your damage. I think it's something like:

Halberd+5 165 "base" damage + 50 damage from dex/str scaling + Magic Weapon - 0.8x 108 Sorcerer's Catalyst Magic Adjust (86,4) = 301,4 Damage

Is that correct?

3) Should I head to catacombs now or just after the 2nd bell?

Oh, this is my "first" time playing it... I bought the game a few days ago, but played for like 20 hours last week without tips, so I could only get to Depths at the time.

1a-Your build looks pretty solid. Outside of those points in int, your allocation is pretty solid.

sidenote: I wouldn't worry too much about build optimization on your first build, not that you're doing a bad job, its just that you'll probably make another one, or two, or three lol.

1b-The divine, magic, etc paths scale just fine. You'll see higher returns than you would an elemental weapon version with the right stats. Whoever told you that was probably comparing a standard upgrade with a buff to said weapons, which yes, those weapons are stronger. However, the "other" upgrade paths can work very well.

2-Correct, for the most part. The wiki describes the exact formulas quite well. I'd refer to the wiki. FYI, the strongest buff is DMB, but some would argue SLB because of most armor having poor lightning defenses.

3-Catacombs is a "later" board. However, I usually go there first (lol) to get a special prize...but I know the short cut.

Good luck out there, maaal

Animaaal wrote:1a-Your build looks pretty solid. Outside of those points in int, your allocation is pretty solid.

sidenote: I wouldn't worry too much about build optimization on your first build, not that you're doing a bad job, its just that you'll probably make another one, or two, or three lol.

1b-The divine, magic, etc paths scale just fine. You'll see higher returns than you would an elemental weapon version with the right stats. Whoever told you that was probably comparing a standard upgrade with a buff to said weapons, which yes, those weapons are stronger. However, the "other" upgrade paths can work very well.

2-Correct, for the most part. The wiki describes the exact formulas quite well. I'd refer to the wiki. FYI, the strongest buff is DMB, but some would argue SLB because of most armor having poor lightning defenses.

3-Catacombs is a "later" board. However, I usually go there first (lol) to get a special prize...but I know the short cut.

Good luck out there, maaal

Oh, thank you, that cleared most of my doubts! One more thing: When I turn my weapon Divine, which kind of damage the "Divine" scaling will do?

It's magic damage, but based on your faith stat as opposed to intelligence.

You cannot buff those weapons.

And, np

Don't forget that weapons with a divine modifier do bonus damage against 'evil' things like skeletons. It also makes sure that skeletons stay dead when you kill them. Otherwise they tend to come back to life if you haven't killed their necromancer yet

If you're determined to make a dex/buff build carry on as planned... but with the stats as they are, if you want to make an optimized build you could just make an int build on this character. Although, it probably would be best to have a divine weapon your first time through the catacombs as Elifia alluded to. The magic buffs aren't as good as the faith buffs, however, you get multiple casts with the magic buffs (5 with magic weapon and 3 each with great magic weapon & crystal magic weapon). In PVP though, you'll rarely get a chance to buff twice so that may not be that meaningful if you're going to do a lot of PVP on this build. I would not be the one to ask about stats for an int/buff build, though. I make pure int builds that cast and use unbuffable, int scaling weapons.

Animaal's right about the darkmoon blade and sunlight blade buffs; you really can't go wrong. I would note that you have to be in the darkmoon covenant to use DMB and you only get one cast no matter what. SLB can be used by anyone with enough stats for it and you can get multiple casts. The lightning damage on SLB is very useful, again as Animaal said, because lightning defense is very hard to come by. Also some enemies are nearly impervious to magic (Seath and his crystal golems) and others are just extremely weak to lightning (dragons, iron boars). You can also just use both buffs(if you're a darkmoon).