I need help with a direction to take my PvP'er

Okay right now im approximately level 25ish ( Im currently at school typing this ) and i have about 24 intelligence, i got my strength and dexterity both up to 14 for uchigatana, and i have to say that for my level, this is going very good. However, i have a feeling that using soul arrow at higher levels will not be nearly as productive as i wish it could be, and since you dont come across many spells as drops in the game (as opposed to weapons and armor which are always dropped) i am looking for spells to obtain that would make an excellent PvPer. What im going for is a guy who can get quick, sneaky attacks in with the magic for a stun, and then go in and cause tons of bleeding damage with the katana or other weapons... what other weapons would be good with this build? also, what shield should i use? i have been using the Hollow Soldier shield because its light and relatively easy to obtain. Im thinking about getting my vitality to about 20, endurance up to about 30, strength to25, dexterity to 30, and intelligence to about 45. Also, would the Drake sword be a good sword to use? this is my first devoted PVP character so i dont know how this is going to work out, all i know is i think these stats could be good to use but im not sure. Also, any other more powerful wands could be helpful. i need to boost my magic damage as much as possible so any rings/armor will be very helpful.

If oyu really plan on staying that Int-Way then it might be a good idea to upgrade your weapon of choice with magic Ember and then with enchanted ember to increase damage scaling with Int.
Same time dont go with Str and Dex beyond the minimal requirement of the weapon because upgrading a weapon to enchanted decreases the scaling with Str and Dex.

I absolutly cannot recommend the Drake Sword on that Level. This sword is great for beginners with it's 200 Base damage and the two-handed Schockwave. But this weapon doesn't scale with any Stat which renders it almost useless on higher levels. If you wish to continue using a one-handed Sword with low Weight then stay with the katana or curved swords or rapiers.

If its sorceries you want, big hat logan will give you some decent sorceries (even better in the dukes archives). But the problem with sorceries is that they leave you very open for backstabs so be careful with that. If you want to backstab i would say the bandit knife because it has a high critical. If so invest in dexterity and it can do ridiculous amounts of backstab/riposte damage. Bloodshield from painted world is good but before hand use something like the Hollow Soldier Shield, Target shield is also good for parrying. You can't get very much catalysts until after the abyss. Sorcery armor would be the antique armor set from darkroot basin, or the gwyndolin armor set. A ring might be Dusk Crown ring which gives you extra sorcery casts but is very risky because it halves your hp. The first sorcery merchant sells you some rings thats good too.

If ur planing on using a katana then u dont need 25str, unless ur gonna use the washing pole then u only need 20 str to 1h it. I would suggest if ur wanting to go that high with ur int then ur better off taking whatever wep u want to +15 and buffing it with crystal magic wep, this'll do more dmg. What lvl r u planning on capping at for pvping?

Some "basics" ( ).

20 Vitality = You're dead.
A lot of people is according to say that you must have at least 40 vit to be viable but I don't agree, with the ring of FaP 30 is enough.

30 End is good too, but most of people prefer 40 because you get the max stamina but with a dex build there's no problem cause your weps doesn't consume a lot of stamina and if you use the ring of FaP then...

25 str is useless, you're gonna use katanas and they scale only with dex.
So I suppose you're goind for a int/dex, and maybe a one who really use spells.

You're lucky, I got a character like that, it should be something like :

30 Vit
30 End
16 Att
14 Str
40 Dex
50 Int
(base faith and res and if you're not interested by the "white dragon breath" spell you can put 3 points in att to get 5 slots and go for only 47 int)

I use rapiers but it's just a different moveset, the weps are also scaling with dex.

Rh1 : Uchigatana/Iaito +15
RH2 : another wep, you could use the katana you're not gonna use in RH1 or chose a different type of weapon but that one should be a weapon with magic damages without buffs so you could make a "enchanted"/"magic" katana or any other type of weps that scale with both dex and int and has magic damage.
LH1 : Grass crest shield
LH2 : Tin crystallization catalyst (halves the number of "uses" of each spells but increase the damages)

Wear the armor you want but if you want to increase your magic power, wear the dusk crown.

Rings : Ring of FaP and DWGR I think, if you want to be able to roll with heavier armor pieces, If you want to increase magic power then use the bellowing dragoncrest ring but you'll have to wear a light armor (that's what I do actually, if you're good at dodging there's no problem) in order to get the "fast roll" but I don't know if it's possible with kats, I think it's a little heavier than rapiers.

Spells : CMW, CSS, HCSM, WDB (If this spell doesn't interest you, you can still get a 2nd slot of CSS in NG+).

I think I said everything.
If you need some advices about the fights, etc... tell me.

For my Int build I went w/ 50 int, min dex and str to wield the weapon you want, 23 att, 35 vit, 30 end, everything else is base. In my left hand I have my catalyst which I use for range attacks and homing soul attacks. In my right hand I use a sword to keep backstabbers away or two hand to finish someone off. To boost spells I use the ring you buy from Griggs and the dusk crown you get from the dusk of oolicile. It absolutely kills in PvP, though is susceptible to great magic barrier.

Gol wrote:Some "basics" ( ).

20 Vitality = You're dead.
A lot of people is according to say that you must have at least 40 vit to be viable but I don't agree, with the ring of FaP 30 is enough.

30 End is good too, but most of people prefer 40 because you get the max stamina but with a dex build there's no problem cause your weps doesn't consume a lot of stamina and if you use the ring of FaP then...

25 str is useless, you're gonna use katanas and they scale only with dex.
So I suppose you're goind for a int/dex, and maybe a one who really use spells.

You're lucky, I got a character like that, it should be something like :

30 Vit
30 End
16 Att
14 Str
40 Dex
50 Int
(base faith and res and if you're not interested by the "white dragon breath" spell you can put 3 points in att to get 5 slots and go for only 47 int)

I use rapiers but it's just a different moveset, the weps are also scaling with dex.

Rh1 : Uchigatana/Iaito +15
RH2 : another wep, you could use the katana you're not gonna use in RH1 or chose a different type of weapon but that one should be a weapon with magic damages without buffs so you could make a "enchanted"/"magic" katana or any other type of weps that scale with both dex and int and has magic damage.
LH1 : Grass crest shield
LH2 : Tin crystallization catalyst (halves the number of "uses" of each spells but increase the damages)

Wear the armor you want but if you want to increase your magic power, wear the dusk crown.

Rings : Ring of FaP and DWGR I think, if you want to be able to roll with heavier armor pieces, If you want to increase magic power then use the bellowing dragoncrest ring but you'll have to wear a light armor (that's what I do actually, if you're good at dodging there's no problem) in order to get the "fast roll" but I don't know if it's possible with kats, I think it's a little heavier than rapiers.

Spells : CMW, CSS, HCSM, WDB (If this spell doesn't interest you, you can still get a 2nd slot of CSS in NG+).

I think I said everything.
If you need some advices about the fights, etc... tell me.

Talking to OP: Gol gave you a good build, but in my opinion, I wouldn't raise int to 50 (or 47) just to use dragon breath.

You should raise it to 44 and use Crystal Soul Spear. After 40, catalysts' scaling suck, and the more points you put there after 40, the more you're wasting. 44 is good for Crystal Soul Spear.

Really, in my opinion, White Dragon Breath is not viable in PvP and not worth it. Though it may work in PvE because it does insane damage and has 20 casts. The rest is fine !

Dragon Breath is pretty good, it replaces the soul arrows.
It even saved me against gankers, wait on a bridge, cast, enjoy.

It's fast, in fact, that's why I like it.
Crystal soul spear even with 45 dex is still slow, the homing soulmass is just a "deterent weapon".. I don't even use it myself.

White dragon Breath is good, you just have to know hot to use it.
Like against a pyro user, it goes through the pyro spell, the guy don't se it coming or... in a lot of situations.

It's like the notched whip, I don't see why practically everyone is sayin that it's ****, I've won a couple of fights with it.

Personally, I strongly advise him to use the white dragon breath.

thanks all for helping me out. im new to pvping and this isnt going to be like a level 200 guy. im gonna try and tank out my stats through pvp and then hopefully level up enough that my first playthrough becomes easy. I was curious about pyromancies too, only because i like the idea of blowing people up with that combustion spell.

For the record, my level 87 account that i was using for a while was basically a pure melee stat account and i am doing this to explore other options because im getting bored of losing to seath. (lol)

Really what i would like to do is go with a catalyst and 1 hand the zweil lightning and knock kids down with it after i break their poise with the spell. im not sure if thats possible, as i am just starting out and learning the basics of magic in stride. i did win 5 pvps though at level 25 and i dont know the dynamics of the game well enough to know if this is the beginning of a great character build, or me getting lucky against kids who are worse at the game than i am. basically, my strategy was keep my distance and hit hard with several soul arrows and run away. then, when i finally thought i had him in a wide open space for my speed to take the advantage, what i would do is wait for him to try and strike, then hit as much as i could with katana to cause bleeding damage, and then repeat. it seemed to be an effective strategy for my level, but i am open to more.

Whoever posted about the dagger strategy, i like the whole concept of a quick, rapid hitting dagger to back up my spells and the idea of only having to get dexterity up along with intel is great, but i would like a powerful dagger. is there any way i could obtain a poisoned dagger?

Also, i would like to say that by far my favorite sword in the game is the Gravelord, simply because of massive damage and toxic effects. would that be a good weapon to use for this build?

once again referring to my level 85 or 87 or whatever it is, basically i wear havels legs, iron round shield +5, and gravelord sword, while also rocking havels ring (or hornets ring, depending on whether i want speed or damage) and the ring that increases your health and stamina. i really want to get endurance up pretty high so i can get bigger and bigger combos with my katana. Maybe i can use a katana and the gravelord at the same time. By the way, everyone i know rages when i bring up the gravelord, saying its too slow, etc. honestly, if you play slow with it and wait for the enemy to make the first move and wait for the right time to strike, the gravelord can do about 1100 damage in 5 seconds. it just needs some time. plus, the toxic effect makes it worth while. any comments on this?

Priscillas dagger has a ton of bleeding and some occult, but it doesnt have the crit the bandits dagger has. It doesnt do as much dmg too.

Spells are really really easy to dodge in PvP. They can be powerful, but you need to be good and unpredictable while using them. I don't like them because of this.

So, your Tin Catalyst/Lightning Zwei will likely be crushed at higher level PvP, until you learn to be good with spells.

I also agree with a lot of what Gol said.

Sounds like you want a spellsword build. Dexterity increases spell speed, and that maxes out at 45. So, if you want fast spell casting, you should go for Dex weapons.

Here are some of the basics I use for designing builds.

Vit: add last. Try to be at least 40. Add more when and if you have the stats free.

End: 30 for dex weapons is all you really need. If you want heavier equipment, then increase it accordingly. Heavy weapons = 40 End.

Att: at least 10 for a buff, then increase it for the spells you want.

Str: for dex weapons, bare minimum you need.

Dex: 40 (45 for spell sword). Never go higher.

Res: don't touch it, worthless in PvP.

Faith/Int: at least 40. I usually put it at 50, but those last 10 points are negotiable with Vitality.

Spells: Crystal Spells are the most powerful. But, I would also have some slower casting soul rays to throw your opponent's timing off. Get the CMW buff and a +15 weapon (Uchi or Iaito are my favorites, but a Falcion is a close second).

Hope this helps.

Sounds good. i have had the game for 3 weeks so its hard for me to know most of what your saying, but i guess ill go with it lol

That's the best way to learn. Play it, experiment with options, look up info, have fun.