Advise on armor for this light build.

So I am feeling fairly comfortable with my main PVP spear build, and am thinking about trying out something new.

I want to make a light shieldless build which focuses on damage output and quick rolling, so I came up with this.
http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?b=YmFuZGl0LDUwLDE2LDQwLDE0LDQwLDExLDgsMzAsMTAsMCwwLDAsMCwxNSwyNSwxMjUsNDUsMTE0LDAsbm9ybWFsLG5vcm1hbCxub3JtYWwsbm9ybWFsLDAsMzksNjEsNDYsNzEsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDMsd29vZGVuLHdvb2Rlbix3b29kZW4sd29vZGVuLDEsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMA==

Enough stamina to be able to move around freely and stack combos, enough vitality to sink a few hits if I must. The Darkmoon blade buff combined with power within and the dex bonus to base damage should net me over 1000 damage per hit. While the Dragoncrest ring will extend the duration of the two buffs and reduce the per sec dmg of power within, and of course the darkwood grain ring is a must for shieldless and poiseless characters. WOtG and Black flame are just auxiliary options. WOtG can be replaced by replenishment in order to counteract power within, but I am wary of having to apply three buffs before each fight so I may not use that much.

So now I am hoping to get some advise regarding armor and anything else for that matter. I am looking for light armor that will keep me under 25%, but hopefully something with good resistances. It does not have to be a full set but I do prefer something that matches well and looks nice so min max is not necessary.

If you just want resistances then you shouldn't have any problems finding good light armors, that's what they excel at. Black Sorcerer Set, Dingy Set, and Big Hat rank among the more popular options.

Of course, they don't provide any poise.

I was thinking painted guardian set with mask of the child. Also general comments on the build are welcome, I would like to know if you guys think its viable and if there are ways to improve it.

Im a bit confused how to give advice on this one. Is there a reason you chose to stop at SL127? Is this build already made and you want armor advice, or is it a future build? If so I would change some stats around for the ring selection and playstyle you are going for

Some points you might want to consider.

-Lingering Dragoncrest Ring doesn't effect miracles, so it won't do anything for Darkmoon Blade
-Given that you are making a high (HIGH) damage build, do you think that you will actually need an extension on the time Power Within lasts for, and is this worth giving up a ring slot for?
-If so, perhaps consider switching to Crystal Magic Weapon to get the extra benefit of the ring.

As for amour, go with what you think looks good  Painting Guardian set has pretty rubbish defence though. Maiden/Dingy/Lord's Blade sets are good choices, imo.

divinebeanpole wrote:Im a bit confused how to give advice on this one. Is there a reason you chose to stop at SL127? Is this build already made and you want armor advice, or is it a future build? If so I would change some stats around for the ring selection and playstyle you are going for

This is a future build so feel free to change anything around that you think will be beneficial.

ChaosMoogle wrote:Some points you might want to consider.

-Lingering Dragoncrest Ring doesn't effect miracles, so it won't do anything for Darkmoon Blade
-Given that you are making a high (HIGH) damage build, do you think that you will actually need an extension on the time Power Within lasts for, and is this worth giving up a ring slot for?
-If so, perhaps consider switching to Crystal Magic Weapon to get the extra benefit of the ring.

As for amour, go with what you think looks good  Painting Guardian set has pretty rubbish defence though. Maiden/Dingy/Lord's Blade sets are good choices, imo.

Thanks for the advice I was under the impression that all weapon buffs benefit from dragoncrest ring this does make me rethink some things. Perhaps ring of favor an protection might be a better choice.

That's what I would do  You could then also drop Vit (37 with RoFaP gives you your 1500) and End enough to increase Faith to 50 and use the Darkmoon Talisman for maximum damage, since that seems to be what you are going for

http://mmdks.com/2pvp

WhatDoesThePendantDo? wrote:If you just want resistances then you shouldn't have any problems finding good light armors, that's what they excel at. Black Sorcerer Set, Dingy Set, and Big Hat rank among the more popular options.

Of course, they don't provide any poise.

This.  Of course there's always the options of child masks and dragon form.  Also, you can't cast replenishment while you have power within active.

http://m.mugenmonkey.com/?c=258284539828569224


Heres a 120 with the Lingering ring still on. more than 36 poise, and pretty decent damage protection.


I removed the BF so you can hold a dark hand in your left, and just Power within in your right hand before you weapon buff.

Edit: and also if you plan on taking you build above 120, you have room to boost  VIT, ATT, or END a bit more (I recommend emit force or lightning spear or something since you have the 30 fth if you add ATT)

ChaosMoogle wrote:That's what I would do  You could then also drop Vit (37 with RoFaP gives you your 1500) and End enough to increase Faith to 50 and use the Darkmoon Talisman for maximum damage, since that seems to be what you are going for

http://mmdks.com/2pvp

Ya I like this idea, though I am wondering if maybe it would be better to just take the health and stamina boost of the favor an protection since I will not be using dragoncrest and thus taking more damage from power within per second.

While my damage is already so high that i am not sure 100 extra would make much of a difference.

divinebeanpole wrote:http://m.mugenmonkey.com/?c=258284539828569224


Heres a 120 with the Lingering ring still on. more than 36 poise, and pretty decent damage protection.


I removed the BF so you can hold a dark hand in your left, and just Power within in your right hand before you weapon buff.

Edit: and also if you plan on taking you build above 120, you have room to boost  VIT, ATT, or END a bit more (I recommend emit force or lightning spear or something since you have the 30 fth if you add ATT)

This is not quite what I am going for, as I see you removed darkwood grain ring and added a shield. Poise and defence are nice but the goal her is to flip around quickly and deal as mush damage as quickly as possible.

Though I might throw on some heavy gauntlets to get enough poise to stand hits from light weapons.

Why don't you try this: http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/armor.

Ok so here is what I am thinking at the moment, does this look viable?

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?b=Y2xlcmljLDUwLDE2LDQwLDE0LDQwLDExLDgsMzAsMTAsNjAsMjYsMTUsMzksMzEsMjUsMTI1LDQ1LDExNCwwLG5vcm1hbCxub3JtYWwsbm9ybWFsLG5vcm1hbCwwLDM5LDYxLDQ2LDcxLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwzLHdvb2Rlbix3b29kZW4sd29vZGVuLHdvb2RlbiwxLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDA=

Are you going for form of function. If form, it doesn't look bad. If function, I can say that I've got better resistances from armor/clothes on my SL27. Try this: Giant's Helm, Tattered Cloth Manchette, Tattered Cloth Robe, and Maiden Skirt, and Wolf Ring instead of RoFaP.

Ok so I think I am set on mask of child, as I really want the stamina recovery from it. As for the chest piece dingy robe might be a good alternative to maiden robe, but I am not sure what leggings would look good with it. Tattered robe is also nice but i really hate the look of it in general so i am going no on that.

Any gloves will do really I was trying to grab something with enough poise to withstand strikes from light weapons since I had weight to spare, but perhaps elemental def and resistances would be better?

Using the RoFaP (instead of the Wolf Ring), and using the Mask of the Child, the most poise you can get considering your weaps and Endurance is 30 (with awful defenses). I can't remember the poise damages for the various weapons, but 30 sounds awful. At that, you may as well have no poise and go straight for good defenses and resistances.

BrotherBob wrote:Using the RoFaP (instead of the Wolf Ring), and using the Mask of the Child, the most poise you can get considering your weaps and Endurance is 30 (with awful defenses). I can't remember the poise damages for the various weapons, but 30 sounds awful. At that, you may as well have no poise and go straight for good defenses and resistances.

 
Well as I said initially this character is about speed stamina and very high dmg. I am not going for poise at all. I only put on heavy gloves so have enough to take regular hits from straight swords, daggers, and I think katanas without staggering. Not to mention the defenses and resistances are better or the same on the black iron gloves as those on the most obvious light glove candidates such as tattered and maidens.

But as I said at bottom poise does not matter to me on this character, so I will gladly entertain any combination of light armors. I only want them to look good in combination and not be mismatched, so I suppose I am going for form first and function second.

http://mmdks.com/2q5i

You can say you don't care about poise, but really if you could have some why not take advantage of it.

If you'd rather have objectively worse stats to maintain some theme or ultimate design you have in your head then just put on some armor. Don't ask how you could make the build better then when people offer suggestions to improve the build say "that's not what I wanted" it's a waste of your time and more importantly a waste of  Our time.

Ok so I think I have settled on the armor, I like the way this combination looks and I feel like im splinting hairs when it comes to comparing defense.

So I came up with these final two variations on the same build

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?b=Y2xlcmljLDUwLDE2LDQwLDE0LDQwLDExLDgsMzAsMTAsNjAsMjYsMTUsMzksMzEsMjUsMTI1LDQ1LDExNCwwLG5vcm1hbCxub3JtYWwsbm9ybWFsLG5vcm1hbCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsd29vZGVuLHdvb2Rlbix3b29kZW4sd29vZGVuLDEsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMA==

This is the original, DMB and power within. This version benefits from RoFaP which alows for the use of black iron gauntlets providing a bit more defense all around and 18 poise to withstand some basic strikes. WoTG is also available with this build. The downside is that I have only 100 secs to kill my opponent and only during 60 of those seconds do I get the benefit of DMB.

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?b=c29yY2VyZXIsNTAsMTYsNDAsMTQsNDAsOCwzMiw4LDEwLDYwLDI2LDI2LDM5LDE1LDI1LDEyMiw0NSwxMTQsMCxub3JtYWwsbm9ybWFsLG5vcm1hbCxub3JtYWwsMCwzOSwxMCw2OSw3MSwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMyx3b29kZW4sd29vZGVuLHdvb2Rlbix3b29kZW4sMSwwLDAsMCwwLDAsMCww

This is the intelligence variation of the build. Magic crystal weapon combined with power withing provides almost identical damage to that of the previous build. However Lingering DC ring is used instead of RoFaP, meaning i heave to wear lighter gloves, and dont get the stamina and health benefits, and of course i cant use WoTG. The upshot is that i have 150 seconds to kill my opponent, and I get the benefit of the weapon buff for 90 of them.


So I would like some final opinions as to which of the two is better.

Jansports wrote:If you'd rather have objectively worse stats to maintain some theme or ultimate design you have in your head then just put on some armor. Don't ask how you could make the build better then when people offer suggestions to improve the build say "that's not what I wanted" it's a waste of your time and more importantly a waste of  Our time.

Fair enough, I suppose its hard to give advise while taking my aesthetic preferences into account. So I apologize for being picky.

But I would still like some advice on the final two builds I posted above.

Thanks in advance.

I like the Int build more than the Faith build, s I'll just go off of that. Assuming that you're sticking with the armor and rings, why not move the Pyro glove to the right hand and a Grass Crest Shield in its former place, should you feel the need for more Stamina regen.

I honestly don't think lingering is even close to needed as PW+Buff is absurd damage you'll be ending fights with time to spare. Assuming you could just throw FaP on the int build it comes down to whether you prefer Dark Bead/Pursuers or WoG as your support offensive spells.

Both have their ups and downs, Bead is perhaps the single most dangerous spell, easily able to OHKO (that's One Hit KO) at close range. While WoG is probably the most versatile offensive spell, able to dead angle, and deflect enemy projectiles/sorcery while being relatively fast to cast.

I personally would value WoGs ability to dead angle and the possibilty of a stun BS more as that's something your build couldn't otherwise do. While Bead just kills people which a buffed PWed Katana is already really good at.

I prefer the Faith version as well; as I said earlier, and as Jan said, I don't think the extra time for PW you get from the Lingering Dragoncrest Ring is worth sacrificing a ring slot for. Also, if your opponent is turtling out your buff/waiting for you to die from PW, you can just dead angle them with WotG and if you go with my 50 faith version of the build, WotG is going to be packing a hell of a punch! If you go with the faith version, you also have the option to equip the Sanctus and take advantage of its (albeit small) health regen to decrease the damage from PW, and give you something to parry with.

As for your Poise, 18 is a rather useless number; you will only be able to avoid being staggered from Daggers Rapiers and Fist weapons. You should aim for 21, if anything, as that will allow you to withstand stagger from 1-handed Katanas/Straight Swords/Curved Swords. If that doesn't concern you, then 8 Poise (the Rapier/Dagger/Fist weapon threshold) is just as effective as 18, and would give you the extra weight to choose better armour.

Thanks a lot for the advise, I too favor the faith variant as I am not a big fan of most sorceries and WoTG does seem useful for this build. So I believe I will go ahead and get started with this template, though I might play around with the armor some more.