Backstab Weapons

I'm considering doing a super high risk weird thing with RTSR, HR, and PW for BS damage on gankers in the forest. I've been using a chaos estoc, but it only does 700-900 damage with the HR. What's the best weapon for crits? From what I've read it's either the Rapier or the Bandit's Knife, but I've seen people swear by the gargoyle halberd.

it depends, the rapier does well because it has heavy armor piercing capabilities the bandit knife has bleed and the highest crit rating (but its not the best for heavy armored targets) and the gargoyle halberd has the highest base ar in the game when made elemental. the mail breaker might work well as it has the same damage as daggers and a higher crit rating than the rapier but is supposed to be good against heavy armor

Are you sure about the gargoyle's halberd having the highest ar for an elemental weapon? Or do you just mean out of commonly used pvp weapons? If its the former, i'm pretty sure the greataxe has the highest base damage (and hence the highest ar of any elemental weapons).

^ good point but generally when i see great axes in pvp its +15 with a buff... still though you're right greataxe has the highest ar, garghalberd has the second.

Funny, i've never seen a greataxe in pvp apart from the black knight version. Anyway, greataxe isn't the only weapon with more elemental damage, any weapon with base damage >115 (which is garg halberd) should do more elemental damage right? Personally, i don't like halberds anyway, their moveset is a bunch of crap for me. (This is a bit off-topic now, but speaking of movesets, why does the normal halberd not have the halberd moveset, but instead has its own unique moveset?)

What SL are you? If you get your DEX to 40, I highly suggest the rapiers over other options. Especially 'cause most farmers wear heavy armor.

My suggestion, for what it's worth, is just try things out.
I've had the best luck with my demon greataxe +14 with buffs, but if you've got the stat focus I'm assuming you do, that may not be an option. +14/+15 weapons, buffed, I'd say would be your best bet.
But if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that not all weapons with high critical ratings can do the best critical damage.This is likely where the prevalence of the garg halberd comes in.
Like I said, just try things out. The beauty of Dark souls is that this isn't any clear best weapon of any category. So it basically comes down to skill.

I'm a Forest Hunter, so I'm just gradually levelling whatever stat I need. I intend to eventually have ~40 str, dex, int, and 50 fth, just for versatility. I guess I'll probably check out the moveset of the G. Halberd and if I like it I'll slab it and leave my estoc at chaos +4. Maybe I'll grab the greataxe when I've got enough strength. Thanks for all of the input.

Occult Bastard Sword is nice too @50 faith

I'm planning on doing some testing on +15 vs elemental weapons. This will include criticals and 4 different armors. Hopefully, we'll get some good answers out of that.

Lightning *** Zweihander.

with 30 int and 20 dex and the hornets ring velkas will bs for 900 ish through full giants and parry for around 1200. if you add pw to that its a 1260 bs and a 1680 parry. Thats definetly not the best damage but considering the moderate investment its pretty good and leaves you with spells as an option. esp if int is jumped to 45.