by roanispe Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:05 am
Okay looking at your current build, I see something fairly competitive. I see a few problems right off the bat, though. First of all healing is generally frowned upon by the PvP community, so I changed replenishment to Force. Another problem is that your Crescent Ax does less damage than your Great Scythe, even though it is split. I cannot see you using it too much so I traded it for a +10 Divine Gargberd. Not only does it do more damage when combined, it also it frees up some points from Strength which I redistributed. Another great property of the Gargberd is how it improves Bleed resistance, which can help you when your opponent is charging with the Lifehunter Scythe. While I am sure you have a great understanding of how to use the Great Scythe well, the Gargberd is a formidable weapon with its long reaching r1 and ability to play a very good cross-up game. You can decide to block cancel your r1 so that you can consistently lay long range pressure, or you can let the whiff go through and you can punish a punish-attempt with the follow up r1 which is a wide, close-range sweep. It is best done with a lock-off so that you can make sure you get the hit, and face your opponent. If you do the sweep and change facing too late, then a backstab is your fate.
Your redistributed points allowed me to get an extra attunement slot, which I placed a Great Lightning Spear in. We already discussed its uses, but something that I should mention now is the WoG/Force mix-up. You'll have 3 casts of WoG, which does require skill to land effectively. While not being enough to spam, mixing in Force will let you intimidate as if you can. Your opponent will be unable to tell if you are casting a WoG or not till the blast, and often by then they are dodging. I placed Force before WoG so that you can decide to switch to lethal force quickly. It is a useful trick to apply pressure in addition to the tricks already had by Force. Pivot-cancelling WoG, while hard to do, is a skill worth practising to get even more out of your limited casts. The good thing about pivot-canceling is that it is a skill you can practice by yourself next to a bonfire. Final word about WoG, don't be afraid to finish someone off with it. It isn't cheap or unfair, it is the exact same thing as getting hit with a surprise jump-attack. (Remember to use that with your Gargberd and Great Scythe, those have awesome jump-attacks.)
I also changed your armour to be something a bit unique that hits another crucial poise breakpoint of 62, which lets you take two 2h Katana hits. Normally I add one more to what each weapon does for poise damage, but I cannot spare it from your build. Tank the hits at your own risk. When you are wielding the Gargberd, you have a healthy Bleed resistance of 289. However without it, your bleed resistance is a much lower 193. Choose which weapon to wield in response to your opponent. Your physical defence is nothing to scoff at, with most being 400. You'll be careful about magic, but play a reactionary game to a Darkmoon Blade buffed weapon. Other than that, it looks good. Although this build looks quite a bit different, it is still the same thing you just posted at heart.
When you can rep-up, don't forget my helpful posts!
Post Script: The Black Bow of Pharis is a worse choice than a Composite Bow, Shortbow, and Darkmoon Bow. The most important feature about a bow is its firing speed, everything else is secondary. Fastest is the only competitive speed.