Having a hard time deciding what magicks to use for my character. Help?

Ok, my character, for both PVP and PVE usage, is going to look something like this (Rough estamate with stats):

Starting Class: Bandit
Vitality: 70
Attunement: 14
End: 30
STR: 58
Dex: 9
Resistance: 11 (I think that's the starter)
INT: 8
Faith: 10

Weapons:
Right: Butcher Knife +15, Smough's Hammer +5
Left: Greatsheild of Artorias, ???

Armor: Leaning on either Giants or Havel's. Crown of the Dark Sun.

Rings: Ring of the Evil Eye, Speckled Stoneplate Ring, Wolf Ring, Cloranthy Ring



But I can't decide what Magic to use. For Buffs, I was thinking either Pyromancy for Power Within, sacrificing increased damage on the Knife for increased damage with both Smough's AND the Knife (With my health regen covering lost health from PW). For Miracles, I was thinking Lightning Blade (Poor Gwyndolin....). For Sorcery, I was thinking Hidden Weapon, as most people seem to Parry via Weapon Location.

But another problem stems from the fact that I'm so slow. I could use WoGs to counter it with Faith, along with Replenishment to go with my regen theme. But I could also use Iron Flesh (BTW, can Iron Flesh and Power Within be cast at the same time?) to just not take damage in the first place with Pyromancy, along with spells like Flame Tempest to punish those that get to close. Sorcery, in this regard, fails me, but would grant me stuff like Repair and other utility spells.

I'm going for a sort of True Tank feel with this. Any help/comments/concerns would be appreciated.

If you want to feel like a tank I say go with a miracles, for sure.
I really wish I saw more hidden blades though, no one ever uses that spell!

If you cast both iron flesh and power within most people will just run away from you and wait for you to die... I wouldn't recommend that combo since they run just from seeing PW cast on any character. If you really wanted you could probably go for a faith/pyro build and have your power within and tranquil walk, that might work well to prevent fleeing.

Another problem is the stat requirements. I would JUST be able to get my Faith to 30, giving me 70 Health, 30 End, and the 58 STR, at SL 130.

Thank you for your insight. You are right in having PW and IF on at the same time is folly.

str 58 is a waste; stop at 50. 30 faith also gives you access to Grant.

IV_Mark_VI wrote:str 58 is a waste; stop at 50. 30 faith also gives you access to Grant.

Str 58 is the min to use Smoughs Hammer



Though I could drop the Hammer and pick up Server, instead....

Why Smough's Hammer? It's not that great... just for fun?

IV_Mark_VI wrote:Why Smough's Hammer? It's not that great... just for fun?

My build is all about regenerating life. The only three weapons that do that are Smough's Hammer, the Butcher Knife, and the Server. If I pump my STR up and get Smoughs, my BK will hit that much harder. If I just get Server, I can put all those points into Faith.

Thanks man

Somehow I avoided looking at your weapons/stats..

If you feel confident enough to 2hand the weapon you can put that str in another location as well. Since you plan to rock smoughs hammer, disregard what I said about faith and pyromancy and go with hidden weapon. I may be wrong but I don't think you can buff Smoughs hammer, not sure how much you want to buff the butcher knife though... so it shouldnt be a big worry.

Get back to us and post videos of you smacking people around with your extended fist!

I like your enthusiasm in life draining.

Yukon wrote:Somehow I avoided looking at your weapons/stats..

If you feel confident enough to 2hand the weapon you can put that str in another location as well. Since you plan to rock smoughs hammer, disregard what I said about faith and pyromancy and go with hidden weapon. I may be wrong but I don't think you can buff Smoughs hammer, not sure how much you want to buff the butcher knife though... so it shouldnt be a big worry.

Get back to us and post videos of you smacking people around with your extended fist!

That's why I was thinking of Pyromancy; it's "weapon buff" is Power Within, it DOES work with Smoughs, and I can put the strength into it to buff my Butcher Knife up. OR I could go Faith/Sorcery and use something to buff up the Butcher Knife with one of the Weapons, while leaving Smoughs alone.

I'm kind of leaning more to Pyromancy, honestly. Use the Butchers Knife as my standard weapon, and then when PVP rolls around, start with the Knife, Toxic/Poison/Acid Surge to create a smokescreen, then charge through with Smoughs and just pound them into the ground.

WyrmHero wrote:I like your enthusiasm in life draining.

I've just never seen anyone do a build like this before



So what STR do you have to have in order to 2H Smoughs without penalty?

39 strength.

Maybe if you use replenish and sanctus on your back coupled with Power Within and the Smough hammer/server you could extend your life.

Problem is the investment to get replenishment/sanctus and then is it really worth it? The ring of the evil eye won't do you any good in pvp though, since you only gain HP after the death of an enemy, not for each hit. I would recommend the red tearstone if you plan to use PW atleast. That and cloranthy since both your weapons are major stamina eaters.

This build is sounding really fun, I'm getting jealous.

Yukon wrote:39 strength.

Maybe if you use replenish and sanctus on your back coupled with Power Within and the Smough hammer/server you could extend your life.

Problem is the investment to get replenishment/sanctus and then is it really worth it? The ring of the evil eye won't do you any good in pvp though, since you only gain HP after the death of an enemy, not for each hit. I would recommend the red tearstone if you plan to use PW atleast. That and cloranthy since both your weapons are major stamina eaters.

This build is sounding really fun, I'm getting jealous.

REE is really only for PVE And I'm not sure if I like the delay between strikes on Server. I'm sure it will mess people up when they try to Parry it, but it just feels..... funny to me. That's the only way to explain it.

Oddly, I didn't even consider Sanctus, thanks for reminding me of that. Makes the Cloranthy Ring almost standard, as I will need the Stamina regen for the heavy armor, and that cuts off the Grass Crest. Do you know if Crown of the Dark Moon makes Replenishment heal for more?

And last question as of now; is it still worth getting a weapon with an A scaling up to +15 if I'm only going to go to 39STR? I do want to use Lightning Weapon, but that might not be the best course of action...

Most stat scaling weapons cap out around 40 - 50. I don't normally go to 50 since the scaling goes down so much and the points can be spent elsewhere. But some here might think its better to get as much as you can out of it. If you have 40 in the scaling stat I think you would be better off with a +15 than a lightning in most cases.

I have no clue about most magic related stuff I've only ever had a pyromancer and he turned melee halfway through. But I'm going to stick my neck out and say.. I -think- replenishment heals at a standard rate, so I do not think the crown will increase that rate.... someone else here should know better than me.

I've used the server and murakumo before and I will say this, you get use to the swings, you'll find things you really love about those blades if you take the time to use them ESPECIALLY if you use a tactic that causes fleeing near victory. No one has ever been able to turn and run from my curved great swords the running r1 is just a beast. And they can negate shields if you learn how to use them well.

But the Maneater blade is rather fun to play with too, and it can be deadly if you want to try that one out and see if it suits you better.

Thanks for the advice.

I think I'm going to stick with the Knife, partly because I already have it +6, but mostly because I don't want to use stats on Dex (Started as a Bandit, so my Dex is poopy). Ok, need to go save Rhea and then to Londo!

Replenishment heals 10 HP per second for 60 seconds, 600 HP total.

As a back up I suggest a crossbow (heavy or light) and a Hand Axe for finishing off.

Just thought I would tell you guys how it's going.



Not Well.

The total regeneration just isn't good enough to use in any sort of fight where you would need it. I'm just going to scrap him, though I do have new found respect for the Butchers Knife.

Only regeneration I see as useful is in the Princess Guard covenant.

Nah, it's the same spell, just uses twice as many Att Slots and can affect allies.