Great Scythe build - needs finishing, help me guys!

Hi all,

I've decided I'm going to focus my 1st PvP specific build on the Great Scythe (ditching the previously planned Murakumo), backed up by the Falchion.

This is what I've come up with so far, but still have 21 levels to invest somewhere: http://tinyurl.com/9jj3r9j

Any thoughts guys? I'm just a bit lost as to what I should spend the remaining 21 levels on to make my SL120 toon...VIT seems the obvious choice, but is that too obvious??

Also, gone for a mixture of aesthetics and protection on the armour side of things, but again, any suggestions for improvement most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

If you plan to use pyromancy often then add 11 points to attunement so you have six slots worth for pyromancy spells. Then simply add the remaining 10 points to vitality.

50 vitality
23 attunement.

This is of course if you don't plan to use miracles or sorceries.

^ i have a build just like this, looks like this http://tinyurl.com/8k9ubyq

Spacing will be key since you won't have enough attacks (even maxed stamina) to tank very often. A little psychological warfare can be nice. If you're tied to pyro then make sure to have some resins to show people you mean business. However, don't let the clock in your head make you too aggressive. The scythe does plenty of damage without a buff so it's really all about getting them to think about what you're doing and respecting your personal space than rushing in for a kill. If you're not tied to pyro I would say work on int. or faith to get a buff option, even magic weapon (low low investment) will make people think about it. Faith would require you to pull points from elsewhere so that's not likely a good path.

Thanks all for the comments so far...I'm in no way tied to Pyro, and if I'm honest I'm trying to avoid being reliant on buffs of the FTH and/or INT kind....might stock up on resins for PvP purposes, but would like to rely on basic AR to see me through...

Is there any practical use for daggers? Would like to maybe throw in Priscilla's Dagger every now and then...

After reading Jansports' suggestion on GMW, I think this set up is amazing. I would menu swap the catalyst for the pyro glove after buffing, because I prefer to use spells with the left hand.

http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=4860808005951682

For daggers it depends on your playstyle. My dueling 120 has the Great Scythe with the Priscilla's dagger backup. I dedicated a night of forest hunting to nothing but the dagger to force myself to learn the ins and outs. To put it bluntly: I schooled several people with it so there's absolutely value to using it. I wandered into some organized duels the other night and switched between the two weapons and even against a superior opponent to gankers it was useful. The beauty is that the two weapons are just about as different as can be.

Going back to buffs, if there's no emphasis on them then resins will do the trick for sure. If you're not tied to pyro but want a "plan B" then sorcery might be an option too. Vitality is never a bad answer though and pyro is a universal "plan B" thanks to the lack of requirements surrounding it.

What about putting 15 points into Vit and 7 into Attunement? This would make you SL121, with 1852HP and 5 attunement slots - could attune an additional Great Combustion and Poison mist if you go into a 2nd playthrough or someone gifts it to you. Then you can chuck in a Fire Surge/Fireball/Firestorm.

If you don't want to use Pyro a lot, then no point wasting the points on Attunement, just pile them into Vit

Saying all that though, I reckon having Great Magic Weapon as a little surprise would be quite cool.

I agree, invest a few points into Int to get Greater Magic weapon (and use Oolacile's Catalyst).

Or go to CMW (using the TCC): http://tinyurl.com/8cvx8ht

Great comments (as always) guys, and I think I've fine tuned everything now....going for Oolacile Catalyst to use GMW. As good as the TCC looks, it takes a fair investment to get some returns, and I feel happy with the 'bang for bucks' return of the Oolacile.

Great Magic Scythe Build

I'll menu swap the Catalyst after buffing, allowing either the Falchion or Priscilla's Dagger as a backup option in the right hand.

Excited to see how this build fares

http://tinyurl.com/99d77xs

i don't ever do normal upgrades without buffs.

Why not? And why invest all those points into stats if you're not using weapon scaling?

^ with those stats you would be better off with +15 weapons umbasa, even if they're not buffed.

well considering that without buffs elemental weapons still do more damage than +15 with those stats, I can't bring myself to be gimped in that way. I tried not to deviate from the op's build choices, beyond making him stronger. Honestly though I might drop a few levels and invest in int or fth to grab some buffs. I just didn't want to drastically change his build and potentially make it unrecognisable.

here is a side by side comparison...

http://tinyurl.com/8uv3otc

Wrong Umbasa, a 40 Dex uchi will do more damage than an elemental one, even if the AR of the elemental one is higher. If you are going elemental, there's no need to increase Dex at all, because elemental doesn't scale with Dex nor Str.

WyrmHero wrote:Wrong Umbasa, a 40 Dex uchi will do more damage than an elemental one, even if the AR of the elemental one is higher. If you are going elemental, there's no need to increase Dex at all, because elemental doesn't scale with Dex nor Str.

I'm sorry I didn't specify or make myself clear. I didn't mean in general every weapon is better or that it does more damage. I was referring to AR. however I have never had any issue with elemental weapons performing on par or sometimes better than a +15 at 40 dex/str. I should note that I haven't tried using every weapon in the game.

Yeah elemental AR is always higher than +15. But elemental is split between physical and elemental, and has to get through 2 defenses, thus lowering it's real damage if the defenses are very high. Pure physical has to go through 1 and will mostly out damage elemental if it has 40 Dex or Str.

Droppin' science:

https://soulswiki.forumotion.com/t4295-attack-rating-vs-real-damage-analysis-of-defense#73269

Hope that clears it up. If not, here's marty's video for some in action info

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHm5bg7jxeI

In virtually all cases, actual damage is greater with +15 than with elemental (with 40 dex or str). This includes the GScythe.

However, if you are fighting a completely naked enemy, then the elemental might outperform. But, once you take into effect the elemental reduction and the physical reduction by armor, then +15 wins virtually every time.