Build summary | 3 variations (two for Red/Blue Eyestone Duels, one for Hosting) of a PvP- based Strength Build made to maximize damage potential while maintaining survivability | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recommended starting class(es) | Temple Knight | Priest | Priest | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recommended Soul Level | 125 | 125 | 135 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recommended stats (Leave at default (**) if not raised) |
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Vitality | 45 | 44 | 45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Will/Intelligence | 18 | 18 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Endurance | 35 | 37 | 40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strength | 66 | 66 | 66 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dexterity | ** | ** | ** | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Magic | ** | ** | ** | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faith | 16 | 16 | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Luck | ** | ** | ** | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recommended equipment |
The first variation utilizes the Temple Knight Character Class while the second and third variations use the Priest Character Class. It is possible to make a Hosting variation with starting out as a Temple Knight: SL135 - 50 | 18 | 40 | 66 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 7. It is also possible with either of the first two build variations to drop Endurance to 33 for the minimal Stamina to execute the full Guillotine Axe and Mirdan Hammer combos and invest the saved SLs into Vitality. Special thanks to EncodedAbyss for helping me test out the weaponry and keep track of the damage values listed in the tables below, under Stat Justification » Strength » Tables. Note: Sorry if all the blue makes your eyes hurt. Just trying to help out new wiki members like myself understand as much as they can. Another Note: When I tested my weapons, I had Pure Black Character Tendency and Foe's Ring. I tested on a Host with 75 Vitality and recorded damage values, then compared them to 1050 HP (50 Vitality in Soul Form). EquipmentRight Hand Primary:Right Hand Secondary:
Left Hand Primary:ToB may be switched for any of the below items listed under Equipment » Left Hand Secondary if you find that you do not rebuff CW or cast the other listed Spells often. Left Hand Secondary:
Rings - Body Form:Not to be used for dueling vs. Phantoms: For dueling as a Host: Rings - Soul Form:Wear Friend's/ Foe's Ring as appropriate. Armor:Weed and Such:With your choice of: With your choice of: Now, Why That Equipment?Here, I will explain the reasoning behind the equipment choices, including Weapons, Rings, Armor, and Consumables. The Right Hand Weapons: Great Sword Great Axe Crescent Axe Knight Sword Claymore Guillotine Axe Battle Axe Mirdan Hammer Baby's Nail The Left Hand:Talisman of Beasts Iron Knuckles Dark Silver Shield Adjudicator's Shield Knight's Shield Morion Blade The Rings:NOTE: When playing in Body Form and fighting Phantoms, it is suggested and recommended that you do not wear any rings (excluding RoHS/ RoGS/ RoMN/ RoDP/ Ronin's/ Cat's/ Accursed/ Rings of Resistances since they have no direct effect in battle). This is because BPs have no free ring slots (both slots are taken to equal you in power as a Host). The ring setups below are for PvEing in Body Form. Clever Rat's Ring Dull Rat's Ring Eternal Warrior's Ring Ring of Magical Nature Ring of Great Strength Friend's/ Foe's Ring Cling Ring The Armor:NOTE: I played around with different Armor sets and found that this was a very appealing setup as far as looks go. Be aware that you may have to remove the Mirdan Scale completely to keep your ability to roll normally. Also, the Venerable Sage's Hood, Shaman's Armbands, and Shaman's Tabi are not available to females. I'd recommend you start as a male, but if you do start as a female, replace the Shaman's clothing with Black Leather pieces, and replace the Venerable Sage's Hood with the Fluted Helmet. Venerable Sage's Hood Mirdan Scale/ Bare Shaman's Armbands Shaman's Tabi The Weed and Such:Dark Moon Grass Old Spice Secret Throwing Dagger/ Kunai Sticky White Stuff Black Turpentine |
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Recommended spells/miracles |
Spells and MiraclesSpells:Miracles:Now, Why Those Spells and Miracles?Here I will explain the reasoning behind the Spells and Miracles. The Spells:Curse Weapon Warding Poison Cloud Acid Cloud The Miracles:Second Chance |
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Gameplay tips and progression |
Gameplay ProgressionIf you're new to Demon's Souls, you can click on the links to the different levels. They include maps of the levels, and have helped me greatly. This section provides a specific step-by-step progressive plan through the game to get your build going ASAP. I. Complete Boletaria Palace and freeing Prince Ostrava. Getting Phalanx out of the way will most likely bring you to Pure White World Tendency if you start the game online. II. Return to 1-1 and loot the dragon's nest of the Ring of Great Strength, 2 Shards of Archstone and the Purple Flame Shield. These will be of great use in many different situations early on in the game. Sometimes the dragons will still be there, waiting for their next victim. A suicide mission would be worth it, just make sure that you are in Soul Form (dying in body form will draw World Tendency towards black). III. Head off to 1-2 and grab the Winged Spear in the middle of the first section of the Lord's Path. This will help you quite a bit. Head back to the Nexus for now, there is no real point in completely finishing this level right now. Instead get your Strength to 22 and go to Stonefang Tunnel. If you have enough stones gathered up already, feel free to upgrade your PFS, just not too high. IV. You'll find some Sticky White Stuff as a treasure early on here (the link will show you exactly). Head back to the Nexus and dupe this. Once you've got a decent amount on hand, head back to 2-1 and rid it of those Miners with your Winged Spear, then exterminate that pesky Armor Spider, using your Sticky White Stuff and your weapon of choice. Once you've gotten him out of the way, use up the Souls that you have allocated from the Demon you have slain. Invest Souls mainly into Strength and Endurance for now,or until you reach however much you're comfortable with. Investing into Vitality is an option as well, though I prefer the extra Stamina. V. Gather some friends together and take to Shrine of Storms, looting the Crescent Falchion+1 treasure and the Adjudicator's Shield, then defeating Adjudicator. You should have quite a few Souls gathered up just from this one level, so go ahead and have a little chitchat with the Maiden in Black about Souls and vessels and strength and mending the world. Invest more points into Vitality and Endurance. VI. Head back to 1-2 after a little Soul Farming in 4-2 with the bow and arrows you will have found in 4-1 if you can wield it. Use melee if unable. Buy yourself a Claymore from the Dregling Merchant, and free Ostrava once again. You will receive some Dark Moon Grass for this. Make your back to the Nexus and upgrade your Claymore to a +3 with the stones that you will have looted on your ore spree in 2-1. Do not upgrade it past this yet. Dupe your Dark Moon Grass, it will be necessary for PvP later on. Using it now will just make the PvE part of the game just too easy, consider this. VII. Here you have two options:
Once you've gathered up enough Greystone, go ahead and ugrade your Claymore along the said path as much as possible, +5 if you can. (duping your Greystone Shards, Chunks, and Pures can be cheap, but it works and I feel it pointless to spend hours farming stones.) VIII. Storm 4-2 with your insane physical power, completely ignoring the Reaper's high MagDef. Free Saint Urbain and slay the Old Hero. Find the saint back in the Nexus and learn Second Chance using Old Hero's Soul. Talk to the Candle Maiden once again, and get your Faith to 16 for the two Miracle Slots. Farm if necessary. IX. Set your sights on Tower of Latria, but it isn't mandatory to complete this yet. Just go far enough in to grab the Black Leather and Fluted armor sets. Annihilate the Mind Flayers with your Crushing Claymore - one or two hits will kill them. The two Armor Sets that you have come here for will help you a lot by maximizing your defenses while still rolling quickly instead of running around naked with that gargantuan dog bone of destruction (you look like a crazy person, trust me, and that is a good thing, but we still need your defenses to be good). It would be even better if you could get a friend to dupe this for you, along with the Venerable Sage's Hood to look epic. (Though usually, I'll just kill Freke while I'm in 3-1 for the hood. Too lazy to get PWWT in Latria. That's right, I murder old men for their clothes in this game.) X. Go back to 4-1 and get that Talisman of God, then trade it for a Colorless Demon's Soul with Sparkly the Crow. Now dupe it! Use these newly acquired Demon's Souls to upgrade your DBS with Blacksmith Ed. Get it to a +5 if you want the game to be too easy. Get it to a +2 or +3 to keep levels interesting. XI. Beat 1-2, 1-3, save Biorr and Yuria. Nothing really else to say about it. Just do it. Biorr will assist you in tackling Penetrator, and Yuria will teach you the much-needed spell Curse Weapon for his [Demon's Soul. Now get your Intelligence to 18 so that you can actually make use of it. Farm Souls if you must. XII. It really becomes more free play here. Feel free to head off to 5-2 for the Shaman's Clothes. You can go get the [Talisman of Beasts from [Black Phantom Scrivir, get your Character Tendency to Pure White and take the Friend's Ring from the fat baby, Farm some more Souls from 4-2, go on a murderous rampage through the Nexus, killing all the innocent people who have done their best to help you (for the Foe's Ring, of course), increase your weaponry arsenal beyond DBS, Crushing Great Axe and Claymore (Crushing Knight Sword and Mirdan Hammer are what you should aim for), or maybe just go take a nap. The main goals is to acquire all the equipment I listed and get your stats equal to the provided ones. Now, Why Those Stats?Why did you follow my advice and make this build? Here I will provide justifications for the stats. Vitality:i would not recommend going lower than 44 to 45 Vitality, as I have learned that quite a few weapons will be able to kill you with one BS, and you will only survive two hits from some weapons whereas with 44 or 45, you would survive 3. Note that the main reason that Vitality is such an odd number is to keep the SL at 125. If you feel the need to increase it to 50 just so that it starts with a 5 and ends in a 0, be my guest. I did the same thing (50 | 18 | 33 | 66 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 7 ~ SL125). Intelligence:18 is just enough for 3 Spell Slots. You'll need all of them for Curse Weapon. There is no point in going higher than 18 - you'll just be wasting SL's, and this build is already slightly higher of a SL than other Strength Builds. The excpetion: the Hosting variant. when Hosting, you'll want your SL between 130 and 135. Since you have no real dumping stats worth investing points in after SL125 besides Endurance, go ahead and put 6 SLs into Int. It can be helpful to have the extra Spell Slot for things like Acid Cloud vs. Jumpers or Poison Cloud to give you a little breathing room in battles. Another advantage of having Int at 24 in Body Form is to be able to use it in tandem with Ring of Magical Nature. This will give you a total of five Spell Slots, allowing you to effectively use the Warding-Curse Weapon combo. This will completely turn the tides in a battle against any standard Dex or Strength build. Not to mention that it is great for clearing out 4-1 to prepare for Hosting. Endurance:37 is the bare minimum to execute the full combo with your KS. It also gives you a decent Stamina pool for those larger weapons that soak it all up. This build is not for button spammers. This stat may be lowered to 35 as shown in the second variation to invest a SL into Vitality and gain access to Mirdan Hammer and Crescent Axe. A third possible variation is 33 Endurance and 47/48 Vitality (depending on Character Class; 47 for Temple Knight and 48 for Priest) for the full combo from Guillotine/ Battle Axe and a larger Vitality pool. This is the one I am currently using and it's working pretty well. The only downside is a small Stamina pool for the larger weaponry. Not recommended that you start with this variation as it is harder to use your full arsenal effectively. Strength:66 will be = to 99 when 2-handing any weaponry due to the 1.5x damage multiplier that applies when 2-handing the weapon. With Crushing weaponry, this applies in the most profound form, as it scales with a 3rd level "S" Rating in Strength. It is pointless to go beyond 66 as it maximizes damage potential for almost all of your weapons when 2-handed. Let's compare the advantages 66 Strength has over 50, since I know this has been bugging you. With 50 Strength the following will occur nearly all of the time, whereas with 66, the following will be avoided nearly all of the time:
Essentially, the AR difference is slim, but the reality advantages in PvP that 66 Strength has over 50 are noticeable. If you prefer to keep this stat at 34 or 50 and gouge your Vitality to be able to withstand more hits (I prefer to dodge and not get hit at all, as opposed to getting hit and being able to take it) then you should not use this build. Below is a table of the recorded damage outputs from certain weapons R1 and R2 strikes, 1-handed, 2-handed, 1-handed, 2-handed, with Curse Weapon, and without Curse Weapon tested against a Host with 75 Vitality in full Ancient King's Armor (note that not everyone whom you encounter will be wearing this, so their defenses will most likely by slightly less). Take not of the numbers in bold, as they are crucial advantages that you will have over a 50 Strength build, listed above. When One-Handing Weapons
When Two-Handing Weapons
Dexterity:12 is the minimum for the stat requirements for hammer Mirdan Hammer and Crescent Axe. If you prefer to save 1 SL and go with the Priest Character Class (8 Dexterity but 8 Magic and 8 Luck) then I hope you will not miss these two weapons. Magic:No reason to up this. Leave it as base, whether it be 6 or 8 depending on your starting class. Faith:16 allows for 2 Miracle Slots, and both will be used for SC. Luck:No reason to up this. Leave it as base, whether it be 7 or 8 depending on your starting class. Match UpsHere I will discuss what I have found out about facing different opponents. Faith Builds:They have great HP Regeneration and usually high Vitality, but they don't hit hard. They usually are passive when fighting and wade out until your buff wears off. Try Stunlocking them or give them some huge Burst Damage to nullify their tendency to completely heal low-damaging attacks. Try to keep your weapon buffed at all times, and avoid using Sticky White Stuff, as it will have little effect on them due to high MagDef. Black Turp is the way to go. Might even try to Plague them with Baby's Nail to stop their HP regeneration completely and cut down on their Stamina regen. Poison Cloud works nicely as well to follow a BS/ Riposte. Blueblood Sword Builds:sword BBS builds are extremely buff-reliant and have low versatility. Only the Blueblood Sword is effective, and only when it is buffed. Try to be passive until their buff wears out, and you will be out-damaging with just about any weapon. Try avoiding the use of Guillotine Axe or Knight Sword as these are just worse versions of their weapon. Instead try outreaching them with your Claymore. BBS Builds usually have a shield on their off-hand. If this is the case, go ahead and tear through it with Mirdan Hammer or Great Axe, but watch out for those Parries. Another variation of a BBS setup is to have an off-hand Uchi. If this is the case, I would recommend using Great Axe, as they will be unable to interrupt your attacks with their quick strikes. Regardless of setup, I would recommend wearing DSS on your back because of this build's heavy reliance on Magic Damage. Dexterity Builds:I am going to break this down by weapon due to the many different options that these builds have: Katanas Kilij War Scythe Estoc Flamberge Spellsword Builds:These include DBS Mages. I'll break it down into two categories: Dragon Bone Smasher Mage Original Spellsword Pure Mage Builds:Keep close to these ones. Don't let them make much space between the two of you or you will already be at a disadvantage. Some sure signs of a Pure Mage are the Crazy Hat and Kris Blade. Make sure to have DSS equipped here. One thing that really helps is that Mages usually have a smaller Vitality pool than other builds. Keep them on the move and drain their miniscule Stamina bar. 9 times out of 10 you will OHKO or break SC with a heavy hitting buffed weapon like Great Axe. Most BS's from your weapons un-buffed will do this as well. The only thing you will really have to watch out for if you manage to wiggle your way into close combat is the Ignite. Lag makes this ten times worse by increasing its range and sometimes staggering you from farther away. In some cases, this will deal 1000+ damage… Beware. Northern Regalia Builds:Immense Vitality pool, sometimes maxed out. Your tendency to OHKO will be canceled out here. (Still, some weapons like Great Sword and DBS can kill on BS.) Claymore is recommended because, just like in a match up against a Flamberge, you will outreach. Be careful of activating Hypermode on NR builds - chances are they will kill you before you kill them. The one advantage that you distinctly have is versatility. Northern Regalia is just about the only weapon that these guys can use effectively. Stunlocks work okay, but sometimes not even the full combo will kill. You'll have to be rather experienced to top these ones. Strength Builds:Most other Strength builds have a larger Vitality pool than you (anywhere from 50 - 70) but lack that ability to one-shot with some popular weaponry. All the same, your ability to one-shot will be null and void in some match ups here as well due to the high HP. They will most likely have the same weapons as you, so all I can say as far as weaponry is may the most skilled warrior win. Some Setups to TryThese are just a few setups for you to try out that I have found useful. Young Warrior:RH1 - Crushing Claymore+5 Dragon Bone Slayer:RH1 - Dragon Bone Smasher+5 Wretched Knight:RH1 - Baby's Nail+5 The War Pig:RH1 - Crushing Great Axe+5/ Crushing Crescent Axe+5 Boletarian Swordmaster:RH1 - Crushing Knight Sword+5 Pros and ConsPros:
Cons:
I hope I have helped to convince some of you fellow Demon slayers to try this build out, I've played with it for most of the time I have been PvPing, which might not be saying a lot since I'm pretty new compared to some of you out there. I'm open to criticism, anything to help me improve. Please comment, tell me what you think. Thank you! |
Pure Strength Build
lol 66 str
Yup that's the whole idea of the build. What's funny about that?
Why'd you rate it down?
Also… Sorry people if this is like reading a novel o_O Got carried away writing. :P
nice thorough build description. i am especially impressed by how you document different types of damage amount both one and two handed. one might say it's almost… anal? ;) (jk)
one little quibble: you have your chosen armor set described as "unisex". venerable sage's hood can only be worn by male characters. :P boooo! :D
Oh! That is right, Venerable Sage's Hood is only for guys. Well, you should start out as a guy then. :p If not, go ahead and wear Assassin's Mask or something of equal epic-ocity .
Just added that to the Armor section.
Also, note that the damage in the tables was calculated *against full Ancient King's Armor* meaning that, since not all players use this set, your damage will vary slightly. Still, since with 50 Str you will be borderline on 2HKOs and 1HKOs with many different strikes, it is very advantageous to have the 66 Str.
I made your build about an hour ago and I'm kicking ass and having fun. Definite +1 from me. This is a very well done build. I can't wait to see this build become #1 some day.
I was thinking about making a strength build for the first time and I saw this build and just by how the stats were distributed, I was already enticed. You obviously put great effort into this and it merits a +1 from me.
Thanks guys I appreciate that someone is actually benefiting from this :P