Took 61 hours exactly to get to NG++ and kill the Nameless King for the final ring.
Incidentally, one shot the king. His attacks really aren't that difficult to avoid and his recovery is generous.
I actually find the final boss difficult, but NK not so much.
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
+3
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
Got my ten sword grass. Grabbed the old wolf curved sword, upgraded it to +3. Great move set, the L2 is lots of fun.
Does 80 less damage than my +7 refined murakamo. whomp whomp.
Battletag: Threeve#1501
PSN: Threeve703
0
FreiA French Prometheus UnboundDeadwoodRegistered Userregular
So this is crazy nitpicky but what is it about body build settings that make some armors look ridiculously stretched out and weird? it must just be the chest and waist settings because there are so many heavy armors that look like someone stretched them out like silly putty. the arms and legs don't have that problem, they just scale up or down appropriately.
Are you the magic man?
0
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
So this is crazy nitpicky but what is it about body build settings that make some armors look ridiculously stretched out and weird? it must just be the chest and waist settings because there are so many heavy armors that look like someone stretched them out like silly putty. the arms and legs don't have that problem, they just scale up or down appropriately.
It's your chest size. I actually burned a pale tongue respeccing my appearance because "Burly Upper Body" looks like a fucking sphere in some armors.
Got my ten sword grass. Grabbed the old wolf curved sword, upgraded it to +3. Great move set, the L2 is lots of fun.
Does 80 less damage than my +7 refined murakamo. whomp whomp.
old wolf curved sword is a little better on a pure dex build
the strength scaling is pretty mediocre and it can't be infused, so on the quality build one inevitably runs for physical, yeah, the refined exile or murakumo is gonna be way better. but at min strength and 40 dex, not bad.
Elendil on
0
FreiA French Prometheus UnboundDeadwoodRegistered Userregular
So this is crazy nitpicky but what is it about body build settings that make some armors look ridiculously stretched out and weird? it must just be the chest and waist settings because there are so many heavy armors that look like someone stretched them out like silly putty. the arms and legs don't have that problem, they just scale up or down appropriately.
It's your chest size. I actually burned a pale tongue respeccing my appearance because "Burly Upper Body" looks like a fucking sphere in some armors.
ugh, that's what I thought. it's so weird, I don't remember it happening in other Souls games. I'd change it but I'm trying to do moon lady's quest. guess I have to wait.
The reason why there's so much clipping and weirdness with large character models is that they basically just reused the character meshes from Bloodborne, except in that game there wasn't the variety of armor/body types as there are in DS3 so you get some really really awful clipping if you use a larger body type.
So this is crazy nitpicky but what is it about body build settings that make some armors look ridiculously stretched out and weird? it must just be the chest and waist settings because there are so many heavy armors that look like someone stretched them out like silly putty. the arms and legs don't have that problem, they just scale up or down appropriately.
It's your chest size. I actually burned a pale tongue respeccing my appearance because "Burly Upper Body" looks like a fucking sphere in some armors.
ugh, that's what I thought. it's so weird, I don't remember it happening in other Souls games. I'd change it but I'm trying to do moon lady's quest. guess I have to wait.
They patched out ruining Sirris' quest when you respec/change your appearance. Now offering tongues to strengthen the covenant is the only thing that will ruin Sirris for you, though I wouldn't equip the rosaria's fingers covenant either. Might want to back up your save too to be extra safe, but you should be good.
+2
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
Got my ten sword grass. Grabbed the old wolf curved sword, upgraded it to +3. Great move set, the L2 is lots of fun.
Does 80 less damage than my +7 refined murakamo. whomp whomp.
old wolf curved sword is a little better on a pure dex build
the strength scaling is pretty mediocre and it can't be infused, so on the quality build one inevitably runs for physical, yeah, the refined exile or murakumo is gonna be way better. but at min strength and 40 dex, not bad.
Yeah, I may end up using the wolf knight great sword to get my kicks, but that's still significantly weaker than my strongest option.
Is it just me or are a lot of the boss and "special" weapons kind of disappointing?
Some of the boss weapons are pretty great, like the Profaned UGS. I think a lot of them suffer because they're split damage. Plus there's the fact they can't be buffed or infused so they're not as flexible in general.
Special weapons have traditionally been shit, there's usually only 1 or 2 good ones per game.
I was using the Profaned Greatsword on my NG+ 50/50 quality character. It's perfectly fine, but switching to refined dark sword that attacks twice as fast for 1/3 the stamina is still a big dps increase.
Large weapons are really worthless in this game. They need a decrease to stamina usage or recovery time.
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
Can't compare Profaned UGS to Dark Sword that way. Yes, the Dark Sword does more damage per point of stamina, and more DPS if you're attacking an imaginary target dummy.
What it doesn't have is mile long range hyper armor having 2 handed R2s that hit for 1200+ damage.
Straight swords are king in this game on things that don't have poise and are free staggers, but I prefer my profaned UGS to straight swords on bosses. It's a playstyle thing too.
Only time ultra weapons are a liability in DS3 are against dogs and thralls where their windups are so fast that the lack of poise means you'll just get irritated at them interrupting your R1s. That's why I carry a +5 irithyll rapier, to poke them to death.
Actually against bosses was exactly why I switched. Swinging a slow butts UGS at dragonslayer armour?
I mean, two DS R1s is more damage than a 2H UGS R1, and they both take about the same time. And yeah profaned R2 is 800-1600, but when am I going to spend 4 seconds charging that against the Nameless King?
I did stick with it up to (and defeating) Aldrich (other than crystal sage, where I need speed). Pontiff was enough for me to decide to switch slow weapons.
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
Special weapons have traditionally been shit, there's usually only 1 or 2 good ones per game.
I was using the Profaned Greatsword on my NG+ 50/50 quality character. It's perfectly fine, but switching to refined dark sword that attacks twice as fast for 1/3 the stamina is still a big dps increase.
Large weapons are really worthless in this game. They need a decrease to stamina usage or recovery time.
well i mean
it's the dark sword, of course it's better DPS
it's broken as fuck
that's an argument not to use literally anything but the dark sword
Anytime I tried switching away from the dark sword to some heavy hitter I'd inevitably have the thought "dark sword didn't have to put up with this shit." So I'd switch back.
that's an argument not to use literally anything but the dark sword
I think we're talking the entire straight sword category, really, outside of something like the irithyll one. a +10 long sword with a quality build and some resin/buffs is about twice as usable as the standard greatsword in pve because it's much easier to control stamina and not get caught during your weapon animations, while offering more or less equivalent dps. dark sword gets a lot of the attention, but longsword/astora straight/sunlight straight are all just as viable and offer the same easy entry and constant value throughout the game, which ensures their ubiquity in pve and pvp.
Special weapons have traditionally been shit, there's usually only 1 or 2 good ones per game.
I was using the Profaned Greatsword on my NG+ 50/50 quality character. It's perfectly fine, but switching to refined dark sword that attacks twice as fast for 1/3 the stamina is still a big dps increase.
Large weapons are really worthless in this game. They need a decrease to stamina usage or recovery time.
well i mean
it's the dark sword, of course it's better DPS
it's broken as fuck
that's an argument not to use literally anything but the dark sword
It doesn't really matter that it's the dark sword. Any refined straight or curved sword would do the same. An estoc can get 3 hits in for an UGS one hit.
And enemies were sped up too much that slow swings and long recovery isn't worth the bother for, at best, the same dps a faster weapon would give you.
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
So we were talking before about the slug creatures, former clerics or whatever.
We were talking about them from the perspective of how they mostly chill near Rosaria.
However, what about the fact that they're in the cathedral of the deep, presumably Clerics of the church of the deep, who Aldrich founded. And Aldrich ate too many people and turned into a sludge monster. Perhaps the slug dudes are just Clerics of the Deep church who partook in the old cannibalism and turned into those monsters. As to why we almost exclusively find them around Rosaria, that's another question, but I think it should be considered that they're going through a similar process as Aldrich.
I mean, for all we know, the rebirth powers of Rosaria involve you eating the pale tongues you give her to respec and change your appearance. Eww.
Stolen from the Wiki page on Rosaria:
If you have been reborn 5 times and request to be reborn again, it says "Further rebirth is not possible during this lifetime. Persisting will transform you into a grub."
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
2h heavy weapons are pretty garbage in this game. The Greatsword category in particular (i.e., claymore et al) is totally pointless compared to straight swords.
At least UGSs and CGSs have poise breaking power.
Battletag: Threeve#1501
PSN: Threeve703
0
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
2h heavy weapons are pretty garbage in this game. The Greatsword category in particular (i.e., claymore et al) is totally pointless compared to straight swords.
At least UGSs and CGSs have poise breaking power.
I'm not sure what claymore you were using but mine breaks the fuck out of enemies' poise, and I value reach and AoE more than pure damage output (but my build is Greatshield tanking so different styles etc)
I carry around an upgraded executioner's greatsword, but I only use it when enemies are already stunned or are in part of an attack where I can get in free hits.
Basically I use it as a finishing weapon to save on spending focus (plus getting a little back from the passive effect). Fits it's namesake I guess.
But yeah, the bloodborning the game went through has demolished a lot of heavy weapons. The balancing they did around enemy speed and poise was just so half-assed.
Can't compare Profaned UGS to Dark Sword that way. Yes, the Dark Sword does more damage per point of stamina, and more DPS if you're attacking an imaginary target dummy.
What it doesn't have is mile long range hyper armor having 2 handed R2s that hit for 1200+ damage.
Straight swords are king in this game on things that don't have poise and are free staggers, but I prefer my profaned UGS to straight swords on bosses. It's a playstyle thing too.
Only time ultra weapons are a liability in DS3 are against dogs and thralls where their windups are so fast that the lack of poise means you'll just get irritated at them interrupting your R1s. That's why I carry a +5 irithyll rapier, to poke them to death.
in the time it takes to do a charged r2, you can swing, what, 3 or 4 times with a straight sword? it'll do more damage in almost every scenario and it's safer because you can stop swinging and roll.
i'm the opposite: greatswords trivialize mobs by stunlocking them, outranging them, or one-shotting them. straightswords have the best dps and are the safest, so they're great for bosses.
Can't compare Profaned UGS to Dark Sword that way. Yes, the Dark Sword does more damage per point of stamina, and more DPS if you're attacking an imaginary target dummy.
What it doesn't have is mile long range hyper armor having 2 handed R2s that hit for 1200+ damage.
Straight swords are king in this game on things that don't have poise and are free staggers, but I prefer my profaned UGS to straight swords on bosses. It's a playstyle thing too.
Only time ultra weapons are a liability in DS3 are against dogs and thralls where their windups are so fast that the lack of poise means you'll just get irritated at them interrupting your R1s. That's why I carry a +5 irithyll rapier, to poke them to death.
If I'm feeling lazy against dogs/thralls I just block with the Great Club. Yeah, I take a little nip of damage but they get put into recoil and eat the follow up nice and easy. I also like the trick when I run away from them a few steps, start a swing and then correct the swing into them as they go for the attack. That way is harder, but so much more satisfying.
I got a lot of practice on thralls when I was farming the Cathedral Knight set. It's pretty pimp for a strength character.
*The heavier damage let's me OHKO things with a single riposte that would have survived a riposte from my curved sword (farming silver knights for those ears).
*The weapon art or fully charged R2 is capable of outranging most foes and can threaten enemies that resist being chain-stunned by either killing them outright or knocking them on their arse (serpent men killed outright, knights knocked on their arse).
For basically every other reason it is far superior to use a straightsword. Especially since there really isn't that big of a difference between the AR of a greatsword or UGS and a basic straightsword.
3DS Friend Code:
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
0
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
2h heavy weapons are pretty garbage in this game. The Greatsword category in particular (i.e., claymore et al) is totally pointless compared to straight swords.
At least UGSs and CGSs have poise breaking power.
I'm not sure what claymore you were using but mine breaks the fuck out of enemies' poise, and I value reach and AoE more than pure damage output (but my build is Greatshield tanking so different styles etc)
If it's working for you, more power to ya. I was pretty unhappy with the claymore myself.
It did slightly more damage than my Astora Straight Sword at half the swing speed and twice the stamina. And I really didn't find the stunlock to be all that great.
Murakamo though, that thing is great. It punches through anything with a shield, knocks everything else on its ass. Sure the stamina drain sucks and and the recovery time could be better, but I'm finding it fills a niche that Greatswords don't (at least for me).
Greatweapons aren't bad because staight swords are overpowered, god
I did 50 hours and change with a UGS, and the number of moments i regretted it or felt hindered by my weapon choice were all of... two maybe?
I guess if you want to play Maximum Efficiency Souls, by all means run a straight sword, but y'all don't need to start dumping everything else into the garbage pile
I will say that curved greatswords are a little bit garbo, tho
Too low AR for their slow speed, telegraphed and parryable two-handed R1s (what the everloving shit is this new devilry), and deceptively shitty range
But greataxes and hammers have lots of hyper armor and a shit ton of damage; UGS have slightly less damage in exchange for more varied movesets. they are all absolutely fine.
Elendil on
+4
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
Straight swords are not overpowered, if anything Greatswords need a buff. And I'm not lumping UGS into the same category as standard GS.
Yeah. UGS have a niche in their range and hyper armor (and the raw damage of their weapon arts/charged heavy attacks).
Regular greatswords have the weaknesses of UGS without their strengths.
Eh... depends on the weapon art. Claymore retains the wonderful Stance art for tearing past shields. Wolf Knight's flippy spin is on par with UGS arts/heavies easily (equal or better range, and basically unblockable due to stamina damage of even trying. The endgame cathedral knights, tower shields? Blown wide open for the followthrough, even greatshields can't handle it).
I will defend my wolf knight sword to the death though. It's got a wonderful moveset (yes, my +10 refined claymore did hit a few points of damage over it by the time I beat the game, but can't Artorias it up so THERE).
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
So I did some messing around with Greatshield of Glory and stamina regen with/without Chloranthy Ring, because people online said it's totally useless because of the debuff and I was curious. So I depleted stamina and then just timed how long it took my bar to refill.
Yhorm's Greatshield, no ring: 2.5 seconds
Yhorm's Greatshield, Chloranthy ring: 2.25 seconds
Greatshield of Glory, no ring: 4.5 seconds
Greatshield of Glory, Chloranthy ring: 3.5 seconds
I redid that several times because I didn't believe it on its face. It's quite striking how much the ring mitigates the debuff - you're still not back to normal levels, but it's a damn sight faster. It's quite interesting that it makes such a big difference with the shield, but does very little on its own. Personally, I think if you're going for a heavy shield tanking style, Greatshield of Glory is absolutely worth it. Comparing +3 Glory to +3 Yhorm there was a hugely noticeable difference in how much stamina damage I took with Yhorm's compared to Glory, such that I think the regen difference is more or less a wash but your bar depletes far less quickly from successive hits, giving you ample time to find the angle to back off and regen or counter attack. I expect this difference to only widen at +4 and +5, because shields tend to gain 1 stability per level and 84->85 is a bigger increase in mitigation than 77->78 (since it's a percentage out of 100; taking 15% instead of 16% is a larger difference than 22% instead of 23%, basically).
The stability is so high that I beat Pontiff my first shot with Greatshield of Glory by just tanking his blows, then hitting him when he was in one of his long recoveries, then rolling out to regen a bit, then tanking again etc.
Just something to think about since the general opinion seems to be that the stamina debuff makes it unusable, which I definitely do not agree with.
The wolf knight sword is a unique weapon that has a good weapon art that can cover a surprising bit of distance fast and catch people by surprise, but the other points don't hold water.
So what if many have the stance weapon art? Straight swords are all around better in addition to also having the stance weapon art. Advantage straight swords.
I really wouldn't consider brute forcing through the guard of an NPC a particularly noteworthy accomplishment.
In PvE greatswords can be used in much the same manner as UGS simply due to the fact that the npcs in this game are bad at punishing you. You're just asking to get punished by a competent opponent if you use a regular greatsword because:
1: Your attacks are slower and more readily dodged than a straightsword.
2: Unlike two handed ultra great weapons, your attacks are parryable. This is especially problematic because, as stated already, your attacks are slow and easily reaction parried.
3: Your attacks lack the hyper armor of ultra great weapons, so they can prevent you from getting your attack off by poking you with a much faster weapon like a straightsword or piercing sword.
There is no reason to inhibit yourself by using regular greatswords. In essentially every use case you'd be better off using either a fast shortsword or a heavy ultra weapon. You can make them work, but you're just handicapping yourself.
RE large weapons with hyperarmour vs fast weapons in PvP - I'm no expert but this guy seems to know his stuff. 1hr of him narrating his thoughts live whilst summoning duels after Pontiff:
Anri's sword is ridiculous. It regenerates health (Albeit slow enough to the point where it's not noticable) and it inately scales on luck. so it's a really good weapon for a luck build. Couple that with jerkyface and a hollow infused shield or something, and it's a monster.
It seems to only raise the damage and I only ever hit people with the shield if I miss my parry timing.
Upgrading shields should boost their stability. Stability reduces the amount of stamina it takes to absorb hits. Very valuable. Granted a shield will likely only get a couple of points of stability on the way to +10.
If you use it a lot then it is probably worth it. Otherwise I would wait until you can buy upgrade materials and then upgrade it then.
Posts
Took 61 hours exactly to get to NG++ and kill the Nameless King for the final ring.
Incidentally, one shot the king. His attacks really aren't that difficult to avoid and his recovery is generous.
I actually find the final boss difficult, but NK not so much.
Does 80 less damage than my +7 refined murakamo. whomp whomp.
PSN: Threeve703
It's your chest size. I actually burned a pale tongue respeccing my appearance because "Burly Upper Body" looks like a fucking sphere in some armors.
I was also really disappointed with it
That swing attack is awful if you run into anything close to the ground
the strength scaling is pretty mediocre and it can't be infused, so on the quality build one inevitably runs for physical, yeah, the refined exile or murakumo is gonna be way better. but at min strength and 40 dex, not bad.
ugh, that's what I thought. it's so weird, I don't remember it happening in other Souls games. I'd change it but I'm trying to do moon lady's quest. guess I have to wait.
They patched out ruining Sirris' quest when you respec/change your appearance. Now offering tongues to strengthen the covenant is the only thing that will ruin Sirris for you, though I wouldn't equip the rosaria's fingers covenant either. Might want to back up your save too to be extra safe, but you should be good.
Yeah, I may end up using the wolf knight great sword to get my kicks, but that's still significantly weaker than my strongest option.
Is it just me or are a lot of the boss and "special" weapons kind of disappointing?
PSN: Threeve703
I was using the Profaned Greatsword on my NG+ 50/50 quality character. It's perfectly fine, but switching to refined dark sword that attacks twice as fast for 1/3 the stamina is still a big dps increase.
Large weapons are really worthless in this game. They need a decrease to stamina usage or recovery time.
What it doesn't have is mile long range hyper armor having 2 handed R2s that hit for 1200+ damage.
Straight swords are king in this game on things that don't have poise and are free staggers, but I prefer my profaned UGS to straight swords on bosses. It's a playstyle thing too.
Only time ultra weapons are a liability in DS3 are against dogs and thralls where their windups are so fast that the lack of poise means you'll just get irritated at them interrupting your R1s. That's why I carry a +5 irithyll rapier, to poke them to death.
I mean, two DS R1s is more damage than a 2H UGS R1, and they both take about the same time. And yeah profaned R2 is 800-1600, but when am I going to spend 4 seconds charging that against the Nameless King?
I did stick with it up to (and defeating) Aldrich (other than crystal sage, where I need speed). Pontiff was enough for me to decide to switch slow weapons.
it's the dark sword, of course it's better DPS
it's broken as fuck
that's an argument not to use literally anything but the dark sword
I think we're talking the entire straight sword category, really, outside of something like the irithyll one. a +10 long sword with a quality build and some resin/buffs is about twice as usable as the standard greatsword in pve because it's much easier to control stamina and not get caught during your weapon animations, while offering more or less equivalent dps. dark sword gets a lot of the attention, but longsword/astora straight/sunlight straight are all just as viable and offer the same easy entry and constant value throughout the game, which ensures their ubiquity in pve and pvp.
It doesn't really matter that it's the dark sword. Any refined straight or curved sword would do the same. An estoc can get 3 hits in for an UGS one hit.
And enemies were sped up too much that slow swings and long recovery isn't worth the bother for, at best, the same dps a faster weapon would give you.
Stolen from the Wiki page on Rosaria:
http://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Rosaria,+Mother+of+Rebirth
At least UGSs and CGSs have poise breaking power.
PSN: Threeve703
I'm not sure what claymore you were using but mine breaks the fuck out of enemies' poise, and I value reach and AoE more than pure damage output (but my build is Greatshield tanking so different styles etc)
Basically I use it as a finishing weapon to save on spending focus (plus getting a little back from the passive effect). Fits it's namesake I guess.
But yeah, the bloodborning the game went through has demolished a lot of heavy weapons. The balancing they did around enemy speed and poise was just so half-assed.
in the time it takes to do a charged r2, you can swing, what, 3 or 4 times with a straight sword? it'll do more damage in almost every scenario and it's safer because you can stop swinging and roll.
i'm the opposite: greatswords trivialize mobs by stunlocking them, outranging them, or one-shotting them. straightswords have the best dps and are the safest, so they're great for bosses.
If I'm feeling lazy against dogs/thralls I just block with the Great Club. Yeah, I take a little nip of damage but they get put into recoil and eat the follow up nice and easy. I also like the trick when I run away from them a few steps, start a swing and then correct the swing into them as they go for the attack. That way is harder, but so much more satisfying.
I got a lot of practice on thralls when I was farming the Cathedral Knight set. It's pretty pimp for a strength character.
*The heavier damage let's me OHKO things with a single riposte that would have survived a riposte from my curved sword (farming silver knights for those ears).
*The weapon art or fully charged R2 is capable of outranging most foes and can threaten enemies that resist being chain-stunned by either killing them outright or knocking them on their arse (serpent men killed outright, knights knocked on their arse).
For basically every other reason it is far superior to use a straightsword. Especially since there really isn't that big of a difference between the AR of a greatsword or UGS and a basic straightsword.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
If it's working for you, more power to ya. I was pretty unhappy with the claymore myself.
It did slightly more damage than my Astora Straight Sword at half the swing speed and twice the stamina. And I really didn't find the stunlock to be all that great.
Murakamo though, that thing is great. It punches through anything with a shield, knocks everything else on its ass. Sure the stamina drain sucks and and the recovery time could be better, but I'm finding it fills a niche that Greatswords don't (at least for me).
PSN: Threeve703
I did 50 hours and change with a UGS, and the number of moments i regretted it or felt hindered by my weapon choice were all of... two maybe?
I guess if you want to play Maximum Efficiency Souls, by all means run a straight sword, but y'all don't need to start dumping everything else into the garbage pile
I will say that curved greatswords are a little bit garbo, tho
Too low AR for their slow speed, telegraphed and parryable two-handed R1s (what the everloving shit is this new devilry), and deceptively shitty range
But greataxes and hammers have lots of hyper armor and a shit ton of damage; UGS have slightly less damage in exchange for more varied movesets. they are all absolutely fine.
PSN: Threeve703
Regular greatswords have the weaknesses of UGS without their strengths.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Eh... depends on the weapon art. Claymore retains the wonderful Stance art for tearing past shields. Wolf Knight's flippy spin is on par with UGS arts/heavies easily (equal or better range, and basically unblockable due to stamina damage of even trying. The endgame cathedral knights, tower shields? Blown wide open for the followthrough, even greatshields can't handle it).
I will defend my wolf knight sword to the death though. It's got a wonderful moveset (yes, my +10 refined claymore did hit a few points of damage over it by the time I beat the game, but can't Artorias it up so THERE).
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Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Yhorm's Greatshield, no ring: 2.5 seconds
Yhorm's Greatshield, Chloranthy ring: 2.25 seconds
Greatshield of Glory, no ring: 4.5 seconds
Greatshield of Glory, Chloranthy ring: 3.5 seconds
I redid that several times because I didn't believe it on its face. It's quite striking how much the ring mitigates the debuff - you're still not back to normal levels, but it's a damn sight faster. It's quite interesting that it makes such a big difference with the shield, but does very little on its own. Personally, I think if you're going for a heavy shield tanking style, Greatshield of Glory is absolutely worth it. Comparing +3 Glory to +3 Yhorm there was a hugely noticeable difference in how much stamina damage I took with Yhorm's compared to Glory, such that I think the regen difference is more or less a wash but your bar depletes far less quickly from successive hits, giving you ample time to find the angle to back off and regen or counter attack. I expect this difference to only widen at +4 and +5, because shields tend to gain 1 stability per level and 84->85 is a bigger increase in mitigation than 77->78 (since it's a percentage out of 100; taking 15% instead of 16% is a larger difference than 22% instead of 23%, basically).
The stability is so high that I beat Pontiff my first shot with Greatshield of Glory by just tanking his blows, then hitting him when he was in one of his long recoveries, then rolling out to regen a bit, then tanking again etc.
Just something to think about since the general opinion seems to be that the stamina debuff makes it unusable, which I definitely do not agree with.
So what if many have the stance weapon art? Straight swords are all around better in addition to also having the stance weapon art. Advantage straight swords.
I really wouldn't consider brute forcing through the guard of an NPC a particularly noteworthy accomplishment.
In PvE greatswords can be used in much the same manner as UGS simply due to the fact that the npcs in this game are bad at punishing you. You're just asking to get punished by a competent opponent if you use a regular greatsword because:
1: Your attacks are slower and more readily dodged than a straightsword.
2: Unlike two handed ultra great weapons, your attacks are parryable. This is especially problematic because, as stated already, your attacks are slow and easily reaction parried.
3: Your attacks lack the hyper armor of ultra great weapons, so they can prevent you from getting your attack off by poking you with a much faster weapon like a straightsword or piercing sword.
There is no reason to inhibit yourself by using regular greatswords. In essentially every use case you'd be better off using either a fast shortsword or a heavy ultra weapon. You can make them work, but you're just handicapping yourself.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
It seems to only raise the damage and I only ever hit people with the shield if I miss my parry timing.
Upgrading shields should boost their stability. Stability reduces the amount of stamina it takes to absorb hits. Very valuable. Granted a shield will likely only get a couple of points of stability on the way to +10.
If you use it a lot then it is probably worth it. Otherwise I would wait until you can buy upgrade materials and then upgrade it then.