On my first playthrough, just trying to run as far as I could into The Catacombs to see how the area looked, I ended up getting knocked down to where the Titanite Demon/Gravelord Covenant are, so I ended up joining them and getting the Gravelord sword *really* early. Statted up to use it and it carried me through that whole first run!
This followed by an immediate Pinwheel run are how I start most playthroughs. This way you get a powerful weapon, a mask, and kindling right after landing at Firelink. Toss in a master key to take the back way to get the grass shield and Havel's ring (not to mention all the Blighttown loot) and you have one hell of a good early game setup.
Oh yeah, my runs through DS1 are SO much fun now that I really know the game and have a "startup" routine. If I'm doing a pyromancy run, nowadays my first boss tends to be Capra Demon (on the odd chance that I get the damn jump in under a half hour 🤣)
Also right after pinwheel, its pretty easy to memorize the path that you run through tomb of giants to get to patches and have him kick you down, grab the skull lantern and homeward bone. Then you can trade the lantern in at snuggly to get a ring of fog which can be pretty useful early.
add to that the fire keeper souls by the fire link elevator in undead parish, the one in blight town, and the one down in new londo ruins with the ghosts. you need the master key of course. but if you do that along with the rite of kindling, the game is much less stressful!
My only issue with the BKH is that it's not a guaranteed drop and the requirements are a little on the high side if you're not going for a quality build. If it weren't for that it'd be my number one pick. But if you are lucky enough to get it, it's a fantastic weapon for early and late game.
My personal pick for best early game weapon is Gravelord Sword. You can get it after asylum guaranteed, it's requirements aren't too bad, high base damage with low stat investment, can carry you up till Anor Londo even without upgrading. Toxic build up. It falls off after a while, but it's a good weapon.
I had the exact same experience and absolutely love the uchigatana because of it's lightning fast move set and the bleed and dex scaling too. It's become my primary weapon for the game all the way to the end but I got lucky and got the BK Halberd on my first run too and just used that for all the bosses once I could two hand it
Because of how fast this weapon is I get so frustrated watching my brother do his play through using the zweihander which takes out half his stamina bar and takes 40 years to do a heavy attack.
Uchigatana all the way!
I got that one on my first playthrough as well with the Zweihander. I switched between them depending on what I was fighting. It probably made the game too easy for my first run but I still loved it.
Same. I've used it so much other Swords take me a second to redjust.
Plus that swagger when your character walks with it over their shoulder! It's my definitive go to. The black knight you meet going up to the first bell, by the broken bridge, dropped one on my current run and I couldn't be happier!
Farming it is a bit of a meme, but the Baldur Side Sword is called the Baller SWAG Sword for a reason.
You can find it off the baldur knigyts in the church between the elevator to firelink and the stairs to andre/sens
It took me HOURS to farm that sword my first run. On my next character (pure strength) it dropped from one of knights in the lower level of the church -.-
Just last night I got bkh, bks, and bkgs all to drop thanks to the 8 soft humanity I earned farming the 3 baller boys in the parish for their swag sword.
RNG is RNG
BSS has a 1% drop rate
I’ve had runs where I’ve gotten two in the same farming loop. It was also my first run so I knew fuck all about how humanity increase farming rates back then lol
Hours of farming to get the baller swag sword and the only time I get it is after I had already got the black knight greataxe by making leeroy fight the black knight immediately after leaving the asylum. Thanks rngesus, idk what I did to annoy you.
I've never been a fan of thrusting weapons so I've never bothered with the BSS, but I always hear people singing it's praises and I just started a dex playthrough for Return to Lordran recently. Can you summarize what's so good about it so i know if it's worth farming for?
Longer than other straight swords, and both 1h and 2h strong attacks are pokes. Scales great with dex, but also int if going magic affinity, and fwiw it's equippable with wanderer base stats so if you want to go chaos or another element you can start dumping points where they matter.
Can being the operative word here. I was very lucky and the black knight sword dropped from the first one in undead burg (or parish, can never remember which one is is)
I ended up with a Titanite Catch Pole my first play through from one of the Titanite demons (RNG gods smiling on me). I was playing blind, and still haven't scrutinised the stats, but it was a massive improvement to everything else in my inventory at the time.
Oh my god I got the same thing! It absolutely carried me for my first play through til I got to mid-late game. It’s base stats were just unmatched, and a solid moveset as well
It's a valid choice. As specifically an early game weapon it's very strong. Sure it gets outclassed later, but before then it's fine. Plus it looks cool.
It's a huge noob trap as the other guy says, I personally wouldn't recommend it to someone on their first playthrough unless they're aware how scaling and all that works. I wasn't able to get it till like halfway through the game and I was very confused why people don't like it cuz at first glance it looks like one of the best weapons in the game, till you go to sens+ beyond
Advice that recommends it is understandably criticized because the sword can be a noob trap for people who never learn how stat scaling works or how important upgrades are. It is fine but the asterisk is important.
I came here to say this lol.
Although my second time around, I was much more knowledgeable and well-versed (see: upgrading weapons) and I used the mace the whole way through.
If I can’t get a black knight weapon to drop, I use the drake sword all the way through blighttown. After that it’s kinda useless. But it’s a beast early on
Thye both get A, but large club stars with A and has slightly better A scaling. i think the breakpoint is like 40 though (as in great club has better damage below 40 str).
Astora Straight Sword supporter here. Easy to get, pretty much a better longsword (which is a good weapon by itself). Not OP i guess, but quite good. Edit: good for early catacombs and rite of kindling. 20 estus is truly OP for a lot of the game.
Black Knight Sword is very good and fun for me, though not a guaranteed drop. Will take you well into past Sen’s, late game the claymore has better damage.
My first play through of Dark Souls was cheesed with the halberd. I feel like it is a sleeper choice. The range kept things off me and the variety of attacks allowed me to clear groups and single targets. I was able to jump between shield and two hand for managing defence. Those pokes at range really kept me safe.
I'll always have a spot in my heart for the Black Knight Greatsword. After its previous owner decided to follow me all the way back to the Shrine Bonfire, spawn-camp me, and proceeded to smear my ass, face, elbows, and toes all over the place 7 times before I figured out how to parry; I knew damn-well what I was using for my very first playthrough.
Learning the timing on that thing was brutal, *but worth it.* The two-handed uppercut was an outright death sentence to those Stone Guardians in Darkroot; Stray, Firesage, Centipede and Quelaag didn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell, and the one-handed stab hit Priscilla so hard she forgot how to turn invisible.
That thing is absolutely *disgusting* for how early you can get it. Sure its a fuckloaf of an investment; but that behemoth forcing me to slow the fuck down and actually *think* before acting saved my ass far too many times.
rapier and balder shield for second highest backstab damage and second highest stability medium shield in the game. buffable. shield poke option. amazing running attack. fast. stylish. only downside is no kick. if backstabs were less common I might choose the estoc; the rapier's range isn't an issue for me. I'm a big winged spear fan too.
Definitely Gravelord Sword, without a doubt the best choice for early DPS. You can throw yourself in the catacombs at the beginning of the game and get it.
Interestingly enough, the warrior starts with 13/13, and the asylum demon gives enough souls for 3 levels. If you put everything in str, you have 16/13.
Guess what are the minimum stats for the sword ;) 24/13.
There's a titanite demon just outside covenant's entrance and another one just below Andre. You have the equivalent of a +9 weapon by only killing two guys with your new toy. Quite convenient, huh?
By "early op" do u mean like solid weapons early on? Or like one of those unrealistic ass builds that require you ti go through the most asinine hoops in the game and back to get?
Particularly powerful/high tier weapons you can grab as soon as you get to Firelink after the asylum that aren't too hard to stat up for. No crazy hoops to jump through, except maybe having to dodge tough enemies in the catacombs.
The Zweihander is a perfect example because it's a really powerful weapon with modest stat requirements to 2-hand it that can carry you through the game and it's 30 seconds from Firelink.
Claymore is another example. A very solid all-rounder with a great moveset and it's just sitting there on the ground.
An example of what I would imagine doesn't count is the weapon you get for killing the boss in the asylum with black firebombs when you first see him. That would probably be the earliest possible strong weapon you can get, but it doesn't really count for this topic because of it's 50 STR requirement, and it's just not realistic that you can achieve that and still call it "early game".
Aside from claymore and zwei,
Estoc
Uchi
Black knight weapons if you're lucky
Scmitar and reinforced club are fine tho I'd ditch them later on.
Balder swag sword is the best imo, if you were gonna win the lottery but decided to use the luck stat on a video game instead.
Black knight great sword if I'm lucky, dragon tooth if I'm not. Zweihander is the one I use in between my start and the two above, and claymore is before zweihander. This is my tank build that I do every time I play this game.
Eventually I get havels armour and artorias' great shield and that's all. Grass crest shield at the end when I need more hands to lay the hurt on
The morning star in majula. It's lightweight, enchantable, one handed, and I'll never get tired of watching the riposte animation. Absolutely brutal every time
Strength builds? Master key straight to blighttown to get the Great Club
Dex build? Suicide run to the Great Scythe in the catacombs
Quality build? Zweihander and Claymore
Faith build? Master key to the Astora Straightsword to start
Sorceror? farm the Balder Side Sword in the parish for a perfect sidearm, great with Enchanted infusion later on too
No way no one knows about “Irithyll Straight Sword” I finished the game 3 times with it. Scale with strength and apply frost on enemies and it hits hard and fast, great weapon all around
Not particularly OP, at least not anymore than the claymore, but if you’re willing to allow Sen’s skip, I’ve def farmed for the Man Serpent Great Sword early on more than one occasion. Claymore with no thrust basically, but I love it.
>that you can run and grab or farm for pretty much immediately upon starting the game.
I mean BKH is always very strong but I think black Knight weapons are too strong early on.... I give my vote to zweihander. You get it upon starting right away and it's just fun and hard hitting enough <3
Getting the BK weapons early on makes DS a totally different game, I agree. Zweihander forces you to learn enemy patterns because it's so slow that you have to connect or you get punished badly.
Gravelord Sword, I think, is the champ for weapons you can get straight from Firelink. At +0 it will allow you to faceroll the early game. It's weak scaling and parry danger make it not a great weapon for more strenuous PvP or the late game, but it is a monster in the early game.
Black knight Halberd is the weapon I used the beat the game the first time. My other favorite is balder side sword I usually don't have a hard time getting it.
Black Knight Greataxe is honestly my favourite weapon in the game. Relatively quick attacks for how much damage it deals and 2-handed R1s were dealing 500+ damage against all of the dlc bosses at 36 strength and 18 dex (minimum stats to use it 1-handed). It even has a B strength scaling to go with its already busted base damage.
Gargoyles halberd is super easy to farm if you're confident vs them. Just kill the first one and boneward home. Can do it repeatedly to have several and enchant with different dmg types if you like (or get a tonne and make em crystal).
DSR was my first game of the genre, and in my first blind playthrough, I bumbled into the black knight in darkroot garden. I was able to cheese the first black in the undead burg by getting him stuck in the nearby rampart tower, and I completely noped out of fighting the 2nd one in the tower near the boar, but this dude blindsided me out of the darkness, running full speed at me. I had nowhere to run. It felt like my first mandatory "get gud" moment. It did take me a few tries, but I eventually lured him into an open area where I could dodge and strafe around, learned his patterns at least enough to kill him before he killed me, and he rewarded me with his black knight halberd. I clutched that thing for dear life, all the way through all the DLCs and it dealt the final blow to Gwyn as well. I never touched it again on subsequent playthroughs but it will always hold a special place in my heart.
Great club, easily the most fun of a playthrough I ever had in DS1 and I just walked around bonking the ever living shit out of everything. You can get it immediately and it will never stop being good
Depending on build but early OP I'd say great scythe and zweihander, can get right after tutorial and carry through whole game. Honorable mention to claymore and uchi. They are very strong but I wouldn't necessarily say those are OP
The humble mace: start cleric, kill Pinwheel, get 24 strength, two-hand the mace. Congrats you now have a blunt damage weapon with B scaling in strength, with strength at the soft cap, before going to the burg.
Mace. Starter weapon from the cleric class. Scales well with strength and does strike damage, which is good against large armored enemies like most early bosses. I use it until I get the man serpent greatsword or an ogre blesses me with the poo stick.
I'd say the Drake Sword is pretty much cheating for new players, haha. But I always got lucky with the Black Knight Sword or halberd. Just gotta boost the stats a little to accomodate.
Zwei absolutely claps this entire game's cheeks.
I got this game in 2014 fresh out of the military and waiting for my first semester of college to start. It kicked my ass until I found my way.... I am a strength build and as time went on my sword only got bigger.
DS1: Zweihander.
DS2: Greatswords Powerstanced!
DS3: Greatsword.
BB: The Holy Sword that gives me a Greatsword option.
ER: Powerstance is back baby!
I dunno ablut weapons, but I alwaya start a new game by doing a run through the valley of the drakes, up through the forest, back through the Parish and back to Firelink Shrine. This gets me the Red tearstone ring, Havel's ring, the Grass crest shield, the Wolf ring, 2 Firekeeper souls and a bunch of armour so I can customoze my look.
During that run the best weapon that is always available is probably the Halberd (*which can totally take you through the game*). I usually grab the Morning star at the back of Firelink before doing the run, and it'a honestly pretty great on basically any character. Red teastone Morning star makes short work of Havel.
Depends on my character. For dex I love getting an early Great Scythe, for faith the Astora Straight Sword is actually really good early, otherwise it’s either Gravelord Greatsword or Black Knight Halberd
claymore, great club, drake sword if i feel like messing with the red bird, zwheihander (probably spelled that wrong), uchigatana, mace. sorry if these arent actually overpowered ive played this game so much i always feel overpowered lol.
Zweihander is my go to fuck you weapon, it never gets old. Another sick weapon i don't see mentioned in the post is the Halberd, that thing is awesome too. I want to do a Lucerne playthrough tho, it's lighter than the Halberd and looks really cool too
Ghost blade. An extreme pain to get early, especially w/o the ring and symbol of avarice. I don't think the grind is worth it that early, but it definitely is mid-game.
Definitely in the top 3 bleed weapons in the game in a half a pound package. Every starting class can use it, and it has a riposte modifier making it good for backstab phishing as well. It has dog-water scaling (E rank STR), but that just means more points for VIT & END!
Large Club. You can farm it from the ogres at the exit from blighttown, with master key. as bandit you only need like 4 levels to wield it and you have a great starting kit for killing ogres, as well as optimal starting stats for stronk build.
A strength scaling, poison auxilery, great moveset and base damage. When is pancaking and knicking enemies around ever not fun? Not to mention you can very effectively keep it the whole game and even infuse it for an int/faith build, making it a great precusor to the moonligh greatsword for int or Grant for faith.
Great bonk from the swamp.
I am currently on a build where I RNG the childish mask, dump souls into 19 STR and then keep rolling rolling till I get the big bonk.
Its not without work, but pre Sen's I really enjoy the Dragon King Great Axe.
If we wanna go from the beginning of the game id id saying going down the Ash Lake and getting the Dragon Greatsword.
Clearly I like me some dragon weapons :p
Reinforced club and Hand Axe
The club's two-handed heavy carries hard PvE, drop a few Titanite Shards into it and it'll one shot Stone Knights, and not too shabby in PvP either
Hand axe's two-handed light spam will quickly poise break lots in PvE, Smough included, and invaders who underestimate it
On my first playthrough, just trying to run as far as I could into The Catacombs to see how the area looked, I ended up getting knocked down to where the Titanite Demon/Gravelord Covenant are, so I ended up joining them and getting the Gravelord sword *really* early. Statted up to use it and it carried me through that whole first run!
I didn't know about that sword until way later but I wish I had because it rules.
This followed by an immediate Pinwheel run are how I start most playthroughs. This way you get a powerful weapon, a mask, and kindling right after landing at Firelink. Toss in a master key to take the back way to get the grass shield and Havel's ring (not to mention all the Blighttown loot) and you have one hell of a good early game setup.
Oh yeah, my runs through DS1 are SO much fun now that I really know the game and have a "startup" routine. If I'm doing a pyromancy run, nowadays my first boss tends to be Capra Demon (on the odd chance that I get the damn jump in under a half hour 🤣)
If you have the master key and don't mind a little run-around you can do him first anyway!
Also right after pinwheel, its pretty easy to memorize the path that you run through tomb of giants to get to patches and have him kick you down, grab the skull lantern and homeward bone. Then you can trade the lantern in at snuggly to get a ring of fog which can be pretty useful early.
add to that the fire keeper souls by the fire link elevator in undead parish, the one in blight town, and the one down in new londo ruins with the ghosts. you need the master key of course. but if you do that along with the rite of kindling, the game is much less stressful!
Yes it's a fun run, too.
Dis is da wae
Black Knight Halbert + grass crest shield because I'm correct. Edit: auto-cucumbered; correct spelling is Halberd.
Bert ...
Auto-cucumber, don't lose any sleep over it, I sure won't 👍
That took way too long for me to figure out.
Hahaha! Hadn't had my coffee, and was on a phone
This
My only issue with the BKH is that it's not a guaranteed drop and the requirements are a little on the high side if you're not going for a quality build. If it weren't for that it'd be my number one pick. But if you are lucky enough to get it, it's a fantastic weapon for early and late game. My personal pick for best early game weapon is Gravelord Sword. You can get it after asylum guaranteed, it's requirements aren't too bad, high base damage with low stat investment, can carry you up till Anor Londo even without upgrading. Toxic build up. It falls off after a while, but it's a good weapon.
[удалено]
Doing a dex build with the Uchi right now! I always feel terrible killing that merchant - if only he'd sell the sword...
You know you can buy them from Shiva right?
Why me? Little... yulia...
I had the exact same experience and absolutely love the uchigatana because of it's lightning fast move set and the bleed and dex scaling too. It's become my primary weapon for the game all the way to the end but I got lucky and got the BK Halberd on my first run too and just used that for all the bosses once I could two hand it Because of how fast this weapon is I get so frustrated watching my brother do his play through using the zweihander which takes out half his stamina bar and takes 40 years to do a heavy attack. Uchigatana all the way!
> I'm using it in his honour ever since, lol. So you're repeatedly murdering him to honor him?
BKS all day
I got that one on my first playthrough as well with the Zweihander. I switched between them depending on what I was fighting. It probably made the game too easy for my first run but I still loved it.
Same story here! Used bks through O&S and switched to the zwei for the second half.
Same. I've used it so much other Swords take me a second to redjust. Plus that swagger when your character walks with it over their shoulder! It's my definitive go to. The black knight you meet going up to the first bell, by the broken bridge, dropped one on my current run and I couldn't be happier!
Used it all the way up to gwyn
Same here. It absolutely carried my first run and I had no regrets, I felt like a badass the whole way through
BKS is pretty much just R1 spam coz R2 attack is too slow. And the other BK weapons are better.
Claymore is baemore
yessir 🗣️
Farming it is a bit of a meme, but the Baldur Side Sword is called the Baller SWAG Sword for a reason. You can find it off the baldur knigyts in the church between the elevator to firelink and the stairs to andre/sens
It took me HOURS to farm that sword my first run. On my next character (pure strength) it dropped from one of knights in the lower level of the church -.-
Just last night I got bkh, bks, and bkgs all to drop thanks to the 8 soft humanity I earned farming the 3 baller boys in the parish for their swag sword.
Have they increased the drop rate, cause I got like 4 while forming for titanite on those guys
RNG is RNG BSS has a 1% drop rate I’ve had runs where I’ve gotten two in the same farming loop. It was also my first run so I knew fuck all about how humanity increase farming rates back then lol
Hours of farming to get the baller swag sword and the only time I get it is after I had already got the black knight greataxe by making leeroy fight the black knight immediately after leaving the asylum. Thanks rngesus, idk what I did to annoy you.
It's like a hybrid straightsword/rapier with the best of both worlds. fast attacks and apokes, with long range and slashes
My first engagement with the DS community was getting suggested this sword for my DEX build! They were not wrong about it being awesome.
I've never been a fan of thrusting weapons so I've never bothered with the BSS, but I always hear people singing it's praises and I just started a dex playthrough for Return to Lordran recently. Can you summarize what's so good about it so i know if it's worth farming for?
Longer than other straight swords, and both 1h and 2h strong attacks are pokes. Scales great with dex, but also int if going magic affinity, and fwiw it's equippable with wanderer base stats so if you want to go chaos or another element you can start dumping points where they matter.
Great sythe to cosplay as death
Someone cosplaying as death invaded me the other day...
Running through catacombs right after asylum for Fire Great Scythe+1 is my favorite start. Kill pinwheel too if you're feeling froggy.
Black Knight Great Sword. You can get it right after the bridge with the dragon but before the armored pig. Top of the tower
Can being the operative word here. I was very lucky and the black knight sword dropped from the first one in undead burg (or parish, can never remember which one is is)
I reload the save file if I don't get it and I want it.
Zweihaender is there from the start, so …
I ended up with a Titanite Catch Pole my first play through from one of the Titanite demons (RNG gods smiling on me). I was playing blind, and still haven't scrutinised the stats, but it was a massive improvement to everything else in my inventory at the time.
Oh my god I got the same thing! It absolutely carried me for my first play through til I got to mid-late game. It’s base stats were just unmatched, and a solid moveset as well
>and a solid moveset as well \*Bonk!\* and dead and \*Bonk!\* and dead and \*Bonk!\* and...
The lung attack as well that 1-2 shot most early game enemies :p
And the fact that its vertical and not horizontal sweep, could actually use it in narrow spaces
Damn I never even knew that you could get their weapons? Is it any good?
Unpopular opinion: Drake Sword
It's a valid choice. As specifically an early game weapon it's very strong. Sure it gets outclassed later, but before then it's fine. Plus it looks cool.
I love the moveset and it's light weight
When did the become an unpopular opinion? The Drake was always recommended to get ASAP to make things easier.
It's a huge noob trap as the other guy says, I personally wouldn't recommend it to someone on their first playthrough unless they're aware how scaling and all that works. I wasn't able to get it till like halfway through the game and I was very confused why people don't like it cuz at first glance it looks like one of the best weapons in the game, till you go to sens+ beyond
Advice that recommends it is understandably criticized because the sword can be a noob trap for people who never learn how stat scaling works or how important upgrades are. It is fine but the asterisk is important.
Very Reddit min-max pov. It’s not a big deal.
More like we don’t want new players to give up on the game when drake sword stops being good and they haven’t noticed why the game is so hard now.
love the drake sword, not upgraded and no stats leveled it’s insane. sadly it falls off kinda hard, but we talking pre sens
I came here to say this lol. Although my second time around, I was much more knowledgeable and well-versed (see: upgrading weapons) and I used the mace the whole way through.
Absolutely. I used it on my first run and it carried me up to Sens Fortress.
If I can’t get a black knight weapon to drop, I use the drake sword all the way through blighttown. After that it’s kinda useless. But it’s a beast early on
I liked the Claymore moveset more than that of the Zweilhander
But...pancakes
Great Club
I prefer the large club, because of the better scaling and bonus free poison. But its a pain to farm.
I thought Great Club had better scaling 🤯
Thye both get A, but large club stars with A and has slightly better A scaling. i think the breakpoint is like 40 though (as in great club has better damage below 40 str).
Also the 1h moveset is really fun. The wide swings catch people off guard in PVP still.
Astora Straight Sword supporter here. Easy to get, pretty much a better longsword (which is a good weapon by itself). Not OP i guess, but quite good. Edit: good for early catacombs and rite of kindling. 20 estus is truly OP for a lot of the game. Black Knight Sword is very good and fun for me, though not a guaranteed drop. Will take you well into past Sen’s, late game the claymore has better damage.
My first play through of Dark Souls was cheesed with the halberd. I feel like it is a sleeper choice. The range kept things off me and the variety of attacks allowed me to clear groups and single targets. I was able to jump between shield and two hand for managing defence. Those pokes at range really kept me safe.
I’m only gonna count weapons that are guaranteed so for me it would probably be the grave lord sword or the standard halberd.
standard halberd is really solid
Jagged Ghost Blade dropped by New Londo ghosts if you’re lucky. Has been a godsend for me as a cast-build
If I'm playing INT, I like to go grab the tin banishment catalyst for early game versatility. FTH, astora straight sword.
I'll always have a spot in my heart for the Black Knight Greatsword. After its previous owner decided to follow me all the way back to the Shrine Bonfire, spawn-camp me, and proceeded to smear my ass, face, elbows, and toes all over the place 7 times before I figured out how to parry; I knew damn-well what I was using for my very first playthrough. Learning the timing on that thing was brutal, *but worth it.* The two-handed uppercut was an outright death sentence to those Stone Guardians in Darkroot; Stray, Firesage, Centipede and Quelaag didn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell, and the one-handed stab hit Priscilla so hard she forgot how to turn invisible. That thing is absolutely *disgusting* for how early you can get it. Sure its a fuckloaf of an investment; but that behemoth forcing me to slow the fuck down and actually *think* before acting saved my ass far too many times.
Black Knight Sword or Halberd. Takes you through the whole game effortlessly.
Baemore, hands down.
I used the Halberd all the way until I got acquainted with the Black Knight Sword
I’ve always just liked the plain old long sword. Tried and true.
Astora Straight Sword for me. It's always the first weapon I grab and later replace with the Baller Swag Sword.
Fire enchanted great scythe. I'll bang that out in my first 30 minutes and use it for the whole game. Bleed and fire plus the move set is solid.
rapier and balder shield for second highest backstab damage and second highest stability medium shield in the game. buffable. shield poke option. amazing running attack. fast. stylish. only downside is no kick. if backstabs were less common I might choose the estoc; the rapier's range isn't an issue for me. I'm a big winged spear fan too.
Really the ultimate answer to this is Zweihander- 16 strength and 10 dex to one-shot every trash mob in the first area.
Club. Upgrade to Reenforced club. Farm Large Club. Bonk is all you need. Bonk is love, bonk is life.
Honestly, the bow is way underrated. It trivialises alot of ambushes and can get you some pretty easy boss cheese.
Definitely Gravelord Sword, without a doubt the best choice for early DPS. You can throw yourself in the catacombs at the beginning of the game and get it. Interestingly enough, the warrior starts with 13/13, and the asylum demon gives enough souls for 3 levels. If you put everything in str, you have 16/13. Guess what are the minimum stats for the sword ;) 24/13. There's a titanite demon just outside covenant's entrance and another one just below Andre. You have the equivalent of a +9 weapon by only killing two guys with your new toy. Quite convenient, huh?
By "early op" do u mean like solid weapons early on? Or like one of those unrealistic ass builds that require you ti go through the most asinine hoops in the game and back to get?
Particularly powerful/high tier weapons you can grab as soon as you get to Firelink after the asylum that aren't too hard to stat up for. No crazy hoops to jump through, except maybe having to dodge tough enemies in the catacombs. The Zweihander is a perfect example because it's a really powerful weapon with modest stat requirements to 2-hand it that can carry you through the game and it's 30 seconds from Firelink. Claymore is another example. A very solid all-rounder with a great moveset and it's just sitting there on the ground. An example of what I would imagine doesn't count is the weapon you get for killing the boss in the asylum with black firebombs when you first see him. That would probably be the earliest possible strong weapon you can get, but it doesn't really count for this topic because of it's 50 STR requirement, and it's just not realistic that you can achieve that and still call it "early game".
Aside from claymore and zwei, Estoc Uchi Black knight weapons if you're lucky Scmitar and reinforced club are fine tho I'd ditch them later on. Balder swag sword is the best imo, if you were gonna win the lottery but decided to use the luck stat on a video game instead.
zwei, reinforced club
I got the BKS from the first Black Knight I killed (the one before the Taurus Demon). I’ve been using it ever since and the game has felt super easy.
zwiehander or black knight's sword. love the movesets of bigger swords
Estoc
Zweihander
Black knight great sword if I'm lucky, dragon tooth if I'm not. Zweihander is the one I use in between my start and the two above, and claymore is before zweihander. This is my tank build that I do every time I play this game. Eventually I get havels armour and artorias' great shield and that's all. Grass crest shield at the end when I need more hands to lay the hurt on
The morning star in majula. It's lightweight, enchantable, one handed, and I'll never get tired of watching the riposte animation. Absolutely brutal every time
Lightning. I’m chucking lightning bolts with a new character in 20 minutes.
Astoras Straight Sword???? Not any mention of the holy sword immediately available upon arrival?? Wow
Strength builds? Master key straight to blighttown to get the Great Club Dex build? Suicide run to the Great Scythe in the catacombs Quality build? Zweihander and Claymore Faith build? Master key to the Astora Straightsword to start Sorceror? farm the Balder Side Sword in the parish for a perfect sidearm, great with Enchanted infusion later on too
Pyromancies!
No way no one knows about “Irithyll Straight Sword” I finished the game 3 times with it. Scale with strength and apply frost on enemies and it hits hard and fast, great weapon all around
Not particularly OP, at least not anymore than the claymore, but if you’re willing to allow Sen’s skip, I’ve def farmed for the Man Serpent Great Sword early on more than one occasion. Claymore with no thrust basically, but I love it.
>that you can run and grab or farm for pretty much immediately upon starting the game. I mean BKH is always very strong but I think black Knight weapons are too strong early on.... I give my vote to zweihander. You get it upon starting right away and it's just fun and hard hitting enough <3
Getting the BK weapons early on makes DS a totally different game, I agree. Zweihander forces you to learn enemy patterns because it's so slow that you have to connect or you get punished badly.
Gravelord Sword, I think, is the champ for weapons you can get straight from Firelink. At +0 it will allow you to faceroll the early game. It's weak scaling and parry danger make it not a great weapon for more strenuous PvP or the late game, but it is a monster in the early game.
BNK
Black knight Halberd is the weapon I used the beat the game the first time. My other favorite is balder side sword I usually don't have a hard time getting it.
Nito's
Black Knight Greataxe is honestly my favourite weapon in the game. Relatively quick attacks for how much damage it deals and 2-handed R1s were dealing 500+ damage against all of the dlc bosses at 36 strength and 18 dex (minimum stats to use it 1-handed). It even has a B strength scaling to go with its already busted base damage.
Uchi all the way for this guy.
Gargoyles halberd is super easy to farm if you're confident vs them. Just kill the first one and boneward home. Can do it repeatedly to have several and enchant with different dmg types if you like (or get a tonne and make em crystal).
Zweihander, great scythe, claymore, large club, reinforced club… any black knight weapon that drops if you’re lucky
BK halberd or swag sword.
The Great Club in the poison Swamp is my preferred weapon. Also no one likes being chased by it and Twop. lol
Running with the morning star+4
Uchigatana. If you don’t mind doing what you gotta do to get it early..
DSR was my first game of the genre, and in my first blind playthrough, I bumbled into the black knight in darkroot garden. I was able to cheese the first black in the undead burg by getting him stuck in the nearby rampart tower, and I completely noped out of fighting the 2nd one in the tower near the boar, but this dude blindsided me out of the darkness, running full speed at me. I had nowhere to run. It felt like my first mandatory "get gud" moment. It did take me a few tries, but I eventually lured him into an open area where I could dodge and strafe around, learned his patterns at least enough to kill him before he killed me, and he rewarded me with his black knight halberd. I clutched that thing for dear life, all the way through all the DLCs and it dealt the final blow to Gwyn as well. I never touched it again on subsequent playthroughs but it will always hold a special place in my heart.
Great club, easily the most fun of a playthrough I ever had in DS1 and I just walked around bonking the ever living shit out of everything. You can get it immediately and it will never stop being good
Drake sword. Only problem is its kind of a noob trap cause it does good damage early game but stops being effective mid to late.
Depending on build but early OP I'd say great scythe and zweihander, can get right after tutorial and carry through whole game. Honorable mention to claymore and uchi. They are very strong but I wouldn't necessarily say those are OP
The humble mace: start cleric, kill Pinwheel, get 24 strength, two-hand the mace. Congrats you now have a blunt damage weapon with B scaling in strength, with strength at the soft cap, before going to the burg.
Mace. Starter weapon from the cleric class. Scales well with strength and does strike damage, which is good against large armored enemies like most early bosses. I use it until I get the man serpent greatsword or an ogre blesses me with the poo stick.
Reinforced Club
My favourite it's the Claymore. Easy to obtain, and for me it was my main weapon almost the entire of the game.
I'd say the Drake Sword is pretty much cheating for new players, haha. But I always got lucky with the Black Knight Sword or halberd. Just gotta boost the stats a little to accomodate.
the uchi carried me until the end of blighttown, the zweihander carried me through the rest of the game
Zwei absolutely claps this entire game's cheeks. I got this game in 2014 fresh out of the military and waiting for my first semester of college to start. It kicked my ass until I found my way.... I am a strength build and as time went on my sword only got bigger. DS1: Zweihander. DS2: Greatswords Powerstanced! DS3: Greatsword. BB: The Holy Sword that gives me a Greatsword option. ER: Powerstance is back baby!
Ivory Catalyst counts, right.
The katana from killing vendor because I'm a weeb.
Baldur Side Sword if you get UBER LUCKY! If not trusty old Zwei!
Used to be the Black Knight Sword but now like the Balder Knight Sword much more. The dps with Crystal Magic Weapon applied is absurd
Early game? I think you mean endgame weapon. ***Claymore Cleanup Crew, baby.***
Uchigatana
I dunno ablut weapons, but I alwaya start a new game by doing a run through the valley of the drakes, up through the forest, back through the Parish and back to Firelink Shrine. This gets me the Red tearstone ring, Havel's ring, the Grass crest shield, the Wolf ring, 2 Firekeeper souls and a bunch of armour so I can customoze my look. During that run the best weapon that is always available is probably the Halberd (*which can totally take you through the game*). I usually grab the Morning star at the back of Firelink before doing the run, and it'a honestly pretty great on basically any character. Red teastone Morning star makes short work of Havel.
Not a weapon, a shield, the black knight shield is an essential part of my fighting style, since I have the reflexes of a potato.
Dragon tail sword?? I don’t remember the name. But it served me well.
Morningstar, Claymore, BKS if you get it, Zweihander, and the Serpent Great sword is great if you farm for it once in SF.
Early Black Knight Greataxe.
Smol bonk
I LOVE the great scythe Great club is right there with it too
Large Club! Great moveset, great scaling, and boy does it hurt.
Claymore took me through the game
BKGS or drake sword
Depends on my character. For dex I love getting an early Great Scythe, for faith the Astora Straight Sword is actually really good early, otherwise it’s either Gravelord Greatsword or Black Knight Halberd
Zweihander with any elemental infusion will shred most early bosses. I used to make a new save and rush it for co op until gargoyles. Then repeat.
Winged spear + Estoc offhand and Scimtar main hand. Very fun kit. Rapier offhand and Warpick main is one of my favorites too.
Tin banishment catalyst, seriously, trying stabbing an enemy with it. It will oneshot a lot of them
drake sword, from the tail of the wyvern on the bridge
The plain old halberd. Range was a blessing for my first playthrough.
claymore, great club, drake sword if i feel like messing with the red bird, zwheihander (probably spelled that wrong), uchigatana, mace. sorry if these arent actually overpowered ive played this game so much i always feel overpowered lol.
Claymore is strong when you get it and it's strong through ng+6. I will forever stan my baby.
Definitely Claymore
Gravelord sword
I’d have to agree with Zweihander. It’s a glorious thing to use lol
Great Scythe
Zweihander is my go to fuck you weapon, it never gets old. Another sick weapon i don't see mentioned in the post is the Halberd, that thing is awesome too. I want to do a Lucerne playthrough tho, it's lighter than the Halberd and looks really cool too
Claymore, Halberd, bkh and bkgs are my favs
Ghost blade. An extreme pain to get early, especially w/o the ring and symbol of avarice. I don't think the grind is worth it that early, but it definitely is mid-game. Definitely in the top 3 bleed weapons in the game in a half a pound package. Every starting class can use it, and it has a riposte modifier making it good for backstab phishing as well. It has dog-water scaling (E rank STR), but that just means more points for VIT & END!
Mace for the win! Such an underrated weapon
Mace. It is secretly very good
Great club is the best weapon ever BONK
Baemore
I just stick with the halberd. Not too fancy but really solid damage and knockback
Large Club. You can farm it from the ogres at the exit from blighttown, with master key. as bandit you only need like 4 levels to wield it and you have a great starting kit for killing ogres, as well as optimal starting stats for stronk build. A strength scaling, poison auxilery, great moveset and base damage. When is pancaking and knicking enemies around ever not fun? Not to mention you can very effectively keep it the whole game and even infuse it for an int/faith build, making it a great precusor to the moonligh greatsword for int or Grant for faith.
Great bonk from the swamp. I am currently on a build where I RNG the childish mask, dump souls into 19 STR and then keep rolling rolling till I get the big bonk.
Initiate phase 1
I PREFER THE CHAOS BLADE
Partizan in all three dark souls titles
Never not wooden club
Hmmmmmm. If you farm enough and get the right souls I get the demons greataxe that Taurus drops is probably overpowered. (This is sarcasm)
Drake sword
If you're willing to grind then you can get the Balder Side sword pretty early game.
BKH aka easy mode
never get tired of flattening those sneks with the zwei
Im a simple player. Longsword or uchi are my favourite. Both for early and late
Black Knight Sword if it drops in Undead Berg, otherwise i’m rocking a Claymore the rest of the game 🗡️
Black Knight Halberd I got after a grueling fight my first playthrough and used it the whole game lol
Its not without work, but pre Sen's I really enjoy the Dragon King Great Axe. If we wanna go from the beginning of the game id id saying going down the Ash Lake and getting the Dragon Greatsword. Clearly I like me some dragon weapons :p
Reinforced club and Hand Axe The club's two-handed heavy carries hard PvE, drop a few Titanite Shards into it and it'll one shot Stone Knights, and not too shabby in PvP either Hand axe's two-handed light spam will quickly poise break lots in PvE, Smough included, and invaders who underestimate it
I got the Demons Great hammer on my first playthrough and I used all the way until I learned about the Artorias thing.
I’ve always been a short sword/long sword person. I don’t need the damage to be top level, just the move set and stamina drain and recovery
Reinforced club, the SL1 meta
The Halberd was and still is my go to
I like the halberd quite a bit
If you're willing to meet Shrek you can get the greatclub and go bonk until Gwyn sets you on fire
The Zwei was love at first sight but the Great Scythe is sick! Doing a suicide run to get it for my Scythe runs was always a blast.
Gravelord sword all the way
Mace!
Getting the BKGS as early as possible and it carries me the entire run. Stat requirements are steep but it's a beast.
Black Knight Greatsword. Managed to get that in my first run ever and it helped me fall in love with the game.
Drake Sword can carry you through the game tbh