Dual Greatsword Build

Description

Build is focused on primarily dual wielding greatswords. It's currently set-up for a Claymore / Bastard sword combo, but with minor modification of a couple of levels could work in a Flamberge or a Royal Greatsword.

Pyromancy glove and two attunement slots available as secondary. Solid melee base that could be further developed to add faith/int.

Stats

Starting Class Knight
Level 105
Vigor 22
Endurance 23
Vitality 20
Attunement 13
Strength 30
Dexterity 20
Adaptability 21
Intelligence 3
Faith 6

Weapons

Equipment

Mix of light and heavy armor; primary focus is keeping equip load at or around 50%.

Spells

Mix of pyromancies; situation dependent. Most often, one slot is for poison mist.

Tips

General

This build is highly dependent on evading enemy attacks and punishing them on recovery, so keeping equipment load below 50% is advantageous.

Powerstance with Claymore in the right hand allows you to still utilize the R2 poke, which is great for when stamina management but you still want high damage output. You also retain a wide arcing R1 swipe.

L attacks have a high stamina cost, but are absolutely brutal for punishing enemies.

Stamina micromanagement is key to using this build effectively. You can execute two L1 attack combos, but it will drain your entire stamina bar. Only attempt this when you are can anticipate a pause in the action or are about to defeat the enemy. Better to mix R & LH attacks, so that you retain a sliver of stamina for at least one roll.

Secondary Equipment

The offhand shield as a secondary is for those odd occasions when you need to block. This should not be your primary tactic though. Once proficient, you wind up using this very infrequently.

The Pyromancy glove is also used very rarely and is only a way to incorporate some ranged attacks into the fray, without any additional equip burden cost.

Weapon buffs are helpful for additional damage output. Chloranthy rings and Green Blossoms for additional stamina are extremely helpful. Ring of Blades is also very helpful for additional damage output. Ring slot #3 is for the Ring of Binding. Slot #4 is situation dependent and gets switched out depending on need (elemental defense, health regen, fall damage reduction, etc.)

Lastly, keep some ranged items (urns, firebombs, throwing knives, dung pies, etc.) equipped as well. These can add some additional ranged options to your repertoire without forcing you out of your power stance.

Combat Tips

  • Know your enemy. Proper roll timing is your best defense with this build. Knowing when to attack is also critical, as the greatswords do have a slower wind-up than your typical katana / curved sword build. The upshot is that greatswords do solid poise damage; 2x greatswords even more so.
  • Be conscious of your surroundings. You will be flipping and rolling all over the place; be sure that you engage enemies in areas where you have room to maneuver. If extremely limited, switch to your shield.
  • Practice switching in and out of power stance. This doesn't take very long, but the muscle memory is helpful if you wind up switching back and forth from your secondary equipment to main.
  • Pull enemies with pyromancies if necessary and then switch back into your power stance. They are also one of your few options for truly punishing Estus chuggers when they were able to put some distance between you.
  • Turtling opponents in PVP can be a problem, so practice timing and executing guard-breaks.

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