Description
This build makes great use of ROB+2, Flynn’s Ring, and the Vanquisher’s Seal as a great combination for pure Melee builds that like to get as close and personal as possible. Utilizing this build for use in regular NG unfortunately requires some decent prep-work but it’s totally worth it if you have the patience for it. I’ll try to sum up the prep work as clear and concise as possible for those starting fresh characters and want to try a play through of some serious fist magnitude before NG+.
1) Get 4 Bonfire Ascetics as early as possible (starting gift, Chloanne, Lost Bastille, Dragon’s Sanctum in a wooden chest in a hallway with 4 Sanctum Knights) and make sure you upgrade the Dagger as much as possible because you’ll need it for the NPC Phantoms.
2) Go offline, enter the Covenant of Champions and get to Grave of Saints and get to the 2nd bonfire (right before the boss fog). Rhoy will spawn on your way to this bonfire so kill him, kill the boss then go back to 1st bonfire (Harvel’s Resting Place) and use Ascetic. Rhoy will now spawn 12 times, here’s how:
3) Start from 2nd bonfire (near boss fog) exit into hallway with rats and use a Pharros Lockstone in the slot that lowers the bridge directly across from the ladder that leads to the first floor. Go across bridge and drop down to the small arena below with the rat statues and trigger the 3 rats to come out from the wall graves (just get close to the graves and back off). Dispatch them and run back across the bridge, drop down the ladder, climb up the ladder and run back down into the arena. During this time Rhoy will spawn and will follow you there (just give him about 10 seconds). Bait his attacks and backstab until dead. Repeat 12 times.
4) After 12 kills of Rhoy, go back to Harvel’s Resting Place bonfire (1st bonfire of Grave of Saints) and burn another Ascetic. Repeat Step #3.
5) Repeat Step #4
6) Travel to Doors of Pharros and kill NPC Phantom Bowman Guthry. Then kill the Royal Rat Authority and use an ascetic on the Ordeal’s End bonfire. Return to Doors of Pharros bonfire and proceed to kill Guthry until you have all 50 awestones.
NOTE: NPC phantoms sometimes have a chance to drop an awestone along with the one you automatically get for killing them, so you can get 2 awestones in one kill. This is only a good thing so enjoy the less kills you have to do.
Other than the prep work there really isn’t much to this build. Check out the tips for some minor fighting strategies but you should really try it out yourself to get a feel for how you should fight PvE and PvP. I prefer the Vanq Seal because the damage output from the bare fists in combination with the RoB and Flynn’s ring out does that of the Ceastus.
Stats
| Starting Class | Swordsman |
|---|---|
| Level | 150 |
| Vigor | 10 |
| Endurance | 30 |
| Vitality | 10 |
| Attunement | 10 |
| Strength | 50 |
| Dexterity | 50 |
| Adaptability | 30 |
| Intelligence | 7 |
| Faith | 5 |
Weapons
Avalyn or poison throwing daggers
Equipment
Ring of Blades +2, Flynn's Ring, Vanquisher's Seal, (whatever you want as a 4th ring; i prefer Chloranthy +2, Stone Ring, or Ring of Giants) DO NOT use Heavy Armor or Flynn's ring will be useless! For cosplay purposes (as Bane) i use sinner's mask and Llewellyn Set
Spells
None
Tips
Be sure to keep equipment load under ~40.9% to ensure you get the full 50 dmg increase from Flynn's ring (at least that's how it worked for me).
For PvP this build is kind of fun. Use throwing daggers or Avalyn to bait rolls or interrupt spells or cause panic. Roll up, use knock-back (or rolling R1, whichever you prefer) to attempt to cue stun, powerstance spam = gg.
For PvE everything dies. Your fists count as strike damage and since you don't have a lot of equipment or weapons taking up your stamina, you get a lot of swings and rolls in, but given that your AR in both hands is over 440 you won't need many L1's to kill things. Most enemies in the DLC go down with a simple L1 followed by R1. Treat NPC's like players and hit them with a knock back (Forward R1) then pummel away!
Flynn's ring goes by your MAX equip load. as long as you're under 60 max equip load you get the full effectiveness of Flynn's ring(50 bonus AR), once you get above 60 it starts to drastically lose it's bonus damage of 1 point every 0.5 points of max equip load over 60 so if your max equip load is 85.0 or higher Flynn's ring is a wasted ring slot