During the past 48 hours it's become clear that Dark Souls 3 players have gravitated toward a small number of builds, and equipped themselves with popular weapons earned early in the game.
In this guide we hope to shed light on some of the game's most interesting weapons. These are weapons that you might miss, or not even think about equipping. However, they have a lot of soul (get it?), and if you're looking to try something different, they can serve as the basis for exciting builds that very few people out there are using, making you stand out among the massive crowd of players.
Abyss Watcher
Weapon: Farron Greatsword – Trade reward for Soul of the Blood of the Wolf.
Alternative Weapon: Gotthard Twinswords – Found outside the Grand Archives.
Primary Stats: Dexterity, Strength.
How It Works: The Farron Greatsword has a unique one-two punch that no other weapon can match. In the left hand you carry a sharp dagger, capable of jabbing foes to put them off balance. In the right hand you carry a massive greatsword that strikes without mercy. By balancing your offense with these two weapons you can combo in extremely satisfying ways.
The Abyss Watcher build is particularly recommended for players who prefer not to play with a shield, and enjoy having many options for how they take down enemies.
Archer
Weapon: Onislayer Greatbow – Loot available near bonfire in Profaned Capital.
Alternative Weapon: Longbow – Loot available near first bonfire in High Wall of Lothric.
Primary Stats: Dexterity, Endurance.
How It Works: Bows are very effective in Dark Souls 3, only held back by their requirement for stocked arrows. You can move, shoot, and roll while using a bow to remain mobile while under pressure, in addition to aiming more precisely than in previous games thanks to an improved camera and lock-on system.
With this build you will focus on dealing damage from afar using only the finest bows available. You'll definitely want to carry a melee weapon that you can rely on in tough face-to-face situations, preferably a dagger for their quick attacks and light weight. While the game's most powerful bows aren't available until late-game, you can get by early on thanks to a great assortment of arrow types that buff your damage and provide unique modifiers, such as bleeding and poison.
Barbarian
Weapon: Fume Ultra Greatsword – Loot from named enemy in Smoldering Lake.
Alternative Weapon: Greatsword – Looted from a body in Farron Keep.
Primary Stats: Strength, Vitality.
How It Works: A Barbarian is all about bit numbers, and that means carry around big things. This build focuses on increasing weight capacity and strength to carry around the Kingdom of Lothric's biggest and baddest weapons. With a 50 Strength requirement, it doesn't get much bigger and badder than the Fume Ultra Greatsword.
To get you by until the day that you can slam opponents with the mountain-sized Fume, you may want to grab the basic Greatsword in Farron Keep. Note that with this build you'll need to be very methodical about when you attack enemies, as each swing requires tremendous effort. But it will be worth it when you see your foe decimated in the most savage way possible.
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Black Mage
Weapon: Court Sorcerer's Staff – Dropped from a mimic in Profaned Capital.
Alternative Weapon: Heretic's Staff – Loot available near castle ruins of Road of Sacrifices.
Primary Stats: Intelligence, Faith.
How It Works: This build foregoes melee competence to swear oath to the art of sorcery. It pumps points into Intelligence and Faith to make its magic spells as potent as possible, while using the Steady Chant skill of the staff to boost its magical damage. Due to its reliance on magic, it needs to carry around a few Ashen Estus Flasks to replenish its FP bar. It may decide to carry around a Crystal or Chaos infused melee weapon to diversify, but that wouldn't be very Black Mage-like, would it?
Dancer
Weapon: Dancer's Enchanted Swords – Trade reward for Soul of the Dancer.
Primary Stats: Dexterity, Endurance.
How It Works: The Dancer's Enchanted Swords are elegant and wonderful. Their moveset allows you to dance around the battlefield, flaying foes as they are mesmerized by your finesse. Although these swords don't have great bonus damage scaling, that's more than made up for by Dancer's Grace, which could very well win a gold trophy on Fox network's So You Think You Can Dance.
It's worth noting that each of the weapons included in the Dancer's Enchanted Swords set have a different damage type. You can control whether you're hitting with your fire or frost sword, which can be extremely useful to exploit the magical weaknesses of foes. It is particularly useful for diversifying your damage output type to avoid being countered by enemies that make have high resistance to a certain type of magic.
Grim Reaper
Weapon: Pontiff Knight Great Scythe – Dropped from regular enemy in Irithyll of the Boreal Valley.
Alternative Weapon: Great Corvian Scythe – Dropped from Corvian enemies in Road of Sacrifices.
Primary Stats: Dexterity, Vigor.
How It Works: The reapers in Dark Souls 3 have powerful swipes that dice many foes at once. This build is effective at harvesting the souls of packs of enemies, while also having the reach necessary to make it effective in one-on-one situations. Both recommended scythes have interesting skills. The Pontiff Knight Great Scythe can be enchanted with frost to debuff stamina regeneration for enemies, which is especially strong in PvP, while the Great Corvian Scythe has a powerful skill attack that doesn't consume stamina.
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Monk
Weapon: Demon's Fist – Trade reward for Soul of a Demon (optional boss).
Alternative Weapon: Caestus – Found on a corpse in the sewers of Undead Settlement.
Primary Stats: Strength, Endurance.
How It Works: This build focuses on the power of the fist. There are only five fist weapons available in Dark Souls 3, the most powerful of which is the Demon's Fist. This weapon hits hard, and makes you look flashy while you do it. It also has the Flame Whirlwind skill, which is effective at taking down multiple foes at a time.
Since the Demon's Fist isn't acquired until nearly halfway through the game, you may opt to use the Caestus early in your adventure, and infuse it to make it benefit from points in Strength.
Ninja
Weapon: Brigand Twindaggers – Looted from a corpse in Road of Sacrifices.
Alternative Weapon: Onikiri and Abadachi – Dropped by a human enemy in Grand Archives.
Primary Stats: Dexterity, Endurance.
How It Works: This build is built around the speed of the Brigand Twindaggers, which are a dual-wielded set of daggers that have a skill called Sidestep. By wearing light armor, you can quickly move around the battlefield and Sidestep incoming attacks, opening up enemies to huge moments of counter-attack. This skill pairs well with the incredibly fast attacks of the Brigand Twindaggers. As long as you have lots of Stamina available, you can dish a ton of damage in a short period of time through a flurry of strikes.
Later in the game you will get your hands on a set of Katanas called 'Onikiri and Abadachi' once you clear through the Grand Archives. These weapons are even more Ninja-like, and with better damage scaling. It is at this point that you can decide if you want to transition to the new weapon, or stick with your trusty Brigand Twindaggers.
Paladin
Weapon: Wolnir's Holy Sword – Trade reward for Soul of High Lord Wolnir.
Alternative Weapon: Lothric's Holy Sword – Trade reward for Soul of the Twin Princes.
Primary Stats: Dexterity, Faith.
How It Works: This build uses a DEX/FAITH stat composition to become a melee fighter capable of casting effective miracles. Dark Souls 3's holy swords have great movesets that make them attractive weapon choices. As you place points in Faith, you'll become a potent miracle user. There are a wide variety of miracles available, so it's up to you as to whether you want your magical adeptness to enhance your offense, or protect you with additional resilience.
Samurai
Weapon: Washing Pole – Sold by Shrine Handmaid after turning in Easterner's Ashes.
Alternative Weapon: Uchigatana – Dropped by Sword Master Saber outside Firelink Shrine.
Primary Stats: Dexterity, Strength.
How It Works: Katanas are a favorite of Souls fans. Thankfully, you have a few options here. Early on you can grab the Uchigatana, and later the Washing Pole or Black Blade. These weapons are best used with Quality builds. That is, you spend your points in both Dexterity and Strength to maximize damage bonuses. This build will make you a master of the blade, capable of executing precise slashes. There are also a couple of Samurai stylized armor sets in the game that can help you complete the look that you're going for.
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