I definitely didn't do thrusting swords first because I want to play with the Carian Sorcery Sword. Definitely... 🙄 Okay, hand-to-hand/martial arts coming next breakdown. EDIT: Forgot about the powerstance status nerf. 2handing Antspur will reach scarlet rot faster than powerstancing atm. Also forgot to include the charge part of the heavy attack from frame data explorer. 🤦♀ You need charged => early release to uncharged animation. Here is the fix for 1h/2h charged R2 #1 Estoc/Noble's Estoc: +7 frames Rogier's: +8 frames Cleanrot/antspur/rapier: +8 frames (1h), +9 frames (2h)
Wouldn't it be wiser to wait for the next patch before covering martial arts? Their poise damage is so comically low that I can't see it not get a buff ASAP, in the same vein as the light greatswords.
i really love the carian sorcery sword, looking to make a build around it soon. also i learned recently that you can still do guard counters on it if you press both the heavy and light attack button, which was surprising to me.
Yeah lotta interesting stuff with this weapon, such spells shoot out the tip of the blade so this means certain spells come out higher like on my character rn I noticed Eternal Darkness is way higher in the air when cast from this sword
@@Grimsly3736Does that affect its actual ability to absorb spells? I wish they'd buff Miriam's Vanishing (and Blinkbolt while we're at it) to have less start and end lag, simply because Miriam's Vanishing is such a cool mixup on the Carian Thrusting Sword.
@@FelisImpurrator doesn’t seem so, though sometimes it can make spells like Night Shard come at a downward angle making them have less range but I have noticed people have a harder time dodging spells by jumping when shot from the sorcery sword
Ah, finally, a video breaking down everything you need to know about the Beast Claws! (check description Chrightt lol) Jokes aside, thanks as always for providing these breakdowns.
Go Waffle! Suggestion, add the shortest and longest weapon ranges to each chart, to give us context, or something. Or have the longest one (Cleanroot) as 100%, and then write the % number next to each of the other ones. It'd help put things in perspective. "It's way shorter" isn't the same for a halberd as it is to a claw, say. For one it can be half the distance, while for the other, 20% shorter :D And having the number of the longest will help compare cross-chart.
Hey Chrightt! So, I love looking through those MV sheets and seeing the differences in stamina cost between weapon classes. You can find out some amazing things, like the Pike having a higher stamina cost than the Lance, or the Godslayer Greatsword being comparatively stamina efficient for its stance damage buildup (for a colossal sword, anyways). So I think it'd be neato if you could highlight noticeable stamina cost differences in your SotE weapon breakdowns.
Perfect timing! I can't wait to see what the Carian Sorcery Sword can do. Plus, I can't wait for all the new breakdowns in general just to see how some of my old favorites (GUGS, Nightrider Glaive, Guardian Swordspear, etc.) compare to the newer DLC weapons.
those are still best. dlc don't have better alternatives. ancient meteoric ore great sword is longer than gugs and has piercing fang on steroids but i still don't want to have 19 arcane on str build.
@@lukaogadze5071 Well you're in luck because that sword scales better off of ARC anyway. Unlike STR, ARC boosts both its physical _and_ magical dmg, resulting in higher AR despite the D scaling. Not only that, but its WA also scales primarily off of ARC. Two different weapons for two different usages. AMOGS better tho
I am so happy that your are doing these break downs again. You truly are the best at this. With the dlc put now, what's your favorite weapon category or weapon that you've tested so far
19:45 the term offstoc didn't originate in elden ring, it's been around since at least ds3 (where the estoc was generally the best offhand thrusting sword) this is also subjective, but I think it sounds a lot better than offrot as well
Good. But they could always make a different scaling for pvp. And it's not like the damage should be 1 to 1. Just being the best Carian slicer staff is plenty enough extra damage.
Thank you for this. I love having all of this excellent information in one place, well-sorted and presented -- especially because you show ACTUAL softcaps instead of just the generally accepted ones.
Counterpoint to "nobles estoc is only used for looks": the two noble weapons have extremely low requirements that makes them ideal for mages and clerics, and while the normal rapier does have low requirements, the nobles estoc gives you the sweeping heavy and some will prefer that
The Carian Sorcery Sword has quickly become one of my favorite weapons in the game. This legitimately feels like a trick weapon from Bloodborne at times with how many "weapon" spells (i.e. spells that conjure up magical weapons) there are to mix up it's moveset and do things that other Thrusting Swords could only dream of. It can turn into: 1. Strait Sword with Carian Slicer (best spell in the first spell slot) 2. Greatsword/Colossal Sword with Carian Greatsword, Carian Piercer and Adula's Moonblade 3. Great Hammer/Colossal Weapon with Gavel of Haima 4. Greatbow with Loretta's Greatbow/Mastery 5. Jar Cannon/Rabbath's Cannon with Cannon of Haima (same idea of an explosive ranged AoE) 6. Some type of drill with Rock Blaster 7. Zamor Curved Sword's AoW with Zamor Ice Storm (Sorcery) Gavel in particular is great for crowd-control against weaker enemies (the man-fly enemies are fun to smash with it) and stance-breaking in PvE, which you can capitalize on with the weapon itself, yes it won't crit as hard as a Dagger or the Rapier, but it still has an increased critical modifier over most other weapon types. However it's actually quite good at 45 Intelligence, there it's only about *TWO PERCENT* weaker than the Academy Glintstone Staff, at 50 Intelligence it's about 5% weaker, at 60 Intelligence it's about 12-14% weaker for most spells, Stars of Ruin does see a bigger hit closer to 20%. Yes it's much weaker than Lusat's Staff, however that one makes your spells cost more FP to cast, so I compared it to the one that was best at 45-60 Int without a penalty, plus I have a +25 Academy GS and don't have Lusat's upgraded at all, and I'm not wasting a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone on a Staff I won't be able to use at all for anything other than testing. Note that I didn't test all spells but considering that the numbers for the few that I did were quite consistent I feel good going with those rough numbers, multi-hit spells like Stars of Ruin seem to be hit harder by the weaker Sorcery Scaling however. This makes it a great Dex/Int weapon because you can pair it alongside things like the Death's Poker, Moonveil, or the Star-Lined Sword just to name a few while also getting the benefits of a high Dexterity stat boosting your casting speed, you could hit the cap with Radagon's Icon if you wanted to.
When you showed the parry frame data, it looked like it was from before 1.12. From what I can tell from the frame data explorer they standardized all parry start ups to 4 frames. Have you done any testing on this?
Hope to see something on thrusting shields soon! I'm currently trying a more defense-oriented "shield wizard" build using Scholar's Shield before two-handing, and looking for potential improvements to it.
What are you using? I haven't tried it since the nerf, but before the nerf the Carian Thrusting Shield had enough guard boost that stacking Scholar's Shield and the Greatshield Talisman made it possible to run even Cold (which has obscenely high AR, just below Magic) without losing much in terms of defensive viability. So I was running the double dog (turtle) talisman, Dragoncrest Greatshield (because less chip damage is good), Greatshield, and I think Two-Handed Talisman. Plus Staff of the Great Beyond loaded up with utility like Heal from Afar, regen Blessing of choice, Golden Vow, Scholar's Shield, and whatever I felt like. And then the shield itself was cold infused with Spinning Weapon for that proper Carian spellblade(shield) flavor. A more offensive variant uses Standard infusion with Scholar's Armament, because that works the exact same way as the Clayman Harpoon build. Another option is throwing on Blood Tax for self-sustain and having the option of Bleed buildup with Lord of Blood for even more damage. I prefer Cold with Scholar's Shield though, as the stamina management is so much better with that spell AND you get an all in one debuff/DPS/defense machine. Spinning Weapon works great on a weapon this gigantic, and one where your entire playstyle involves being smushed up against the enemy, no less. Other ashes that could be crazy good... Flame Skewer with flame art, although maybe the normal dueling shield might be a better fit for that and Blood Tax due to not splitting scaling into Int. Glintblade Phalanx is good for the CTS too, get those poise breaks by mixing Phalanx and charged heavies, and slap on the Blade of Mercy to punish.
Addition: I forgot to mention how good Old Lord's talisman was on this. Replace Greatshield if you feel confident in your ability to handle chip damage... or Two-Handed talisman because you get a crapload of damage from the cold infusion and whatever spells you chuck into mainhand staff, like Phalanx spam. The ability to keep three buffs for an absurdly long time is just too good, especially since Scholar's Shield is a slow cast and functionally make-or-break on harder-hitting targets. Less time spent squishy is more time spent guard countering things into a fine paste. Of course, depending on your needs you can just throw on Dagger or Curved Sword or Blade of Mercy wherever. Damage versus defense versus utility is a real tradeoff here and you unfortunately can't max out everything... Because the weapon is a jack of all trades and you're giving up minmaxing for the ultimate tanky generalist build. Also, if you do have enough faith to throw in Heal from Afar at the very least (18 Fai isn't too bad; it's less of a commitment than going up to 25 for Golden Vow, certainly, and you can throw in Bestial Vitality even at 12), then you can swap to something like 5/9 flasks, if not even more blue; that's because HFA is faster than a flask. Same goes for Blood Tax build with the Dueling Shield - no need for red flasks if you can just leech your way to victory.
Thank you for going back and updating your weapon breakdowns. Its been upwards of 2 years since some of them and getting all the new DLC weapons and patch changes really helps. Look forward to the rest of them
Apparently the main-gauche has the same parry data as the buckler's parry. That's huge, especially since this class has a 130 crit weapon to powerstance with.
The moment I discovered the Carian Sorcery Sword (and Milady) I started and new character and made her a mage knightress (and had a friend pass me down the weapons) just because I hate staves with passion. Even at the spell power disadvantatge, I do not need to have a glorified stick on my hand.
Thanks for this video and your research. This weapon class holds a special place in my heart🤙🏾 I haven't seen many up to date analysis videos on the state of the thrusting swords and the newer additions from the DLC until now. Learned a thing or two from ya I have to test out myself(like the Estoc initial slash being all for flair 😅 lmao)
I sometimes wonder how much more fun the game would be if stuff like sword dance and repeating thrust were just the basic attack combos of some weapon types rather than a momentary epiphany of how to swing a sword.
You can access one (1) heavy attack with the Carian Sorcery Sword. You can use the jumping heavy, but only if you jump from something to get about two seconds of air time. It's probably not going to come up in any circumstance, but it is possible.
For the Rogier's Rapier, you noted that it performs better with Status due to the double hit nature of the heavy attacks and superior Status Motion Values as a result, but you didn't mention that the heavy attacks have even more favorable Buff Motion Values than the Status Motion Values. It's 65 + 65 for Status, and *90 + 90* for Buffs. This means that something like Scholar's Armament or Electrify Armament will do 90% of their damage twice on Rogier's Rapier, which is frankly ludicrous. Another thing that I feel should be mentioned is that Impaling Thrust (the default skill on every Thrusting Sword _except_ Rogier's Rapier) will true combo into the heavy attack of most Thrusting Swords _including_ Rogier's Rapier, which results in dealing even more damage than what other Thrusting Swords could get using this combo. EDIT: small grammar and formatting corrections.
Beat the last dlc-boss with blood antspur and a greatshield, scarlet rot felt really impactful, and I would recommend it to anyone on a hard boss that can be rotted.
Thanks for doing the revision, Crightt! I constantly use your videos as a resource for build opportunities. Smith Script Daggers (post patch) are my current puzzle.
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I really don't think it's a good idea balance-wise to have offhand ts be 2 frames faster. Especially when cleanrot is the size of a small car.
That is a bug carried over from Souls3. In Souls3 thrusting swords where nerfed... In the main hand only, because for some godforsaken reason From decided to have seperate code between hands.
The fastest way to apply scarlet rot is by using an ant spear rapier and keeping it unfused. Then apply scarlet rot grease and use an ash of war like blood tax or the inferior one without the health regen. By the way, thanks for the videos Chrightt!
I have a level 99 strength arcane build with 10 dex. The nobles estoc is the only rapier I can use without investing in dex. Although the offhand moveset of the rapier is preferred by many, the damage of an occult warped axe is stronger than any other weapon I have and the moveset of an offhand axe is still very fast.
To prepare for the dlc I made a fresh run with frozen needle and antspur rapier with lightning strike AOW (just to buff it in my off hand) and lord I had forgotten how good rapiers can be in this game. I melted almost every bosses. I don't know if it's just an impression but it feels like power stancing rapiers consumes little stamina, I did not invest much in it and never felt low.
So, according to the Wiki, apparently the Carian Sorcery Sword is the most optimal Catalayst for Ccasting AT EXACTLY 41 INT, no higher or lower as there are better options before and after
I find that the Main-gauche doesn't nerf your dps as much as it would seem because the second L1 (that can be used after crouch L1) attacks with your right hand weapon 3 times, the thrusting swords powerstance moveset heavily favours the main hand It pairs amazingly well with the basic Rapier, and since dagger parry got a small buff I'm having a blast, having access to the powerstance moveset (while allowing dagger parry) truly gives you mixups and nasty ass crits, it's a oneshot in PvP without lacking damage The only thing I would change to make it even more perfect-ier would be to allow the R1 and L1 to chain, that way you could R1 from neutral with the Rapier and pressing L1 would chain into the 3-hit main hand (like the Crow Quills back in DS3 worked). As it is right now, if you R1 and then L1 it doesn't chain and uses the neutral L1 attack which is slower. Crouch L1 into chain L1 is a lot faster tho
Try the carian sorcery sword as an off-hand rapier with a main hand halberd for duels specifically, you get both a great pvp close range moveset and a lot of flexibility at far ranges due to spellcasting. Offhand staff is a good choice and carian slicer will do more damage, but offhand rapier thrusts are just that much quicker and versatile in 1v1 situations
Estoc backstep cancel attack comes out extremely fast after it's heavy attack. This makes it competitive with Rogier's double heavy. It's safer and procs poise breaks in PvP surprisingly quickly.
as someone who likes to invade at level 1, the nobles estoc is wonderful since it's relatively long and you dont have to level or use a talisman slot to wield it. FromSoft knows how to help out the little guy lol
The Wakizashi gets a perk where when it's used for powerstancing, its resulting damage is ALMOST identical to if you were to use an Uchigatana instead, despite its much lower AR. Unfortunately after some testing it seems the Main-Gauche does not get this same perk, which is a real shame, because parrying with an actual thrusting sword looks really stupid in Elden Ring but I'm not willing to sacrifice such a substantial amount of effective damage for a cooler animation (or better parry frames). Also, @Chrightt , the thrusting swords with the sweeping heavies get unique feints! I don't know anything about actual frame data, but I wonder if you've ever experienced specifically the 2-handed Estoc/Noble's Estoc R2 into R2-feint. The feint attack comes out unusually quick, and will deal very good damage and poise damage on most PvE targets.
Right now I think carian sorcery is strongest casting tool in ladder environment. It's always poisebreaks passive poise due to restrictions in the ruleset and give more powerful moveset than any onehanded weapon. But without rules it could be easily shut down with poise stacking
Okay, so for the Carian Thrusting Sword, doesn't it retain a hitbix while casting Glinstone Sword spells? So it would directly boost damage and poise damage?
Been running carian sorcery sword off-handed for duels lately, its been pretty stellar. Damage isn't great, it'd be better probably if I went with a cold build instead of pure int bc the cold scaling is very similar to the sorcery sword's. Regardless, its been super fun and its just even more options for an off-stoc build. Also paired it up with the carian thrusting shield, so fun If you're not planning for spells to be your main damage source its a really solid choice, but still gets some good damage now anyways. Its an awesome tool and I've been loving all my new toys in dlc. Maybe there's an incantation weapon catalyst no one found yet... prolly not, but imagine
There is a question that wasn't covered and may be important. I remember that in DS3 the best performing crit weapon was fire/deep infused dagger (or at least i think it was), since his bigger overall AR and big critical multiplier resulted in way bigger damage. You've covered Rapier vs Misericorde on Heavy and Keen infusions, but what about Fire and Lightning infusions? Do they still do similar damage? Is Lightning better than Keen?
Also, what is your thoughts on Cold Ricard's Rapier + offhand Carian Sorcery Sword? Seems like a good combo, focused on Dex/Cast speed for spell utility but get enough Int to get efficient Carian Sorcery Sword damage. Combo with frost spells and Ranni's set pieces to boost the lackluster damage and you have a cohesive build!
Question about the main-gauche, the power stance moveset for thrusting swords has a few attacks where you attack more with the main hand (second attack in the powerstance chain is 3 hits with main hand and the jumping attack is 2 hits with main and 1 with off hand). Having an offhand weapon with low ar like the main-gauche shouldn't affect the dmg of your main hand while using powerstance moves, right? But it would still have the reduced stamina consumption of daggers?
Carian Sorcery Sword has one specific benefit that neither a staff nor a sword can fully replace alone: It can be wielded alongside a shield or powerstanced. Two Cleanrot swords can't cast spells, a staff and shield can't poke. This is what it's paying for in AR and sorcery scaling. I think it's worth it if you commit to the playstyle, because being able to use that ridiculously good powerstance thrusting sword moveset or guard counter (with Light-Heavy in quick succession to override the spellcast) while having spells to mix in is great. Even just slapping on Greatblade Phalanx and spamming it between guard counters can brutalize PVE enemies.
I would shield + another pierce weapon for better shield pokes and then main-hand swap to a staff at that point. Too much loss in damage both ways at that point for a tad bit of convenience.
@@Chrightt Is this exclusively assuming PVP meta level 150 is a given and the only testing condition? Also, how much would they have to buff the damage for it to be worth it to you? Reverting the base damage decrease, or more? Personally, I find switching weapons to be a noticeable issue in boss fights specifically, after dozens of hours playing through much of the game with a melee in main hand and staff/seal in offhand on a high level IntFai 80/80 setup. I wouldn't say no to another ~10% buff or something, but I've found the convenience worth playing around with in some circumstances.
Do wish we could at least spell buff the carian sorcery sword. With its recent buffs, its almost as cool as the blue flame. Oh, and its a shame its damage is so bad with stuff like magma sorceries. Would've been fun to use a mixed spellblade set.
@@kamarwashington If they did I never noticed. I took my dual antspur build through NG+ then started running a Dragon Communion thing primarily. Kinda just ignored changes to Antspur at that point. Not that I think going Frostbite with it is worth the trouble and stat investment. I could be wrong, though it would require fire damage to reset the build meter which is why I preferred using Blood over it to begin with.
They should give misericord and main gauche a unique powerstance. I was so disappointed that it doesnt stance eith other daggers. With misericord it would be such an intimidating build
Hi Chrightt, I wanted to know if there is any update regarding "Softcap" and if you're making an updated video after the release of the dlc or if your older video still apply today ?
Dang I thought Main Gauche might have some sauce since the thrusting sword power stance mostly uses the main hand, it wouldn't hit your damage is bad as something like the wakazashi does for katana
It's good as a combo with a Rapier, because the Parry skill sets you up to do criticals with your main hand. Use the Main-Gauche's Parry, and put a lightning infusion of Determination/Royal Knight's Resolve on the Rapier. When you successfully parry and have the opening for a critical, two-hand your Rapier and use the Determination/Royal Knight's Resolve skill for a massive boost to your crit damage. If you're looking for a status infusion for the Main-Gauche, bleed is your best option for it. This way when power-stancing, you can cause blood loss, as well as having a parry tool, and with a 80 keen lightning infused Rapier on your main hand, it does the highest damage possible for crits using a thrusting weapon when you use the Determination/Royal Knight's Resolve skill. Overall, the tradeoff isn't that bad.
Man I really wish the carian sword sorcery did better damage by itself. Its really cool but to me its not that hard to just have the staff in the off hand or change to a staff. I personally dont see the point of it. Its really cool tho, i think in the lore the carian knight sword is supposed to cast spells as well.
Dual wielding 2 anspur rapiers where both either also have poison infusion or one poison and the other something else is just a magic to behold on bosses. Multiple DoTs are ticking while you dodge around like a monkey.
I really wish the sorcery sword had higher requirements but at least could contend with other swords or other staffs. So many things in this dlc are overly balanced. So. Here’s my question about critical: is executioners greataxe best?
Main gauche is my main parry weapon. It just seems more reliable than buckler to me. Antspur is my go to for status build up though. Scarlet rot with a free ash of war slot. Just so versatile. Too bad rot doesn’t scale to arcane.
Well that kinda _is_ the point of having a shorter "thrusting sword" that rocks better parry frames. Parry is one of the few AoWs that will override your mainhand AoW if put on your offhand weapon. Using it as mainhand weapon would essentially be shooting yourself in the foot on multiple levels.
I definitely didn't do thrusting swords first because I want to play with the Carian Sorcery Sword. Definitely... 🙄
Okay, hand-to-hand/martial arts coming next breakdown.
EDIT: Forgot about the powerstance status nerf. 2handing Antspur will reach scarlet rot faster than powerstancing atm.
Also forgot to include the charge part of the heavy attack from frame data explorer. 🤦♀ You need charged => early release to uncharged animation.
Here is the fix for 1h/2h charged R2 #1
Estoc/Noble's Estoc: +7 frames
Rogier's: +8 frames
Cleanrot/antspur/rapier: +8 frames (1h), +9 frames (2h)
I literally just watched the old video that's crazy
I feel like showing the entire weapon moveset instead of only the unique moves is unnecessary, but i love the videos either way
Wouldn't it be wiser to wait for the next patch before covering martial arts? Their poise damage is so comically low that I can't see it not get a buff ASAP, in the same vein as the light greatswords.
DryLeaf weapons are busted if you know how to use them, jumping heavy and counter attack hit twice.
The light great swords will be interesting. Oh mate, for the RUclips algorithm you will do a LOT better with DLC exclusive weapon categories fyi.
I like your funny words magic man!
S*words
How many scoops?
real
Sun nuggets, solar babies, la uva loca! California's finest, all for you to smoke-ah!
@@purplepudding9384three please
I cheered when I heard your catchphrase "Flame and Sacred are two sides of the same coin"
i really love the carian sorcery sword, looking to make a build around it soon.
also i learned recently that you can still do guard counters on it if you press both the heavy and light attack button, which was surprising to me.
Yeah lotta interesting stuff with this weapon, such spells shoot out the tip of the blade so this means certain spells come out higher like on my character rn I noticed Eternal Darkness is way higher in the air when cast from this sword
@@Grimsly3736Does that affect its actual ability to absorb spells?
I wish they'd buff Miriam's Vanishing (and Blinkbolt while we're at it) to have less start and end lag, simply because Miriam's Vanishing is such a cool mixup on the Carian Thrusting Sword.
@@FelisImpurrator doesn’t seem so, though sometimes it can make spells like Night Shard come at a downward angle making them have less range but I have noticed people have a harder time dodging spells by jumping when shot from the sorcery sword
@@Grimsly3736Very interesting... like the reply below you, I was wondering the same
@@CuddleBuddee I’ve been doing loads of tests tbh
Very happy to be getting detailed weapon breakdowns from my favorite data cat!
Ah, finally, a video breaking down everything you need to know about the Beast Claws! (check description Chrightt lol)
Jokes aside, thanks as always for providing these breakdowns.
Yep yep, was updating when I accidentally published after I finished the timestamps.
We appreciate all of your hard work.
Honey wake up, the lord of weapon breakdowns has returned.
Go Waffle! Suggestion, add the shortest and longest weapon ranges to each chart, to give us context, or something. Or have the longest one (Cleanroot) as 100%, and then write the % number next to each of the other ones. It'd help put things in perspective. "It's way shorter" isn't the same for a halberd as it is to a claw, say. For one it can be half the distance, while for the other, 20% shorter :D
And having the number of the longest will help compare cross-chart.
Hey Chrightt! So, I love looking through those MV sheets and seeing the differences in stamina cost between weapon classes. You can find out some amazing things, like the Pike having a higher stamina cost than the Lance, or the Godslayer Greatsword being comparatively stamina efficient for its stance damage buildup (for a colossal sword, anyways). So I think it'd be neato if you could highlight noticeable stamina cost differences in your SotE weapon breakdowns.
Babe, wake up! Chrightt uploaded a new video.
Perfect timing! I can't wait to see what the Carian Sorcery Sword can do. Plus, I can't wait for all the new breakdowns in general just to see how some of my old favorites (GUGS, Nightrider Glaive, Guardian Swordspear, etc.) compare to the newer DLC weapons.
those are still best. dlc don't have better alternatives. ancient meteoric ore great sword is longer than gugs and has piercing fang on steroids but i still don't want to have 19 arcane on str build.
@@lukaogadze5071 Well you're in luck because that sword scales better off of ARC anyway. Unlike STR, ARC boosts both its physical _and_ magical dmg, resulting in higher AR despite the D scaling. Not only that, but its WA also scales primarily off of ARC. Two different weapons for two different usages.
AMOGS better tho
@@BlaZay hmm... interesting. i will check. thank you.
@@BlaZay checked damage calculator... im so confused it's bugged?
@@BlaZay thank you for the info. now arc/str build looks more interesting.
I am so happy that your are doing these break downs again. You truly are the best at this. With the dlc put now, what's your favorite weapon category or weapon that you've tested so far
19:45 the term offstoc didn't originate in elden ring, it's been around since at least ds3 (where the estoc was generally the best offhand thrusting sword)
this is also subjective, but I think it sounds a lot better than offrot as well
I, although not the first, did it in ds1 with the silver knights spear
he definitely knows that
In the future, im sure people would appreciate seeing the move sets from the side as well
Carian Sorcery Sword should hit twice on Carian Slicer for both spell hitbox and the fact you are hitting your opponent with an actual blade >:(
This would destroy pvp😅
Good.
But they could always make a different scaling for pvp.
And it's not like the damage should be 1 to 1. Just being the best Carian slicer staff is plenty enough extra damage.
Thank you for this. I love having all of this excellent information in one place, well-sorted and presented -- especially because you show ACTUAL softcaps instead of just the generally accepted ones.
Counterpoint to "nobles estoc is only used for looks": the two noble weapons have extremely low requirements that makes them ideal for mages and clerics, and while the normal rapier does have low requirements, the nobles estoc gives you the sweeping heavy and some will prefer that
The Carian Sorcery Sword has quickly become one of my favorite weapons in the game. This legitimately feels like a trick weapon from Bloodborne at times with how many "weapon" spells (i.e. spells that conjure up magical weapons) there are to mix up it's moveset and do things that other Thrusting Swords could only dream of.
It can turn into:
1. Strait Sword with Carian Slicer (best spell in the first spell slot)
2. Greatsword/Colossal Sword with Carian Greatsword, Carian Piercer and Adula's Moonblade
3. Great Hammer/Colossal Weapon with Gavel of Haima
4. Greatbow with Loretta's Greatbow/Mastery
5. Jar Cannon/Rabbath's Cannon with Cannon of Haima (same idea of an explosive ranged AoE)
6. Some type of drill with Rock Blaster
7. Zamor Curved Sword's AoW with Zamor Ice Storm (Sorcery)
Gavel in particular is great for crowd-control against weaker enemies (the man-fly enemies are fun to smash with it) and stance-breaking in PvE, which you can capitalize on with the weapon itself, yes it won't crit as hard as a Dagger or the Rapier, but it still has an increased critical modifier over most other weapon types.
However it's actually quite good at 45 Intelligence, there it's only about *TWO PERCENT* weaker than the Academy Glintstone Staff, at 50 Intelligence it's about 5% weaker, at 60 Intelligence it's about 12-14% weaker for most spells, Stars of Ruin does see a bigger hit closer to 20%. Yes it's much weaker than Lusat's Staff, however that one makes your spells cost more FP to cast, so I compared it to the one that was best at 45-60 Int without a penalty, plus I have a +25 Academy GS and don't have Lusat's upgraded at all, and I'm not wasting a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone on a Staff I won't be able to use at all for anything other than testing.
Note that I didn't test all spells but considering that the numbers for the few that I did were quite consistent I feel good going with those rough numbers, multi-hit spells like Stars of Ruin seem to be hit harder by the weaker Sorcery Scaling however.
This makes it a great Dex/Int weapon because you can pair it alongside things like the Death's Poker, Moonveil, or the Star-Lined Sword just to name a few while also getting the benefits of a high Dexterity stat boosting your casting speed, you could hit the cap with Radagon's Icon if you wanted to.
When you showed the parry frame data, it looked like it was from before 1.12. From what I can tell from the frame data explorer they standardized all parry start ups to 4 frames. Have you done any testing on this?
Hope to see something on thrusting shields soon! I'm currently trying a more defense-oriented "shield wizard" build using Scholar's Shield before two-handing, and looking for potential improvements to it.
What are you using?
I haven't tried it since the nerf, but before the nerf the Carian Thrusting Shield had enough guard boost that stacking Scholar's Shield and the Greatshield Talisman made it possible to run even Cold (which has obscenely high AR, just below Magic) without losing much in terms of defensive viability. So I was running the double dog (turtle) talisman, Dragoncrest Greatshield (because less chip damage is good), Greatshield, and I think Two-Handed Talisman. Plus Staff of the Great Beyond loaded up with utility like Heal from Afar, regen Blessing of choice, Golden Vow, Scholar's Shield, and whatever I felt like. And then the shield itself was cold infused with Spinning Weapon for that proper Carian spellblade(shield) flavor.
A more offensive variant uses Standard infusion with Scholar's Armament, because that works the exact same way as the Clayman Harpoon build. Another option is throwing on Blood Tax for self-sustain and having the option of Bleed buildup with Lord of Blood for even more damage. I prefer Cold with Scholar's Shield though, as the stamina management is so much better with that spell AND you get an all in one debuff/DPS/defense machine. Spinning Weapon works great on a weapon this gigantic, and one where your entire playstyle involves being smushed up against the enemy, no less.
Other ashes that could be crazy good... Flame Skewer with flame art, although maybe the normal dueling shield might be a better fit for that and Blood Tax due to not splitting scaling into Int. Glintblade Phalanx is good for the CTS too, get those poise breaks by mixing Phalanx and charged heavies, and slap on the Blade of Mercy to punish.
Addition: I forgot to mention how good Old Lord's talisman was on this. Replace Greatshield if you feel confident in your ability to handle chip damage... or Two-Handed talisman because you get a crapload of damage from the cold infusion and whatever spells you chuck into mainhand staff, like Phalanx spam. The ability to keep three buffs for an absurdly long time is just too good, especially since Scholar's Shield is a slow cast and functionally make-or-break on harder-hitting targets. Less time spent squishy is more time spent guard countering things into a fine paste.
Of course, depending on your needs you can just throw on Dagger or Curved Sword or Blade of Mercy wherever. Damage versus defense versus utility is a real tradeoff here and you unfortunately can't max out everything... Because the weapon is a jack of all trades and you're giving up minmaxing for the ultimate tanky generalist build.
Also, if you do have enough faith to throw in Heal from Afar at the very least (18 Fai isn't too bad; it's less of a commitment than going up to 25 for Golden Vow, certainly, and you can throw in Bestial Vitality even at 12), then you can swap to something like 5/9 flasks, if not even more blue; that's because HFA is faster than a flask. Same goes for Blood Tax build with the Dueling Shield - no need for red flasks if you can just leech your way to victory.
Thank you for going back and updating your weapon breakdowns. Its been upwards of 2 years since some of them and getting all the new DLC weapons and patch changes really helps. Look forward to the rest of them
Apparently the main-gauche has the same parry data as the buckler's parry. That's huge, especially since this class has a 130 crit weapon to powerstance with.
The moment I discovered the Carian Sorcery Sword (and Milady) I started and new character and made her a mage knightress (and had a friend pass me down the weapons) just because I hate staves with passion.
Even at the spell power disadvantatge, I do not need to have a glorified stick on my hand.
Your guides allowed me to build anything I wanted in ac6, beyond thankful you're going as in-depth with elden ring as you have been.
Cheers!
Nice! I have 60 int and i do pvp glad to hear carian thrusting sword is solid for my build
As someone who frequently refers to your breakdowns for my buildcrafting, its nice to see updated info and resolutions too xd
Thanks for this video and your research. This weapon class holds a special place in my heart🤙🏾 I haven't seen many up to date analysis videos on the state of the thrusting swords and the newer additions from the DLC until now. Learned a thing or two from ya I have to test out myself(like the Estoc initial slash being all for flair 😅 lmao)
I sometimes wonder how much more fun the game would be if stuff like sword dance and repeating thrust were just the basic attack combos of some weapon types rather than a momentary epiphany of how to swing a sword.
Main gauche (goash) means left hand in French
The king is back! Very looking forward to these - this is THE BEST analysis and resources on RUclips and some of the best on the internet!
I would appreciate a guide for shields. Good video.
You can access one (1) heavy attack with the Carian Sorcery Sword. You can use the jumping heavy, but only if you jump from something to get about two seconds of air time.
It's probably not going to come up in any circumstance, but it is possible.
Man this is crazy timing. I just started a thrusting sword playthrough this morning.
For the Rogier's Rapier, you noted that it performs better with Status due to the double hit nature of the heavy attacks and superior Status Motion Values as a result, but you didn't mention that the heavy attacks have even more favorable Buff Motion Values than the Status Motion Values. It's 65 + 65 for Status, and *90 + 90* for Buffs. This means that something like Scholar's Armament or Electrify Armament will do 90% of their damage twice on Rogier's Rapier, which is frankly ludicrous. Another thing that I feel should be mentioned is that Impaling Thrust (the default skill on every Thrusting Sword _except_ Rogier's Rapier) will true combo into the heavy attack of most Thrusting Swords _including_ Rogier's Rapier, which results in dealing even more damage than what other Thrusting Swords could get using this combo.
EDIT: small grammar and formatting corrections.
Very excited to see the updated weapon deep dives chrightt!! you always give good information
Beat the last dlc-boss with blood antspur and a greatshield, scarlet rot felt really impactful, and I would recommend it to anyone on a hard boss that can be rotted.
Thanks for doing the revision, Crightt! I constantly use your videos as a resource for build opportunities. Smith Script Daggers (post patch) are my current puzzle.
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I really don't think it's a good idea balance-wise to have offhand ts be 2 frames faster. Especially when cleanrot is the size of a small car.
I think most people are baffled by why they're 2 frames faster on the offhand but it is what it is. The trusty offhand thrusting sword...
it got massive nerf now it has very low poise damage
That is a bug carried over from Souls3. In Souls3 thrusting swords where nerfed... In the main hand only, because for some godforsaken reason From decided to have seperate code between hands.
Omg you're right, I actually remember this update. Of course it's a carry over from ds3... @@5chneemensch138
The fastest way to apply scarlet rot is by using an ant spear rapier and keeping it unfused. Then apply scarlet rot grease and use an ash of war like blood tax or the inferior one without the health regen. By the way, thanks for the videos Chrightt!
I ordered your book Chrightt. Excellent story.
don't forget about guard counters, when showing off movesets! they're useful again! 😉
I have a level 99 strength arcane build with 10 dex. The nobles estoc is the only rapier I can use without investing in dex. Although the offhand moveset of the rapier is preferred by many, the damage of an occult warped axe is stronger than any other weapon I have and the moveset of an offhand axe is still very fast.
To prepare for the dlc I made a fresh run with frozen needle and antspur rapier with lightning strike AOW (just to buff it in my off hand) and lord I had forgotten how good rapiers can be in this game. I melted almost every bosses. I don't know if it's just an impression but it feels like power stancing rapiers consumes little stamina, I did not invest much in it and never felt low.
So, according to the Wiki, apparently the Carian Sorcery Sword is the most optimal Catalayst for Ccasting AT EXACTLY 41 INT, no higher or lower as there are better options before and after
I find that the Main-gauche doesn't nerf your dps as much as it would seem because the second L1 (that can be used after crouch L1) attacks with your right hand weapon 3 times, the thrusting swords powerstance moveset heavily favours the main hand
It pairs amazingly well with the basic Rapier, and since dagger parry got a small buff I'm having a blast, having access to the powerstance moveset (while allowing dagger parry) truly gives you mixups and nasty ass crits, it's a oneshot in PvP without lacking damage
The only thing I would change to make it even more perfect-ier would be to allow the R1 and L1 to chain, that way you could R1 from neutral with the Rapier and pressing L1 would chain into the 3-hit main hand (like the Crow Quills back in DS3 worked). As it is right now, if you R1 and then L1 it doesn't chain and uses the neutral L1 attack which is slower. Crouch L1 into chain L1 is a lot faster tho
Try the carian sorcery sword as an off-hand rapier with a main hand halberd for duels specifically, you get both a great pvp close range moveset and a lot of flexibility at far ranges due to spellcasting. Offhand staff is a good choice and carian slicer will do more damage, but offhand rapier thrusts are just that much quicker and versatile in 1v1 situations
Estoc backstep cancel attack comes out extremely fast after it's heavy attack. This makes it competitive with Rogier's double heavy. It's safer and procs poise breaks in PvP surprisingly quickly.
as someone who likes to invade at level 1, the nobles estoc is wonderful since it's relatively long and you dont have to level or use a talisman slot to wield it. FromSoft knows how to help out the little guy lol
I'm excited to see the Axes breakdown now that they're really solid.
The Wakizashi gets a perk where when it's used for powerstancing, its resulting damage is ALMOST identical to if you were to use an Uchigatana instead, despite its much lower AR.
Unfortunately after some testing it seems the Main-Gauche does not get this same perk, which is a real shame, because parrying with an actual thrusting sword looks really stupid in Elden Ring but I'm not willing to sacrifice such a substantial amount of effective damage for a cooler animation (or better parry frames).
Also, @Chrightt , the thrusting swords with the sweeping heavies get unique feints! I don't know anything about actual frame data, but I wonder if you've ever experienced specifically the 2-handed Estoc/Noble's Estoc R2 into R2-feint. The feint attack comes out unusually quick, and will deal very good damage and poise damage on most PvE targets.
A Weapon type breakdown? Christmas came early
I offhanded rapiers ever since dark souls 1 when I realized you could parry with them. In this game I’m more fond of offhand dagger for parry
love it when chrightt breaks down
Love your videos man, really well done. Would love to see the math on a Milady build.
Right now I think carian sorcery is strongest casting tool in ladder environment. It's always poisebreaks passive poise due to restrictions in the ruleset and give more powerful moveset than any onehanded weapon. But without rules it could be easily shut down with poise stacking
Okay, so for the Carian Thrusting Sword, doesn't it retain a hitbix while casting Glinstone Sword spells? So it would directly boost damage and poise damage?
Bruh great video. Damn good video.
Would love one on heavy thrusting swords.
Been running carian sorcery sword off-handed for duels lately, its been pretty stellar. Damage isn't great, it'd be better probably if I went with a cold build instead of pure int bc the cold scaling is very similar to the sorcery sword's. Regardless, its been super fun and its just even more options for an off-stoc build. Also paired it up with the carian thrusting shield, so fun
If you're not planning for spells to be your main damage source its a really solid choice, but still gets some good damage now anyways. Its an awesome tool and I've been loving all my new toys in dlc. Maybe there's an incantation weapon catalyst no one found yet... prolly not, but imagine
Could you do a breakdown on the lizard great sword? It shoots a projectile on heavy attacks like the frozen needle
Ah, I missed these. Awesome as always
Could you upload that parry data you got there homie 😩🙏
There is a question that wasn't covered and may be important.
I remember that in DS3 the best performing crit weapon was fire/deep infused dagger (or at least i think it was), since his bigger overall AR and big critical multiplier resulted in way bigger damage.
You've covered Rapier vs Misericorde on Heavy and Keen infusions, but what about Fire and Lightning infusions? Do they still do similar damage? Is Lightning better than Keen?
The frozen needle r2 doesn't have a hitbox for the blade, only the icicle.
Nice vid as always, can u please compare the ONLY real new dagger, Fire Knight Shortsword
Also, what is your thoughts on Cold Ricard's Rapier + offhand Carian Sorcery Sword? Seems like a good combo, focused on Dex/Cast speed for spell utility but get enough Int to get efficient Carian Sorcery Sword damage. Combo with frost spells and Ranni's set pieces to boost the lackluster damage and you have a cohesive build!
Question about the main-gauche, the power stance moveset for thrusting swords has a few attacks where you attack more with the main hand (second attack in the powerstance chain is 3 hits with main hand and the jumping attack is 2 hits with main and 1 with off hand).
Having an offhand weapon with low ar like the main-gauche shouldn't affect the dmg of your main hand while using powerstance moves, right? But it would still have the reduced stamina consumption of daggers?
Chrightt the 🐐 ❤
Carian Sorcery Sword has one specific benefit that neither a staff nor a sword can fully replace alone: It can be wielded alongside a shield or powerstanced. Two Cleanrot swords can't cast spells, a staff and shield can't poke. This is what it's paying for in AR and sorcery scaling.
I think it's worth it if you commit to the playstyle, because being able to use that ridiculously good powerstance thrusting sword moveset or guard counter (with Light-Heavy in quick succession to override the spellcast) while having spells to mix in is great. Even just slapping on Greatblade Phalanx and spamming it between guard counters can brutalize PVE enemies.
I would shield + another pierce weapon for better shield pokes and then main-hand swap to a staff at that point. Too much loss in damage both ways at that point for a tad bit of convenience.
@@Chrightt Is this exclusively assuming PVP meta level 150 is a given and the only testing condition? Also, how much would they have to buff the damage for it to be worth it to you? Reverting the base damage decrease, or more?
Personally, I find switching weapons to be a noticeable issue in boss fights specifically, after dozens of hours playing through much of the game with a melee in main hand and staff/seal in offhand on a high level IntFai 80/80 setup. I wouldn't say no to another ~10% buff or something, but I've found the convenience worth playing around with in some circumstances.
Do wish we could at least spell buff the carian sorcery sword. With its recent buffs, its almost as cool as the blue flame.
Oh, and its a shame its damage is so bad with stuff like magma sorceries. Would've been fun to use a mixed spellblade set.
Didn't realize they finally fixed the Frostbite bug with Antspur. I'd probably still prefer Bleed or Poison on the weapon though, but still.
Thought they fixed that a while ago big dog
@@kamarwashington If they did I never noticed. I took my dual antspur build through NG+ then started running a Dragon Communion thing primarily. Kinda just ignored changes to Antspur at that point.
Not that I think going Frostbite with it is worth the trouble and stat investment. I could be wrong, though it would require fire damage to reset the build meter which is why I preferred using Blood over it to begin with.
@@ForeverLaxx Makes sense
Thank you!
good stuff dude
They should give misericord and main gauche a unique powerstance.
I was so disappointed that it doesnt stance eith other daggers.
With misericord it would be such an intimidating build
Damn i didnt know rhe rapier was chill like that
THE GOAT THE GGGOOOAAATTT
I thought you were saying "frozen Nito" and i was so confused😅
The cold antspur being fixed is incredible. But... Cold is still broken on the Greathorn Hammer. Justice for Greathorn D:
Ooh. I see some funny potential in dual wielding the carian thrusting sword for pve utility.
Hi Chrightt, I wanted to know if there is any update regarding "Softcap" and if you're making an updated video after the release of the dlc or if your older video still apply today ?
Dang I thought Main Gauche might have some sauce since the thrusting sword power stance mostly uses the main hand, it wouldn't hit your damage is bad as something like the wakazashi does for katana
It's good as a combo with a Rapier, because the Parry skill sets you up to do criticals with your main hand. Use the Main-Gauche's Parry, and put a lightning infusion of Determination/Royal Knight's Resolve on the Rapier. When you successfully parry and have the opening for a critical, two-hand your Rapier and use the Determination/Royal Knight's Resolve skill for a massive boost to your crit damage. If you're looking for a status infusion for the Main-Gauche, bleed is your best option for it. This way when power-stancing, you can cause blood loss, as well as having a parry tool, and with a 80 keen lightning infused Rapier on your main hand, it does the highest damage possible for crits using a thrusting weapon when you use the Determination/Royal Knight's Resolve skill. Overall, the tradeoff isn't that bad.
Man I really wish the carian sword sorcery did better damage by itself. Its really cool but to me its not that hard to just have the staff in the off hand or change to a staff. I personally dont see the point of it. Its really cool tho, i think in the lore the carian knight sword is supposed to cast spells as well.
When you say the Estoc's R2 does slashing damage, is it really slashing? Because the game says it does standard/pierce damage. Is the game just wrong?
I wish there was a native paired thrusting swords like backhand blades or claws...
Dual wielding 2 anspur rapiers where both either also have poison infusion or one poison and the other something else is just a magic to behold on bosses.
Multiple DoTs are ticking while you dodge around like a monkey.
I wish the sorcery sword would cast with the ash in the main hand too im really missing the heavy attacks
Can we get Heavy Thrusting swords soon? I love the new Sword-Lance and Queeling's Greatsword.
Do a throwing blades video next. Shouldn't take long lol.
antspur is anti lag machine with drawstring rot grease. antspur and urumi is why i have 20 dex on str build.
Looking forward to updsted axe / Hammer
I really wish the sorcery sword had higher requirements but at least could contend with other swords or other staffs.
So many things in this dlc are overly balanced.
So. Here’s my question about critical: is executioners greataxe best?
May I ask if your shield poke build videos is still current?
Main gauche is my main parry weapon. It just seems more reliable than buckler to me. Antspur is my go to for status build up though. Scarlet rot with a free ash of war slot. Just so versatile. Too bad rot doesn’t scale to arcane.
use grease if you have physical build.
So is the Main-Gauche basically a Wakazashi for Thrusting swords?
Yeah, kinda underwhelming.
Main Gauche's parry is active for 9 frames, not 4? Some are saying Main-Gauche has the same frame data as the buckler parry... whats going on?
Cant look cooler than using a cold main gauche with parry with the carian sorcery sword
Can you include Heavy thrusting swords?
Cleanrot, it’s Cleanrot, always Cleanrot.
You pronounced the main-gauche well enough to understand. It means left hand. Probably meant for the off hand?
Well that kinda _is_ the point of having a shorter "thrusting sword" that rocks better parry frames. Parry is one of the few AoWs that will override your mainhand AoW if put on your offhand weapon. Using it as mainhand weapon would essentially be shooting yourself in the foot on multiple levels.
More comments for the algo, lads