We can't forget the single most important factor in buffs being the best: pure Elden Drip. Gotta have that Elden Lord Swag with my flaming/electrified/glowing weapon.
The fact that we have buffing ashes of war, that allow for infusions is also kind of a weird thing to compare to the older souls games. Then again, I preferred the old Dark Souls 2 method of infusions and buffing being not always a one or the other kind of deal. But that just me and my blue flame addiction.
@@benro6564 no no i agree, the powerstancing idles and the way they hold weapons was better, DS2 had the BEST scythe movesets, and the choice to turn on or off powerstance which allows for some fun mix ups in pvp, and the fact they never brought back the bone fist is truly a sin. and BRUH bonfire aesthics is fucking fantasic i miss it, it allows me to not NG+ the whole damn game if i just want a second sword or a NG+ only armor
The damage splits are also important, not just total AR. Example (the numbers are off the top of my head, not completely precise): with Sacred infusion, I had 950 AR which was about 35% physical and 65% sacred. but with sacred buff on a Quality infusion, I had 1100 AR which was about 75% physical and 25% sacred. So when I fought an enemy that was weak against holy damage, the Sacred infusion dealt a lot more damage, despite the lower total AR.
Basically what i got from this, and doing my own testing for my str/fth build… Weapons Buffs do do more damage than infusions Vykes thunder buff did like 50 more AR on my Heavy Greatsword compared to Flame Art Greatsword Hard to say whats better, i think it really depends on the situation
Two different applications for a 45/45 and a 30/60. The 45/45 is good if you plan on doing damage with your weapon whereas the 30/60 is better if you plan to do more damage with incants (non buff incants excluded) such as giants flame take thee. I typically run 30/60s so I can get better scaling on my infusions but now that I see this and that’s not the case I’m thinking of switching to the 45/45. Best of both worlds imo.
Thanks for breaking it down. I’m working on a pure Fth pyromancer. With the recent FotR debuff, Flaming Strike looked like a reasonable alternative now. Using a Monk’s Flamemace, with 13/13 and 80, a Flame Art infusion will be doing the most damage overall, since the scaling would mean mostly fire damage over physical. Then Flaming Strike adds to the fire damage. The downside is that Flaming Strike (and FotR) is FIRE affinity, not Flame. Meaning that the initial burst attack scales off Str, not Fth. Of course, I’ll be using spells fro ranged damage, and the AoW is just for when I want to do melee. But it’s still annoying how AoW scaling works sometimes.
I wouldn't worry about it too much. I ran a pyromancer from prophet starter recently and only upgraded str and dex to meet minimum for claymore and dumped the rest in faith. Flaming strike was always my go to, my low strength stat was not even noticeable on flame art affinity. I'm sure what you're saying is true, I'm just saying that in practice you're going to be more than fine.
If you get the Red-Hot Whetblade, you can infuse Fire ashes of war as Flame ones. I've done this myself to put Flaming Strike as Flame based so I can scale it with faith on my Cross-Naginata.
@Mike FromOz Yes, I know. However, while that changes the damage scaling of the weapon, it does not change the scaling of the weapon art. A Bestial Roar will always scale off Dex, even if you give it a Heavy affinity. Flaming Strike is a Fire AoW. Giving it a Flame affinity will scale the weapon by Faith, but the swath of fire you can shoot with L2 still scales off Str.
@@arellajardin8188 I know this is supposed to be how it works but I'm not really convinced. Without Ash of War buffs, flaming strike with flame art affinity melted everything on a claymore, and I only had the minimum requirements to one hand it (16 str, 13 dex). I even took off catch flame from my incantations list, because the first half of flaming strike (before the follow through, the part that's only supposed to scale with strength) did more damage for less fp, making catch flame redundant (although there is a nice pseudo-combo with both). However it works or is supposed to work, I can confirm that flaming strike with flame art affinity absolutely melts with the minimum str required for the weapon.
Fire and lighting damage may do split damage but most armor will have higher physical damage absorbtion than fire and especially lighting. It also means you can damage through shields since most shields have 100 physical block. And in PvP you don't always have the time to buff, especially if you're facing a really aggressive opponent. So unless you really want to minmax and always upkeep buffs I feel fire and lighting are always better than heavy and keen. Plus even though fire grease may do more damage fire can be used with frostbite to still get a ton of damage, granted it'd be higher with grease. Just throw a frozen pot or put chilling mist on a dagger and then break the frost bite with fire for massive damage.
lightning is the best, armor doesnt block lightning and stats dont scale lightning resist regardless of level. a lightning infused weapon or lightning buffed will get much better results.
Back in Dark Souls I always used 2 weapons, 1 with elemental infusion for exploration and the world itself and 1 raw(?) (which just increased its base damage by a lot by getting rid of all the scalings) nad buffing it for the bosses, always worked and felt great to play.
I'm working on a fire prelate build. The thorn whip scales slightly better with dex but since I was planning to two hand it I was leaning more towards a 45str and 45faith than 45dex and 45faith. However If I do go the str route the giants red braid would probably work better. Which would have the highest AR? 1.) Keen thorned whip 1h with blood flame, black flame or lightning armament. 2. Heavy thorned whip 2h (with a faith weapon incantation.) 3. Giant's red braid.
Where is the "with chart" part? Also, where are the important break points where it's more beneficial to use infusion or keen/heavy? Esp for PvP. I never run 80 in any stat in PvP.
Is there a video for int/faith spellswords? What's the best for the melee weapon for that build? No buff, grease buff, spell buff, or infusion? I'm going for a belmont inspired whip and sword/twinblade/halberd/katana build that uses sorceries and incations for offense utility and buffs/enfeebles
have you tried a before and after casting with the faith and int talismans for casting the buff? Like, specifically testing wearing the talisman while casting then checking the number (As wearing the talisman without casting with a previous buff does nothing as it scales based off of when you had cast it with scaling based on your talismans at that time.)
If you’re talking about flocks faithful talisman it does nothing to buffs period. It only applies to damaging infants themselves. Same goes for like Alex shard and rkr. It does nothing there even though it’s a “skill”
We can't forget the single most important factor in buffs being the best: pure Elden Drip. Gotta have that Elden Lord Swag with my flaming/electrified/glowing weapon.
Man is so disappointed that infusion don't make any effect on the weapons
real asf, especially the cool AoWs that buff the weapon
Literally my conflict every time I am setting up a weapon
Bro went dark mode on google docs
It's legit 🙌 way easier on the eyes than your entire screen blaring white
and thank you for that!
The fact that we have buffing ashes of war, that allow for infusions is also kind of a weird thing to compare to the older souls games. Then again, I preferred the old Dark Souls 2 method of infusions and buffing being not always a one or the other kind of deal. But that just me and my blue flame addiction.
dark souls 2 for all its problems had some massive Ws that weren't carried over to other games
@@benro6564 Threw the baby out with the water on that one. Best NG+ experience, + bonfire astics
@@johncrow5072 Getting those blue flames lit up on map in Majula house is unique, maybe pointless but rewarding experience overall :)
@@benro6564 no no i agree, the powerstancing idles and the way they hold weapons was better, DS2 had the BEST scythe movesets, and the choice to turn on or off powerstance which allows for some fun mix ups in pvp, and the fact they never brought back the bone fist is truly a sin. and BRUH bonfire aesthics is fucking fantasic i miss it, it allows me to not NG+ the whole damn game if i just want a second sword or a NG+ only armor
The damage splits are also important, not just total AR.
Example (the numbers are off the top of my head, not completely precise):
with Sacred infusion, I had 950 AR which was about 35% physical and 65% sacred.
but with sacred buff on a Quality infusion, I had 1100 AR which was about 75% physical and 25% sacred.
So when I fought an enemy that was weak against holy damage, the Sacred infusion dealt a lot more damage, despite the lower total AR.
Dude I’ve been waiting for a video on exactly this for ages, thank you!
Basically what i got from this, and doing my own testing for my str/fth build…
Weapons Buffs do do more damage than infusions
Vykes thunder buff did like 50 more AR on my Heavy Greatsword compared to Flame Art Greatsword
Hard to say whats better, i think it really depends on the situation
Two different applications for a 45/45 and a 30/60. The 45/45 is good if you plan on doing damage with your weapon whereas the 30/60 is better if you plan to do more damage with incants (non buff incants excluded) such as giants flame take thee. I typically run 30/60s so I can get better scaling on my infusions but now that I see this and that’s not the case I’m thinking of switching to the 45/45. Best of both worlds imo.
. . . . But he said this in the video?
Thanks for breaking it down.
I’m working on a pure Fth pyromancer. With the recent FotR debuff, Flaming Strike looked like a reasonable alternative now. Using a Monk’s Flamemace, with 13/13 and 80, a Flame Art infusion will be doing the most damage overall, since the scaling would mean mostly fire damage over physical. Then Flaming Strike adds to the fire damage.
The downside is that Flaming Strike (and FotR) is FIRE affinity, not Flame. Meaning that the initial burst attack scales off Str, not Fth. Of course, I’ll be using spells fro ranged damage, and the AoW is just for when I want to do melee. But it’s still annoying how AoW scaling works sometimes.
I wouldn't worry about it too much. I ran a pyromancer from prophet starter recently and only upgraded str and dex to meet minimum for claymore and dumped the rest in faith. Flaming strike was always my go to, my low strength stat was not even noticeable on flame art affinity. I'm sure what you're saying is true, I'm just saying that in practice you're going to be more than fine.
If you get the Red-Hot Whetblade, you can infuse Fire ashes of war as Flame ones. I've done this myself to put Flaming Strike as Flame based so I can scale it with faith on my Cross-Naginata.
@Mike FromOz Yes, I know. However, while that changes the damage scaling of the weapon, it does not change the scaling of the weapon art. A Bestial Roar will always scale off Dex, even if you give it a Heavy affinity. Flaming Strike is a Fire AoW. Giving it a Flame affinity will scale the weapon by Faith, but the swath of fire you can shoot with L2 still scales off Str.
@@arellajardin8188 I know this is supposed to be how it works but I'm not really convinced. Without Ash of War buffs, flaming strike with flame art affinity melted everything on a claymore, and I only had the minimum requirements to one hand it (16 str, 13 dex). I even took off catch flame from my incantations list, because the first half of flaming strike (before the follow through, the part that's only supposed to scale with strength) did more damage for less fp, making catch flame redundant (although there is a nice pseudo-combo with both).
However it works or is supposed to work, I can confirm that flaming strike with flame art affinity absolutely melts with the minimum str required for the weapon.
Merry Christmas dude!
Fire and lighting damage may do split damage but most armor will have higher physical damage absorbtion than fire and especially lighting. It also means you can damage through shields since most shields have 100 physical block. And in PvP you don't always have the time to buff, especially if you're facing a really aggressive opponent. So unless you really want to minmax and always upkeep buffs I feel fire and lighting are always better than heavy and keen.
Plus even though fire grease may do more damage fire can be used with frostbite to still get a ton of damage, granted it'd be higher with grease. Just throw a frozen pot or put chilling mist on a dagger and then break the frost bite with fire for massive damage.
lightning is the best, armor doesnt block lightning and stats dont scale lightning resist regardless of level.
a lightning infused weapon or lightning buffed will get much better results.
Back in Dark Souls I always used 2 weapons, 1 with elemental infusion for exploration and the world itself and 1 raw(?) (which just increased its base damage by a lot by getting rid of all the scalings) nad buffing it for the bosses, always worked and felt great to play.
I miss dark souls 2 when I could buff and infuse
I'm working on a fire prelate build. The thorn whip scales slightly better with dex but since I was planning to two hand it I was leaning more towards a 45str and 45faith than 45dex and 45faith. However If I do go the str route the giants red braid would probably work better.
Which would have the highest AR?
1.) Keen thorned whip 1h with blood flame, black flame or lightning armament.
2. Heavy thorned whip 2h (with a faith weapon incantation.)
3. Giant's red braid.
Get rid of faith
If only it was like ds2 where we could buff with the same element that was the only game in the entirety of the games that was worth infusing.
Where is the "with chart" part? Also, where are the important break points where it's more beneficial to use infusion or keen/heavy? Esp for PvP. I never run 80 in any stat in PvP.
fascinating... it didnt' occur to me that the dex/fai split would be that meaningful in which is better, but of course it is
Extremely useful, thank you very much!
well after this im certain that spell buffs are superior because its much more versatile and higher ratings. as a str build never use my fp anyways
Is there a video for int/faith spellswords? What's the best for the melee weapon for that build? No buff, grease buff, spell buff, or infusion? I'm going for a belmont inspired whip and sword/twinblade/halberd/katana build that uses sorceries and incations for offense utility and buffs/enfeebles
Hey don’t know if you were still looking but yes the sword of night and flame uses both stats or Rellans twin swords
Whats the opinion regarding occult-scaling spiked caestus vs strength-scaling with bloodflame blade?
Is it safe to assume it breaks down similarly for INT and cold/magic infusion vs buff?
have you tried a before and after casting with the faith and int talismans for casting the buff? Like, specifically testing wearing the talisman while casting then checking the number (As wearing the talisman without casting with a previous buff does nothing as it scales based off of when you had cast it with scaling based on your talismans at that time.)
If you’re talking about flocks faithful talisman it does nothing to buffs period. It only applies to damaging infants themselves. Same goes for like Alex shard and rkr. It does nothing there even though it’s a “skill”
Do you know about split damage? Chrightt covers it very well, this vid still very helpful, cheers.
Hmmm, what about arcane? :^)
What about flame art with flaming strike active
does elden ring still have resins? like ds has?
Yes but its grease
For max level, Is quality better than Keen and Heavy?
obviously
@@rcbt4458 well, I am max level now and almost all the weapons have a higer damage using blood or cold
@@MAGOMELENDEZ-hx9nn Yep, blood/cold is the better infusion in late lvls, but in terms of AR only quality > queen or heavy in late levels too
and at max lvl blood is the better one
can i Grease infused weapons?
No.
Didn't understand anything about your comparison dude haha!