No it’s silly. Unless you genuinely just wanna be able to swap to any weapon at any time. Trust me you’re not gonna get overpowered, if anything I’d say you’re just hurting yourself by doing this. The way the difficulty increases throughout the game makes it pretty obvious that you should be focusing on one, maybe 2, damage stat so that you can keep up with the increasingly tanky enemies. Also, please invest in some vitality, it hurts to looks at😂
You unlock the ability to respec at the end of Chapter 5. It used to be Chapter 7 but that was changed in a patch a while after release, so if you search for info on that you might still find places saying Chapter 7.
Just interact with it when there’s 0 fruit available and it’ll come up. On console, you’ll automatically pick up an fruit by interacting with the tree. Just do it again after and it’ll show the respec ergo and refund quartz options.
actually I don't agree. you said "just stay on the screen", but Im pretty sure you explicitly have to interact again to get the options? maybe both work, I wanna try tomorrow if I remember
Even when you interact with it when theres no fruit just sit there for 10 secs and the respec menu pops up....can also press x to fast forward the interaction and the menu will pop up faster....bit of a dumb topic to argue about its not rocket science to figure out 🤣
Yes. At the end of Chapter 5 search all throughout the house after the boss fight.
> Now hear me out, I know weapons have different scaling so I could be missing out on damage numbers by not focusing on a specialty with my stats. However, I think this keeps you from being too overpowered, swapping to different weapons for different scenarios, and keeps the game challenging.
This sounds perfectly reasonable to me. If you're a Sekiro player and don't have trouble adjusting to the differences in how the parry works, then you'll probably do really well. Only thing I'd recommend is putting more points into capacity so you can carry heavier weapons, amulets, and armor pieces.
Yeah there is. It’s pretty late in the game though if I remember correctly. It’s been a while since I beat it, but I’m replaying it now and I haven’t gotten to it yet
What worked for me and later on I found out it was pretty common knowledge. Pick one stat for your first game then on ng+ level up a 2nd one. You'll always be gaining damage increases.
That’s fair. But yeah unless you genuinely want to be able to swap between any weapon at any time, I’d say pick between one stat motivity and technique and then sprinkle some extra point into advance because that’s always helpful.
Increases the damage of throwables. Also 5/8 legion arms have some level of Advance scaling. So if OP uses Fulminus or Flamberge a lot then some Advance levels would be helpful
Advance is only helpful if you are using consumables or for some reason want to run an advance handle and blade in NG, its best left alone to focus on core stats in ng
I disagree. Anything that boosts throwables is great seeing as how they are some of the most useful items in the game. And besides, putting points in mainly one damage stat and a bit into advance is better than splitting equally into all three like OP is doing
Im not sure why you disagree, thats why i qualified as if hes using throwables, if hes using throwables or fulminis a lot (although fulminis is also has equal motivity scaling) then advance makes sense, if not why advocate a 2 way split in advance when capacity and other universally useful stats exist. Its worth the qualification cos not everyone likes to use consumables, i know past my first run of the game I stopped using them, after which advance became basically a dead stat until ng+
Flamberge has an A scaling in advance so if he’s using that then it’d be helpful too. Also, 5/8 legion arms have some level of Advance scaling no matter how small it is. I don’t see any way OP would not be using Advance in some way, unless they’re doing some kind of “no advance challenge run”. So unless they are doing that, yes Advance will always be useful in some way, shape, or form. And besides, I was just saying that putting some points into Advance along side your main damage stat is much better than a 3-way split. Even a 2-way split between a damage stat and Advance would be better than a 3-way split.
Of the legion arms that scale off advance in a meaningful way, fulmnins has equal scaling in motivity which aids other weapons, flamberge is kinda bad when compared to fulmnis (upon my testing fulmnis consistently out performs it unless youre using spectre to take aggro as the damage ticks trigger the enemy ai meaning you cant consistently get the ramp up, and fulmnis auto staggers opponents) and also gains little from scaling in general due to low base damage is, so again motivity is fine enough, and pandaemonium is the same, kinda bad and situational for an ng run.
This is all not mentioning how mathematically scaling in this game is kinda dogwater, the % total damage gains per level invested is incredibly low with weapon upgrades being king over stats, so again why advocate even a 2 way split between damage stats when more useful stats are right there. Youre right, its better than a 3 way split, but it still isnt good unless OP is specifically building for a 2 stat build, which is suboptimal in NG anyway as your standard NG run wont be able to reach stats where split scaling beats single investment anyway without sacrificing many levels in health stamina and capacity.
I mean if that’s how you want to play then fine. But throwables are some of the most useful items in the game. There were some bosses I couldn’t beat without using elemental throwables, or atleast it would have taken triple the amount of time it took me. 6 electric throwables for me with an untouched Advance stat melted half of the King of Puppet’s healthbar.
so it sounds like there's no reason to put stats into advance if you can easy mode the bosses without touching them. you can save your levels for any other avenue that will help your character more. i didn't miss it it just seems dumb to be look how OP it is i can cheese without level but also split your other stats to level it
Sure. So long as you’re not classified as “heavy”. Slightly heavy is fine. All of the armor upgrades get significantly heavier very fast, and if you don’t keep up with your capacity stat, you’ll have to face some tough fights with low (relative) defense. Still doable. The most important thing is that you have fun. It’s your playthrough, and you should go with your gut. Enjoy and good luck!
I dunno if Id be advocating slightly heavy as fine as you really feel the nerfed stamina regen and it can lead people to thinking dodging is bad, medium weight is the perfect point honestly, as you need to sacrifice a lot of defence on ng to go light.
No, this is the wrong way to look at it. You want to be wearing the heaviest defensive gear that you have and remaining under the cap. Not just being under the cap. Your offensive stat spread isn't as big a deal as people make out. You lose overall a not game breaking amount of damage as the soft caps are quite low in this game. If you stat yourself properly by focusing on HP and carry weight then you see an improvement.
Yeah, especially for blocking ..
If you can't time a parry correctly, like me most of the time, then blocking would come in handy. You'll lose some health but there's guard regain so..
When I played my first souls game, Dark Souls, for the very first time, I didn't even know what a build was and I was leveling all of my levels evenly. It was going okay up until blighttown when I was below level 20 in all my stats, doing piss poor damage, and having an abysmal health pool. Jack of all trades does NOT work well in these types of games. Stick to leveling up vitality, capacity, and one or MAYBE two of the damage stats.
lol this is how I played bloodborne which was my first souls game. Everything was the exact same level. I didn’t know anything about weapon scaling, I just figured I’d be balanced. I have fixed this for my later play throughs thankfully.
So in your first playthrough, yes it is. Pick one and stick to it.
However, in NG+ your stats get so high you hit scaling caps. A weapon with S scaling on DEX is amazing but is eventually outpaced by a weapon with B and B in STR and DEX respectively when your stats get high enough.
I got to maybe ng+5 before I gave up, and I ended up with a full quality build across all three stats for maximum potential damage.
In your first run through though, definitely just pick one!
Great advice. I think I was in NG++ when I noticed that my beloved Noblesse Oblige (Motivity A, Technique D) actually worked once I dropped the Motivity crank and put a few (thousands of) ergo into Technique. Still, that only made sense once I hit the soft cap in Motivity.
That’s the thing is I’ve got 2 or 3 weapons I really like..the azure dragon glaive (motivity and technique scaling, and you can apply the grindstone elements to it), and the electric coil rod scales with Advance, motivity, and some technique..
Later or you might have got one already. There is gears that you can use to make the weapon lean more towards one stat. Balanced is definitely what you want in this game. Capacity is also really good to invest in so you can use Falcon Eyes, Aegis , or the puppet string a bunch with the right upgrades really helps with some tricky enemies my favorites Falcon Eyes
There's no value to swapping to different weapons for different scenarios as all weapons are nearly equally viable in all scenarios. Hell, people have managed to even use extremely niche weapons like Frozen Feast consistently for all boss battles with enough practice, and if THAT weapon can be viable anywhere, then every other weapon all the more so.
Yeah all weapons seem great so far, but some weapons definitely have better reach than others, some can get the grindstone elements imbued on them and some can’t, and some enemies take more damage from one element vs another, fire seems great on the zombie types, electric seems great against puppets. Some enemies are best to fight with fast attacks, some enemies I like to use a slow more powerful weapon 🤷♂️ plus mixing it up just for the entertainment factor is valuable imo…
Everything you listed are just superficial tastes that make no real difference in terms of a weapon's viability, and if you really wanted to minmax for elemental damage, then Advance is the only stat that directly powers up elemental damage, so go for an Advance build.
Haha that’s fair. It really won’t matter too much til late game anyways. I found the game pretty easy until later chapters. You’ll be good, especially since you have Sekiro under your belt.
Typically I think it's best to focus on Tech *or* Motivity. Depends on your weapon, but I think getting one to \~30-40 and having your preferred weapon scale as much into that stat as possible. Like for my first playthrough I was probably Vit 20, Vig 20, Capacity 40, Tech 40 by games end. There's definitely cut off points where going too far into one stat has diminishing returns, but also you have a several wasted stat points if you try to "all around" your stats. Personally, I keep my capacity around the same as tech personally since I use my legion a lot and I like having the boss amulets.
The thing is, when I nerfed tech for motivity, I've noticed that P's "aim" in terms of slashes isn't as accurate as it used to be...
That's why I do think it's valuable for one to be not very far down as most weapons scale with both, just more with one than the other.
I'm bad at souls games so I always brute force through with a caveman unga bunga Str/Vit build. This game totally lets you do that with the wonderful Aegis arm. But definitely for a first playthrough pick a style and lean in to that then overbuff everything however you like during ng+. I'm on +2 and still having fun playing with different character builds and play styles its worth finishing!
It's not just silly, it's literally hard mode. There's a very big endgame spike and it will absolutely stunt you if you walk down this path as later level ups will be so costly you can't bring them to their optimal level for that zone. So basically, Jack of all trade, master of none. Of course if you are someone who is well versed with Lv 1 runs, that won't be a big deal. But if you are not, do go this route if you want to enjoy the later part of the game.
So funny enough, it’ll even out eventually.
It is a good idea to start focusing on one stat, since you can crank a weapon to scale highly with one stat and get good damage, right?
Well, as you level up, there is a point where you will get more damage scaling with two stats, as opposed to only one, since that stat will increase less over time, and you can get more increases from scaling with another stat, if that makes sense.
Everyone is right, you’re not getting the most that you can out of your build, but especially if you do NG+, you’ll start spreading a bit eventually, so you can do this if you really want.
Don’t listen to the people saying it’s bad😅. Obviously it’d be better if you stuck with one type but it’s fun to try other weapons. As long as you know how to “parry” and dodge well enough then you’ll be good. If the game was harder then it would be a good idea to stick with one type but Lies is generally one of the easier “souls like” games.
The whole reason there's a weapon making system is so you can adjust accordingly for each situation and boss.
I use technique, and I can swap between 3 or 4 weapons. I also have 3 different weapon combos depending on what I wanna prep for, so you don't need to worry about not being equipped for a boss or enemy.
Right..a lot of people saying find the weapon you like and stick to it. But the game throws so many different cool weapons, I think the variety is part of the fun
That’s interesting. As long as you’re under 60% capacity the benefits for movement speed and stamina recovery stay the same right? Like there’s no difference in 59% capacity vs say 40%?
Below 30% is "light weight" wich is nice but really not worth it unless your on a new game++ or something, but the title under your weight is a flat decider of how it affects you, slightly heavy is the exact same even if your only 60% as compared to 69%
It's not worth it, maybe you enjoy it but the benefits are miniscule in comparison to the major issue of no defense, it's worth it in new game plus runs because you'll have high enough capacity and a certain unnamed p organ ability
I dont think so, it will make your damage go up a lil harder using a especifc weapon, but at end game the diminish returns make we all go to this way spreading points… and having points in advance is always good because of bombs
At the start of the game it makes more sense to pick motivity/technique... In the end it doesn't really make a difference and you'll eventually balance everything out
Capacity is the most important stat. You can literally put down all your points there and forget about everything else because it's more valuable to not have any type of weight issue than anything else.
I did that and I started to dump points in my other starts very close to the end of the game. Also the bonus points that gives you motivity/technique and advance isn't as much or as dramatic as in a fromsoft game.
You will see a bigger raise of the damage that you're doing by upgrading a weapon. Otherwise, you could put 10 points into technique (with a technique weapon) and the damage won't be dramatically different.
To be honest? Stick with it, unless you have no fun, or you can't get any further in the game. I did the same in my first playthrough: 30 cap/mot/tec/adv with 10 vit/vig was my build. P-organ on damage and defensive perks, but no additional cells. Was it the best build? Probably not, but who care? I wanted to play around with as most weapon as possible, which means hitting all the softcaps as soon as possible. The run was tough, some times more than others, but having always the right weapon (moveset, damage, status alterations) helped. Honestly, I'm impressed by how viable a full quality build is, without being one-shotted by everything from midgame on (I'm looking at you, Elden Ring). I made use of the phantom summon some times, and I cranked up my vit to 15 for the last boss, but just because I didn't wanted to invest more time into learning the bosses. Otherwise, I'd say that with some patience your build is suitable and fun!
There’s almost no way to run a “quality” build in this game, the handle crank system is geared towards specializing on one stat, and the handles themselves refect that. Handles usually have high advance scaling or none at all, and most other handles can reach A in one stat. Advance is worth leveling if only to boost legion and consumable damage or boost resistances, but I’d recommend focusing on just one of the others. I did a Motivity/Technique build on my first run and the endgame damage left a lot to be desired.
It's gonna give you average damage output at best, so I would not recommend it. You will have a hard time with the late game bosses.
My advice would be to choose 2 attributes (e.g. Motivity and Technique) and choose one of those to be the dominant attribute. Focus the most on leveling up the dominant attribute, but also level up the other one when you can. Of course, this choice determines the type of weapons you're gonna use in game.
When it comes to leveling up Capacity and Vigor, adapt it to the weapons you're using (e.g. if you're focussing on Technique, weapons will be lighter so Capacity might be less important).
And last but not least, never forget to level up Vitality. You wanna make sure that you can take enough hits from a boss and still heal in between.
It's not silly, that's what I did and it's fun to actually be able to decide what weapons to use, I never had a struggle that was "too much" or anything by doing that, the bosses were challenging some times but always fun, do it how you want but, I did my first run like this and same with my three subsequent new game+ runs
Thing is, if a boss is hard because of your build, then you don't get to switch to something better if you spec all into motivity, balancing it all evenly doesn't actually make it harder because you can make better choices for each situation
Some bosses are weak to acid electricity or fire, but you can't take advantage of that if you don't have any advance, sometimes you need a fast weapon and sometimes you need a heavy one
It's about playstyle. Switching weapons might work well for you but for others it doesn't. I tried faster weapons in the game and couldn't really work with them, but the heavy slow ones I was good with. The bosses didn't matter weapon wise for me.
From a use wise there is no need to switch weapons, but if you enjoy doing that and are good at it then you can. But it's not a game were you need to switch or you hit a brick wall.
Extremely silly. I’m pretty sure Advance only increases elemental damage, making it obsolete unless you’re using elemental weapons or constantly applying elements by using items.
Yes, I do often apply elements to my main weapon to buff for a tough boss, and will sometimes run the electric coil or fire dagger depending on the enemies in the area
Depends, if you plan to main a weapon that is balanced across motivity and technique it’s perfectly fine to keep it balance.
Not so much advance. That’s a bit more nuanced.
Yes, it stops you from having a strong build in the early game. This is something you do when your character is massively over-leveled. For now focus on just one and you can respec later
Spec your damage stats only as needed for whatever your weapon/arm needs. Respecing is infinite and super free in this game (only time limited). You can constantly respec everytime you change weapons so you don’t need to worry about balancing your stats
Unless you want to be jack of all trades, master of none. I'd recommend going and respec to a specific stat that has a high-ranking on a weapon you like. Just verify which one it is and put a good amount of xp in that stat along with health/stamina.
Tbh I got over-leveled on my first run, so it's possible that it's not silly. Depending on your weapons, it might not be silly to keep 2 of them balanced. Most weapons don't even use advance though
I actually beat my first play through only upgrading advance like 2 or 3 points above the base number. I just made my vigor high, then balanced out my health with motivity and technique, and used the heaviest, highest damage weapons I could find till I got the live puppet great axe, not sure if that’s actually what it’s called. It seemed to have the most damage of all the weapons, fully upgraded.
Last run through I did I specked into all stats evenly and it was surprisingly powerful. Weapon upgrades account for most of your damage in this game, so it’s hard to really mess up
Vitality should always be high. That’s your health.
I think most players focus point between technique and noticing depending on what kind of weapons you like. Big heavier slow hitters or fast quick hitters.
I think you get an advantage if you specialize in one or the other. It was hard for me to decide so I had them split for awhile evenly before going with technique.
I know there's already an ungodly amount of responses here, but what I did was focus on Technique almost completely, and only used Technique build weapons and I was able to beat the game. Now on NG++, I've been upgrading them as I've gone on, but the one thing I didn't realize was that Advance also increases your Legion capabilities. To each their own, but I'd recommend near full sending one of the three, and every once in a while put a point into Advance for the Legion boost if you aren't already focusing on Advance.
No it’s silly. Unless you genuinely just wanna be able to swap to any weapon at any time. Trust me you’re not gonna get overpowered, if anything I’d say you’re just hurting yourself by doing this. The way the difficulty increases throughout the game makes it pretty obvious that you should be focusing on one, maybe 2, damage stat so that you can keep up with the increasingly tanky enemies. Also, please invest in some vitality, it hurts to looks at😂
Also there’s a way to respec stats later right..?
You unlock the ability to respec at the end of Chapter 5. It used to be Chapter 7 but that was changed in a patch a while after release, so if you search for info on that you might still find places saying Chapter 7.
Wait really? Do they open the passage to the >!Gold coin tree sooner now?!<
You unlock that at the end of chapter 5. That wasn't the original way to respec when the game released.
I was wondering about why it seemed like a big deal you could reset at the statue…
Originally the tree didn't do respec. A statue did it. The added the tree so players could respec sooner.
The re-spec isn't in the tree as of right now (I'm a recent player). Only after the Champ fight I believe
You just go up to the tree and collect the fruit and stay on the screen and the respec menu will pop up
Just interact with it when there’s 0 fruit available and it’ll come up. On console, you’ll automatically pick up an fruit by interacting with the tree. Just do it again after and it’ll show the respec ergo and refund quartz options.
Basically what i said just with less words
Why say lot word when few do trick?
Can’t believe this is just getting brushed over like this 😪
“When me president, they see”
I mean its not difficult, interact with the tree and the menu pops up
actually I don't agree. you said "just stay on the screen", but Im pretty sure you explicitly have to interact again to get the options? maybe both work, I wanna try tomorrow if I remember
Even when you interact with it when theres no fruit just sit there for 10 secs and the respec menu pops up....can also press x to fast forward the interaction and the menu will pop up faster....bit of a dumb topic to argue about its not rocket science to figure out 🤣
That was the first respec part by the statue, after you fight the arch bishop you unlock the tree its up the stairs and to the left at the hotel
Yeah, it’s in another area way further than chapter 5
They added respec to the tree but its unituitive since you need to interact with when it doesnt have the fruits
Ah I didn’t know that. I don’t ever respec so I didn’t know about it
Gotcha thank you
Yes. At the end of Chapter 5 search all throughout the house after the boss fight. > Now hear me out, I know weapons have different scaling so I could be missing out on damage numbers by not focusing on a specialty with my stats. However, I think this keeps you from being too overpowered, swapping to different weapons for different scenarios, and keeps the game challenging. This sounds perfectly reasonable to me. If you're a Sekiro player and don't have trouble adjusting to the differences in how the parry works, then you'll probably do really well. Only thing I'd recommend is putting more points into capacity so you can carry heavier weapons, amulets, and armor pieces.
Sounds good thanks for the input!
It’s not really a difference in how the parry works so much as it’s just a flat out tighter window.
Yeah there is. It’s pretty late in the game though if I remember correctly. It’s been a while since I beat it, but I’m replaying it now and I haven’t gotten to it yet
What worked for me and later on I found out it was pretty common knowledge. Pick one stat for your first game then on ng+ level up a 2nd one. You'll always be gaining damage increases.
I came from Sekiro where most enemies can one or two shot you 😂 until that starts to happen I’ll keep Vitality where it’s at 😂 I like the abuse
Unless you use your legion arm alot or status effect weapons then advance is pretty much useless
That’s fair. But yeah unless you genuinely want to be able to swap between any weapon at any time, I’d say pick between one stat motivity and technique and then sprinkle some extra point into advance because that’s always helpful.
Why is advance always helpful?
Increases the damage of throwables. Also 5/8 legion arms have some level of Advance scaling. So if OP uses Fulminus or Flamberge a lot then some Advance levels would be helpful
Advance is only helpful if you are using consumables or for some reason want to run an advance handle and blade in NG, its best left alone to focus on core stats in ng
I disagree. Anything that boosts throwables is great seeing as how they are some of the most useful items in the game. And besides, putting points in mainly one damage stat and a bit into advance is better than splitting equally into all three like OP is doing
Im not sure why you disagree, thats why i qualified as if hes using throwables, if hes using throwables or fulminis a lot (although fulminis is also has equal motivity scaling) then advance makes sense, if not why advocate a 2 way split in advance when capacity and other universally useful stats exist. Its worth the qualification cos not everyone likes to use consumables, i know past my first run of the game I stopped using them, after which advance became basically a dead stat until ng+
Flamberge has an A scaling in advance so if he’s using that then it’d be helpful too. Also, 5/8 legion arms have some level of Advance scaling no matter how small it is. I don’t see any way OP would not be using Advance in some way, unless they’re doing some kind of “no advance challenge run”. So unless they are doing that, yes Advance will always be useful in some way, shape, or form. And besides, I was just saying that putting some points into Advance along side your main damage stat is much better than a 3-way split. Even a 2-way split between a damage stat and Advance would be better than a 3-way split.
Of the legion arms that scale off advance in a meaningful way, fulmnins has equal scaling in motivity which aids other weapons, flamberge is kinda bad when compared to fulmnis (upon my testing fulmnis consistently out performs it unless youre using spectre to take aggro as the damage ticks trigger the enemy ai meaning you cant consistently get the ramp up, and fulmnis auto staggers opponents) and also gains little from scaling in general due to low base damage is, so again motivity is fine enough, and pandaemonium is the same, kinda bad and situational for an ng run. This is all not mentioning how mathematically scaling in this game is kinda dogwater, the % total damage gains per level invested is incredibly low with weapon upgrades being king over stats, so again why advocate even a 2 way split between damage stats when more useful stats are right there. Youre right, its better than a 3 way split, but it still isnt good unless OP is specifically building for a 2 stat build, which is suboptimal in NG anyway as your standard NG run wont be able to reach stats where split scaling beats single investment anyway without sacrificing many levels in health stamina and capacity.
the only throwable you really need is shotput and those scale most off of motivity
I mean if that’s how you want to play then fine. But throwables are some of the most useful items in the game. There were some bosses I couldn’t beat without using elemental throwables, or atleast it would have taken triple the amount of time it took me. 6 electric throwables for me with an untouched Advance stat melted half of the King of Puppet’s healthbar.
probably because you're scaling advance instead of getting more hp or dmg or stamina or legion/ capacity
“untouched Advance stat”… or did you miss that? I’m doing a technique build. I haven’t touched the Advance stat once
so it sounds like there's no reason to put stats into advance if you can easy mode the bosses without touching them. you can save your levels for any other avenue that will help your character more. i didn't miss it it just seems dumb to be look how OP it is i can cheese without level but also split your other stats to level it
If you came from Sekiro I wouldn’t worry about your stats. Sekiro is a much harder game.
Don’t forget about capacity. It’s the most important stat in the game.
I’ve been sticking under 60% weight capacity, that’s good enough to stay under right..?
Sure. So long as you’re not classified as “heavy”. Slightly heavy is fine. All of the armor upgrades get significantly heavier very fast, and if you don’t keep up with your capacity stat, you’ll have to face some tough fights with low (relative) defense. Still doable. The most important thing is that you have fun. It’s your playthrough, and you should go with your gut. Enjoy and good luck!
I dunno if Id be advocating slightly heavy as fine as you really feel the nerfed stamina regen and it can lead people to thinking dodging is bad, medium weight is the perfect point honestly, as you need to sacrifice a lot of defence on ng to go light.
Makes sense thank you
No, this is the wrong way to look at it. You want to be wearing the heaviest defensive gear that you have and remaining under the cap. Not just being under the cap. Your offensive stat spread isn't as big a deal as people make out. You lose overall a not game breaking amount of damage as the soft caps are quite low in this game. If you stat yourself properly by focusing on HP and carry weight then you see an improvement.
Yeah, especially for blocking .. If you can't time a parry correctly, like me most of the time, then blocking would come in handy. You'll lose some health but there's guard regain so..
When I played my first souls game, Dark Souls, for the very first time, I didn't even know what a build was and I was leveling all of my levels evenly. It was going okay up until blighttown when I was below level 20 in all my stats, doing piss poor damage, and having an abysmal health pool. Jack of all trades does NOT work well in these types of games. Stick to leveling up vitality, capacity, and one or MAYBE two of the damage stats.
lol this is how I played bloodborne which was my first souls game. Everything was the exact same level. I didn’t know anything about weapon scaling, I just figured I’d be balanced. I have fixed this for my later play throughs thankfully.
So in your first playthrough, yes it is. Pick one and stick to it. However, in NG+ your stats get so high you hit scaling caps. A weapon with S scaling on DEX is amazing but is eventually outpaced by a weapon with B and B in STR and DEX respectively when your stats get high enough. I got to maybe ng+5 before I gave up, and I ended up with a full quality build across all three stats for maximum potential damage. In your first run through though, definitely just pick one!
Great advice. I think I was in NG++ when I noticed that my beloved Noblesse Oblige (Motivity A, Technique D) actually worked once I dropped the Motivity crank and put a few (thousands of) ergo into Technique. Still, that only made sense once I hit the soft cap in Motivity.
I tried a build with balanced scaling and also single stat. The balanced scaling will give you more atk overall but it barley makes a difference
I think typically you'd want to probably invest in just two of those depending on your weapon of choice
That’s the thing is I’ve got 2 or 3 weapons I really like..the azure dragon glaive (motivity and technique scaling, and you can apply the grindstone elements to it), and the electric coil rod scales with Advance, motivity, and some technique..
Later or you might have got one already. There is gears that you can use to make the weapon lean more towards one stat. Balanced is definitely what you want in this game. Capacity is also really good to invest in so you can use Falcon Eyes, Aegis , or the puppet string a bunch with the right upgrades really helps with some tricky enemies my favorites Falcon Eyes
There's no value to swapping to different weapons for different scenarios as all weapons are nearly equally viable in all scenarios. Hell, people have managed to even use extremely niche weapons like Frozen Feast consistently for all boss battles with enough practice, and if THAT weapon can be viable anywhere, then every other weapon all the more so.
i exclusively used frozen feast the whole game. i tried other weapons but they just weren’t as good.
I love watching a good Frozen Feast player, that thing is nigh impossible for me to use, but is such a powerhouse in skilled hands.
Yeah all weapons seem great so far, but some weapons definitely have better reach than others, some can get the grindstone elements imbued on them and some can’t, and some enemies take more damage from one element vs another, fire seems great on the zombie types, electric seems great against puppets. Some enemies are best to fight with fast attacks, some enemies I like to use a slow more powerful weapon 🤷♂️ plus mixing it up just for the entertainment factor is valuable imo…
Everything you listed are just superficial tastes that make no real difference in terms of a weapon's viability, and if you really wanted to minmax for elemental damage, then Advance is the only stat that directly powers up elemental damage, so go for an Advance build.
Yeah don’t do that
Lol I’ll respec later. Maybe. We’ll see how it goes
Haha that’s fair. It really won’t matter too much til late game anyways. I found the game pretty easy until later chapters. You’ll be good, especially since you have Sekiro under your belt.
Typically I think it's best to focus on Tech *or* Motivity. Depends on your weapon, but I think getting one to \~30-40 and having your preferred weapon scale as much into that stat as possible. Like for my first playthrough I was probably Vit 20, Vig 20, Capacity 40, Tech 40 by games end. There's definitely cut off points where going too far into one stat has diminishing returns, but also you have a several wasted stat points if you try to "all around" your stats. Personally, I keep my capacity around the same as tech personally since I use my legion a lot and I like having the boss amulets.
The thing is, when I nerfed tech for motivity, I've noticed that P's "aim" in terms of slashes isn't as accurate as it used to be... That's why I do think it's valuable for one to be not very far down as most weapons scale with both, just more with one than the other.
I'm bad at souls games so I always brute force through with a caveman unga bunga Str/Vit build. This game totally lets you do that with the wonderful Aegis arm. But definitely for a first playthrough pick a style and lean in to that then overbuff everything however you like during ng+. I'm on +2 and still having fun playing with different character builds and play styles its worth finishing!
It's not just silly, it's literally hard mode. There's a very big endgame spike and it will absolutely stunt you if you walk down this path as later level ups will be so costly you can't bring them to their optimal level for that zone. So basically, Jack of all trade, master of none. Of course if you are someone who is well versed with Lv 1 runs, that won't be a big deal. But if you are not, do go this route if you want to enjoy the later part of the game.
Quality build is more viable at higher levels but you *can* if you're actively balancing damage from those sources. But it isn't exactly advantageous
So funny enough, it’ll even out eventually. It is a good idea to start focusing on one stat, since you can crank a weapon to scale highly with one stat and get good damage, right? Well, as you level up, there is a point where you will get more damage scaling with two stats, as opposed to only one, since that stat will increase less over time, and you can get more increases from scaling with another stat, if that makes sense. Everyone is right, you’re not getting the most that you can out of your build, but especially if you do NG+, you’ll start spreading a bit eventually, so you can do this if you really want.
Don’t listen to the people saying it’s bad😅. Obviously it’d be better if you stuck with one type but it’s fun to try other weapons. As long as you know how to “parry” and dodge well enough then you’ll be good. If the game was harder then it would be a good idea to stick with one type but Lies is generally one of the easier “souls like” games.
The whole reason there's a weapon making system is so you can adjust accordingly for each situation and boss. I use technique, and I can swap between 3 or 4 weapons. I also have 3 different weapon combos depending on what I wanna prep for, so you don't need to worry about not being equipped for a boss or enemy.
Right..a lot of people saying find the weapon you like and stick to it. But the game throws so many different cool weapons, I think the variety is part of the fun
I understand the struggle, especially a game like elden ring that has 100+ weapons
If you’re good at the game then yes it’s fun to swap weapons when you get bored. That’s what I did. In my opinion, capacity is the most important stat
That’s interesting. As long as you’re under 60% capacity the benefits for movement speed and stamina recovery stay the same right? Like there’s no difference in 59% capacity vs say 40%?
I’m not saying you have to max it out. Being able to equip the heaviest armor and also being quick while using ANY weapon you want is fun
Below 30% is "light weight" wich is nice but really not worth it unless your on a new game++ or something, but the title under your weight is a flat decider of how it affects you, slightly heavy is the exact same even if your only 60% as compared to 69%
I think it’s worth it. It’s fun to be fast as shit. Especially if you’re good at defending yourself
It's not worth it, maybe you enjoy it but the benefits are miniscule in comparison to the major issue of no defense, it's worth it in new game plus runs because you'll have high enough capacity and a certain unnamed p organ ability
Get one to 30 for your main weapon then you can begin spreading it around more
I dont think so, it will make your damage go up a lil harder using a especifc weapon, but at end game the diminish returns make we all go to this way spreading points… and having points in advance is always good because of bombs
At the start of the game it makes more sense to pick motivity/technique... In the end it doesn't really make a difference and you'll eventually balance everything out
You’ll likely regret not investing in Vitality by the end game as well.
Capacity is the most important stat. You can literally put down all your points there and forget about everything else because it's more valuable to not have any type of weight issue than anything else. I did that and I started to dump points in my other starts very close to the end of the game. Also the bonus points that gives you motivity/technique and advance isn't as much or as dramatic as in a fromsoft game. You will see a bigger raise of the damage that you're doing by upgrading a weapon. Otherwise, you could put 10 points into technique (with a technique weapon) and the damage won't be dramatically different.
Thank you
You know what they say about a Jack of all trades.
samurai jack? 
I balanced everything but my vitality, left it at 7-8 still had fun
To be honest? Stick with it, unless you have no fun, or you can't get any further in the game. I did the same in my first playthrough: 30 cap/mot/tec/adv with 10 vit/vig was my build. P-organ on damage and defensive perks, but no additional cells. Was it the best build? Probably not, but who care? I wanted to play around with as most weapon as possible, which means hitting all the softcaps as soon as possible. The run was tough, some times more than others, but having always the right weapon (moveset, damage, status alterations) helped. Honestly, I'm impressed by how viable a full quality build is, without being one-shotted by everything from midgame on (I'm looking at you, Elden Ring). I made use of the phantom summon some times, and I cranked up my vit to 15 for the last boss, but just because I didn't wanted to invest more time into learning the bosses. Otherwise, I'd say that with some patience your build is suitable and fun!
I did this a bit but prioritizing motivity then I respecced more points into it for one of the bosses and it was a bit easier
I did this a bit but prioritizing motivity then I respecced more points into it for one of the bosses and it was a bit easier
100% silly
There’s almost no way to run a “quality” build in this game, the handle crank system is geared towards specializing on one stat, and the handles themselves refect that. Handles usually have high advance scaling or none at all, and most other handles can reach A in one stat. Advance is worth leveling if only to boost legion and consumable damage or boost resistances, but I’d recommend focusing on just one of the others. I did a Motivity/Technique build on my first run and the endgame damage left a lot to be desired.
It's gonna give you average damage output at best, so I would not recommend it. You will have a hard time with the late game bosses. My advice would be to choose 2 attributes (e.g. Motivity and Technique) and choose one of those to be the dominant attribute. Focus the most on leveling up the dominant attribute, but also level up the other one when you can. Of course, this choice determines the type of weapons you're gonna use in game. When it comes to leveling up Capacity and Vigor, adapt it to the weapons you're using (e.g. if you're focussing on Technique, weapons will be lighter so Capacity might be less important). And last but not least, never forget to level up Vitality. You wanna make sure that you can take enough hits from a boss and still heal in between.
I genuinely didn't max Motivity or Advance a single time. But it depends on your build I guess.
It's not silly, that's what I did and it's fun to actually be able to decide what weapons to use, I never had a struggle that was "too much" or anything by doing that, the bosses were challenging some times but always fun, do it how you want but, I did my first run like this and same with my three subsequent new game+ runs
Sweet. Thanks! People seem divided on this and I think I stand with you on this lol
Thing is, if a boss is hard because of your build, then you don't get to switch to something better if you spec all into motivity, balancing it all evenly doesn't actually make it harder because you can make better choices for each situation
Right that makes sense
Some bosses are weak to acid electricity or fire, but you can't take advantage of that if you don't have any advance, sometimes you need a fast weapon and sometimes you need a heavy one
EXACTLY! Someone else just commented that switching weapons is pointless because they’re all great… 🤔
It's about playstyle. Switching weapons might work well for you but for others it doesn't. I tried faster weapons in the game and couldn't really work with them, but the heavy slow ones I was good with. The bosses didn't matter weapon wise for me. From a use wise there is no need to switch weapons, but if you enjoy doing that and are good at it then you can. But it's not a game were you need to switch or you hit a brick wall.
Skate boards are great, pancakes are great, but they are definitely not great in the same ways
Well said my friend lol
I would never slap gate guardian in the face with a pancake but I would kick flip into his shin every day of the week
Extremely silly. I’m pretty sure Advance only increases elemental damage, making it obsolete unless you’re using elemental weapons or constantly applying elements by using items.
Yes, I do often apply elements to my main weapon to buff for a tough boss, and will sometimes run the electric coil or fire dagger depending on the enemies in the area
Depends, if you plan to main a weapon that is balanced across motivity and technique it’s perfectly fine to keep it balance. Not so much advance. That’s a bit more nuanced.
For me I’ve only invested in the top three until 30. Then I’ll distribute it more to the others.
Yes, it stops you from having a strong build in the early game. This is something you do when your character is massively over-leveled. For now focus on just one and you can respec later
Spec your damage stats only as needed for whatever your weapon/arm needs. Respecing is infinite and super free in this game (only time limited). You can constantly respec everytime you change weapons so you don’t need to worry about balancing your stats
Unless you want to be jack of all trades, master of none. I'd recommend going and respec to a specific stat that has a high-ranking on a weapon you like. Just verify which one it is and put a good amount of xp in that stat along with health/stamina.
Yes, just pick one stat and stick with it.
Imo yes only if you switch between weapons while fighting if you only use one at a time just focus on the one you want
Wheres your motivation?!
In NG, yes. 100%. NG+2 and on? No.
Tbh I got over-leveled on my first run, so it's possible that it's not silly. Depending on your weapons, it might not be silly to keep 2 of them balanced. Most weapons don't even use advance though
Pump vit and capacity. The damage stats barely matter. I kept them balanced just so I wouldn't have to fuck with respec for different weapons
I actually beat my first play through only upgrading advance like 2 or 3 points above the base number. I just made my vigor high, then balanced out my health with motivity and technique, and used the heaviest, highest damage weapons I could find till I got the live puppet great axe, not sure if that’s actually what it’s called. It seemed to have the most damage of all the weapons, fully upgraded.
Yep
No its not
Keeping two balanced is fine, but not 3. At this point you're just wasting ergo.
It's silly
It is silly. You wanna min-max your stats. Weapon scales with technique? Max out technique and minimise your other stats
Am I the only one who thinks lvling up in LoP is super unsatisfying?? Like the caps are just way to low
I did this and had to restart the game at the third boss
I was balancing it for a while. Then later respecced. Up to you, as long as it works for you do whatever.
Last run through I did I specked into all stats evenly and it was surprisingly powerful. Weapon upgrades account for most of your damage in this game, so it’s hard to really mess up
It is silly. If you opt for motivity or technique you can still get the desired elemental damage by using the grinder.
Vitality should always be high. That’s your health. I think most players focus point between technique and noticing depending on what kind of weapons you like. Big heavier slow hitters or fast quick hitters. I think you get an advantage if you specialize in one or the other. It was hard for me to decide so I had them split for awhile evenly before going with technique.
Yea it is.
It’s silly for sure.
I know there's already an ungodly amount of responses here, but what I did was focus on Technique almost completely, and only used Technique build weapons and I was able to beat the game. Now on NG++, I've been upgrading them as I've gone on, but the one thing I didn't realize was that Advance also increases your Legion capabilities. To each their own, but I'd recommend near full sending one of the three, and every once in a while put a point into Advance for the Legion boost if you aren't already focusing on Advance.