So I wanted to make 1 thread for the people out there planning to use high STR based weapons specifically.

This is not just for stats (base ones can be found on a wiki anyway) but more importantly actual usability/effectiveness/tips. Hopefully this will give people still in progress some perspective on their options. Damage scaling goes S/A/B/C/D/E , S being the best. The numbers are also just the paperdoll stats, the actual weapons damage will of course depend on the type of attack, most fully upgraded heavy weapons can in fact one shot even tough enemies, with over 800 damage.NOTE: damage based on STR is at the strength of 50 because this is the top requirement for most non scaling weapons and there are low returns after that anyway (unless stated otherwise)

UPDATE!: so I got my hands on some weapon stats (ahem) and pretty much any +5 Lightning weapon will out damage it's +15 normal counterpart on paperdoll numbers even with 50 STR. However you can't put any elemental buffs on elemental weapons, you can with normally upgraded weapons. And a normal weapon is more flexible since you can apply buffs appropriate to enemy resistances. Lightning weapons will have problems with certain enemies.

Do share your own weapon comments and stats, I will periodically update this list and would love to hear other opinions on weapon usefulness.

I have posted some of the weapons I have to start us off:

Zweihander +15:

(found close to Firelink shrine past a giant skeleton) My current favorite weapon. It is slightly less damaging then other heavy duty weapons. But it only weights 10, it has a very large range both in the primary sweep arc and the heavy overhead swing. This extra range is great to have because even dodging enemies will still be frequently hit by the wide swings. And the range on the heavy attack means it's safer to use on enemies further away, plus the wide swings help out with some of the boss hitboxes. It will stagger enemies at close range with the heavy attack allowing an immediate follow up, even when wielded one handed, this is one if it's best properties.

Demon Great Machete +15:

(random drop off Capra Demons) Superior to the Zweihander in terms of damage, slightly shorter hitbox. It's normal swings are basically superior to the Zweihander as the range difference is small. The heavy attack of this weapon is a bit non standard, instead of doing a swing the character first braces and then does a short jump with a swing, the upside is that this weapon staggers enemies even more then the Zweihander with this attack, the downside is that this animation takes forever to come out and the shorter range on the heavy attack is a further bummer that when coupled with the long makes it very very difficult to use effectively.

Man Serpent Greatsword:

(random drop off Serpent guards) I don't have the +15 stats for it currently as I tried making it a chaos weapon. In terms of damage however it appears to be somewhere between the Zweihander and the Demon Machete. It's a much shorter weapon then both of the above. This does have an advantage however that it's normal swings will never catch on the floor and will come out faster, as well as costing less stamina. The heavy attacks seems inferior however.

Demon's Great Hammer +15:

(drops of the huge demon in the starting dungeon if killed during first meeting) This weapon's claim to fame is that one can get it very early in the game either though wasting the gift on firebombs or being anal and meleeing him to death or doing it on Newgame+. The weapon does however have a huge STR requirement of 46 and a sizable weight of 22. It's pretty much the standard for other heavy weapons. It has normal primary and heavy attacks, with decent arcs/range and top notch damage. Unfortunately no stagger like the Zweihander unless 2 handed.

Demon's Greataxe +15:

(random drop of Taurus demon or sold by Forest Covenent merchant) This weapon is very similar to the Demon Great Hammer, it is hwever a random drop in the early part of the game, as such not everyone could get it until one joins the Forect covenant and makes it all the way down to Blight town as a merchant there has 1 too. Lets talk shop: the main differentiating factor here is that the main weapon attack is actually an overhead swing unlike most heavy weapons and the heavy attack is the sweep. Basically switching it all around. Another notable factor is the STR damage scaling of A, making it the best weapon in terms of STR scaling. Anc could eventually outpace all other STR weapons if one increases STR to over 50.

Dragon Greatsword +5:

(chop off the Everlasting Dragon's tail in Ash Lake) No this is not the famous drake sword you can get early in the game. This is it's big bad counterpart further down the road. Now we all know Dragon wepons don;t scale with STR however when upgraded full they can actually have very decent damage that is more then a match for STR scaling weapons, in the first couple of playthroughs. The bad: no STR scaling, 50 STR requirement, 24 weigh. The good: sweet damage; +20 extra protection from fire and magic is actually quite handy; oh and the heavy 2h attack is devastating, it comes out faster then most heavy weapon attacks and it creates a shockwave that deals additional damage to all enemies in it's path thus making it even better then the jumping heavy 2h attack of most heavy weapons!

Greatsword:

(need help on this one) A weapon similar to the Zweihander, with the main difference being their heavy attack. Unlike the Zweihanders overhead swing the Greatsword heavy attack is a direct thrust the advantage is that it comes out much faster leaving you less open, and it is also a different type of damage. The downside is that it looses the great ability of the Zweihander to stagger enemies. Weights 10, STR requirement of 28.

Flamberge:

While technically a heavy weapon, it can go bugger itself because of the 14 dexterity requirement and the STR scaling of only D

Golem Axe:

(created from heavy axe +10 and Iron Golem soul) It's sub-par starting damage of 155 and short range make it a complete waste of both the +10 weapon and boss soul. It does have a special attack that staggers and pushes back most enemies just like the boss does, however this attack has a very specific minimum and maximum range making missing with it both easy and fatal, as it leaves you completely open to the enemy and quickly degrades weapon durability.

Dragon King Greataxe:

(chop off the tail of the boss in the Depths) A weapon almost identical to the Dragon Greatsword. The difference is: the lack of dragon scales to fully upgrade it at the time of obtaining it unlike the sword which is found in an area full of dragon scales, secondly it's 2h heavy attack is inferior since it's a less damaging area of effect which is only useful with multiple enemies on you and takes a long time to come out, making you vulnerable to being interrupted by said multiple enemies; oh and thirdly no extra magic of fire resist like the sword has

Smough's Hammer:

(crated from hammer +10 and Smough's soul) Yet another waste of a boss soul. Meager base damage of 275 for such a slow weapon that only has 5 upgrades. STR scaling of D!!! and a STR retirement of 58!!! already firmly put this in the trash pile. As if this was not enough the 2h heavy attack is the leap that the boss does. The character braces, then does a jump and smashes the hammer. Unfortunately this sucks because A the attack takes forever to come out of your pooper; B the attack has a surprisingly limited area which it affects compared to the size of the hammer. POOOOOP

Dragon Tooth:

(fond in Anor Londo together with Havel's armor) Like Dragon Greatsword but with less damage, no special, and unbreakable (as if that matters in all but 1 place)

Great Lord Greatsword:

(created from greatsword +10 and Gwyn's soul) Basically this is made from the soul of the last boss and you can't use it in normal game, even in Newgame+ you still need to get to Anat Londo... sigh, so unless someone else gets this

Note: I can't post any proper info on Black Knight weaponry, unlucky with drops, so if people have experience with those please post:

Black Knight Sword:

(summary courtesy of White, for his full thoughts read below) A good damage sword, that because of not being classified as an ultra greatsword uses much less stamina per swing allowing for more strikes and lighter them most heavy weapons. Makinbg it great for people who prefer soemthing lighter and faster but still does good damage and has STR sacling. It does however have a steep DEX requirement of 18 like all Black Knight weapons and a problematic heavy attack anomation that leaves you open for a long time.

Havel's Shield:

And of course how could we forget the 50+ STR warrior's greatest weapon. The best tool in your available arsenal. The mother of all shields. With a weight of 26 and a strength requirement of 50 its a bitch to use true. But the payoff is sooooo gooood: 100 physical resistance, 90 magic resistance, 80 fire, 80 lightning and 84 stability. You can safely tank through boss damage with this baby!

Oh by the way it does not have an attack unlike other heavy shields. Instead of doing an attack your character hides behind the shield for a sec and it creates a stone-skin looking effect around you, reducing incoming damage for a while (hard to test by how much atm) Unfortunately it is only 1 use before needing repair, but the shield will still have plenty of durability left to tank normally.

Well since you don't have any info on the Black Knight Sword, and since it's my crutch weapon since revisting UA, let me comment on that. I'm surprised it didn't drop for you since it is a 100% chance if you head back to your cell in UA. EDIT: Apparently benjaebe didn't get it so I can't say it's 100% now.

Black Knight Sword

The Black Knight Sword, a physical damaging sword, needs 20str and 18dex and is by far the best Greatsword (Not Ultra Greatsword) you can get at its basic form. Weighing at 8.0 units, it's a tad lighter than most GS in the game. And so far, at 50 str, it's reading at 304 damage on my character screen.

Advantages

1. Swings fast; Quick recovery times
2. Does pure physical damage, which is better on most mobs that is not explicitly physically defensive.
3. Does not drain your stamina like the Ultra Greatswords (UGS)

What's so amazing (and weird) about this sword is that despite it's C-grade scaling on strength, I haven't manage to find a weapon that can give me more bonus damage than it. Even the Man-Serpent GS, at B-grade scaling, gives less bonus than this guy.

No weapon I have right now can output more than this guy - granted we're talking about at basic, upgradeless form. Even the lightning spear you get at Sen's Fortress, albeit has a higher overall damage, outputs significantly lower (which I can only assume to be game having to deduct damage off based on both physical and elemental defenses).

Attack animations for this baby is the same as with all other GS. 1h normal is a horizontal sweep, 2h normal a vertical sweep.

Disadvantages

1. Lousy Heavy Attacks
2. Only a C-grade scaling
3. Needs Twinklings to upgrade, and only to a max of +5
4. Requirements are steep considering how early you can get this guy

The downside to this weapon is that it's heavy attacks are useless. Complete utter trash. 1h heavy basically does a charged thrust which WILL send units flying if it connects. Problem is that it takes WAY too long to rev it up and it doesn't knock back dudes with heavy armor/high poise. 2h heavy is a similar charge attack, expect it's a vertical slash. In addition to the long rev time, there's a "cooldown" to the move where your character INSISTS on doing a flourish upon completion - and this leaves you open for counter attacks. Having using this sword for a long time, I've kinda gotten the timing down on it such that it will connect with your target, but it's still very situational. If 1) You're fighting a 1-on-1 fight 2) You've just finished backstabbing your prey, and his doing his animation to get up. If you time your heavy at 0.5s after he lands, the charge will coincide with him getting back on both feet and will send him flying, if not kill him. If these 2 things didn't happen, you're gonna get hit back.

I have not upgraded it cause I have this gut feeling that there will be a superior weapon down the road - More damage, hits faster and doesn't have a shitty heavy attack. But I just can't seem to find a weapon that fits that description. Oh god, game. Please give me something to release me from this hell. It's like the damn Ring of Divine Favor - I just can't get rid of it!

I don't really use Ultra GS cause the attack animation just takes forever to come out, takes too much stamina, and the weapon weighs like a boulder - regardless of how hard it hits. I do take the time to try out the various UGS in my inventory but attacking it once just leaves me open to getting flanked by enemies in a multiple enemy encounter. The stamina it eats just robs me of whatever ability to block and roll properly. The damage isn't too fantastic either; slight difference between a regular GS.

@White said:

Well since you don't have any info on the Black Knight Sword, and since it's my crutch weapon since revisting UA, let me comment on that. I'm surprised it didn't drop for you since it is a 100% chance if you head back to your cell in UA.

Is it a 100% chance? Because I've been back and it never dropped for me, even with 3 humanity and the gold serpent ring.

It should be noted that the Man-Serpent Great Sword is a Great Sword, not an Ultra Great Sword, hence its lower damage and damage and range.
 
Also, you left out clubs and great clubs.  For one, the Club has an A rank modifier in str, making it scale hilariously good.

@benjaebe: Really? Okay then that point is now moot then. I've read alot on how people are saying it's a confirmed drop on that Black Knight alone.

@White: The scaling is also dependent on weapon quality. Black Knight weapons can only be upgraded using Twinkling Titanite to +5. Normal Weapons normal titanite to +15. A such a base Black knight weapon should be compared to a +10 normal weapon in terms of scaling and damage. Ora better comparison would be a +5 version of BK weapon to the +15 of version of normal weapon. You could try upgrading it with Twinkling Titanite by the way as it's used exactly for these types of special weapons, and only some types of armor.

The flourish at the end sound bad tho, and 18 DEX requirement is no peach. hmm

As far as Ultra Greatswords go, I have learned to attack only after a block to give myself time. It's also why I love the Zweihander, because it staggers even heavy armored dudes like Silver/Black Knights with shields.

Otherwise pretty much all ultra greatswords have slow swings and other really heavy weapons too. The Man Serpent Greatswrod is the only one with somewhat faster standard swings (but it lacks range imo) it should do very decent damage if upgrade to +10 and beyond.

I farm Dark Wraiths in New Londo for upgrade shards. There is a total of 10 and with serpent ring average 1-2 chunks per run. And a chunk can be broken down to several large shards also. Leaving you only need to by small shards, which you will have money for with souls from farming. That's how I got all those basic weapons to +14.

@Turambar said:

It should be noted that the Man-Serpent Great Sword is a Great Sword, not an Ultra Great Sword, hence its lower damage and damage and range. Also, you left out clubs and great clubs. For one, the Club has an A rank modifier in str, making it scale hilariously good.

Yeah don't have any of those.

It would be interesting to see it's stats and how it handles.

Why aren't there any good scalings for strength weapons? Seems like the highest I've ever found is a "C" grade.

Alternatively, I consistently see dexterity scalings in the "B" and sometimes even "A" grades, even on some weapons that are supposedly strength-based.

Seems to me like you should raise strength just high enough to equip big weaponry, then start raising dexterity to get the maximum parameter bonus you can.

@White: Yeah I wish I had some way to try out the Black Knight sword before I wasted 3 levels on trying to get my dexterity high enough. The moveset is just too limited for my playstyle, which depends on both heavy and regular attacks being viable. The heavy attacks really are useless unless your timing is inhuman. In the 3 seconds it takes to execute (not to mention cooldown) it leaves a huge margin for the enemy to counterattack. Was fun to use for 5 minutes, now I'll probably just throw it in the bottomless box

I'll still use Zweihander when I want a greatsword (I love its overhand that slams enemies to the ground), but it's speed isn't suitable for all situations. If I want a fast but large sword, I'll probably just upgrade a bastard sword to the max. The fact that my "speedy" weapon is a battleaxe, speaks to how I suppose my character is becoming a pure tank. So now I know those dex points are really going to waste.

@emkeighcameron: Ther are some B and A scalings with STR i listed above. The A's that I know are the Demon's Greataxe and Turamber mentioned that the simple Club also has A.

@Tennmuerti said:

@emkeighcameron: Ther are some B and A scalings with STR i listed above. The A's that I know are the Demon's Greataxe and Turamber mentioned that the simple Club also has A.

Yeah, but incredibly few compared to the number of high dexterity scaling weapons there are.

@Tennmuerti:I have two questions:

1. Does the weapon scaling value improve with higher stats?

2. Is standard +15 reinforcement preferable to raw+5?

I have a Raw Zweihander+5 which served me quite well until now (level 52) and I'm wondering if I should downgrade it and then change it to standard+15. The scaling is pretty bad with D in both str and dex (I forged it before knowing about all this stuff ... "raw" sounded cool and more special than standard %)

Basically what i'm asking is what's the difference between standard and raw reinforcement?

I've been debating what to use myself with 50 strength. (and like 30ish dex).  
 
I have the dragon greatsword +5. It's not bad, but it is super heavy and the damage isn't that impressive for how long it takes to swing. And maybe I should try and get the endurance available to use Havel's shield... Using a sunlight shield +4 or some shit right now lol. 

The Black Knight Greataxe uses very little stamina with r1 attack, and scales with B for strength. Also, the 2-handed r1 is really fast.

@CptBedlam said:

@Tennmuerti:I have two questions:

1. Does the weapon scaling value improve with higher stats?

2. Is standard +15 reinforcement preferable to raw+5?

I have a Raw Zweihander+5 which served me quite well until now (level 52) and I'm wondering if I should downgrade it and then change it to standard+15. The scaling is pretty bad with D in both str and dex (I forged it before knowing about all this stuff ... "raw" sounded cool and more special than standard %)

Basically what i'm asking is what's the difference between standard and raw reinforcement?

1. Yes the when you upgrade the weapon the amount it scales with an attribute (if it does so in the first place) also increases. And the higher your respective stat say STR the weapon damage will be bigger if it scales with that stat.

2. The standard path (+15) pretty much just improoves the wepon in a linear fasion, everything becomes better equally. Raw weapon upgrade makes the weapon scale less with your attributes, but it increases it's base damage more then the normal upgrade would. HOWEVER Raw stops at +5 which is equivalent to normal upgrade at +10. Raw weapons are basically better early on. But yes as soon as you have the resources to do so I would downgrade your weapon and just upgrade it normally to +15

Scimitars for life!
 
That will be all.
(And good read, handy for my second character who's pure str^^)

I have the Dark Knight Halberd upgraded to +4. It is a monster weapon, very quick and with great range. In Anor Lando I'm killing all enemies with 1-3 hits of its light attack. The heavy attack is an area effect swing that's less useful than it sounds, but the jump attack is nearly double damage of the weak. I have several weapons that claim to be more powerful on pure stats, but they're much slower and end up doing about the same damage in the end. I wish I could find more twinkling ore to upgrade it further.

@AaronChance: How much Twinkling you need to get it from +0 to +5?

@AaronChance: I also rocked the Black Knight Halberd, love the range and stopping power on the R1 attack.

@White: I think it takes between 7-9 Twinkling total, I did manage to get mine to +5, which was around 345 base damage I believe, +229 or so at 50 STR.

I've been a big fan of the +5 Demon's Spear, since it seems to have the longest reach of any melee weapon that I've seen, it only has a scaling of C for strength and dex, but with 50 STR and 20 DEX, I'm seeing something in the 400's (can't check right now, will post later.) But it makes up for it with the aforementioned crazy reach and being able to use it from behind Havel's Shield without exposing yourself to danger. It's heavy attack is kind of useful because the charge up can let you duck beneath some attacks, but it takes a long time to hit.

At what strength would a Demon's Great axe +15 surpass a Lightning Demon's Great Axe? Right now I'm using a Lightning demon's great machete and it doesn over 700 base dmg, but I'd rather have a pure str weapon.

@McQuinn said:

At what strength would a Demon's Great axe +15 surpass a Lightning Demon's Great Axe? Right now I'm using a Lightning demon's great machete and it doesn over 700 base dmg, but I'd rather have a pure str weapon.

Well we don;t have the formulas at the moment. But from observation lightning damage of lightning weapons seem to be very closely based on their normal damage. So the Demon's Greataxe which has a fairly low base damage (because it scales with STR so well) will probably also have a fairly low lighting component. EDIT: i got some numbers that lightning Demon's Greataxe would only do 313+319 dmg, so a +15 would outscale it probably after 60 str

As a rule of thumb a lightning based weapon is better then a standard weapon of the same quality. Since you can apply all sorts of extra buffs to standard weapons but not to elemental ones.

I hate how slow most of the 2h weapons are.

@Jeffsekai said:

I hate how slow most of the 2h weapons are.

For PvP yeah, this sucks.

But for PvE it just takes some getting used to and then they can rock! They are especially devastating with the leaping 2h attack (strong + forward). This attack will one shot most enemies.

How do you guys feel about the darksword for someone wbo has 50 str and like 36 dex? It is c scaling for both and i really love the attack animation and look of it.

@Nadril: It's nice. For some reason it's a relatively special longsword that doesn't demand Twinklings or Demon T to upgrade - just mere regular-ass Titanite. But it don't scale so well though.

But really the DPS isn't that fantastic. And to do as much damage as the other swords, you'll be taking extra time to flail that thing around which 1 Leaves you open without your panties down 2) Drains your stamina. If it were me, GS is the way it should be - a middle ground of damage, reach and speed.

@johe0: I'm upgrading the Demon's Spear right now too, it's like a Lightning Spear but scales, so will eventually replace that. Mine does Lightning damage too, which maybe also increases when I level it up. It's at +3 atm, just need to find some more Demon Titanite Slabs or whatever you use to upgrade it.

@White said:

@benjaebe: Really? Okay then that point is now moot then. I've read alot on how people are saying it's a confirmed drop on that Black Knight alone.

Didn't drop for me either. I've killed a lot of those black knights now in different parts of the game and I've never gotten a single drop from them. This halberd guy had me really excited because I use a +10 regular halberd, but it just turned out to be an upgrade stone. I really really want that black knight halberd too..

@gerrid: You can get Demon Titanite from Titanite Demons (those big grey guys with one leg and the giant staff who fire lightning at you (there are four of them in the tar pit at the bottom of Sen's Foretress))

Anybody upgraded the 'Dragon Bone Fist' to +5 (Boss Soul Craft from Iron Golem Souls & +10 Fistweapon)? It's got an A STR scaling, but upgrades with Dragon Scales, which are a horrid to farm (and I've spent most of mine on a Dragon Greatsword +4).

The 'Dragon Punch' coming out of the heavy attack has A LOT of flavour.

@johe0 said:

@gerrid: You can get Demon Titanite from Titanite Demons (those big grey guys with one leg and the giant staff who fire lightning at you (there are four of them in the tar pit at the bottom of Sen's Foretress))

FYI - Faceless Demon, not Titanite Demon.

@Seppli: Really? Everywhere I've just called them Titanite Demon's because they drop Demon Titanite, thanks for the info.

Also, I've found the numbers, at 50 STR and 20 DEX, my +5 Demons Spear has 150 base Physical damage, 180 base Lightning damage, and +99 scaling physical damage for a total of 429 damage.