After using the Heide Sword for most of the game I finally got enough strength to try out the Malformed Skull, which is literally a dragon's jawbone that you smash on people; it's pretty great.

Channeller's Trident.

I'm a Deprived who loves to dance.

Found a Halberd and upgraded it until I needed a large shard. Never used pole weapons before but it served me well enough to take out two bosses. Then I got enough Dex to use the Drangleic Sword which is awesome and has a thrust attack for its R2. I used a Claymore all throughout Dark Souls so I immediately felt comfortable with it, I think I'll be sticking with it for the foreseeable future.

I haven't gotten to anything good yet, but I'll be using the Bastard Sword as soon as I find one, if it's anything like it was in Dark Souls.

EDIT: Well, I've been using a +10 Fire Bastard for several hours; it's been working quite well. But I've just hastily thrown my last slabs into a pair of +10 Bleed Falchions. I'm excited to see the results.

EDIT AGAIN: +10 Magic Staff of Wisdom. Increased sorcery damage is nice.

I bought a plain old mace from a vendor, I think it had A scaling with strength. Gonna upgrade it and see how it'll serve me.

I've been rocking a catalyst with hell of Soul Arrows and Great Soul Arrows in my main hand and off handing a dagger to finish off persistent enemies that don't die in one cast. Been thinking about searching out that fire sword I've heard rumors about, though.

My mind

The early fire sword seems like the best I can do right now as a magic man. Anybody know where a good catalyst is? I'm about 16 hours in and have only found one other one besides the starter.

I haven't found a Katana yet. Still using my starting weapon and I haven't touched my damage based stats since that 1 point in strength to power stance dual wielding weapons.

Dual wielding a Scimitar and Falchion.

I'm six bosses in and for the last four I've been rocking the Craftsman's Hammer. Been thinking about switching to the Drangleic Sword but I hesitate to invest into DEX and VIT for it. Because screw fat-rolling.

I found the Ultra Greatsword in the Wharf. It's fantastic. I'm having a lot of fun living out my Berserk fantasies.

Old Knight Ultra Greatsword +3. Is beast.

ive been rolling with ether fire sword and dagger or fire sword and short sword.

A +4 bastard sword. I'm really hoping I find an Ultra Greatsword soon.

Just a bastard sword atm, working my way up to an ultra greatsword probably, or something else big.

Dragonslayer's Crescent Axe

After trying out every weapon I could find, I think this is the one I'll use for rest of game. Love the moveset, the look, everything :D

I've picked up 3 Bastard Swords in the Forest of Giants alone.

I'm dual-wielding Falchions ATM. I want to see if I can Bleed a boss.

Oh man, I've had such a hell of a time getting started in this game. It's my first serious attempt at a Souls game. I played a considerable amount of Dark Souls, but I mostly knew exactly what I was doing because of videos and stuff. This game I went into blind. I didn't even watch the preview coverage. I was using a dagger, then that broke so I fell back to the shitty starting sword. After a bit longer I found a short sword and started using that, eventually it broke. Then my shitty starting sword broke. So I was stuck using my fist. Then I came across a hidden morning star. That changed the game for me. I smashed mother fuckers. Finally got my bearings and managed to make some progress. Right now I have some axe and that morning star. Mostly because it's badass to chop and smash monsters.

I really want to use the twinblade, but I need to find the dex version

Been sticking with the longsword. Did well for me in past Souls games and it's still serving me well now.

I've been using the Greatsword for a little bit, and i'm really liking it. I was using an upgraded bastard sword for a while, but we'll see how this thing handles.

I still haven't found a katana. Has anyone found a katana? How far into the game will I find one?

@golguin: It's around boss 17 or 18; though I suppose you could go that way earlier. Whole area full of dudes with katanas. There might be a random one somewhere else.

OMG. I have 2 bosses down and I'm level 45. I refuse to fight a boss in my world with help or outside my covenant. I don't know what I'm going to do with my weapon situation. I have a falchion +4, but I only have 10 strength and 16 dex. I hit like a nerf bat. I'm really tempted to just look up a katana online and see the stat requirements and quickest way to get there.

Heide Knight Sword in my right and Flame Long Sword in my left . Subbing in a Large Leather Shield as needed.

Two sword technique is pretty savage, getting my ass handed to me though. I haven't put any points into Vitality yet.

@golguin: Keep in mind you can respec; just figure out a weapon setup that works for you in the moment. I haven't seen a whole lot of good dex weapons in general, but enemies have pretty large drop tables. Your best bet is probably a weapon with Str/Dex hybrid gain.

Looked around pretty thoroughly in the guide, no Katanas until Iron Keep. Also no good source of Large Titanite Shards until around then as well; be frugal with what few you do find.

Does DS2 still use the same stats: str for straight swords, dex for curved and pole arms ?

Been using the Mace you start off with as the Cleric class. Been finding other weapons around, but the mace has been the most damaging weapon I've used so far.

That axe is THE SHIT. I've never been fond of axe's in any game, but I'm absolutely in love with that one. I'm thinking about rolling double axes, viking style, but I've mostly been spreading points around to test weapons and seeing what I like.

Currently switching between the aforementioned axe and The Dragonrider's Twinblade.

Straight swords (at least all the ones i've found) are all quality weapons. The Longsword i'm using for example scales C with both strength and dex.

Axes / hammers = strength.

Straight swords and halberds = strength and dex.

Curved swords and rapiers = dex.

My current weapon is a +5 longsword.

@clonedzero: Ahh thanks! I was wondering where I should start allocating my stats. I played most of Demon's through with a Spear, and almost all of Dark Souls with a halberd. So I was thinking of changing it up a bit by either playing with a straight/great sword type or a mace/axe.

Alternatively I thought about trying to go mage in this one, something I haven't done since my second playthrough of Demon's as a royal.

A Winged Spear. It was my go to weapon in the early stages of DS1 as well.

I wonder if half of you know what the hell you're talking about with all these random weapon names and specs :D

I'm not saying I'm an expert, I'm afraid of Dark Souls.

I'm switching between the Heide Sword and that Fire Longsword. Both are upgraded to +4. I also have a mace that I want to pump up, but crafting materials are so rare now, and the blacksmith (haven't met another one yet) doesnt' have unlimited amounts of them.

Rock on man...I've never liked axes either, but this one is indeed "the shit". I was spreading points around to test stuff out as well, defaulting to a Flame Sword +6...but dropped that crap, ate all my boss souls and respecced specifically for this axe. Unstoppable freight train, mother fucker! :D

+4 Mace (Cleric starter weapon)

It pretty much owns so far.

Oh, and a +2 light crossbow since it's the only ranged weapon I've found so far without a Dex requirement.

Early going, but for my sorcerer I'm sticking with a trusty short sword until I find something that really shines with a magic-based class.

I'm trying to avoid putting many points into str/dex and all I need is a quick weapon to finish off foes when they rush me. The requirements aren't too bad, it's got a good move set and the stats and range aren't total garbage (unlike the starting dagger).

Ah, another cleric. I'm using the starting Mace (+1) but it sucks that I can't use any of the other weapons I find b/c of the dex requirement. Are there any other good STR-only weapons early on?

The only one I can recall at the moment is the Battle Axe that Lenigrast (sp?) the blacksmith is selling. Almost everything seems to have a minimum Dex requirement of around 10-12. I'm holding off on boosting Dex at all, because I know there will be Str only weapons later on in the game.

I'm hoping to leave DEX untouched as well. Are you going to be melee-focused on your cleric build? Where are you allocating your points? Feel like I need to boost END early just b/c it's so low and I'll be bashing my way through early fights til I can find some miracles.

Let's see if I can recall. I'm like level 42 or so...

Vig 12, End 3, Vit 12, Str 22, Dex 5, Att 16 (spell slots!), Fai 17 (22 with the Ring of Faith), Ada 4, Int 4

Ultimately, I want to be able to wear heavy armor and carry around a big stick and also have some flexibility with my spells. I'm not sure how much I'm gimping myself by not boosting Stamina much yet. I tend to focus pretty heavily on online play and I like to support other players. The problem with this strategy is that Replenishment and the Heal spells don't seem to affect other players in this game like they did in Dark Souls. If I'm correct, this build is going to be a bit of a problem for me, since I can't stand back and heal more than I fight, which is something I enjoyed in Dark Souls. I need confirmation on this, so perhaps I will start another thread.

E

The axe posted about above only takes 12 DEX, and it scales with STR & Faith. It's badass, give it a try :) (Is a little ways after you unpetrify the stone statue blocking that switch the NPC talks about on a path from Mejula).

Edit: 12 Dex is also all you need for the Short Bow, so works out perfect <3

You really have to absolutely master the moveset of whatever weapon you're using as there's little or no room for error on various enemies/bosses; whenever I try to stray from my beloved Heide Sword +10 the game frowns upon my nascent abilities with the newer weapon. The dragon skull is great for Crystal Lizards though, those sneaky fuckers. About halfway through the game the enemies start feeling like NG+ enemies; but there's just no way to know which weapon is going to wind up being the best and it might just come down to personal taste. Faster weapons have definitely made a huge comeback from Dark Souls though; various bosses that have very limited vulnerability periods.

I'm using a Greatsword right now but I'm not sure if I like it yet. Most of the bosses I've fought have been too fast for me to be able to use it effectively so I've switched to the broadsword for most of the fights.

Using the Heide Sword +5 as well as fire sword+3. Use fire on easy enemies and save the Heide durability for tougher enemies. But I've briefly used the halberd and I do like it's reach. Its double handed heavy attack is insane.

Mace + Shield, Halbard, Shortbow

Bought the Mace early on, and it's proved to be spectacular. The reach and damage of the Halbard is invaluable in many situations, and I can't make it without a ranged option. I tend to rarely employ the bow, but when I do it's been significant.

Chris Woods

I'm holding off on boosting too many weapons until I know what enchants will be available. I just ordered the strategy guide, though. I can't take all the uncertainty. :D

@bnutz2k: Doesn't work like it used to, feel free to upgrade anything as much as possible (though careful what weapon you choose to upgrade); you won't get arbitrarily penalized for it later.

Yeah it's tough to switch once you get past the early game. I think having one club/mace type weapon on reserve is really useful in parts though, if you're using slashing/thrust type weapons.