The Dark Souls series is a long-running gaming behemoth known for a great many things. Though many may praise it for its difficulty, it is just as if not more so identified for its unique blend of world-building, for requiring players to invest themselves and actively pursue understanding to truly grasp the goings-on of the world.
That said, the combat is still central. And like the cyclical nature of the world itself, Dark Souls 3 takes much from the past, the combat and its evolutions from previous Dark Souls', and the weapon arts a rejigged version of trick weapons from Bloodborne. Weapon arts add an extra layer to weapons, and there's plenty to choose from, some better than others by a good stretch.
10 Charge
The weapon art associated with most spears, and also uniquely the Astora Greatsword. Spears are usually identified by their ability to let you keep your distance while still retaining good damage. Charge adds a flip on this, instead allowing you to, well, charge at your enemy and close the gap at speed.
It's a dangerous move as it's easily parry-able. Realistically, what charge is useful for is closing the gap on an enemy already at a distance and catching them off-guard. Or maybe an enemy is running away, Charge lets you chase them down with great speed. It's a surprise tactic rather than a pure offensive one.
9 War Cry
War Cry lets you unleash your inner warrior, letting out a scream of battle that gets your blood pumping and your enemies fearful. It's associated mainly with clubs and maces - things that require great strength to beat things with. War Cry itself is a damage boost mainly for the weapon it's used with, though has much more in stock.
Aside from the damage boost, War Cry also unleashes a knockback effect like Force, causing brief stun and giving you some breathing room. It also gives you a unique charged heavy animation, even if you have no FP when using the move. The Millwood Battle Axe even has a unique War Cry, causing you to leap at your enemies on activation.
8 Moonlight Vortex
The Beloved Moonlight Greatsword. Though known lovingly as a Dark Souls creation, the legendary Sword of Moonlight is actually present in almost all of Fromsoftware's games, long before Dark Souls. Though in Dark Souls, it is associated with Seath the Scaleless and his crystal sorceries.
Here, it functions like previous Moonlight Greatswords, a sharp weapon but with magical beams of moonlight. The Moonlight Vortex then is charged before being thrust forward and creating a vortex of moonlight, dealing damage with both the sword and the pure magic. It is not the strongest weapon or move, but one of the most enthralling.
7 Quickstep
Quickstep has something of a twisted reputation, almost a recall to the quickstep dodging of Bloodborne - the same way Bloodborne included a useless shield as a callback to their importance in Dark Souls. However, Quickstep has more genuine functionality than just a bout of nostalgia.
For one, quickstep remains functional between 70-100 percent equipment load, giving you a speedy dodge no matter what. But on top of effectively getting behind enemies for backstabs, Quickstep also removes most of the recovery time from a typical dodge, meaning you can usually get back into attacking faster than enemies might expect.
6 Sacred Light and Flame
The tragic figures at the heart of Lothric Castle, the Princes Lothric and Lorian, give you their collective soul upon defeat, though only one of their weapons can be created. However, if you create the other in a new game plus cycle, the option to create the Twin Princes' Greatsword appears.
In this form, you gain access to the respective weapon arts of both swords, each activated by either light or heavy attacks after assuming stance. From Lothric, you gain a magical blast of holy light, or from Lorian a leap into a flaming strike - more powerful than their initial forms for certain. Perhaps a sign that the princes truly did rely on one another.
5 Hold
Katanas have always been a weapon of interest in the Dark Souls series, some of the better dexterity weapons and always with their humourous allusion to having come from some "distant land to the east". Hold is a unique form of Stance for katanas that allows them to gain access to a deeper moveset, more reminiscent of the actual weapon.
Activate Hold to take on a sheathed stance, allowing you to activate either a light attack for a wide slash that can hit many enemies for great damage, or a heavy for a unique parry. Both can throw enemies off due to the time they can be held for and the speed at which they activate. The Chaos blade has an even longer parry, and the Frayed blade instead sends out dark shockwaves and rapid attacks, respectively.
4 Stomp
Stomp is a wonderfully fun move, most typically attached to greatswords. Greatswords are personified by heavy strikes - slow ones where every hit is vital but devastating. Stomp furthers this profile but adds a new depth to it. Stomp, as you might expect, allows you to stomp at a given moment.
The stomp itself is only a light disruption but can be followed up with a heavy attack that deals great damage, and also grants higher poise, easily canceled into a light attack as well to throw enemies off. The Profaned Greatsword also has a similar ability, though instead blanketed in flames that launches an enemy into oblivion.
3 Stance
Likely one of the earlier weapon arts you'll encounter in the game due to the abundance of swords, Stance just so happens to also be one of the most useful weapon arts - maybe even the best. It lets you take on a brief stance, before unleashing either a guard-breaking uppercut or a lunge for swords.
It has variations across the different swords, with rapiers instead focusing on backsteps and thrusts, though it offers great utility in allowing guard to be broken while still keeping up the assault. It also just makes the swordplay feel just a bit more in-depth like more tactics of movement are being applied, and that itself makes you all the harder to read.
2 Spin Slash
As with any dex build, who doesn't love being a dual-wielding maniac, slashing so fast and frequently that enemies can hardly keep up with you? With weapon arts, Dark Souls 3 brings you even closer to that dream with Spin Slash. Now, Spin Slash functions a little differently across the many dual blades, but foundationally, they're the same.
Spin Slash lets you perform a spinning slash that can typically be transitioned into another type of slash. The real benefit in them comes in two places, however. For one, they cover massive distance, meaning you can evade an enemy attack before instantly following up with a Spin Slash. Even more crucially, however, Spin Slash cannot be parried, making it an intensely deadly move.
1 Perseverance
Perseverance is arguably the best weapon art in Dark Souls 3. Poise is an incredibly essential tool in the games, determining exactly what damage is enough to knock you out of an attack or even stunlock you. Perseverance is the remedy to that, allowing you to grant yourself extra poise for a limited period and bullrush through most attacks, as well as offering heightened absorption.
This shows most prevalently when trading blows, allowing you to come out the victor with the lightest weapons even causing other enemies to flinch off you. But a truly wild build features the Caestus. Using Perseverance allows you to build all that extra poise while retaining the incredible speed of your fists, pummelling things while fully standing your ground.