Hundreds of weapons and spells make the replayability of the Dark Souls franchise second to none. Certain bosses can be trivialized with certain builds, while others can turn the game on its head.
Most veteran Dark Souls 3 players have likely seen the extent of powerful PvE and PvP builds. While some builds are better than others, there are a few strange builds that fall out of the meta and offer playstyles, unlike most builds. From outliving enemies with passive healing to bashing targets with giant shields, here are 10 wacky builds every veteran Dark Souls 3 player should try.
10 Cleric Tank
Tanking and Dark Souls don't pair together, and that's usually due to how punishing the franchise is. Yet, there are ways of dramatically increasing a character's survivability.
Faith builds can turn a paladin or cleric into a juggernaut by stacking many forms of passive HP regeneration. Bountiful Sunlight, Blessed Weapon, the Sun Princess Ring, and a good chime can allow players to heal a substantial amount of health per second. Pair this with Blessed weapons to take full advantage of faith scaling.
9 Bloodborne Hunter
Dark Souls and Bloodborne have vastly different combat rhythms. Dark Souls is mostly reactionary, while Bloodborne is more catered to aggressive play.
Fans of Bloodborne will be happy to know that this aggressive playstyle can be replicated in Dark Souls 3. Obtain Pontiff's Right and Left Eye, then use any two swords. The Sellsword Twinblades or Gotthard Twinswords are fantastic with this combination. This allows players to obtain increased damage and health through aggressive slashes, mimicking Bloodborne's gameplay.
8 Hybrid Melee Caster
Investing equally in intelligence and either strength or dexterity can make for a potent hybrid melee caster. Being able to weave spells with melee attacks is one of the most enjoyable playstyles in the game.
Weapons that also act as catalysts such as the Heysel Pick or Cleric's Candlestick allow for an aggressive caster playstyle. Soul Greatsword, Lightning Stake, or similar aggressive spells allow players to throw invaders off-guard while adding solid damage in PvE.
7 Archer
While not the strongest in PvE nor PvP, archers can make for a fantastic change of pace for bored Souls veterans. Virtually no player uses bows in the Dark Souls franchise, hence why it's mentioned. Players will need to invest in dexterity to make their bows stronger.
Spacing is key as an archer, making sure enemies don't close the gap. Using Rapport or Emit Force can be great as backup spells for when enemies get too close. Obtain as many arrows as possible, then grab either the Black Bow of Pharis or Avelyn crossbow. It might not be the strongest build, but it is a great shift in playstyle that keeps the game fresh.
6 Pyromancer Charmer
Strangely a pyromancer skill, Rapport is one of the most underutilized pyromancies in Dark Souls 3. This pyromancy will turn hostiles into friends for 30 seconds.
Only one target can be influenced by this at a time, but players can go one step further and incorporate phantoms as co-op partners. Use Warmth to heal allies and mist pyromancies to debuff targets. Of course, staple pyromancies such as Fire Orb are key to defeating bosses and other foes solo. It's shockingly effective in PvE and a great support build for PvP.
5 Cosplay
Cosplay builds refer to when a player dresses and behaves similarly to an NPC. Certain players create entire builds around cosplaying bosses such as Artorias or beloved NPCs like Solaire.
Since cosplay builds are so vast, it's hard to give specific advice on how to create one. Cosplaying as a Dark Souls NPC is rather easy in DS3 since many NPC armor sets are in this game. Ornstein, Smough, Artorias, and the Desert Sorceress are a few examples of what players can cosplay as. Invest in stats that reinforce that character's playstyle and get ready to fight fellow players with style.
4 Whip Only
Whips are the most underrated weapon archetype in the Dark Souls franchise. They deal solid damage, have incredible range, and are so rare to see in PvP that most don't know how to counter one.
Arguably the best build for a whip is to use the Notched Whip. Infuse with sharpened and invest in dexterity for additional damage. From there, obtain the Frost Weapon spell, and apply it to the whip before combat. Enemies won't have enough stamina to counter any attack and can easily be caught mid-roll thanks to the whip's fantastic moveset.
3 Two-Handed Shield
Shields can be used offensively as well as defensively in the Souls games. One strange build players can use is a shield-only build that uses these defensive tools as weapons.
Obtain as much strength and a hefty amount of endurance to keep blocks up. Players can use the Giant Door Shield to absorb an incredible amount of damage while pushing targets with its weapon art. To deal with invaders or tougher foes, the Spiked Shield is a great choice as it does innate bleed and solid damage per shove.
2 Iron Flesh Tank
Iron Flesh is a powerful pyromancy that grants a solid amount of damage and status effect absorption. The major caveat is it makes the player fat roll and restricts their movement to a walk.
Weapon arts that grant great mobility aren't restricted, however, so players can create a tank build around Iron Flesh when used alongside daggers or the Old Wolf Curved Sword. These weapons have mobile movesets that counter this pyromancy's greatest weakness, allowing for an interesting tank build that would otherwise not work.
1 Consumable Only
Some consumables in Dark Souls 3 can be used as weapons, such as the Dung Pie. For masochists that love a challenge, there are few runs more captivating than consumable-only runs.
Instead of using a standard weapon, players can use Dung Pies, Throwing Knives, and Firebombs to deal damage to targets. It is one of the worst and hardest ways to play Dark Souls 3, but consumable-only runs are viable for beating the game's wide range of bosses. Obtain the Silver Serpent Ring to help offset the cost of certain items.