Carian Knight's Sword | Elden Ring Wiki

Objectively a worse weapon in every aspect than just a long- or broadsword with the ash of war ... it looks so beautiful they should have just used the numbers of the magic longsword or made it a non unique weapon that came pre enchanted like rogiers rapier. I'll never get over this... they did it perfectly fine with rogiers but everywhere else they just lock the weapon art and scaling in for no good reason ...

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the charged R2 does two times less stance damage than other straight swords aside from Lazuli Glintstone Sword which has the same downside

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Got this weapon to try and make headway on a Fate-themed Saber character only to learn that while it is the closest weapon that looks like Excalibur (Of three.) it is also the worst.

At +10 It has 42 higher AR than +25 Noble's Magic Slender Sword, and 132 less than +25 Knight's Magic Greatsword, and while this is reasonable, after doing some AoW testing on the patrolling Knight by the Artist Shack (Helpful for testing block damage too.) it does 200+ LESS damage with a fully charged Carian Grandeur than either of those.

CKS deals 1.9k
KMG deals 2.1k
NMSS deals 2.2k

It's worth noting that NMSS has B+ Int scaling (+24 to +25 shows a Blue B which implies an 'upgraded' B) but it's still ridiculous that a gimmick flex sword with magic slapped on does better than a magic sword literally made with Carian Grandeur built in.

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This weapon is slept on in PVP for Highly Armored Highly Poised sets. I tried this on a Crucible Knight armored character with Bullgoat at 107 poise, and overall I tried playing it much like you would Ordovis's greatsword. Now Ordovis's still outdamages, however, it essentially can function as a bait and slam, baiting people into trying to attack you while you charge up and then them not expecting you to hyperarmor through their entire combo for either a full charge AOW attack or quick tap. Not meta, but usable in fair Non-Meta oriented matches among friends who are willing not to run around wearing mismatched Lionel Fire Prelate armor sets looking like god awful lego builds. Meta PVP is such a piece of crap I must say. Try some Roleplay/cosplay pvp everyone, it's so much more fun, and actually more rewarding challenge wise.

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Awesome weapon even for pure int builds with only the minimum requirement for str & dex. Carried me through my first playthrough.

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The heavy attack with Radagon Icon can either true combo into a Carian Slicer or roll-catch into a Carian Piercer

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This weapon is currenlty mediocre even on a 125/150 build tailored for it, you either dont have enough str for the physical or you do but your AoW and spells do subpar damage. Here is how I would fix this weapon:
> 15 extra guardboost when performing a charged heavy attack, it would still not be as strong as a fully upgraded heater shield for example.
> 10 extra base physical and magic damage but swap the str and int scaling so its D/D for STR/DEX and C for INT.
> Give it a unique Aow, the new one would be the Carian Greatsword spell not the chargeable downwards slam. Two swipes you can repeat as long as you have the stamina and fp (if you hit your enemy point blank the sword also registers as a separate hit)
With these changes the weapon would have a slightly higher AR with a more useful R2 and a useable AoW making it a genuinely good int weapon to use and not a cosplay tool

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"These knights' swords could serve as catalysts"

Me when I lie

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>marketed as blue flame 2
>look inside
>straight sword with r2s that aren't worth risking a guard break with a standard l2

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This sword is amazing for a str/int, and it looks beautiful ...but man, why does the skill costs so much? At least make it like 15 fp and it you charge it 26. I have no mind bruh

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Should've been a weapon catalyst

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The unique R2 having blocking frames is pretty great, really I love it, but why does it have worse guard boost and physical negation than the crystal sword of all things??

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A great low-commitment weapon for spellcasters in the early and mid-game. The scaling may be poor, but the base damage is extremely high. Due to the high base damage, you can pick it up and do much more damage than other early game spellcaster "melee sidearms" with nearly no stat investments.
Eventually, you'll want to replace it with a better-scaling weapon once you level int more, but it will serve you very well until then. It's also much more fashionable than Moonveil!

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This glorious sword is everything i wanted, Not brainrot overpowered, fun AoW, SS moveset (do not argue that SS moveset is one of the most fun movesets to use, i see you typing to be a contrarian!), Hybrid Knight/Mage viability and insanely stylish design even when holstered (no joke, this sword has a beautiful holster) and best of all! It's got decently low requirements and can be gotten before any boss fought (though you gotta take a trip to KFC land and harrass a local grocery truck for the sword) and has REALLY beefy base stats along side being a sombering so easy +4 if you wanted too...

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Can confirm the Shield Talisman does affect the R2, although not by much

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The R2 also blocks arrows.

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Don’t let that D scaling in int make you underestimate this on int builds. Even with a D the very high base damage it’s scaling off of leads to pretty good damage which can sometimes even out damage some magic infused straight swords until you get to high int. It’s ash of war is pretty slow but damn does it hit hard and it’s heavy attack is fun to land in PvP.

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Please for the LOVE OF THE ERDTREE LET ME CHANGE THE AOW

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Bu-but magic infused longsword is better!
STFU nerd, let me bath in fashion

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This weapon needs a unique version of Carian Grandeur, just as Loretta's War Sickle has a different version of Loretta's Slash that scales with quality/int.

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I hate the thick cross section. It makes it look like a paddle when examined.

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I want better int scaling on this

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kinda wish this was like the erdsteel dagger where it scaled better with magic and you can add an affinity to it.

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Does the AOW damage increase as its upgraded?

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You know what I wish for?
Just a simple longsword with this R2, but able to use square off.

Nothing special about it, no somber stones, no grand flashy moves.
Just a humble sword

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This sword should have had a higher then average guard boost considering it's unique heavy attack. Or at the very least it shouldn't allow you to be guard broken. Going for the heavy is extremely dangerous despite being so stylish.

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The biggest disappointment about this sword is that it's incapable of casting spells like its description implies. Hybrid weapons were always some of my favorite. It's a shame there aren't any in elden ring

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This sword has an awesome R2, and the fully charged carian grandeur can knock down/stance break some bosses in 1-2 hits. I really like this weapon.

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Unfortunately, this absolutely gorgeous weapon is almost entirely useless if you have a PvP meta level Int build.

At 80 Int 10 Str and 12 Dex, this weapon loses out on almost 60 AR when compared to a magic infused broadsword, the largest portion of that damage being magic damage. Since you'd probably be buffing your magic damage, the actual AR loss is even higher than that.

Same Dex/Strength requirements, same weight, same Ash of War, but the Broadsword just hits way harder.

I can only recommend this sword for it's incredible fashion value, it's outclassed in all other aspects. Even if you're thinking the heavy attack makes it an option even remotely worth considering, just get a shield instead. With 10 strength you can get the Carian Knight Shield, decent guard boost, 100% physical defense, you get the option to parry, and you can perform guard counters.

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The R2 is basically giving yourself hyper armor but at the cost of a LOT of stamina. If they ever buff weapons, I mainly want them to buff the guard boost and physical defense of this weapon. Let it be able to trade against almost every weapon at the cost of stamina to balance it out

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really sucks that this weapon’s R2 isn’t on more straight swords, especially ones that can be infused. i’d love to pair this with square off for a sort of do-it-all setup

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IMO, this should have had a unique magical version of Square Off, kind of like how Mooveil has a unique magical version of Unsheathe.

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Pairs well with Magic-Shrouding + Crimsonburst Crystal Tear to buff your damage/Ash and to heal the HP loss from the R2 blocks.

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I’d honestly love to see this R2 on more weapon classes, particularly on a katana (but only when two handing I think, the 1H R2 thrust is very good but the 2H R2 is pretty weak).

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The unique R2 gives me the impression you're meant to pair this with a sorcerer's staff since it still gives you "block" frames.

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This is the only weapon that looks so good I want to take a bite of its handle so it's Elden Ring's best weapon as far as I'm concerned

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Whether you should focus on the *very* slightly better Strength scaling on this weapon vs the Intelligence scaling should also take into account that Magic damage is more easily buffed, often less resisted by enemies, and scales on a stat that grants you access to spells as well. Basically, if you're pressed for stats, don't worry too much about Strength. This thing is amazing on a pure Int build.

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Would be cool if you could buff this sword with something like scholars armament to increase the magic damage even more

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So iahve tested the damage of the weapon art on the troll next to the chuch at Mistwoods.

Stats:
Strength: 69
Dexterity: 26
Intelligence: 50

Buffs & Talismans:
-Magic Shrouding Cracked Tear
-Golden Vow
-Flame Grant me Strength
-Starscourge Heirloom
- Godfrey Icon

Without the Incant buffs and wonderous physics flasks I get an AR of 698. Fully biffed it´s 963 AR.
With all buffs and fully charged the weapon art dealt 3729 damage to the troll.

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Yea. The weapon art has higher scaling on lordsworns straightsword at 2.4 instead of 1.8 and must be set up by stance breaking your opponent or luring them into it. And stance breaking is hardly an issue for the amazing Carian Knight.

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Amazing sword but the weapon art is hard to pull off against fast moving targets BUT it hits like a truck if you get an opportunity to fully charge it. It´s also super beautiful imo.

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Is this good powerstanced with the SoNaF? (Int build)

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Gud sord

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Real strange design choice to give the unique R2 with block frames to the 2 swords with some of the worst block rating in the weapon class with 35 physical block. Lazuli glintstone sword and carian knight sword are the straight swords that are least able to benefit from this R2 but they're the only weapons that get it.

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May I know why, despite its stats scaling, does this weapon deal more damage with INT build?

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At +10 with 80 Str, 80 Dex, 80 Int - This gets 762 AR

Phys: 215 + 213
Magic: 215 + 117

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I'm happy to report that the extreme versatility of this weapon's split damage and high base AR doesn't falter even vs Glintstone Miners (aka miners with their extreme resist to non-strike physical damage, BUT ALSO with increased resist to magic damage), because the increased magic resist of Glintstone Miners isn't very extreme, so the magic damage portion of this weapon still successfully bails out the physical portion enough to make glintstone miners easy to kill with this weapon. This weapon is super duper versatile.

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Oh also it's worth emphasizing that its best blocking stat is its magic block (52). The other magic sword that shares the same R2 (the Lazuli Glintstone Sword) has even better magic block (55), but anyway, both swords are therefore good in a funny way for blocking a spell to the face and then R2ing the caster, although in most cases you could usually just dash/roll attack them and clobber them without getting hit. Also, speaking of the Lazuli, that's a decent (and attractive) offhand weapon to pair with this one if you wanna use the dual wield moveset, but overall I'd recommend the Crystal Sword instead (for offhand with the Carian mainhand on a relatively strength oriented build) because it has significantly higher total AR, better physical damage, and better Strength scaling). All in all I'm happy that this wacky array of magic swords that I thought were all pointless are actually quite strong.

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Much better sword than I've been giving it credit for if you're looking for a sword to 2-hand that will work vs anything. It has better reach that the Longsword or Broadsword and it has GOOD split damage: Its high base damage really helps make up for the intrinsic flaw of split damage, and I've found that the split but high damage can work great for clobbering both highly magic resistant targets (like Rennala) and highly physically resistant targets (like Miners). It's super versatile and it's also super easy to upgrade as a Somber weapon. And if you get a stagger then you can drop its charged Skill on the target for big funny damage (or just riposte for also pretty big funny damage because split damage is good for criticals). For context, its STR/DEX/INT scaling values at max upgrade are 0.63, 0.47 and 0.58 respectively, meaning it overall scales best with Strength. Messing with the numbers in an AR calculator, it looks like 20 int is better to have than 18 int but after that you can focus on Str for a while and also get some dex. 39 Str, 19 Dex and 20 Int seems to hit good softcaps efficiently for that RL (assuming 2 handing), not sure what the next set of values is for higher softcaps. As far as how it compares to a Magic Longsword/Broadsword, they're better for dealing Magic Damage on an int build but they have poorer physical damage and also worse reach and also worse total AR, so this is more versatile and overall better if you're trying to use it as your absolute main weapon instead of spellcasting. This also has better total AR than a Fire or Lightning broad/longsword, for reference.

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Combine the heavy with the guard boost talisman and around 34 endurance and you will be able to block one of any attack that's not a colossal in pvp and also hit the attack!

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This sword is absolutely fire, the best straight sword I've come across so far in my several playthroughs. Good damage, good attack speed, the unique heavy makes it easier to break stance, and using the skill when the enemy is stance broken usually finishes em off. The skill is especially useful for finishing off mobs as well if you make some distance, runs them down like a truck.

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Scaling should have been D-D-C when maxed. I don't really understand the design of the current scaling.

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Best staight Sword in my opinion. It has the best reach and on a character with equally maxed out stats, it´s R1 does more demage than that of the Sword of Night and Flame. The Weaopon art, although highly specialized, can two-shot a lot of bosses, if buffed and timed correctly. Just remember: you don´t have to charge it up three times. One charge is enough to do a hefty amount of demage and knock back most enemies.

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Best staight Sword in my opinion. It has the best reach and on a character with equally maxed out stats, it´s R1 does more demage than that of the Sword of Night and Flame. The Weaopon art, although highly specialized, can two-shot a lot of bosses, if buffed and timed correctly. Just remember: you don´t have to charge it up three times. One charge is enough to do a hefty amount of demage and knock back most enemies.

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Did the scaling really get changed with Patch 1.09? Wasn't that just the bigger weapons?

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EKUSUKALIBAAAAAAA!!!

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Everybody here is saying that the skill sucks, but with 60 int and Godfrey's Icon, I'm getting over 2000 damage a hit when fully charged. Yeah, charging it up requires some skill and you can't use it against everything, but it's still really good.

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People saying this is bad for pvp... smh. Stick to your greatspears if you cant figure out how to use it. Its one of the longest swords, R2 is one of the best rollcatchers in the game and breaks everyone's poise almost every time.

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The charged R2 has a slower release than uncharged, which means people can easily avoid your counterattack if you hold for too long. I hope they remove that.

Rather than more damage, I would prefer if they gave this weapon a specially high guard boost and make Carian Grandeur usable. This weapon has the potential to be the most fun spellblade weapons in the game with tons of timing mixups, but it's just too weak.

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Give the charged R2 attack better poise damage, give intelligence scaling a C and it’ll be in the top 5 straight swords in the game.

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It's a shame that you can't use this as a catalyst for spells like it says in the description

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The reach and unique strong attacks are super super cool, but the sadly lacking poise damage and only-OK scaling leave it rather wanting. 10/10 fashion, but only 6/10 in actual combat (in my opinion, obviously. It's worth giving it a try. You might like it more than me.)

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Fashion wise it is unmatched. Great for PvE. Okay for PvP but not setting the world on fire, almost impossible to win against min-max tryhards but had some really fun invasions with this beast. 10/10

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My wet Dream is Scholars Shield being castable on this sword.

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This is the highest damage straight sword for Int characters followed by the magic broadsword, the Lazuli and the crystal sword.

Since the R2 and AOW are pretty trash, it makes a good offhander paired with a gb phalanx magic broadsword.

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Don't bother with R2s in PvP - guard boost is so awful, that anything bigger than Dagger R1 will break your guard.

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Was decent until the guard change, now in pvp if you try the r2 you are getting parried lol trash in pvp but guess it's fine for a pve build

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The heavy attack is why you use this. Weapon has some niches and is very attractive. Not very useful in PvP since anyone that lets you fully heavy attack can be beaten with anything.. in pve though this is quite useful and grandeur is more useful than pebble which the other sword with the heavy attack... High poise DMG and raw dmg especially against bigger enemies where you can target the head with ease

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Take a standard longsword, throw carian greatsword or carian grandeur on it and make it magic, it will deal more dmg. since it got a better magic scaling. idk.. ontop of that its lighter and has less stat requirements.

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I find it disappointing that a fully upgraded Carian Knight's Sword does less WA damage than a fully upgraded Miséricord with Carian Grandeur AoW and Magic affinity (99 INT char). From my testing on the giants in Limgrave the dagger gets at least 300 more damage out of a fully-charged WA!

I'm planning a new playthrough and noting that you can pick up the sword with much less effort than grabbing the dagger, getting the whetblade, getting the AoW for the dagger, etc. it's too bad that an investment in somber stones doesn't pay off :( In my opinion the sword looks sexy af so I'd rather have it (for fashion alone) but the dagger seems better on paper, with the AoW only being considered.

Anyone disagree or find anything different in their testing?

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will powerstance super well with any cold straight sword based on the stat spread needed to get the most out of this weapon

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The one thing that let's this weapon down is its low scaling across the board. You'd expect it to have at least a B in INT considering the lore behind it.

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i was cornered by 2 enemies and i couldn't move, so i heavy attacked, blocked one of the enemies, knocked them back and escaped to a grace
10/10 best weapon in the game

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Wouldn't the heavy attack be really good for stance breaking enemies without being interrupted? I should test this, but imo I feel like people really sleep on this feature. I know I can just get more poise, but I like my fashion, so I'm looking for ways to stance break reliably.

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Please let us change the AoW this with Glintstone pebble or phalanx would have been a dream

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If you’re looking for a Int sword for your spellsword, just use a Magic Longsword.

Carian is longer, but has worst scaling in Int, meaning that the skill will do less damage. The same skill can also be put into the Longsword, basically making this thing useless outside of looking cool.

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I powerstanced this with a nobles slender sword most of the game and so far i only had to break out the dark moon greatsword for Malenia. Still gotta do Farum Azula, but the R2 combo with the buff hits like two minivans. I'm gonna bully Ghidorah.

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Slap carian grandeur on a longsword or lordsworn straight sword so you don't have to put up with the lame heavy attack.

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Who cares that i do sub-par damage? I will look pretty fabulous doing it!

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Give it slightly better INT scaling, nerf the STR scaling a little bit, and give it better guard boost. All this sword needs, wouldn't break anything.

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This weapon's moveset is great for PvP, but it's dogwater for PvE. You can get the weapon skill as an ash of war too, so there's not really a good reason to use it. The only way to make the weapon work is running str/int, but dex/int makes more sense for magic damage builds because dex lowers spell casting speed and there are some really viable weapons that scale much better with dex and int like moonveil. It really sucks cause I love the moveset, but it just doesn't do the damage that's necessary in late game. It is worth while to pick up if you've just started the game tho.

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spellswords live in a society

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Ash of War of this thing can attack through walls and floors, so you can cheese a lot of otherwise tough enemies.

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This thing works well with many different builds. Str/Int for very high base damage, high End for the most advantage from guarded R2s, pure int still has ok damage with insanely strong skill and addition of spells. I have 20str20dex60int and 20end and i have above 600 attack one handed, never feel like I lack damage, I have enough stamina to safely guard and retaliate from a single great class of weapons' attack (not R2 or jumping tho), the skill hits like a truck and spells make the build very versatile.

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Quick tip: if a player keeps attacking after their first attack hits you, you can press R2 to immediately block and slash.
Also because the block comes out instantly, you can completely react to colossal sword pokes

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Yeah the guarding heavy is a mostly pointless gimmick but this thing does good damage and has hella style so just pack a shield with it so you have an actual blocking apparatus.

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The r2 should have also been on the dismounter

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bruh im just saying, there is a rolling button so blocking is always a worse option unless you are build for it(greatshield) or fishing for parries(small shield)
The whole point of this weapon is to Heavy(block) -> Counter, which is kinda like a parry but with lesser stakes
This would have been good if this weapon didn't do **** damage and have **** absorption

Compare this to the Valorheart in DS3 which was based on similar concepts, that weapon have 60 physical absorption, which is double the absorption of this weapon

TLDR: This weapon had great potential in PVP and skill ceiling, but is ruined by extremely poor stats

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Gosh darn weird sword. Only sword that blocks when charging a strong attack, except like other straight swords, has none of the stats made for blocking. 34 guard boost is nothing, and combining two-handing with greatshield talisman barely scrapes 40ish if my understanding of how this works is correct. That's awful, that's below several no-upgrade small shields. Normally I wouldn't mind chip damage, but it also only blocks 1/3 of a hit. Like, block-on-heavy is such a cool idea, and I agree some risk is good for this kind of thing, but the numbers are so low that I'd rather pick a weapon with hyper-armor on heavy attacks and eat all the damage if it meant saving my stamina.

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Pairs well with the Dragonbolt Blessing Incantation. While blocking with its charged attack the buff will cause enemy strikes to bounce off you instead of following through. Issue is this does require 21 FTH for an INT build sword.

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Two handing it with the shield talisman gives you decent stability and you can counter colossal greatsword crouch pokes using the strong attack, the blocking frames start since you press r2 so you have to use it like a deflect to be able to swing your sword and hit them before they recover

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Surprise tool in pvp or high stam build for trading? I donno, 31 feels a bit dangerous for guard.

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The sword... Forged to split the world in half...

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This or the Lazuli Glintstone Sword are essentials for a single-sword, no shield no 2H weapon run. The heavy attack on this moveset blocks enemy strikes - It's not a good block by any means but a serious boon when you have no other blocking options.

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Dark Souls Falcon Punch

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Recently I've seen few very skilled guys in pvp using this sword and it kind of makes me happy, cause that amazing weapon deserves recognition, but on the other hand i liked it, when i was the only one using it, even before the patch thag sped up carian grandeur. Anyway, my favourite straight sword in entire fromsoft's history. R2 is just fantastic, guard frames on an attack is something very useful at times and you definitely can make a higg endurance build to rely on it a lot, weapon skill on high int hits like a truck, i like the animation of a knockdown and with 3 stages it can mess people's roll timing. On top of that the sword looks so good.

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upgrading to +10 doesn't reduce the stability anymore

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The aquamarine daggers sexy cousin. The weapon art is slow but SLAPS

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On a pure INT build you get more AR on a magic longsword. But on an INT focused mixed build (mine is 16 STR, 22 DEX, 60 INT) it has higher AR. I'm not sure about the difference in damage for the weapon art though. I think that still leans towards magic greatsword.

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I think people maybe aren't using this sword in an effective way and mistake it as subpar. It's a great weapon. The AR is good, the AoW is amazing to use -- at the right times. Lots of veteran souls players tend to dismiss new mechanics that encourage more diverse gameplay like guard counters, blocking, stance breaking, etc. This weapon really shines when used with these new mechanics.

To anyone who finds themselves underwhelmed by the Carian Knight's Sword, I say give it another chance. Use a shield, use guard counters to break stances, then charge up the AoW. Even charging to the second stage is worth it. If you have high intelligence, it'll hit harder than a critical hit during a stance break.

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