Hi. My name is Skra and this is my first build.
I started playing Dark Souls Oct 11, 2016. I wanted to role play this game as a knight for no other reason than I like the way knight armor looks. I realize that there are better defensive options. It seems to me that new players almost always tend to make a Giant Dad and I want to do something different. This build is what I have ended up with.
While learning this game, I realized that the Claymore has TWO thrust attacks: a one-handed thrust attack and a rolling two-handed thrust attack. So, whether I’m one-handing or two-handing my Claymore, the Leo Ring bonus damage would always be available to me. It occurred to me that the Leo Ring would go with my build nicely considering that I'm fast rolling in medium armor.
With Charcoal Pine Resin applied and the Leo Ring counter bonus triggered, my one-handed R2 thrust attack does 820 damage against the Cleric in the Darkroot Garden. My two-handed rolling thrust attack does 836 damage against him. The Leo Ring aside, stabbing the Cleric in the back one-handed yields 884 damage, a two-handed backstab yields 901 damage and Riposte is 1048 damage (I used the Cleric for testing because he heals himself). With the Green Blossom and the Grass Crest Shield regenerating my stamina, I rarely find myself unable to use my rolling thrust attack. It's just always there.
I've read in the forums that the contemporary quality build is 27/40 because of the two-handed bonus for strength, but I wanted to make certain that my one-handed thrust attack did as much damage as efficiently possible because the damage bonus granted by the Leo Ring is percentage based. Also, since my two-handed thrust attack requires rolling, I had to figure out a way to get my equipment burden below 25% so that I could fast roll without being too squishy because my vitality is so low.
So, my first build is finished. This is it. It's my Veteran Knight and I love it.
>http://mmdks.com/8ijr