Im sure someone has already mentioned it, but each projectile in rain of arrows actually uses the same type of arrow fired. Meaning you can use just 1 single rot, sleep, poison, bleed, etc. Arrow, and get massive buildup, great for starting fights with big enemies/bosses by giving them status effects before they break idle animation
Something Rusty forgot to mention with Giant Hunt is how it fairs against humanoid enemies. About 80-90% of humanoid enemies and some bosses get absolutely thrown around by Giant Hunt, from the basic knight enemies to Banished Knights, Omens getting knocked onto their backs, Crucible Knights getting flinched and knocked back, and even Malenia getting burger flipped by this AoW. It also deals thrust damage, so it's a ridiculous counter to land as its large damage only gets amplified if you catch an enemy mid attack.
Square off being that low is criminal, I can understand it though since the value isn’t obvious. What makes Square Off good is the insane stance damage. The light attack of Square Off does as much stance as the unsheathe heavy attack, and the Square Off heavy attack does *more.* You’re giving the stance breaking power of a Colossal weapon to a Straight Sword attack.
Indeed. I was also surprised to see Assassin's Gambit that low since I use it all the time against bosses to get better positioning when I enter the fight. It's really good for Godskin Duo because you can start the fight without triggering aggro, allowing for easier sleep pot throws. Maybe it's more useful for speedrun strats but still, I was surprised to see both Gambit and Square Off that low
I was very confused as well, square off stance breaks all bosses in 2-3 hits. And the damage on the heavy attack is very good. I played a run where I didn't feel like wasting smithing stones to upgrade the longsword and just used at +0 till draconic sentinel. No problem whatsoever. And I am not some kind of god gamer, the ash is just that good.
Definitely Agree. Its damage value on stance and HP are still great to use for riposte strategy againt many enemys despite of its limit of straightsword themselves. I agree it can be inferior compared to other fast, wide, and easy ones from Katanas and other OP AoW, but It is still reliable and powerful even in late game area. Makes me sad as a player who finished whole game with Lordsworn Straightsword and shield.
It's been posted like 45 times but Square Off is genuinely an extremely powerful and versatile AOW that can carry you through the entire game with ease, absolutely trivializes all normal encounters and a large % of bosses for almost no FP
@@leonardo9259no one said it was, but it's definitely way way above average and does make most of the game extremely easy without ever really falling off at what it does.
I tried Square off with dual straight swords. And I wasn't impressed. Around x1.5 damage of single L1 with speed of 2-2,5 L1. Felt completely useless for me.
Two months late, but I feel it's worth mentioning for Barricade Shield. The weapon art is, itself, a block. You can intercept an enemy attack on like frame one with that by just hitting the left trigger and nine times out of ten they'll bounce off and leave themselves wide open to a guard counter. If you hold left bumper after tapping left trigger you won't even drop the shield after activating the shield buff.
Lion's Claw is also useful in PvP. The trick is to only use it whenever an opponent has committed to their own ash attack; then hyper armor through it and punish them brutally.
Square off might be one of the best stance-breaking tools this game has, not to mention its easily accessible and doesn't have any other requirements There is a reason why it is popular for speed and challenge runs
its convinient, but its still slow, has very large recovery and its on one of the worst weapon classes in the game (single straight sword). Like yeah its useful for speedruns bc its literally there but its not the best
@@RealLockheedMartin no. Unsheethe has one good move. The light attack is pretty much useless. Stagger damage is higher on square off and the light attack is very useful
Bloody Slash will forever be one of my all time favorite Ashes of War because I remember on day 1 of the game I had it on my Katana in Stormveil and an invader tried to hide behind Rogier so I wouldn’t attack him and he sat behind it taunting me when I remembered that there’s a slight gap between the blood slash and the weapon to in a single attempt I slashed THROUGH Rogier and didn’t hit him at all and instakilled the invader. My first hatemail of the game
Square-off is an underrated gem, it does 40 stance damage, enough to stagger almost every boss with only 2-3 attacks, and its never getting nerfed because people don’t realize how strong that is hahahahaha(also the light attack breaks shield guard in 1 attack)
Totally agreed. Maybe it is not nerfed because it has been only hope for Straight Swords and they have been always better option for weapon group such as katanas, curved swords,etc in Elden ring. :(
It's too slow and damage itself isn't that great either. It does ~x1,5 damage of dual straight sword L1 with the speed of 2-2,5 L2s. And it requires specific openings to land it safely
Blood Tax is absolutely BRUTAL on the Antspur rapier. Put poison on it, then you have a 3 weight sidearm that can be used from behind a shield, inflicts poison AND scarlet rot, AND heals you on top of that, and the rapid thrusts of the ash make inflicting the two statuses surprisingly fast.
As an 'oldschool' gamer, I can really appreciate the music you use in videos. The Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter music in this one really brings back some memories!
Fun fact about Braggart’s Roar: the stamina Regen stacks if you powerstance two weapons with it because it’s classified as a weapon buff so you can slap it on any two weapons you like with turtle talisman (or without) and regen your entire stamina bar in like 1.5 seconds
@@oddpooka2 they count as one weapon unfortunately but you can “one hand” two of the same fists for the same effect. I never do though because I get confused which fist I’ve already buffed it’s very hard to tell if you’re doing it right 🤣
Usually these lists are pretty on point but Square Off being ranked that low is just comical, it's the best stance-breaking AoW for straight swords by a long shot since most of the other heavy poise breakers got nerfed
Yea this list compared to his other ones has some pretty L takes. Acting like a very large amount of them are objectively bad when actually its quite the opposite. rings of light and square off being 2 that really threw me for a loop, as if carian gs is better is just weird
@@lharsay Obviously? No one would deny that but that doesn't mean square off should be overlooked. Not as powerful as what you mentioned but you'll need more mind and endurance to be able to spam it, meanwhile square off is incredibly good at the very beginning with little to no major stat investment
I have never thought to try to stealth my way through the front gate of stormveil. I always just juked the ballistas and footmen (after dying a generous amount of times trying to perfect the stategy)
Seeing square off being placed at 82 got me utterly flabbergasted. Everything else seems fairly placed but I was expecting to see square off in at LEAST top 15. Personally, I would put square off in the top 5.
Was this one before Rusty got an editor? He also repeated the assassins gambit clip to make it look like he was jerking off the sword. You know how they say A comedian's comedian, or a magician's magician? He's an editors editor.
Speaking of Bloody Slash... in my first ER playthrough, I was determined to make a paladin build, both in look and in function. I initially disimissed Bloody Slash because, in spite of it doing more damage than any other option I'd chosen at that point in the game, it just didn't fit the theme I was going for. ...then I remembered the paladin skill "Sacrifice" from Diablo 2, and that was all the mental gymnastics I needed to Bloody Slash my way through half the game 😁
It's my favorite skill since ds3, because of this. You can throw so many enemies skyward with it, and then get some free time for either healing or a charged heavy. It breaks npc type enemies so hard, it's delicious.
Stamp sweep is actually very strong. It has 3 of each individual hit can maxout rotten wing stacks. When using a heavy weapon, it also deals a lot of poise damage. It looks like the entire list is ignoring many factors that will affect the final result of a build. As some ash of war also scales with arcane or intelligence.
nah, flaming strike is still the best ash of war wherever you put it, square off is mid to mediocre wherever you put it, and spinning strikes will always be bad
And even then the placement of nearly everything is all over the place he put most of the top 10 ashes for pvp in like 50th place whilst flaming strike is def prolly the best ash of war for all things considered (and probably because of stuff you are not aware of) the rest of the ranking has barely to no justification and specially considering how scattered the value of ashes are this tierlist is just crazy considering the current elden ring landscape. Both pve and pvp.
So true homie but even then this attempt to include both pve and pvp in one tierlist is just really bad with only a few scattered exceptions (bro didnt even knew how moth flight worked)
Sadge, poison moth flight isn’t the greatest but it does a LARGE amount of burst damage if the target is already poisoned and then removes the poison, it’s like bleed but poison 5:42
@@hellokatyfac3It's vaguely similar, I suppose! A similar loop, except the burst damage comes from removing the status. Bit sad that the animation is awkwar
@@JF-vz1juI wish the serpentbone blade could be infused as well. Seriously, though. Why can't we have that? If the antspur rapier can be infused, why not the serpentbone blade? Hell, I'm convinced it is supposed to be infusible due to it using standard smithing stones
I was genuinely stunned seeing square off that low, the damage is sold, it come out quickly and it has crazy poise damage and a low FP cost, genuinely mental putting it that low
Comes out quickly? You realize you have to get in a stupid stance first right? Are you counting that? Also, no, the damage isn't "solid" when it takes that damn long. I could do a 5-hit combo with my katana in that time.
@@screwgoogle4993 Just because you're really comfortable with a particular build/set-up, doesn't mean that everybody else shares the same mentality. Sure you could do a 5-hit combo with your Katana during the charge up, but not everyone wants to use some lame Japanese bleed sword. Some people like having variety and fun.
Cragblade on the Giant Crusher is a force to be reckoned with. That charged R2 hits insanely hard and instantly poise breaks almost anything. I saw a clip of it on a +25 Giant Crusher in PvP, and it did a little over 1600 damage with the charged heavy.
Stormcaller on a grave scythe with bleed is insane. At least it was before the current patch, haven't tested it. All i know is me and two buddies melted Melania on NG+ 5 by forming a triangle around her and spamming this ability. Didn't get hit ONCE. We were cracking up as we had just spent the last HOUR getting our collective cheeks clapped by her.
Poison moth flight is actually kinda awesome given you establish poison on the target before you hit with it. Explodes the enemy’s health with all the damage the poison tick would’ve done all at once. Allowing you to start another poison proc and if you have the mushroom crown, that’s 10% 20 second damage boon, reset and regained in just a few swings. Put the ash on something with innate bleed damage and now your doing that too.
I kind of like it on antspur rapier with the bleed affinity. Allows you to apply bleeding, scarlet rot and deadly poison at the same time. Also the deadly poison is often applied by a single hit.
Here is something neat about Hoarfrost Stomp: the wave can travel up walls and hit platforms above you. I found this out whenever I got the chest trap to the mine in Calied and actually took out the Kindred standing on top of the shed. I did use this to cheese the gargoyle on the west ramparts in Lyndell by hiding on the stairs. Best used on enemies on walkways above you like the annoying imps that chuck things at you.
Stamp: Sweep is the only AOW I use for my Greatsword bleed build. It’s a quick animation and with 166 bleed buildup with 60 arcane you can proc blood loss on most enemies in a single sweep if you land both hits which is easy enough to do. Obviously there are more optimal builds for bleed but if you love colossal weapons like I do then it’s a super fun variation to the standard strength build.
Same but with vykes warspear and with frenzyflame thrust vykes warspear was used in the run where I beat astel naturalborn of the void only taking one hit (I knew I took only one hit cause I had all crimson tears and had used physic cause I have crimson tear in physic)
Square Off is WAY better than you rated it. If you are using a non-unique straight sword at all in PVE, you are using it for Square Off - it is seriously one of fastest ways to break stances and set up shield-breaks in the game, AND the damage is great
@@lharsay my brother in christ, even when an enemy is unpoisoned you can still shave chunks of their health, not to mention that IT WILL POISON most enemies and bosses with 2 presses. You really do hate people sticking up for stuff dont you?
carian grandeur actually carried me through the sellia crystal tunnel. it works like a charm when trying to hit the pests sitting on the roofs of those little shacks. 1 fully charged, well-aimed carian grandeur for each pest and bing bang boom you're done with those incredibly annoying enemies. it also reaches far enough to hit the one that ambushes you in the room with the two worshipping a statue! it also carried me in the fight against the sellia crystal tunnel boss (fallingstar beast)
Kick deserves better, it does huge poise damage, no FP cost, and STUNLOCKS any stunable enemies. Edit: AND it can hit enemies while they're getting up. Not only that, but your stamina regens to full while waiting for your opponent to get up. All you gotta do is kick until stance breaks, crit, kick some more, crit, repeat.
I know multiple people have mentioned this, but square off is insanely good and it being rated this low is criminal. Pairing it with bleed, crimson dagger, and decent poise straight up let's you trade damage with Malenia and win. Most things in the game will be stance broken and procced with bleed within 2 to 3 hits, and combining that with how ridiculously efficient it is plus the R2 having pretty decent tracking once you've iron out the range is the reason I run a straight sword in my off hand. The thing is absolutely a disk one nuke and unambiguously one of the best ashes in the game for what it gives you verses the cost.
Golden Land + Great Stars is a fantastic time because it turns the blast and secondary beams into a nice trade. Though I do miss mixing it with bloosflame blade.
Something ive found out about raptor of the mists: you can almost entirely avoid malikeths million-death-blade attack when you use this ash. The only damage you get is the over-time damage and the health debuff. So if he's winding it up and there's no chance you're rolling out of it, try raptor of the mists
If unsheathe wasn’t only allowed on katanas which usually have bleed I’d say square off is better So basically If you give bleed to square off it’s better
Only 12 minutes through so far, but you're SEVERELY underrating stamp uppercut imo. That thing is a monster on big weapons. It's biggest strengths being the super high stance damage, near infinite hyper armour, and it's ability to fling stuff into the air. It'll infinitely stunlock a fair few enemies as well (as long as you've got fp), most notable enemy being black knife assasins
I actually found pretty good use when using Bloodflame Blade with Spinning Weapon. A pretty decent skill for bosses to quickly prock bleed. Not great in many situations, but when it shines, it shimmers pretty well.
Using Spinning Strikes instead of Spinning Weapon, this was my very first build. Banished Knight Halberd, bloodflame blade, spinning strikes = good consistent damage.
I just wanted to mention because I never saw you use it (you might already know) is that the waves of darkness ash of war also has a follow up R2 attack that increases the damage it does a lot. The waves also do the weapons status effects, great for cold builds.
the gimmick of poison moth flight is hitting something that's already poisoned, as it will then inflict the full dmg of a poison dot instantly (like bleed). Kinda neat to use for enemies that are immune to bleed but weak to poison.
For Horah Loux's Earthshaker You forgot to mention that enemies that are close to you get pushed back repeatedly during the initial animation. This applies as multiple hits for items such as the prosthesis and other such effects.. if you put those items on as well as Alexander's shard and popped us off in the middle of a crowded area, you are looking at an absolutely insane amount of damage
Fun Fact: Golden Lands explosion spawns at the ground where the sword hits, knowing this if you activate it on a ledge with the swords tip over air the explosion will spawn under the ledge at the ground level below you. You can achieve something similar with fortissax spears
Personally, I think that Poison Moth Flight is a really fun ash that has some decently strong power. Of course it's not outstanding normally, but it does good work against bosses (if they're not poison immune). Definitely ought to be higher than it is.
Problem is, not many bosses are weak to poison, and why put a whole ash of war when foetid pots and rot pots do more damage overtime? Plus overall cold, rot and bleed are just better status effects. Personally i would prefer that poison lasted less, but did more damage per tick. Plus the melee attack is pretty slow and does not do much damage, and its hard to find.
@@somerandomperson9670 i did not know that, but tbh in the time you poison someone, and then hit him again with it, i can easily proc bleed 2 to 3 times, but that is pretty good ngl
@@pyramidhead2719 That thing you say about poison? That's Poison Moth Flight's version of poison. It has Deadly Poison, which lasts a third of normal poison's duration but deals double the damage per second. It's actually slightly more than the poison of Fetid Pots, because those inflict the same percent hp as Deadly Poison but has a lower flat base damage value. On top of that, as somerandomperson said, hitting an already poisoned enemy with it will apply a percent damage effect, dealing 5% of the enemy's health (plus 250 base damage). This is worse than bleed, of course, because bleed is 15% on normal enemies and 10.5% on bosses (plus 100-200 base damage), and it will immediately end whatever poison effect is currently active, meaning that, for maximum damage, you'd time this effect for near the end of a poison duration, but it's still percent damage being added onto a percent damage effect. And, as rhettbutler mentions, you can put Poison Moth Flight on an Antspur Rapier with the bleed affinity, letting you effectively triple stack on percent health effects. The ash's strike inflicts 250 poison buildup, so use of a poison affinity is completely unnecessary.
Something to add about Sacred Blade (and probably similar weapon arts, unless they recently changed it): if you do it while in melee range, it also deals the damage of the enhanced weapon, in addition to the projectile. This would bump it up the list considerably IMO
Yeah it kind of makes little sense that flaming strike is rated #1 but sacred blade is so far down the list. It is available extremely early in the game and a flat +90 damage is an incredibly powerful buff for how early it is obtained.
Flaming Strike and Sacred Blade are my favorite ashes. Why? because you can 2 hand your left weapon, activate the ash, then go back to dual wielding, activate the ash on your right weapon, and now you have 2 buffed weapons that you can powerstance. Sacred Blade is actually slightly better for this because you can actually get ranged damage while the enemy comes closer, making up for double the activation time. Also, if they run away when using dual Sacred Blade, just fire another projectile at them. In PvP its amazing, and against anything with a holy weakness in PvE, you'll absolutely destroy them. Same goes for fire weakness with Flaming Strike.
@Ikaros--- We all love burning/glowing swords. We can't deny it 😅 I often use the scholar's armament spell on pure physical weapons for a decent buff. Starting from Vagabond you only need three extra int points to cast it, and the Demi-Human queen staff. I'd say it's worth it for the aesthetic alone lol. Looks like a blue lightsaber
The reason for redundant AoWs that can only be used on a certain weapon type (like Square Off) is so you can use them with other Affinities. That is the main problem with Flails, if you want to use Spinning Chain, you are stuck with Standard affinity.
I'm glad nobody actually knows how obscenely good square off is. It shreds in PvE, with insane poise break, and it destroys in PvP too, with great timing to catch rolls and punish jump attacks. The stance also is great for tricking people into thinking you're going to use the attack, when you can just... not. Great for getting someone to attack, leaving an opening. I have no trouble dominating invaders with a 2-handed square off keen noble slender sword. A spear talisman, shard of alexander, and Relanna Cameo thrusting counterattack square off heavy straight up 1-shots invaders, and if it doesn't, it really, REALLY gets in their heads, causing them to fight sloppily for the rest of the fight. It takes virtually no FP too, allowing you to take those mind points and put them to better use. Cannot disagree more with its placement, with respect.
I love how he said that the only situation the Through and Through was useful in was dealing with enemies coming at you in a straight line, which was a scarce occurrence; only to then commend the Garian Greatsword for the exact same thing, and say that situation came up more often than you'd think, not 10 minutes later.
I don't know if you are aware of this or just didn't put it in the video but when you use Poison Moth Flight on an already poisoned enemy it does bonus damage and removes the poison. That has great synergy with the Kindred of Rot talisman because it allows you to take advantage of the buff while not having to wait for the poison to run out. The bonus damage is not negligible either it's very noticeable, like a bleed proc. That doesn't make it broken since you can just use bleed build and you'll probably have better results but I don't think it's in the bottom 10 worst ashes.
Maybe I'm biased because I've only used it in the early game but square off on the longsword when starting as vagabond feels comically OP. It's just so much poise damage
@@swigo There is literally not a single Boss where you can't get good value from square off (Except Rykard). You can't say the same about a good number of the AoW ranked over it here
Most people don't do this but I judge the value of skills by high NG+ settings and I can confirm, even in the Haligtree, that square off is incredibly good and efficient
Mighty Shot is actually my go-to on my Pulley Bow. It can knock down or stagger most smaller enemies and can even stop the charge of some larger ones. And it's fantastic for sniping. And Bloody Slash? That's been my main for a long time just because it's so AMAZINGLY SATISFYING to hit anything with it and watch them crumple.
One thing that I didn't understand about Barricade Shield is that using it counts as blocking. You can hold the block button and strategically choose the right moment to increase your guard boost. It's amazing and it honest to god trivializes Malenia by making two of her most hated attacks become slight discomforts rather than fight-ending nuclear bombs.
I have a lot of comments on some of the Ashes of War. 5:29 If you're unaware, Poison Moth Flight can be used to cause a sort of blood loss effect to poisoned enemies. 6:13 Assassin's Gambit can be used to cheese a lot of bosses. Entering the arena after using it can make the boss go idle until it is alerted. 7:32 Light attack with Square Off demolishes shield enemies just like Kick. 11:34 Upward Cut is pretty good for roll catches with some weapons. Also the hyper armor at the very start of the attack makes up for the long recovery. 23:50 Spinning Slash is insane for true combo into blood loss or frostbite. It's especially good with Warped Axe for some reason. 28:16 Lifesteal Fist also works with Crimson Dagger Talisman. 46:00 My god, Quickstep is too op for backstabs. If an enemy has a large weapon or slow AoW, quickstep left or right the moment they attack. Sometimes I stand right in their face waiting for them to swing. 1:00:31 War Cry and Braggart's Roar true combos for Colossal Swords with heavy then light attack.
There are a few here I just outright disagree with. For Square Off, it being a default skill doesn't really offset the utility of the ash of war thanks to the affinities. Try as you might, using a standard skill will prevent you from using what your stats actually cater to after a few weapon upgrades. It's a great early game ash, with great MVs and stance-break on an otherwise very lightweight and quick weapon class. Might not be good in PvP, but you can kill a boss with it pretty simply. For Spinning Weapon, it had its heyday. It's a niche use, but it makes for a great magic ash on a melee-int build. Put some Rotten Sword Insignia on a Clayman's Harpoon with this thing, Enchant the weapon with magic or cold if that's your style, and that'll end big health pools _quick._ The one caveat is, don't lock-on. Hit them with the side of the weapon for the most consistency.
Shield Crash is another I've had great results with, both PvE and PvP. The thing with Shield Crash in PvP is that it's a hard counter to a lot of the skill-spam meta. It locks your opponent into staggers, does multi-hit for rotten insignia to boost the damage of the final hit, and can pretty easily wipe an opponent out completely if they aren't high on defensive investment. Plus, it can lead into itself again if the opponent doesn't get up correctly. In PvE, blocking + chain hit + status is king. You're hard-pressed to find anything it doesn't work on, barring Malenia on account of her lifesteal.
Good to see someone else who knows how good Spinning strikes is. I play a pure strength build and it is my number one Ash of war even without relying on status! I‘ll try your shield crash loadout.
@@Ropewatch Word of warning. There are some pushboxes that soft counter Shield Crash in PvE: The most aggregious is gargoyles. Big space between the legs that the player can't walk through is a killer for direct contact skills.
Methinks you might have missed the part about poison moth flight that turns an active poison proc into a bleed proc. Useful when the enemy is poisoned and about to lose it to get a good amount of extra damage in.
Just a tip if you're lucky. War Cry on a colossal greatsword with bleed infusion can insta-proc bleed if you do a charged heavy. It's INSANELY effective against the Godskin bosses if you really know what you're doing.
You kind of forgot to mention that an uncharged warcry R2 on colossal swords true combos into an R1 in PvP, making it a one shot machine. Probably the highest damage true combo in the game.
Law of Regression IS a good counter to Seppuku, but I'll never forget the time I landed a charged Siluria's Woe on a ganker right as he was buffing with it and just removing him from existence.
Another thing about golden land a lot of people overlook is status can build up off the little lights as well as the main blast. Pairing it with the Great Stars can make big bosses melt pretty fast while keeping you healthy... and at a range if u really need it
Poisonous Mist: This ash will always have a special place in my heart for its interaction on a Bloody Antspur Rapier. It rots, bleeds and poisons at the same time. No matter if PvP or PvE, at least something will stick. If you want to see an enemy truly melt, try this on one susceptible to all three of those. Well, unless you are Goldfrey, at least.
Its really awesome to see stormblade so high on the list. its such an amazing ash of war amplified by the time its aquired (Storm hill). And that not even talking about the global usability! It doesnt matter what stats you take as long as your weapon is upgraded the damage is reliable and consistent on those wind blasts. Can be used with damn near any affinity so it can adjust to your needs and put on almost any weapon so its almost never a wrong choice. That ash, like you said, makes so much of the early game a joke in the most enjoyable way possible. Able to make a range crippled class start a trivial inconvenience at worst, thre is really nothing like it and I cant think of an ashe of war that deserved the 5 spot better.
one of my favorite low level invasion builds is chilling in stormveil with storm assault bkh and storm blade on a lordsword ss or something. Fast to pick up and always delivers on comedy.
storm blade is so good, used it on a cold affinity flamberge and the combination of bleed and frost, as well as the very high damage absolutely demolished ng+2 malenia
fun fact: few people are aware that Hoarah Loux earthshaker initial scream multihits and staggers strongly anything that is really close to you. So when paired with millicent's prosthesis and/or the sword insignias, the shakes actually hit like trucks being already boosted by about 10%.
Carian Grandeur is amazing. Nothing like hitting over 9k damage in one swing in PvE, not to mention you will also have the ability to also spec into int based spells and enhanced their charged versions if you built for Grandeur.
Yea, he missed a bunch of things on grandeur, which is fine, it's a huge vid. Grandeur just trivializes npc invaders by spam knockdowns, also scales strongly on weapon level then lightly on int so you can just forego alot of the int investment but if you do want it, it appears to be frontloaded then it peters out past 30 then seems to soft cap pretty hard at 50, it can be used on a light weapon like a dagger and still do near full damage, it does good stance damage so you can double use it often plus it seems to outrange even the urumi at full charge which can be super handy to kite with. My fav strategy is to pre cast a couple glintblades or magus field thing then charge the blade before the glintblades fire, dispatches large stuff pretty damn quickly.
Square Off is actualy pretty good. Has gap closer variant and faster variant. Deals decent damage and high poise damage. Overall versatile skill which excels in crit focused builds.
I love how he makes the argument from the perspective of some form of role-playing and enjoying the game for it's fantasy elements when 90% of players want big sword that do big number so they can read more item descriptions. Never change :)
No joke, i adore these lists. Its these minute details that make me feel like there is always more to discover in a game and just sometimes you discover something that really changes the way you look at certain abilities. Thank you for all these ridiculous details and long videos, Rusty
Poison Moths Flight allows you to burst the poison, taking a large chunk of damage like bleed while being able to reapply quickly and let it tick down or burst again. When an enemy is poisoned, landing the ash of war does burst damage and removes the poison. How do you not know this? It’s flexible as a DoT or a burst or both. It’s extremely useful. Toss this on a weapon that does rot and you have rot and poison burst damage. Toss this on a bleed and you have bleed burst and poison burst to alternate.
my first time touching the game i picked samurai and as soon as i hit my first unsheathe i fell in love immediately, still my favorite ash of war and im currently using it to no hit malenia (at least trying).
Haven't finished it, but barrage is probably one of the best bow ashes of war, it's not just good for status, because in PvP when people see a bow their instinct is typically to just spam rolls, barrage can nick them through that, and give a higher chance for a headshot where you can continue to pelt them because shots with barrage will not stagger someone out of the recoil animation from a headshot. It's good, really good.
I can't believe I watched all of this. I clicked on it and thought, "Oh, I'll only watch a couple minutes, I'll definitely get bored." But no. Here I am, an hour later. You're good at what you do. Concise, witty, informational, and funny. If you make another video like this, may I respectfully request that you include a screencap of the in-game description of the ash or item? Like, I have no idea what Enchanted Shot actually does. I wanted to make this request on the Talisman video you did, but didn't think you had something else like this in the works, so fool's on me. Regardless, thanks for the content, I enjoyed it!
im new in the elden ring community, and i just ended my first run with dexterity + blodhound’s step ash of war build, i had a feeling that i could get more than a dash, but it turnes out that its top 3 in the game😮
Square Off deals massive physical and poise damage, openning enemies to critical strikes. Thops's Barrier can deflect anything magical in the game, even Elder Beast and Maliketh spells and slashes.
I actually really like stamp sweep for duels. It gives you hyper armor for a few seconds and the sweep is really wide and catches people surprisingly often. Also, it knocks your opponent over. Sure, the damage isn't great, but it's not bad either. I honestly like this skill. Haven't used it much in pve, but it's definitely not bad in pvp. It seems as though you may just have a negative bias towards it. You're definitely missing something.
note for anyone who is curious or actually cares, there is one medium bow that can use barrage and is the bane of every pvp player whos ever fought its existance given its higher damage/range for status builds and animation canceling the ash gives it letting it shoot two arrows almost at the same time. the Black Bow, formerly known as the Pharos Black Bow in Dark Souls, found on a roof in Leyndel has barrage by default.
I love how 90% of the comments point out that "Square Off" is disgustingly misplaced on this list. Excellent Guardbreaker. Does a lot of stance damage. And cost only 6/8 FP. Can be found and applied only on Straight Swords, which is a big plus, because Straight Swords are one of the best Weapon Classes in the game. Stamina friendly, fast, light weight, low requirement, versatile moveset and very easy to use. This Ash of War should be hands down top 20 at a minimum.
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💥 Unleash chaos in Wanted: Dead with up to 50% off NOW: bit.ly/wanteddead-rusty
Love your content rusty, please answer it would make my day ❤️❤️
Where as the over the top intro I want to know were the story will go
you goofy stamp: upward cut is for trading hits
"subscribe or perish" reminds me of naturehatesyou's "subscribe or die" .......ahhh good times
Alright bro do the weapons list and I'll buy some of everything your selling
We’re getting even closer to the all weapons tier list 😂
We’re almost there
He will run out of ideas eventually
"in last place, to nobody's surprise: Ivory Sickle. Fuck you."
🤤🤤🤤
@@willaleander7869Pot tier list… surely… right?
Edit: LETS FUCKING GOOOOO
Sorry, I've watched this video too many times not to do this:
91 - white shadow's lure
90 - through and through
89 - sky shot
88 - barrage
87 - stamp (sweep)
86 - poison moth flight
85 - assassin's gambit
84 - kick
83 - sacred ring of light
82 - square off
81 - thops's barrier
80 - spinning weapon
79 - parry
78 - loretta's slash
77 - spinning strikes
76 - storm wall
75 - stamp (upward cut)
74 - carian greatsword
73 - shared order
72 - ground slam
71 - golden slam
70 - carian grandeur
69 - charge forth
68 - troll's roar
67 - mighty shot
66 - lightning slash
65 - no skill
64 - sacred order
63 - blood tax
62 - golden land
61 - storm assault
60 - shield crash
59 - spectral lance
58 - eruption
57 - gravitas
56 - lightning ram
55 - repeating thrust
54 - spinning slash
53 - poisonous mist
52 - vow of the indomitable
51 - hoarah loux's earthshaker
50 - sacred blade
49 - storm stomp
48 - lifesteal fist
47 - raptor of the mists
46 - shield bash
45 - enchanted shot
44 - sword dance
43 - bloody slash
42 - holy ground
41 - flame of the redmanes
40 - lion's claw
39 - double slash
38 - war cry
37 - blood blade
36 - golden parry
35 - prayerful strike
34 - hoarfrost stomp
33 - rain of arrows
32 - determination
31 - royal knight's resolve
30 - prelate's charge
29 - chilling mist
28 - vacuum slice
27 - barbaric roar
26 - carian retaliation
25 - barricade shield
24 - earthshaker
23 - piercing fang
22 - quickstep
21 - giant hunt
20 - glintstone pebble
19 - impaling thrust
18 - golden vow
17 - ice spear
16 - seppuku
15 - waves of darkness
14 - stormcaller
13 - black flame tornado
12 - cragblade
11 - endure
10 - glintblade phalanx
9 - thunderbolt
8 - phantom slash
7 - wild strikes
6 - beast's roar
5 - storm blade
4 - unsheathe
3 - bloodhound's step
2 - braggart's roar
1 - flaming strike
thanks for this
the hero we don't deserve
your the best
Hot take, square off is better than flaming strike
omg thanks so much
Fromsoft just give this man even a single crumb of the DLC, at this rate he really might just rate all the doors in Elden Ring from worst to best...
Don't give him ideas, he did say (jokingly) that he'd rank every patch of grass between the lands if he has the mentality for it. XD
Id watch both tier lists
"Number 7: the entrance to the Erdtree. Yeah... I know. I'm not happy about this one either."
He already did paintings and chess so it’d only be a matter of time
Tbag EpicGaming did that for Battlefield 1 years ago. It was funny.
Im sure someone has already mentioned it, but each projectile in rain of arrows actually uses the same type of arrow fired. Meaning you can use just 1 single rot, sleep, poison, bleed, etc. Arrow, and get massive buildup, great for starting fights with big enemies/bosses by giving them status effects before they break idle animation
Something Rusty forgot to mention with Giant Hunt is how it fairs against humanoid enemies. About 80-90% of humanoid enemies and some bosses get absolutely thrown around by Giant Hunt, from the basic knight enemies to Banished Knights, Omens getting knocked onto their backs, Crucible Knights getting flinched and knocked back, and even Malenia getting burger flipped by this AoW. It also deals thrust damage, so it's a ridiculous counter to land as its large damage only gets amplified if you catch an enemy mid attack.
Not me imagining Spongebob fighting Malenia with a spatula, no sir.
SpongeBob would win, too.
Square off being that low is criminal, I can understand it though since the value isn’t obvious. What makes Square Off good is the insane stance damage. The light attack of Square Off does as much stance as the unsheathe heavy attack, and the Square Off heavy attack does *more.* You’re giving the stance breaking power of a Colossal weapon to a Straight Sword attack.
TRUE. Nobody ever talks about Square Off.
Indeed. I was also surprised to see Assassin's Gambit that low since I use it all the time against bosses to get better positioning when I enter the fight. It's really good for Godskin Duo because you can start the fight without triggering aggro, allowing for easier sleep pot throws. Maybe it's more useful for speedrun strats but still, I was surprised to see both Gambit and Square Off that low
I was very confused as well, square off stance breaks all bosses in 2-3 hits. And the damage on the heavy attack is very good. I played a run where I didn't feel like wasting smithing stones to upgrade the longsword and just used at +0 till draconic sentinel. No problem whatsoever. And I am not some kind of god gamer, the ash is just that good.
Same with stomp sweep, it's honestly not bad at all, especially since you can proc most status when on a ultra.
Definitely Agree.
Its damage value on stance and HP are still great to use for riposte strategy againt many enemys despite of its limit of straightsword themselves.
I agree it can be inferior compared to other fast, wide, and easy ones from Katanas and other OP AoW, but It is still reliable and powerful even in late game area.
Makes me sad as a player who finished whole game with Lordsworn Straightsword and shield.
It's been posted like 45 times but Square Off is genuinely an extremely powerful and versatile AOW that can carry you through the entire game with ease, absolutely trivializes all normal encounters and a large % of bosses for almost no FP
Yes! I love Square Off so much.
Oh and here I didn't check and reposted it yet another time... My bad. Yeah I remembered the SO R1 as being pretty stupidly strong so I was surprised.
Its the best ash on straight swords, which isnt a high bar, but its not the best in the game ffs
DAAAAAMN staight!
@@leonardo9259no one said it was, but it's definitely way way above average and does make most of the game extremely easy without ever really falling off at what it does.
Square Off is actually so good it's disgusting. My only gripe with it is that I can't put it on the Carian Knight's sword :(
And Crystal Sword :(
Must be great rather than spinning slash which is worse than jump R2.
I wish we could put it on greatswords.
After Critical Damage got buffed in 1.10 both Lordsworn and Noble Slender Straightswords with Square Off are now amongst best weapons in whole game
I tried Square off with dual straight swords. And I wasn't impressed. Around x1.5 damage of single L1 with speed of 2-2,5 L1. Felt completely useless for me.
@sadpug9398 try the heavy attack variant.
Two months late, but I feel it's worth mentioning for Barricade Shield. The weapon art is, itself, a block. You can intercept an enemy attack on like frame one with that by just hitting the left trigger and nine times out of ten they'll bounce off and leave themselves wide open to a guard counter. If you hold left bumper after tapping left trigger you won't even drop the shield after activating the shield buff.
Lion's Claw is also useful in PvP. The trick is to only use it whenever an opponent has committed to their own ash attack; then hyper armor through it and punish them brutally.
Square off might be one of the best stance-breaking tools this game has, not to mention its easily accessible and doesn't have any other requirements
There is a reason why it is popular for speed and challenge runs
Must be a straight sword biased thing for him. Square off is one of the best
It used to be ridiculously strong on the flamberge on ds3, but having it restricted to straight swords really kills it for me too
its convinient, but its still slow, has very large recovery and its on one of the worst weapon classes in the game (single straight sword). Like yeah its useful for speedruns bc its literally there but its not the best
Obsolete the moment you receive a katana with Unsheathe.
@@RealLockheedMartin no. Unsheethe has one good move. The light attack is pretty much useless. Stagger damage is higher on square off and the light attack is very useful
Bloody Slash will forever be one of my all time favorite Ashes of War because I remember on day 1 of the game I had it on my Katana in Stormveil and an invader tried to hide behind Rogier so I wouldn’t attack him and he sat behind it taunting me when I remembered that there’s a slight gap between the blood slash and the weapon to in a single attempt I slashed THROUGH Rogier and didn’t hit him at all and instakilled the invader. My first hatemail of the game
I always have this ash on. Underrated as hell.
How could you POSSIBLY have gotten hate mail for them being a coward?
I use Bloody Slash on a twinblade to amazing effect.
@@NobleRenegade7You wouldn't believe how salty people get for no good reason.
It was me, Barry. It's always been me. every bad thing that ever happened to you... was me.
Square-off is an underrated gem, it does 40 stance damage, enough to stagger almost every boss with only 2-3 attacks, and its never getting nerfed because people don’t realize how strong that is hahahahaha(also the light attack breaks shield guard in 1 attack)
Totally agreed.
Maybe it is not nerfed because it has been only hope for Straight Swords and they have been always better option for weapon group such as katanas, curved swords,etc in Elden ring. :(
Similar with spectral lance, which does 5x poise damage.
Unsheat beats square off in literally everything
It's too slow and damage itself isn't that great either. It does ~x1,5 damage of dual straight sword L1 with the speed of 2-2,5 L2s. And it requires specific openings to land it safely
@@Holynoellecap
Blood Tax is absolutely BRUTAL on the Antspur rapier.
Put poison on it, then you have a 3 weight sidearm that can be used from behind a shield, inflicts poison AND scarlet rot, AND heals you on top of that, and the rapid thrusts of the ash make inflicting the two statuses surprisingly fast.
As an 'oldschool' gamer, I can really appreciate the music you use in videos. The Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter music in this one really brings back some memories!
I heard the ratchet and clank music first and was like hold up 🤣
Spyro music as well. I'm glad someone else caught it.
Mind giving me the specific osts boys? I love listening to new music.
Ratchet & Clan music caught me off guard too, amazing soundtrack
Fun fact about Braggart’s Roar: the stamina Regen stacks if you powerstance two weapons with it because it’s classified as a weapon buff so you can slap it on any two weapons you like with turtle talisman (or without) and regen your entire stamina bar in like 1.5 seconds
Then put greenburst cracked tear in your physick and use a dagger. You just won't stop attacking.
Does it stack when cast with paired weapons (i.e. Fists & Claws) or do those function as a "single" weapon since you aren't buffing twice?
@@oddpooka2 they count as one weapon unfortunately but you can “one hand” two of the same fists for the same effect. I never do though because I get confused which fist I’ve already buffed it’s very hard to tell if you’re doing it right 🤣
How would you get the second Braggart's Roar though? I thought only one weapon can have the same ash of war if it's one not on a weapon by default?
@@steelseraph7413 lost ashes of war can duplicate any ash
Usually these lists are pretty on point but Square Off being ranked that low is just comical, it's the best stance-breaking AoW for straight swords by a long shot since most of the other heavy poise breakers got nerfed
This list has been his worst thus far and I feel like including pvp scenarios brought it down a bit
Yea this list compared to his other ones has some pretty L takes. Acting like a very large amount of them are objectively bad when actually its quite the opposite. rings of light and square off being 2 that really threw me for a loop, as if carian gs is better is just weird
no giants hunt or lions law in top 10. bh step at 3 HUH
Lion's Claw on the Prelate Inferno Grozier does more poise damage, hits harder and has leagues better hitbox than Square Off.
@@lharsay Obviously? No one would deny that but that doesn't mean square off should be overlooked. Not as powerful as what you mentioned but you'll need more mind and endurance to be able to spam it, meanwhile square off is incredibly good at the very beginning with little to no major stat investment
Fun fact - if you hit a poisoned enemy with Poison Moth Flight, it consumes the poison proc and does a chunk of damage kinda like a mini bleed.
It's fun when you have that on 1 of your antspur rapiers.
Great for resetting your poison to reactivate damage boosts.
Actually really fun combo with KoRE talisman cause you can just proc it over and over
Assassins gambit is very underrated. It helps in running away in very critical situations like stormveil maingate, impassable bridge.
I have never thought to try to stealth my way through the front gate of stormveil. I always just juked the ballistas and footmen (after dying a generous amount of times trying to perfect the stategy)
Seeing square off being placed at 82 got me utterly flabbergasted. Everything else seems fairly placed but I was expecting to see square off in at LEAST top 15. Personally, I would put square off in the top 5.
Yeah this guy is dumb, Square off can trivialize the whole game
The edit at 36:20 is so needlessly clean, well done to the editor
Check out 35:36, equally insane.
hell yeah
what transition?
Was this one before Rusty got an editor? He also repeated the assassins gambit clip to make it look like he was jerking off the sword. You know how they say A comedian's comedian, or a magician's magician? He's an editors editor.
Speaking of Bloody Slash... in my first ER playthrough, I was determined to make a paladin build, both in look and in function. I initially disimissed Bloody Slash because, in spite of it doing more damage than any other option I'd chosen at that point in the game, it just didn't fit the theme I was going for. ...then I remembered the paladin skill "Sacrifice" from Diablo 2, and that was all the mental gymnastics I needed to Bloody Slash my way through half the game 😁
I also wanted to be a paladin build in my first playthru
By the end I was powerstancing bloodhound step giants crushers (friend gave me his crusher)
My build was uh. Waluigi in a fire monk hood, for some reason. I used radahn's greatswords.
Stamp upward cut was really good at sending Malenia flying with my trusty Claymore.:) Also does a lot of poise damage. Very underrated here I think.
It's my favorite skill since ds3, because of this. You can throw so many enemies skyward with it, and then get some free time for either healing or a charged heavy. It breaks npc type enemies so hard, it's delicious.
Giant Hunt also yeets Malenia. Perfect for punishing her kick attacks
It also works for sending the Crucible Knight (spear) in Siofra Aqueduct off a cliff.
I used this ash the entire game and had no issues until Elden Beast, totally underwhelming placement on this list.
And all of those really hurt... :(
Stamp sweep is actually very strong. It has 3 of each individual hit can maxout rotten wing stacks. When using a heavy weapon, it also deals a lot of poise damage. It looks like the entire list is ignoring many factors that will affect the final result of a build. As some ash of war also scales with arcane or intelligence.
The scaling stat isn't what matters. The final result of a build doesn't matter
Boggart’s roar should be lower, but only because Boggart has to die to get it.
My only real problem with a list like this one is that it is for both PvP and PvE. Those should be separate lists.
Agreed, makes the rankings too conflicting that it's hard to agree with alot of it
nah, flaming strike is still the best ash of war wherever you put it, square off is mid to mediocre wherever you put it, and spinning strikes will always be bad
@@leonardo9259learn about poise values you will see square off is actually one of the best ashes in the game for pve
And even then the placement of nearly everything is all over the place he put most of the top 10 ashes for pvp in like 50th place whilst flaming strike is def prolly the best ash of war for all things considered (and probably because of stuff you are not aware of) the rest of the ranking has barely to no justification and specially considering how scattered the value of ashes are this tierlist is just crazy considering the current elden ring landscape. Both pve and pvp.
So true homie but even then this attempt to include both pve and pvp in one tierlist is just really bad with only a few scattered exceptions (bro didnt even knew how moth flight worked)
Sadge, poison moth flight isn’t the greatest but it does a LARGE amount of burst damage if the target is already poisoned and then removes the poison, it’s like bleed but poison 5:42
My fellow PMF enjoyer
Something something "Fire damage resets frostbite" ?
except CTRL-R 'fire' with 'poison moth flight' and 'frostbite' with 'poison' ?
@@hellokatyfac3It's vaguely similar, I suppose! A similar loop, except the burst damage comes from removing the status. Bit sad that the animation is awkwar
I wish i didnt have to mod the game to put Poison Moth Flight on the Serpentbone Blade. It's literally the perfect match lol.
@@JF-vz1juI wish the serpentbone blade could be infused as well. Seriously, though. Why can't we have that? If the antspur rapier can be infused, why not the serpentbone blade? Hell, I'm convinced it is supposed to be infusible due to it using standard smithing stones
I was genuinely stunned seeing square off that low, the damage is sold, it come out quickly and it has crazy poise damage and a low FP cost, genuinely mental putting it that low
yeah i don't think i will watch the rest just came down here to see if anyone else thought that was fucking insane lol
@@skyhawkslcb18square off is the best standard ash by a long shot. It can practically stun lock bosses with the insane poise damage it does.
Comes out quickly? You realize you have to get in a stupid stance first right? Are you counting that? Also, no, the damage isn't "solid" when it takes that damn long. I could do a 5-hit combo with my katana in that time.
@@screwgoogle4993 Just because you're really comfortable with a particular build/set-up, doesn't mean that everybody else shares the same mentality. Sure you could do a 5-hit combo with your Katana during the charge up, but not everyone wants to use some lame Japanese bleed sword. Some people like having variety and fun.
nobody gives a fuck that you're using a bleed kitana like 99% of other players with no imagination@@screwgoogle4993
Cragblade on the Giant Crusher is a force to be reckoned with. That charged R2 hits insanely hard and instantly poise breaks almost anything. I saw a clip of it on a +25 Giant Crusher in PvP, and it did a little over 1600 damage with the charged heavy.
Stormcaller on a grave scythe with bleed is insane. At least it was before the current patch, haven't tested it. All i know is me and two buddies melted Melania on NG+ 5 by forming a triangle around her and spamming this ability. Didn't get hit ONCE. We were cracking up as we had just spent the last HOUR getting our collective cheeks clapped by her.
Poison moth flight is actually kinda awesome given you establish poison on the target before you hit with it. Explodes the enemy’s health with all the damage the poison tick would’ve done all at once. Allowing you to start another poison proc and if you have the mushroom crown, that’s 10% 20 second damage boon, reset and regained in just a few swings. Put the ash on something with innate bleed damage and now your doing that too.
i was about to post this-my mushroom man rot/poison build wept to see him rank it that low
Yeah he doesn't really make the best use of some of the ashes of war
@@realhumanbeing3599I wish they had much more weapons that proc rot
I kind of like it on antspur rapier with the bleed affinity. Allows you to apply bleeding, scarlet rot and deadly poison at the same time. Also the deadly poison is often applied by a single hit.
It's cool, but it would still be that low
Lion's Claw at 40 and Beast Roar at 5 is one of the most insane things I've ever seen
Lion claw deserves it
@@FartSticksXDlol how? Even if its useless in PVP it still slaps hard enough in PVE to be higher than a roar that does 500 damage
Rusty makes some weird decisions with these lists. Like Lion's Claw does insane stance damage for the cost of it
@@Mystic-Midnight exactly. Slap it on colossals or great hammers and it's basically unstoppable
Id put lions claw in the top10 just because it's got infinite poise, & it being the berserker armor front flip. Beasts roar is mid tho
Here is something neat about Hoarfrost Stomp: the wave can travel up walls and hit platforms above you. I found this out whenever I got the chest trap to the mine in Calied and actually took out the Kindred standing on top of the shed. I did use this to cheese the gargoyle on the west ramparts in Lyndell by hiding on the stairs. Best used on enemies on walkways above you like the annoying imps that chuck things at you.
Yeah basically all wave type things do this
It’s weird but it’s cool
Stamp: Sweep is the only AOW I use for my Greatsword bleed build. It’s a quick animation and with 166 bleed buildup with 60 arcane you can proc blood loss on most enemies in a single sweep if you land both hits which is easy enough to do. Obviously there are more optimal builds for bleed but if you love colossal weapons like I do then it’s a super fun variation to the standard strength build.
Impaling Thrust carrried me through the entire game.
I've made most boss fights a joke using it with 2H Claymore, the R2 follow up is surprisingly fast
Same but with vykes warspear and with frenzyflame thrust vykes warspear was used in the run where I beat astel naturalborn of the void only taking one hit (I knew I took only one hit cause I had all crimson tears and had used physic cause I have crimson tear in physic)
Square Off is WAY better than you rated it. If you are using a non-unique straight sword at all in PVE, you are using it for Square Off - it is seriously one of fastest ways to break stances and set up shield-breaks in the game, AND the damage is great
Poison moth flight is better for kindred of rot builds to remove poison so you can afflict the enemy again and get the damage buff
It's slow with crappy hitbox, poor melee damage and no hyper armor.
@@lharsay my brother in christ, even when an enemy is unpoisoned you can still shave chunks of their health, not to mention that IT WILL POISON most enemies and bosses with 2 presses. You really do hate people sticking up for stuff dont you?
you can do literally more damage and stance with a blood weapon lol @@ToasterDsG
In pvp if you hit a charged R2 with the scythe you can actually true combo into loretta‘s slash so with enough poise this is such a cool combo
Now the issue is hitting someone with a fully charged r2
And it’s not even that difficult to land Loretta’s slash anyway, a very decent pvp ash
carian grandeur actually carried me through the sellia crystal tunnel. it works like a charm when trying to hit the pests sitting on the roofs of those little shacks. 1 fully charged, well-aimed carian grandeur for each pest and bing bang boom you're done with those incredibly annoying enemies. it also reaches far enough to hit the one that ambushes you in the room with the two worshipping a statue! it also carried me in the fight against the sellia crystal tunnel boss (fallingstar beast)
Kick deserves better, it does huge poise damage, no FP cost, and STUNLOCKS any stunable enemies.
Edit: AND it can hit enemies while they're getting up. Not only that, but your stamina regens to full while waiting for your opponent to get up. All you gotta do is kick until stance breaks, crit, kick some more, crit, repeat.
I gotta try it. I'm a square off fan and I like things that looks unassuming but kicks ass
I know multiple people have mentioned this, but square off is insanely good and it being rated this low is criminal. Pairing it with bleed, crimson dagger, and decent poise straight up let's you trade damage with Malenia and win. Most things in the game will be stance broken and procced with bleed within 2 to 3 hits, and combining that with how ridiculously efficient it is plus the R2 having pretty decent tracking once you've iron out the range is the reason I run a straight sword in my off hand.
The thing is absolutely a disk one nuke and unambiguously one of the best ashes in the game for what it gives you verses the cost.
Golden Land + Great Stars is a fantastic time because it turns the blast and secondary beams into a nice trade. Though I do miss mixing it with bloosflame blade.
The beams also heal you, so you heal like 5% HP every time u fire the ash of war.
Bloosflameblade😂
Something ive found out about raptor of the mists: you can almost entirely avoid malikeths million-death-blade attack when you use this ash. The only damage you get is the over-time damage and the health debuff. So if he's winding it up and there's no chance you're rolling out of it, try raptor of the mists
I’ve just found your channel and watch 3 videos back to back bless up
Square Off is S tier
Does S tier stand for Shit tier?
@@MFD00MTR33 S stands for Skill Issue.
Square Off this low is an actual crime. It's just as good, if not better than unsheathe
Literally commented on this video just to say the same thing. Him putting Square Off so low is an absolute L take.
It's better
If unsheathe wasn’t only allowed on katanas which usually have bleed I’d say square off is better
So basically
If you give bleed to square off it’s better
@@Literally___Me ....thats a non argument.
@@Literally___Methe katana moveset is not that good though
Only 12 minutes through so far, but you're SEVERELY underrating stamp uppercut imo. That thing is a monster on big weapons.
It's biggest strengths being the super high stance damage, near infinite hyper armour, and it's ability to fling stuff into the air. It'll infinitely stunlock a fair few enemies as well (as long as you've got fp), most notable enemy being black knife assasins
yeah but big weapon have better options to do just that
I actually found pretty good use when using Bloodflame Blade with Spinning Weapon. A pretty decent skill for bosses to quickly prock bleed. Not great in many situations, but when it shines, it shimmers pretty well.
Using Spinning Strikes instead of Spinning Weapon, this was my very first build. Banished Knight Halberd, bloodflame blade, spinning strikes = good consistent damage.
All the spinning ashes and storm caller are extremely good, so I dont know what crack rusty was smoking when he made this list.
@aztlanfury yeah I thought I was gonna see Ashton kutcher come on screen and punk me
I just wanted to mention because I never saw you use it (you might already know) is that the waves of darkness ash of war also has a follow up R2 attack that increases the damage it does a lot. The waves also do the weapons status effects, great for cold builds.
I don't think that's a great thing for it to have, since the range of the shockwave is amazing. The followup doesn't need to even hit
Stamp Sweep and Upward Cut’s main draw is that the initial stamp works like Endurance and gives you hyperarmor. It’s a trading powerhouse in PVP
I *really* appreciate that you are rating the Ashes of War as items, and not just the skills. This is a useful distinction.
the gimmick of poison moth flight is hitting something that's already poisoned, as it will then inflict the full dmg of a poison dot instantly (like bleed). Kinda neat to use for enemies that are immune to bleed but weak to poison.
research in a ranking video, unheard of
My favorite part was when Rusty said "it's ranking time" and ranked all over those guys.
And then he started ranking all over the floor. I cried
Ayo?📸🤨
Truly one of the ranking videos of all time.
@@silenceundyingMy favorite part of the dead meme was when the meme said it's deading time and deaded all over the floor
@@tttttttttttttttp12 Alright, that one made me laugh. Deaded got me good
For Horah Loux's Earthshaker You forgot to mention that enemies that are close to you get pushed back repeatedly during the initial animation. This applies as multiple hits for items such as the prosthesis and other such effects.. if you put those items on as well as Alexander's shard and popped us off in the middle of a crowded area, you are looking at an absolutely insane amount of damage
Fun Fact: Golden Lands explosion spawns at the ground where the sword hits, knowing this if you activate it on a ledge with the swords tip over air the explosion will spawn under the ledge at the ground level below you. You can achieve something similar with fortissax spears
Personally, I think that Poison Moth Flight is a really fun ash that has some decently strong power. Of course it's not outstanding normally, but it does good work against bosses (if they're not poison immune). Definitely ought to be higher than it is.
Problem is, not many bosses are weak to poison, and why put a whole ash of war when foetid pots and rot pots do more damage overtime? Plus overall cold, rot and bleed are just better status effects. Personally i would prefer that poison lasted less, but did more damage per tick. Plus the melee attack is pretty slow and does not do much damage, and its hard to find.
if you use poison moth flight on an enemy that’s poisoned it does the equivalent of bleed damage, for some reason he didn’t mention that in the video
@@somerandomperson9670 i did not know that, but tbh in the time you poison someone, and then hit him again with it, i can easily proc bleed 2 to 3 times, but that is pretty good ngl
@@pyramidhead2719You think too small. Poison moth on bleed ant rapier
@@pyramidhead2719 That thing you say about poison? That's Poison Moth Flight's version of poison. It has Deadly Poison, which lasts a third of normal poison's duration but deals double the damage per second. It's actually slightly more than the poison of Fetid Pots, because those inflict the same percent hp as Deadly Poison but has a lower flat base damage value.
On top of that, as somerandomperson said, hitting an already poisoned enemy with it will apply a percent damage effect, dealing 5% of the enemy's health (plus 250 base damage). This is worse than bleed, of course, because bleed is 15% on normal enemies and 10.5% on bosses (plus 100-200 base damage), and it will immediately end whatever poison effect is currently active, meaning that, for maximum damage, you'd time this effect for near the end of a poison duration, but it's still percent damage being added onto a percent damage effect.
And, as rhettbutler mentions, you can put Poison Moth Flight on an Antspur Rapier with the bleed affinity, letting you effectively triple stack on percent health effects. The ash's strike inflicts 250 poison buildup, so use of a poison affinity is completely unnecessary.
Something to add about Sacred Blade (and probably similar weapon arts, unless they recently changed it): if you do it while in melee range, it also deals the damage of the enhanced weapon, in addition to the projectile. This would bump it up the list considerably IMO
Yeah it kind of makes little sense that flaming strike is rated #1 but sacred blade is so far down the list. It is available extremely early in the game and a flat +90 damage is an incredibly powerful buff for how early it is obtained.
@@obuw1
The holy Scorpion charm is also available very early. Lovely synergy
Flaming Strike and Sacred Blade are my favorite ashes. Why? because you can 2 hand your left weapon, activate the ash, then go back to dual wielding, activate the ash on your right weapon, and now you have 2 buffed weapons that you can powerstance. Sacred Blade is actually slightly better for this because you can actually get ranged damage while the enemy comes closer, making up for double the activation time. Also, if they run away when using dual Sacred Blade, just fire another projectile at them. In PvP its amazing, and against anything with a holy weakness in PvE, you'll absolutely destroy them. Same goes for fire weakness with Flaming Strike.
@Ikaros---
We all love burning/glowing swords. We can't deny it 😅
I often use the scholar's armament spell on pure physical weapons for a decent buff. Starting from Vagabond you only need three extra int points to cast it, and the Demi-Human queen staff. I'd say it's worth it for the aesthetic alone lol. Looks like a blue lightsaber
i use the erdsteel dagger with sacred blade very fun combo
The reason for redundant AoWs that can only be used on a certain weapon type (like Square Off) is so you can use them with other Affinities. That is the main problem with Flails, if you want to use Spinning Chain, you are stuck with Standard affinity.
I'm glad nobody actually knows how obscenely good square off is. It shreds in PvE, with insane poise break, and it destroys in PvP too, with great timing to catch rolls and punish jump attacks. The stance also is great for tricking people into thinking you're going to use the attack, when you can just... not. Great for getting someone to attack, leaving an opening. I have no trouble dominating invaders with a 2-handed square off keen noble slender sword. A spear talisman, shard of alexander, and Relanna Cameo thrusting counterattack square off heavy straight up 1-shots invaders, and if it doesn't, it really, REALLY gets in their heads, causing them to fight sloppily for the rest of the fight. It takes virtually no FP too, allowing you to take those mind points and put them to better use.
Cannot disagree more with its placement, with respect.
Square off is amazing for pve, you can stunlock most bosses with 2 poke attacks
I love how he said that the only situation the Through and Through was useful in was dealing with enemies coming at you in a straight line, which was a scarce occurrence; only to then commend the Garian Greatsword for the exact same thing, and say that situation came up more often than you'd think, not 10 minutes later.
Different hit boxes you can cleave through mfers with great sword but hitting 5 with an ARRROW yea naw bud totally different
he was talking about the piercing effect on it
im not sure youre aware of how fucking THICK they made the hitbox for the greatsword, it can literally hit enemies to your sides
I don't know if you are aware of this or just didn't put it in the video but when you use Poison Moth Flight on an already poisoned enemy it does bonus damage and removes the poison. That has great synergy with the Kindred of Rot talisman because it allows you to take advantage of the buff while not having to wait for the poison to run out. The bonus damage is not negligible either it's very noticeable, like a bleed proc. That doesn't make it broken since you can just use bleed build and you'll probably have better results but I don't think it's in the bottom 10 worst ashes.
Maybe I'm biased because I've only used it in the early game but square off on the longsword when starting as vagabond feels comically OP. It's just so much poise damage
Uh, you are completely justified on that LOL. Square off is probably one of the best AoW in the game, it can actually carry runs by itself.
Square off honestly carried me through most of the game.
It’s simplicity is one of its best qualities.
@@swigo There is literally not a single Boss where you can't get good value from square off (Except Rykard). You can't say the same about a good number of the AoW ranked over it here
Was looking for this comment, I've done multiple entire playthroughs using only square off and its broken op
Most people don't do this but I judge the value of skills by high NG+ settings and I can confirm, even in the Haligtree, that square off is incredibly good and efficient
Thanks for the guide. I really appreciate the long form content, and a lot of other videos are outdated due to patches.
Mighty Shot is actually my go-to on my Pulley Bow. It can knock down or stagger most smaller enemies and can even stop the charge of some larger ones. And it's fantastic for sniping.
And Bloody Slash? That's been my main for a long time just because it's so AMAZINGLY SATISFYING to hit anything with it and watch them crumple.
One thing that I didn't understand about Barricade Shield is that using it counts as blocking. You can hold the block button and strategically choose the right moment to increase your guard boost. It's amazing and it honest to god trivializes Malenia by making two of her most hated attacks become slight discomforts rather than fight-ending nuclear bombs.
I have a lot of comments on some of the Ashes of War.
5:29 If you're unaware, Poison Moth Flight can be used to cause a sort of blood loss effect to poisoned enemies.
6:13 Assassin's Gambit can be used to cheese a lot of bosses. Entering the arena after using it can make the boss go idle until it is alerted.
7:32 Light attack with Square Off demolishes shield enemies just like Kick.
11:34 Upward Cut is pretty good for roll catches with some weapons. Also the hyper armor at the very start of the attack makes up for the long recovery.
23:50 Spinning Slash is insane for true combo into blood loss or frostbite. It's especially good with Warped Axe for some reason.
28:16 Lifesteal Fist also works with Crimson Dagger Talisman.
46:00 My god, Quickstep is too op for backstabs. If an enemy has a large weapon or slow AoW, quickstep left or right the moment they attack. Sometimes I stand right in their face waiting for them to swing.
1:00:31 War Cry and Braggart's Roar true combos for Colossal Swords with heavy then light attack.
Rusty mentioning Monster Hunter gave me 20% more life force
Agreed. I think he needs to rate a bunch of monster hunter stuff from worst to best.
@hellokatyfac3 maybe weapon designs?
Agreed. But his lions claw opinion tells me he’s shit at PvP.
There are a few here I just outright disagree with.
For Square Off, it being a default skill doesn't really offset the utility of the ash of war thanks to the affinities. Try as you might, using a standard skill will prevent you from using what your stats actually cater to after a few weapon upgrades. It's a great early game ash, with great MVs and stance-break on an otherwise very lightweight and quick weapon class. Might not be good in PvP, but you can kill a boss with it pretty simply.
For Spinning Weapon, it had its heyday. It's a niche use, but it makes for a great magic ash on a melee-int build. Put some Rotten Sword Insignia on a Clayman's Harpoon with this thing, Enchant the weapon with magic or cold if that's your style, and that'll end big health pools _quick._ The one caveat is, don't lock-on. Hit them with the side of the weapon for the most consistency.
Shield Crash is another I've had great results with, both PvE and PvP. The thing with Shield Crash in PvP is that it's a hard counter to a lot of the skill-spam meta. It locks your opponent into staggers, does multi-hit for rotten insignia to boost the damage of the final hit, and can pretty easily wipe an opponent out completely if they aren't high on defensive investment. Plus, it can lead into itself again if the opponent doesn't get up correctly. In PvE, blocking + chain hit + status is king. You're hard-pressed to find anything it doesn't work on, barring Malenia on account of her lifesteal.
Good to see someone else who knows how good Spinning strikes is. I play a pure strength build and it is my number one Ash of war even without relying on status!
I‘ll try your shield crash loadout.
@@Ropewatch Word of warning. There are some pushboxes that soft counter Shield Crash in PvE: The most aggregious is gargoyles. Big space between the legs that the player can't walk through is a killer for direct contact skills.
37:47 I love watching you talk about an Ash's utility while simultaneously ending the example clip a frame away from dying of deathblight.
Methinks you might have missed the part about poison moth flight that turns an active poison proc into a bleed proc. Useful when the enemy is poisoned and about to lose it to get a good amount of extra damage in.
Just a tip if you're lucky.
War Cry on a colossal greatsword with bleed infusion can insta-proc bleed if you do a charged heavy. It's INSANELY effective against the Godskin bosses if you really know what you're doing.
You kind of forgot to mention that an uncharged warcry R2 on colossal swords true combos into an R1 in PvP, making it a one shot machine. Probably the highest damage true combo in the game.
The Chilling Mist AoW always surprises me with how quick it applies frostbite.
Law of Regression IS a good counter to Seppuku, but I'll never forget the time I landed a charged Siluria's Woe on a ganker right as he was buffing with it and just removing him from existence.
Another thing about golden land a lot of people overlook is status can build up off the little lights as well as the main blast.
Pairing it with the Great Stars can make big bosses melt pretty fast while keeping you healthy... and at a range if u really need it
Poisonous Mist: This ash will always have a special place in my heart for its interaction on a Bloody Antspur Rapier. It rots, bleeds and poisons at the same time. No matter if PvP or PvE, at least something will stick. If you want to see an enemy truly melt, try this on one susceptible to all three of those.
Well, unless you are Goldfrey, at least.
Therapist: Rusty's tier list can't hurt you they're not real
Rusty: Uploads a new tier list
Its really awesome to see stormblade so high on the list. its such an amazing ash of war amplified by the time its aquired (Storm hill). And that not even talking about the global usability! It doesnt matter what stats you take as long as your weapon is upgraded the damage is reliable and consistent on those wind blasts. Can be used with damn near any affinity so it can adjust to your needs and put on almost any weapon so its almost never a wrong choice. That ash, like you said, makes so much of the early game a joke in the most enjoyable way possible. Able to make a range crippled class start a trivial inconvenience at worst, thre is really nothing like it and I cant think of an ashe of war that deserved the 5 spot better.
one of my favorite low level invasion builds is chilling in stormveil with storm assault bkh and storm blade on a lordsword ss or something. Fast to pick up and always delivers on comedy.
storm blade is so good, used it on a cold affinity flamberge and the combination of bleed and frost, as well as the very high damage absolutely demolished ng+2 malenia
fun fact: few people are aware that Hoarah Loux earthshaker initial scream multihits and staggers strongly anything that is really close to you. So when paired with millicent's prosthesis and/or the sword insignias, the shakes actually hit like trucks being already boosted by about 10%.
Use barricade shield like a parry, it has active block frames while you cast it!
Carian Grandeur is amazing. Nothing like hitting over 9k damage in one swing in PvE, not to mention you will also have the ability to also spec into int based spells and enhanced their charged versions if you built for Grandeur.
Yea, he missed a bunch of things on grandeur, which is fine, it's a huge vid. Grandeur just trivializes npc invaders by spam knockdowns, also scales strongly on weapon level then lightly on int so you can just forego alot of the int investment but if you do want it, it appears to be frontloaded then it peters out past 30 then seems to soft cap pretty hard at 50, it can be used on a light weapon like a dagger and still do near full damage, it does good stance damage so you can double use it often plus it seems to outrange even the urumi at full charge which can be super handy to kite with.
My fav strategy is to pre cast a couple glintblades or magus field thing then charge the blade before the glintblades fire, dispatches large stuff pretty damn quickly.
Rusty you absolute madman!! Can’t wait to see weapon types or specific weapon rankings!
23:30 no way. Repeating thrust is S tier. That shit carried me so hard early game. The stagger and damage is out of this world
Square Off is actualy pretty good. Has gap closer variant and faster variant. Deals decent damage and high poise damage. Overall versatile skill which excels in crit focused builds.
I love how he makes the argument from the perspective of some form of role-playing and enjoying the game for it's fantasy elements when 90% of players want big sword that do big number so they can read more item descriptions. Never change :)
Huge props on using the Ratchet and Clank soundtrack during this. Some of my favourite tracks of all time!
No joke, i adore these lists. Its these minute details that make me feel like there is always more to discover in a game and just sometimes you discover something that really changes the way you look at certain abilities.
Thank you for all these ridiculous details and long videos, Rusty
I want to try different setups... But I'm just stuck on Bloodhound Fang with shield... Plenty of damage but getting bored.
Poison Moths Flight allows you to burst the poison, taking a large chunk of damage like bleed while being able to reapply quickly and let it tick down or burst again. When an enemy is poisoned, landing the ash of war does burst damage and removes the poison. How do you not know this? It’s flexible as a DoT or a burst or both. It’s extremely useful. Toss this on a weapon that does rot and you have rot and poison burst damage. Toss this on a bleed and you have bleed burst and poison burst to alternate.
I only discovered Unsheathe after my first play through and was flabbergasted at how great of a skill it can be
my first time touching the game i picked samurai and as soon as i hit my first unsheathe i fell in love immediately, still my favorite ash of war and im currently using it to no hit malenia (at least trying).
Haven't finished it, but barrage is probably one of the best bow ashes of war, it's not just good for status, because in PvP when people see a bow their instinct is typically to just spam rolls, barrage can nick them through that, and give a higher chance for a headshot where you can continue to pelt them because shots with barrage will not stagger someone out of the recoil animation from a headshot. It's good, really good.
Square off is nice. It does the same amount of stance damage as the old king of stance breaks, the flame of the redmanes
Yeah, 40 not 30 like he said in his video. Honestly there is just too much misinformation in this video. Huge L on his part.
I can't believe I watched all of this.
I clicked on it and thought, "Oh, I'll only watch a couple minutes, I'll definitely get bored."
But no. Here I am, an hour later. You're good at what you do. Concise, witty, informational, and funny.
If you make another video like this, may I respectfully request that you include a screencap of the in-game description of the ash or item? Like, I have no idea what Enchanted Shot actually does. I wanted to make this request on the Talisman video you did, but didn't think you had something else like this in the works, so fool's on me.
Regardless, thanks for the content, I enjoyed it!
im new in the elden ring community, and i just ended my first run with dexterity + blodhound’s step ash of war build, i had a feeling that i could get more than a dash, but it turnes out that its top 3 in the game😮
Square Off deals massive physical and poise damage, openning enemies to critical strikes.
Thops's Barrier can deflect anything magical in the game, even Elder Beast and Maliketh spells and slashes.
There's better choices plus its dookie in pvp
I actually really like stamp sweep for duels. It gives you hyper armor for a few seconds and the sweep is really wide and catches people surprisingly often. Also, it knocks your opponent over. Sure, the damage isn't great, but it's not bad either. I honestly like this skill. Haven't used it much in pve, but it's definitely not bad in pvp. It seems as though you may just have a negative bias towards it. You're definitely missing something.
Each ranking video is one step closer to ranking all the weapons
note for anyone who is curious or actually cares, there is one medium bow that can use barrage and is the bane of every pvp player whos ever fought its existance given its higher damage/range for status builds and animation canceling the ash gives it letting it shoot two arrows almost at the same time. the Black Bow, formerly known as the Pharos Black Bow in Dark Souls, found on a roof in Leyndel has barrage by default.
Hands down best bow for a bow builds. Love that thing
I love how 90% of the comments point out that "Square Off" is disgustingly misplaced on this list.
Excellent Guardbreaker. Does a lot of stance damage. And cost only 6/8 FP. Can be found and applied only on Straight Swords, which is a big plus, because Straight Swords are one of the best Weapon Classes in the game. Stamina friendly, fast, light weight, low requirement, versatile moveset and very easy to use.
This Ash of War should be hands down top 20 at a minimum.