Maining the stance ashes has unintentionally made me such a better Souls player. Instead of throwing as much damage as I can at a boss in hopes that he won't touch me, I now understand the dance of death
Every boss gives you opportunities to use it. You just can't spam it and use it whenever you want. If you don't charge it you can get it in quite a bit.
4:54 also the main reason why people hate fighting against it in pvp: if you're smart you can use the charged version & escape the range of the person you're against while dealing damage. An offensive version of bloodhounds step essentially
Stormcaller will get the spammers off of you but only for a while. They can spam it again anyways which is annoying esp on higher levels where people can wear bullgoat armor and have a ton of fp.
The funny thing about wing stance is that, while you are technically correct to include it in a "regular AoW" video, effectively it's a unique/exclusive AoW for the milady.
@@Beefonweck ah okay thx. I had no idea that light greatswords were even a thing lol. Pretty sure I picked up that milady weapon and just didnt look at it. Gonna have to try it out.
Yeah the fact that there's only one is insane, easily the biggest disappointment of the dlc imo is the lack of weapons in new categories and the underrepresented categories like reapers.
The Storm Blade is the total boss here. Because even without FP when you use the ash of war the weapon still performs the move but without the projectile but at the point blank you actually don't need that projectile because the weapon will still deal its melee damage and when you put this ash on a heavier weapon that is generally slower you will see that the ash of war actually makes the weapon move much faster After you put this ash for a great weapon for example a great Katana you can use the ash move instead of its regular light attacks and it hits much faster.
Its kinda circumstantial though. It really shines with high defense builds where you can basically just tank the boss and out-dps them. But wild strikes on its own is kinda meh, where as most of these other aow's on this list are good on most bosses/enemies even if you don't have a build dedicated to them.
Storm Blade is an incredible AoW. I used it on Messmer in our rematch in Journey 2, and it performed wonderfully! Not to mention how incredible that smaller lion helm is for fashion!
If it's a big boss, Storm Blade will melt it is a rule I live by. Beat Bayle 1st try with it no problem. Had 8 crimson flasks left lol. Surprisingly good in pvp as well
@@joeyjones9041 Storm blade is a top tier ash of war but imo it’s just a worse ice spear. Yes it’s more spamable but but the spear weapon type is much better than a katana or smt else.
Ice spear carried me through RL1 along with serpent hunter. Would highly recommend to anyone doing a low level run. Kinda crazy to see that it's still that good at high levels.
@@lunarbound9975 tried quite a few weapons with RotM, claws were a bit short-ranged for my liking. Great stars worked best, easier to use than some colossals, 1% heal per weapon per attack, bleed procs for lord of blood talisman, great damage, they have it all
@@zzrroott6459 Raptor of the mists is an offensive option, it lets you jump attack right after. Vow of the Indomitable is purely defensive, you simply use it to an attack, nothing more
Quit outs, tanking your way through etc can do It for an area, and not that usefull if you want to clear out areas, though i think that the utility is underrated and it gets way more usefull when it comes to RL1 runs, and don't get me started on how vital is on no hit runs
Assassin's gambit is very niche for its sole purpose of sneaking past enemies. By contrast over here we're mostly discussing the usefulness of ashes of war in the main gameplay mechanic, open combat.
Personally, I just don't see the point. As long as you're only concerned about remaining undetected, you can just equip Crepus' Vial and have the same effect on permanently. Sure, you're using a Talisman slot for it, but in my experience, a lot of the time at least one of the slots is more of a flex slot that you change around depending on the situation anyways.
My honorable mention is Sacred Blade just as an anti-undead option. You don't have to be close or hit them with the weapon despite it also providing a holy infusion. The projectile alone just melts Deathbirds in the main game, and with the DLC we got a few more field bosses and even a remembrance-type dungeon boss that can be completely trivialized by this thing.
True. It's situational because Holy isn't a common weakness, especially in the base game, but man, the things that *are* weak to holy are *weak* to it. Plus, it makes fighting resurrecting skeletons a lot less annoying.
Great list and explanations Youwy. Here’s me giving a shout for Endure. It’s basically the only way I’ve been able to get off incantations and charged melee attacks on some of the bullshit DLC bosses without resorting to a shield poke build.
Great video, as always. The only thing I’d add is ‘Endure’. With the DLC I’ve found uses for Endure in almost any build, but especially buffering Carian Sovereignty or on the Bloodfiend Arm. It’s also been super nice to use it when I rebuff, mid fight. I don’t think I’d rank it above anything here, but it’s definitely an honorable mention for me.
Endure as a mage makes tanking for cast charging so much fun. Pop your buffs, maybe an ironjar aromatic, terra magicka, then endure - charged spell (like ice storm) - endure - repeat
@@figuures6098 Ironjar aromatic does almost all the work here, i could put ironjar aromatic almost everywhere and make everything overpowered yk. Also i believe endure does not stay active for the entire animation of ice storm ? Tell me if i am wrong on that ! But yes, even if what you just said is quite niche, you are right, endure is good. The point is, what you want to do with endure is to get the maximum amount of damage in the given time span (3seconds), and i believe palm blast has the best RAW damage potential of the game, basically being a version of endure with an attack. Even with the setup you mentionned, i don't think you'll do as much damage as a lightly setup palm blast. Also, the problem with endure is that you always have to be aware when you have it or not, so you have to concentrate on something else in the battle. Idk if it's because i am dumb, or because i need to get used to it, but i don't find it being an easy task.
I am really glad there's an objective ranker who value storm blade which is actually very op skill for both bossing and clearing trash mobs. On point blank when enemies is having an opening, it just does insane damage.
I’m surprised the new AoW spinning gravity thrust didn’t make it on the list. I made a blood build around it and it two-shot Messmer (two full uses of the AoW). It even takes out Consort Radahn pretty well with the hyper armor you get.
Maybe honorable mentions Wild Strikes. Its absolutely insane on heavy weapons with bleed. Slap Wild Strikes on Great Stars with bloodflame buff and watch anything that can bleed just melt and even if it cant bleed the damage is crazy. Plus the healing on hit from Great Stars works perfectly with Wild Strikes.
Imo you’ve missed two VERY good ones that aren’t flashy but are so effective that they are better than many on this list: Impaling Thrust and Piercing Fang. Impaling thrust is effectively a charged R2 that comes out instantly, does piercing/counter damage, costs hardly any FP. It’s faster and has longer range than giant’s hunt and can be used to punish extremely short windows on tough bosses. Piercing fang does more damage and has disgusting range bust costs more FP and is a touch slower. This is most useful for initiating on annoying enemies or even lighter bosses, staggering them from outside their range to react. It’s also very useful on bosses that move around a lot and often finish a combo outside of your range to punish. Both these are simple but so stupidly effective. The great katana or mesmers soldiers spear with one of these on it can just efficiently carry you through anything the game throws at you.
I would also like to mention the blood iron greatsword as another excellent candidate for blood tax. Yes, the reach is not as good, but the damage on it is just insane on a STR/ARC build.
Love the list and while I would disagree on details, it is great but you miss some important notes for example, especially when it is so wrong it is painful: ice spear scales best on Dexterity, at least on keen which is the optimal route, don't argue, this is objectively true. Int only scales higher on standard (never), Cold (which hurts the weapon scaling), or magic (only if you are a pure int build), which are all suboptimal. Storm blade always scales better on a dex build, also dex builds doesn't lack in projectiles at all. while not having catalyst dex has quite a few options including the bows, AoWs, unique skills, and potentially even consumables are the best in the game and are all projectile options. im very curious on your thought process on getting one nearly objectively wrong and missing detail on the other. The only reason I note this is noting ice spear scaling on dex/int but scaling better on int? If an AoW scales on Dexterity it will always perform best on keen, with a dexterity build being the optimal option. There is no exception. Some of this is opinionated or Pvebased but ice spear better on int? Storm blade equal on dex/str afterward? This is clearly missing important of critical detail that make this list unreliable which is painful because this should be a great list. (this is a great list but some of the details are objectively wrong) You can do better Also some of the blood flame blade options weapon attack + bullet AoW make blood blade less viable, ie storm blade + blood flame blade. (especially with needing higher levels to compete in DPS) Carian Sovereignty: Tbh just build a lightning AoW build. Much better DPS, Safer, Easier to accomplish on NG1-NG+7 playthrough. I almost thought his was a joke the level/weapon requirements to cheese make it much more difficult to pull off on a standard playthrough and on NG+2 beyond it becomes a bad build concept. Also the golden Vow being No 1 isn't really justifiable, you have similar things that have similar niches. Also doesn't work ideally with Fth builds, and it is out classed early in the dlc. It requires a healthy spot in 22. No 1 is almost satire, unless you consider golden vow to be the best incantation of all time. Otherwise you are making a satire of all other builds other than faith. (if you are playing a dexterity crit build I guess it works well), its good but not that good, especially with the low duration and while strong benefits fails to last in fights where players are new, or be as effective in pvp. The place of No 1 is either a trap or laziness in the list. You are youwy not rusty.
You can still make use of Ice Spear even on FTH/STR. While the projectile damage won't be quite as high as a dedicated INT or DEX build, it's still very efficient and you still get the same frost and stance damage. Also, for the "input reading" it actually does get around that the closer you are, because more often than not, enemies will dodge the initial startup animation (the spin that can damage at melee range) and get hit with the projectile. If you are point blank (such as they're getting up from a riposte/critical), you can just use the AoW and they will almost always get hit by both the spin and projectile. Piercing Fang is also an incredible stance AoW. Lots of poise damage and it blows through all shields, including stuff like the head of the Mad Pumpkin Head.
Endure should have 100% have been an honourable mention. It's so useful in so many scenarios on so many builds that it's crazy to me that it wasn't even mentioned
The thing with Swift Slash is that once you get a sense of how to properly aim it while locked on, you can deal insane health and stance damage in a short amount of time. If you have solid FP and Stamina to back it up, you can shred anything. The distance of the charged version is surprisingly far, and can also be used to dodge.
So hear me out because this is incredibly strong for PvE. Occult Great Katana using the Gravity Spinning Thrust and the Malenia great run. You get a solid B arcane scaling and 107 bleeding, and it will proc the multihit talismans. The animation is really long, but you get hyper armor to trade blows, and the best part is that you will recover all your health from the Malenia great rune. Without the great rune, the combination is not that strong, but it's crazy the amount of health you recover, and it also covers a great distance. One weakness is that you can't trade blows with bosses when helping other people in their game because you can't have the great rune.
@@Lagalpb It always comes down to the balance of AR vs status buildup. I'm pretty high level, so I'm happy to have 100 less AR and have 169 bleed on a heavy thrusting sword.
@DextahPC I understand that part, but I still get a 108 build-up that's more than enough to keep bleeding enemies. I'm aware the Sword Lance has a really nice moveset and reach, but I still prefer the GK in that department.
@@Lagalpb I love the GK. The moveset is great. It gets a poke out of a roll too so it was great against Malenia the other day. Also, at 80/80/80, its highest AR is on a Cold infusion. Two-handed it gets 937 AR with 127 Frost and 50 Bleed. Higher AR than a Cold Great Stars or Cold Great Omenkiller Cleaver. AND you can still put wild strikes on it if you wish. Not to mention the ashes you cant put on those other weapons that you CAN put onto the GK like Bloodtax, Sword Dance etc. It's a great weapon.
Cragblade is really good but sometimes I use Braggart's Roar instead for stamina regen and a bit of damage negation. Different heavy attacks moveset can also be better on some weapons. It's probably in top 20 aow in the game.
Storm blade might be a quality ash of war, but it gets much better damage on keen. Even with 80 dexterity and 80 strength, keen still out preforms it. To be clear, I’m not talking about the weapon’s ar, only the storm blades damage itself.
Blood Tax is easily top 5 specifically for co-op summoning builds. DLC enemies have so much health and do so much damage that the halved flasks you get are simply NOT ENOUGH if you are any sort of FP-user unless you never get hit. Blood Tax on a bleed weapon with the Godskin Swaddling cloth consistently heals a ton of HP back, shockingly reliably staggers most large enemies just enough that they can't hit you out of it, and also does a large amount of bleed buildup at the same time. You can also put it on nearly ANY weapon capable of thrusting, including stuff like Nagakiba, Milady, and a lot of greatswords.
Not top 10 material, but impaling thrust is my overall favorite. Low FP cost, very fast, good damage, good stance damage, piercing damage, lunge, damages through shields. Very powerful without making the combat completely brainless. Nice vid as usual - very based.
Yep, used impaling thrust milady through most of the dlc. I had no idea what abilities rellana did o in P2 until I saw a playthrough cause I just locked her down stance broken until dead when she started powering up
@@MrFallenone Bosses like Maliketh or Consort Radhan have short punish windows making it harder to get off a Piercing Fang. It uses 7 more FP and more stamina for like 10% more damage and stance break with longer recovery. Depends on your play style I guess. I wouldn’t say direct upgrade.
3:22 I really like Braggart's Roar. It gives a 7,5% damage buff and 20% stamina regen buff so very good for stamina maxing. it also gives colossal weapons a special heavy attack which makes you run towards your target. For smaller enemies the run stunlocks them and for later games bosses which move around a lot it's basically the only charged-heavy attack on a colossal that can even hit them due to the tracking and walking. It is useless in the DLC though. Did braggarts roar on my colossal weapon run and am picking it upo again for my shield focused run. Getting extra 20% stamina regen for 1 minute helps shields a looot. Only problem is it's a weapon buff so no greases, but it does stack with body buffs like the consumable turtle necks. 11:12 Chicken Leg with Cragblade is a nasty combo.
Honestly I'd say it's top 3 after the backhand blade ashes, it does insane damage has low cost, and makes poison builds more than viable (with all the proc buffs they get its strong af now)
Also, it easily one-shots smaller enemies and staggers medium enemies even without a pre-existing rot/poison proc, which gives it great overall utility. High mobility, closes distance fast, fun animation, bit tactical to use -- I really love it on my Poison Fangs. Also, FP cost is not so low to make it feel broken.
I would give an honourable mention to Carian Retaliation for being arguably the best parry in the game. It's got better active frames than any other parry in the game, being even faster than the Buckler Parry, a regular amount of starting delay, one of the quicker recovery animations, it can parry and counter spells and it only consumes fp when doing so, while not using any when parrying regular attacks. Golden Parry has some niche uses where the added range really helps it out, but in 99% of the fights in the game, Carian Retaliation will help let you parry more easily than any other AoW.
I'd actually throw Sacred Order in there. It buffs all damage by 10% while you have it in your offhand, including Ashes of War. Its slightly less damage than the Jellyfish shield, but lasts twice as long. Its also considered to be a weapon buff so it stacks with golden vow and aura buffs. Its amazing for Ash of War spam builds. You can also combo it with Cragblade for a 26.5% damage increase to your mainhand.
Impaling Thrust is amazing on a Guardian’s Swordspear. I like being able to play a pure Dex character without bleed or status effects, and that combo enables me to do so (love the stance damage)
I've got a ton of fun with Giant's Hunt on my Greatsword. Excellent stance damages, good damages overall, makes you move forward from a decent distance, it shreds. You can spam it on Crucible Knights, it will always interrupt them. It can also yeet Malenia to the sky. Great against player types of enemies (got the Rakshasa in one try with it). Can also hit the heads of dragons easily. It's just an alternative I prefer over Lion's Claw, less damages but faster, more convenient, good at mid-range. Edit : didn't see it was already covered it in the video. Of course it had to be !
Man, I've been playing this game for two years but I'm learning so much new stuff from this ranking vids, I have a whole list of new builds I want to try or how to improve my existing builds. And not even with the broken stuff, just learning facts like that there are "Redmane" AoWs that all benefit from some buff -- I never knew that, I'm not a pro at synergies or optimization, but it's cool to be more aware of these little things. Or that Blood Tax has a healing component -- I'm sure I used that AoW on my bleed build, but never noticed that it returned HP ... So, yeah, thanks! :)
Freya’s blade also boosts the flame and of the red manes and I believe flaming strike. As well as savage lions claw. Blood blade is also technically a worse version of reduvias ash of war. The projectile doesn’t do as much damage or bleed and doesn’t go as far. But since you can put it on other weapons it has the potential to do more damage. Overall though the reduvias themselves have a more consistent and reliable ash of war with less criteria that have to be met in order to be affective. Daggers also have the benefit of working really well with the multi hit talismans. I honestly can’t believe they buffed bleed builds as much as they did with the dlc.
the wing stance r2 works really nicely with triple glint blade and phalanx set up jump in and hit with 3 things at once or one after the other depending on the order you cast them, i wish frost spear worked on more weapons did dual wielding reapers get buffed yet? i really enjoyed playing like that but felt to slow for not enough stagger, would get punished a lot in single player i mean
Flame spear makes my offhand wakazashi glow cool red. and it resets the frost of my dragonscale katana. looks cool when both weapons are buffed which is why i love it honestly
A little thing I want to point out Flame spear isn't an upgrade to fire strike. It's more like upgrade of ice spear - both are melee attack that also shoots a long range projectile, but the fire spear works on more weapons and also buffs weapon with additional fire dmg for a time. Better flame strike is actually flame skewer. It also buffs weapon, delivers a fire sweeping attack and a melee hit, but in different order
I don't think the golden vow ash of war should even be on this list cuz it's only useful early game since u get it fast, but the spell is much better and u get it relatively fast as well, so i would 100% consider investing into a little faith for it cuz u also get other incantations like flame grant me strength which stacks well together.
The scaling on Storm Blade is not tied to AR but weapon level and your strength and dex, so it’s most effective on a quality build. It’s fine on pure strength, but if you’re using pure dex then beast’s roar will be significantly better
As far as honorable mentions go I'd say spinning gravity thurst is also S tier. It can be a longer animation but with a blood infused Guts sword and multi-hit buffs it's really powerful.
I use it with an occult Great Katana, B scaling, and 107 bleed build up. Then add the Malenia great rune and you can trade blows with anything except a few bosses and recover all your health back. They have similar AR but the arcane build allows you to use Dragon incantations spells that are really OP PvE, including the new Byle spells
13:30 another underappreciated boon of bloodtax i never see anyone talk about is the Tracking when locked on, its so strong. I've been using it on the vulgar militia saw for the potential bleed, not as good as the great katanas but its personal preference
Try it out on bloodfiends fork. The range isn’t as good as other spears but with the innate bleed on it you can throw on blood flame blade while having it on occult for the arcane scaling with just as much bleed as if bleed infused. with blood tax it just gets even better with the amount of procs and regen.
As a melee only user, storm blade is so good on the great katana. Not only do you get range, but even when you’re out of FP, it’s literally a faster, spam-able, more damaging attack than an R1.
The sword dance ash of war pairs really well with the dancer's set. But it is a little bit of a glass canon dancer's set has almost no resistance or poise.
Rank the top 5 or 10 type of builds. Example: Dexterity, faith, Bleed, Poision, Incantions, dragon communion, carrion spells and ash or war, fire giant build…etc.
Just to expand on your thoughts on Lion's Claw v Savage Lion's Claw. You briefly mentioned about Savage Lion's Claw and status effects and this is so true. I was testing the two for bonk potential between the Guts Greatsword and the Bloodfiend Arm. And as you might guess, the old Lion's Claw dominated on the Guts Greatsword because it's just pure power smash is so good. But I found on the Bloodfiend Arm, with it's INSANE blood build up, the Savage Lion's Claw was superior because for 2 casts of the full thing you get 6 hits with your crazy bleed weapon, vs only 2 hits with the regular Lion's Claw. So yeah, definitely keep in mind if you're using a weapon that's applying a status effect because the two perform so similarly otherwise, that being able to hit with your weapon 3 times vs 1 time may be better in those instances.
@@Lagalpb I first used in on great katana and it really turns you into a blender...the length of the blade on those flips and the fact that you can redirect to a different target midway through means you can literally jump mob to mob and take down multiple dudes in one cast even if they're not standing next to each other.
@@MrFallenone yeah but 2 regular ones is still only 2 hits...where even with the single cast of Savage it would be 3 hits. You can literally proc bleed nearly twice with a bloodfiend's arm on a single use.
I just understood you can equip any ash of war to any type of attribute you are using, example; I am a STR build and I have equiped Golden Slash Ash of war on HEAVY to Nightrider Glaive. Thou Holy, it does pure physical strength + I get the buff of Holy duration. 😁
I will always value Blind Spot over Swift Slash solely because it allows me to dodge Messmer Soldiers who hit harder than many base game bosses (deadass took less damage from several P1 Godfrey hits in NG+2 and with the same setup I took similar and sometimes more damage from Messmer Soldiers even with the additional negation of 20 Scadu in NG+2)
@@MrFallenonedifference is that DTS doesn’t have a 5 hit combo that’s sometimes followed up by an AoE stomp depending on how bad your RNG is. Also random field enemy damage = late game boss damage was my complaint, not late game boss damage = end game boss damage.
It's honestly ridiculous how good Milady is. It basically has its own unique skill (a really good one) but you can infuse it if you like, the lights and heavies flow into each other perfectly, and it just feels really good to use in general while being a good weapon. Meme name or not, probably one of if not the best designed weapon in the game.
10:08 i have read a post somewhere that says that cragblade increases the scaling of strength for example it will make a B scaled weapon into an S Scaled weapon not sure if this is true.
I hope they reduce the start up wing stance has before actually getting to use the light or heavy ash. It's noticeably slower than square off and quick sheath. I should be able to react punish low attacks better with the jump.
Great list, ranking is not easy.vow should be in honourable mention count, the same way you grouped wing stance and the others together because it takes another main Aow spot on the list.
Ever been Holy Butt slammed by a dude with full Solitude.And Verdigris, Bullgoat, Alexander's, flame scorpion. I will face tank any one of these AOW with a full on assault of holy cheek meat. Flame art infused I will be victorious
Ashes of war are genuinely one of the best additions to souls games, I really hope they will be featured in future Fromsoft games even if it's in slightly different forms.
Wanted to ask, do you think the Sword Lance outclasses the Anchor now as a strength-based Thrust weapon? They get like, the same AR on Heavy infusion but the Sword Lance has (most of) the Heavy Thrusting Sword moveset which is arguably better than Anchor's, and has a better selection of Ashes to choose from imo.
Get that weapon AoW and use it with an occult Great Katana. B arcane scaling with 107 bleed build up, that will always bleed and proc multihit talismans. Combine it with the Malenia great rune and suddenly you can trade blows with all enemies in the game except some bosses.
I've been sleeping on storm blade, but finally decided to give it a try since you keep mentioning it in your videos, and um... yeah, it's pretty good, so thanks for that.
Can’t get on with flame spear, flame skewer feels much better imo. It’s quicker and outputs more damage (unless using Godfrey’s icon). Same stance damage. I’d happily sacrifice the range and longer buff for those aspects.
I'm not sure Carian sovereignty gets hyper armor, it might have gotten stealth nerfed because i keep getting staggered out of the animation by regular sized enemies
I've never understood why Square-Off is exclusive to one handed swords, considering that the stance historically is applicable to Greatswords and Katanas. Hell, the Banished Knights Greatsword has the stance during its unique Light Attack string.
Because it would be insane. The poise values are % based. The AoW does not actualy do 40 poise. It does 600% poise Motion Value(that being a multiplication of the default value the weapon has)
@MrFallenone okay, but that doesn't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. At the absolute least, there should be a variant then. As it exists, it comes off as bizarre since things like Katanas and Greatswords have precedent and handle length for it. And even the explanation you gave doesn't explain why it's not usable on Curved Swords.
Storm blade might be the single most annoying ash to play against in pvp. It’s so quick and so fp and stamina efficient that people can spam it almost infinitely and you’ll never get a window to punish.
@@andreagtfj1090 could be better, on paper seems like it, because overall Greathammers are better than greataxes. I didn't know Pickaxe was pierce, I recommend you to check on Elden Ring weapon calculator website to see with you stats which outputs better damage. But overall seems like Pickaxe is a better choice
Maining the stance ashes has unintentionally made me such a better Souls player. Instead of throwing as much damage as I can at a boss in hopes that he won't touch me, I now understand the dance of death
I know, right? Plus, it’s not even like they do bad damage, I’ve been mainly using wing stance, or if I don’t want to think, palm blast.
What About “O Flame Grant Me Friends”? You can acquire it by going outside and touching grass in real life
got nerfed unfortunately
Seriously I can't find it
It was removed with the DLC, people are stuck inside playing it now
It's not a guaranteed drop
sounds useless
Carian Sovereignty is so good. Too bad the execution takes so long the bosses are able to finish a The Witcher 3 Platinum Trophy run in the Meantime
Every boss gives you opportunities to use it. You just can't spam it and use it whenever you want. If you don't charge it you can get it in quite a bit.
@@Based_investoragreed but some bosses you can hyper armor through some attacks
Ironjar aromatic carian sovereignty with a Terra magicka is big fun
@@figuures6098 its op isn’t it
@@Fusion237 when you see ironjar you know it's gonna be broken
4:54 also the main reason why people hate fighting against it in pvp: if you're smart you can use the charged version & escape the range of the person you're against while dealing damage. An offensive version of bloodhounds step essentially
Also the hit box is huge, it is incredibly hard to punish, it is easily spammable, does tons of status build up when infused, and grants s
@@caliberkat it's so good I refuse to use it to not break the game. Meanwhile, you can't infuse smithscript axe with cold or blood.
@@nicolaspiazza4095I'm pretty sure you can infuse it
Stormcaller will get the spammers off of you but only for a while. They can spam it again anyways which is annoying esp on higher levels where people can wear bullgoat armor and have a ton of fp.
@@Vengeance_I_m yeah, you're right, I just tested it today. My mistake.
The funny thing about wing stance is that, while you are technically correct to include it in a "regular AoW" video, effectively it's a unique/exclusive AoW for the milady.
What do you mean
@@jaykelley103
The only available weapon to put wing stance on is Milady.
@@jaykelley103 It can only be put on Light Greatswords and Milady is the only infusable one.
@@Beefonweck ah okay thx. I had no idea that light greatswords were even a thing lol. Pretty sure I picked up that milady weapon and just didnt look at it. Gonna have to try it out.
Yeah the fact that there's only one is insane, easily the biggest disappointment of the dlc imo is the lack of weapons in new categories and the underrepresented categories like reapers.
When I can’t get it done, I switch to Guardian’s Sword Spear with Phantom Slash.
Nightrider Glaive with Phantom Slash>>>
(Just by the fact that Phantom also uses the same Weapon)
grave scythe with phantom slash
I know it's an Ash of War, but Wing Stance is really just a unique skill with extra steps since only the Milady can use it.
So you can infuse it
The Storm Blade is the total boss here.
Because even without FP when you use the ash of war the weapon still performs the move but without the projectile but at the point blank you actually don't need that projectile because the weapon will still deal its melee damage and when you put this ash on a heavier weapon that is generally slower you will see that the ash of war actually makes the weapon move much faster
After you put this ash for a great weapon for example a great Katana you can use the ash move instead of its regular light attacks and it hits much faster.
Storm blade without FP does a lot less damage than a basic light attack.
Wild Strikes shoulda been an honorable mention
When it shines it fucking shines
What the fuck why are you here
Its kinda circumstantial though. It really shines with high defense builds where you can basically just tank the boss and out-dps them. But wild strikes on its own is kinda meh, where as most of these other aow's on this list are good on most bosses/enemies even if you don't have a build dedicated to them.
Wild Strikes + Great Stars = easy mode.
Hey six
Storm Blade is an incredible AoW. I used it on Messmer in our rematch in Journey 2, and it performed wonderfully! Not to mention how incredible that smaller lion helm is for fashion!
Considering it was buffed due to the new talisman is insanely good
It amazes me how much damage this aow does for how fast and cheap it is, and the fact it can be spammed.
If it's a big boss, Storm Blade will melt it is a rule I live by. Beat Bayle 1st try with it no problem. Had 8 crimson flasks left lol. Surprisingly good in pvp as well
@@joeyjones9041 Storm blade is a top tier ash of war but imo it’s just a worse ice spear. Yes it’s more spamable but but the spear weapon type is much better than a katana or smt else.
Thank you Youwy for not sleeping on Wing Stance. It carried me through Radahn after trying every other weapon in my kit, I think that says something.
Bro never gets tired, great work man. You are the King of Soulstuber
You are the king of glazing 😭🙏
@@iamnotbored963Youwy deserves it
He's the King of Yapping.
@@iamnotbored963u are like 12 mfs really use glazing for anything huh
I hate the word glazing but best soulstuber? Bro not even close 😂😂😂
Ice spear carried me through RL1 along with serpent hunter. Would highly recommend to anyone doing a low level run. Kinda crazy to see that it's still that good at high levels.
Raptor of the Mists is severely underrated and I'm ready to die on that hill. Great video as always ❤
@@Yeepee-g6q RoTM on Raptor Talons was the most flow-state I’ve ever had in this game.
@@lunarbound9975 tried quite a few weapons with RotM, claws were a bit short-ranged for my liking. Great stars worked best, easier to use than some colossals, 1% heal per weapon per attack, bleed procs for lord of blood talisman, great damage, they have it all
vow of the indomitable is better
@@zzrroott6459 how? Its a shield ash and using shields is gae.
@@zzrroott6459 Raptor of the mists is an offensive option, it lets you jump attack right after. Vow of the Indomitable is purely defensive, you simply use it to an attack, nothing more
It baffles me how no one ever gives Assassin's Gambit it's credit for utility. I never leave home w/o it, same w/ Beast-Repellent Torch.
Quit outs, tanking your way through etc can do It for an area, and not that usefull if you want to clear out areas, though i think that the utility is underrated and it gets way more usefull when it comes to RL1 runs, and don't get me started on how vital is on no hit runs
Assassin's gambit is very niche for its sole purpose of sneaking past enemies. By contrast over here we're mostly discussing the usefulness of ashes of war in the main gameplay mechanic, open combat.
Only really good for challenge runs so its def not underrated
assassin set makes it obsolete
Personally, I just don't see the point. As long as you're only concerned about remaining undetected, you can just equip Crepus' Vial and have the same effect on permanently. Sure, you're using a Talisman slot for it, but in my experience, a lot of the time at least one of the slots is more of a flex slot that you change around depending on the situation anyways.
My honorable mention is Sacred Blade just as an anti-undead option. You don't have to be close or hit them with the weapon despite it also providing a holy infusion. The projectile alone just melts Deathbirds in the main game, and with the DLC we got a few more field bosses and even a remembrance-type dungeon boss that can be completely trivialized by this thing.
It's good for small weapons since it gives +90 flat holy AR as well
True. It's situational because Holy isn't a common weakness, especially in the base game, but man, the things that *are* weak to holy are *weak* to it.
Plus, it makes fighting resurrecting skeletons a lot less annoying.
Not really it's pretty much trash like all holy ash of wars besides Golden Vow.
@@TheGenuineGoat It's situational. For certain fights it's basically the best in slot unless you are using a different holy damage buff.
@@darthplagueis13 those situations are extremely rare.
Great list and explanations Youwy. Here’s me giving a shout for Endure. It’s basically the only way I’ve been able to get off incantations and charged melee attacks on some of the bullshit DLC bosses without resorting to a shield poke build.
Ice Spear is so cool, used it on my first playthrough, and wrecked most of the game.
Broken ash if war ngl
I ran Ice Spear on Clayman Harpoon, with Glintblade Phalanx on a Misericorde to open. Stance breaks for all!
Still not convinced by wing stance but a very solid list anyway.
Great video, as always. The only thing I’d add is ‘Endure’. With the DLC I’ve found uses for Endure in almost any build, but especially buffering Carian Sovereignty or on the Bloodfiend Arm. It’s also been super nice to use it when I rebuff, mid fight. I don’t think I’d rank it above anything here, but it’s definitely an honorable mention for me.
Endure became worst with the dlc for the simple fact that palm blast exist (wiche is a mini endure)
@@unidime3217 endure makes you take half the damage though, palm blast does not. Charging up palm blast you simply die from enemies attacking you
Endure as a mage makes tanking for cast charging so much fun. Pop your buffs, maybe an ironjar aromatic, terra magicka, then endure - charged spell (like ice storm) - endure - repeat
@@Vengeance_I_m no, you gain +25% damage negation to all resistance with palm blast. All the time people talk without knowing it's unbelievable xD
@@figuures6098 Ironjar aromatic does almost all the work here, i could put ironjar aromatic almost everywhere and make everything overpowered yk. Also i believe endure does not stay active for the entire animation of ice storm ? Tell me if i am wrong on that !
But yes, even if what you just said is quite niche, you are right, endure is good.
The point is, what you want to do with endure is to get the maximum amount of damage in the given time span (3seconds), and i believe palm blast has the best RAW damage potential of the game, basically being a version of endure with an attack. Even with the setup you mentionned, i don't think you'll do as much damage as a lightly setup palm blast.
Also, the problem with endure is that you always have to be aware when you have it or not, so you have to concentrate on something else in the battle. Idk if it's because i am dumb, or because i need to get used to it, but i don't find it being an easy task.
I am really glad there's an objective ranker who value storm blade which is actually very op skill for both bossing and clearing trash mobs.
On point blank when enemies is having an opening, it just does insane damage.
I’m surprised the new AoW spinning gravity thrust didn’t make it on the list. I made a blood build around it and it two-shot Messmer (two full uses of the AoW). It even takes out Consort Radahn pretty well with the hyper armor you get.
Maybe honorable mentions Wild Strikes. Its absolutely insane on heavy weapons with bleed. Slap Wild Strikes on Great Stars with bloodflame buff and watch anything that can bleed just melt and even if it cant bleed the damage is crazy. Plus the healing on hit from Great Stars works perfectly with Wild Strikes.
Imo you’ve missed two VERY good ones that aren’t flashy but are so effective that they are better than many on this list: Impaling Thrust and Piercing Fang.
Impaling thrust is effectively a charged R2 that comes out instantly, does piercing/counter damage, costs hardly any FP. It’s faster and has longer range than giant’s hunt and can be used to punish extremely short windows on tough bosses.
Piercing fang does more damage and has disgusting range bust costs more FP and is a touch slower. This is most useful for initiating on annoying enemies or even lighter bosses, staggering them from outside their range to react. It’s also very useful on bosses that move around a lot and often finish a combo outside of your range to punish.
Both these are simple but so stupidly effective. The great katana or mesmers soldiers spear with one of these on it can just efficiently carry you through anything the game throws at you.
I would also like to mention the blood iron greatsword as another excellent candidate for blood tax. Yes, the reach is not as good, but the damage on it is just insane on a STR/ARC build.
My Top 5:
1. Flame Spear
2. Sacred Blade
3. Storm Blade
4. Lion's Claw
5. Ice Spear
Honorable Mention: Carian Retaliation
@@Mulag91 based list
Love the list and while I would disagree on details, it is great but you miss some important notes for example, especially when it is so wrong it is painful:
ice spear scales best on Dexterity, at least on keen which is the optimal route, don't argue, this is objectively true. Int only scales higher on standard (never), Cold (which hurts the weapon scaling), or magic (only if you are a pure int build), which are all suboptimal.
Storm blade always scales better on a dex build, also dex builds doesn't lack in projectiles at all. while not having catalyst dex has quite a few options including the bows, AoWs, unique skills, and potentially even consumables are the best in the game and are all projectile options.
im very curious on your thought process on getting one nearly objectively wrong and missing detail on the other. The only reason I note this is noting ice spear scaling on dex/int but scaling better on int?
If an AoW scales on Dexterity it will always perform best on keen, with a dexterity build being the optimal option. There is no exception.
Some of this is opinionated or Pvebased but ice spear better on int? Storm blade equal on dex/str afterward? This is clearly missing important of critical detail that make this list unreliable which is painful because this should be a great list. (this is a great list but some of the details are objectively wrong)
You can do better
Also some of the blood flame blade options weapon attack + bullet AoW make blood blade less viable, ie storm blade + blood flame blade. (especially with needing higher levels to compete in DPS)
Carian Sovereignty: Tbh just build a lightning AoW build. Much better DPS, Safer, Easier to accomplish on NG1-NG+7 playthrough. I almost thought his was a joke the level/weapon requirements to cheese make it much more difficult to pull off on a standard playthrough and on NG+2 beyond it becomes a bad build concept.
Also the golden Vow being No 1 isn't really justifiable, you have similar things that have similar niches. Also doesn't work ideally with Fth builds, and it is out classed early in the dlc. It requires a healthy spot in 22. No 1 is almost satire, unless you consider golden vow to be the best incantation of all time. Otherwise you are making a satire of all other builds other than faith. (if you are playing a dexterity crit build I guess it works well), its good but not that good, especially with the low duration and while strong benefits fails to last in fights where players are new, or be as effective in pvp. The place of No 1 is either a trap or laziness in the list.
You are youwy not rusty.
You can still make use of Ice Spear even on FTH/STR. While the projectile damage won't be quite as high as a dedicated INT or DEX build, it's still very efficient and you still get the same frost and stance damage.
Also, for the "input reading" it actually does get around that the closer you are, because more often than not, enemies will dodge the initial startup animation (the spin that can damage at melee range) and get hit with the projectile. If you are point blank (such as they're getting up from a riposte/critical), you can just use the AoW and they will almost always get hit by both the spin and projectile.
Piercing Fang is also an incredible stance AoW. Lots of poise damage and it blows through all shields, including stuff like the head of the Mad Pumpkin Head.
Endure should have 100% have been an honourable mention. It's so useful in so many scenarios on so many builds that it's crazy to me that it wasn't even mentioned
Impaling thrust is genuinely so good. I tried a bunch of stuff on milady and ended up just going back to impaling thrust. Haha stagger.
Yeah i love that aow, even now that I've replaced it with Giant Hunt, I still miss hitting charge r2, L2 combos
The thing with Swift Slash is that once you get a sense of how to properly aim it while locked on, you can deal insane health and stance damage in a short amount of time. If you have solid FP and Stamina to back it up, you can shred anything. The distance of the charged version is surprisingly far, and can also be used to dodge.
So hear me out because this is incredibly strong for PvE.
Occult Great Katana using the Gravity Spinning Thrust and the Malenia great run. You get a solid B arcane scaling and 107 bleeding, and it will proc the multihit talismans. The animation is really long, but you get hyper armor to trade blows, and the best part is that you will recover all your health from the Malenia great rune. Without the great rune, the combination is not that strong, but it's crazy the amount of health you recover, and it also covers a great distance.
One weakness is that you can't trade blows with bosses when helping other people in their game because you can't have the great rune.
So hear me out, blood infused Sword Lance. 160+ bleed buildup and you slap either spinning gravity onto it, or blood tax. GG
@DextahPC That's the good thing about the GK, you don't need to use the bleed infusion and get a better AR from occult
@@Lagalpb It always comes down to the balance of AR vs status buildup. I'm pretty high level, so I'm happy to have 100 less AR and have 169 bleed on a heavy thrusting sword.
@DextahPC I understand that part, but I still get a 108 build-up that's more than enough to keep bleeding enemies. I'm aware the Sword Lance has a really nice moveset and reach, but I still prefer the GK in that department.
@@Lagalpb I love the GK. The moveset is great. It gets a poke out of a roll too so it was great against Malenia the other day. Also, at 80/80/80, its highest AR is on a Cold infusion. Two-handed it gets 937 AR with 127 Frost and 50 Bleed. Higher AR than a Cold Great Stars or Cold Great Omenkiller Cleaver. AND you can still put wild strikes on it if you wish. Not to mention the ashes you cant put on those other weapons that you CAN put onto the GK like Bloodtax, Sword Dance etc. It's a great weapon.
Cragblade is really good but sometimes I use Braggart's Roar instead for stamina regen and a bit of damage negation. Different heavy attacks moveset can also be better on some weapons. It's probably in top 20 aow in the game.
Storm blade might be a quality ash of war, but it gets much better damage on keen. Even with 80 dexterity and 80 strength, keen still out preforms it. To be clear, I’m not talking about the weapon’s ar, only the storm blades damage itself.
Also, neither the two handed sword talisman, or the arrows sting/reach talismans affect the damage.
Blood Tax is easily top 5 specifically for co-op summoning builds. DLC enemies have so much health and do so much damage that the halved flasks you get are simply NOT ENOUGH if you are any sort of FP-user unless you never get hit. Blood Tax on a bleed weapon with the Godskin Swaddling cloth consistently heals a ton of HP back, shockingly reliably staggers most large enemies just enough that they can't hit you out of it, and also does a large amount of bleed buildup at the same time. You can also put it on nearly ANY weapon capable of thrusting, including stuff like Nagakiba, Milady, and a lot of greatswords.
Not top 10 material, but impaling thrust is my overall favorite. Low FP cost, very fast, good damage, good stance damage, piercing damage, lunge, damages through shields. Very powerful without making the combat completely brainless. Nice vid as usual - very based.
Yep, used impaling thrust milady through most of the dlc. I had no idea what abilities rellana did o in P2 until I saw a playthrough cause I just locked her down stance broken until dead when she started powering up
Piercing fang is a direct upgrade. It is a little bit slower but everything else is higher than Impaling Thrust.
@@MrFallenone Bosses like Maliketh or Consort Radhan have short punish windows making it harder to get off a Piercing Fang. It uses 7 more FP and more stamina for like 10% more damage and stance break with longer recovery. Depends on your play style I guess. I wouldn’t say direct upgrade.
3:22 I really like Braggart's Roar. It gives a 7,5% damage buff and 20% stamina regen buff so very good for stamina maxing.
it also gives colossal weapons a special heavy attack which makes you run towards your target. For smaller enemies the run stunlocks them and for later games bosses which move around a lot it's basically the only charged-heavy attack on a colossal that can even hit them due to the tracking and walking. It is useless in the DLC though.
Did braggarts roar on my colossal weapon run and am picking it upo again for my shield focused run. Getting extra 20% stamina regen for 1 minute helps shields a looot. Only problem is it's a weapon buff so no greases, but it does stack with body buffs like the consumable turtle necks.
11:12 Chicken Leg with Cragblade is a nasty combo.
The poison flower blooms twice AoW is easily the best poison/rot AoW in the game, it deserves at least an honorable mention.
Honestly I'd say it's top 3 after the backhand blade ashes, it does insane damage has low cost, and makes poison builds more than viable (with all the proc buffs they get its strong af now)
Also, it easily one-shots smaller enemies and staggers medium enemies even without a pre-existing rot/poison proc, which gives it great overall utility. High mobility, closes distance fast, fun animation, bit tactical to use -- I really love it on my Poison Fangs. Also, FP cost is not so low to make it feel broken.
Yeah not sure how it didn’t make the list,
I would give an honourable mention to Carian Retaliation for being arguably the best parry in the game.
It's got better active frames than any other parry in the game, being even faster than the Buckler Parry, a regular amount of starting delay, one of the quicker recovery animations, it can parry and counter spells and it only consumes fp when doing so, while not using any when parrying regular attacks.
Golden Parry has some niche uses where the added range really helps it out, but in 99% of the fights in the game, Carian Retaliation will help let you parry more easily than any other AoW.
I'd actually throw Sacred Order in there. It buffs all damage by 10% while you have it in your offhand, including Ashes of War. Its slightly less damage than the Jellyfish shield, but lasts twice as long. Its also considered to be a weapon buff so it stacks with golden vow and aura buffs. Its amazing for Ash of War spam builds. You can also combo it with Cragblade for a 26.5% damage increase to your mainhand.
Impaling Thrust is amazing on a Guardian’s Swordspear. I like being able to play a pure Dex character without bleed or status effects, and that combo enables me to do so (love the stance damage)
I've got a ton of fun with Giant's Hunt on my Greatsword. Excellent stance damages, good damages overall, makes you move forward from a decent distance, it shreds. You can spam it on Crucible Knights, it will always interrupt them. It can also yeet Malenia to the sky. Great against player types of enemies (got the Rakshasa in one try with it). Can also hit the heads of dragons easily. It's just an alternative I prefer over Lion's Claw, less damages but faster, more convenient, good at mid-range.
Edit : didn't see it was already covered it in the video. Of course it had to be !
Goated video goated streamer day 22
Nice list! Thanks. I learned some new things. Best kind of video.
Man, I've been playing this game for two years but I'm learning so much new stuff from this ranking vids, I have a whole list of new builds I want to try or how to improve my existing builds. And not even with the broken stuff, just learning facts like that there are "Redmane" AoWs that all benefit from some buff -- I never knew that, I'm not a pro at synergies or optimization, but it's cool to be more aware of these little things. Or that Blood Tax has a healing component -- I'm sure I used that AoW on my bleed build, but never noticed that it returned HP ... So, yeah, thanks! :)
Freya’s blade also boosts the flame and of the red manes and I believe flaming strike. As well as savage lions claw. Blood blade is also technically a worse version of reduvias ash of war. The projectile doesn’t do as much damage or bleed and doesn’t go as far. But since you can put it on other weapons it has the potential to do more damage. Overall though the reduvias themselves have a more consistent and reliable ash of war with less criteria that have to be met in order to be affective. Daggers also have the benefit of working really well with the multi hit talismans. I honestly can’t believe they buffed bleed builds as much as they did with the dlc.
I hadn't looked at Blood Tax on Great Katanas, but it is insane on a blood-infused Sword Lance. The numbers are nuts.
Ice Spear is absolutely crazy in close range. I used it only in DLC but it is incredibly fun
the wing stance r2 works really nicely with triple glint blade and phalanx set up jump in and hit with 3 things at once or one after the other depending on the order you cast them, i wish frost spear worked on more weapons
did dual wielding reapers get buffed yet? i really enjoyed playing like that but felt to slow for not enough stagger, would get punished a lot in single player i mean
Flame spear makes my offhand wakazashi glow cool red. and it resets the frost of my dragonscale katana. looks cool when both weapons are buffed which is why i love it honestly
A little thing I want to point out
Flame spear isn't an upgrade to fire strike. It's more like upgrade of ice spear - both are melee attack that also shoots a long range projectile, but the fire spear works on more weapons and also buffs weapon with additional fire dmg for a time. Better flame strike is actually flame skewer. It also buffs weapon, delivers a fire sweeping attack and a melee hit, but in different order
Ice spear is a different element has different scaling and does not give you any buff ???
@@notveryartificial4486 ice spear has frost that debuffs enemies though. Also, ice spear is better stance breaking option.
Shhhh let people think flaming strike isn't the best fire skill in the game so nobody nerfs it 😉
Flame spear can also throw fire from hands as soon you hit them with a heavy attack button press will trigger that further fire damage.
I don't think the golden vow ash of war should even be on this list cuz it's only useful early game since u get it fast, but the spell is much better and u get it relatively fast as well, so i would 100% consider investing into a little faith for it cuz u also get other incantations like flame grant me strength which stacks well together.
The scaling on Storm Blade is not tied to AR but weapon level and your strength and dex, so it’s most effective on a quality build. It’s fine on pure strength, but if you’re using pure dex then beast’s roar will be significantly better
As far as honorable mentions go I'd say spinning gravity thurst is also S tier. It can be a longer animation but with a blood infused Guts sword and multi-hit buffs it's really powerful.
I use it with an occult Great Katana, B scaling, and 107 bleed build up. Then add the Malenia great rune and you can trade blows with anything except a few bosses and recover all your health back. They have similar AR but the arcane build allows you to use Dragon incantations spells that are really OP PvE, including the new Byle spells
13:30 another underappreciated boon of bloodtax i never see anyone talk about is the Tracking when locked on, its so strong. I've been using it on the vulgar militia saw for the potential bleed, not as good as the great katanas but its personal preference
Try it out on bloodfiends fork. The range isn’t as good as other spears but with the innate bleed on it you can throw on blood flame blade while having it on occult for the arcane scaling with just as much bleed as if bleed infused. with blood tax it just gets even better with the amount of procs and regen.
@@azuln.3760you cant use bloodflame blade on occult, your build doesnt work lol
As a melee only user, storm blade is so good on the great katana. Not only do you get range, but even when you’re out of FP, it’s literally a faster, spam-able, more damaging attack than an R1.
Thank you for mentioning square off is great, i feel a lot of people don't understand it's value and it drives me crazy.
What affinity and ash would you recommend on a 2-handed Great Katana with a Dex-focused build?
Would love to see a build that's good vs the final boss that isn't greatsbield + bleed rapier or something similar
You know how using strong and satisfying weapons feel like in game, these videos give that same vibe
The sword dance ash of war pairs really well with the dancer's set. But it is a little bit of a glass canon dancer's set has almost no resistance or poise.
Blood tax also pairs really well with Gaiuss' sword lance!
Definitely. If I recall correctly, for some reason it gets colossal sword bleed buildup on a blood infusion. Higher than other Heavy Thrusting Swords.
Rank the top 5 or 10 type of builds.
Example: Dexterity, faith, Bleed, Poision, Incantions, dragon communion, carrion spells and ash or war, fire giant build…etc.
Just to expand on your thoughts on Lion's Claw v Savage Lion's Claw. You briefly mentioned about Savage Lion's Claw and status effects and this is so true. I was testing the two for bonk potential between the Guts Greatsword and the Bloodfiend Arm. And as you might guess, the old Lion's Claw dominated on the Guts Greatsword because it's just pure power smash is so good. But I found on the Bloodfiend Arm, with it's INSANE blood build up, the Savage Lion's Claw was superior because for 2 casts of the full thing you get 6 hits with your crazy bleed weapon, vs only 2 hits with the regular Lion's Claw. So yeah, definitely keep in mind if you're using a weapon that's applying a status effect because the two perform so similarly otherwise, that being able to hit with your weapon 3 times vs 1 time may be better in those instances.
Except you can hit 2 regular ones by the time you get out the entire Savage version.
You also get the proc the multihit and blood talismans with the savage LC. I use it for my backup occult Great Katana
@@Lagalpb I first used in on great katana and it really turns you into a blender...the length of the blade on those flips and the fact that you can redirect to a different target midway through means you can literally jump mob to mob and take down multiple dudes in one cast even if they're not standing next to each other.
@@MrFallenone yeah but 2 regular ones is still only 2 hits...where even with the single cast of Savage it would be 3 hits. You can literally proc bleed nearly twice with a bloodfiend's arm on a single use.
@fullmetalathlete and the range of the AoW itself is insanely long. I saw a video comparing the distance cover, and it was more than twice as long
Youwy is the best ER creator. So awesome seeing your channel grow and your hardwood pay off!
What fit you rocking when showing winged stance
So many combos, so little time. Great looking list Youwy!
I just understood you can equip any ash of war to any type of attribute you are using, example; I am a STR build and I have equiped Golden Slash Ash of war on HEAVY to Nightrider Glaive. Thou Holy, it does pure physical strength + I get the buff of Holy duration. 😁
I will always value Blind Spot over Swift Slash solely because it allows me to dodge Messmer Soldiers who hit harder than many base game bosses (deadass took less damage from several P1 Godfrey hits in NG+2 and with the same setup I took similar and sometimes more damage from Messmer Soldiers even with the additional negation of 20 Scadu in NG+2)
The Draconic Tree Sentinel before Maliketh hits as hard as Radahn 2.0
@@MrFallenonedifference is that DTS doesn’t have a 5 hit combo that’s sometimes followed up by an AoE stomp depending on how bad your RNG is.
Also random field enemy damage = late game boss damage was my complaint, not late game boss damage = end game boss damage.
It's honestly ridiculous how good Milady is. It basically has its own unique skill (a really good one) but you can infuse it if you like, the lights and heavies flow into each other perfectly, and it just feels really good to use in general while being a good weapon. Meme name or not, probably one of if not the best designed weapon in the game.
10:08 i have read a post somewhere that says that cragblade increases the scaling of strength for example it will make a B scaled weapon into an S Scaled weapon not sure if this is true.
Stormblade is such an underrated aow man... glad people are testing it out more now
I hope they reduce the start up wing stance has before actually getting to use the light or heavy ash. It's noticeably slower than square off and quick sheath. I should be able to react punish low attacks better with the jump.
Can you do a vid on the martial arts? Compare and max em out? Best damage , dual wield, infusions, breakdown
whatever you run in offhand you got no reason to sleep on flame spear on that especially cuz its both really good and it buffs your offhand
Great list, ranking is not easy.vow should be in honourable mention count, the same way you grouped wing stance and the others together because it takes another main Aow spot on the list.
Ever been Holy Butt slammed by a dude with full Solitude.And Verdigris, Bullgoat, Alexander's, flame scorpion.
I will face tank any one of these AOW with a full on assault of holy cheek meat. Flame art infused
I will be victorious
Ashes of war are genuinely one of the best additions to souls games, I really hope they will be featured in future Fromsoft games even if it's in slightly different forms.
I use the Flame Spear AOW on Queelign's "Greatsword". Lots of pokey poke.
Wanted to ask, do you think the Sword Lance outclasses the Anchor now as a strength-based Thrust weapon? They get like, the same AR on Heavy infusion but the Sword Lance has (most of) the Heavy Thrusting Sword moveset which is arguably better than Anchor's, and has a better selection of Ashes to choose from imo.
Get that weapon AoW and use it with an occult Great Katana. B arcane scaling with 107 bleed build up, that will always bleed and proc multihit talismans. Combine it with the Malenia great rune and suddenly you can trade blows with all enemies in the game except some bosses.
Good thing this list is not overflow with status proc ashes of war, good video like always youwy.
I've been sleeping on storm blade, but finally decided to give it a try since you keep mentioning it in your videos, and um... yeah, it's pretty good, so thanks for that.
top 3 challenge runs video? like which ones are most fun to do ( SL1, consume only, etc.)
Can’t get on with flame spear, flame skewer feels much better imo. It’s quicker and outputs more damage (unless using Godfrey’s icon). Same stance damage. I’d happily sacrifice the range and longer buff for those aspects.
I'm not sure Carian sovereignty gets hyper armor, it might have gotten stealth nerfed because i keep getting staggered out of the animation by regular sized enemies
Are you using a big weapon? He clearly said in the vid you only get hyper armor with greatswords etc.
@@MrFallenone I was using the Banished knight greatsword
Goated TH-camr
So many great videos since the DLC dropped (and I know beforehand too). Shocked Youwy doesn't have 5x the amount of subs.
I was a big fan of flame spear FKGS. It is still good, but lost a lot when the sword was nerfed.
Coming back to this video to say that Impaling Thrust absolutely carried me through Malenia on NG+
I find Braggart's Roar as a great alternative to Cragblade.
I think prayerful strike deserves a mention, its healing + stance damage is incredible
I've never understood why Square-Off is exclusive to one handed swords, considering that the stance historically is applicable to Greatswords and Katanas. Hell, the Banished Knights Greatsword has the stance during its unique Light Attack string.
Because it would be insane. The poise values are % based. The AoW does not actualy do 40 poise. It does 600% poise Motion Value(that being a multiplication of the default value the weapon has)
@MrFallenone okay, but that doesn't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. At the absolute least, there should be a variant then. As it exists, it comes off as bizarre since things like Katanas and Greatswords have precedent and handle length for it. And even the explanation you gave doesn't explain why it's not usable on Curved Swords.
surprised flaming strike isnt on here, its still insanely good imo
What weapon is this at min 4:10 when you show swift slash ?
I still think seppuku deserves a mention. It was nerfed a while back, but still can be quite broken with the right build.
Storm blade might be the single most annoying ash to play against in pvp. It’s so quick and so fp and stamina efficient that people can spam it almost infinitely and you’ll never get a window to punish.
you add a swaddling cloth to the katana. thats a wicked weapon. my new fav
Is the rusted anchor or the pickaxe better for a wild strikes AOW build?
Anchor lol
Rusted anchor for pierce damage which often times results in counter attack damage, so pairing with Spear talisman is good
@@Vengeance_I_m isnt the pickaxe also pierce dmg? and a great hammer with more stance damage?
@@andreagtfj1090 could be better, on paper seems like it, because overall Greathammers are better than greataxes. I didn't know Pickaxe was pierce, I recommend you to check on Elden Ring weapon calculator website to see with you stats which outputs better damage. But overall seems like Pickaxe is a better choice
idk why anyone would still use giant hunt when flame skewer exists