Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
Not sure how far you are through the game, so not sure what's available to you yet.So while you pros are talking about plating DS, I kind of ran aground playing DS2. I hate the specs I've tried and miss my build in DS1 that carried me through the whole game.
In DS1 I had a lightning winged spear that was boosted by my INT score, and had some spell casting. I felt like I was ready for any enemy encounter and could engage on my own terms.
In DS2 I've tried different melee specs including heavy weapon, mundane santier's spear, sword n board etc. and nothing is that fun. I keep hearing that casting is weak in this game and all the weapons I want to try seem so weak against bosses and tough mobs (so I always go back to blunt weapons).
What's an effective and fun PVE spec to try for a first playthrough?
I played sword and board with no spells at all the entire playthrough. Some annoying bosses, but nothing I couldn't handle completely solo (didn't summon at all). I went with the Knight's armor set after the Pursuer, a Drangleic shield (100% physical resistance), and an upgraded bastard sword. Once I was able to get the Drangleic sword I used that with the shield for the majority of the game. Later on I got a Claymore which scaled terribly but kept similar movesets and used that the rest of the game.
For bosses I used a Large Club +10 two handed and killed them in 3-8 hits depending on the boss (3 or 4 to kill last boss). It had the added effect of stunning the shit out of bosses, but it was too slow for normal mobs.
If you watch the speedrunners they all uses a hex build which is OP as fuck if you can manage it.