I don’t think the Axe shits all over the Hammer at all. While the Axe does have more reach in 2H form, Kirkhammer has better damage scaling, more stagger potential in 2H form, 1H form has faster attacks, and has both thrust and blunt damage. All in all, Kirkhammer outweighs the Hunter Axe in terms of versatility and damage. Either way though, all the weapons are pretty balanced PvE-wise, so just use what you like.
I’m really just waiting to get Ludwigs Holy Blade. I used the Claymore for about 90% of my Dark Souls game and its the closest thing this game has to it I think.
It’s the only Great Sword in the game ATM. I never used it as a strength weapon, Arcane with elemental gems though was pretty ridiculous.
I haven’t raged at anything yet besides Darkbeast Paarl. Hes not even that bad but I’ve gotten this fucking thing down to like two or three more hits about four times now then I get fucked by some camera angle bullshit.
That’s honestly my only real complaint about the game, the camera reaaaaaally sucks at the worst times. Other than that I’m loving the game, it may be my favorite game of this year (haven’t played much MGS5 yet) and its my favorite Souls game so far.
I did end up getting the Holy Blade and its pretty cool. What’s the consensus on strength builds in this game? It seems pretty effective so far.
Some boss fights it’s more ideal to manually control the camera than using lock on (Paarl, Cleric Beast, Ebrietas).
In terms of builds for PvE, weapon is viable so long as the stats are correct. All weapons are pretty balanced.
I started a new character and killed Eileen asap then farmed so I could get the Blades of Mercy. It’s a fun weapon but I think I’ll stick with my str build for now. I love the transforming animation for the BoM though, it’s a cool weapon.
Ok, got a build related question for you guys. Currently at level 58 with vitality at 20, endurance at 20, str at 30, skill at 25, bloodtinge at 7 and arcane at 6.
As a Ludwigs Holy Blade user (using Tonitrus as a backup) should I put some more more points into vitality and endurance or should I focus on arcane for a while? LHB has B scaling with arcane so I’m thinking I’ll be doing some pretty good damage by leveling up arcane.
I kept pumping strength and skill for LHB, didn’t start pushing arcane until I hit level 50 on both of those. Vitality and endurance are your call, but I kept mine closer to strength/skill than you have.
I just haven’t really noticed myself having issues with stamina, I have enough to do a three hit R1 combo with LHB and still just enough to roll away. I’m thinking I’ll get arcane to 15 so I can use the Old Hunters Bone then focus on vit and end for the rest of the game.
I also tried the Cannon out for the first time since I’m at level 30 str. Holy shit that thing is strong. I went ahead and took it to +6 too. Unfortunately I can only fire it once but if I use some bone marrow ash I wonder what kind of insane damage I could do.
The arcane scaling on LHB is if you want to do an arcane build. Otherwise it is not worth putting points in arcane outside of using some hunter tools.
So I should just get it to 15 so I can use the Old Hunters Bone. I won’t make it a priority then.
Yeah, LHB is a strength weapon. Unless you’re gonna want to put a big focus on Arcane Items in your build, just focus primarily on STR. The biggest boost in damage though is gonna come from upgrading your weapon and giving it the right blood gems for what you’re trying to do.
That’s kind of the nice thing about Bloodborne. The strength of your weapons isn’t determined by your stats as much as it is determined by just how much time you spend optimizing the weapon you want.
Too bad all the fucking materials are a pain the ass to get!!!
And you can only get one weapon to +10 per playthrough. 
Unless your willing to spelunk through the boring Chalice Dungeons.
1 blood rock, whose fucking idea was that?
Even Dark Souls will give you a couple Titanite Slabs.
And they aren’t impossible to farm.
Obtaining a Pure Moonlight Stone in Demon’s Souls was annoying as fuck.
Lhb you want to soft cap (25)str skill arc 20 end everything else in vit. 30 str is ok if you use the greatsword mode the most but lhb arc scaling with papers and phantasm she’ll on top is what makes it a good weapon.
True, I got incredibly lucky and got a slab drop from a Darkwraith after only like an hour of farming them.