Welcome to our weekly series that features a community submittedDark Souls 3build.Dark Souls 3 build craftingis one of the most enjoyable parts of the game and a big reason for its longevity. Who better to turn to when in need of a new idea than your fellow players? To have your build featured on the blog, you may submit your best setups on ourforum threadand every week we will select one at random to be featured here. Feel free to discuss and debate the build’s strengths and weaknesses but as always be constructive with your fellow Dark Souls players. This week’s build, “Frozen Shroud” comes from community member Lorebane24 and is anIntelligence and Dexterityfocused build.
Dark Souls 3 Build of the Week: Frozen Shroud
Oh, this is perfect! I had been making a little project of trying to put together a bunch of SL 140 builds (I like the variety at that level a lot) that might not be quite meta, but could, hopefully. Here’s the main one I’ve been using, but I have 4 others I’m working on.
When I played my firstDark Soulsgame, I wanted, desperately, to play an Int/Dex hybrid character. But quickly found that it just wasn’t that effective, at least not in the way I was looking for. So, I bit the bullet and went with a differentcharactertype.
When theAshes of AriandelDLChit and I saw Friede’s Great Scythe, I knew I had to give it another go. This build has worked well for me in PvE and while I’m not particularly good at PvP, I’ve been practicing. And as a result, it’s been performing better and better.
Stats & Vitals
*Note that several tools will often go unused in PvE.
Weapons, Armor, Rings & Spells
*All fully upgraded.
**Pretty optional for PvP.
***Usually ‘Ring of Steel Protection’, but can be swapped out as needed.
PvE is pretty simple. You will be usingFreide’s Great Scythe2-handed most of the time, and whenfightingan enemy that will take more than 2 or 3 hits to kill, you are looking for a safe opportunity to unload your ‘stanced’ R1 combo. This build hasstaminamaxed out, so you can roll a few times, get a full combo off and still have enough stamina to roll away.
Crow Quillsis helpful in narrow passageways or against larger enemies that require a lot of stick-and-move tactics.Pestilent Mercurycan be used to make a fewbosseseasier. Both in PvE and PvP, you can quickly launch your WA R1 combo out of a roll. Remember that you have a bit of “hyperarmor” on the first swing, so while you can’t tank through a whole combo, you can tank through a single strike, close the gap, and stun-lock your foe.
PvP is where I think this thing really gets fun, because it has a lot of moving parts that come together in an enjoyable way. Ultimately, your trump card is still the WA R1 of Freide’s Great Scythe, but players don’t fall into that trap as easily as the AI does. So you need to be proactive about creating opportunities to use it.
That’s where yourspellswill often come in. Use them, and use them a lot.Snap Freezeand theStoryteller Staff’sWA are your bread and butter. Thus, you should try and pop one of these off whenever you get some space. It might feel like you’re wastingFP, but you only need a couple of combos to nail someone, and ALL of your spells createvisual obstructions, which you can use to your advantage. Not to mention the pressure of avoidingFrostbiteandPoison.
When use one of these spells, you create a zone where you can safely move through, but your foe cannot. You can use this to gain breathing room, or you can cast, then dash through it and come flying out with a WA R1. However, don’t do it every time - be unpredictable. If they’re aggressive and make a habit of eating the frostbite just to reach you, you can easily plant a WA R2 in the middle of the fog as a nasty surprise.
Pestilent Mercury can often catch people off guard if they’re already used to Snap Freeze being spammed, and this creates a new hazard that they have to move around on. Once again, the WA R2 creates a short-lived but very dangerous hazard on the terrain, and if you’re clever you’re able to stack up so much **** (you’re at the casting cap without any rings, after all), that some players will find it too much to keep track of and get a face-full of frostbite.
If the terrain game isn’t working on your foe, you have a fallback - AGGRESSION! You have 40Enduranceand so do a lot of players, but there are also plenty who don’t. On top of that, you have theChloranthy Ringand the tools to keep your foe frosted. As long as you can reliably proc frostbite every now and again, go balls out with your WA R1. Don’t expect to hit them, but as you will usually have more stamina than they do, keep the pressure on and you’ll catch them when they’re out.
Now, one of the hardest counters to this build are large and aggressive 2-handers, and that’s where your Crow’s Quills come in. Your scythe can’t outradeGreat Hammersand it’s not fast enough to strike before the hyperarmor kicks in. So that’s when you bust out yourrapier; get super mobile, and adopt hit and run tactics.
If you can stagger them with an R1, you will want to immediately followup by initiating the 3-strike portion of the L1 combo. And of course, the WA helps you move around so try to hit from weird angles, or catch someone during their heal. ThebackstepL1 on this thing’s dual-wield mode is a lot of fun, but pretty easy to dodge.
That being said, it is a very good gap closer, and because it’s so telegraphed, a lot of people don’t expect you to bother with it, so you might be able to catch someone off guard once or twice. As with the scythe, you want to be unpredictable, and whenever you get room to breath, try to create some fog they have to contend with.
Thoughts on this Dark Souls 3 build? Get the discussion going in the comments. Have a Dark Souls 3 build that you think is grossly incandescent? Show us what you’ve got by submitting itin this thread!
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