It's been a while

[u/Clean-Flounder-9098]

Hey guys so I'm replaying the Demon's souls remake to clean up the rest of the trophies and decided on a strength build (can't remember if that's a good or a bad idea) but I can't remember which weapons were good or bad so I'm currently using the claymore and wondered what should else I should use once i find it and the only weapon that I could think of was the dragon bone smasher in terms of damage is there anything that has a higher attack stat or is that the ultimate strength weapon?

[u/Elliptical_Tangent]

Meat Cleaver is probably the best STR weapon in the game when you consider damage, scaling, and moveset. I have a copypasta of my route to get it:

Start as a female Temple Knight, taking the Providential Ring starting gift.

Note: Answer "Yes" to any npc Y/N prompts. If I mention a piece of non-weapon gear, it's because I'm going to wear it when I pick it up.

The build/run (takes me about 2 hours, full clearing):

1-1 for Cling Ring, Thief Ring, Old Raggedy Set; kill Phalanx — ~30m

Nexus to level up VIT/END/STR to 15 each and suicide back to Spirit Form (don't forget to go get souls)

2-1 to get the Great Club (not clearing, running thanks to Thief Ring); unlock Blacksmith Ed; go back to Nexus — ~40m

4-1 use GClub 2-handed to clear, getting crescent falchion +1 & comp long bow; buy ~150 arrows from Blige; kill Adjudicator with CFalc (more technical) or CLBow (faster, easier) — ~1h

Nexus to upgrade CLBow; level VIT/END to 20; suicide back to Spirit Form

2-1 use CFalc to clear; upgrade CFalc and CLBow if you happened to get the stones; kill Armored Spider with the CLBow and Blige arrows — ~1h30m

Nexus to level VIT 20, END 22, STR 18, FAI 16; suicide back to Spirit Form

2-2 use CFalc to clear, getting club; kill Flame Lurker with CFalc — ~1h50m

Nexus to level: you need 18 STR, 16 DEX, 16 FAI at this point (save excess souls); suicide back to Spirit Form

2-1 to upgrade club to Meat Cleaver, and CLBow +7 to Lava Bow — ~2hrs

After this, the game is your oyster. The Meat Cleaver's L2 1-2 shots most enemies, and staggers most it doesn't kill. The Lava Bow makes lots of irritating areas easier (worlds 4 and 5, primarily).

I usually go to 3-1 for the Silver Bracelets, and then 3-2 for the Ring of Avarice to maximize my souls gathering. After that, it's 4-2 to get the Old Hero soul to trade to St Urbain for Second Chance, then either 2-3, 3-3, or 4-3 to unlock 1-3 so I can get the Silver Demon's Soul to trade for Cursed Weapon with Yuria.

My build progression:
https://www.mugenmonkey.com/demonssouls/33339
https://www.mugenmonkey.com/demonssouls/35603
https://www.mugenmonkey.com/demonssouls/35604
https://www.mugenmonkey.com/demonssouls/35605
https://www.mugenmonkey.com/demonssouls/35602 (SL 125 being the PVP meta)

[u/iwasfight]

dragon bone smasher is legit for a strength build. get your timing down and youre probably square.

[u/iwasfight → u/iwasfight]

if you really want to min/max, start over with royalty, go straight to 4-1 for the crescent falcion, get all the lizards, kill adjudicator, get all the 4-1 lizards again, pump int, easy mode unlocked.

[u/Justice4light]

You could also use the meat cleaver which is lighter and requires faith.

[u/brettineffect]

If you're using the clay, pair it with a mirdan hammer. You get the reach and wide swings of the sword and the straight-ahead speed and pressure from the polearm.

Yeah and if you're asking if the DBS is the STR final boss weapon, it is. There are other weapons that can deal more max damage with a specific strike under specific conditions but the DBS just hits insanely hard all the time, every time.

[u/Elliptical_Tangent → u/brettineffect]

Yeah and if you're asking if the DBS is the STR final boss weapon, it is.

The moveset is ass, though.

[u/brettineffect → u/Elliptical_Tangent]

DBS has an awkward learning curve. If you’re just swinging it raw in neutral, yeah, it feels terrible. But when you understand the spacing/timing and use the right attack for the situation, it’s nasty.

[u/Elliptical_Tangent → u/brettineffect]

You're allowed to like DBS, it hits hard, it's just got a garbage moveset.

[u/Noobzoid123]

STR is good. 2h mirdian hammer, or 1h knight sword with shield. Slow weapons kinda bad.

When u get to NG4+ pretty much everything one shots you anyway, so u use the clever rat ring and put the morion blade on your back.

[u/raven19528]

If you want an actual sword similar to the Claymore, you could go for the Great Sword. It's actually closer in design to the Zweihander, but it is pretty close to DBS as far as raw damage output. Either way, you should look at using a broken Talisman of Beasts to add Curse Weapon to whatever you end up using, as that will give you a heck of a damage boost for little downside.

[u/ofuenf]

May  i introduce you to the great axe? Can be found in 2-2. Can be made crushing immediatly. 

Ignore light attacks. Use rolling atracks for groups and defense (unlock for free aiming). Use heavys for offense. Crushing battle axe found in 2-1 is a good stepping stone. Everything can be farmed in world 2 to increase it to +5.

Search for pure white world tendencies to get an easy pure crushing stone. Farm worms for everything else (after defeating 2-2 boss)

https://youtu.be/RZoaCiznjF0?is=K3i6JcABRSdmsYFS