DARK SOULS' Worst Weapon is Worse Than You Think

[@skel4136]

The Astora's Straight Sword really is just "a weapon". Nothing unique, nothing its specifically good at, but nothing that really makes it challenging to use, aside from lackluster damage

[@spacecowboy5486]

It's a bit unique since it kills skeletons permanently

[@Crota0100]

​@@spacecowboy5486 That isn't a unique effect, any weapon with Divine infusion will do the same.

[@poncichter]

perfect for the catacombs

[@Tp_hedgelinghog]

​@@Crota0100 yeah but if you have master key and dared loot the dragon near Bmighttown as a new player, that feels unique

[@Crota0100]

@@Tp_hedgelinghog We aren't talking about new players though.

[@BalbazaktheGreat]

Excuse me? DS1's "worst weapon" is clearly the whip.

[@ipseity_0]

an underwhelming weapon for its "poster child" stature

[@Tentin.Quarantino]

Without the whip there is no sexy party solaire build.

[@lharsay]

Broken Sword Hilt

[@Tp_hedgelinghog]

You know this is just a joke video to say "ASS" a lot, right? SolarPellets and DevBox does crossovers like this a lot

[@paid14]

it does kinda suck. But it's pretty fun to do a run with it. Think I used Magic Weapon on it to make it good? Can't remember

[@buuga610]

This sword is OP is the early game, it just doesn't scale well. Vitality and Endurance and very good stats in Dark souls 1, so choosing a weapon with high base damage and low stat investment will allow you to allocate points into vitality and endurance early. It's a great weapon if you want to start the game and immediately go to Bell Gargoyles or Blighttown, and it can even get you through Anor Londo at +2 with high vitality and endurance investment. Where it excels is if you plan to begin with the catacombs, since the sword has the benefit of permanently killing skeletons. If you go through the catacombs normally, without the skip, you can access several useful items, including the great scythe, and the crescent axe, as well as the blacksmith for early infusions. If you're dead-set on using it late-game, you should probably scale it with faith, since those points will also allow you to access miracles. Going through the catacombs right after killing the Capra demon will allow you do save Reah, who will sell you some of the best miracles in the game. C-C scaling with strength and dexterity means that on faith builds, you can allocate some points toward a higher-investment weapon without those points being completely useless to the Astora Straight Sword. I've never tried using it in late-game before, so I don't really know how good it effective it would be, but it certainly has it's uses and has served me well on several playthroughs.

[@lukefitton7329]

This, good to prioritise Dex over Strength a little too for the Casting Speed. And even if it’s one of the weaker straight swords, it’s still a straight sword with a decent moveset.

[@jayewrite1256]

So basically the sword is a great starting weapon before you transition into your final weapon for the game.

[@bryandavies213]

exactly. early in my faith run this weapon was insane. after a few upgrades i melted Capra demon in 4 hits. common sense had me switching weapons pretty soon after, but Astora is goated for early game

[@MaddBadgerr]

Its overall damage is outmatched by a Divine Broadsword, which can be acquired pretty early.

[@PhobiaSoft]

The Astora's Straight Sword is genuinely my favorite weapon in Dark Souls 1 - Looks pretty - GOATed Longsword moveset - No need to collect Embers - No respawning skeletons - Makes bossfights last longer What's not to love? 😛

[@Abuumans]

This sword, saved my ass at First playthrough.

[@thorn6070]

This sword carried me through half of my first ever playthrough of DS1 all those years ago. I didn't understand builds and scaling back then so the fact this could kill things easily even unupgraded, was a godsend for me. It got me to Anor Londo which is where it really started dropping off, so I switched to the BKS. But the astora sword is something I pick up straight away on all of my new playthroughs as a quick and accessible early weapon to deal with skeletons without hunting for necromancers.

[@st.haborym]

Pfft, that's not even remotely close to being the worst weapon in the game. Did you forget that fist weapons exist? Or what about the sniper crossbow? Or the two broken swords? Or daggers? Or whips? There are tons of worse weapons than the astora straight sword.

[@Tp_hedgelinghog]

Yes there are, this was just an excuse to say ASS and play Dark Souls

[@adradox]

That's not sniper's crossbow I expected to see.

[@thesmolpopato4972]

Skipping the depths mean you lose out on at least 33,000 souls. 6,000 from capra and 25,000 from gaping dragon. 33k is notbing to scoff at especially in early game

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

Especially when you can parryclip into the fog gate to cheese Capra (basically the same setup as O&S AI cheese, but you don't go back to the bonfire, you just hit Capra through the fog gate)

[@SuperKamiGuru-w4q]

​@@theapexsurvivor9538 Or you can do the much easier skip from undead burg to the lower burg clipping through the ground and jumping inside Capra's arena - which causes his AI to freeze completely.

[@OnurAkbas-go8ci]

Broken straight sword next!! It’s better than the Astoria’s straight sword trust!!

[@jamesgrenier8856]

Well, it's buffable so, yeah. By default buffable weapons are better than nonbuffable weapons.

[@unaffectedbycardeffects9152]

​@@jamesgrenier8856dark moon covenant carry

[@NAWWMANNN]

ASS is actually a really good weapon, if you're not playing DS1 like a sour chode lol If you try to use it on a character that's leveling mainly vigor and endurance and strength, that's a dum dum move. But if you pick up that sword on a run that's immediately dumping every level into faith, the sword is super powerful. It may be overshadowed by better scaling weapons later on, but until you can lightning infuse a Baller Swag Sword the ASS is amazing, as long as you're leveling faith over anything else. And you can pump a single Stat super high, super early if you focus exclusively on it.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

Yeah.. or I can just use a weapon that doesn't require a very specific set up to be good.. one thats good by default.

[@lukefitton7329]

⁠@@AnAverageGoblinthat was kind of their point, that there are better weapons but Astoras can still be viable, plus why would you not level faith and have synergy with Miracles while using this anyway.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

@@lukefitton7329 Fair. faith is fun in DS1.

[@lukefitton7329]

@@AnAverageGoblin agreed, wrath of the gods + replenishment goes hard

[@gaiusadonusmaximusxiv9629]

Ds1 is a great souls game.

[@steveelpro]

15:25 Even if the scaling isn't that great you can't expect much damage on 20str 20dex 23fai blud, should have atleast one of them at 40 on end game

[@movezig5]

I have bad news for you: this is, to my knowledge, the first of your videos that has been recommended to me. Chasing the algorithm is sadly working.

[@xavierreallyplaysgames]

Same here!

[@withgirl1501]

I fully expected you to say 'Ceaseless discharging off the cliff' 😂

[@jamesgrenier8856]

To quote a highly successful KZbinr, there are no bad weapons in dark souls

[@IamUzyf]

except elemental weapons against DLC bosses

[@Hooze-rr3en]

Ghost knife

[@jamesgrenier8856]

@@IamUzyf kind of, a +5 lightning greataxe is still pretty decent. It's really more about if you mind spending 20 minutes fighting a boss and whether or not you enjoy a weapon's moveset. I would agree that it is not advisable to use elemental weapons against DLC bosses unless you want to be challenged.

[@st.haborym]

Fist weapons and the two broken swords are objectively bad.

[@jamesgrenier8856]

@@st.haborym they're fast and buffable, I actually enjoyed my broken straight sword run quite a bit even though I stopped after Ornstein and Smough

[@dabbboiii5314]

ive watched so many challenge runs that i fully believe its possible to beat ds with anything that does damage

[@Jack-ex7kc]

so that's why it's THE Dark Souls sword... it's just like the chosen undead... nothing special. also great vid!

[@yeahyeahwowman8099]

You know my first run of this game was grass crest shield, balder side sword. Side sword was fun to use, had no idea it was even a rare drop.

[@calemr]

It winds up with an A in Int if you make it enchanted, so it's a pretty decent weapon for mage builds to use too.

[@Garl_Vinland]

No one uses the Balder’s Side Sword as a first build unless you use the Wiki before hand

[@yeahyeahwowman8099]

@@Garl_Vinland before long, you people always show up at some point. Some point you're entire existence is to just tell people they are wrong like you are on the spectrum.

[@Hunters_Dawn]

Four kings has an interesting mechanic. Only one king seems to actively fight at one time while the others that spawn seem to be relatively passive on the outside with the occasional sword swipe. The active king is based on keeping aggro/staying close. When the active king does the AOE attack this seems to also signal a new king spawn. If you run away from the burst then the aggro switches to a different one or new one. If you use a shield and tank the damage sticking close, then you should keep the attention of the one you were fighting. If you move away, then you need to go after the new active king, the one attacking you. If you disagree, please test it out.

[@TotallyCluelessGamer]

Isn't that more or less the entire reason they seemed impossible to people during the 1-shot contest, since only one hangs out in close range at once so you can't Fire Tempest/Chaos Firestorm them all?

[@AchilloTheStalker]

Its basically the best starter weapon. after O&S it falls off so hard.

[@trevann8213]

"Damn it...the video worked...... *the video worked!* "

[@luizbertoncini]

Used man serpent greatsword in my last playthrough and damm what a good ng+1 weapon

[@AnAverageGoblin]

got that thing on my first snake kill once and it carried me through so much of the game.

[@DavidBowles1]

Beeeautiful weapon dude

[@bad_kojima]

Ass actually useful in low level catacombs run

[@catarana6135]

Dark hand is worse and so is Ghost Blade. Astora’s is just a below average straight sword

[@alexsimper4153]

one critique I always had about souls games is that there are a ton of weapons but 90% of them are either useless or easily replaceable by a better option

[@SuperKamiGuru-w4q]

Basically Castlevania syndrome where bigger numbers = better results.

[@colebeardsley8101]

I was suprised to see that this is a challenge run

[@TheMoogleKing93]

It's an early game weapon for Faith builds and nothing else. It has decent base damage but poor scaling. And it's good in that role.

[@andrewsharpe7630]

Astora's Straight Sword is a decent starting weapon.... if you upgrade it all the way immediately upon obtaining it. I started a "Pure Faith build" today. The ASS (huh, guess it tracks)- fully upgraded with twinkling titanite from the lizards in the Great Hollow, Catacombs, etc. (which you can get to immediately with the master key)- makes quick work of early enemies and is on par with the Divine Claymore I created when the latter was at +2. I think my faith stat was 25 at this point. Once you get a +5 or higher Divine weapon the ASS needs to be retired. But for that first half hour it makes the early game easy.

[@procow2274]

My farthest character is using this weapon 🐣

[@ShinoharaMiyu]

If you decide you want the first thing to do in the game being doing the Catacombs and you grab the Skeleton Key, for just minor faith investment, this thing is really good. It performs well throughout the beginning of the game too... then it stops being good.

[@TryingSoft]

Astora Straight Sword is good for a faith build in early game, but you should make a divine or occult weapon later

[@ninjahaz0180]

Well it's just Oscar on the cover I think. He's pretty based for the little amount he's in the game. Gives us our escape, our flask, and then dies. Based

[@KaoruMzk]

It's not *that* bad. Faith requirement aside, it's a decent weapon for the early game.

[@otherman4659]

Astora straight sword is a little good if you want to run through catacombs early since it's technically a holy weapon that stops the skeles from respawning

[@josephbulkin9222]

Yeah. I learned how weak the Astora Straight Sword was first hand. The first time I played, I wanted to use a build that looked like the character on the cover, since I'm not very creative with my own characters. These days, I just replace the Astora Sword with the Longsword, and the Elite Knight build is pretty much preserved.

[@kylemussman4342]

Sorry man…the algorithm worked. This vid rocked

[@41.taquangminh31]

U can always visit the Arch Tree to get total of 20 twinkling guaranteed immediately 😅

[@ronaldjenks3474]

It's good if you are on NG and don't want to bother upgrading a divine weapon for catacombs. That's about it.

[@imaawesome222]

Basically a faith drake sword. Really strong early on but drops off pretty fast

[@Soumein]

Still exorcizes skeletons, even without the stats to wield it. Sure you could just kick them off the ledges, but new players aren't going to try that.

[@motivatedstorm3816]

Unlike the broken straight sword which is literally meant to be a joke weapon This weapon is an actual weapon, yet sucks at basically almost everything when compared to anything in its own category and other category The whips are at least far and few between making them unique despite still being bad

[@manoeleduardoaraujofilho782]

After watching this video, i feel very proud of finishing DS1 100% with only Oscar's set ( while being a soulsbourne scrub, i might add )

[@1God1Fury]

No faith can save this disappointment of a sword

[@TheNorthernForge]

I remember one of my first solo runs of DS1 I used this sword for a lil bit, don't think I made past Quelag before I felt the damage drop off. Going from a strength main to a mid character was a hell of a change. Although now I mostly play light rolling mid damage characters since strength can feel ploddy and dex using bleed doesn't feel satisfying to me.

[@DragonLover6178]

0:00 I had no idea you could parry this enemy...

[@fortisch]

Funny, this sword carrys me through my faith run rn.

[@Garl_Vinland]

Sniper Crossbow would like a word

[@carminescurse]

If I remember correctly, the weapon is slightly blessed which means it prevents the skeletons from resurrecting.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Yes This is its most notable feature, since all other sources of this effect are considerably later, and only the killing blow actually needs to be with the weapon. It makes a huge difference in early game catacomb attempts

[@Zeldafand]

i remember this sword being decent for stagger damage and hit stun in DS3. *Shrug* Least as far as straight swords go.

[@friendlyreaper9012]

I'd argue the drake sword is much worse. Not only is it hard to upgrade since you need dragon scale, but it also scales terribly. Once you get to sens fortress the snake men are invincible unless you parry or backstab.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

It's a fabulous weapon that lets certain builds utterly neglect Str and Dex, and focus on magic stats, or health and gear.

[@Capta1nAsh]

People think this is a bad weapon? A.S.S is the best weapon for the start of the playthrough. Minimal stat investment and a few easy twinklies. Way more viable and useful than the Drake Sword (which is the OG Noob weapon)

[@AlexanderShamov]

The problem is that unless you're doing a faith build, the 14 faith requirement is a huge waste of levels.

[@nonagrey3422]

Actually having to hit the enemy a few times to kill them makes this run MORE exciting....

[@GrandLynx-kp2zi]

Im surprised you didn't use Power Within

[@circledline3880]

Funny. The ASS was the only weapon I used in my first run. Felt great to me until I started a new playthrough with weird routing and all the sudden fighting moonlight butterfly with it at level 5, I wasn't feeling so hot.

[@cam-inf-4w5]

People say the whip but its unparriable i believe. I need to experiment with it more. Ds2 notched whip was actually kindof halfway worth it.

[@HPLovecraft001]

2024 and Yet the best build still being Giant Dad with a Zweihander infused in Caos+15 and have 99 Humanity

[@notmychannelname42]

Anything that does more than your punch is certainly viable. At least that is the way I see it. Many people have beaten this game without using a weapon.

[@Jergy2]

I'm sorry bud, the algorithm brought me here. Playing the KZbin game works.

[@matilpg7001]

its not worst weapon and this is not challange

[@kaimoro]

Ass-tora's Straight Sword

[@maebemaebenot]

Sword drops off obviously but I liked to use it to kill skeletons in the early game.

[@Raine618]

Welp, if you ever start doing dark souls 3 runs we have to see if the astora sword will be able to redeem itself.

[@TwilightWolf032]

The only use I have for Astora's Straight Sword is going to the Catacombs.

[@DariuszHerma]

Getting Black knight sword from first knight in burg was the worst thing that happened to me on my first playthrough

[@ChosenOne41]

I mean, how bad can it be? It does average damage, swings at a medium speed and has okay damage scaling. Yeah, it isn't going to one-shot anything but seems like it would be decent enough in all scenarios. Maybe late game it starts to taper off a bit but wouldn't something like the Drake Sword be worse in that regard?

[@yuumijungle548]

7:20 this clip already shows the difference between this weapon and others, with soul spear at this stage you can one shot each of them with i think over 1k damage per shot, with any ultra greatsword you need two R1 hits i believe, with this weapon you deal 44 damage per R1 it seems.

[@TheAequitas0]

Huh, I like the word play here. Astora Straight Sword Maybe a little troll from the devs?? Maybe not…

[@Tizzle-95]

perfect starting weapon. good damage and get rid of the skeletons. good move set.

[@AghiTron]

Identity theft is no joke.

[@Lampaluile]

Good vid brother man!

[@Poolio_10]

"Because damn, am I going to hate to see sticking to KZbin meta actually pay off" > 25k views in less than 24 hours Hate tosay it but it payed off. Glad to find you tho, you seem cool

[@kaltsssit]

Actually pretty good piece for a low-level run :)

[@Aloyisius_]

Faith damage weapons in DLC ☠💀

[@josetomascamposrobledano4618]

Bruh really masked a regular ass run and weapon as a challenge run 💀 Hello Dante Ravoli I enjoyed 1/4th of the casual replay-through

[@SketchSkarLive]

My second playthrough I used this sword It was fine honestly the damage wasn't great but it's fine cuz I like having low damage runs without having to resort to extreme measures like punch only run type of stuff My first playthrough I used the dragon ultra great sword btw it was awesome

[@robgeary8347]

Never used it beyond for killing skeletons in the crypt myself, but there are worse weapons in the game.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Besides skeletons, it's... a straight sword. Whatever graphs you could draw about its hypothetical performance compared to other similar weapons or weapons in its stats niche or so on, it's ultimately a pretty unremarkable spanking stick with a good moveset. Having to hit a guy one more time to kill 'em is hardly a game changer

[@hsbakaizwbdx650]

No wonder astora fell

[@msarilyn7677]

This is nowhere near the worst weapon, you are encountering the problem of not having the stats to wield the weapon oopsie ...

[@AchilloTheStalker]

3:47 thats literally beta content. Originally, oscar and you had been supposed to be playing simultaneously. After getting all 4 Lord souls, he would invade you in the Void before the kiln and he would've talked about how you betrayed him because he thinks that he was the chosen one

[@avikdas9910]

still better than drake sword since most early enemy are weak to magic and it can be obtained right at the start with the master key and it is divine so it is good against skeletons.

[@lharsay]

Hell no! It's way worse than the Drake Sword.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

@@lharsay Nah. Astora can be upgraded with an easily farmable mat and scales with some stats, Drake Sword doesn't scale and the upgrade material isn't worth wasting on it. the only good thing about Drake is that its a greatsword (objectively the coolest weapon type)

[@cam-inf-4w5]

The short sword is my favorite weapon in all the games yet i like it more than astora. Rapier too but theres just something about getting a new fresh start and getting a humble short sword and kicking a$$ raw take it to +5 and just skills and basics. Ik the longsword is....longer But its just not it. When they took away the stab in some ds2 update it was heretical. I hardly ever use it now that im an advanced player but when i get invaded theres nothing like taking on a modder with OP weapons And i get naked, no health points invested With an unupgraded shortsword And open hand parry Even if i lose they will question every decision they ever made as they are one hit away from death and they saw my damage bar knowing i went into the fight with sub 1,000 health It forces you to be creative by its limitations. You use ladders more and positioning and the map vertical combat, destructible hang ups. Applying pressure and tension. Its a thrill, win or lose. Try it. It will expose that weakness in your technique youve been ignoring. If all you care about is kill to death ratio youll plateau. Im not the best by any means and i wont even consider beating ds2 with a broken ladle like some. But i love the game. And i chase that special feeling of the razors edge, not strictly technical advantages being applied, thats mostly stress, not thrill. Dont pull your hair out anymore guys, its not worth it. Meet your goals and then relax a bit. Dont just immediately get dissatisfied again. In life or games.

[@garrettschienschang7898]

One of my early DS1 builds was with the astora straight sword, and it worked decently until I got to the archives. it didn’t go well from that point on

[@thatidiot346]

Oscar's ASS is actually +7

[@EmperorComet]

RAW A.S.S

[@Lefeno_Village]

...this kinda looks like a fine generic weapon for a first run not an endgame weapon maybe but like, i don't see this being a horrible first timer weapon, i'd use it.

[@kevo300]

Yeah but the straight sword light attack moveset can carry you in any from game alone.

[@Damonnanashi]

What game is the icon of the short haired girl on your PlayStation home page? Looks kinda familiar, but I can’t place it.

[@CBFaoladh]

I love the power bottom sword

[@jamesk7714]

Inspired to do it myself, astoras is awesome! Liked video and subbed to channel.

[@blunderingfool]

Hey, HEY! LEMON! Can you beat Dalk Souls with the Astora Straight Sword?

[@Mateus-lh1ku]

I actually did a challenge run to beat the game with only this weapon once, not that difficult tbh

[@via9471]

Ngl, in comparison to many other basic weapons this really is terrible. The damage output is pretty mid and I honestly don't get why they gave it the twinkling titanite upgrade path. It would be much more interesting if you could infuse it imo. There are a lot of joke weapons in this game, but this one really lurs you in and happens to waste a lot of your stat points, unless you already spread them out (what I usually don't recommend).

[@panikadamddam6871]

Bro what this sword rocks

[@tinytony960]

Idk man, I beat Artorias with that on my first playthrough, maybe youre Amazing Successful So good

[@seansanchez3710]

literally my favorite weapon

[@robertgardin4971]

Love the video, add some quiet ambiance, it sounds a little sterile

[@prosto_mean6802]

Nice ass run

[@calebdueck5864]

I will not taste the D, thank you very much

[@pokey5509]

How is a stick better than this?

[@cybus96]

theres no fucking way!!!!!! this was my weapon in my first playthrough on the shit 360 version !!!!! and all i remember is that it was was pure hell and i eventually found the great scythe after trying out loads of weapons that just kept turning out to be shite lmao . if it weren't for this video i woulda went to the grave having forgotten all about this sword :P