History GameBreaker / DarkSouls

* The [[DropTheHammer Great Club]] is a strength-based club towering over the user. It is hard-hitting, has a long reach and a deceptively fast rolling attack when carried with both hands. So long as your character can fast roll, you can easily stagger your foe with the said two-handed rolling attack and continuously pummel them to death. Moreover, due to its relatively low strength requirement, one can infuse it with various elemental paths (especially the Chaos path), two-hand it and use it early on. Last but not least, if you ''do'' have 50 Strength or above, you can go for the normal upgrade path, apply resins or spells to buff the club, and your club can now [[OneHitKill oneshot]] [=PvP=] opponents by backstabbing.

* The regular Dragonslayer's Axe can be obtained soon after arriving in Irithyll, [[GuideDangIt provided you've been progressing Sirris's questline]]. Like it's big brother, it does split Physical and Lightning damage. But here's the kicker: it counts as a "normal" weapon, which means you can infuse and, more importantly, buff it. And a short trip down into Irithyll Dungeon will let you buy infinite Gold Pine Resin, or for the Faith builds, get you the Lightning Blade miracle. Here's the ''other'' kicker: it's actually at its strongest with a ''Raw'' infusion, meaning you don't need to put a single point into Strength or Dex beyond its required 18/14 (or 12/14 for two-handing). At 60 Faith with Lightning Blade applied using the Saint's Talisman, the axe will do ''440 Lightning Damage'' (445 with the slightly better Yorshka's Chime, but is it really worth [[YouBastard murdering the innocent fluffy-tailed dragon waifu in cold blood just for 5 extra damage]]?) in addition to 273 Physical. With the aforementioned Gold Pine Resin it also makes a great weapon for low-level invaders looking to cause misery. At +0 with Gold Pine Resin it does 120/200 Physical/Lightning damage, and a Deprived can two-hand it as early as ''[=SL7=]'' (the downside, of course, is that you actually have to get that far in the game while only being [=SL7=]).

* The Millwood Greatbow is already infamous for being ''the'' weapon for archers thanks to its great scaling and skill, Pierce Earth, which makes it having the longest range of all the Greatbows and leaves an DelayedExplosion after it hits something solid, making it great for PVE where you can simply snipe enemies without fear of retaliation and in PVP where you can grief players provided you keep a good distance from them or just bait them into getting an arrow to their face, but one glitch made players create a house rule that basically forbade Greatbows from usage in PVP: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-8-dnvKNo off-hand bow glitch]]. When performed correctly alongside Repeating Crossbow, it can instantly kill everyone that isn't [[BonusBoss Darkeater Midir]], [[PuzzleBoss High Lord Wolnir]], or [[spoiler:Slave Knight Gael]], and even then, they're left susceptible to either a death from a strong second hit, or even better, another barrage of arrows created from the Millwood Greatbow's off-hand bow glitch. While other Greatbows fall into this, the Millwood Greatbow is notorious for this, as it has the best damage scaling of all of them. Don't be surprised if many players label you a {{Griefer}} for doing this.

** Even if you don't pursue for the Giantdad build, so long as you have 40 Endurance and the Ring of Favor and Protection, you can swing your Zweihander for up to 4 times. Simply take on your Havel's Ring, wear Mask of a Child, Havel Set minus the headpiece, and carry the Grass Crest Shield on your back, and you get an uninterruptible MightyGlacier with a ridiculously high Poise, which means that your attacks are harder to be interrupted than the Giantdad. Oh, and you can still can mid-roll even with that cumbersome armor set made of rocks, all with barely 40 Endurance. And if you push it to 88 Endurance? You get a [=SL125=] [[note]]the meta level for the [=PvP=] community[[/note]] LightningBruiser that can fast roll just like the Giantdad, but with ''[[FromBadToWorse even more Poise]]'' and a slightly better stamina regeneration.

* Pyromancy requires no stats to equip aside from the necessary amount of attunement slots for the spells you want, and doesn't scale with stats at all, instead increasing its damage through upgrading the Pyromancy Flame. This makes it the magic of choice for characters who don't use magic, since almost all classes start with at least one attunement slot and the ones that don't need only one or two levels in Attunement to get one. Great Combustion from a fully upgraded Pyomancy Flame does a respectable amount of damage even in the late game, and will greatly help out any physical fighter against enemies that resist physical damage. Its damage can be further increased by things like the Crown of Dusk and the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring (despite the latter saying it only boosts sorceries). Of course, all of this is also what makes it the magic of choice for low-level {{griefer}}s who like to invade helpless noobs in the beginning areas of the game and one-shot them with endgame-tier magic.

* Pestilent Mist seems like a terrible sorcery on paper; it requires a hefty 30 Intelligence to cast and creates a stationary noxious cloud that indiscriminately damages anyone unlucky enough to be caught inside it, inclusing allies or even yourself. Its damage also doesn't scale with your stats or the Spell Buff of your catalyst. What it ''does'' scale with, however, is ''[[PercentDamageAttack the target's maximum HP]]''. No matter how much HP something has, Pestilent Mist will kill it equally as fast as it does anything else, and ''nothing'' is immune to it, even bosses. This turns it into one of the most powerful boss-killers in the game, devouring even the DLC bosses without mercy, provided you can lure them into the cloud. Its only real weakness is the slow cast time, but any magic build worth their salt has likely maxed out their casting speed anyway, and even if they haven't, the Witchtree Branch gives you maximum casting speed in exchange for being the weakest catalyst in the game, which doesn't matter in this case since Pestilent Mist doesn't scale off it anyway.

** [[BladeOnAStick The Halberd]]; undisputably the most broken of the four, it combines early accessibility with damage even higher than the attack rating suggests, fast attacks if they connect, deceptively long reach as with other pole weapons, and ludicrous damage modifiers upon clashing with an attacking opponent at the same time. There's a reason most speedrunners rush to the Darkroot Garden's lower basin to kill the Black Knight wielding it in hopes of obtaining this weapon.

** ''Turtling'', in which you use a [[BladeOnAStick spear]] or [[RoyalRapier rapier]] and hide behind your own shield (heavens forbid you if you're using [[GameBreaker Artorias' Greatshield]]) to poke your opponent to death. This strategy got slightly nerfed in a patch which increased the stamina drain when doing thrusting attacks with your shield up, but it's still annoying to face one since you have to risk trying to break their guard while taking damage from their pokes.

* For those who [[LowLevelAdvantage take advantage on low level invasions]], [[WhipItGood Guardian Tail]] buffed with [[PoisonedWeapons Rotten Pine Resin]] can almost inflict poison instantly, it [[NoSell ignores parrying]], can hit people hiding behind a shield, and buffed Guardian Tail has no visual effect on it, which can often catch new players or even veterans off guard. By doing this in Undead Burg, where new players have no access to Purple Moss Clumps and are likely to have low health, it effectively turns every single low level invasion into a CurbStompBattle in the form of watching your victims being succumbed to your poison, haplessly awaiting for their inevitable deaths.

* The ''Ashes of Ariandel''-exclusive weapon Follower Sabre has gained infamy for being the [[TierInducedScrappy Carthus Curved Sword with a different model]], but [[FromBadToWorse far more worse]]. With a Refined infusion and 40 points in both STR and DEX, as well as an equally similar moveset, it is basically the aforementioned weapon in terms of stats and damage output, but with the annoying addendum of having an extremely fast Weapon Art which can Guard Break shields. While it fortunately doesn't inflict Bleed, its absurdly high damage is more than enough to kill someone by successfully landing all 3 of its Weapon Art's slashes. Since Patch 1.22 however, the damage done by both the Carthus Curved Sword and its sibling the Follower Sabre has mercifully been nerfed.

* The humble Caestus, while a sub-par weapon, has one of the fastest parry frames around. Its so fast, it can actually interrupt the combo of very fast attacking weapons like Straight or Thrusting Swords once the [[MercyInvincibility mercy recovery]] kicks in (after the second consecutive hit). This works... [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Every. Single. Time.]] If one also packs a Hornet Ring, this can make for an easy win against opponents who heavily depend on R1 attacks over other less predictable moves.

* The Greatsword, which you can obtain relatively early on in the game, can potentially become powerful enough to cleave through bosses in just a few hits. With its excellent range, great base damage, and extremely varied moveset that's sure to be a help in most situations (especially enemy ganks), it can carry you through the game with half the issue you'd have with using normal weapons. Combined with the Tower Shield or any other shield that blocks 100% Physical Damage, you have pretty much all you'll need to storm through the rest of the game. That being said, it's a little troublesome to use in tight corridors, mainly because its sheer size means it can end up clanging into walls during a windup]].

* [[CastingAShadow Great Resonant Soul]], a Soul Spear-like hex with relatively low stat requirements that can potentially rival spells that need heavy investment in either Intelligence[=/=]Faith, all with a decent attunement allocation and a great number of uses per copy. With a fully upgraded Dark-infused chime, this spell can wreak havoc on anyone and everyone at the cost of a measly 500 Souls per cast. Its frequently defended by its proponents by how easy it is to strafe or roll to dodge, as it doesn't have any appreciable homing capability, which is certainly true... but both its cast time and projectile travel time are ''exactly'' long enough for an attentive opponent to notice and dodge. Were they doing anything else in the meantime, or something that took longer than .75 seconds, such as attacking with a greatsword, or casting a spell with a slower cast speed (which is almost all of them)? They're either dead or almost dead. It was later nerfed alongside most magic spells.

* The Sellsword Twinblades, a.k.a. the [[FanNickname Sellsword Winblades]], with a Sharp infusion and 40+ Dexterity, are essentially the ''Dark Souls 3'' equivalent to power-stancing two Caesti at 40/40 Str/Dex in ''Dark Souls 2''. Spamming LB will evaporate any health bar in record time. Even more so when you stack "as long as attacking persists" buffs like the Pontiff's Eyes, the Old Wolf Curved Sword, and Carthus Beacon. The Winblades are the {{Speedrun}} WeaponOfChoice for good reason. A set of Warden Twinblades with a Hollow infusion and Carthus Rouge applied is pretty much the same thing but for Luck builds.

* The Millwood Greatbow is already infamous for being ''the'' WeaponOfChoice for archers thanks to its great scaling and skill, Pierce Earth, which makes it having the longest range of all the Greatbows and leaves an DelayedExplosion after it hits something solid, making it great for PVE where you can simply snipe enemies without fear of retaliation and in PVP where you can grief players provided you keep a good distance from them or just bait them into getting an arrow to their face, but one glitch made players create a house rule that basically forbade Greatbows from usage in PVP: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-8-dnvKNo off-hand bow glitch]]. When performed correctly alongside Repeating Crossbow, it can instantly kill everyone that isn't [[BonusBoss Darkeater Midir]], [[PuzzleBoss High Lord Wolnir]], or [[spoiler:Slave Knight Gael]], and even then, they're left susceptible to either a death from a strong second hit, or even better, another barrage of arrows created from the Millwood Greatbow's off-hand bow glitch. While other Greatbows fall into this, the Millwood Greatbow is notorious for this, as it has the best damage scaling of all of them. Don't be surprised if many players label you a {{Griefer}} for doing this.

** [[AnAxeToGrind The Greataxe]]; while it's obtained far later than its brethren, it's extremely powerful, and it swings much faster than other axes, allowing for quick combos that stun enemies before they can break out of it. If that wasn't enough, it swings in wide arcs, effectively dead angling unsuspecting players (see below for an explanation on dead-angling). A patch significantly nerfed its actual damage output, and its swings are fairly telegraphed. However, it's still one of the more dangerous, easy-to-use weapons out there, if just for how versatile the moveset is.

** Similarly, you can apply the same buffs on a hard-hitting weapon like the [[AnAxeToGrind Demon's Greataxe or Dragon King Greataxe]], and increase the damage output even further with [[MightyRoar a roar]] from the [[ScaledUp Dragon Torso Stone]] as well as getting your health down to 20% in order to activate [[CriticalStatusBuff the Red Tearstone Ring]], with an optional buff from an allied white phantom's [[StatusBuff Channeler Trident's dance]]. Stacking all of these together can [[OneHitKill oneshot]] nearly every enemy in the game. Even some DemonicSpiders that are well into [[HarderThanHard New Game+7]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH4EY68yVzk&t=59s Even]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-DS3D39cSc&t=3m30s some]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKnJeZ8xRGc&t=1m12s bosses]].

* [[CastingAShadow Abyss spells]], specifically Dark Bead (a fast-casting, multi-projectile spell that easily lands multiple hits up close and spreads over akin to a shotgun), Black Flame (Great Combustion dealing [[UpToEleven even greater stamina drain]]), and Pursuers (a Homing Soulmass variant that's significantly more persistent, and isn't stopped by the Silver Pendant, which is ''[[ScissorsCutsRock made]]'' to counter Abyss spells). Since you can only obtain them through ''[[DownloadableContent Artorias of the Abyss]]'', they can also be considered as BribingYourWayToVictory.

** Similarly, you can apply the same buffs on a hard-hitting weapon like the [[AnAxeToGrind Demon's Greataxe or Dragon King Greataxe]], and increase the damage output [[UpToEleven even further]] with [[MightyRoar a roar]] from the [[ScaledUp Dragon Torso Stone]] as well as getting your health down to 20% in order to activate [[CriticalStatusBuff the Red Tearstone Ring]], with an optional buff from an allied white phantom's [[StatusBuff Channeler Trident's dance]]. Stacking all of these together can [[OneHitKill oneshot]] nearly every enemy in the game. Even some DemonicSpiders that are well into [[HarderThanHard New Game+7]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH4EY68yVzk&t=59s Even]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-DS3D39cSc&t=3m30s some]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKnJeZ8xRGc&t=1m12s bosses]].

** The [[CriticalHit Hornet Ring]], which boosts critical damage by 30% ([[UpToEleven 50%]] before a patch), when combined with weapons that already multiply critical damage such as rapiers and daggers, can almost one-shot near any build with a backstab or riposte. Even without a critical hit multiplier, the boost is enough to make that already powerful Claymore or Great Scythe hit that much harder.

* The [[DraconicHumanoid Dragon Form]] can become this for [[LowLevelAdvantage low level invasions]], it has a [[FixedDamageAttack fixed damage unarmed punch]] that doesn't require any upgrade, a firebreathing attack that can stunlock your foes, and a roar that can both push someone away and briefly buff you. Moreover, it ignores the weapon summoning range inplemented in ''Dark Souls Remastered'', allowing those who manage to get the Dragon Stones with a low level character to unleash the horror upon unsuspecting newcomers. Those who picked the Sorcerer class can [[UpToEleven combine the firebreathing Attack with the Pursuers spell]] right at [=SL20=], resulting in an unblockable combo that can often instantly kill anyone getting caught by the flame.

* The Estoc is [[UpToEleven even simpler and even awesomer.]] A Refined Estoc is almost the same as a Refined Longsword in all its broken glory, but with the added bonus of being a Thrust-type damage dealing weapon able to deal even more damage on [[CounterAttack counter]] [[CrossCounter hits]], allowing the Leo Ring to amp its already massive damage even higher. Combined with its truly insane attack speed and long reach that often causes HitboxDissonance, it is a nightmare to face in PVP. As an added bonus, the Assassin class starts with one in its inventory for the ultimate in MagikarpPower.

* Anri's Straight Sword is unusual in that it scales with ''Luck'' of all things, which is enough to turn off most players from the weapon entirely, since by the time they get the sword (assuming they didn't just [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kill Anri the moment they met them]]), they'll have already gotten the gear they're most comfortable with. But if you decide to take the risk anyway, you'll see that it basically defines the MagikarpPower trope. It can reach Ultra Greatsword levels of damage, and due to its small size, it can be swung multiple times without putting much of your stamina at risk. Since longswords have a nasty habit of stunning enemies, it can be quite a monster in both PVP and PVE. Even better is that it gradually heals you, and it too can be ''stacked'' with the Sun Princess Ring and other HP Regen-based equipment! You can also buff it, and since the amount of status effect buildup you cause also scales with Luck, this makes Carthus Rouge an ideal resin to put on it. Or, if you want it to have [[UpToEleven even more HP Regen and damage]] instead, the Blessed Weapon miracle which you can find in the late-game can be used to further enhance it's already considerable capabilities.

* The Greatsword, which you can obtain relatively early on in the game, can potentially become powerful enough to cleave through bosses in just a few hits. With its excellent range, great base damage, and extremely varied moveset that's sure to be a help in most situations (especially enemy ganks), it can carry you through the game with half the issue you'd have with using normal weapons. Combined with the Tower Shield or any other shield that blocks 100% Physical Damage, you have pretty much all you'll need to storm through the rest of the game. That being said, it's a little troublesome to use in tight corridors, mainly because [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome its sheer size means it can end up clanging into walls during a windup]].

** The [[SheFu Dark Wood Grain Ring]], which changes a player's fast roll into a ninja flip which has incredible speed, invincibility frames, and mobility. Good timing with a fast roll can allow a skilled player to cheese through almost any attack; a ninja flip makes it borderline effortless.

* The [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Greatshield of Artorias]] for defense. Even with its average elemental defense, this shield boasts the highest stability in the game, [[AntiDebuff blocks nearly every status effect]] (save for Curse), and doesn't require as much strength or equip load to use as Havel's Greatshield. When equipped, a mook's attack can barely chip ''one-tenth'' of the player's stamina bar, and most boss-level physical attacks (minus elemental attacks and some very few particular special moves) -- Artorias' triple backflips, Smough's hammering, Ornstein's spearing, you name it -- which can normally break through a defense in two hits become scratches on its surface without costing much endurance. When equipped with Havel's Ring for equipment load increase and Cloranthy Ring for stamina regeneration, the player can take on literally every hit in a boss fight while slowly chipping off the boss' health bar, making the fight a battle of attrition needing little efforts and skills to win. The fandom has a good reason to believe that had Artorias been with his greatshield in his encounter with the player, we would have been toasted.

* Anri's Straight Sword is unusual in that it scales with ''Luck'' of all things, which is enough to turn off most players from the weapon entirely, since by the time they get the sword (assuming they didn't just [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kill Anri the moment they met them]]), they'll have already gotten the gear they're most comfortable with. But if you decide to take the risk anyway, you'll see that it basically defines the MagikarpPower trope. It can reach Ultra Greatsword levels of damage, and due to its small size, it can be swung multiple times without putting much of your stamina at risk. Since longswords have a nasty habit of stunning enemies, it can be quite a monster in both PVP and PVE. Even better is that it gradually heals you, and it too can be ''stacked'' with the Sun Princess Ring and other HP Regen-based equipment! You can also buff it, and since the amount of status effect buildup you cause also scales with Luck, this makes Carthus Rouge an ideal resin to put on it. Or, if you want it to give you [[UpToEleven even more HP Regen and damage]] instead, the Blessed Weapon miracle can be also used to further enhance it.

* Anri's Straight Sword is unusual in that it scales with ''Luck'' of all things, which is enough to turn off most players from the weapon entirely, since by the time they get the sword (assuming they didn't just [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kill Anri the moment they met them]]), they'll have already gotten the gear they're most comfortable with. But if you decide to take the risk anyway, you'll see that it basically defines the MagikarpPower trope. It can reach Ultra Greatsword levels of damage, and due to its small size, it can be swung multiple times without putting much of your stamina at risk. Since longswords have a nasty habit of stunning enemies, it can be quite a monster in both PVP and PVE. Even better is that it gradually heals you, and it too can be ''stacked'' with the Sun Princess Ring and other HP Regen-based equipment! You can also buff it, and since the amount of status effect buildup you cause also scales with Luck, this makes Carthus Rouge an ideal resin to put on it. Or, if you want it to give you [[UpToEleven even more HP Regen ''and'' damage]] instead, the Blessed Weapon miracle can be also used to further enhance it.

* Anri's Straight Sword is unusual in that it scales with ''Luck'' of all things, which is enough to turn off most players from the weapon entirely, since by the time they get the sword (assuming they didn't just [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kill Anri the moment they met them]]), they'll have already gotten the gear they're most comfortable with. But if you decide to take the risk anyway, you'll see that it basically defines the MagikarpPower trope. It can reach Ultra Greatsword levels of damage, and due to its small size, it can be swung multiple times without putting much of your stamina at risk. Since longswords have a nasty habit of stunning enemies, it can be quite a monster in both PVP and PVE. Even better is that it gradually heals you, and it too can be ''stacked'' with the Sun Princess Ring and other HP Regen-based equipment! You can also buff it, and since the amount of status effect buildup you cause also scales with Luck, this makes Carthus Rouge an ideal resin to put on it.

* The [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Greatshield of Artorias]] for defense. Even with its average elemental defense, this shield boasts the highest stability in the game, blocks nearly every StatusEffect (save for Curse), and doesn't require as much strength or equip load to use as Havel's Greatshield. When equipped, a mook's attack can barely chip ''one-tenth'' of the player's stamina bar, and most boss-level physical attacks (minus elemental attacks and some very few particular special moves) -- Artorias' triple backflips, Smough's hammering, Ornstein's spearing, you name it -- which can normally break through a defense in two hits become scratches on its surface without costing much endurance. When equipped with Havel's Ring for equipment load increase and Cloranthy Ring for stamina regeneration, the player can take on literally every hit in a boss fight while slowly chipping off the boss' health bar, making the fight a battle of attrition needing little efforts and skills to win. The fandom has a good reason to believe that had Artorias been with his greatshield in his encounter with the player, we would have been toasted.

* The regular Dragonslayer's Axe can be obtained soon after arriving in Irithyll, [[GuideDangIt provided you've been progressing Sirris's questline]]. Like it's big brother, it does split Physical and Lightning damage. But here's the kicker: it counts as a "normal" weapon, which means you can infuse and, more importantly, buff it. And a short trip down into Irithyll Dungeon will let you buy infinite Gold Pine Resin, or for the Faith builds, get you the Lightning Blade miracle. Here's the ''other'' kicker: it's actually at its strongest with a ''Raw'' infusion, meaning you don't need to put a single point into Strength or Dex beyond its required 18/14 (or 12/14 for two-handing). At 60 Faith with Lightning Blade applied using the Saint's Talisman, the axe will do ''440 Lightning Damage'' (445 with the slightly better Yorshka's Chime, but is it really worth [[YouBastard murdering the innocent fluffy dragon waifu in cold blood just for 5 extra damage]]?) in addition to 273 Physical. With the aforementioned Gold Pine Resin it also makes a great weapon for low-level invaders looking to cause misery. At +0 with Gold Pine Resin it does 120/200 Physical/Lightning damage, and a Deprived can two-hand it as early as ''[=SL7=]'' (the downside, of course, is that you actually have to get that far in the game while only being [=SL7=]).

* The Millwood Battle Axe is becoming infamous in PVP due to its Weapon Art, which causes the player to charge forward at a run, and then do a shout that can briefly stun an enemy. Why? Because even in Havel's armor set and with the Iron Flesh pyromancy applied, players using both can still charge at full speed, allowing them to close the distance and attack, basically ignoring attacks all the way.

* Pestilent Mist seems like a terrible sorcery on paper; it requires a hefty 30 Intelligence stat investment and creates a stationary noxious cloud that indiscriminately damages anyone inside it, even allies or yourself. Its damage is also fixed and does not scale with your stats or gear/rings. However, the damage is fixed because it deals a ''[[LethalJokeItem percentage of the victim's max HP]]''. No matter how much HP something has, Pestilent Mist will kill it equally as fast as it does anything else, and ''nothing'' is immune to it, even bosses. This turns it into one of the most powerful boss-killers in the game, devouring even the DLC bosses without mercy, provided you can lure them into the cloud. Its only real weakness is the slow cast time, but any magic build worth their salt has likely maxed out their casting speed anyway, and even if they haven't, the Witchtree Branch gives you maximum casting speed in exchange for being the weakest catalyst in the game, which doesn't matter since you'll be doing fixed percentage-based damage anyway.
** This gets ''even more'' broken if you exploit the game's stealth mechanics. Using the Hidden Body and Spook sorceries and equipping the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring will make you nearly undetectable by enemies so as long as you keep refreshing Hidden Body. Combine them with the Storyteller's Staff equipped in the left hand for its Weapon Art Poison Spores (whose poison also scales with health and happens to stack with Pestilent Mist) and you now have the so-called "Sneaky Mage" build, letting you waltz unnoticed into entire enemy packs and then laugh as they slowly die from the resulting DOT damage with them being none the wiser.
*** The Storyteller's Staff is a gamebreaker all on its own, as it can easily be picked up by players with little-to-no investment in Intelligence and Focus Points and, while a single use of the staff is not enough to kill an endgame boss, it can usually whittle their health pool down to a managable size when it counts, perhaps aided with a poison-buffed weapon. (Unless that boss is Darkeater Midir, who is immune to the Staff's effects. Also, some bossess also move too quickly for the spore clouds to cause much buildup.) The Poison Spores weapon art only requires twelve Intelligence to use, and it does not scale with anything, so even a player who focuses exclusively on a melee build can quickly pick up the staff and get its full power. Better still, the pool of Focus Points a player starts with is enough to send out enough spore clouds to poison most bosses, and the others only require the use of a single Ashen Estus Flask.

* The Prisoner's Chain is a ring that offers +5 Vigor, Endurance, ''and'' Vitality when equipped. That's ''fifteen free levels'' worth of stats. Granted, it comes with the downside of taking an additional 4% damage from all sources, but it's a small price to pay given that you're getting more health, more stamina and the ability to equip more gear (meaning you'll be able to wear heavier armor to help mitigate the damage anyway).

* The Astora Greatsword gains its Game Breaker chops by being the most light-weighted Ultra Greatsword, and its scaling with Crystal, Chaos, Lightning and Dark can reach an absurd S. Even when you infuse it with Refined, it gets a B scaling for both Strength and Dexterity, which is pretty impressive for an Ultra Greatsword as light as the ''Bastard Sword''. Additionally, it also makes for an unexpectedly good Poison weapon, an infusion uncommon enough to send enemy players panicking when the poison procs. There was also a bug associated with its rolling attack that prevented it from being parried prior to the first DLC update, but it has since been patched, and now the Astora Greatsword has thankfully become less dreadful to deal with. It still, however, makes for a potent AIBreaker when dealing with difficult hostile NPCs or NPC invaders.

* The Astora Greatsword gains its Game Breaker chops by being the most light-weighted Ultra Greatsword, and its scaling with Crystal, Chaos, Lightning and Dark can reach an absurd S. Even when you infuse it with Refined, it gets a B scaling for both Strength and Dexterity, which is pretty impressive for an Ultra Greatsword as light as the ''Bastard Sword''. Additionally, it also makes for an unexpectedly good Poison weapon, an infusion uncommon enough to send enemy players panicking when the poison procs. There was also a bug associated with its rolling attack that prevented it from being parried prior to the first DLC update, but it has since been patched, and now the Astora Greatsword has thankfully become less dreadful to deal with.

* The [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Greatshield of Artorias]] for defense. Even with its average elemental defense, this shield boasts the highest stability in the game, blocks nearly every [[StandardStatusEffects status effect]] (save for Curse), and doesn't require as much strength or equip load to use as Havel's Greatshield. When equipped, a mook's attack can barely chip ''one-tenth'' of the player's stamina bar, and most boss-level physical attacks (minus elemental attacks and some very few particular special moves) -- Artorias' triple backflips, Smough's hammering, Ornstein's spearing, you name it -- which can normally break through a defense in two hits become scratches on its surface without costing much endurance. When equipped with Havel's Ring for equipment load increase and Cloranthy Ring for stamina regeneration, the player can take on literally every hit in a boss fight while slowly chipping off the boss' health bar, making the fight a battle of attrition needing little efforts and skills to win. The fandom has a good reason to believe that had Artorias been with his greatshield in his encounter with the player, we would have been toasted.

* The Greatsword, which you can obtain relatively early on in the game, can potentially become powerful enough to cleave through bosses in just a few hits. With its excellent range, great base damage, and extremely varied moveset that's sure to be a help in most situations (especially enemy ganks), it can carry you through the game with half the issue you'd have with using normal weapons. Combined with the Tower Shield or any other shield that blocks 100% Physical Damage, you have pretty much all you'll need to storm through the rest of the game. That being said, it's a little troublesome to use in tight corridors, mainly because [[RealityEnsues its sheer size means it can end up clanging into walls during a windup]].

* Because pyromancy doesn't scale with any stats other than Attunement slots, it's very common for low-level griefers to bring in a fully upgraded pyromancy flame and a powerful spell like Black Flame or Fire Tempest, allowing them to wreak havoc against equally low-level players. Most beginners have a hard time countering this sudden leap in power, let alone have the reflexes to dodge them if it's their first time.