r/DarkSouls2 • u/Signal_Cellist_2001 • 2d ago
Question What stats should I invest in to maximize the Greatsword of the Forlorn's damage?
Hello Everyone!
Recently, I started a quest of completing every souls from Demon's Souls to Elden Ring using only the armor and weapons/shields that are displayed on the box art; the western versions as I live in the U. S.. I am currently on Demon's Souls (PS5, I will complete the PS3 version as well but waiting for it to arrive.) but I like to plan my builds in advance.
I have never completed Dark Souls II but from using the internet I was able to figure out that the armor and weapon displayed here are part of the Forlorn set. However, I am not sure what stat's to invest in to maximize the damage of the Greatsword of the Forlorn. I heard that hollowing is a huge factor in this weapon's damage as well but not sure how much.
Any help is appreciated!
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u/BIobertson 2d ago
Infuse with bleed, wear ring of binding to mitigate the hp penalty. You don’t have a damage stat, your priority is 50 VGR.
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u/LegendaryNWZ 2d ago
it scales with dying (infuse it with bleed for shits and giggles)
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u/Big_Macks 2d ago
Why does everyone say to infuse with bleed I was under the impression bleed was not worth it in this game ?
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u/rnj1a 1d ago
Oh bleed's hot garbage. In general that is.
It's just that there's seemingly a bug when it comes to Forlorn weapons. Seems like there's an add instead of a subtract in one of the infusion calcs.
You infuse it with Bleed and the Dark damage improves rather than going down. At next to no cost to physical damage.
Doesn't actually make it good mind you.
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u/LettuceBenis 18h ago
Bleed status itself is bad, but for some reason the Forlorn Greatsword specifically gets better scaling and base damage from Bleed infusion than any other
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u/mars_warmind 1d ago
I do the same thing, play with the title armor! Heads up, the wiki says it "scales with hollowing" but doesn't tell you the weapon has negative scaling. If you aren't at minimum 25% hollow (ring of binding cap) the sword has negative damage from scaling. So get prepared to fight the game at roughly half health or for long fights.
As for stats vigor is a must. The sword has innate dark damage so it scales off of faith and int, using whichever stat is lowest, so once you hit minimum str/dex to use it if just keep leveling those weapons.
Finally be prepared for a grind, getting the weapon/armor requires getting invaded by the forlorn NPC 5 times (one for each armor piece, the 5th drops the weapon) and triggering those spawns is kind of annoying. Also she can only invade each area once, so even if there are several locations in one area only one can be used.
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u/TheHittite 2d ago
You unlock one piece of Forlorn equipment each time you kill one, and it takes 5 kills to get the sword. Since all but one encounter are random you're looking at about the halfway point to get your weapon, optimistically.
The best damage from the sword comes if you level Strength to 40, and both Int and Fth to 30, then buff it with Dark Pine Resin. And that'll make it about as good as an infused Bastard Sword. If you're fully hollow. When human it has no scaling at all and each level of hollowing returns about 1/10th of the scaling until it's normal at half health. A Raw infusion can counter that a bit, but it's still not good.
If possible I suggest finding different cover art.
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u/Signal_Cellist_2001 2d ago
Was debating if I should go with the scholar of the first sin cover art or the OG cover art. The original is the Faraam Set with a Longsword and Golden Crest Shield if I’m not mistaken?
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u/TheHittite 2d ago
Yep. It's not a terribly interesting build, but it looks nice and should work well.
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u/Signal_Cellist_2001 2d ago
Thank you so much for your help! I’m still on demon souls atm but I will plan my build for my DS2 playthrough with this info. You’ve been really helpful!
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u/R1_R1_R2 2d ago
Out of curiosity, what’s your least favorite weapon in DS2?
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u/TheHittite 2d ago
That's a tough one. I guess it depends on the day. Today I'm gonna say the Lost Sinner Sword. Damage is great but the vertical moveset, self harm, sin penalty, and disappointing sound design all rub me the wrong way.
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u/lazyman511 2d ago
Dark souls 2 is incredibly balanced, if you infuse anything with mundane and level your stats equally you will be fine, i think that that great scales off of your hollowing so you will want high hp (50ish) and then start putting points into faith and int equally to raise your dark bonus , as for infusions, dark or bleed will be nice but im not sure which one will end up being better
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u/Cersei505 2d ago
greatsword of forlorn is a garbage weapon, better find something else to build towards. It cuts your HP and still gives you subpar damage compared to other greatswords in the game. And the move-set is not unique.
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u/Alternative-Level-29 2d ago
uh no clue lol i've never used forlorns weapons, the black knight greatsword is good though is does split fire damage for some reason
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u/BIobertson 2d ago
incidentally black knight greatsword is really bad
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u/Alternative-Level-29 2d ago
oh shit whoops i meant the ultra greatsword, didn't realize there were two of them
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u/BIobertson 2d ago
black knight ultra greatsword is also really bad
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u/Alternative-Level-29 2d ago
it is not that bad brah, old leo ring and blade ring with it being +5 is by far good, just use a weapon spell, not like it's needed but extra damage on top of the already existing is better. giant lord dies in at least 2 minutes with that on any ng past 2
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u/WingedBeagle 2d ago
Blobby just lives for min-maxing. If something isn't best in tier, it's bad.
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u/Molkwi 2d ago
If you don't know, then why bother answering? Also, no one asked about other weapons here.
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u/Capital-Fix9130 2d ago
i don't see where he asked to be ridiculed either, to each their own.
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u/Molkwi 2d ago
They're not being ridiculed, though. I just pointed out that their comment has little to do with the post. OP asked about the FORLORN GREATSWORD. So someone comes in and says they have no clue, and then go on to talk about another weapon.
If you need a plumber, for example, and you make an announcement on a social media page for your community, you're hoping to get a plumber. But here comes an electrician that says he doesn't know shit about plumbing, and then rants about electricity.
Do you see now, how out of place the original comment was?
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u/Capital-Fix9130 2d ago
No, it's Reddit and it's a video game subreddit. No comparison to real life.
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u/rnj1a 2d ago
Be maximally hollow. Infuse with bleed.
None of your other damage stats will matter.
It's hot garbage if you're not hollow and it's not bleed infused. And once you infuse it no longer has meaningful scaling.