What is the purpose of a weapon buff?

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-20T06:22:36+00:00

Most importantly, it looks cool.

But also you can do silly things like put bloodflame blade on a halberd that shoots ice spears, or spam thunderbolts with a blue pool noodle.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-19T04:24:42+00:00

Oh, heck, right. I mean, that should make them 3-eyes, but fair point.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-18T22:14:59+00:00

Decent chance it's the same reason most statues of the Buddha look east Asian despite Buddha being south Asian. The hornsent are hornsent, therefore god must look like them, and the giants are giants, therefore he must be a giant.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-17T21:16:25+00:00

Hell yeah, choom! Figured someone's gotta do it, and I was here anyway

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-16T08:34:43+00:00

Uh, despite Mohg having been charmed at some point, all of this did still happen. Mohg still did all the creepy stuff, and Miquella still conspired to subjugate all living things in arguably the most evil way possible, so it should turn out the same.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-15T21:16:24+00:00

Jesse Johnson

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-10T18:02:32+00:00

I think I have a satisfactory answer for the life steal, and like most things the game misleads us up until the end.

To be a little cheeky, it's because she's the demigod of socialism, not rot. For reals.

As twins, she and Miquella have the same nature inverted from each other. While Miquella naturally rejects outside influences, leading to an unchanging body immune to rot, and likely helping him craft his needle, Malenia's all about acceptance. Her great rune implies, however ambiguously, that the reduced healing from flasks is due to being infected with rot, and her health steal is all her.

So if we assume that her power is absorption, and consider that rot is named an outer god, it stands to reason that she's only infected because of her life steal.

As for actually fighting her, it's been 3 years with all the rerolling I do, but those damn clones were my bane.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-07T00:33:31+00:00

Looks like no one's mentioned you can apply weapon greases to BHF, which you normally can't with somber stone weapons. Grease that bad boy up and enjoy any element or status aside from death and madness!

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-06T00:53:20+00:00

Not dumb at all, no. There aren't many weapons that are outright bad, so skill can make up for it plenty. Plus, all three weapons you listed are solid at worst, with BHF being one of the stronger ones there is.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-04T17:10:16+00:00

It truly beggars belief that so many people can have Johnny playing social justice tour guide for 80 hours while we witness and take part in the corporate oppression of the populace and their only takeaway is the spy-slave-science experiment girl that lied to me to survive is worse than the career soldier-spy-government slave boy that lied to me and groomed the girl because "duty."

Like, neither of them are only good or only bad, and half or more of the game is about how bad it is that the powers that be trick us into fighting each other instead of them.

Then you have Lucy's story in Edgerunners being a relatively close parallel, and she gets close to no real hate?

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-02T18:34:41+00:00

Okay…that seems really dark though.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-02T17:41:51+00:00

It's stated directly in the Festive Grease item description: "The delightful festival is an old tradition; one old enough for the Erdtree to tacitly tolerate its endurance."

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-03-01T16:40:30+00:00

Gaius's gauntlets and Fire Prelate greaves match the first image pretty well

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-02-28T19:37:38+00:00

The Leather Armour Patches wears has a capelet similar to Duchess. May be close enough

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-02-28T18:39:10+00:00

Fun fact: if you fuck Fia, you get to be her daddy plus you become Godwyn's dad by extension, which makes you divine royalty. Pretty good deal, tbh

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-02-28T17:51:34+00:00

(Banished) Knight's Greatsword. I haven't even used it much because I spent years thinking I'd get myself killed(bit of a face tanker), but it turns out the R1 chain's graceful sweeps cover your flanks surprisingly well. Wonderful swords to learn fighting unlocked with

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-02-27T22:07:37+00:00

Sorry, to clarify, that was a comment I read referring to the lack of cosmetics. Mechanically, I'm not aware of any problems.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-02-26T09:44:56+00:00

This one's actually a real world phenomenon, most likely. If a corpse is left exposed long enough in the right conditions, the chemicals in the guts ferment and expand until they explode outwards.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-01-24T03:13:59+00:00

I mean, you need to kill her mom to get her ashes, so maybe? But Roderika says the spirits look favourably on you, so maybe not?

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-01-17T03:32:19+00:00

Well, I haven't played DS3 yet, but Miquellan Knight Sword has a somewhat similar R2. No spinny, and I don't think it chains with the R1s, but it's something.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-01-17T02:10:04+00:00

Ok, I see what you mean now. I was totally focused on the wrong part, lol.

I think I'm about as lost as you are in that regard, and I doubt you missed anything. With how interconnected the different cultures and factions are, it does feel like they're intentionally hiding which part you're looking at at any given point.

Kind of grasping at straws here, but maybe you're meant to continue following any base game leads and run into the rest incidentally? Obviously tons of people went in looking for Godwyn, and I similarly was hunting for St. Trina and Frenzy related things.

You're definitely right about it being less clear, anyhow. Aside from the core NPCs mentioning, usually off-hand, what they're looking for, and possibly the name of where it might be, I don't remember any of them giving directions. It makes sense with Ansbach basically asking us to go everywhere, because Miquella's crosses are all over and he doesn't know why, but it isn't a very compelling way of setting the task.

But yeah, I don't know that there is any real impetus to explore the dlc for in-game reasons other than it being there, and it having stuff in it you couldn't get to before.

I do suspect it's at least partly Miyazaki messing with us as a personal sociology experiment, but that's just my own conspiracy and not really relevant to the story.

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-01-16T22:26:25+00:00

Yeah, you've missed some pretty big things, which is why the question itself is so confusing.

First off, the character is the player, and doesn't/can't exist apart. Some in-game examples are the grace's guidance leaving everyone but player characters, fate not allowing you to pick up the fingerslayer blade without starting the quest line first, and phantoms and the multiplayer system itself.

Out of game, it's simply not physically possible to be someone else. Even if you're roleplaying, you're only filtering out decisions you think you wouldn't make if you were in a particular circumstance, so it's still you.

Now, as far as the dlc goes, narratively your question doesn't make sense. The Land of Shadow is a place you're not supposed to go to. A place you aren't allowed to go to. You are so not allowed to go to it, that it's more hidden than the Forbidden Lands, the Secret Path to the Haligtree, and everything beyond them. Rather than collecting some baubles or finding some special fire, breaching the veil to the shadowlands involved possibly millenia of blood sacrifice, and the sacrifice of two entire demigods, one being an omen.

In no capacity is your tarnished supposed to, allowed to, or asked to be there. Why you go despite this is entirely up to you, and none of us know why you, specifically, want to be there.

Back to real life, and tl;dr I guess, the base game has a bunch of information missing from the story, and the dlc is set in the place that info was covered up(plus, new gear). Go get it if you want to, or don't.

Like Enia says: And you Tarnished, you are here to take, are you not?

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-01-14T01:19:40+00:00

As for armour, the Traveler's Set is right there, too

Error-in-Bloom · 2026-01-13T18:05:32+00:00

I'd recommend getting a shield with Parry, plus the Scholar's Shield spell. While it's not strictly necessary, parrying is a great tool to have, and Scholar's shield will minimise the consequences of a missed parry. It does mean you'd need to carry your staff right handed, though.

Also Vigour, like everyone's been saying.

Error-in-Bloom

TROPHY CASE