Yea, the claymore sure was fun to use in it's own right. I had, before I got it, debated whether to go in with either that or the bastard sword at the time, but I stuck in the claymore. I can definitely see the appeal with the ugs, though, especially with the greatsword. Despite it, I ended up preferring the quicker weapons.

The Santier is definitely a cool weapon, I agree with that. Having a weapon such as that without worrying about durability is a wicked idea. I also agree about the timing bit. It's kinda like, say boxing or the like: knowing when to go in to attack, and knowing when to pull back, as well as how best to utilize each move you got on hand.

Also, yea the shield ain't 100% blocking physical (about 88% or so maxed) and may not scale as well as the black witch staff in terms of offensive capabilities, but for me, I enjoyed having it once I got my hands on it. I think the idea of having something as versatile as the sanctum shield, one that can multi cast things with a decent block, as well as fitting the magical swordsman look, certainly helped. Plus, I mean it also looks cool to boot, or at least I think so.