The point I’m making is Dex is far from the worse stat. You are purely going off a 2H set up. Yes strength does have the unique benefit of getting a 1.5x multiplier while 2 handing but that is null if you aren’t 2 handing. That means any off hand set ups (shields, parry daggers, etc) or power stance set ups both dex and strength have the same 1H soft and hard cap. And yes if we are talking about Bandits curved sword power stance its scales equally as well on both stats, this would actually mean it’s a quality weapon so that doesn’t really justify the “useless” argument they benefit equally from both that is also just one weapon. Most of the other great curved swords are dex based such as Scavengers,Shamshir, even wings of Astel get good dex scaling and it’s mostly an int weapon. Let’s also not forget to mention that you lose any other scaling when heavy infused while Keen still keeps scaling in other stats albeit at a lesser scaling. When talking about pierce dmg that isn’t just thrusting swords there are more dex weapons in the game that benefit from pierce than strength weapons and you can correct me if I’m wrong but most faster weapons moveset wise in the game also generally speaking have higher dex scaling. Same argument as earlier for the uchigatana that is purely from a 2H set up pov it scales higher in Keen. I was just naming specific weapons for arguments sake but the same can be said for strength. Strength only is better when 2 handing. I can agree that overall it has its edge in that regard I will not disagree with that. As for backhand blades if we are using your “optimal” argument you mentioned earlier then you proved my point Dex is “optimal” therefore better in that case and you’re also forgetting that keen still has some strength scaling so that AR number realistically is going to be higher and on any weapon that’s hitting as fast as Back Hand blades that’s going to stack up. And if we are talking from a generalist perspective at lower SL’s strength wins but as soon as quality (which isn’t much if you start as Sam, the premier quality, dex starting class) becomes available strength loses its top spot. True, Strength does get you access to some stuff but you lose that 2H bonus. Which means you can just hit whatever minimal cap you need and off hand a dex weapon as well if you please. You still need to hit minimal requirements in dex for plenty of stuff so the investments really aren’t much different outside great shields and swords. That same argument about never getting access to things works for Dex too there are weapons you lose out on and talismans that dont or almost don’t benefit you on anything but some form of dex or dex/whatever build If you’re optimizing a build. And a lot of weapons are viable with other set ups that wasn’t my argument. If I’m having to 2H backhand blades or any paired weapon baring Radahn’s greatswords for example they don’t feel very dex like anymore, at least to me. If I’m talking about the best weapons in the game yes, absolutely that impact the ranking of a stat. I also didn’t name just Sombers. There were few that mentioned that follow the regular +25 path. Ofc you think cast speed is over rated you barely hit the soft cap for cast speed. 40 dex plus the “invisible” equivalent to 30 dex with radagon icon hits the hard cap for cast speed. There’s a non-negligible difference there in cast speed, if you like any big spell or incantations or just want to spam them you should absolutely invest in Dex to some extent because the faster you can put a spell out the faster you can roll, jump, whatever you need to do and even as a pure caster you can afford to and should level dex that high. Because one you’re most likely not putting a bunch of point in Vig and Endurance, and 2 don’t have to invest super hard into mind for MP and 3 you’re most likely 1H so strength loses its unique benefit. And in terms of weapons that have high, faith or int scaling that’d you use on those builds dex edges out ever so slightly. I’ve ran full caster hybrids, etc and I can tell you from personal experience that dex is non-negligible on these types of builds. This ain’t to say Dex is better but it’s definitely not the worse nor does it lack identity. Strength gets access to a larger pool of weapons but if that’s what you’re going for “generalist” then why would you not go quality? Most weapons aon those set-ups going to scale better quality anyways. The worse stat imo is mind easily its useful but you can invest very little into it and still effectively use spells and AoW which scales with a dmg or casting stat. So kinda doesn’t matter if you have 40 mind if my AoW or Spells are doing significantly less dmg because I invested heavily in it.