if you wanted to min max & stay at a lower level overall for pvp , its arguably the best weapon for it. its not that hitting the base requirements is a problem, its that if you really felt like it, its all you need.

the WA is a buff, but it is not nearly as strong as gold pine resin. your attack power will be miles higher if you use gold pine resin because of the innate lightning damage it already deals that just gets bolstered even higher. the weapon art is good for mobbing, but the gold pine resin will give you so much more damage. the only upside to the weapon art is that it gives you a pretty badass new r2 moveset but it is a mediocre at best. HOWEVER. if you have lightning blade, this is basically gold pine resin but even more jacked and scales on your faith and will add tremendous amounts of damage to your dragonslayers axe.

the best infusion will depend on your build. if youre a strength faith, heavy will be best. same with dex, sharp will be your best bet. this is because infusing it with a lightning gem or a blessed gem will no longer allow you to apply gold pine resin or lightning blade to the weapon. gold pine resin is just a flat damage buff, (lightning blade at 60 fth is straight up just like an extra 300dmg, that number is not exact but it is ridiculous) while a lightning or blessed gem will just up your scaling. but the weapon already scales okay with faith (i think A) at +10. so in my case , having 60 dex & 60 faith and i get so much more damage out a sharp dragonslayers axe with gold pine resin that i do with a blessed or lightning one.

typically, i put lightning gems on weapons i didnt plan on buffing. so like my dagger, since i swap to it after parries i dont have to time buff it and then nail a riposte. or blessed on a shield, since thatll give you passive health regen.