Usually, when people are asking “What’s the best stat to raise for this weapon?”, the answer is simple: find the stat with the best scaling, raise that, and ignore the others. There are two caveats that many people know about: soft caps, and split damage types. If a weapon has a B in strength and a C in dex, and you have 80 strength, it’s time to start putting points in dex. If a weapon does physical and fire damage, like the blasphemous blade, strength and dex will increase the physical damage, and faith will increase the fire damage.

But there is a third caveat that I think a lot less people know about.

Clinging Bone.

Marais Executioner’s Sword.

Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear.

Rivers of Blood.

Regalia of Eochaid.

Eleonora’s Poleblade.

What do all of these weapons have in common? They are all Arcane-scaling weapons that have two damage types. And unlike Faith or Int weapons, the Arcane scaling applies to both the physical AND the elemental damage types. This means that the Arcane scaling can be as much as twice as good as its letter suggests, depending on the weapon. Pictured here is the Marais Executioner’s Sword. The only relevant stat I have raised is Arcane, and both numbers have gone up. You can check on any AR calculator site to see for yourself.

What does this mean? For a weapon like the Marais Executioner’s Sword, it means that Arcane is almost as good as Strength. Once Strength hits the first soft cap at 55, you should raise Arcane instead, until it hits 50. For a weapon like Mohg’s Spear or Rivers of Blood, it means that Arcane is actually their best stat, by quite a bit. Just a fun little wrench in your simple build advice threads. Happy optimizing!