Goal of this document

Hello! I (Toraso) am writing this document to provide a quick reference on some of the strongest PvE weapons and stat levelling, as many new players are curious about the topics.
On the left side of the screen are navigable headings with the different sections of this document: please feel free to use this outline if you are interested in a specific section.

I list the general best PvE weapons down below, with some alternatives provided in the event that the best PvE weapons have some sort of drawback or are not easily available.

Best weapons in no particular order

Lightning/Raw Old Knight Hammer

Old Knight Hammer has extremely high base damage, does Strike damage which is usually the best damage type in the game, can be acquired basically as soon as you walk out of the starting hub, takes few stats to 2H, and has essentially the best melee attack in the game- that being its 2HR2 move, lovingly known as the “pancake”. This attack has extremely high poise damage and a special long-lasting knockdown animation that makes most enemies unable to do anything as you repeat the attack over and over again. This weapon is the final say in letting you just not care about melee interactions with non-boss enemies. However, its low durability does mean you either need durability-restoring options like Repair Powder or Repair, or an alternative weapon for enemies that don’t need to be pancaked.

Alternatives: Dragon Tooth, Great Club, Large Club

Dragon Tooth is the best, and can equal or slightly surpass Old Knight Hammer in damage, but takes more stats to wield.

Lightning Chaos Blade

Chaos Blade has very high damage output thanks to its massive 160 counter stat, marred somewhat by its relatively high Dexterity requirement of 25, and its availability only in the ~midgame (since you have to get to the second boss soul trader for it).

Alternatives: Uchigatana (if you cannot stand the health drain of Chaos Blade, or want an earlier/lower stat requirement katana)

Lightning Ice Rapier

With low stat requirements, extremely high damage, and fast attacks, Ice Rapier is definitely one of the best PvE weapons for any setup. It works great for casters, being very comfortable to 1H, and is functionally an upgrade to Rapier as soon as you can get it and spare the stats for it.

Alternatives: Rapier (for an earlier and lower-cost thrusting sword)

Lightning Homunculus Mace

Decently fast attacks combined with great base AR and the Strike damage type put Homunculus Mace firmly above most other weapons in the game, with low stat requirements letting even casters and early characters use this weapon. Sadly, it isn’t available until about halfway through base game.

Alternatives: Mace (the earliest hammer with very low stat requirements), Craftsman’s Hammer (available earlier than Homunculus Mace with better damage than Mace)

Honorable Mentions

Warped Sword

Lightning/Raw Lost Sinner’s Sword

On a related note, the strongest spells are generally stronger than all but the absolute best melee weapons, and they have other advantages such as very high range. Using damage sorceries and hexes usually results in a stronger character than not using them, although I highly recommend looking at the specific caster guides in the PvE Guides document for detailed information! I exclude damage miracles since they take much higher levels for their low slot efficiency to stop hamstringing them, and damage pyromancies as they are generally weaker than any other option.

Note that damage spells are significantly less effective in DLC content, as enemies have increased elemental defense against ranged attacks.

Ideal shields

Blocking with good shields is also an effective option for people who are not confident in their ability to roll or dodge. Drangleic Shield, Royal Kite Shield, and Twin Dragon Greatshield are all good early options; Twin Dragon Greatshield is the best to a notable degree of these, but needs more Strength to wield it. Once you near the end of the game, Defender’s Shield is also an option, as it has better block rates and slightly lower weight (compared to Twin Dragon Greatshield) in return for a loss in stability and medium (instead of greatshield) tier deflection properties. Heavier greatshields are generally not a good idea, as they take too many stats and conflict with Flynn’s Ring.

The best weapons to use with shields are ones that have “shieldpoke” attacks, or ones where you can attack while still blocking. I would recommend thrusting swords, lances, and spears. Non-shieldpoke options are generally worse, but the best include hammers (with straight sword R1s) and the two best curved swords.

Ideal use of levels

Most weapons do not have very significant scaling, and in fact benefit more from allocating levels to casting stats like Intelligence and Faith for better weapon buff spells such as Dark Weapon and Sunlight Blade. A detailed explanation of why this is the case can be found in my damage and defense document. This means that, past basic concerns such as:

Acquiring the minimum stats to wield your weapon
20 Vigor and 20 Endurance
A decent amount of Agility (92 or 96) from levelling Adaptability

Your stats should then go towards Dark Weapon in most cases. Note that going to acquire 50 Vigor first is still more practical for completing the game, i.e. still better for making a character able to beat the game; it is just my experience that the majority of players do not like investing almost solely into Vigor for most of their playthrough. Dark Weapon is available early in the game, is tied with most other buff spells for the highest buff formula, has high duration scaling with Intelligence, and possesses multiple casts by default. It even caps its duration fairly early at 24 Intelligence, with a very long 99 second duration. By the time you start levelling stats for Dark Weapon, you should be able to spice down its Faith requirement to 10 with Skeptic’s Spices at Magerold, as Faith does essentially nothing to improve Dark Weapon.

After acquiring these stats, the benefits conferred by levelling are much less significant; you should get 50 Vigor and then Endurance to 20 and Agility to 96 or 99, with the order depending on your personal preferences.

At much higher SLs (generally after you reach the target attributes mentioned in the previous paragraph) you can reallocate your attributes to use Sunlight Blade with high Faith (duration capping at 54, check the duration document) as well as Sacred Oath. Sunlight Blade is deficient in duration scaling and cast amount compared to other weapon buff spells, so you don’t want to use it until you can effectively have unlimited casts of it via spell restoration consumables or the Crown of the Old Iron King; once you do, lightning damage tends to be the best elemental damage type on average for PvE.
Keep in mind that many of the better weapons for PvE tend to be ideally used on Lightning. Please refer to the BiS list, or ask in whatever place you found the link to this document, for specific information on that. Raw can be a similar alternative if you cannot use spell weapon buffs but can still use resins.

Starting class

If you follow along with my general recommendations on equipment choice and levelling, Knight, Sorcerer, and Swordsman tend to be among the best starting classes. Swordsman has very low Vitality (a generally bad stat) and is ideal as long as you need 16 or more Dexterity, while Sorcerer is ideal for the long term in all other cases. Knight and Sorcerer are both stronger/easier to play in the early game compared to Swordsman, as you have high Vigor (Knight) or easy ranged attacks (Sorcerer). Note that you can always check on soulsplanner to see which class has the least levels in attributes that you don’t care about!

Ideal armor pieces

As defense stats are niche at the best of times (see my damage and defense document for more on this), the best armor pieces in PvE tend to be those with special effects attached to them, such as increasing cast speed or giving you additional stats. I recommend checking my individual caster guides for the best pieces to use on casters, but for melee characters there are a few pieces worth considering:

Hexer’s Hood is still worthwhile for non-casters thanks to its compatibility with increasing weapon buff spell casts, and decreasing the levels needed for buff spells
Crown of the Old Iron King, a functional upgrade to Hexer’s Hood, replenishes your spells and thus makes your buffs effectively free
Engraved Gauntlets add a small chance to increase the damage of your melee attacks (overall, a ~2.5% damage increase)
Pieces from the Northwarder set increase buff duration, which is helpful as buffs tend to add a lot of damage for the best PvE weapons
The various armor pieces that increase souls gained are helpful for a lower leveled character (although I do not recommend killing NPCs for them)

If any of these are not available for any reason, your choice of armor pieces will not significantly affect your general gameplay as long as you stay under 70% equip load. Note that roll distance and stamina regeneration have minor inverse and linear scaling with your current percentage of equip load; if you don’t have or won’t use the armor pieces listed above, having no armor equipped is ideal for more stamina regeneration and roll distance.

Never use armor pieces you don’t have the stat requirements for, as this will seriously impact your invulnerability frames and roll distance.

Ideal rings

Rings for essentially every melee-oriented character will eventually be Third Dragon Ring, Flynn’s Ring, Ring of Blades+2, and then a flexible slot depending on your equipment and playstyle. Old Leo Ring should be used if you are using a thrust weapon for higher damage and Ring of Steel Protection+2 is an excellent general defensive option that significantly improves your survivability; Lingering Dragoncrest Ring (+1 or +2) can fill the ring slot if you don’t want either of them for some reason.

Ring of Binding is good for the early and midgame, as you will probably die frequently and make use of its effect. Silver Serpent Ring can also be fine early on when you do not have many other good ring choices.

Limitations of this guide

I strongly encourage you to determine for yourself what you want to use in Dark Souls II. The game is not difficult enough that you need to use the best weapons for completion, and using a weapon class that you like will probably be better for your enjoyment over using a technically better weapon! This document’s weapon sections are most useful for people who have no particular preference for any one weapon or weapon class, or have a few options that they want to pick the best weapon of.