No Rest for the Wicked: Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Two-Handed Swords

Advantages

Firstly, before I obtained the greatsword, due to always playing with a one-handed sword and shield, my mindset became rigid in the form of blocking or dodging enemy attacks before retaliating, turning the gameplay into a turn-based system. When I got the greatsword, initially my mindset of direct confrontation remained unchanged. However, due to the slow swing speed and high stamina consumption of the greatsword, I often found myself in situations where I couldn’t exchange blows effectively and ended up getting hit instead. Combined with the limitations of healing potions, this made exchanging blows not very cost-effective, resulting in a terrible initial experience with the greatsword where minor enemies were difficult to handle and large enemies were unbeatable.

Later, I discovered that the attack combo sequence of the two-handed sword is: salutation → thrust → sweep. The most important aspect is its extremely long attack range, which completely compensates for its slow swing speed. Often, when enemies enter your attack range, they cannot strike you before you can hit them, allowing you to safely avoid their attacks by charging up or performing a salutation technique.

Secondly, the greatsword’s ability to break an opponent’s guard is particularly high. Light hits on small enemies can stagger them, enabling you to safely complete a combo, while medium-sized enemies can be staggered with charged attacks, allowing you to safely follow up with a second thrust and then retreat safely, repeating the process.

Thirdly, the damage from charged attacks with the greatsword is exceptionally high, and its efficiency in avoiding enemy attacks far surpasses other weapons.

Disadvantages

The main drawbacks lie in stamina consumption and weight. However, there is a crucial factor: the greatsword’s weapon enhancement benefits are so significant that simply enhancing the weapon makes the damage sufficient without needing to invest heavily in strength. Therefore, skill points should be allocated to health, stamina, and carrying capacity instead. It is important not to play in heavy armor early on, as although it offers shoulder checks, it consumes a lot of stamina. Additionally, since the greatsword naturally excels in range and guard breaking, you may even be able to run around without any armor early on, saving repair costs. The golden greatsword dropped by bosses in the early stages is not very useful, as its attack combos are inferior to those of regular greatswords and have high stat requirements, making it challenging to kill enemies without taking damage.

In Summary

To make the most of the greatsword’s strengths, light hits and salutations should be used against minor enemies, anticipate charged attacks against medium-sized enemies, take advantage of attack openings against elite enemies, maximize the enhancement level of the greatsword, allocate points to carry capacity, stack defense and toughness to prevent interruptions during attacks.