Dark Souls 3

[Grandmaster Fap!]

No you are right, the tracking in DS3 can be silly at times and punishes you with a 'gotcha' quite a lot. The only mobs i remember doing that in DS1 were as you say Havel and Artorias, i hated him for it!

 

[Omaeka]

estoc/rapier

Please tell me you didn't abuse how poise worked to troll people with them. I miss poise attack cancel parries but overall that mechanic disappearing from 3 was for the best, it hurt the upper end of PVP but made the entire experience as a whole less annoying, Havelmonsters were so annoying to be invaded by!

 

[strumpusplunket]

No you are right, the tracking in DS3 can be silly at times and punishes you with a 'gotcha' quite a lot. The only mobs i remember doing that in DS1 were as you say Havel and Artorias, i hated him for it!

Ah, I didn't realise Artorias did that too. I killed him first try and was barely hit just with some frantic rolling and swinging. I had no idea what was going on to be fair - just one of those (very few) lucky ocassions where little more than random button mashing can fluke you to a victory before you even realise what's going on. To this day, I've no idea of his moveset or the mechanics of that fight. I should really have gone back to it in NG+ to give it a fair go, but I never ended up doing the DLC in NG+ for some reason (possibly I just couldn't face having to fight my nemesis Manus again...)

Please tell me you didn't abuse how poise worked to troll people with them. I miss poise attack cancel parries but overall that mechanic disappearing from 3 was for the best, it hurt the upper end of PVP but made the entire experience as a whole less annoying, Havelmonsters were so annoying to be invaded by!

Ha, no unfortunately not.

I'd read about ways the build could throw people and watched some videos of people having great sucess with it. I did spec into it with a vague idea I might make use of its PvP potential, but I've never been that much into PvP anyway, and on the ocassions I was invaded with that build I could never made it work like other people did.

I always seemed to lose my mojo when PvPing in any case, so my PvP style was always more panicked and random than when I played PvE... two-hand... no, let's dual-wield... try to parry - damn!... ok, now some sorceries... **** not those ones, where's homing soulmass??... Well, if I don't know what I'm doing neither will they... I didn't have a great record, it's fair to say!

 

[strumpusplunket]

Ok... dammit, I am such a foolish noob!

So I'd started out testing my rolling and weight limit, and mid-roll seemed fine to me, as seemed to be the consensus in various DkS III discussions as well. Just need <70% load it seems. So I allocated my gear and got that weight no problem.

Then at the start of the High Wall, I pick up and equip a longbow, thinking, yes this will be handy for pulling single enemies.

And I've only just noticed that having it equipped pushed my equip load to 70.4%. So I've actually been fat-rolling since I got to this zone pretty much. Unequipped it last night for a try and... yep, I suddenly roll much further and faster. I think I had just assumed that a bow can't weight very much and I've got a little bit of load to spare, and never actually checked. I can't believe I've played for the last few hours without noticing this! I was so attentive to weight and rolling in previous games. I feel a proper fool!

D'oh!

EDIT: Yep... blasted through the end of High Wall and Vordt, and then cleared 90% of undead settlement and into the Roads in less than 1/4 of the time I was in the High Wall zone. Grooving now

 

[strumpusplunket]

Ok, so yeah I know this is three posts in a row from me in this thread now, which is bad form, but... I am so loving this game right now and looking for some build pointers.

I've killed Curse Rotted Greatwood (what an odd, annoying, but ultimately not-that-challenging boss! I hate bosses who have limited parts of them that take damage in general) and am now porting between Firelink and the Roads trying to decide on what to do with my build.

I'm level 34, have been mostly putting points into Vig and End early on until 21 Vig and 18 End. Just recently started upping Str, Int and Fth. Reasoning so far is that I'd like to use Hidden Body (and perhaps some other Sorceries), Rapport, Chaos Orb, etc., and use hard-hitting weapons.

But I've not thought much further than that. I'm still using the Deep Battle Axe (now at +3), but feeling the time is coming to ditch it.

I've rolled a few builds in previous Souls games, but I've never gone pure melee before. Even my predominately rapier and greatsword builds used pyro or soceries as well for back-up/opening/situational use. This worked well I felt because if I found an enemy too tricky in melee I could always soften them up with ranged spell options.

I was originally set on a pure Str build this time for a change, but I'm finding myself pulled towards a hybrid again and am now not sure where to spend my souls.

Playing around with a build calculator, I thought about this:

SL: 140
Vig 35
Att 18
End 30
Vit 33
Str 40
Dex 18
Int 18
Fth 30
Lck 7

This would be a heavy weapon build using buffs and spells (mostly pyro). I'm not bothered about PvP, or staying in the SL120 meta area, so purely for PvE: is this going to be a good build? Would I find it easier to drop Fth and up Str or Dex? Any advice on weapons to shoot for, or alterations to the stats?

 

[Omaeka]

Are you sure the builds you're looking at aren't optimized for PVP? PVE you generally just pick up a big ass weapon and smash, or abuse the caestus parry frames if you want to play flashy/dangerous. The Claymore lost some of it's versatility in 3, it's no longer one of the best for PVP but it's still a great PVE weapon, like a 'heavy' version of the longsword even though it's not that heavy. Exile Greatsword is good if you want a quality (hybrid) build, probably the best 40/40 weapon in the game, it's combo just destroys most mobs and bosses, I've seen it break some mobs hyperarmor/poise too.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Are you sure the builds you're looking at aren't optimized for PVP? PVE you generally just pick up a big ass weapon and smash, or abuse the caestus parry frames if you want to play flashy/dangerous.

Well, I kind of came up with that myself.

I never got the timings for parrying down, tbh, and I think I'm too old to hone my reactions for them now...

Also, I know lots of people prefer just using pure Str walloping builds for PvE, but I've never felt quite comfortable just being pure melee. It's probably a psychological thing as much as anything else, but I like having other options and being able to mix things up a bit.

The thing I'm not sure about is whether this build is just spread too thin to be really useful at anything in this game. I hear magic is less useful this time unless you go all out for it? If that's the case maybe I'd be better just getting enough Int/Fth/Att for the key utility spells (Hidden Body, Spook, Rapport, Heal, Flash Sweat, etc.) and putting the rest into Str (maybe a bit more Dex too)?

 

[Omaeka]

Well, I kind of came up with that myself.

I never got the timings for parrying down, tbh, and I think I'm too old to hone my reactions for them now...

Also, I know lots of people prefer just using pure Str walloping builds for PvE, but I've never felt quite comfortable just being pure melee. It's probably a psychological thing as much as anything else, but I like having other options and being able to mix things up a bit.

The thing I'm not sure about is whether this build is just spread too thin to be really useful at anything in this game. I hear magic is less useful this time unless you go all out for it? If that's the case maybe I'd be better just getting enough Int/Fth/Att for the key utility spells (Hidden Body, Spook, Rapport, Heal, Flash Sweat, etc.) and putting the rest into Str (maybe a bit more Dex too)?

Magic/Pyro are just not great in PVE, Faith is decent for the sunlight spells and for extra heals but generally melee is king. Dexterity is very viable, if you're going 40/18 though you might not end up with very optimized curved/katana weapons. Uchigatana and the scimitars you find in the Boreal Valley are your best bets, if you want a 'large' dexterity weapon then as I said before it's the Exile GS, the only decent alternative is a curved greatsword found in the final DLC (which imo is the best weapon in the game). You could put some into int/faith/attune but they can be gotten through rings to save on points, as can strength. It's hard to recommend a build for PVE if it's trying to be a jack of all trades, once you're used to the game you can use any weapon fine, but if you're struggling you're either best off learning a broken early game weapon like the Exile or soldiering on with whatever you enjoy using.

You could experiment with everything you find, but dex is a limited stat because of the poor early game distribution of weapons. If you're struggling just go STR man.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Magic/Pyro are just not great in PVE, Faith is decent for the sunlight spells and for extra heals but generally melee is king. Dexterity is very viable, if you're going 40/18 though you might not end up with very optimized curved/katana weapons. Uchigatana and the scimitars you find in the Boreal Valley are your best bets, if you want a 'large' dexterity weapon then as I said before it's the Exile GS, the only decent alternative is a curved greatsword found in the final DLC (which imo is the best weapon in the game). You could put some into int/faith/attune but they can be gotten through rings to save on points, as can strength. It's hard to recommend a build for PVE if it's trying to be a jack of all trades, once you're used to the game you can use any weapon fine, but if you're struggling you're either best off learning a broken early game weapon like the Exile or soldiering on with whatever you enjoy using.

You could experiment with everything you find, but dex is a limited stat because of the poor early game distribution of weapons. If you're struggling just go STR man.

Thanks!

I was suggesting 40Str/18 Dex, though, not the other way around (apologies if that's not what you meant - I may be a bit confused!).

Ok, so maybe just enough Int and Fth for utility spells (I guess that's just 15/15, perhaps 15/20?) and the rest into Str and enough Dex to wield what I want - would that be more capable? Perhaps upping Str to 50, Dex to 25ish?

It seems in DkS1 magic was quite viable to work along with melee (at least I did fine PvE this way, and only really had any trouble with Manus once I'd got my build going), DkS2 took a bit more work (and I did have to farm the souls from that memory giant on the wall many times to get my build working for the endgame/DLC, tbh). This time perhaps it's time to ditch that idea...

 

[Omaeka]

Thanks!

I was suggesting 40Str/18 Dex, though, not the other way around (apologies if that's not what you meant - I may be a bit confused!).

Ok, so maybe just enough Int and Fth for utility spells (I guess that's just 15/15, perhaps 15/20?) and the rest into Str and enough Dex to wield what I want - would that be more capable? Perhaps upping Str to 50, Dex to 25ish?

It seems in DkS1 magic was quite viable to work along with melee (at least I did fine PvE this way, and only really had any trouble with Manus once I'd got my build going), DkS2 took a bit more work (and I did have to farm the souls from that memory giant on the wall many times to get my build working for the endgame/DLC, tbh). This time perhaps it's time to ditch that idea...

Yeah what I meant was 40Str/18Dex might cause issues if you became interested in certain weapons, there are amazing dex weapons like the Katanas, Crow Claws & Quill (my favorites)and a few spears too that are pretty stylish and strong in PVE. The problem is, outside of the Exile being infused with heavy, 40Str/18Dex is more of a big smashy smash weapon stat spread. What about 30/30? Extra 2 points and a little underwhelming if you're used to 40/40 but it'll be strong and allow you to use every weapon that's worth using.

Taking any stat above 40 is little return for investment, it's the soft cap but the soft cap only really applies to PVP because of soul levels of course, so if you're willing to grind out the souls to keep your other stats strong, you can take any stat as high as you want. I've seen people with 99 strength at the SL140 PVP cap and the damage they deal is phenomenal compared to 40, but not 59 soul levels that could have gone into stam/hp better and it would be the same in PVE. If you take the Cathedral Greatsword for example, is predominantly a STR scaling weapon but has some DEX too, at 40 strength, going from 40 > 41 will give you a smaller increase in damage than a point being put into dex if dex is below 40. That's C strength and D dexterity. If you try it out on a Fume GS which is S/E respectively, it'll be around the same damage increase, which says even more imo.

Do what you want though, nothing wrong with overpumping a stat if you enjoy the stat, but if you go for 99 in strength, don't forget to get your strength cape! I doubt you'll get that reference

 

[strumpusplunket]

Yeah what I meant was 40Str/18Dex might cause issues if you became interested in certain weapons, there are amazing dex weapons like the Katanas, Crow Claws & Quill (my favorites)and a few spears too that are pretty stylish and strong in PVE. The problem is, outside of the Exile being infused with heavy, 40Str/18Dex is more of a big smashy smash weapon stat spread. What about 30/30? Extra 2 points and a little underwhelming if you're used to 40/40 but it'll be strong and allow you to use every weapon that's worth using.

Taking any stat above 40 is little return for investment, it's the soft cap but the soft cap only really applies to PVP because of soul levels of course, so if you're willing to grind out the souls to keep your other stats strong, you can take any stat as high as you want. I've seen people with 99 strength at the SL140 PVP cap and the damage they deal is phenomenal compared to 40, but not 59 soul levels that could have gone into stam/hp better and it would be the same in PVE. If you take the Cathedral Greatsword for example, is predominantly a STR scaling weapon but has some DEX too, at 40 strength, going from 40 > 41 will give you a smaller increase in damage than a point being put into dex if dex is below 40. That's C strength and D dexterity. If you try it out on a Fume GS which is S/E respectively, it'll be around the same damage increase, which says even more imo.

Do what you want though, nothing wrong with overpumping a stat if you enjoy the stat, but if you go for 99 in strength, don't forget to get your strength cape! I doubt you'll get that reference

No, I don't!

But thanks for this. It's helpful.

I take it you're suggesting a traditional quality build would be better than pure Str then? For some reason I thought DkS3 rewarded more pumping one primary stat (but perhaps that's only for magic/faith and I've over-generalised). Although also I'd seen a lot of people arguing for 66 Str as the ideal end-point?

Tbh, I don't think I put anywhere near this much thought into my build in 1 and 2, but here I seem to be obesessed with it! As I say, I'm unfamiliar with pure melee builds in general so I'm prone to making noob errors here. All guidance is useful!

I'm beginning to regret my seven points in Int and Fth now tbh as I've got some weapons in my storage I'd like to use but can't because of that. At least this will give me access to some useful spells, I guess, but I'll take your advice I think and leave those stats where they are, and pump Str and Dex enough to wield the weapons I've got and shooting for 40/40.

Appreciate your taking the time to guide me with this!

 

[Omaeka]

No, I don't!

But thanks for this. It's helpful.

I take it you're suggesting a traditional quality build would be better than pure Str then? For some reason I thought DkS3 rewarded more pumping one primary stat (but perhaps that's only for magic/faith and I've over-generalised). Although also I'd seen a lot of people arguing for 66 Str as the ideal end-point?

Tbh, I don't think I put anywhere near this much thought into my build in 1 and 2, but here I seem to be obesessed with it! As I say, I'm unfamiliar with pure melee builds in general so I'm prone to making noob errors here. All guidance is useful!

I'm beginning to regret my seven points in Int and Fth now tbh as I've got some weapons in my storage I'd like to use but can't because of that. At least this will give me access to some useful spells, I guess, but I'll take your advice I think and leave those stats where they are, and pump Str and Dex enough to wield the weapons I've got and shooting for 40/40.

Appreciate your taking the time to guide me with this!

No reason for you not to use magics, they're inferior but still do the job in PVE so you're not wasting points really. You could always go 40 in all stats, doesn't take that long and literally means you can do whatever you want whenever you want. If you don't care about PVP at all I'd suggest literally just going quality for melee, there are a few weapons that require more than 40 strength but they can be 2 handed which basically gives you 60 strength for the purpose of wielding weapons, there's nothing like that for dex though. You get much further?

 

[strumpusplunket]

No reason for you not to use magics, they're inferior but still do the job in PVE so you're not wasting points really. You could always go 40 in all stats, doesn't take that long and literally means you can do whatever you want whenever you want. If you don't care about PVP at all I'd suggest literally just going quality for melee, there are a few weapons that require more than 40 strength but they can be 2 handed which basically gives you 60 strength for the purpose of wielding weapons, there's nothing like that for dex though. You get much further?

Yeah, I guess I can always grind a few more souls for those levels anyway. Not that I've used a single spell yet, though...

Just going through the Cathedral. And I have to say... **** I think the run from the first bonfire there is possibly the most sadistic level design of all Souls games! Ambushes, brigands, hidden high damage enemies, narrow walkways, it just goes on and on! I was thinking surely there'd be another bonfire or a shortcut to unlock soon, soon... soon? Another ambush? Seriously?!

Feeling good now I have a more focused build goal, though.

 

[Omaeka]

Yeah, I guess I can always grind a few more souls for those levels anyway. Not that I've used a single spell yet, though...

Just going through the Cathedral. And I have to say... **** I think the run from the first bonfire there is possibly the most sadistic level design of all Souls games! Ambushes, brigands, hidden high damage enemies, narrow walkways, it just goes on and on! I was thinking surely there'd be another bonfire or a shortcut to unlock soon, soon... soon? Another ambush? Seriously?!

Feeling good now I have a more focused build goal, though.

You should look up Chameleon for if you ever get invaded and Rapport for PVE, they're both completely hilarious and let you set up some insane situations.

The Cathedral is a great area though, because that's where you get some cooler weapons. See if you can get the twinblades from the scary zombie chicks with dual swords, and the giant greatsword from the knights there, two of the better weapons you'll find. It's a punishing area but most of the enemies are very weak except the big tall zombie chicks and the Sen's Fortress escapees

 

[strumpusplunket]

You should look up Chameleon for if you ever get invaded and Rapport for PVE, they're both completely hilarious and let you set up some insane situations.

The Cathedral is a great area though, because that's where you get some cooler weapons. See if you can get the twinblades from the scary zombie chicks with dual swords, and the giant greatsword from the knights there, two of the better weapons you'll find. It's a punishing area but most of the enemies are very weak except the big tall zombie chicks and the Sen's Fortress escapees

Yeah, they're not brigands after all. I notice they respawn and they do have different weapons and armour to brigands. And they're even more annoying! That bleed build-up, and the damage of their double slash move! And From put them in the middle of a range of other enemies, including crossbow users and those little ganky gets! Gah! No twinblade drop for me either yet (though I didn't realise they could drop until you mentioned it tbh).

When I got jumped by that hide-and-seek tall heavy axe-wielding hollow guy and died for like the fourth time on the run form this first bonfire - as it turned out very close to the bonfire shortcut - I actually died a little inside IRL...

I have some weapons I'm interested in trying out once I level my stats a bit more - flamberge, great axe, astora greatsword, exile greatsword. Also wondering if I should upgrade the Irithyll Straight Sword. At +3 my Deep Battle Axe still outdamages any non-upgraded weapon I can wield, but it's definitely time to upgrade something else and switch.

 

[Omaeka]

Yeah, they're not brigands after all. I notice they respawn and they do have different weapons and armour to brigands. And they're even more annoying! That bleed build-up, and the damage of their double slash move! And From put them in the middle of a range of other enemies, including crossbow users and those little ganky gets! Gah! No twinblade drop for me either yet (though I didn't realise they could drop until you mentioned it tbh).

When I got jumped by that hide-and-seek tall heavy axe-wielding hollow guy and died for like the fourth time on the run form this first bonfire - as it turned out very close to the bonfire shortcut - I actually died a little inside IRL...

I have some weapons I'm interested in trying out once I level my stats a bit more - flamberge, great axe, astora greatsword, exile greatsword. Also wondering if I should upgrade the Irithyll Straight Sword. At +3 my Deep Battle Axe still outdamages any non-upgraded weapon I can wield, but it's definitely time to upgrade something else and switch.

The Deep baxe is very similar to the Fire longsword in 2 and Drake sword in 1, it's the super OP weapon you find early on that outshines everything you'll find until you specialize your character. The Astora Greatsword is one of the highest regarded greatswords in the pvp community, great weapon all around. One of the lightest greatswords and has a higher AR than even the Zweihander, plus it's stab attacks with a leo ring seem to do more counter damage than other greatswords for some reason. Been spanked by a few of those in my time lol. It's really good in PVE too, plus it's just absolutely gorgeous to look at!

Glad you're enjoying the game mate. Been playing 2 recently and never liked it that much but almost completed SotFS and feel like it's the best of the series now, perhaps it's just the honeymoon period of experiencing completely brand new (to me) souls content though.

 

[Pighardia]

Glad you're enjoying the game mate. Been playing 2 recently and never liked it that much but almost completed SotFS and feel like it's the best of the series now

It is not as bad as some people make out, and has some really interesting lore, but that is a massive stretch!...I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you've had a few drinks!

 

[strumpusplunket]

The Deep baxe is very similar to the Fire longsword in 2 and Drake sword in 1, it's the super OP weapon you find early on that outshines everything you'll find until you specialize your character. The Astora Greatsword is one of the highest regarded greatswords in the pvp community, great weapon all around. One of the lightest greatswords and has a higher AR than even the Zweihander, plus it's stab attacks with a leo ring seem to do more counter damage than other greatswords for some reason. Been spanked by a few of those in my time lol. It's really good in PVE too, plus it's just absolutely gorgeous to look at!

Glad you're enjoying the game mate. Been playing 2 recently and never liked it that much but almost completed SotFS and feel like it's the best of the series now, perhaps it's just the honeymoon period of experiencing completely brand new (to me) souls content though.

Yeah, I'm really loving it tbh! Now working through the Catacombs. No real problems since my early conniptions! Though the Abyss Watchers tooks me four attempts or so...

I did finally ditch the Deep Axe about halfway through Farron's. I've been playing with a few different weapons since trying to decide what to utilise for the next sections. I like greatswords at the moment (though finding ultras a bit too slow for my liking, as the windows that enemies leave for attacking don't leave much room for error with a slow swinging weapon), and have settled for now on the Hollowslayer as it feels more comfortable with its moveset than the others. Would like a bit more stamina. I found it great how it could stagger the Watchers so easily, but I didn't want to let up, so found myself over-reaching with stamina a few times. Major drawback of the HSGS, though, is its requirement of titanite scales to upgrade, which are currently very hard to come by so it's stuck at +2.

It's kind of tricky because it's difficult to compare other weapons without getting a feel for how damaging they are at the same upgrade level, but upgrading is expensive. I upgraded the uchi and the Exile GS too, and although I'm currently sticking with the HSGS, it might be time to change again since I don't know when I'll next be able to upgrade it.

Incidentally, I really liked DkS2 as well. Very nearly as much as one. I know it got some criticism on release, but I had immense fun with it. Some of the DLC bosses were awesome (Fume Knight especially).

 

[CHokKA]

There's something about this game that, until it clicks, you just don't get it. Last night that finally happened for me. I'm a level 47 Knight, and I've played some of the game solo, and some co-op with a friend, but until last night I felt like I had just been floating through the game, disconnected and not understanding it much at all. Nor had I taken any time or trouble to try and understand it. Last night, for some odd reason I had the urge to play the game again. According to Steam, I haven't played since April last year. So I loaded it up, and went through my items. I've actually got quite a lot of stuff! I was using Vordt's Great Hammer, but realised that my strength isn't high enough to wield it properly, so I changed back to the Uchigatana and used a shield. I then travelled to the last place I remember being, the Catacombs of Carthas. I couldn't remember how far I'd made it in, but as I headed further down a tunnel I realised I was at the Smouldering Lake. I ran through and got hit a few times by the ballistae and encountered the giant worm. I didn't know if I was supposed to kill it, but saw the doorway behind it so when it burrowed I headed over to that, dodging all the ballistae I could. As I got closer to the door I realised it was a boss fight. Great! I headed in and it was the Old Demon King. I don't know anything about the fight, so I spent about five or so deaths running back in and learning a bit more about the fight, but that was the different thing for me last night over the last time I played. I actually treated each death as a learning experience, trying to work out his attacks as much as possible and understanding the fight as best I can. That's the bit that clicked for me, and now I can't wait to give it a go tonight.

Can the giant worm be killed? I was wondering if it was possible to stand near it whilst being attacked by the ballistae, dodging out the way and causing the worm to take damage from it instead. I may give that a go tonight!

 

[strumpusplunket]

Can the giant worm be killed? I was wondering if it was possible to stand near it whilst being attacked by the ballistae, dodging out the way and causing the worm to take damage from it instead. I may give that a go tonight!

I haven't gone back there to face the boss yet, but I did notice

Spoiler

whilst cowering form the ballista and the worm that, standing just behind the little hill just behind the worm and the fog door means the ballista hits the worm but not you. I'm guessing this is intended as it seems so perfectly set up. Surprised me, though.

I've kind of ground myself into a paralysis with this game, though, unfortunately. Just can't decide on which weapon to use. Not happy with the damage of the Uchi that I upgraded, and I now have limited shards and souls but feel I need to switch out from the HSGS for a while until I can get more scales. Last night I loaded up the game again at around 9pm and just spent an hour in Firelink trying out the movesets of various weapons.

Astora GS isn't bad, but its damage is kind of underwhelming compared to other heavy options with similar speeds. Great club looks like it might be interesting and has some nice big slams. Exile GS too, but I was somehow dissatisfied with that one when trying it out on some mobs as it just didn't have the reach it seemed like it should. Like the opposite of phantom range! Notice the plain old greatsword has an interesting looking R1-R1 combo, but it really drains stamina. Plain old longsword feels like the best of the straight swords to me, but I'd like it more as a back-up than a main weapon. Hmmm....

EDIT: I notice I'd said earlier that the run from the bonfire at the start of Cathedral was sadistic, well... it has nothing on Smouldering Lake! That run to the ballista... oh man.... those visicious damn fireball and machete monsters, those red-eyed curved sword undead *******, a room full of basilisks, a nails NPC with a huge sword, a black knight, bloody skeleton wheels and then more curved sword *******. That felt genuinely exhausting!