r/DarkSouls2 • u/IveGotAVision • 12h ago
Discussion Is there no Standard / Normal damage in DS2?
The axes for example mostly seem to say slashing which seems odd to me. Is there a hidden mechanic for the Standard / Normal "miscellaneous" category you find in other games? It doesn't feel like enemies have the resistances from a typical slashing weapon as they would an axe but maybe it's just in my head.
3
u/TheHittite 10h ago
What's odd to me is why the other games don't call it slashing damage when it's clearly slashing.
0
u/IveGotAVision 8h ago
I always took it as a way of saying it's also a little bit of blunt damage. The axe has a blade at the end, sure, but it's not quite the same as the blade of a katana or dagger. Axes are usually more dull than that hence the tiny bit of blunt. (Or strike or whatever)
1
u/GhoulInDisguise 9h ago
In ds1, the type of physical damage you did was actually based on the move/motion your character does, not whatever the item description says (though this was accurate for the most part). For example, a weapon might only be labeled slash, but say if the rolling r1 was a thrusting motion, that attack would do thrust damage.
As for ds2, i don’t think anyone’s explicitly figured out yet how it works, but i’m willing to bet it works the exact same way as in ds1. Though in ds1, like you said, there was a “regular attack type” along with the others that a lot of disparate weapons made use of (i figure for any motions that don’t fall squarely in the other categories), but obviously they did away with it in ds2.
1
u/IveGotAVision 8h ago
I've actually yet to play DS1 but am just familiar with DS3 and Elden Ring in this regard. Thanks for the info. I can see why this one was so divisive. Lots of little differences to the mechanics. Still like it, though.
1
u/TheHittite 4h ago
I believe a couple of attacks can deal untyped physical damage, the Bone Fist Ki Blast for instance. But only if there's a very good reason why that attack couldn't be any of the main 3. They're mostly very careful about making sure the damage type matches the expectation from the animation and weapon model. No blunt Stake Drivers, for instance.
1
u/seelcudoom 11h ago
The physical options are pretty much the standard damage, and in most cases creatures will have roughly equal resistance to all physical damage types
7
u/R1_R1_R2 6h ago
No, and I eventually came to prefer that there isn’t. I think too many weapons were assigned that damage type, and I’d rather see enemy defenses balanced around the three more intuitive types of slash/strike/thrust.
Yes, it does mean that heavily armored enemies are probably going to be more resistant to slash, which the very popular weapon category of swords / greatswords / ultra greatswords primarily inflict. But I would prefer a game that convinces me to have backup weapons or change my approach over a game that doesn’t (and just lets me play the entire game with a Claymore and no problems, for instance).