Keanu Reeves | Dark Souls 3

Keanu Reeves
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This is a player-created Build for Dark souls 3.

• Build Name: Keanu Reeves
• Build Level: 1... yup, level 1
• PVE Focused
• Build Main Stat: Pfft, Nope!

Build Equipment

• Right Hand: Raw Broadsword; Heavy Millwood Battle Axe (requires 2H or Knight's Ring); Blood Bandit's Knife and Short Bow (requires Hunter's Ring or Carthus Milkring)
• Left Hand: Round Shield (Parry)/Simple Warrior's Round Shield (Quickstep) and Pyromancy Flame (Pyro)/Priest's Chime (Resto)
• Armour: Fallen Knight Set
• Rings: Lloyd's Shield Ring; Prisoner's Chain; *Hunter's Ring/Carthus Milkring (bow and dagger build)*
• Items: Estus Flask; Charcoal Pine Bundle
• Spells: Fire Orb/Carthus Flame Arc (Pyro); Heal Aid (Resto)

Build Strategy

This is a level one build. It concentrates on maximum damage and survival ability for a level one character. It can be a standard sword and shield build, which focuses less on blocking and more on dodging and parrying, an axe build that uses the weight of an axe to damage and knock back opponents while dealing poise damage, or a dagger build that uses Quickstep, fast attacks and bleed damage to quickly dispatch enemies.

Because characters' health is so low at level one the Lloyd's Shield Ring is the main saving grace of this build so keeping your health at 100% whenever possible is quite important. Players will want to use Estus even when missing a small amount of health because the bonus damage reduction provided by the ring far outweighs conserving Estus and can be the difference between surviving a powerful attack or not. Alternately, players can use the Priest's Chime's weapon art: Gentle Prayer to keep health at 100% without burning through Estus. You can pair with the Lloyd's Sword Ring to take advantage of both buffs.

Prisoner's Chain ring gives a much needed boost to health and stamina at a low level so is very useful. The additional 4% damage taken is outweighed by the health boost alone. The Ring of Favor, while it has similar effects, is based on percentages so it gives a smaller boost than flat stat increases at lower levels.

The Fallen Knight set has the highest armour to weight ratio which can still be equipped at 10 vitality. Other individual armour pieces may have higher armour and can still be equipped without fat rolling but as a set the Fallen Knight set is the best for this build.

A raw Broadsword with Carthus Flame Arc or a resin buff deals the highest damage per second and can be swung a few times without running out of stamina too quickly. The round shield is not a great blocking shield but it is the best available with minimal strength and dexterity.
Players can replace the raw broadsword and round shield with a weapon like the Millwood Battle Axe while two-handing or with the Knight's Ring equipped to sacrifice parrying for potential stagger and a small damage buff, though the broadsword has a higher overall damage output when considering attack speed, stamina consumption and resin buffing vs weapon art.
Alternately, with the Carthus Milkring or Hunter's Ring equipped players can use the Bandit's Knife and the Short Bow. The Bandit's Knife is the most powerful one available and has innate bleed damage. Additionally, it can be used to deal high critical damage and has Quickstep for avoiding attacks and setting up back stabs. Infusing it with Bleed not only increases the bleed buildup but the damage proc as well, though an alternate weapon is recommended against enemies that are immune to it. Pairing the Bandit's Knife with a simple Warrior's Round Shield or Eastern Iron Shield will assist with keeping FP high enough to use Quickstep frequently without overwriting the weapon art.

In terms of spells: fire orb deals decent damage in the early game and doesn't consume too much FP. Near mid-game it runs out of steam and is more useful for pulling enemies than as a decent source of damage. The Carthus Flame Arc spell adds about 10 more damage per attack than charcoal pine resin/bundle but it takes up your only spell slot (rings aside). Heal Aid is a poor spell for almost any player higher than level 1 but it is the only miracle a level 1 character can equip and is surprisingly useful for taking advantage of Lloyd's rings.

Note: There is a small silver lining to this build. Because you remain at level one throughout you can spend souls on whatever you want. Splurge on human pine resins, titanite, black firebombs, embers and whatever else you can think of.

Note: Heavy Millwood Battle Axe with Knights Ring (15 strength) deals 8 less damage than with raw infusion while one-handed, though 35 more damage while two-handed.

Note: Farron Ring will reduce Gentle Prayer FP to 10, Warcry to 15 and Quickstep to 4 (-25%).