Fans of Dark Souls 2 will be happy to know that the game continues to be patched and updated with changes that make the game more balanced, for the sake of challenge and difficulty.
Unfortunately for players, the makers of Dark Souls 2 at From Software aren’t very transparent about the changes they make to the game’s balance and have left it up to players to figure out what’s different in the game’s new 1.06 update.
To that end, a redditor going by the name of Nikxed has put together a series of notes that describe huge nerfs (up to 30%) for some of the game’s weapons. Here’s what he wrote:
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All testing was done on a char with 40/40 str/dex, and 50/50 int/faith. No rings equipped (except for abyss ring test). Done on bonfire intensity 10/11 hollows at the first bonfire in forest of the fallen gaints.
+10 Mundane Avelyn with lightning bolts; Prepatch: 834 over 3 bolts, Postpatch: 576 over 3 bolts. A 30% decrease in damage.
+10 Syans Halbard (no infuse) 2h light attack; Prepatch: 453, Postpatch: 390. A 14% decrease in damage.
+10 Mundane Santiers 2h light attack; Prepatch: 763 in first 3 hits, Postpatch: 593 in first 3 hits. A 21.5% decrease in damage.
Great Resonant Soul with +5 dark chime of want; Prepatch: 1062, Postpatch: 755 A 29%% decrease in damage.
Wrath of Gods with +5 lightning dragon chime; Prepatch: 1079, Post patch: 1025. A 5% decrease in damage.
+10 Dark Claymore 1h r1 test with Resonant Weapon; Unbuffed: 418, Prepatch: 653, Postpatch: 568. Extra buff damage dropped from 235 to 150. A 36% decrease in bonus damage. Due to rounding I'm speculating that the buff is now 50 + 30% just like SLB and CMW.
+10 Fire Claymore 1h r1 test with Flame Weapon; Unbuffed: 414, Prepatch: 561, Postpatch: 500. Extra buff damage dropped from 147 to 86. A 41% decrease in bonus damage. Flame weapon now clearly adds less damage than other weapon buffs, but does not require any stat investment.
Abyss Ring: Prepatch: buffed GRS from 1062 to 1274, a 16.6% increase. Postpatch: buffed GRS from 755 to 812, a 7% increase. Given that the test has enemy resists and the ring was previously a 20% boost, I speculate it's now 10%.
TL;DR: FROM MY DATA (take with grain of salt)
Avelyn ~30% nerf
Syans ~14% nerf
Santiers ~22% nerf
GRS ~29% nerf
WoG ~5% nerf
RW changed to roughly same increase as SLB/CMW/Dark Weapon. Use Dark Weapon if you want to buff a dark infused weapon.
Flame Weapon much less effective than other weapon buffs.
Abyss ring changed from 20% to ~7-10%
"Santiers and Syans stamina drain: I was able to get the same amount of swings in at 200 stamina (99 END, no rings) Prepatch and Postpatch. Dronelisk points out that the patch addressed the amount of hits taken to guardbreak a shield, not stamina drain from swinging the weapon.
"After some testing, Dark weapon and Resonant Weapon now add the exact same amount of damage. Dark Weapon is now clearly better because it takes less attunement slots, has more casts, doesn't cost souls, and lasts longer, all for the same effect. RW should never be cast again."
At 50/50 int/faith, RW now lasts for approx 70 seconds, and Dark Weapon lasts approx 110 seconds.
