u/Sparkomad

I was gonna put this out in the anniversary day but I got scared that it would be overshadowed by ED Houston and ED Greg. Also couldn't wait to share it.

I'm gonna put it on Youtube in the anniversary day.

Again and again I see people talking about getting 1-2 shot and this is just a result of not using damage negations enough. Depth 4-5 require you to use weapon passives to their full.

You may say bosses will last longer but this is not true when you take into account actual gameplay and not just flat numbers. Most damage comes from the player being more agressive and punishing the boss more. If you are constantly scared of getting one shot then you cant punish the boss enough. A dead nightfarer does 0 damage and lowers their whole teams damage because they are wasting time reviving while also getting into a more risky situation which can lead to a team wipe.

https://youtu.be/SR0K5gq4BWg

This video is an example of how even a duches can tank a lot with not so great passives. Also shows how agressive you can play with decent negation passives. (description for what passives I used)

Now lets do some math. If you have 1 charge, 1 successive and 1 taking damage (all purple tier) active at the same time you will have around 85% damage negation thats around 6,5 times effective health which means your 1000 health becomes 6500 effective health. This completely counters nightlords 3x damage scaling in depth 5.

1 full hp negation will make your 1000 health become 1666 effective health. So its not enough to get one full hp negation and call it a day at higher depths if you are squishy.

For clarity damage negations dont lose values as you stack more. You are still getting the full value. They stack multiplicatively like every other buff. To learn more watch this video

https://youtu.be/VCxPxv06Fa8?si=XmFT5dw48ivD7r78

How do you find damage negations you want

Answer is red thrash mobs and chests/corpses. If you dont loot the same chest with 3 people then you wont lose time but you will increase your chances of finding the passives you want. Split up when looting. Its all rng so rolling the dice more will make your runs more consistent.

Red bosses in ruins, great camps and blacksmith villages guarentee a red weapon drop so kill them on your way to field bosses.

Info on negation passives

Melee characters need 3 damage negations. If you greed on damage passives it will bite back on you. You can use whatever you find but you need to constantly reaply them to stay alive longer. Casters want 2 full hp damage negation.

1- Improved Damage Negation at Full HP (40%)

This one is great for not getting one shot when you dont have any other negations active but a character that already has other negations may not use this because It only activates at full health and is a one time negation requiring you to drink a flask. Best for ranged characters that dont have acces to a lot of negation passives. Use 2 of this for squishy characters to guarentee survival.

Always stacks

2- Successive Attacks Negate Damage (60%)

This is great for every melee character including raider. It is a one time high value damage negation passives that can save you from a lot of attacks. It also last a whole 30 seconds which is great.

Stacks with different tiers of itself but is never worth it to stack because it gets harder to activate when its stacked. (Some other effects tied to succesive attacks also make this effect harder to proc but I dont have a list for those.)

3-Dmg Negation Up upon Landing Charge Attacks (40%)

This is absolutly the best negation passive ever if you keep proccing the effect. Its extremely easy to proc this with weapons that have fast charge attacks like fists ,daggers etc. Great for raider but works on every character. Last 10 seconds and doesnt go away after 1 hit. Ironeye can proc this If he fully charges his bow

Stacks with different tiers of itself and is easy to proc.

4-Taking Damage Boosts Damage Negation (36%)

This is the most underrated negation passive. Just by itself it is useless but if you already have other 2 negation passives or just 1 successive then you can survive the second hit. Its a bit behind charge attack negation in terms of value. It is a 10 second negation that doesnt go away after a hit and reprocs itself.

Stacks with different tiers of itself.

5-Dmg Negation Up While Casting Spells (30%)

Underrated. Has lower negation values then others but works for the whole casting animation including a whole comet azur cast. It lingers for a short moment after casting ends. Allows casters to play more agressively and saves you from unexpected agro changes. I would still recommend switching this to a full hp negation when you find 2 of those.

Stacks with different tiers of itself.

6-Successful Guarding Ups Dmg Negation (24%)

Has the lowest values out of all but can work really well with guardian and executor if you arent ignoring the suncather. Lasts for 10 seconds and doesnt go away after a hit.

Stacks with different tiers of itself.

7-Improved Damage Negation at Low HP (37%)

I dont recommend sticking to this because the effective hp you get from it is bad. Only activates below 40% so you are only getting 40% of the actual damage negation value.

Always stacks

8-All the other passives like magic damage negation (20%)

These work for certain nightlords but I would recommend switching them after finding other negation passives. It can work great for guardian against caligo for example.

Always stack

Some ending notes:

Vigor +3 is really good on squishy characters especially early game where you dont have negation passives. It can help you stay alive with 1 full hp damage negation. Also try maris fathom of night relic.

Max hp and physical/affinity damage negation relic effects are also good on every character but prioritize damage on depth relics first.

If you find golden vow use it. It buffs both negation and damage.

If there are any wrong info correct me.

It doesnt have innate status so it has higher AR. It is pure physical so it gets full buff from physical attack up effects and has S scaling in dex unlike other purple katanas. It has frost and extra damage on its ash of war. This thing does like 30% more damage then other purple katanas when used on a good build with physical attack ups. Also has bonus damage against dragons.

Only downside is Executor removes the ash of war effect when he switches to suncather. Why fromsoft. Why is this a thing on a character that is the second best status effect applier. Also why does executor forgets two-handing when getting in and out of suncatcher. Its so annoying to use improved two-handing passives.

Its Dragonscale Blade for those who dont know

The shields in the picture all come from me looting the middle castle.

For some reason fromsoft added a shield specific loot pool for all the chests in the middle castle. There is even a chance for purple shields. If you are a guardian main or a scholar who enjoys shields give chests a try.

For clarity they aren't tied to dormant power relics. Chance for a great shield is higher than medium shields and there are no small shields in the shield specific loot pool.

This video doesnt include basic stuff like what his skill and upgraded items does.

He is one of the strongest characters when play right. His dodge is different and has less i-frames than others but it can also be good for keeping pressure. I didnt get into anything pot related since it doesnt need explanation.

With dex relic he has 58 dex and 30 arcane at lv 15. Executor has 63 dex and 28 arcane at lv 15. Scholar also has 45 arcane at start and decreases as he level so starting armament with status effect will carry first few levels.

Scholar does 215 damage with antspur rapier. Executor does 225. It is a 5% difference that can be closed with exalted flesh or with basically infinite stamina from his skill and pickled turtle neck.