The Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords stand as one of the most powerful and visually striking weapons inDark Souls III. Introduced in the Ringed City DLC, these dual greatswords are infamous for their high damage, incredible combo potential, and explosive weapon art. For players who enjoy aggressive melee combat and stylish finishers, building around the Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords can offer a thrilling and dominant experience. However, due to their unique stat scaling and requirements, creating an optimized build demands thoughtful planning and a clear strategy tailored to their strengths.
Overview of the Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords
Weapon Characteristics
The Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords are classified as Ultra Greatswords, but come in a paired form, allowing the user to wield both swords simultaneously. This creates a dual-wielding experience that delivers fast, heavy-hitting combos capable of staggering opponents and breaking guards. Their moveset is aggressive and fluid, making them ideal for crowd control, invasions, and PvP duels.
- Base damage is high with good scaling, particularly in Strength and Dexterity.
- Weapon Art: Flame of Lorian unleashes a chain of fiery strikes, ending in a massive explosion.
- Requires: 40 Strength and 10 Dexterity to wield effectively two-handed.
- Cannot be infused or buffed, but comes with innate fire damage.
The weapon art is a key selling point, offering high burst damage and area coverage, making it dangerous even when facing multiple enemies. This makes it a popular weapon for PvP invasions and certain PvE boss fights where aggressive melee tactics are viable.
Best Stats for a Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords Build
Recommended Attribute Distribution
To fully utilize the power of these greatswords, your build should prioritize a combination of Strength, Dexterity, and some Attunement or Endurance, depending on your playstyle. Since the weapon has innate fire damage, a hybrid build involving Faith or Intelligence isn’t necessary but can be explored for variety. Here’s a breakdown of a strong foundation:
- Strength: 40-66– The primary stat for maximizing physical damage scaling.
- Dexterity: 10-18– Minimum requirement, with slight boosts if you’re trying to reduce weapon weight penalties.
- Endurance: 30+– Needed to support multiple combos and heavy armor for poise.
- Vigor: 35+– To withstand incoming damage during close-quarters combat.
- Vitality: 20-30– Important if you want to wear heavier armor without fat rolling.
Leveling Faith or Intelligence is unnecessary unless you want to experiment with buffs or hybrid casting. Since the Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords can’t be buffed with resins or spells, keeping your stats focused on melee will provide the most consistent results.
Recommended Equipment and Rings
Armor and Poise Considerations
Since the Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords have a long wind-up and commitment to their combos, wearing armor that provides poise is essential. Trading hits is a frequent outcome with this weapon, and armor that lets you absorb a hit without staggering will allow your combos to land fully.
- Wolf Knight Set– Balanced poise and decent aesthetics.
- Lapp’s Set– High poise and physical resistance.
- Havel’s Set– Maximum defense, though very heavy.
Focus on armor that complements your Endurance and Vitality investments, ensuring you can still roll effectively. Fat rolling can be deadly, especially in PvP scenarios where agility is crucial.
Ring Suggestions
- Ring of Favor +3– Increases HP, stamina, and equip load.
- Havel’s Ring +3– Great for managing heavy armor and weapon weight.
- Prisoner’s Chain– Increases Vigor, Endurance, and Vitality, helping with survivability and stamina regeneration.
- Wolf Ring +2– Boosts poise to help during trades.
These rings help balance your offense and defense, especially in prolonged engagements or invasion scenarios where you might be outnumbered. Poise, stamina, and health regeneration all play critical roles when wielding a heavy, commitment-based weapon.
Combat Strategy with the Paired Greatswords
PvP Tactics
In PvP, the Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords thrive on aggression and pressure. Their weapon art can be used as a punishing move when an enemy whiffs or commits to a slow action. It’s best used in combination with spacing and stamina baiting to catch opponents off guard.
- Use the running L1 attack to initiate combat, especially in confined spaces.
- Time your weapon art after roll-baits to punish panic rolling.
- Do not spam combos blindly smart opponents will punish the wind-up.
- Use roll-catching techniques to chain hits after a partial combo.
Maintaining stamina control is crucial. Overcommitting can leave you vulnerable, so learn to combo intelligently and retreat to recover when needed. This weapon punishes mistakes, but it also punishes overconfidence.
PvE Strategy
In PvE, the weapon’s sheer power allows you to cut through mobs with relative ease. Boss fights that allow close-range pressure are where this weapon shines. However, timing is everything bosses with high mobility or fast attacks can interrupt your combo chain.
- Start fights with a heavy L1 or jumping attack to establish dominance.
- Save the weapon art for bosses that have long openings or are easily staggered.
- Use pillars, corners, or terrain to trap enemies and land full combos.
Against bosses like Slave Knight Gael or Demon Prince, learning their attack windows is essential. The weapon’s damage output is massive, but you only need to miss once to lose a large chunk of health. Poise-stacking and good reaction time will help you control the battlefield.
Optional Build Variants
Strength-Only Variant
If you want to go full brute force, you can make a Strength-only build that ignores Dexterity after reaching the minimum requirement. This allows you to pump more points into Vigor and Endurance. While it limits weapon variety, it focuses entirely on maximizing the potential of the Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords.
Quality Build
A more balanced approach is to invest in both Strength and Dexterity (around 40/40). This lets you use other powerful weapons like the Claymore or Black Knight Greataxe when you want variety. The damage on the Ringed Knight swords won’t drop significantly, and you gain access to more gear options overall.
Building around the Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords is a rewarding experience for players who enjoy dominating the battlefield with powerful, flowing combos and explosive finishers. With the right stats, armor, and combat awareness, you can maximize the weapon’s destructive potential while minimizing its vulnerabilities. Whether you’re dueling in PvP or slicing through the game’s toughest bosses, this build gives you the tools to fight like a relentless warrior of fire and steel. Mastering the rhythm of its combos and learning to pressure your opponents smartly will make you a formidable force in any situation withinDark Souls III.