Ashen One (Standard Quality Build) | Dark Souls 3 Wiki

Build Name
120	40	10	39	15
40	40	9	9	7

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

• Build Name: Ashen One (Standard Quality Build)
• Build Level: 120
• Build Focus: PvE and PvP
• Build Main Stat: Strength/Dexterity (Quality)
• Link to Mugen Monkey

Build Equipment

• Right Hand: Longsword- Fast, light, good damage and excellent moveset. Can be changed with other weapons detailed later on in the build.
• Left Hand 1: Knight Shield- Lighter than average, 100% physical resistance, parry. A good all round shield, can be changed according to your preferences. Suggestions later on in the build.
• Left Hand 2: Knight's Crossbow- Split Lightning and Physical damage. Use lightning bolts for maximum power, can be changed for different crossbow.
• Head: Knight Helmet
• Chest: Knight Armor
• Hands: Knight Gauntlets
• Legs: Knight Leggings
• Rings: Life Ring [+1/+2/+3] (Extra hp is always useful, very light and never a bad choice), Ring of Favor [+1/+2] (Health, stamina and equip load. useful for all builds), Chloranthy Ring [+1/+2] (Extra stamina regen helps you reduce downtime on attacks and keep up against fast enemies) and Havel's Ring [+1/+2] (Can be Swapped out, extra equipload for better weapons, armor or sheilds)
• Items: (Black) Firebombs, Throwing Knives, Green Blossom.

Progression

Pick the fire gem as your starting gift. Fire is a very effective element during the start of the game and some enemies will thrash around in pain rather than strike back if touched by fire. After killing the Iudex Gundyr, Crystal Lizard (Optional) and Sword Master (Optional) go to Andre and infuse your weapon with fire. Then allot the one ashen estus to the normal estus slot, level up your vigor and endurance. Progress throughout the game as normal, put points into Vigor and Endurance at first. 27/19 is a good stopping point as this will give you 1000 health unembered and 110 stamina which is enough for 5 swings and roll. Continue upgrading your longsword and make sure to grab the refined gem, chloranthy ring and dreamchaser's ashes as you progress. The knight's crossbow can be farmed from Lothric Knights or bought from Greirat during his quest. At around level 30 you should be able to reach the 27/19 milestone. Start levelling strength and dexterity, when you reach 16/16 strength/dexterity abandon the fire infusion and slot in the refined gem. Continue upgrading your strength and dexterity all the way to 40/40. Upgrade vigor and endurance as you are comfortable. To get lighting bolts, you must progress Greirat's questline.

Alternate Weapons and Shields

Sometimes, you want to mix up your equipment. For main hand, the Red Hilted Halberd is available good for its excellent poking and range. The profaned greatsword hits very hard, especially when buffed but is quite heavy. The Astora Greatsword is a lighter alternative to the Profaned Greatsword and can be gotten very early in the game. For greatswords, the humble Claymore is easy to get and has high damage. However, two alternatives are available fairly quickly. Wolf Knight's Greatsword has a unique moveset and is slightly more damage but has slower heavy attacks. The Hollowslayer Greatsword is fast, has low stamina consumption and a nice thrusting heavy attack for massive counter attack damage. For curved swords, the Carthus Curved Sword can be gotten right after the first lord of cinder and attacks very fast two handed. It deals great damage and has bleed but the weapon art is fairly useless. The Follower Sabre is an alternative that is lighter and shorter with a better weapon art but no bleed. Finally, the estoc is an excellent thrusting sword with good range, damage and the ability to take advantage of counter damage. There are of course other weapons but these are just some recommendations. For shields, the Black Knight Shield, Shield of Want and Lothric Knight shield are all possible alternatives but these are a tad bit heavier. The BKS and Shield of Want has the Weapon Skill art so it cannot parry by itself but may be more useful depending on your weapon. The Avelyn uses up more bolts in return for possibly increased damage while the Arbalest is best for pure physical damage bolts due to its high base damage.