Mail Breaker | Dark Souls 3 Wiki

Stupid man's aquamarine dagger. And by that I mean it's for non-int builds.

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-Every move is parryable

-Doesn't have quickstep or blind spot

-WA can be dodged or rolled on reaction

-Is countered pretty well by hyper armor

-chews through stamina at high speeds

So you're telling me that this is a dagger... that's ACTUALLY BALANCED?

All things aside, this is my new favorite weapon. Honestly, this thing is so fun to use. Especially with chasing people down in duels, it's like Aquamarine Dagger for non-INT builds. Give it a shot!

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Crystal Mail Breaker is really nice. Excellent ripostes into wake-up L2, plus shield-piercing elemental damage is decent.

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I will regret sharing this information with this cursed community of living cancer, but frankly this weapon deserves some recognition (and dagger is cringe).

Alright. So. We all know that Fire Dagger is the cool kid right? Well here's the thing: not really. Only in late game.
In early game from +0 to maybe up to maybe +6 or even +7 Elemental Mail Breaker actually delivers BETTER criticals than Fire Dagger.
Confirmed on multiple PvE mobs and even on drakeblood knights that get summoned into in Archdragon Peak.

FromSoft ****ed up damage scaling on this thing. When infused with "flat" elementals like Fire, Deep yadi yada it will end up having less raw damage than Dagger.
HOWEVER! When infused with "scaling" elementals such as Chaos, Crystal or Lighting it actually ends up with MORE raw damage than flat-infused dagger, which is enough of a difference to cause it to deal higher crits despite having 005 less critical bonus.

Example:
Fire Dagger +4 deals 95+95 = 190 damage.
Fire Mail Breaker +4 deals 91+91 = 182 damage.
Inferior in every way.

Now watch this:
Chaos Dagger +4 deals 78+93 = 171 damage.
Chaos Mail Breaker +4 deals 96+104 = 200 damage.
Crystal Mail Breaker +4 deals 101+98 = 199 damage.
And this is with knight's default 9/9 INT/FTH.

As you can see, for whatever accursed reason, Mail Breaker infused with scaling elementals always ends up dealing more raw damage than any Dagger.
This, combined with game's spaghetti application of damage to criticals, causes Mail Breaker to deliver slightly more powerful criticals than Dagger.
You're welcome.

2 things to note, however:
1) This advantage is lost when both weapons hit +10. Dagger gains better scaling properties with upgrades while Mail Breaker falls behind. Might be wrong though - requires research.
2) You won't be able to take advantage of this information until you at least find Sage's Coal and a Crystal Gem.
You won't be able to perform Chaos and Lighting infusions until you reach Giant's Coal in Anor Londo. At which point your weapons will be +7 already and Dagger will probably become king once again, but i don't know for sure.

Within couple of months i expect to be constantly oneshoted by Mail Breaker ripostes. You Bastards.

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Pssst... You. Yes, you.

Did you know that when infused with scaling elementals such as Chaos, Lighting or Crystal this thing ends up dealing more raw damage than Fire Dagger?
So much more, in fact, that it deals higher damage on critical attacks as well.

Now you know. But you didn't hear it from me.
*disappears into the bushes*

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Isn't this thing based on the Japanese sai?

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Consider the following: You're using your Baemore or some other sweet heavy weapon, but your enemy immediately gets parried. So what do you whip out to riposte them with? Dagger or Mail Breaker?

Most would think the Dagger is good enough, but IMO, it's this sucker right here. Riposte with the Mail Breaker and then 2H it to finish off the guy. Because it has a really fast version of Shield Splitter, L2 rollcatches, and its R2s can be used to rollcatch, and just braindead spamming the first R1 stab by microwalking/blocking can rollcatch. So satisfying.

(or you can just weaponswap to gundyr's after dagger riposte idk f u)

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I've been using this on a chaos build and I have to say, this thing is a monster. Fast, decent range in the first r1, and the weapon art combos into itself. It may not be the best weapon by any means but at least results wise, I am getting very, very good results from using this as a main offense tool.

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First game this thing is actually good in.

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Good for main-buff battlemage using Raw infusion. High dps.

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"Hard, edgeless sword" -description of a weapon that deals slash damage

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parry, run a 360, riposte, gg

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Mail Breaker aka Letter Opener

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From really hates variety and fun in their games, I suppose. Forcing us to use the same 2 weapons over and over again. Dagger looks like*****, this one is cooler looking and might be funnier to use if they didn't ***** it up

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Look at how they massacred my boy... and I miss mundane infusions

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bad lol

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disregarding low SLs the standard Dagger is better than this in almost every way. but the most important difference is that the Mail Breaker isn't a bright orange eyesore.

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I made a new character the other day and I noticed that a +0 Mail Breaker did more riposte/bs Damage than a +0 Rapier by quite a bit. Why? The Rapier has higher base AR and crit.

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I think there's a really good case to be made for which dagger would be preferable to use between this and the Corvian Greatknife, as a general purpose sidearm. There's three factors: critical damage following parries/guard breaks, against shields, and as a stand-alone weapon. I've tested them both +10 Lightning-infused with a 26 STR 40 DEX 30 FAITH build. For critical damage, Mail Breaker (125) takes it over Corvian Greatknife (110), but not by much, as the Mail Breaker's crit multiplier is better, but it's damage is lower; against Black Knights NG+1, Mail Breaker did 956 w/o Hornet (1187 w/ Hornet) while Corvian Greatknife did 877 w/o Hornet (1080 w/ Hornet), which is a ~10% difference. Against shields, both have WA's that avoid shields, but I found the Corvian Greatknife vastly superior for a few reasons: Blind Spot hits around their shields for 270 whereas Shield Splitter hits for 157 and Blind Spot is a much better approach as it's much faster and less telegraphed. Both daggers bounce off higher stability shields (which also gives an edge to Corvian, as starting off with Blind Spot makes an opponent much less likely to sit behind a shield, letting you R1 mash once they let it drop, whereas they'll roll the more obvious wind-up of Shield Splitter and put their shield up again) but can be spammed against lower stability ones (I haven't figured out exactly how this works, but they can chew through the Dragonhead Shields of Ringed Knights but not the Black Knight Shields of Black Knight, not entirely sure about players). As a stand-alone weapon, there's a fair bit to consider: CGK is 1 unit heavier than MB but has more damage (351 vs 328 2H on this build); CGK has much better range than MB but also has a worse R2 (this weird downward slash), which wouldn't matter too much except MB's R2 (normal thrust) is a fantastic wake-up attack following a riposte which is a major reason to have a dagger; Blind Spot is an excellent starting move and gives you options how to approach (R1 or WA) but not as a roll catcher (and often feels like the Frayed Blade WA-R1, meaning you have to hope they dodge directly back or they'll avoid it), whereas Shield Splitter is an amazing roll catcher as the timing is perfect, the direction of the lunge isn't determined until the last second and so can catch people if they roll to your left or right (but not behind, as it can only hit in a ~180 deg cone in front of you), and it combos into itself (WA-WA is a thing). If I had to weigh in personally, I'd say if you have difficulty getting aggressive and making approaches with your main hand or struggle against shields, than Corvian Greatknife would likely be a better option as it has multiple ways to approach (WA or R1 pokes) and punish, but if you're good with parries and/or are looking to finish opponents off (catching panic rolls of low HP players) then the Mail Breaker is for you. All that said, they're both absolutely excellent, infuse well with Lightning on any build, and do really well with the Leo Ring.

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until you start getting more stats, the mail breaker is superior to the dagger for criticals. it seems to be that as long as it continues to be atleast 8% (not 5 because 5% is more then you think) stronger then the daggers damage it is superior. once its base drops below that, the dagger starts to do more. So basically, lightning/fire/deep mail breaker is your twink crit weapon due to its much higher base damage

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Depends bif you want a dagger with shield breaker. But it's critical(125), could it be better than dagger for non pure Dex builds?

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Mail Breaker, Paperweight or Stamp Collector?

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just curious but which do you (person looking at this) think was better starting weapon for sorcerer? mail breaker or dagger?

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Mail Breaker+Blood Gem=one shot god

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Blessed infusion is so weak(only 201) while other daggers hover around 250

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Nerfed so hard a normal +0 has better base damage then a Raw +0

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So i wasn't going crazy, From really did nerf the Mail Breaker

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Ridiculous that From nerfed MB's critical from 140 to 125. Why?

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Only weapon I ever needed for my all magic build! Just make the weapon "raw" and use invisibility with the sleeping dragon ring. Easy kills via PVE, cannot say for PVP for I no longer have a landline.

Works excellent with applied bleed pine buffs. Kills those Scorched Pyromancers fast.

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Raw +1 is now 113

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Buff the FUGS

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A little surprised at how useful this has become. Excellent criticals, fast strikes, and decent reach. That and with the base buff its now only a slightly weaker raw weapon than the Corvian Greatknife with less of a stat investment.

All in all a good weapon for casters and honestly better than the rapier mainly because it allows for guard breaks instead of that stupid back step attack.

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What's the best dagger for criticals?

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Especially for those hosts that like to be very predictable for easy parries. Stick a raw Mail breaker in your second right hand slot and get massive reposte damage. Obviously you shouldn't take this tactic with duels or anything but in an anything goes invasion it is pretty great

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Suddenly, this became useful.

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Mail Breaker. It was meant to pierce through chainmail and inflict damage directly to the opponent, bypassing any "resistance" attributes. And yet one has only 130 critical bonus and shield piercing skill. Daggers need to be buffed, and in this case the choice is obvious: Mail Breaker needs to have a passive ability of bypassing one's defences. All of them. Except shields, of course. At 60/60 Strength and Dexterity it has, while +10 reiforced and Refined, an AR of 250. Half of it is negated by armor. Now it is just a toothpick. But with said upgrade one could deal 250 damage directly to Winged Knight, Aldrich, or PvP contender. 250 is not that much, however it is constant. That would make Mail Breaker worth choosing, to a certain extent (read: viable). And would make actual sense in terms of weapon's lore. Fromsoft, please.

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So is this worth using as a backup weapon for a sorcerer? Or should i just use the Rapier.

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+10 base damage at +10

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now has 80 base instead of 75

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Raw infused, this thing's damage per swing might seem decent, but take into consideration the sheer swing speed of the weapon (Having the Dagger R1's) and the massive 130 critical damage, it's a very strong weapon to take if you're planning on investing in stats that arn't going near Dex or Str at all.

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sadly, even though it has 130 crit rating and high base damage, dagger outdamages mail breaker at 40 dex with sharp infusion.

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130 Crit rating

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It was with the piercing swords, then moved to daggers, then piercing swords again, and now daggers AGAIN. But it still is classified as "piercing sword" on its main page. To quote a legend that refuses to die no matter how many times we try and bury him: Well? What is it! Certainly enough people have played the game and gotten this weapon and looked at it for long enough to figure out what weapon type it is classified under.

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