Postby Jonci » 23 Apr 2014, 08:49
Next up: Weapon upgrading! This is important and really helps to know so you can plan ahead.
There are 10 upgrade paths for regular weapons (those not considered dragon, demon, or unique). This paths are:
Normal, Raw, Crystal, Divine, Occult, Magic, Enchanted, Fire, Chaos, and Lightning. To upgrade into or pass certain levels, you need Embers, which are scattered around the game. I won't spoil locations.
Normal: Regular upgrade path that can go as high at +15. You need the Large Ember to go past +5 and the Very Large Ember to go past +10. Stat scaling doesn't change, each level just increases the base damage by a normal amount. This path is for easy upgrading with no specialization into the weapon, especially if you want to just go pure STR/DEX stat scaling.
Raw: Update path that goes to +5. You can upgrade a Normal+5 weapon into a Raw weapon. Raw weapons have higher base damage, with reduced stat scaling. Good for making strong weapons if you don't want to beef up your STR or DEX.
Crystal: Upgrade path that does to +5. You need the Crystal Ember and a Normal+10 weapon to use this path. Crystal weapons have much improved base damage and stat scaling per level. HOWEVER, you cannot repair a crystal weapon. The only way to reset durability is to upgrade it. So once it has hit +5, you have no way to repair it again.
Divine: Goes to +10. You need the Divine Ember and a Normal+5 weapon to enter this path and a Large Divine Ember to go past +5. This path adds Faith into stat scaling and reduced STR/DEX scaling. It also had increased damage against skeletons, mass of souls, and Four Kings. It will prevent skeletons in the Catacombs from reviving, even if their necromancer is still alive.
Occult: Goes to +5. You need a Dark Ember and a Divine+5 weapon. It has higher Faith scaling than Divine. You lose the bonus to divine-weak enemies, and increase get increased damage to Black Knights, Silver Knights, and Gwyn.
Magic: Goes to +10. You need a Normal+5 weapon to go this path and a Large Magic Ember to go past +5. This path adds Intelligence to your stat scaling, with reduced STR/DEX scaling. Good for Sorcery users.
Enchanted: Goes to +5. Requires a Magic+5 weapon and the Enchanted Ember. This has even higher Intelligence scaling than Magic. Useful for pure Sorcery users that haven't put anything into STR or DEX.
Fire: Goes to +10. Requires a Normal+5 weapon to enter the path and Large Flame Ember to go past +5. This path adds more Fire elemental damage to weapons.
Chaos: Goes to +5. Requires a Fire+5 weapon and the Chaos Flame Ember to enter. This one is a strange path, as it adds Fire damage based on how much Humanity stat you currently have, up to 10. At 5+ Humanity, a Chaos+5 weapon does more Fire damage than a Fire+10 weapon.
Lightning: Goes to +10. You need a Normal+10 weapon to enter this path. This path adds Lightning elemental damage to your weapon.
There are also Boss weapons. Some bosses will drop their soul, which you can use to forge certain weapons into a Boss version of that weapon. The weapon will have to be Normal+10 before you can upgrade it, and can upgrade to +5. But you need to know which weapon can be upgraded this way and I'm not writing that list.
FINALLY, there are 4 blacksmiths in the game. Each one will handle different upgrade paths and they are the ones you will give the necessary Embers to.
Andre handles Normal, Raw, Divine, and Occult paths. He's the one near Undead Parish.
Rickert handles Magic and Enchanted paths. He's in New Londo Ruins, not far from the main entrance from Firelink Shrine. He is hard to miss, though.
Giant blacksmith handles Boss, Crystal, and Lightning paths. He's in Anor Londo.
Vamos handles Fire and Chaos paths. He's hidden away in the Catacombs and is tricky to find.
I'm not insane. I just have an overly vivid imagination!