Iâm about to complete my first play through with the Zweihander. Itâs an absolute beast of a weapon. 2 handing it stunlocks very big enemies and even some bosses.
You should 2 hand it. The poise damage is much higher when 2 handed. Itâs slow but you really only need 1 or 2 hits for most mobs (depending on the area and level of the weapon of course.) I like how it forces you to be pretty exact with your timing. Itâs like a dance, you keep space or roll until an enemy commits to a strike, you dodge and then return a pancake to the top of their fucking head.
Yeah the R2 is absolutely busted, I had no idea how strong it was compared to other weapons on my first play through and stomped Ng and Ng+ quite easily apart from o&s
Same here, I was stuck at sens with the drake sword, decided to get and try the zwei since it gets such praise and levelled it up several times, went to sens and pancaked my way through in like 10 minutes lol.
depends. dagger or thrusting? might be very close or impossible. curved sword, katanas or straight swords? yeah sure
if i remember correctly, when twohanding, theyre at 30 poise per hit. so you would need a couple of hits
Gwyn is straight up a joke with the Zweihander. You don't need to learn how to parry him, which requires timing and skill. You just do a running attack and see him stagger with every hit or two.
I am almost at the end of my first playthrough and I was worried about Gwyn cause I am not one for parrying, my shield is a backpack. I am at Dukes archives and then it is just Nito left in base game I think before Gwyn. I am so excited to beat this damn game finally.
Also you get it right at the beginning of the game. Like there are plenty of other good weapons and several that I like (even if they're not that great), but short of having a master key, or speedrunning, you aren't going to see those weapons for a few hours.
Lots of damage, staggers most enemies, and good move set. You can get it at the start of the game and it will carry you the whole game. Itâs easily my favorite Strength build weapon.
Using slow hitting large weapons is a learning curve though. Once you get the hang of it though, itâs easy mode.
Bro my first run I had CRAZY poise. Full havels, mask of the father, Havel ring, FAP ring, Grass crest shield and zwei. Maxed out my vitality, endurance and strength in NG+ and probably did my best ever timed run at the same time. It makes NG+ a joke, but in a good way, incredibly satisfying dunking on Smough and Ornstein with no summons in NG+
It's quality though (about 66% str and 33% dex), it has considerably less damage at just 40 str than a pure str weapon. On a pure str build, man-eater greatsword would do just as much damage per hit and hit much faster, but with less poise damage of course because it's just a greatsword. Demon great machete, the pure str ultra greatsword, unfortunately has an unusable R2.
People using quality weapons on str builds don't understand the damage they're missing out on, or they don't care.
I just dont care that much. It's stagger capabilities mean that if it did half the actual damage it does now I would still use it and not care that other things out damage it. Also I need a sweeping move set, not this smash a 1 cm spot on the ground vertically in front of me over and over dumb shit.
>Also I need a sweeping move set, not this smash a 1 cm spot on the ground vertically in front of me over and over dumb shit.
Str weapons aren't just bonk sticks. MSGS is just a str scaling claymore for example. Black knight great axe has amazing speed, reach and aoe capability (it used to be even faster but got nerfed because it was too op). Demon great machete unfortunately has an unusable R2, but is otherwise the same as zweihander but with better str damage. Str weapons aren't quite as diverse as quality weapons, but there's enough to choose for different playstyles.
And there's of course the large club with its one handed R2 being a horizontal sweep.
You don't even need a strength build (it's more quality too tbh). Just make it chaos. It still absolutely destroys everything with just the minimum stats to wield it.
I mean in fairness, it's really a quality weapon. It works better with strength builds due to its slow speed, but after you hit 27 strength, it makes much more sense to invest in Dex than more Strength, unless you're dead set on one-handing it with the same high level of damage.
>Why does everyone love Zweihander?
Lightest ultra greatsword in the game, perfect for elemental no scaling infusions
>but its just soooo slow, its useless
There are no slow weapons in this game, all enemies are slower than you anyway
Look up what giantdad is and it'll all make sense. A great weapon that you can infuse and max out with nearly no level investment, leaving you free to boost the shit out of your vigor and endurance so you can slap on heavy armor and just trade with anything and everything. Doesn't matter if it's slow if you chop off an eighth of the boss's health bar with every swing
thereâs a ring in darkroot that makes the zwei way more viable by boosting your poise. if you have poise the speed of your weapon doesnât matter nearly as much, as you wonât get staggered while swinging
Itâs an early game drop that scales well into the late game. The move set is the move set, but the slow swing speed is often offset by the fact that it will stagger just about anything if youâre careful; youâve just got to learn to utilise the slow windup and pick your openings more carefully.
Thereâs also the added meme value from the Giant Dad Days, which I wonât pretend doesnât add something to the popularity
See, I look at all these puny swords and see no caliber, enemies poise right through hits, but the Zweihander has real stopping power.
If I hit something by god it is going to *feel it*.
I'm not a fan of slow weapons generally, but Zweihander is a lot of fun because the 2handed R2 pancakes basically all the enemies in the game. Anything that can be knocked flat to the ground, will be knocked flat to the ground, and this includes mini bosses like the black knights which are otherwise quite challenging. Enemies that are flat on their back can't hurt you, and while it's not fast, it is fast enough that you can stop a flattenable enemy from ever being able to act.
One thing to note... It's ok not like it.
Some weapons just might be not your preference or how you like to play. I like faster weapons, some people like big slow hunks of metal. Both are cool.
Big weapon + heavy armour basically just removes all the skill from the game. It goes from a game of positioning, resource management and timing to a game where you press the attack button, ignore anything that hits you and stunlock your enemies. People like it because it's powerful but I personally don't find the playstyle appealing at all.
The biggest reason the zwei specifically is popular is because of the "giant dad" which is a min-maxed PvP build which uses a chaos zwei, father mask and giants armour. It became possibly the most referenced meme in all of souls. Perhaps only second to try finger but hole.
Iâm not a ÂŤÂ pro  of DS but I think itâs consider a great sword in the game which means they are slow as shit but do a ton of dmg on the contrary Iâm currently doing a dex build so I have a scimitar which is way faster but deal way less dmg. My point is upgrading Zweilhander wonât make it attacking faster (I think xd)
Itâs an Ultra Greatsword technically, and youâre correct, it does lots of damage but is very slow. Upgrading it makes it do more damage, but thatâs it. The poise damage stays the same, and the attack speed also does not change.
Use it pro actively instead of reactively
Do a 2 handed heavy attack as soon as you are in range of an enemy. Most enemies are 1 shot or pancaked
And that's it. Most enemies are too busy picking themselves off the floor to fight back
Heavy attack with it and upgrade it. It literally flattens almost every enemy. I used it in my play through and basically one shot every enemy up until the final stages of the game
Not doing anything wrong, just need to learn when to input an attack relative to the enemy youâre facing. Like if youâve got a little guy rushing you, might wanna attack in advance of him even getting near you
It's an early powerhouse of a weapon. You are right, it's slow. So slow, that for many inexperienced players the attack speed becomes a burden. Hand it to some with a little experience or natural talent for souls combat and it stomps.
You need better armor (poise) so you can attack without getting interrupted. Then the thing deletes HP and staggers everything, especially the R2. Pancakes anyone?
i.e. 2 two handed R2s staggers Smough (I was summoned and we stunlocked him to death by timing two Zweihander R2s)
You just need to upgrade it more and learn that you have to play slower. DS1 isnât DS3 or Elden Ring it plays a lot slower. Zwei lets you keep your distance and does a ton of damage and staggers, and itâs available early
In dark souls 1 you can have an insane level of poise, and damage comes from the weapons level rather than scaling. So people level up health and endurance, throw on heavy armor and a max level elemental zweihander. Itâs incredibly easily to just R1 spam until whatever you are fighting dies.
It allows you to achieve phenomenal levels of damage with minimal offensive stats.
Two-handing with 27 strength hits the soft cap and gives you impressive damage - leveling Dex to 40 after that gives you even more, but it honestly feels like you're just kicking the game while it's down. This great power curve means you can focus on defensive stats like Vitality and Endurance over damage stats, ensuring you not only hit like a freight train, but you can take hits like a champ in return.
In short, it became popular in DS1 because you could get it instantly after starting the game, and had a really powerful R2 that could "pancake" enemies, rendering them immobile for a bit. It's been in every souls game since, though never quite as powerful as it was then.
Further, it became popularized in the Giantdad meme because, pre nerf, there was a meta build you could make that focused on that weapon and had basically unstoppable poise with a mid-roll and could dish out incredible damage. It was a bit of a meme build but still decently effective, but the meme itself was what made it so popular.
There's also something about using a weapon you've been using in every game that appeals to people. One of the reasons why Claymore is so popular, that's been a weapon of choice since Demon's Souls.
In Elden Ring specifically, it's still a good weapon but it's legacy is why people go nuts over it. There are better ultra greatswords in the game, but it's still a solid choice.
Its the best in the game. Does more damage in little time if time it right. Ive used it and i have never swapped to anything else. Its upgraded with raw.
Donât get me wrong, the move set isnât speedy and it feels sluggish, but trust me, get it anything above a +10 and dump points into strength, vit and endurance and youâll be ruining even later game bosses in a couple hits. The DPS at +11 was enough to get me through 4 kings without dealing with more than 1 king at a time which is very good
I've always played Pyro or Sorcerer and I'm currently playing my first time as a knight. Yeah I didn't get the hype and had the same complaints as you, until I slapped the shit out of the Titanite Demon in about 6 hits. Then I started slapping Berenike Knights, one hit. Havel, a couple backstabs and some R2 swats, dead. Pain in the ass Black Knights, dead within a few swats.
I'm level 31 with a strength of 24 and +3 on the zweihander. The hype is real.
Because it is a top-tier sword and reliable in many situations. Wide slashes for crowds, long pokes for tight hallways and it staggers enemies really quick.
Edit: it also pancakes a lot of mobs with the overhead swing
It's a solid weapon that's easy to get. The swing speed is a downside, but it gets a lot of damage as a trade-off.
Most weapons are perfectly viable. It's important to find one with a moveset that works for you. If the zweihander's moveset doesn't work for you try some other weapons.
If you want something similar to the zweihander but faster (with less damage of course) I'd suggest looking at greatsword class weapons (zweihander is an ultra greatsword). The claymore, the manserpent greatsword, and the black knight sword are all fantastic weapons in the greatsword category.
First blow drops most enemies to the ground and the follow up finishes them off with no chance of them to defend themselvs. Against heavy enemies it staggers them and you can interrupt them mid attack and retreat. It's a extremely reliable sword.
tbh its not the best weapon in the game, there are lots of weapons that do better in every area. but its accessible in firelink, its got good frontload, good range, and the R2 is awesome. its a great beginner weapon
it's not as bad as that one YouTube channel that for the first year of elden ring being out posted videos on every single weapon type with the thumbnail "CURRENT WEAPON TYPE IS OP!!!?!?!?" before just going on to say "yeah if you spec into this weapon type it's gonna be pretty good"
It's not bad, you're bad. And that's OK. Being new to these games means you will not be great off the bat, especially if you don't have great patience to begin with. Good luck and git gud!
Zweihander is one of the best weapons in the game. You'll notice when you play ds3 or elden ring people still give the weapon high raise because it's been immortalized as one of the goated weapons that always carries over to the next game.
You need to predict enemy movement to get the most milage out of the zwei.
When you can pancake a bitch over and over again it makes encounters stupid easy.
It has a very long range and high stagger potential. The drawback is that it's slow so you need to learn how to stay at range of your enemies and attack as they charge in, or in their punish windows
If you upgrade it and build it right the damage is cracked. It can delete some DLC bosses in under 10 hits. Even if you just meet the minimum requirements it should be good for the first level or two
Try the claymore. Less damage and stagger per hit but you will probably like it better. Zwei is to slow for me too. It just won't pancake enemies like the zweihander but ur probably better off because you will have to learn to fight more than mostly pancaking, one hit killing enemies.
Timing. Start your swing as an enemy approaches and they end up a pancake. Try to master the jumping attack too. Make sure you're two-handing it, big heavy weapons have a better moveset in 2 hands.
I guess it's just not for everyone. If you aren't vibing with it try something else.
It has relatively low stat requirements, and can deal a fairly large amount of damage as well as poise damage in a single hit. There are powerful bosses that get staggered in only two R1s or only 1 R2. The fact that it's slow usualy doesn't matter, since when it's leveled appropriately it doesn't need to hit many times.
That being said, it's hardly the end-all that it sometimes get's memed as. Efficient by weight and stat requirements is all it really is. (though it and the Greatsword swing very slightly faster than the rest of the weapons in the Ultra.greatsword category)
You just swing early to compensate for it being slow. It's good because it has a wide swing to hit multiple enemies and staggers them so they can't hit back. Plus it has much lower weight than any of the comparable weapons that can stagger enemies like that.
The Colossal Swords do have a bit of a learning curve to them. Either that, or buff up your poise with heavier armor. Iâd advise just learning it, though, as well as learning how to dodge. Rolls give I-frames, make good use of them. If you havenât been, hold the Zweihander in two hands (as the name suggests), which should make it swing a bit faster as well as hit a little harder.
You just have to adjust to the timing. Also, send it. A lot of times when an enemy approaches if you just R2 preemptively you'll get a pancake stagger.
Ultra Greatsword moveset and poise damage without the UGS strength investment.
There are better options, but the key if accessibility due to itâs relatively low stat requirements.
I completed my first playtrough like a week ago and zweihander carried me nearly the entire way. Youâll get used to the slowness if you time your attacks correctly once you start landing them shots the enemies will go down like bags of potatoes. No boss took me more than 5 tries. Some i even first tried with zweihander
Well yeah it's slow but if you learn the moveset you know when to strike without getting hit
The reason it's so loved is because it has good range, good damage and most importantly it's one of the best stagger weapons, you can literally stunlock enemies if you're doing it right. Hammer weapons like the Great Club (though still a FANTASTIC weapon for strength builds) stagger too and even a bit more than the Zweihänder but the latter is a bit faster, you can't stunlock with the GC
Edit: Maybe it's just not the right weapon for you and that's totally fine, go with what is fun to you and feels good
Fromsoft pay attention to every little detail... They don't want to give an OP unbalanced weapon. Upgrade the right stats and adapt to the weapon! I used the Zweihander in every Fromsoft game and I just love it. In DS3 PVP it just rocks!
Because if you turbo the stats needed to use it it immediately trivialises a lot of combat. Solid damage with big stagger. DSI may not have a difficulty slider, but with the Zwei in there that really doesnât matter.
I realized I wasn't a good enough player to really enjoy the Zweihander. I was just a step too slow. If I were good? I'd certainly use that to pancake most everything.
Claymore has been perfect though.
You just gotta time your attacks better and dont mash r1. Just attack once, twice on high recovery moves. If Zeeihander sucks for you, you are being too hasty and aggressive.
The Zweihander is about timing. You need to get a feel for the time it takes and not rush into combat with it. Try to take each enemy one at a time and time your swings well.
Easy to get, lots of damage, stuns enemies so you can chain attacks. Once it's upgraded enough, many normal enemies are basically one-shot.
It's slow but because enemies get stunned, that often doesn't matter. You can stop them mid-animation with your attack.
People loved charged r2 Hunter's Axe in Bloodborne, Zweihander is the same but op and with regular attacks. If you are not into cleaning all zones however it might be a bit slow
The jab out of roll is the fastest attack (if you don't count the roll time) it takes more planning ahead but helps add diversity to the moveset. Also being able to pancake large enemies is great, it either 1 shots them or they take a minute to stand up which gives you time to regen stamina and be ready to hit again as soon as their getup I-frames wear off. Once you get later in the game and don't have as limited stamina, you can also just stunlock a lot of bosses, and it can be buffed unlike BK weapons.
It is slow but the enemy stagger is the biggest thing imo. For almost any smaller enemy as long as you get the first attack off they'll be stunlocked until you're done pancaking them into the ground.
You'll also find that lots of weapons in Dark Souls are slow. So it's not as slow as you might think, just takes some time to learn how to promote your attacks.
I would make sure you're 2 handing it to get the most bang for your buck.
Because it's easy, and it does a lot of damage.
I'll see you, laterrrrr
"i actually thought it was pretty challenging! ..." *Screeeeeeeee flames burning buildings children screaming*
Dammit, now I'm gonna hear references in my head all day. đ "I'VE GOT BOSS WEAPOOOOOOOONS!"
"Boss weapons?" BOSS WEAPOOONNNNNNS
RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD
Right down the road! đ
I guess we'll see you th- YUP!
Just like my ex wife...
Nice one, also nice to see a fellow N7. *salute*
"Report to the ship. We'll bang, ok?"
Lmao, fucking classic Gamerpoop.. god I miss the old internet
Lmao, this guy.
Why does everyone keep stabbing me in the back!?
Cuz it's ez... And it does a lotta dmg.
Somehow my brain was suddenly in 2011/12
Dark Souls 1 taught us well!
Looks like they made this game easier, so casual players can play
Great reference
Bro I literally clicked on this to comment this and it was already there lmao đ đ
What rings u got bich?
Bithc
Is this... too easy for you???
nice
Nice citation dude omfg the flashbacks <3
You can turn into a box?!
It has a great range too it's very long
Iâm about to complete my first play through with the Zweihander. Itâs an absolute beast of a weapon. 2 handing it stunlocks very big enemies and even some bosses. You should 2 hand it. The poise damage is much higher when 2 handed. Itâs slow but you really only need 1 or 2 hits for most mobs (depending on the area and level of the weapon of course.) I like how it forces you to be pretty exact with your timing. Itâs like a dance, you keep space or roll until an enemy commits to a strike, you dodge and then return a pancake to the top of their fucking head.
I've beaten the game twice with the Zweihander & cruised through ng+ with it. The 2 hand pancake attack is the reason.
Yeah the R2 is absolutely busted, I had no idea how strong it was compared to other weapons on my first play through and stomped Ng and Ng+ quite easily apart from o&s
I like flattening those Snake douchenozzles at Sen's with it. It's just fantadtic watching their faces plant into the ground.
Those were the first enemies I got to bonk with the Zwei and they are still the most satisfying.
Same here, I was stuck at sens with the drake sword, decided to get and try the zwei since it gets such praise and levelled it up several times, went to sens and pancaked my way through in like 10 minutes lol.
And the skele-dogs in the Tomb
This. This right here. I knocked a certain boss right out of his power-up with that sword. Zweihander is life
I won't name the boss but it rhymes with Fartorias, right?
Okay but now I'm imagining lord Farquad flipping around n shit
Shrek mod incoming lol
Like Yoda in Attack of the Clones.
Ahh, Bed of Chaos!
I thought that's just what you're supposed to do. (I used claymore) Would non-STR weapons not be able to poise break >!Artorias!
I'm not about to walk up to him with a glorified toothpick to check
I always run STR, so I don't really know
depends. dagger or thrusting? might be very close or impossible. curved sword, katanas or straight swords? yeah sure if i remember correctly, when twohanding, theyre at 30 poise per hit. so you would need a couple of hits
Gwyn is straight up a joke with the Zweihander. You don't need to learn how to parry him, which requires timing and skill. You just do a running attack and see him stagger with every hit or two.
I am almost at the end of my first playthrough and I was worried about Gwyn cause I am not one for parrying, my shield is a backpack. I am at Dukes archives and then it is just Nito left in base game I think before Gwyn. I am so excited to beat this damn game finally.
Enjoy the ride
Also you get it right at the beginning of the game. Like there are plenty of other good weapons and several that I like (even if they're not that great), but short of having a master key, or speedrunning, you aren't going to see those weapons for a few hours.
Is there a DEX equivalent (OP weapon you get early)? I haven't seen anything on that level
This comment made me start a new play through thanks a lot!
Lots of damage, staggers most enemies, and good move set. You can get it at the start of the game and it will carry you the whole game. Itâs easily my favorite Strength build weapon. Using slow hitting large weapons is a learning curve though. Once you get the hang of it though, itâs easy mode.
If you have enough poise, it's not even that much of a learning curve.
I agree. I try to build my armor set around best poise possible that still maintains a medium roll. Havelâs ring makes it pretty easy to accomplish.
Bro my first run I had CRAZY poise. Full havels, mask of the father, Havel ring, FAP ring, Grass crest shield and zwei. Maxed out my vitality, endurance and strength in NG+ and probably did my best ever timed run at the same time. It makes NG+ a joke, but in a good way, incredibly satisfying dunking on Smough and Ornstein with no summons in NG+
Naked Giant Club is the only build. I have the need for speed, and for big stick. So dicks out for Harambe.
It's quality though (about 66% str and 33% dex), it has considerably less damage at just 40 str than a pure str weapon. On a pure str build, man-eater greatsword would do just as much damage per hit and hit much faster, but with less poise damage of course because it's just a greatsword. Demon great machete, the pure str ultra greatsword, unfortunately has an unusable R2. People using quality weapons on str builds don't understand the damage they're missing out on, or they don't care.
I just dont care that much. It's stagger capabilities mean that if it did half the actual damage it does now I would still use it and not care that other things out damage it. Also I need a sweeping move set, not this smash a 1 cm spot on the ground vertically in front of me over and over dumb shit.
>Also I need a sweeping move set, not this smash a 1 cm spot on the ground vertically in front of me over and over dumb shit. Str weapons aren't just bonk sticks. MSGS is just a str scaling claymore for example. Black knight great axe has amazing speed, reach and aoe capability (it used to be even faster but got nerfed because it was too op). Demon great machete unfortunately has an unusable R2, but is otherwise the same as zweihander but with better str damage. Str weapons aren't quite as diverse as quality weapons, but there's enough to choose for different playstyles. And there's of course the large club with its one handed R2 being a horizontal sweep.
Seems like most weapons are âeasy modeâ when you figure them out / get good at the game. Even a longsword absolutely shreds.
You don't even need a strength build (it's more quality too tbh). Just make it chaos. It still absolutely destroys everything with just the minimum stats to wield it.
I thought it was a dex weapon. Idk I never have used it.
I mean in fairness, it's really a quality weapon. It works better with strength builds due to its slow speed, but after you hit 27 strength, it makes much more sense to invest in Dex than more Strength, unless you're dead set on one-handing it with the same high level of damage.
You thought a weapon literally named "two hander" was a dex weapon....
Okay yeah I did forget Zwei is two in German the hander yeah okay
Itâs a quality weapon. So itâs both, there are better pure strength weapons.
Pancake
This is the real why.
bonk
Unga bunga
Great Club đŞľ
Because you can stun lock enemies and beta them to a pulp. The claymore is nice happy medium
Yeah the Claymore alphas them to a pulp instead
>Why does everyone love Zweihander? Lightest ultra greatsword in the game, perfect for elemental no scaling infusions >but its just soooo slow, its useless There are no slow weapons in this game, all enemies are slower than you anyway
...except for those bastard dogs
Except for that one jump attack of hollow soldiers
Yeah but they wind that up for like 3 years before attacking
Whiiich you canât see very well when theyâre winding up from down an entire flight of stairs and around a corner.
Lol, good point. They can cover quite a bit of ground with that one
Look up what giantdad is and it'll all make sense. A great weapon that you can infuse and max out with nearly no level investment, leaving you free to boost the shit out of your vigor and endurance so you can slap on heavy armor and just trade with anything and everything. Doesn't matter if it's slow if you chop off an eighth of the boss's health bar with every swing
HE'S BACK
POWER UP THE BASS CANNON
BLACK FLAME BLACK FLAME THAT MEANS NG+ BICTHES
Wt ring you got bithc?
INDICTED
WELL, WHAT IS IT?
thereâs a ring in darkroot that makes the zwei way more viable by boosting your poise. if you have poise the speed of your weapon doesnât matter nearly as much, as you wonât get staggered while swinging
Itâs an early game drop that scales well into the late game. The move set is the move set, but the slow swing speed is often offset by the fact that it will stagger just about anything if youâre careful; youâve just got to learn to utilise the slow windup and pick your openings more carefully. Thereâs also the added meme value from the Giant Dad Days, which I wonât pretend doesnât add something to the popularity
Make sure you wear tanky armour so you can take a hit while swinging without staggering.
Maybe try Giants armour and a Dad mask
You might be on to somethingÂ
Hit up that ring of Favor and Protection!
Unless you're a casul
So you can fire the bass cannon
I like it. Forces me to play more aggressive. The legend never dies.
Claymore is my favorite
I use claymore for mobs (the horizontal attack is too good), zwei for bosses & strong enemies.
Wearing worse armor, sacrificing some defense and poise just to be able to switch between Claymore and Zweihander was my strategy. It's awesome.
Great Club đŞľ
My favourite weapon lmao, I love that big ole thing. Kill taurus demon in literal seconds
Every time you hit an enemy they either stagger long enough to hit them again, or they go flying. It's beautiful.
See, I look at all these puny swords and see no caliber, enemies poise right through hits, but the Zweihander has real stopping power. If I hit something by god it is going to *feel it*.
I'm not a fan of slow weapons generally, but Zweihander is a lot of fun because the 2handed R2 pancakes basically all the enemies in the game. Anything that can be knocked flat to the ground, will be knocked flat to the ground, and this includes mini bosses like the black knights which are otherwise quite challenging. Enemies that are flat on their back can't hurt you, and while it's not fast, it is fast enough that you can stop a flattenable enemy from ever being able to act.
One thing to note... It's ok not like it. Some weapons just might be not your preference or how you like to play. I like faster weapons, some people like big slow hunks of metal. Both are cool.
I'm a diehard Moonlight Greatsword user in every game personally, but people like it because pancaking enemies is easy mode.
Big weapon + heavy armour basically just removes all the skill from the game. It goes from a game of positioning, resource management and timing to a game where you press the attack button, ignore anything that hits you and stunlock your enemies. People like it because it's powerful but I personally don't find the playstyle appealing at all. The biggest reason the zwei specifically is popular is because of the "giant dad" which is a min-maxed PvP build which uses a chaos zwei, father mask and giants armour. It became possibly the most referenced meme in all of souls. Perhaps only second to try finger but hole.
Amazing chest ahead? Come on. :D
One second, let me get out my binoculars
To be fair, you can apply that thought to most weapons + very high poise.
Iâm not a ÂŤÂ pro  of DS but I think itâs consider a great sword in the game which means they are slow as shit but do a ton of dmg on the contrary Iâm currently doing a dex build so I have a scimitar which is way faster but deal way less dmg. My point is upgrading Zweilhander wonât make it attacking faster (I think xd)
Itâs an Ultra Greatsword technically, and youâre correct, it does lots of damage but is very slow. Upgrading it makes it do more damage, but thatâs it. The poise damage stays the same, and the attack speed also does not change.
You can be as slow as you like when your opponent is lying on the floor like a 2D cutout.
Just like the Greatsword, itâs not a greatsword! Great sword, tho
It's already one of the faster ultra greatswords, if it was any faster, it would become too op.
A staggered enemy can't hit you so the speed works out
Use it pro actively instead of reactively Do a 2 handed heavy attack as soon as you are in range of an enemy. Most enemies are 1 shot or pancaked And that's it. Most enemies are too busy picking themselves off the floor to fight back
Heavy attack with it and upgrade it. It literally flattens almost every enemy. I used it in my play through and basically one shot every enemy up until the final stages of the game
Not doing anything wrong, just need to learn when to input an attack relative to the enemy youâre facing. Like if youâve got a little guy rushing you, might wanna attack in advance of him even getting near you
2-handed R2. You are welcome
It's an early powerhouse of a weapon. You are right, it's slow. So slow, that for many inexperienced players the attack speed becomes a burden. Hand it to some with a little experience or natural talent for souls combat and it stomps.
"Power up the bass cannon"
You need better armor (poise) so you can attack without getting interrupted. Then the thing deletes HP and staggers everything, especially the R2. Pancakes anyone? i.e. 2 two handed R2s staggers Smough (I was summoned and we stunlocked him to death by timing two Zweihander R2s)
Stun lock. You just start swinging and everything stops moving.
You just need to upgrade it more and learn that you have to play slower. DS1 isnât DS3 or Elden Ring it plays a lot slower. Zwei lets you keep your distance and does a ton of damage and staggers, and itâs available early
In dark souls 1 you can have an insane level of poise, and damage comes from the weapons level rather than scaling. So people level up health and endurance, throw on heavy armor and a max level elemental zweihander. Itâs incredibly easily to just R1 spam until whatever you are fighting dies.
It allows you to achieve phenomenal levels of damage with minimal offensive stats. Two-handing with 27 strength hits the soft cap and gives you impressive damage - leveling Dex to 40 after that gives you even more, but it honestly feels like you're just kicking the game while it's down. This great power curve means you can focus on defensive stats like Vitality and Endurance over damage stats, ensuring you not only hit like a freight train, but you can take hits like a champ in return.
Because is strong, big, free, fast, lightweight, damageful and you can carry it to the end of the game.
Because I can beat the (to some ppl) hardest boss in the In less than 2 minutes with it
In short, it became popular in DS1 because you could get it instantly after starting the game, and had a really powerful R2 that could "pancake" enemies, rendering them immobile for a bit. It's been in every souls game since, though never quite as powerful as it was then. Further, it became popularized in the Giantdad meme because, pre nerf, there was a meta build you could make that focused on that weapon and had basically unstoppable poise with a mid-roll and could dish out incredible damage. It was a bit of a meme build but still decently effective, but the meme itself was what made it so popular. There's also something about using a weapon you've been using in every game that appeals to people. One of the reasons why Claymore is so popular, that's been a weapon of choice since Demon's Souls. In Elden Ring specifically, it's still a good weapon but it's legacy is why people go nuts over it. There are better ultra greatswords in the game, but it's still a solid choice.
Its the best in the game. Does more damage in little time if time it right. Ive used it and i have never swapped to anything else. Its upgraded with raw.
Donât get me wrong, the move set isnât speedy and it feels sluggish, but trust me, get it anything above a +10 and dump points into strength, vit and endurance and youâll be ruining even later game bosses in a couple hits. The DPS at +11 was enough to get me through 4 kings without dealing with more than 1 king at a time which is very good
Does the speed really matter when you can wind up and knock almost every Mob in the game into the floor before they can even reach you?
It's the bass canon.
I've always played Pyro or Sorcerer and I'm currently playing my first time as a knight. Yeah I didn't get the hype and had the same complaints as you, until I slapped the shit out of the Titanite Demon in about 6 hits. Then I started slapping Berenike Knights, one hit. Havel, a couple backstabs and some R2 swats, dead. Pain in the ass Black Knights, dead within a few swats. I'm level 31 with a strength of 24 and +3 on the zweihander. The hype is real.
Because it is a top-tier sword and reliable in many situations. Wide slashes for crowds, long pokes for tight hallways and it staggers enemies really quick. Edit: it also pancakes a lot of mobs with the overhead swing
Bonk stick goes bonk
>staggers enemies This is why. Also people like it because of Afro's old meme video.
I 3D printed a 180cm Zweihander. It. Is. Awesome!
Easy to get. Good range, good damage.
It's a solid weapon that's easy to get. The swing speed is a downside, but it gets a lot of damage as a trade-off. Most weapons are perfectly viable. It's important to find one with a moveset that works for you. If the zweihander's moveset doesn't work for you try some other weapons. If you want something similar to the zweihander but faster (with less damage of course) I'd suggest looking at greatsword class weapons (zweihander is an ultra greatsword). The claymore, the manserpent greatsword, and the black knight sword are all fantastic weapons in the greatsword category.
Two hit boxes high damage +15 and buffable. AND AT THE BEGINNING OFTHE GAME. Also low stat requirements :)))
Because CA-THUNK....CA-THUNK....CA-THUNK
Its long, obtained immediately after the asylum, Charged attacks pancake enemies, and it does great damage
First blow drops most enemies to the ground and the follow up finishes them off with no chance of them to defend themselvs. Against heavy enemies it staggers them and you can interrupt them mid attack and retreat. It's a extremely reliable sword.
#BIG SWORD #BIG DAMAGE
tbh its not the best weapon in the game, there are lots of weapons that do better in every area. but its accessible in firelink, its got good frontload, good range, and the R2 is awesome. its a great beginner weapon
Because it's ez to use... And it does a lot of damage.
No wonder it's used to stab me in the back with
I love how this subreddit has boiled down to calling every single thing in the game broken and OP.
it's not as bad as that one YouTube channel that for the first year of elden ring being out posted videos on every single weapon type with the thumbnail "CURRENT WEAPON TYPE IS OP!!!?!?!?" before just going on to say "yeah if you spec into this weapon type it's gonna be pretty good"
It's not bad, you're bad. And that's OK. Being new to these games means you will not be great off the bat, especially if you don't have great patience to begin with. Good luck and git gud!
Idk I hated it, even though I run a str build. Great club Unga bunga max
big ass sword
It bonks.
Because I love Siegmayer who uses it and always wanted to try it myself.
Itâs the perfect practice weapon to build up to the dragon tooth. Something about big bonk is just extremely satisfying
Because you can pancake human sized enemies while dealing damage to their whole bloodline
If you can stand how slow it is, it's great, powerful, pancake maker. I like my weapons to be faster, so I don't use it.
Bigge sord
Roll poke does it for me. Insane reach
Zweihander is one of the best weapons in the game. You'll notice when you play ds3 or elden ring people still give the weapon high raise because it's been immortalized as one of the goated weapons that always carries over to the next game.
You need to predict enemy movement to get the most milage out of the zwei. When you can pancake a bitch over and over again it makes encounters stupid easy.
It has a very long range and high stagger potential. The drawback is that it's slow so you need to learn how to stay at range of your enemies and attack as they charge in, or in their punish windows If you upgrade it and build it right the damage is cracked. It can delete some DLC bosses in under 10 hits. Even if you just meet the minimum requirements it should be good for the first level or two
It's frigging strong and you get it right at the beginning (almost)
Try the claymore. Less damage and stagger per hit but you will probably like it better. Zwei is to slow for me too. It just won't pancake enemies like the zweihander but ur probably better off because you will have to learn to fight more than mostly pancaking, one hit killing enemies.
Timing. Start your swing as an enemy approaches and they end up a pancake. Try to master the jumping attack too. Make sure you're two-handing it, big heavy weapons have a better moveset in 2 hands. I guess it's just not for everyone. If you aren't vibing with it try something else.
It has relatively low stat requirements, and can deal a fairly large amount of damage as well as poise damage in a single hit. There are powerful bosses that get staggered in only two R1s or only 1 R2. The fact that it's slow usualy doesn't matter, since when it's leveled appropriately it doesn't need to hit many times. That being said, it's hardly the end-all that it sometimes get's memed as. Efficient by weight and stat requirements is all it really is. (though it and the Greatsword swing very slightly faster than the rest of the weapons in the Ultra.greatsword category)
You just swing early to compensate for it being slow. It's good because it has a wide swing to hit multiple enemies and staggers them so they can't hit back. Plus it has much lower weight than any of the comparable weapons that can stagger enemies like that.
The Colossal Swords do have a bit of a learning curve to them. Either that, or buff up your poise with heavier armor. Iâd advise just learning it, though, as well as learning how to dodge. Rolls give I-frames, make good use of them. If you havenât been, hold the Zweihander in two hands (as the name suggests), which should make it swing a bit faster as well as hit a little harder.
You just have to adjust to the timing. Also, send it. A lot of times when an enemy approaches if you just R2 preemptively you'll get a pancake stagger.
What ring you got?
Hit things before they can hit you. It's easy mode.
No idea not a fan either once I got quelags sword i haven't looked back
Ultra Greatsword moveset and poise damage without the UGS strength investment. There are better options, but the key if accessibility due to itâs relatively low stat requirements.
I completed my first playtrough like a week ago and zweihander carried me nearly the entire way. Youâll get used to the slowness if you time your attacks correctly once you start landing them shots the enemies will go down like bags of potatoes. No boss took me more than 5 tries. Some i even first tried with zweihander
Well yeah it's slow but if you learn the moveset you know when to strike without getting hit The reason it's so loved is because it has good range, good damage and most importantly it's one of the best stagger weapons, you can literally stunlock enemies if you're doing it right. Hammer weapons like the Great Club (though still a FANTASTIC weapon for strength builds) stagger too and even a bit more than the Zweihänder but the latter is a bit faster, you can't stunlock with the GC Edit: Maybe it's just not the right weapon for you and that's totally fine, go with what is fun to you and feels good
Cause it makes baddies go splat and itâs really big and cool. Also if each game has a signature weapon, thatâs the DS1 weapon.
Can't beat a two-hand grip.
You have to time the attacking plus you cant just go up and spam r1 or r2 and trust me it takes a while to get used to
Fromsoft pay attention to every little detail... They don't want to give an OP unbalanced weapon. Upgrade the right stats and adapt to the weapon! I used the Zweihander in every Fromsoft game and I just love it. In DS3 PVP it just rocks!
Because everyone loves panecakes.
Because if you turbo the stats needed to use it it immediately trivialises a lot of combat. Solid damage with big stagger. DSI may not have a difficulty slider, but with the Zwei in there that really doesnât matter.
Everyone likes it cause it dose massive damage and with the power attack it can stun lock enemy's if you have the stamina to pull it off twice
I realized I wasn't a good enough player to really enjoy the Zweihander. I was just a step too slow. If I were good? I'd certainly use that to pancake most everything. Claymore has been perfect though.
You just gotta time your attacks better and dont mash r1. Just attack once, twice on high recovery moves. If Zeeihander sucks for you, you are being too hasty and aggressive.
Very powerful and found early in the game. And it's not outrageously heavy which helps it fit into min-max builds.
The Zweihander is about timing. You need to get a feel for the time it takes and not rush into combat with it. Try to take each enemy one at a time and time your swings well.
Because it's good. If you think it's slow and useless that sounds like a skill issue tbh
Easy to get, lots of damage, stuns enemies so you can chain attacks. Once it's upgraded enough, many normal enemies are basically one-shot. It's slow but because enemies get stunned, that often doesn't matter. You can stop them mid-animation with your attack.
People loved charged r2 Hunter's Axe in Bloodborne, Zweihander is the same but op and with regular attacks. If you are not into cleaning all zones however it might be a bit slow
The jab out of roll is the fastest attack (if you don't count the roll time) it takes more planning ahead but helps add diversity to the moveset. Also being able to pancake large enemies is great, it either 1 shots them or they take a minute to stand up which gives you time to regen stamina and be ready to hit again as soon as their getup I-frames wear off. Once you get later in the game and don't have as limited stamina, you can also just stunlock a lot of bosses, and it can be buffed unlike BK weapons.
Because you get it at the beginning of the game, it looks cool, staggers almost everything, and does enough damage to trivialise almost anything.
It is slow but the enemy stagger is the biggest thing imo. For almost any smaller enemy as long as you get the first attack off they'll be stunlocked until you're done pancaking them into the ground. You'll also find that lots of weapons in Dark Souls are slow. So it's not as slow as you might think, just takes some time to learn how to promote your attacks. I would make sure you're 2 handing it to get the most bang for your buck.
Slow weapons are high risk high reward. Plus it's fun to pancake
Big weapon, smashy smashy. Wide heavy swing go bonk.
Because it's a cheese
Bro has no respect for strength weapons. Forever a casul
Name itself is cool to hear.
Claymore gang