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I just bought Dark Souls 2 on Steam, I have been playing it on PS3. I just started the PC version last night and am building a strength character. I went home at lunch and went through Heide's Tower of Flame to the Dragonrider. I am using the Halberd from the FoFG. There are a total of 9 enemies in Heide's Tower proper, which I killed. My Halberd busted about 2/3 of the way through the Dragonrider. Luckily, I had the NPC summoned, which bought me some time to switch to my Club.

My question is this: I know the Halberd breaks easy but is breaking that easy due to the Halberd or due to the PC version?

I have read "rumors" that weapon degradation is much quicker on the PC version but I don't know that to be fact. My strength character on the PS3 version is using a Claymore +10 and Mastodon Halberd +8. The Mastodon Halberd breaks easy in that game too but I have never used a Halberd in Heide's Tower until now.

Has anyone used a Halberd in Heide's Tower on the PS3 or XBox and had different results?

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  • I didn't see much degradation on the halberd in HToF on PS3 but I usually kept my halberd for the bosses in this area and used snappier weapons to dispatch the giant knights. Possible strategic fix for you :)
    – ThunderToes
    Commented Jun 6, 2014 at 8:42
  • Since posting this all of my fears have been confirmed, at least in my head. It is absolutely due to the PC version. I don't really want a strategic fix, I want From to patch it. Easier said than done I know but this is kind of a deal breaker for me. It is a shame because the PC version is superior in every way but that one and I think the game is really good, meaning I am ruined for other games, at least until Lords of the Fallen comes out youtube.com/watch?v=lLTk84WsEdc. I was hoping that the PC version would work out so I could get rid of the PS3.
    – Tony
    Commented Jun 6, 2014 at 10:17
  • well I'm a fan of console gaming, I unfortunately have Windows 8.1 and Gaming isn't really that effective due to compatibility... But there should be a way to mod the game yourself to slow down degradation unless you don't like doing so
    – ThunderToes
    Commented Jun 6, 2014 at 12:15

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At this point, it's basically "confirmed" that weapons degrade faster on the PC. From/Namco hasn't acknowledged it (that I know of), but there's been some pretty extensive testing by the community as noted here: http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/2517i8/durability_bug_is_linked_to_framerate/

Basically, Dark Souls 2 subtracts a set amount of durability per frame of animation. You swing your weapon exactly the same speed regardless of frame rate. That means that if your weapon is passing through an enemy for 1 second, there will be 30 "ticks" of loss at 30 FPS, but 60 "ticks" of loss at 60 FPS. The consoles are locked to 30 FPS, but the PC version runs pretty great on most machines and very regularly runs at 60 FPS. That's an overly simple explanation of what's going on, but it's the gist of the problem.

Apparently you can lock your FPS to 30 on the PC and the problem magically disappears, though I've never looked into how people are doing that.

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  • Thanks for the link, although it raises more questions than it answers, and it doesn't really "confirm" anything as I read it. I am far from either a theorist or a good Dark Souls II player, but I am familiar enough with the scientific method to cause me to question those results. Hitting a wall produced the exact same results regardless of frame rate, so there must be another factor at play. There are too many variables for me to state that this experiment is definitive. However, it may be.
    – Tony
    Commented May 28, 2014 at 18:25
  • The wall part (as I understand it) is the same because your weapon doesn't pass through the wall - it bounces off of it. As such, there's either no difference or an extremely minimal difference in the number of frames of animation where the weapon is "in" the wall. With enemies/corpses, the weapon passes through them, so there's more frames of animation where the durability is taking a hit. Your point stands though - without confirmation from From or Namco, there's no definitive answer.
    – Meorrow
    Commented May 29, 2014 at 16:39
  • I used a Bastard Sword last night on the PC version in No Man's Wharf and only got about halfway through before I had to switch to my club. On the PS3 version I could make it to the boat before I had to use a powder or use another weapon, so it seems that there is a difference. Kind of a bummer because I prefer the PC version.
    – Tony
    Commented May 29, 2014 at 19:53

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