Flame Knight | Dark Souls 2 Wiki

Cosplay PVE Build
150	37	20	30	13
40	20	9	28	6

This is a player-created Build for Dark Souls 2.

• Build Name: Flame Knight
• Build Author: Artorias
• Starting Class: Knight
• Starting Gift: Petrified Something (best item to get a rare item early game)
• Build Focus: PvE

 Build Equipment

• Weapons:
• Right Hand 1: Bastard Sword / NG+ : Fire Bastard Sword +10 *Early game weapon*
• Claymore / NG+ : Lightning Claymore +10 *Faster than Greatsword good for certain fast bosses*
• Right Hand 2: Greatsword / NG+ : Greatsword +10 *High damage and even higher with Magic weapon buff. On NG+ I like to buff this with pyromancy Flame Weapon*
• Right Hand 3: Dragonrider Bow +5 *With high Strength and fully upgraded this can 2 head shot kill almost any NPC*
• Left Hand 1: Drangleic Shield *Early game best shield. Don't upgrade this*
• Royal Kite Shield *Lighter than Drangleic Shield by 2 units and uses less STR to equip. Don't upgrade this*
• Drakeeper's Shield +10 *Same unit as Drangleic shield but with better elemental protection, easier to upgrade because it uses Titanite*
• Left Hand 2: Pyromancy Flame +10
• Left Hand 3: Sorcerer's Staff
• Witchtree Branch *Don't upgrade this.
• Armor:
• Head: Penal Mask / Faraam Helm / King's Crown
• Chest: Drangleic Mail / Faraam Armor / King's Armor
• Hands: Drangleic Gauntlets / Faraam Gauntlets / King's Gauntlets / Penal Handcuffs
• Legs: Drangleic Leggings / Faraam Boots / King's Leggings
• Spells: Sorceries/Pyromancies
• Magic Weapon / Great Magic Weapon / Crystal Magic Weapon / Repair / Cast Light
• Great Fireball / Chaos Storm / Toxic Mist / Flame Swathe / Flame Weapon / Warmth
• Rings:
• Life Ring / Life Ring +1 / Life Ring +2
• Chloranthy Ring / Chloranthy Ring +1 / Chloranthy Ring +2
• Second Dragon Ring / Third Dragon Ring
• Optional to farm : Covetous Silver Serpent Ring / Covetous Gold Serpent Ring 
• Optional to some bosses : Dispelling Ring / Ring of Steel Protection
•  (Preferable but not required since this build is for Cosplay)

 Build Strategy

Important to keep your Equipment Load below 70% at all time to medium roll. Start with Drangleic set, they are early to obtain but a bit heavy for early game but you can mix with hunter's set to lessen the weight. Don't upgrade Drangleic's Set, not worth it. Faraam set obtain way later in game. Faraam Set truly shine when upgrade to +10 / lighter than Drangleic set and it's easy to upgrade if you have been saving up all the Titanites. King's Set is a good set for NG+ and against most bosses. Fully upgrade King's Set +5 is not as good as Faraam Set in terms of defense but check out King's Elemental defense, truly outstanding against all kind of elemental damage. Penal Handcuff is special if you want to quick shot bosses. Effect increase pyromancy good for Flame Swathe and Chaos Storm. Can 3-4 shots bosses instance KO.

Most of the time I wore Covetous Silver Serpent Ring to take more souls even against boss fight. Dispelling Ring also provide a very good elemental defense a +60 to magic/fire/lightning/dark.

Do not upgrade staves since they will only be used for support spells that aren't any more effective with a Sorcerer's Staff +10 than a Sorcerer's Staff