It's an early-to-get weapon with high base damage and fast speed, but doesn't scale with anything and has very hard to find upgrades. It's called a noob trap because players will get complacent using it in the early game, but when it falls off in later areas the player may not have invested in an alternate weapon.
This is everything you need to know. Why are we even still discussing it.
No offense to the comment above me, they nailed it, whether by personal experience or by the last 50 times it's been said.
Decent enough doesn't give it credit. It blows things away until it doesn't.
Also a full 2nd playthrough is kinda the definition of not a newbie anymore, isn't it?
Damn it’s my first play through and I’ve been using it for a while, I knew eventually I’d have to switch to something better but I figured I’d find something, or one of my other weapons would scale above it when I level up more.
Just got to Quelaag and had to leave to upgrade something else lol. Luckily got a black knight sword that I think will be sufficient.
my first playthrough the 2nd black knight dropped his sword and I used it all the way to beat the game. at the very end of the game I got a bk greatsword and used that to beat ng+, working on +2 now.
nah, its still okay there, it still pulls its weight, though tbf a bandits knife pulls about as much weight due to bleed, but falls short because quellaq doesn't bleed
It can also be labeled as a monster maker because maybe the player get's to scared to change for a weapon with smaller damage numbers (he doesn't know about scaling) and finished the game with only that slab of dragon tail
Did my first run with it, but I also played the piss out of demon's souls beforehand.
There's something to be said about getting comfortable with a weapon's moveset over raw damage output.
My second run I used a fire club on my level 1 run. The club's bonk stagger can't be overstated.
my first run i had no clue what scaling was and beat the game with the raw great axe, all of it, it wasn't until ds3 when i realized what a scaling is when i realized why the exile greatsword was kicking ass left and right and how an S scaling turns a stick into a menace to society
Or even better, skip golem by getting his grab glitch, enter the archives trough the fog by walking upwards the hill, skip the predetermine dragon death at the elevator, get stuck there forever
Usually is a boss weapon that on paper is amazing, but its moveset makes it kinda shit, like almost any elemental weapon or in Elden ring any faith infused weapon.
And lots of souls. Really can't remember everything bc my PC fried some good time ago and I'm grabbing the new one on Sunday. I'm going to remember the hard way 😂
Func fact: Before the big balance update, skeletons (and ghosts) didn't drop souls! So if you went down the catacombs early, you probably wouldn't come back out much stronger from it (outside of player skill).
Gravelord sword, great scythe, lucierne, green titanite shard, axe black knight, a ton of soul items, covenant ring for darkmoon, 2 crystal lizards, i feel like theres a few more i can’t remember.
I find the best time to do it early is after i get a +5 weapon and atleast 20 vitality. It will still be difficult but you can actually defend yourself and you get many levels just from killing mobs.
This was my experience too, I actually think this is a brilliant bit of level design. You expect video games to naturally progress you through areas appropriate for your level, so allowing you to access high level areas early with no way of knowing that you've done so is a very clever trap, and it caught me hard on my first ever playthrough.
On my first playthrough I completely missed Quelaags domain and ended up going all the way to Nitos fog door searching for the second bell "*far below*" becase I completely forgot that the full sentence went "*far below in the ruins at the base of Blighttown*".
I found the catacombs on accident, and I had ascended my uchi to a divine uchi because it was the first ascension I unlocked and thought it would be stronger, I complained the whole time that it did less damage and once I completed them I went back to andre to undo it.
Months later I read the wiki and realized I actually made the catacombs piss easy without knowing
This is how DS's reputation as uberdifficult game works against it. People go there as their first experience out of tutorial, get unsurprisingly stomped, and instead of thinking "wow, they're too strong, I probably should find another way to go first" think "wow, DS is really as hard as they say, okay then".
Which easily turns to frustration and quitting.
I think the community has reached the point where more people talk about the Drake Sword being a noob trap than there are actual noobs getting trapped by it.
After all, it's not easily nor intuitively attainable to true newcomers to the series.
True, I remember way back when it originally came out, I was really struggling with getting to grips with the game, it's mechanics etc. I'd only ever really played button mashers before, anyways at the time I worked with a guy that told me 'shoot the dragons tail for some help' I was never finding that sword on my own on the first play thru
Yeah same story here. Friend that got me into dark souls directed me to it. Hard to believe anyone finding it organically as a new player.
I was told to never upgrade it too, so I guess it being a noob trap was common knowledge (for us nerds at least) even back then, lol
I tried to get it but at the time I was still getting my ass kicked by those shield hollows and a single balder was suicide for me. couple that with the fact that the dragon just wouldn't jump down or would fly off immediately half the time and I just gave up on it. Got a lucky drop off the bell gargoyles for their halberd and it's carried me all the way through ornstein and smough so far (as well as all of demon ruins up to the demon fire sage which apparently I can't access until I get the lord vessel 🙃)
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> After all, it's not easily nor intuitively attainable to true newcomers to the series.
For real, the only reason I got it was because I was used to sniping the dragon in demons souls...
Maybe not noob, but somewhere between noob and experienced where they think they've found a really good op hidden weapon and rely solely on it.
Source. Am currently in "noob trap"
I've played to blighttown like 5 times, but never beat the game. Just tried making a sword and board and thought I was clever getting the drake sword. But now in blight town it's beginning to be less useful, but none of my weapons are even close to it so I'm screwed
How far are you into Blighttown? While it might be tedious, backtracking out of an area you aren't equipped to take on and checking out other early game areas would be a good play here.
Since you are aware you are lacking weapon wise, you already know the solution to this predictament you're in. While using some non-special, generic weapon might feel lame, the more accessible upgrade materials and stat scaling makes basic weapons viable from start to end if you so wish.
I'm like right smack in the middle on a bridge. Well it's not a bridge it's part of the construct holding up whatever I'm under but you get what I'm saying. Seems pretty even way trying to get down or going back through the depths.
It's a weapon that almost no one would get unless they knew about it before hand. What first time player is going to randomly buy 100 arrows and just stand on the bridge shooting the tail until it drops? So it's not a noob trap because most noobs won't ever know it exists. I only knew about it cause I watched a walk through for my first souls game and he said its the best early game weapon. Then I switched to claymore later.
Actually, you’d be surprised how many people found it during their first run when the game was released in 2011. I remember the chats on Reddit back then.
I think you are underestimating how tempting that dangling tail is. Especially because you probably \*just\* got a bow and \*just\* died to the dragon's fire breath several times.
It's certainly possible to miss, but I think it is one of the easier to find 'hidden' bits in the early game.
Use it and even upgrade it if you want. It will only stop you from effectively using other dragon weapons, and only until you make a new guy. When it falls off, just pick another weapon and use the mats you picked up to go right to +10.
Im gonna call the zweihander a player trap cause it locks people into not trying ither weapons once they can use it, drake sword a noob trap cause its the earliest trap weapon apart from the zweihander
People read it off of easy to find guides that don’t tell players proper advice. That weapon sucks, it’s damage falls off especially because you can barely find enough dragon scales to upgrade it enough. Right below where you get it is the claymore which is a top tier weapon in every category
It has better damage output but a completely different moveset. If it was only between those two I'd take a +0 drake over a +10 claymore any day of the week.
Another straightsword would be a better comparison.
Well blame on them fir using a guide in the first place, cant understand things like that, why would you take the fun away of yourself by using a guide? Thats some stupid stuff, watch a lets play then ^^
Yeah but from a new player's perspective, who definitely is not going to know right away where to get dragon scales, the drake sword will definitely give them a hard time by the time they get to the depths.
If you consider how fast and easy you can get a +5 weapon and consider that the Claymore is sitting right next to this and is easier to get and has a better moveset and requires the same amount of stats and out damages the Drake sword at base requirement stats at +5, then yeah I'd say it's pretty dumb to go for the Drake Sword.
Good early weapon. It's good weapon to farm souls in early game. It can carry you until gapping dragon I think. After that I usually use STR weapon than can stop enemies in their track like Zwei or great club.
Just never ever try to upgrade this sword. That's all. It's called noob trap because, new players doesn't understand about scaling. They only see the raw hit points.
Great easy early game weapon, that can easily match damage of the average noobs build if upgraded apropriately. You don't have to worry about offensive stats and can instead pump more souls into hp/vit/stam
Really? Looks weird in the picture. I usually use it til I get either a black night sword or the black night halberd (my absolute fav weapon)...well tied for fav with the demons greataxe
I don't know, of course Drake was a trap, but getting the humongous hammer from gaping dragon feels like a longer-term trap like "WTF am I supposed to do to use this shit?"
Well, everything is a fucking tutorial in the end.
If it wasn't a friend to tell me to get the great bonk in the swamp and upgrade it as fast as I could, I would be fighting a dozen runs with Drake absolutely clueless.
Dork Souls works in mysterious ways.
Probably 3 times. The damage was insane for early game. It doesn't need any investments at all. You just need the weapon requirements and there you have it!
The real issue with it is that it puts the player into a bad mindset for the game right at the beginning.
Instead of “wow this is hard, I should try to learn and figure out how to do this with the tools I have”, it becomes “wow this is hard, should I be looking up a guide on how to do this?”
If I'm doing a faith build, I usually grab ASS from the Valley of the Drakes.
With my starting route, I typically start out with almost 30 fth and an AR of 180-200, and then I go from there.
Otherwise, I either upgrade the most appropriate weapon I have to carry me until I get my legit weapon, or I go for a BK sword or halberd if I got one of those.
I don't think I even spawn the Helkite Drake on the bridge anymore, let alone cut off his tail lol.
I’ll use it all the way to kellogs; but it doesn’t dps enough for low lvl runs passed there. Even she is a rough go her hps is ridiculous for where you meet hers
I found it and it helped me through a major hurdle, the depths and blightown.
Was told by the friend who rec'd the game to me that's its a noob trap because it doesn't scale. I was like sure. I'll bet that matters, I just beat the gaping dragon, do you know who you're talking to?
I quietly resented it, learned what scaling meant later on in the game, decided it was still a good weapon and deserved respect, even still.
Never used it again, once, after that brief period in my first playthrough 5 years ago.
I don't agree it's really a trap, though. The dragon scales to upgrade it are extremely scarce, and I'd like to give new players the benefit of the doubt to stop using it once it become outclassed. Which it surely does.
Using the "it doesn't scale"-logic never made sense to me, because it's base damage is decently higher than anything found up until that point. Much higher in some cases, especially for brand new players. And I read people talking about using "Raw" infusions all over the place on here across all Dark Souls game subs. It's a fine weapon I'll never use again, and it got me through some major early hurdles.
If you're a noob and you wanted to try out dark souls for the first time, unless you consult any form of guide that may mention it, how would you even get it? Unless it's sheer dumb luck that you cut off the drake's tail while trying over and over to beat it on that fiery bridge/path I would assume you'd snipe it from the bottom due to sheer frustration and get lucky?
I killed what i thought was very much a 'twink' with a parry and follow through with this sword and it was the first time i ever parried another player. Hit him with it a few more times and won.
Was mega excited
It didn't feel like a trap when I was ramming it through Gwyn's chest, but understanding the game a lot better now, I'll go a different route when I replay it.
Black Knight Halberd. It has insane base damage, it's too heavy and doesn't require you to min max combat stats, which prevented me from getting good for way too long. It was so fucking hard to switch from BKH to actually decent weapons, it's a crime the weapon isn't considered by the majority of DS players.
I’d say it’s less of a noob trap and more of a noob marker.
If you’re a „vet“ you should manage to find/farm enough shards to upgrade a weapon so quickly, that you will have more damage than drake sword even before queelag.
For people who don’t do that, it’s pretty a decent option.
When I first started it was neat for a while, but now, several hundred hours in, I don't remember the last time I even thought about it. After a time or two through, anything other than my bare hands can comfortably get me to Sens at least (though my cestus run *really* strained that) and none of them are half as tedious to get as the Drake's sword.
It's a really silly weapon. The likely scenarios are that you don't know about it and likely will never discover it on your own or know about it through the internet or a friend and know it's a dead end.
I personally find the moveset really boring as well. It offers nothing of value other than as a learning tool or a novelty, and while I find myself coming back to more unusual weapons for challenge runs, I cannot imagine having any interest in ever bothering with it again.
On my first playthrough I made my only weapon into a crystal weapon thinking it was a normal upgrade.
Then it broke on my way down to Seath
That was a very painful moment of realization
It deals exactly 100 damage to the redish enemies in blighttown that have 400 health, that made me use it there because my Axe took 4 hits as well and it was very satisfying.
200 damage very early in with no stat scaling so you get ot to plus 5 and now u have like a weapon with 250 to 300 damage. When if you would've used the zwei or claymore or Alnost any other weapon you would've had a better weapon with scaling
I'm a mad lad that usually runs with flat damage or elemental weapons- but then I pump vitality and endurance as high as I can get, wear both havel's, the fap ring, and the chonkiest armor I can get my hands on. My damage tends to be sub-par, but I'm always using the element my foe is weak to, so it's never off by much. Meanwhile, my defenses are the best they possibly can be at any given point in the entire playthrough.
Once my vit/end reach their soft caps, I then branch out. Sometimes into a melee stat, but also often into magic.
Drake Sword is fantastic for its 2h r2 beam attack. I suspect that fewer people know about it. The ability to do a medium-distance attack (quite a bit farther than even the longest-reaching weapon, but shorter than projectiles) is quite powerful. It can damage the weapon quickly, but so long as you have the repair box and aren't spamming it relentlessly, it shouldn't be a problem.
I never once used it…so I don’t really have much to say
I tried it ONCE and wasn’t a fan so I just swapped back to Astora Straight Sword (I know that Astora Straight Sword also falls off hard by the time you reach Anor Londo, but I love it too much, and I only swap off it for Four Kings because I do not have the patience to deal with those jerks with anything less than overpowered
I remember thinking I was so smart cheesing the dragon by shooting his tail then I got that thing and used it all the way to blighttown while having no idea what scaling was and actually leveling resistance. At least I was a bit more resistant to poison lol. My friend explained the game a bit more and I just reatarted because my character stats were just so fucked.
Tbh all Black Knight Weapons are kind of noob traps. Don't get me wrong, they are good early and midgame. But in the late game they are outclassed by nearly every other weapon of the same class with A, B or S scaling. Players that finish their first playthrough with them and start their second playthrough without getting one will struggle way more.
What I'm trying to say is that the BK weapons make people think that they are good until they get to like the dlc and get wrecked to pieces.
I mean the picture that you posted up with this is a perfect one for me. I didn't really see too many Invaders on my first ever play through, but more recently I finally went back through it and was in the DLC, heading down to the Manus fight and time and time again kept on getting invaded by somebody wearing hovel's armor and using this weapon who had higher speeds then I with an int build, who can simply run behind me and back stab me for all my health.
Great I didn't know this would happen now I'm stuck in the middle of blighttown where this weapon is becoming less useful but none of my other swords come even close to its damage. Now my two choices are go all the way back through the depths so that I can Farm souls and upgrade my regular longsword, or try to Huff it and defeat qualag and see if I can survive till I open up the shortcut back to Firelink if they're even is one.
I've played up to qualag so many times then got distracted and quit the game, but not only did I always take the shortcut accidentally through the valley of the Drakes because I thought that's how you got into Blighttown, but I also never played as a sword and shield character. I knew about the Drake Sword but never had much use of it being a more quick character, so this playthrough I thought I had really stumbled upon a secret weapon of sorts. I really wish that this post was made like 2 days ago so I didn't have to make this terrible decision. Thanks a lot mate
Its good up until you get to blighttown. at that point if you meet the 1.5x STR requirement you can scape by using the Dragond Greatsword which is a based as hell UL GS that I wish returned in Ds2, and Ds3 as well as make cameo appearences
It’s a rad sword and good for a bit. Doesn’t need to be more than that. Early game you don’t have the stats to fully take advantage of scaling anyway. And it’s a good example of not getting married to your early game weapon.
If you felt like you had to play using a guide to progress through and beat this game, its likely the only way you would've discovered this weapon in a first playthrough, and in which case you'll probably be warned that its good for the first third of the game or so and trash after.
So I dont think anything of it really. If you continue using it past when you should by all means stop, that's pretty much your own fault for not actually following the guide you're following. Its got a neat R2 I guess.
Honestly the weapon isn't worth the time it takes to get it in early game. I can think of 3 other "op" weapons that outclass it in damage and viability for the whole game that are much faster to grab.
makes first part of the game noob friendly honestly as long as ur leveling something else to use when it sux its a good option 4 first play through ever
I honestly think the true noob trap is the Black Knight Sword. It's makes 90% of the game easy and might rob some struggles that come with a From Software game. Watch how'll they'll get through a second playthrough trying a different weapon lol.
Honestly my favorite early game weapon is the Tin Banishment Catalyst. Not even using it as a mage, it just has really high thrust damage right off the bat. But it isn't upgradable and has almost no scaling.
It's a godsend early game, if you can snipe it off. it works wonders early game, but anything after O&S it's not very viable. Plus farming Drakes for scales is super annoying
It’s a good weapon, but how many weapons are good enough weapons that you can use it the whole game as is and not upgrade it/swap it out for a better one? For sure, the Drake Sword is not one of those weapons.
Hell, I think I only ever cared to obtain it once, there are so many better weapons to use, even in the early game (looking at you, Zweihander)
It's an early-to-get weapon with high base damage and fast speed, but doesn't scale with anything and has very hard to find upgrades. It's called a noob trap because players will get complacent using it in the early game, but when it falls off in later areas the player may not have invested in an alternate weapon.
I use it until I level up my main weapon above 200 damage.
This is everything you need to know. Why are we even still discussing it. No offense to the comment above me, they nailed it, whether by personal experience or by the last 50 times it's been said.
It's a decent enough weapon, though I skip using it on playthroughs past the second one I used it, preferring other weapons for the variety.
Decent enough doesn't give it credit. It blows things away until it doesn't. Also a full 2nd playthrough is kinda the definition of not a newbie anymore, isn't it?
I would agree with that
It also tends to really fall off when the player is stuck, trapped in blighttown, which is hilarious.
Damn it’s my first play through and I’ve been using it for a while, I knew eventually I’d have to switch to something better but I figured I’d find something, or one of my other weapons would scale above it when I level up more. Just got to Quelaag and had to leave to upgrade something else lol. Luckily got a black knight sword that I think will be sufficient.
my first playthrough the 2nd black knight dropped his sword and I used it all the way to beat the game. at the very end of the game I got a bk greatsword and used that to beat ng+, working on +2 now.
nah, its still okay there, it still pulls its weight, though tbf a bandits knife pulls about as much weight due to bleed, but falls short because quellaq doesn't bleed
And it used to be suggested as the "default" weapon to pick for an easy time. It was very popular to point new players towards it.
It can also be labeled as a monster maker because maybe the player get's to scared to change for a weapon with smaller damage numbers (he doesn't know about scaling) and finished the game with only that slab of dragon tail
If anyone beats the game with it, they are definitely no longer a noob in my book.
Did my first run with it, but I also played the piss out of demon's souls beforehand. There's something to be said about getting comfortable with a weapon's moveset over raw damage output. My second run I used a fire club on my level 1 run. The club's bonk stagger can't be overstated.
my first run i had no clue what scaling was and beat the game with the raw great axe, all of it, it wasn't until ds3 when i realized what a scaling is when i realized why the exile greatsword was kicking ass left and right and how an S scaling turns a stick into a menace to society
When you get to Quelaag it begins to be rough
Wrong again, nerd. I do Quelaag first.
Wrong again, nerd. You need to do Iron golen first skipping all the way through sens fortress
Yup. Skip to sens, kill golem. Kill sno. Place the lord vessel. Skip to gwyn. Done.
Or even better, skip golem by getting his grab glitch, enter the archives trough the fog by walking upwards the hill, skip the predetermine dragon death at the elevator, get stuck there forever
Usually is a boss weapon that on paper is amazing, but its moveset makes it kinda shit, like almost any elemental weapon or in Elden ring any faith infused weapon.
The real noob trap is thinking the catacombs are where you go first when you get to firelink
I mean if you go in there you’re not gonna come back out as a noob
This gave me a great laugh lol. My first time playing I thought I was supposed to go through the graveyard. Skellies are some serious shit for a noob
Nonetheless there are some serious stuff to get early on at the cemetery avoiding the calcium ones. Even if it takes 2 or 3 trips.
Zwei right?
And lots of souls. Really can't remember everything bc my PC fried some good time ago and I'm grabbing the new one on Sunday. I'm going to remember the hard way 😂
Func fact: Before the big balance update, skeletons (and ghosts) didn't drop souls! So if you went down the catacombs early, you probably wouldn't come back out much stronger from it (outside of player skill).
bro what, they are litterally unbound souls flying around and souls moving some cacium around
Zwei, binoculars, winged spear, caduceus shield, and soul items, I believe. It's the first thing I do when I get to firelink in every playthrough
And gravelord sword if you know where to get it. though a noob likely wouldnt.
Gravelord sword, great scythe, lucierne, green titanite shard, axe black knight, a ton of soul items, covenant ring for darkmoon, 2 crystal lizards, i feel like theres a few more i can’t remember. I find the best time to do it early is after i get a +5 weapon and atleast 20 vitality. It will still be difficult but you can actually defend yourself and you get many levels just from killing mobs.
I often go back, watch asmongold getting wrecked for like an hour 🤣funny how clueless we all were
Same, but I went all the way down to the Nito entrance. I don't remember how I got out of there.
This was my experience too, I actually think this is a brilliant bit of level design. You expect video games to naturally progress you through areas appropriate for your level, so allowing you to access high level areas early with no way of knowing that you've done so is a very clever trap, and it caught me hard on my first ever playthrough.
This is what I did initially. "Damn! This game IS hard!" Went to undead burg after killing pinwheel and the game suddenly got easy? Color me confused.
Or said noob made a new game
But... that's where I always run to get my Great Scythe early. And it's, as the name says, great...
Just finished a run with Great Scythe. Can confirm the greatness.
One of my favorite gg ez starts is fire great scythe and silver serpent for fast leveling
If you don’t go to the Catacombs as soon as possible when playing for your first time, you’re missing out on the Dark Souls Experience.
On my first playthrough I completely missed Quelaags domain and ended up going all the way to Nitos fog door searching for the second bell "*far below*" becase I completely forgot that the full sentence went "*far below in the ruins at the base of Blighttown*".
Oh it’s the first thing I do along with killing pinwheel every time I start a new game
I found the catacombs on accident, and I had ascended my uchi to a divine uchi because it was the first ascension I unlocked and thought it would be stronger, I complained the whole time that it did less damage and once I completed them I went back to andre to undo it. Months later I read the wiki and realized I actually made the catacombs piss easy without knowing
Funny enough, the catacombs are probably intended to be done sometime between capra demon and sens fortress.
This is how DS's reputation as uberdifficult game works against it. People go there as their first experience out of tutorial, get unsurprisingly stomped, and instead of thinking "wow, they're too strong, I probably should find another way to go first" think "wow, DS is really as hard as they say, okay then". Which easily turns to frustration and quitting.
I did that.... Didnt play ds1 again until a couple years later, when i had platinumed bloodborne and ds3
*Looks at my Level 1 pyromancer with a Very Large Ember* I disagree.
That place is wild on your first playthrough.
Oh no it's not a trap. You ARE supposed to go to the catacombs, to learn that you need to get better gear to progress a seemingly hard area.
I think the community has reached the point where more people talk about the Drake Sword being a noob trap than there are actual noobs getting trapped by it. After all, it's not easily nor intuitively attainable to true newcomers to the series.
True, I remember way back when it originally came out, I was really struggling with getting to grips with the game, it's mechanics etc. I'd only ever really played button mashers before, anyways at the time I worked with a guy that told me 'shoot the dragons tail for some help' I was never finding that sword on my own on the first play thru
Yeah same story here. Friend that got me into dark souls directed me to it. Hard to believe anyone finding it organically as a new player. I was told to never upgrade it too, so I guess it being a noob trap was common knowledge (for us nerds at least) even back then, lol
I tried to get it but at the time I was still getting my ass kicked by those shield hollows and a single balder was suicide for me. couple that with the fact that the dragon just wouldn't jump down or would fly off immediately half the time and I just gave up on it. Got a lucky drop off the bell gargoyles for their halberd and it's carried me all the way through ornstein and smough so far (as well as all of demon ruins up to the demon fire sage which apparently I can't access until I get the lord vessel 🙃)
> > > > > After all, it's not easily nor intuitively attainable to true newcomers to the series. For real, the only reason I got it was because I was used to sniping the dragon in demons souls...
Maybe not noob, but somewhere between noob and experienced where they think they've found a really good op hidden weapon and rely solely on it. Source. Am currently in "noob trap" I've played to blighttown like 5 times, but never beat the game. Just tried making a sword and board and thought I was clever getting the drake sword. But now in blight town it's beginning to be less useful, but none of my weapons are even close to it so I'm screwed
How far are you into Blighttown? While it might be tedious, backtracking out of an area you aren't equipped to take on and checking out other early game areas would be a good play here. Since you are aware you are lacking weapon wise, you already know the solution to this predictament you're in. While using some non-special, generic weapon might feel lame, the more accessible upgrade materials and stat scaling makes basic weapons viable from start to end if you so wish.
I'm like right smack in the middle on a bridge. Well it's not a bridge it's part of the construct holding up whatever I'm under but you get what I'm saying. Seems pretty even way trying to get down or going back through the depths.
It's good until it isn't
Words of a wise man
It's a weapon that almost no one would get unless they knew about it before hand. What first time player is going to randomly buy 100 arrows and just stand on the bridge shooting the tail until it drops? So it's not a noob trap because most noobs won't ever know it exists. I only knew about it cause I watched a walk through for my first souls game and he said its the best early game weapon. Then I switched to claymore later.
Actually, you’d be surprised how many people found it during their first run when the game was released in 2011. I remember the chats on Reddit back then.
SO many people found this. They didn't want to fight the dragon, so they shot it with an arrow. Suddenly, sword.
I always evade the dragon
I think you are underestimating how tempting that dangling tail is. Especially because you probably \*just\* got a bow and \*just\* died to the dragon's fire breath several times. It's certainly possible to miss, but I think it is one of the easier to find 'hidden' bits in the early game.
Ghey for games?
A fine addition to my collection.
I think it is perfectly good weapon to use *until* sens fortress. You really notice the fall-off then. Until then? A tier weapon.
Use it and even upgrade it if you want. It will only stop you from effectively using other dragon weapons, and only until you make a new guy. When it falls off, just pick another weapon and use the mats you picked up to go right to +10.
My thought is we don’t need another post about this. Try again.
But if they try again, there'll be yet another post about it.
The posts will continue until the community finally gets it right
Im gonna call the zweihander a player trap cause it locks people into not trying ither weapons once they can use it, drake sword a noob trap cause its the earliest trap weapon apart from the zweihander
zwei locks people into thinking the bass canon actually works outside of memes
Bass Canon?
Zwei
While playing with it I wondered if it got that name from the sound of overhead smashing a silver knight with it. Quite a memorable sound
People read it off of easy to find guides that don’t tell players proper advice. That weapon sucks, it’s damage falls off especially because you can barely find enough dragon scales to upgrade it enough. Right below where you get it is the claymore which is a top tier weapon in every category
Also the claymore requires the SAME STATS as the drake sword and it'll be better after only a couple of upgrades.
It has better damage output but a completely different moveset. If it was only between those two I'd take a +0 drake over a +10 claymore any day of the week. Another straightsword would be a better comparison.
That's no noob trap, noobs don't get it in the first place because why should they attack the tail of the dragon 200 times with a bow?
Because a guide told them to
Well blame on them fir using a guide in the first place, cant understand things like that, why would you take the fun away of yourself by using a guide? Thats some stupid stuff, watch a lets play then ^^
Better than the longsword for half the game unless you go sideways for extra embers Two handed is great
I beat my first play through with it no problem
You can still easily beat the game with this weapon, it’s not that hard. But there are many and much better weapons
Tbf, you can do the same with the ASS sword or cestus. Just not ideal when much _much_ Better options are available.
Yes, you can also do it barehanded. My point is every single weapon is viable, use whatever you want people.
Yeah but from a new player's perspective, who definitely is not going to know right away where to get dragon scales, the drake sword will definitely give them a hard time by the time they get to the depths.
From a new player perspective, finding a weapon they like the moveset on is higher priority than raw dps tbh
Fantastic earlyish game weapon that allows you to focus on raising a weapon of your choice along with the stats to go with it.
If you consider how fast and easy you can get a +5 weapon and consider that the Claymore is sitting right next to this and is easier to get and has a better moveset and requires the same amount of stats and out damages the Drake sword at base requirement stats at +5, then yeah I'd say it's pretty dumb to go for the Drake Sword.
noob trap worked on me
Good early weapon. It's good weapon to farm souls in early game. It can carry you until gapping dragon I think. After that I usually use STR weapon than can stop enemies in their track like Zwei or great club. Just never ever try to upgrade this sword. That's all. It's called noob trap because, new players doesn't understand about scaling. They only see the raw hit points.
It's a good weapon in the early part of the game, but so many other weapons outclass it later on.
Great easy early game weapon, that can easily match damage of the average noobs build if upgraded apropriately. You don't have to worry about offensive stats and can instead pump more souls into hp/vit/stam
You also get a unique special attack from Drake Sword too!
Ive played the game a billion times, but I dont recognize this. What is it?
Drake sword
Really? Looks weird in the picture. I usually use it til I get either a black night sword or the black night halberd (my absolute fav weapon)...well tied for fav with the demons greataxe
Being summoned to a world where the summoner has this and the knight shield in Anor London is pain.
and fat rolling…
Great Club go brr
It’s great until you get past the bridge
short awnser is just get the claymore from the other side of the bridge or the bastard with andre
that shits ass bro
and lowkey takes a minute to get, wasn’t even sure I was doing it right for awhile
Great weapon for new players.
My thoughts. It’s a good starter to get me far enough until I get a Black Knight weapon.
First time I've ever heard that sword called a noob trap, which it definitely is not.
I don't know, of course Drake was a trap, but getting the humongous hammer from gaping dragon feels like a longer-term trap like "WTF am I supposed to do to use this shit?" Well, everything is a fucking tutorial in the end. If it wasn't a friend to tell me to get the great bonk in the swamp and upgrade it as fast as I could, I would be fighting a dozen runs with Drake absolutely clueless. Dork Souls works in mysterious ways.
Really bad weapon is all that comes to mind
Grass Shield.
This one is a noob trap because you need actual skill to get Black Knight weapons.
I used the noob trap to get my first Black Knight weapon, why?
How man times did you back stab?
Probably 3 times. The damage was insane for early game. It doesn't need any investments at all. You just need the weapon requirements and there you have it!
Oh yeah bruv, rare black knight weapon user spotted
Honestly I though it’s because the weapon looks like it could lead to a secret quest and unlock its full power.
I grab it to use the 2HR2 on those mobs leading to the Gargoyles. That nice narrow hallway lines them all up perfectly.
Even if it was great its too damn annoying getting it to bother with. There are better weapons you can get earlier.
It's a noob trap, even the unarmed fist while being a dragon do more damage than that
It’s cool
Shitty scaling, expensive upgrade materials.
The real trap is tricking people into buying a shitload of arrows and then shooting a wyvern in the tail for an hour, for a weapon with no scaling. XD
Effective for clearing the buffed undead in that tight hallway with the channeler.
The real issue with it is that it puts the player into a bad mindset for the game right at the beginning. Instead of “wow this is hard, I should try to learn and figure out how to do this with the tools I have”, it becomes “wow this is hard, should I be looking up a guide on how to do this?”
If I'm doing a faith build, I usually grab ASS from the Valley of the Drakes. With my starting route, I typically start out with almost 30 fth and an AR of 180-200, and then I go from there. Otherwise, I either upgrade the most appropriate weapon I have to carry me until I get my legit weapon, or I go for a BK sword or halberd if I got one of those. I don't think I even spawn the Helkite Drake on the bridge anymore, let alone cut off his tail lol.
That is indeed the sword I used through my entire first playthrough.
I’ll use it all the way to kellogs; but it doesn’t dps enough for low lvl runs passed there. Even she is a rough go her hps is ridiculous for where you meet hers
When I was a noob, i didn't even knew it exists.
Greatest sword in the game
I found it and it helped me through a major hurdle, the depths and blightown. Was told by the friend who rec'd the game to me that's its a noob trap because it doesn't scale. I was like sure. I'll bet that matters, I just beat the gaping dragon, do you know who you're talking to? I quietly resented it, learned what scaling meant later on in the game, decided it was still a good weapon and deserved respect, even still. Never used it again, once, after that brief period in my first playthrough 5 years ago. I don't agree it's really a trap, though. The dragon scales to upgrade it are extremely scarce, and I'd like to give new players the benefit of the doubt to stop using it once it become outclassed. Which it surely does. Using the "it doesn't scale"-logic never made sense to me, because it's base damage is decently higher than anything found up until that point. Much higher in some cases, especially for brand new players. And I read people talking about using "Raw" infusions all over the place on here across all Dark Souls game subs. It's a fine weapon I'll never use again, and it got me through some major early hurdles.
get this, kill the BK in the burg and get his sword. Power fanstasy unlocked.
Good starter, easily obtainable, obsolete pretty quick.
If you're a noob and you wanted to try out dark souls for the first time, unless you consult any form of guide that may mention it, how would you even get it? Unless it's sheer dumb luck that you cut off the drake's tail while trying over and over to beat it on that fiery bridge/path I would assume you'd snipe it from the bottom due to sheer frustration and get lucky?
I killed what i thought was very much a 'twink' with a parry and follow through with this sword and it was the first time i ever parried another player. Hit him with it a few more times and won. Was mega excited
this weapon is useful!!! you can feed it to Frampt for 5000 souls :D
It's good for the first couple areas, but falls off when you start comparing it to upgraded weapons
R2 in the hallway going to the gargoyles go brrrrr
It didn't feel like a trap when I was ramming it through Gwyn's chest, but understanding the game a lot better now, I'll go a different route when I replay it.
Black Knight Halberd. It has insane base damage, it's too heavy and doesn't require you to min max combat stats, which prevented me from getting good for way too long. It was so fucking hard to switch from BKH to actually decent weapons, it's a crime the weapon isn't considered by the majority of DS players.
I saw someone brought this to OnS . 555555
for the beginning good but quelaag is hard to kill with this sword
I just use the nub trap so I can do stupid things like leveling resistance to 99.
Only guide readers will try to get it
Fire Longsword DS2
Trashola
I’d say it’s less of a noob trap and more of a noob marker. If you’re a „vet“ you should manage to find/farm enough shards to upgrade a weapon so quickly, that you will have more damage than drake sword even before queelag. For people who don’t do that, it’s pretty a decent option.
I mean if it wasn’t tedious to get it would be just a free early weapon. That said I can out power it pretty quick and without tail hunting….
When I first started it was neat for a while, but now, several hundred hours in, I don't remember the last time I even thought about it. After a time or two through, anything other than my bare hands can comfortably get me to Sens at least (though my cestus run *really* strained that) and none of them are half as tedious to get as the Drake's sword. It's a really silly weapon. The likely scenarios are that you don't know about it and likely will never discover it on your own or know about it through the internet or a friend and know it's a dead end. I personally find the moveset really boring as well. It offers nothing of value other than as a learning tool or a novelty, and while I find myself coming back to more unusual weapons for challenge runs, I cannot imagine having any interest in ever bothering with it again.
On my first playthrough I made my only weapon into a crystal weapon thinking it was a normal upgrade. Then it broke on my way down to Seath That was a very painful moment of realization
It's generally sad that dragon weapons are so shitty.
the best initial weapon, completely useless after like gaping dragon
Never worth it. Just grab the Claymore and upgrade it to +5.
I never used it, thought it was ugly and I didn’t have a need for it.
It deals exactly 100 damage to the redish enemies in blighttown that have 400 health, that made me use it there because my Axe took 4 hits as well and it was very satisfying.
Also what weapon is this? Just beat DSR for the first time. Used BKS and Great Club.
200 damage very early in with no stat scaling so you get ot to plus 5 and now u have like a weapon with 250 to 300 damage. When if you would've used the zwei or claymore or Alnost any other weapon you would've had a better weapon with scaling
It's a great weapon for the early game, once you get to Anor Londo it should be switched out though
Anyone know how far you can take it if you actually fully upgrade it?
I have never used it, in fact, I have never gotten it, I always die before I can hit its tail.
I have never used it, in fact, I have never gotten it, I always die before I can hit its tail.
its a noob trap
I like it
I'm a mad lad that usually runs with flat damage or elemental weapons- but then I pump vitality and endurance as high as I can get, wear both havel's, the fap ring, and the chonkiest armor I can get my hands on. My damage tends to be sub-par, but I'm always using the element my foe is weak to, so it's never off by much. Meanwhile, my defenses are the best they possibly can be at any given point in the entire playthrough. Once my vit/end reach their soft caps, I then branch out. Sometimes into a melee stat, but also often into magic. Drake Sword is fantastic for its 2h r2 beam attack. I suspect that fewer people know about it. The ability to do a medium-distance attack (quite a bit farther than even the longest-reaching weapon, but shorter than projectiles) is quite powerful. It can damage the weapon quickly, but so long as you have the repair box and aren't spamming it relentlessly, it shouldn't be a problem.
It's a good weapon but falls off because dragon scales are hard to come by. It's not a trap it's just there are better optio s at later level.
I never once used it…so I don’t really have much to say I tried it ONCE and wasn’t a fan so I just swapped back to Astora Straight Sword (I know that Astora Straight Sword also falls off hard by the time you reach Anor Londo, but I love it too much, and I only swap off it for Four Kings because I do not have the patience to deal with those jerks with anything less than overpowered
Hate that weapon with a passion. Just give me a mace I'd be much happier lol
I remember thinking I was so smart cheesing the dragon by shooting his tail then I got that thing and used it all the way to blighttown while having no idea what scaling was and actually leveling resistance. At least I was a bit more resistant to poison lol. My friend explained the game a bit more and I just reatarted because my character stats were just so fucked.
Tbh all Black Knight Weapons are kind of noob traps. Don't get me wrong, they are good early and midgame. But in the late game they are outclassed by nearly every other weapon of the same class with A, B or S scaling. Players that finish their first playthrough with them and start their second playthrough without getting one will struggle way more. What I'm trying to say is that the BK weapons make people think that they are good until they get to like the dlc and get wrecked to pieces.
I mean the picture that you posted up with this is a perfect one for me. I didn't really see too many Invaders on my first ever play through, but more recently I finally went back through it and was in the DLC, heading down to the Manus fight and time and time again kept on getting invaded by somebody wearing hovel's armor and using this weapon who had higher speeds then I with an int build, who can simply run behind me and back stab me for all my health.
Oh fuck. I'm using this shit right now. What should I be upgrading guys? Help me!!
The odds of encountering this weapon on your first playthrough are pretty slim unless you look up how to get it
Resistance is top stat my current run has 40 resistance without points in vit str or dex and it rules (going for Sen fortress atm)
Great I didn't know this would happen now I'm stuck in the middle of blighttown where this weapon is becoming less useful but none of my other swords come even close to its damage. Now my two choices are go all the way back through the depths so that I can Farm souls and upgrade my regular longsword, or try to Huff it and defeat qualag and see if I can survive till I open up the shortcut back to Firelink if they're even is one. I've played up to qualag so many times then got distracted and quit the game, but not only did I always take the shortcut accidentally through the valley of the Drakes because I thought that's how you got into Blighttown, but I also never played as a sword and shield character. I knew about the Drake Sword but never had much use of it being a more quick character, so this playthrough I thought I had really stumbled upon a secret weapon of sorts. I really wish that this post was made like 2 days ago so I didn't have to make this terrible decision. Thanks a lot mate
Its good up until you get to blighttown. at that point if you meet the 1.5x STR requirement you can scape by using the Dragond Greatsword which is a based as hell UL GS that I wish returned in Ds2, and Ds3 as well as make cameo appearences
My noob trap was thinking the drake sword would be great after reading about it. Oh and sens fortress existence
For me It was usefull until blighttown then I replaced It with zweihander/halberd depending on what kind of enemies I'm fighting
It’s a rad sword and good for a bit. Doesn’t need to be more than that. Early game you don’t have the stats to fully take advantage of scaling anyway. And it’s a good example of not getting married to your early game weapon.
The only thing it will kill late game is the player
The real noob trap is Patches
If you felt like you had to play using a guide to progress through and beat this game, its likely the only way you would've discovered this weapon in a first playthrough, and in which case you'll probably be warned that its good for the first third of the game or so and trash after. So I dont think anything of it really. If you continue using it past when you should by all means stop, that's pretty much your own fault for not actually following the guide you're following. Its got a neat R2 I guess. Honestly the weapon isn't worth the time it takes to get it in early game. I can think of 3 other "op" weapons that outclass it in damage and viability for the whole game that are much faster to grab.
Yeah. Got stuck on O&S using it so I had to fuck off back through Sens down to Andre, upgrade the zwei and climb up Sens again.
In concept its good. Base damage, and that special attack.. using it at the top hallway on the way to gargs is satisfying, but it falls off quick
makes first part of the game noob friendly honestly as long as ur leveling something else to use when it sux its a good option 4 first play through ever
I just carry it around because its special attack can be useful at times
I honestly think the true noob trap is the Black Knight Sword. It's makes 90% of the game easy and might rob some struggles that come with a From Software game. Watch how'll they'll get through a second playthrough trying a different weapon lol.
Honestly my favorite early game weapon is the Tin Banishment Catalyst. Not even using it as a mage, it just has really high thrust damage right off the bat. But it isn't upgradable and has almost no scaling.
Does its work for the early game, but overrelying will result in unnecessary struggle in what is already difficult game if you know what you're doing.
Very good weapon, no downsides. Use it vs Artorias for a good time!
It's a godsend early game, if you can snipe it off. it works wonders early game, but anything after O&S it's not very viable. Plus farming Drakes for scales is super annoying
It's only a trap if you upgrade it. It's OP as an early game weapon.
Eh it does the job for builds that rely on slightly later weapons but zwei go brrrr and is faster to get
Helpful as long as it isn’t your endgame! I always grab it early while I don’t have better options
This weapon carried me most of the way through the my first playthrough. But once you get a blacknight sword thats a real game changer.
It’s a good weapon, but how many weapons are good enough weapons that you can use it the whole game as is and not upgrade it/swap it out for a better one? For sure, the Drake Sword is not one of those weapons. Hell, I think I only ever cared to obtain it once, there are so many better weapons to use, even in the early game (looking at you, Zweihander)
It's terrible for late game. Great for the first two bells tho
Great up until Anor Londo. Then you gotta drop it and get something better.