I´m on my 3rd playthrough and focusing on a strenght/intelligence build, and despite being slow, I´m growing fond of greatswords.

The first time I played, I focused strictly on vitality/endurance build, with a lightning straight sword as my favorite weapon.

The second time, I played a dexterity build, favoring a fully upgraded +15 katana.

Now, I´m experimenting with the powerful, slow weapons (hammers, greatswords, etc) and with sorceries... so far, I really like the Claymore.

Crystal Halberd FTW.

I've played with a Knight, and mastered the game long enough to be high on almost every single stat except for Resistance.

I don't really have a favourite build, now days I run around at level 1 most of the time, the game is just too easy if I don't hold back :/

Claymore is more of a quality weapon, I prefer to go all in with my strength builds and use Demon's Great Machete / Axe, they have tons of durability so you can turn them into crystal and use Power Within for ridiculously massive damage / stun lock. For a strength/int build you should give Man Serpent Greatsword a try, it has much better strength scaling than Claymore, pickaxe is another great choice for buff spells because of its fast attack speed and Leo Ring bonus.

For dex build I personally prefer Balder Side Sword over katana, the strong poking attack is incredibly powerful (more powerful than katana), it's unstoppable when used with Leo Ring and Power Within.

Yeah, that´s what I plan to do.I started as the Deprived class, and so far his starting weapon, the club, is still the one that has the best strenght scaling (A), but I´m still early in the game.

This will be the first time I get to try an ultra greatsword, though from seeing videos, it just seems waaay too slow and not a good moveset.

I've played 6 different characters. The ones I enjoyed the most were my Paladin capped at level 80, full miracle set, around 43 faith, 28 endurance, Paladin armor set +5, strength 16, I think, enough for the Claymore +15 (buffed with miracles) and some other swords. I would also equip a Divine Battle Axe +10 or Lightning Gargoyle Halberd +5. No dex whatsoever, the guy couldn't use bows. I think it was based off the bandit class.

I also greatly enjoyed a Ninja I made, Shadow armor set +5, Uchigatana +15, capped at lv.120 I think. 40 something dex, brutal with a Faris bow, no magic, no miracles, 16 str for some light shields.

try reinforced club, it has much higher base damage and bleed build up, I think it does more damage than club even at 50 strength, you can also try suicide run into blighttown and pick up the great club.

go giantdad

I actually have the reinforced club, and it is indeed a good 10 points higher in base physical damage, but the strenght scaling is a C, while the club is an A...undecided.

hehe, giantdad ftw.