Quote Originally Posted by TrollHunter View Post
I still remember my setup though.... kind of
Balder Swag Sword
Marukama (The 2-handed curved blade)
(No shield? NO OF COURSE NOT!)
Some kind of light armor for the torso...
Some kind of medium armor for the legs/gloves
Some kind of light hood
RoFaP, and something else... I know I stopped using the dark wood ring after a while...
I wonder what your Poise rating was. It's one of the most important stats in PvP to prevent getting stunned and combo'd to death. I have a light Dex build too, also without the Dark Wood Ring. With the Wolf ring, Havel's Gauntlets and Iron Leggings (no chest piece and Crown of Dusk as headgear) I still get 77 poise - enough not to get stunned even by a 2-handed R1 hit from a Zweihander.

I'm dubious about the Balder Side Sword in PvP. If you're up against a 0 poise character you can easily combo due to it's quickness, but the damage output while poking is just too low for my tastes and poking is not really my style either. Combo-ing is asking to get parried against experienced players. For the light Dex build I use the Great Scythe - pretty good damage and a really useful moveset when 2-handing. It's sort of like a hit and run playstyle as the moveset covers a lot of ground. On the other hand, missing can be deadly as it'll leave you open for backstabs.

Spear-users give me the hardest time in PvP. With range and the ability to attack while shielding makes it a really lame fighting style. Being aggressive just doesn't work on them. Maybe I need to equip a bow or poison throwing knives to trick them out of their defenses. Ornstein's Spear also has a ridiculously wide hitbox and should be nerfed imo.

I find a fast Dex build better for dueling, while a Str build works wonders for forest hunting.