My SL150 Hexing character is just reaching NG++, and it is an insanely fun way to play the game, so I decided to share my knowledge concerning building an awesome, dark-honing, melee hexer.
Hexes in Dark Souls 2 are basically the same as Dark Magic in the original Dark Souls; however, instead of scaling on Intellect, hexes scale on the lowest stat between Intellect and Faith. This hefty point investment is not without reward as your Dark modifier will rise quickly, and hexes are extremely powerful spells. The first step to becoming a hexer is deciding where you are going to spend your points.
If you want your main damage source to be a melee weapon and use hexes mostly to facilitate your melee close combat capabilities then this is the guide for you. As a melee hexer you shall not invest all your points into strength and dexterity like normal melee builds. Instead you want to only hit the requirements of the weapons you are planning to use. After that you should be looking to increase both your intellect and faith to a minimum of 30 because that is where the Dark modifier stops scaling well. If you want access to any spells that require higher stats, consider using spices. The rest of your points should be dumped into Vigor, Vitality, and Endurance which will give you more longevity on the battlefield.
First off, the Dark Weapon, or Resonant Weapon hexes give us a static damage increase but also a 30% or 50% damage on dark damage dealt by your weapon. This is why we want to infuse our weapon with Dark instead of Raw, or any other element for that matter.
Secondly, weapons that originally come with a dark scaling will do a lot better when infused with Dark, despite of what the letter ranking says. Taken from my guide on weapon scalings; “The Dark Silverblack Sickle receives +136 additional Dark damage from its B scaling on Dark; however, the Dark Great Scythe receives only +48 additional damage from its B scaling on Dark. They have the same letter scaling rank, yet the damage differs immensely. This is due to the fact that Dark scaling was already present on the Silverblack Sickle before infusing it with Dark, but not on the original Great Scythe. Noteworthy is that the Dark Roaring Halberd that also originally had dark scaling receives +104 additional dark damage with just a C scaling on dark.”
Dark Silverback Sickle.
You can farm these off the Crypt Guards in the Undead Crypts
Notes
Dark Crypt Blacksword.
You can trade a Old One’s Soul with Ornifex the blacksmith. Old One’s Soul drops of the Rotten in NG+
Notes
Sacred Chime Hammer.
You can trade the Soul of Veldstadt with Ornifex
Notes
Silverblack Spear
Drops of the Crypt Guards in the Undead Crypts
Notes
Roaring Halberd
You can trade the Soul of The Skeleton Lords with Straid
Scythe of Nahr Alma
You can buy this from the Merchant hag after you killed the Blood covenant leader
Black Witch Staff
Drops of Leydia witches in the Undead Crypts
The Chaos Blade
The Chaos Blade is often seen in hexing melee builds because of its B scaling in Dark when upgraded; however, because it did not originally come with a Dark scaling, infusing it will absolute demolish the additional damage given from scaling.
The math
A dark infused Chaos Blade has 185/185 in base damage.
The B-scaling in Dark and Dex grants us an additional 47 dark and physical damage.
Resulting in a 232/232 weapon.
You will buff your weapon with Resonant weapon to increase the dark damage on the weapon by a flat 50 and a 50% increase.
Thus, (232+50)x1.5 = 423
In the end we end up with a Chaos Blade that does 232/423 damage. Total AR is: 655
Now let’s compare that with a Dark Blacksilver Sickle
A dark infused Blacksilver Sickle has 90/189 in base damage.
The B-scaling in Dark grants us an additional 136 dark damage.
The C/D scaling in Strength and Dexterity grants us an additional 19 physical damage
Resulting in a 109/325 weapon.
You will buff your weapon with Resonant weapon to increase the dark damage on the weapon by a flat 50 and a 50% increase.
Thus, (325+50)x1.5 = 562
In the end we end up with a Dark Blacksilver Sickle that deals 109/562 damage. Total AR is: 671
The damage difference is negligible, but the real advantage for the Blacksilver Sickle lies in the fact that it deals mostly 1 type of damage, coincidentally most enemies in this game (including players) do not have much dark defense, so this ends up being really good. Another downside to the Chaos Blade is the 25 point investment into Dexterity to wield it, while the Sickle only needs a modest 10 Dexterity and 15 Str to wield. The Chaos Blade is also heavier by 2 units, and lastly, the Blacksilver Sickle can hit through shields which makes a lot PvE encounters easier (Syan Knights), but is also really useful in PvP.
Does this mean you should not get the Chaos Blade? No, it does not. The Chaos Blade has an amazing move set, superior range, and substantially larger critical damage bonus. You can easily make this weapon work in a hexer build; you just have to make a slightly larger investment in Dexterity.
The Moonlight Greatsword
This weapon is simply overpowered, and will fit any build that involves intellect.
The Math
A +5 Moonlight Greatsword with 30 intellect deals 380+107 magic damage for a total of 487 magic damage.
To gain its full potential you will need the Crystal Magic Weapon, which adds 50 flat magic damage and increases total damage by 30%.
Thus, (487+50)*1.3 = 698 total magic damage AR when buffed with Crystal Magic Weapon
Alternatively, infusing the Moonlight Greatsword with Dark and 30 intellect/faith will split its damage 190+75/190+54
Resonant weapon will increase the dark damage dealt by 50 and total dark damage by 50%.
Thus, (190+54+50)*1.5 = 441 dark damage
In the end we end up with a Moonlight Greatsword that deals 265/441 damage, so a total resonant weapon buffed AR of 706
As you can see the attack rating difference between infusing dark or keeping normal is only 8 points, now you need to consider that the dark damage is split, which means that the not infused version actually does more damage against an enemy with resistances. There is no saying this weapon is a bad pick, but if you are planning a melee play style and going with an Intellect scaling weapon, why even invest the points in faith? Put 50 points in intellect and infuse the weapon with magic for an AR of 539 add crystal magic weapon to that and see this number raise to 765. So yeah the weapon is amazing, but should we really go full on hex/dark mode only to not use the Dark part of it?
Similar to the weapons, the spells you use as a melee hexer are completely up to your own preference; however, I’ve taken the liberty of listing the most useful spells for a dedicated melee build.
Dark Hail
Can be bought off Magerold of Lanafir at the beginning of the Huntsman Copse.
Dark Fog
Can be bought off Magerold of Lanafir at the beginning of the Huntsman Copse.
Dark Weapon
Can be bought off Magerold of Lanafir at the beginning of the Huntsman Copse
Whisper of Despair
Can be found in the Grave of Saints over the draw bridge near the first bonfire
Repel
Can be bought of Straid in The Old Bastille
Twisted Barricade
Can be found in the Doors of Pharros
Numbness
Resonant Flesh
Resonant Weapon
Lifedrain Patch
Given when you reach rank 3 in the Dark Pilgrim Covenant
Great Magic Barrier
You can purchase this miracle fom Chancellor Wellager greeting you in the Drangleic Castle
Replenishment
You can purchase this miracle from Licia of Lindelt in the Heide’s Tower of Flame or Majula
Resplendent Life
You can purchase this miracle from Licia of Lindelt in the Heide’s Tower of Flame or Majula
Bountiful Sunlight
You can purchase this miracle from Chancellor Wellager in ng++, or you can attain rank 3 in the Blue Sentinel covenant
Caressing Prayer
You can purchase this miracle from Licia of Lindelt in the Heide’s Tower of Flame or Majula
Wrath of The Gods
You can purchase this miracle from Chancellor Wellager in ng++, or you can attain rank 2 in the Blue Sentinel covenant
Sacred Oath
You can trade the soul of Velstadt with Straid of Olaphis to gain this miracle
Strong Magic Shield
Can be bought of Navlaan in Aldia Keep, or found in Drangleic Castle
Hush
You can get this spell by reaching rank 2 in the Way of The Blue covenant, or you can find it in the Old Bastille behind an illusion wall in the Ruin Sentinels boss room
Chameleon
You can find this spell in the poison mist in Harvest Valley
Soul Greatsword
Can be found in Drangleic Castle
Flash Sweat
Can be bought from Rosabeth in Majula
Immolation
Found in Belfry Sol
These are the bulk of the spells that you will be using in your adventure as a melee hexer; however, sometimes it might be beneficial to make use of your ranged capabilities. In those cases it can be nice to carry some Great Resonant Soul, Resonant Soul, or Dark Orb hexes with you. These hexes can all be purchased at Magerold of Lanafir at the entrance to Huntsman Copse. He is the guy sitting on a chair staring at the wall while mumbling something about the dark.
It is easiest to level as a melee character at the start because sorcery is quite weak early on. Find and upgrade a melee weapon like the Falchion to +3, then level Dexterity and Strength to 16. After that, level Intellect to 10 and Faith to 12. Travel to the Huntsman Copse and visit Magerold Lanafir to buy the Dark Orb hex and a staff. Make sure to level Intellect to 16 and Faith to 14 as soon as possible for the Dark Weapon hex which is also sold by Magerold. Dark Souls 2 does not have a strict linear path you should follow, so after getting the Dark Weapon hex and the Dark Orbs hex, you can do whatever you want; however, I would suggest unpetrifying Straid in The Old Bastille asap because he can sell you another copy of Dark Orbs.
There are so many fun builds that involve hexes that I am not even going to try to list them all here, but I will leave you with some examples to spark your own creativity. Both builds are with the same stats.
30 Vigor
30 Endurance
16 Vitality
20 Attunement
16 Strength
16 Dexterity
15 Adaptability
30 Intellect
30 Faith
Rings: Third Dragon Ring, Ring of Giants +2, Royal Soldier’s Ring +2, Old Sun Ring (personal preference).
Hexes: Numbness or Great Magic Barrier, Dark Weapon, Resonant Flesh
Armor: Full Looking Glass armor with the Drakekeeper armor chest piece
Right Hand: Dark Silverblack Sickle
Left Hand: Black Witch’s Staff
This build will be just below 70% equipment, thus allowing you to fast roll. If you do not think this is needed, you can take out the Royal Soldier’s Ring and put on the Looking Glass chest piece. The tactic is to try trading aggressively with your opponent as you will always come out ahead due to having 1k armor, 134 poise, 30% damage reduction from Numbness, The damage from the Old Sun Ring, and 20% more health from Resonant Flesh. Also it might be important to note that the Dark Silverblack Sickle is a great stunlocking weapon that can ignore shields against people who are trying to turtle your buffs out.
Rings: Third Dragon, Southern Ritual Band, Ring of Blades, Cloranthy Ring+2 (personal preference)
Spells: Resonant Weapon, Whisper of Despair, Sacred Oath
Armor: Fashion Souls
Right Hand: Dark Roaring Halberd
Left Hand: Black Witch’s Staff, (shield if wanted)
You start the fight by casting the two buffs on yourself and then try to get a Whisper of Despair of on your opponent to decrease their physical defense. Ring of Blades + Sacred Oath give a solid damage buff to your Roaring Halberd, and with Resonant Weapon on top of that your running attacks should be hitting for crazy numbers. This strategy also works well with the Chaos Blade as it has a higher physical base damage, than the original dark weapons.
If you think I forgot to mention something important, or any other criticism, questions, or suggestions feel free to leave a comment and I will get back to you.