Dark Souls 3: Forging the Supreme Katana Build in 2024

As a hardcore Souls player with over 1000 hours across the series, I‘ve extensivelly tested every build imaginable. But I‘m always drawn back to katana-focused characters – these elegant blades provide the perfect mixture of speed, range, and bleeding potential.

However, finding the right katana build can make or break your entire playthrough. You need to perfectly optimize your stats, upgrade level, infusions, and supplementary gear to bring out a katana‘s full potential.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll be equipping you with eveything needed to forge the supreme katana build for tackling both PvE and PvP encounters in 2023‘s meta. Let‘s get started!

Comparing All Katana Movesets and Damage

There are 8 katanas available in Dark Souls 3, each with varied movesets and damage types. To help identify strengths and weaknesses, I‘ve compiled this detailed comparison table:

Key Takeaways:

• The Chaos Blade has the highest damage but constantly damages the wielder
• Frayed Blade‘s dark magic wave can punish groups of enemies
• Black Blade hits heavily against shields and can be buffed further
• Onikiri and Ubadachi attack rapidly but are very short range

So while Chaos Blade may seem tempting, the self-damage and shorter range make it situational rather than an ideal main weapon. And that‘s where the Uchigatana shines – it strikes an ideal balance of damage, speed, and versatility.

Now let‘s optimize a build around the Uchigatana‘s capabilities for destroying PvE and PvP encounters!

Optimizing Stats for the Supreme Katana Build

Katanas inherently scale well with Dexterity, so we‘ll make that our primary damage stat. The Uchigatana receives S-tier scaling when upgraded to +10 and infused with Sharp. This makes a Dexterity cap of 80 ideal.

Endurance is also vital to equip lighter armor for maintaining fast roll, while having enough stamina for rapid strikes and combos. Everything else is kept modestly high for equipping the katana and supporting gear:

Note how Strength and Luck are kept relatively low since they do not benefit our main katana focus. And 15 Attunement allows use of basic sorceries/miracles without over-investing levels.

Here is the final spread:

• Vigor: 35
• Attunement: 15
• Endurance: 40
• Vitality: 14
• Strength: 16
• Dexterity: 80
• Intelligence: 10
• Faith: 10
• Luck: 7

Let‘s look closer at why this precise distribution enables peak katana performance…

Vigor & Endurance: We stop at 35 Vigor and 40 Endurance to achieve 1700+ HP and 160+ stamina once bonus effects from rings and armor are factored in. This enables both survival and relentless assaults.

Dexterity: Hitting the 80 soft cap after bonuses from Hunter Ring maximizes the S-tier scaling of Sharp Uchigatana to around 600 attack power. This amplifies the devastating bleed build-up as well.

Attunement: At 15 we unlock usage of basic sorceries like Spook or pestilent mist to handle tricky situations. This also raises focus points for weapon arts.

All Other Stats: Modest investment in Strength, Intelligence, and Faith meets usage requirements for gear and supplementary spells while minimizing wasted levels. The Prisoner‘s Chain grants essential virtual levels (+5 to Vigor, Endurance, Vitality).

So in summary, we elevate Dexterity dramatically to empower the Uchigatana’s damage and bleed output through scaling. Endurance enables infinite attacking stamina and faster evasion. And supporting stats are carefully balanced around weapon requirements.

But proper katana use requires more than just big numbers – you need to complement the build with armor, rings, ranged options, and buffs. Let‘s explore those next!

Optimizing Armor for Agility

While it may be tempting to wear extremely heavy sets for protection, that would severely reduce Dexterity damage and bleed build up. We instead want light but defensively strong armor that maintains fast roll.

The balanced Assassin Set fits perfectly:

Its relatively high physical absorption combined with low weight at just 15 units allows extremely quick movement and dodging. With Sage Ring and 40 Endurance reducing cast times, we can also safely deploy support sorceries mid-combat.

Now let‘s amplify our katana‘s deadly potential even further with specialized rings…

Rings to Boost Katana Bleeding and Buff Potency

My top rings for enhancing a dexterity-based katana build are:

Pontiff‘s Right Eye – Boosts successive attack damage, rewards combos
Knight‘s Ring – Adds 5 Dexterity to hit 80 cap
Carthus Milkring – Adds Dexterity and extends iframes
Hunter‘s Ring – Massive Dexterity scaling boost

Pontiff‘s Eye directly empowers the quick Uchigatana moveset by increasing damage on rapid strikes. And the Astora Greatsword or Washing Pole are excellent complementary main/off-hand weapons for extending damage combos.

The final touch comes from Carthus Milkring – extending i-frame invulnerability windows allows you to roll THROUGH enemy attack chains while inflicting amplified bleed counters.

So in summary, these rings enable maximizing Dexterity scaling, turn the Uchigatana into a combo weapon, and make you harder to hit.

Let‘s discuss Fashion next – because what good is ultimate power without dangerous style to match?

Bleed-Inducing Fashion Souls

While lighter armors synergize best with the katana build, you aren’t forced to look like a boring ninja! There are plenty of stylish cosplay options that keep weight low while embracing your inner badass.

Some of my favorites include:

Undead Legion – Fight with the ferocity of fallen abyss watchers!
Fire Keeper Set – Become an executioner spreading bleed!
Desert Pyromancer – Contrast graceful katana with edgy cloth wraps

Mix and match lighter pieces of these sets for intimidating looks – I prefer Desert Pyromancer Garb with Undead Legion helm personally.

The last crucial element of a complete build is long range support and buff options…

Support Skills for Ranged Combat & Buffing

While most fights will rely purely on katana skills, having backup options helps secure victories:

Short Bow – The best dexterity bow for pulling or sniping enemies
Kukri – High bleed throwing knives for pressure
Carthus Rouge – Temporary bleed buff on katana
Lightning Blade – Effective against heavy armor foes

I keep these 4 readily equipped for versatility – Short Bow allows pulling wary players into 1v1 combat while kukris pressure turtles. Lightning Blade wrecks heavy absorbers and Carthus Rouge can enable nearly instant bleed procs during trades.

Finally, let‘s see this supreme creation in action!

Showcasing Deadly Dex Bleed Katana Gameplay

I took my fully optimized katana build described above through extensive testing against lethal PvE bosses and top-tier fight club duelists. Check out these highlight reels demonstrating the build‘s capabilities:

https://youtube.com/embed/zl12MCxokKM
Flawless victories over Sister Friede and Slave Knight Gael showcase strong PvE and boss slaying performance.

https://youtube.com/embed/rkiizUgdz4Y
Bleed allows trading blows with ultra greatswords while severly out-damaging them

https://youtube.com/embed/6lQ7H-cfRA8
Insane pressure with Carthus Rouge bleed buff punishes turtling playstyle

As you can see from the footage, optimized stats, armor, rings, ranged support, and buffs enable the Uchigatana to dominate fights through endless aggression paired with enhanced evasiveness.

Let‘s wrap up with final thoughts on this versatile samurai slayer build…

Conclusion

The katana remains one of the most lethal and popular weapon categories across the Souls series. And this guide has shown you exactly how to forge the supreme bleeding dexterity build in Dark Souls 3.

Balancing offense and defense through vigilantly distributing stats enables carrying your enemies in both PvE and PvP with Uchigatana‘s S-tier dexterity scaling.

Complementing the core katana and assassin setup with ranged options gives you an answer to any situation. Devastating buffs like Carthus Rouge demonstrate how this build can adapt to any opponent.

Let me know which lethal katana combination you end up using most! I‘m partial to dual wielding Onikiri and Ubadachi for even faster bleed procs.

And stay tuned for my next deep dive into crafting the ultimate strength-focused ultra greatsword build soon!