Welcome to the focused Regenerator build !
First and foremost i must say i tested this build on new game+6 with 3 of those being in enhanced difficulty. this build can be played with or without any dlc, that includes any pre-order dlc or any dlc that came after the game.
second, the goal of this build is to be able to fight the many enemies you'll find along your way to the bosses of whatever area you're in. it is not a boss killer, but more so a build that allows you to get to the boss you want to fight, without going the stealthy way and still survive the multiple enemies hitting you and staggering you all the way to the boss of a level.
so, to the meat and potato now.
First, you will need the demeter Blood code.
here are your main passives gifts :
2h Greatsword Mastery (we'll be using 2h greatsword so this is a must)
Balance/Light Impulse (Balance if you want to play more defensive, light impulse if you want to have a big more damage)
Life steal (for sustain between Fights)
Resilient Focus (to trigger focus state faster and more rapidly)/Savvy Evasion (use this if you feel confident in your capability to dodge attacks)
Here are the main active gift :
triple anihilator - the gift you'll use to finish off tougher enemies and to clear groups of enemies clumped together.
bridge to glory - indispensable gift to boost our damage, have this on at all times.
gift extension - useful for prolonging the duration of our buffes. if you don't have the dlc for this buff, you can replace this by either tormenting blast or dragon lunge to compensate.
precision/crushing might - this is depending on the enemy type you'll be facing. notably, if you know there any enemies with shield then use crushing them, if not, use precision. alternatively you can use one of the element weapon buff (blood/frost/flames/lightning weapon) instead of precision.
blood sacrifice - needed to buff ourselves up.
hunting feast - needed to be able to cast our damaging active gift more often.
adrenaline - a bit of an optionnal attack boost. You can replace this with one of the weapon buff if you want a bit more damage toward a particular enemy that is weak to that particular element.
cleansing light - needed to survive and sustain ourselves through fighting/casting blood sacrifice when needed.
As for the gear you'll want these :
Dammerung - This one is a must have for this build as it allows you to cast the most important iron will buff on yourself and to free up an active gift slot. it also the only way demeter has of casting this buff. this buff is to keep up at all time, just like bridge to glory.
zheihander + 10 with fortification - This one is needed to make our build works, Basically you'll want to use this to block until you get the focus state. I'll explain why in the next section of this guide.
Silver Garb + 10 with fortification (use this for being able to tank enemies)/Noble Silver +10 with fortification (use this if you use savyy evasion and are confident in your ability to dodge all incoming attacks from groups of enemies)
Gameplay -
so, now to explain how this build works playstyle wise. there is 2 playstyle. 1 that's just facetanking everything and one that relies on savyy dodge and on the zheihander with fortification to trigger focus state. The one that's used for facing tanking deals less damage but will allow you to survive longer and the one that use savyy dodge will deal more damage but you'll be a lot more squishier.
so, 1st playstyle :
facetanking :
this playstyle rely on the iron will buff from dammerung charge attack and on the resilient focus passive to reduce stagger damage so you don't get staggered by attack as much and so you don't get killed by a single enemy combo that would stagger lock you without allowing you to attack. basically with this playstyle you'll want to cast bridge to glory, use dammerung charge attack to get the iron will buff and then go to town and hit stuff without worrying about gettin killed or stagger lock. the goal of this is to take SOME damage to trigger focus state and then to power through enemies stagger to damage them and dispatch them as quickly as possible.
the more damage-y route :
in this playstyle you'll want to use light impulse in your passive gift as well as savyy dodge. so the idea here is to cast dammerung and bridge to glory to both lower any incoming damage coming our way (in case we get hit) and to boost our damage by quite a bit. so using this playstyle what you'll want to do is to perfect dodge enemies attacks to trigger savvy dodge, which will trigger impulse light, which in turn will boost the damage of your bridge to glory. (and yes i've tested it, it works even after you cast bridge to glory, you still get a damage increase from triggering this.) once you get your focus state then you go to town murdering enemies coming your way and dodging attacks like a monkey on steroid. best to equip noble silver for this playstyle if you want even more damage.
last but not least, there is a third playstyle that i've thought of not including but, meh i'll include it here :
the hybrid : so you can also mix and match the playstyle of both the facetanking route and the damage-y route by switching savvy evasion to resilient focus and use the zweihander to block any blockable attack coming your so that it trigger focus state without you taking any damage. This method is a bit slower than the 2 above, but it allows you to wear noble silver and to use light impulse to get the same damage as the damage-y playstyle but still allows you to somewhat facetank most attack. Disclaimer not all attack are blockable. most heavy slam and aoe attack are not blockable by the zheihander. so you if you see an heavy slam attack or any unblockable attacks coming your way, don't try to block it, just dodge it instead.
so that's about it for the guide.
i hope you enjoyed it.
