Dark Souls Weapon Spotlight: Uchigatana
The Uchigatana is one of my favorite weapons in Dark Souls,. It has a really good hit time to damage ratio. By hit time, I mean, the length of time it takes to hit an enemy. Damage speaks for itself. It causes Bleed which definitely makes up for it's low Damage output midway through the game. It has really good scaling for an early game weapon. Due to it's scaling and bleed, if I were to wall off the Undead Burg Bonfire and Undead Parish Bonfire, the Uchigatana would be the best weapon excluding boss or mini-boss drops. That means that I think it beats the Claymore. Using the Uchigatana is only really a struggle when you fight Havel at Darkroot Basin.It does have some disadvantages. It is not as effective against enemies that flip around a lot. (Artorias, Sanctuary Guardian,etc.) This is because it is unable to cause bleed against bosses that keep moving. I try to fix this problem by buffing it and getting more Dex onto a build. Getting a +15 Uchigatana gives it a A scaling, which is undeniably useful. You can get it from Shiva of the East, or by killing the Undead Male Merchant. This is how I acquired the Uchigatana. The Moveset is pretty good. Speedy slashes make up the weapons R1 attacks ( 1 or 2 handed.) It has a thrust\lunge as it's one handed attack and a overhead horizontal slash as it's two handed strong attack.
Upgrade Path:
Uchigatana +15 does 225 damage with an A scaling.
A Raw Uchigatana+5 does 208 damage and only has a C scaling.
A Crystal Uchigatana+5 does 243 damage has an A scaling, but cannot be repaired.
A Magic Uchigatana+5 does 170 Phys. damage, and 182 magic damage and has a D dex scaling and a C scaling with Int.
An enchanted Uchigatana+5 has an E scaling with Dex and A scaling with Int. with 163 Phys. Damage, and 167 Magic damage.
A Divine Uchigatana+10 does 152 Phys. damage and 185 magic damage with a D dex scaling and a C Faith scaling.
An Occult Uchigatana+5 does161 Phys. and 170 Magic Damage with a D Dex scaling and a B Faith scaling.
A Fire Uchigatana+10 only does 216 Phys., as well as 216 Fire Damage.No scaling.
A Chaos Uchigatana+5 does 195 Physical damage and 225 Fire damage.It has absolutely no scaling. Literally.
A Lightning Uchigatana+5 does an even 225 Physical Damage and 225 Lightning Damage. No scaling, like Fire and Chaos.
Pros.
1.Decent Base Damage
2.Bleed
3,A B and possible A scaling with Dex
4.Can work with Leo Ring(in theory)
5.Acquirable early in game.
6,Buffable
7.Good moveset
8.Looks Cool
9.Respected Weapon among the community
Cons
0.5. It has low durablity, but can be repaired.
(The reason I put 0.5 is that any player that is smart enough to see the pros of using the Uchigatana will likely be responsible enough to repair it frequently.)