Sunlight Blade vs. Darkmoon Blade: Which is the Superior Weapon Buff in Dark Souls?

As a long-time Dark Souls player and fanatic, I get asked this question a lot by those seeking to maximize their damage potential: Which miracle buff reigns supreme – Sunlight Blade or Darkmoon Blade?

Both can skyrocket your attack power when used properly. But the two work differently and have their own pros and cons. In this extensive guide, I‘ll cover everything you need to know to decide which one fits your build best!

An Introduction to Weapon Buffs

Before diving into the big comparison, let‘s briefly go over why weapon buffs are such a big deal in Dark Souls PvP and PvE…

Weapon buffs act as temporary power-ups that coat your equipped weapon in an element like lightning, magic or fire. This adds huge bonus damage of that element to every swing for the duration.

The key benefit is that unlike weapon ascension paths, buffs allow you to retain stat scaling. So by buffing a high damage weapon that also scales well off your stats, you get the best of both worlds – killer base AR plus huge bonus elemental damage!

Magic Adjustment and Damage Calculations

The bonus damage added bythese buffs isn‘t random. It actually scales up based on a "Magic Adjustment" stat, aka MagAdjust, found on talismans and other catalysts.

• Sunlight Blade: Adds *1.8 [talisman Magic Adjustment]** as Lightning Damage
• Darkmoon Blade: Adds *[talisman Magic Adjustment Covenant Rank Multiplier]** as Magic Damage

So at 16 faith using the Canvas Talisman which has 136 MagAdjust, we would get:

• Sunlight Blade: 136 * 1.8 = ~245 bonus Lightning AR
• Darkmoon Blade (Rank 0): 136 * 1.0 = ~136 bonus Magic AR

As you level faith and join covenants, these numbers go up exponentially. But the core takeaway is both scale off your catalyst‘s MagAdjust stat.

Okay, let‘s now dig into differences between the two!

Sunlight Blade: Easy to Acquire, Great For Lightning Weapons

• Buffs your weapon with lightning damage equal to *1.8 catalyst Magic Adjustment**
• Lasts 60 seconds with a 1 slot requirement
• Acquired by reaching 25 Faith and purchasing from Undead Parish blacksmith for 5,000 souls
• Out-damages Darkmoon Blade at low covenant ranks
• Great to combine with innate Lightning weapons

Sunlight Blade Pros:

• Available very early and without covenant grinding
• Gives bonus lightning damage which stacks with lightning weapons
• At low darkmoon ranks, damage beats out Darkmoon Blade

Sunlight Blade Cons:

• Quickly outpaced by higher rank Darkmoon Blade buffs
• Split damage lessened by enemy defenses
• Requires 25 faith instead of just 16 for Darkmoon

In terms of damage potential, Sunlight Blade actually beats out Darkmoon Blade at very low covenant ranks.

But as you climb in rank, that 1.4x magic adjustment from Darkmoon far outpaces Sunlights static 1.8x lightning buff.

Where Sunlight Blade shines is on lightning-based weapons like the Dragon Slayer‘s Axe. It takes their already strong lightning damage and pushes it to insane levels!

So I tend to prefer Darkmoon on normal weapons, while Sunlight Blade dominates on lightning ones.

Darkmoon Blade: Superior Damage But Tough Requirements

• Adds magic damage equal to *catalyst Magic Adjustment covenant rank multiplier**
• Last 60 seconds with a 1 slot requirement
• Acquired by reaching Rank 1 in Blade of Darkmoon covenant
• Out-damages Sunlight Blade at rank 1 and beyond
• Inflicts magic damage that most players are weak to

Darkmoon Blade Pros:

• Highest damage buff in the game at rank 3
• Magic damage exploits low magic defenses
• Only need 16 faith to use the buff

Darkmoon Blade Cons:

• Requires covenant item farming to rank up
• Split damage lessened by enemy magic defenses

The big distinction here is that Darkmoon Blade‘s buff strength scales upward dramatically as you climb covenant ranks:

• Rank 0 – 110%
• Rank 1 – 120%
• Rank 2 – 130%
• Rank 3 – 140%

So while Sunlight Blade offers a flat 1.8x magic adjustment, Darkmoon Blade can eventually reach a staggering 1.4x buff at max rank!

The downside is you need to farm covenant items from specific enemies to actually rank up in the Blade of Darkmoons. I have a whole guide on efficient item farming routes here if interested.

All said, a 40+ faith caster at max Darkmoon rank can reach 700+ AR buffs pretty comfortably. And very few enemies or players stack enough magic defense to survive that!

Optimal Weapon Pairings

While both buffs are effective on any standard weapon, some pairings yield better results:

Best for Sunlight Blade:

• Lightning-based weapons (Dragonslayer‘s Axe)
• Fast swinging standards (Sellsword Twinblades, Lothric Knight Sword)
• Thrusting swords (Rapiers)

Best for Darkmoon Blade:

• Weapons with high base damage and scaling (Hollowslayer GS)
• Buffable boss/unique weapons (Gundyr‘s Halberd)
• Weapons with length/range (Glaives)

The fast swingers compliment Sunlight Blade‘s temporary buff duration, allowing you to land more hits during the 60 seconds.

For Darkmoon Blade‘s superior damage, you want hard-hitting weapons to really make those big AR buffs count.

Some notable favorites include:

• PVE: Pontiff Knight Curved Sword, Lothric Knight Greatsword
• PVP: Murky Hand Scythe, Harald Curved Greatsword

Make sure to utilize the 1 minute duration with hyper aggressive attack sequences!

Optimizing Your Build

To maximize damage, you‘ll want to stack magic adjust gear along with faith for the spell requirements:

• Catalyst – Canvas Talisman, minimum 40 faith
• Rings – Ring of the Sun‘s First Born, Morne‘s Ring
• Armor – Blindfold Mask

Higher faith and magic boost equipment directly feeds into those magic adjustment calculations!

You can also augment with red tearstone rings, pontiff eye rings and weapon arts combos. But I‘ll save those advanced tactics for a future guide!

Using Buffs Effectively In Battle

The hardest part about using weapon buff builds is learning when to reapply your buff safely. Here are some key tips:

• Don‘t rebuff mid-fight – You‘re vulnerable while casting, bait an enemy whiff or safely disengage first
• Time your casts – Apply your buff early then switch to two-handing so you don‘t fumble the weapon swap in a close skirmish
• Use terrain – If getting rushed, put a barrier between you and the enemy, then recast
• Mix up timings – Vary the duration you wait before reapplying so opponents can‘t easily predict when you‘ll be vulnerable

It takes practice, but mastering these buffer windows separates the expert duelists from the casuals!

Verdict: It Depends on Your Build!

So in closing, I don‘t think there is one clear "winner" between Sunlight Blade and Darkmoon Blade. They both have pros and cons that come down to your specific build.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you using lightning weapons or want purely physical damage?
2. What‘s your current faith level?
3. Are you willing to farm covenant items?

Here‘s a quick table to pick based on common builds:

Hopefully that helps summarize when to lean towards one over the other.

These are hands down my two favorite weapon buffs in Dark Souls. So mix it up, experiment across characters and most importantly…

Praise that sun! \`[T] /

Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions on buff stacking your way to victory!