First and foremost, I am not trying to tell people which builds they should use. Instead, this guide aims towards making it easier for less experienced players to identify armor setups and to adjust their gameplan accordingly, (eg. To not swing a claymore right to the face of a 61 poise build in order to not get poise backstabbed) aswell as giving them a reliable source of information from which they can homebrew their own builds.

- This list does not contain all the optimized setups as there are way too many of them for this guide to remain concise.

- If you want to learn about common Poise Breakpoints and why these setups aim towards specific poise amounts, here is the link for you: http://darksouls.wikidot.com/poise

- When building a character around one of these setups, it would be recommended to remain above 50 vitality.

- I did not come up with these setups, they have been tested through and through by high end players and have proven their worth.

- You can find a build example aswell as how it would look in-game bellow each build's stats (for those who do not have access to all the armor pieces to check for themselves).

- If you want to discuss or criticize any of the builds or ask questions about them, feel free to add me on steam.

These setups will mainly use Dark Wood Grain Ring but have the flexibility of switching to either Hornet Ring or Wolf Ring depending on the situation.

- Mask of the Mother
- Black Sorcerer Cloak (Can be switched to the heavier Sorcerer Cloak for more Physical Def)
- Havel's Gauntlets
- Hollow Soldier Waistcloth
35 Poise, 16.0 Units, 144 Physical Def
Outstanding Magic Defense for its weight.
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fju - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/7q67T

- Knight Armor
- Knight Gauntlets (can be switched to Balder Gauntlets for better Slash Def, same weight)
33 Poise, 17.1 Units, 189.4 Physical Def
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fjv - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/Zc6t8

- Armor of the Sun
- Gauntlets of Thorns
32 Poise, 17.9 Units, 183.5 Physical Def
Gauntlets of Thorns can be used to cancel backstab attempts by rolling into your opponent as he initiates the backstab. This is fairly unreliable and the players that will benefit from this the most are the ones that have high latency towards most other players (eg: Oceania).
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fjw - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/nj3qM

These setups will mainly use Dark Wood Grain Ring but have the flexibility of switching to either Hornet Ring or Wolf Ring depending on the situation.

- Chain Armor
- Giant Gauntlets
37 Poise, 18.4 Units, 194.7 Physical Def
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fjy - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/gNgFL

- Knight Armor
- Gauntlets of Thorns
36 Poise, 19.8 Units, 188.3 Physical Def
Gauntlets of Thorns can be used to cancel backstab attempts by rolling into your opponent as he initiates the backstab. This is fairly unreliable and the players that will benefit from this the most are the ones that have high latency towards most other players (eg: Oceania).
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fjx - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/gczay

Fairly light setups that can poise through one Great Combustion.

- Giant Armor
- Travelling Gloves
42 Poise, 19.8 Units, 182.2 Physical Def
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fl6 - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/MVrvu

- Armor of the Sun
- Black Iron Gauntlets
41 Poise, 20.9 Units, 205.2 Physical Def
Very respectable Physical and Fire Defense for its weight.
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fl5 - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/COoVm

Mostly expensive setups that allow to poise through most decent weapons in order to either trade or backstab.

- Giant Armor
- Giant Gauntlets
- Havel's Ring or elemental weapons for fast roll, Hornet Ring for mid roll.
63 Poise, 28.8 Units, 233.7 Physical Def
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fk0 - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/6mGp5

- Giant Armor
- Knight Gauntlets (can be switched to Balder Gauntlets for better Slash Def, same weight)
- Giant Leggings
62 Poise, 30.8 Units, 244.6 Physical Def
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fk1 - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/otKTY

- Giant Armor
- Steel Gauntlets
- Cleric Leggings
61 Poise, 33.3 Units, 257.2 Physical Def
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fka - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/3pGM5

- Chain Armor
- Knight Gauntlets (can be switched to Balder Gauntlets for better Slash Def, same weight)
- Wolf Ring (can be switched to Dark Wood Grain Ring or Hornet Ring in specific situations)
62 Poise, 12.2 Units, 172.5 Physical Def
Extremely light setup that lacks ring flexibility for certain matchups.
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fk2 - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/sWOwt

- Havel's Armor
- Iron Bracelet (can be switched to Eastern Gauntlets for a lighter 56 Poise setup)
61 Poise, 26.5 Units, 191.6 Physical Def
Hard to make it work at SL125.
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fk3 - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/w1yEe

Heavier but tankier alternative to the 61 Poise setups, almost exclusively used with Hornet Ring and mid roll.

- Giant Armor
- Giant Gauntlets
- Giant Leggings
77 Poise, 37.0 Units, 265.8 Physical Def
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fk4 - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/bsutq

Poise monsters, designed to out-trade any fast weapon user. Exclusively used with mid roll.

- Giant Armor
- Havel's Gauntlets
- Havel's Leggings
91 Poise, 40.6 Units, 246.6 Physical Def
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fu2 - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/0IUwT

- Giant Helm (start the match with Mask of the Mother, and switch to Giant Helm after taking enough damage)
- Giant Armor
- Giant Gauntlets
- Giant Leggings
- Ring of Steel Protection (can be switched to Flame Stoneplate Ring)
91 Poise, 42.1 Units, 351.8 Physical Def
Outstanding Physical Defense. Recommended if your build can afford extra Endurance for a helm swap.
Build example: http://mmdks.com/8fu4 - How the build looks: http://imgur.com/a/f2Fei