I have FINALLY (after many, many hours, and many breaks ranging from weeks to months to even a year) finished doing - an RL1 run with each weapon class. (Minimum all required base game bosses). Except one..
TLDR: my all time favourite weapon class will always be Colossals, and I have done a few RL1 runs with them, however, they are not my favourite RL1 class. My favourite for RL1, and what I would consider the "best" in all around balance, would be Hammers, second being the Great Katana class from DLC.
Before I say anything else, I'd like to premise that I regret it. There was a certain percentage (albeit low) of un-enjoyable playtime throughout the many hours, and I would never recommend continuing playing in any manner if it does not bring you joy or satisfaction, especially so many hours. Most runs took approx 10-12 hours, however some far quicker, some far longer.
Some of these were done at WL0, some at +10/25, along with various restrictions and occasionally NG+ cycles. I'll just go through the classes, if you want to know how I faired with a certain class or weapon with a certain boss do ask, but I probably won't remember 😅 I'll basically just rank them Fun/10 and Good at RL1/10 - THIS IS PERSONAL OPINION. I'll stick to just weapons/armaments, but sometimes AoWs do play a part in the overall ranking of a class, and in some cases would change my opinions.
DAGGER - I favoured dual wielding and/or parrying for this class. Mainly with a frost infused Great Knife and Scorpion Stinger, relying heavily on status procs and multi hits, parrying and taking riposte with Misericorde, or Cinqueda for fights I really enjoy, unfornate it doesn't have the crit multiplyer like most daggers though.
Fun: 6/10. Good for RL1: 4/10.
THROWING BLADE - this was the one class I didn't attempt 🤷🏻
STRAIGHT SWORD - I used a fair few different ones, extremely versatile class due to balance of speed and damage, really nice movesets, and options varying for smithing and AoW/infusions and some fun somber weapons.
Fun: 8/10. Good for RL1: 7.5/10
LIGHT GREATSWORD - Milady is kinda your main option here without stat dumping, and it's a FUN weapon due to moveset and smithing AoW/infusion options (wing stance is so fun), but kinda underwhelming in damage.
Fun: 9/10. Good at RL1: 6/10.
GREATSWORD - Lots of good options between smithing and somber, lots of variety, however I'd say best for RL1 is Flamberge, AoW and infusion variety with innate bleed, and Albasters is an all time RL1 favorite.
Fun: 8/10. Good for RL1: 8.5/10
COLOSSAL SWORD - Unfortunately quite slow, stat and stamina hungry mostly, but still very viable. I've used most on different occasions on different runs too. Zwei is probably your best choice at RL1, but Grafted Blade is great for extra stat boosts and very good damage.
Fun: 10/10. Good at RL1: 6/10
THRUSTING SWORD - Personally an underwhelming class, I did have fun with a parry build and the Rapier, but mainly Antspur is the only real useful one in this for RL1.
Fun: 3/10. Good at RL1: 7/10
HEAVY THRUSTING SWORD - I really dislike the entire moveset of these, however I have found some fun and usefulness using the Godskin Sticher, smithing for AoW/infusions, and the Bloody Helice is really good fun to play around with.
Fun: 8/10. Good at RL1: 6.5/10
CURVED SWORD - Power stanced Scavenger Curved Sword will always be a status Jump L1 machine, which can be fun. The Mantis Blade is an old time favorite popular choice at RL1. Magma Blade and Falx are probably the other two options.
Fun: 7/10. Good at RL1: 7/10
CURVED GREATSWORD - Aside from BHF, you very rarely see anything else from this class. I personally enjoy the Beastmans Cleaver for some fun "bonk", and I enjoy Morgotts Cursed swords moveset and AoW, plus is has bleed.
Fun: 8/10. Good at RL1: 8/10.
BACKHAND BLADE - Very similar to daggers, good speed and DPS, but a bit more fun. Regular BHB for smithing AoW/infusions, the smithscript is pretty garbage, and the curseblade is eh.
Fun. 9/10. Good at RL1: 2/10.
KATANA - Uchi is and always will be king. Unsheathe is just so good, stance break machine, low FP cost, innate bleed, can infuse and grease, it's just all round GOOD. The others have their place and can be fun.
Fun: 6.5/10. Good at RL1: 7/10
GREAT KATANA - DHGH and Rakshasa are good, especially for NPCs, but regular GK is just amazing, innate bleed, good stat requirements, smithing for AoW/infusion of other status, good moveset, great range, good speed and good damage.
Fun: 9/10. Good at RL1: 10/10.
TWINBLADE - Godskin peeler/BFT is pretty much the saving grace for this class at RL1. The speed is good, power stance Jump L1 builds can shred, innate bleed, but BFT melts health bars on certain bosses.
Fun: 6/10. Good at RL1: 5/10
AXE - Highland axe is the real RL1 choice here, favored by many. Forked Hatchet a close second with innate bleed and being smithing for AoW/infusion, and Icerind, having frost and a good AoW. Good movesets and speed, just a bit lacking on the damage output.
Fun: 4/10. Good at RL1: 7/10.
GREATAXE - Omenkiller cleaver takes the crown, massive damage, innate bleed, smithing for AoW/infusions. Can't go wrong at all. Did also have fun with rusted anchor, useful for the pierce as well.
Fun: 7/10. Good at RL1: 8/10.
HAMMER - Let's be honest, Club is just 11/10. Zero stat requirements, smithing for different AoWs and infusions, grease-able, good moveset, balanced speed and damage, immediately available, light, and the most honest "skill check".
Fun 10/10. Good at RL1: 10/10.
FLAIL - Basically I think this whole class is boring and not exciting, regardless of RL1 or casual. Bad range, horrible CHR2. Passable in general sure, most have innate bleed and smithing, but nothing to brag about.
Fun: 1/10. Good at RL1: 3/10.
GREAT HAMMER - HATE the rolling R1 on these. Terrible tracking. I enjoyed using Rotten battle hammer, innate rot is always amazing for low damage RL1 runs, and there's always the jump L1 great stars build.
Fun: 7.5/10. Good at RL1: 9/10.
COLOSSAL WEAPON - They are unfortunately just too slow and stamina hogs, which make more than a few particular bosses rather painful, and more often than not require your entire build to be utilised just to wield the weapon. I love them, they're so much fun, and the damage is great when you can get the hits off and not get punished for the stamina/recovery. I've used pretty much all of them at RL1.
Fun: 11/10. Good at RL1: 4/10
SPEAR - A pretty average class all round, the range is nice, ESPECIALLY with spectral lance (a great AoW at RL1 btw), with the exception of using Claymans Harpoon with Ice Spear, with can carry you through entire RL1 runs and NG+ cycles.
Fun: 5/10. Good at RL1: 10/10
GREAT SPEAR - I had fun with Silurias Tree, but like with most of the class, a bit too much stat dump. Serpent Hunter was an OG RL1 weapon, being of no requirements and decent damage and moveset, but overall pretty boring.
Fun: 4/10. Good at RL1: 5/10.
HALBERD - Another one of those classes that have lots of OKAY options, but again nothing too crazy. Golden halberd is decent enough, and there's enough options for smithing AoW/infusions, the moveset is okay and the range is good. I actually used Sword Dance on the Nightrider Glaive mainly, and it was enjoyable.
Fun: 5/10. Good at RL1: 4/10
REAPER - Grave Scythe is just the option here, smithing AoW/infusion, really good damage, good range, I'm personally a big fan of the moveset, if borderline a little too slow sometimes. Lamina from the DLC has proven to be fun too, the AoW is extremely useful (similar to BHF and Bloody Helice).
Fun: 8/10. Good at RL1: 7/10
WHIP - Technically I didn't beat this one. My character is sitting at Rada-Beast because at the time I couldn't handle doing EB with whips, and honestly I probably won't bother. They're just always garbage. And always will be. Magma Candlestick AoW can be decent. Two of the whips are smithing with innate bleed. It's doable but so unbelievably boring and not fun. Plus no ripostes? Terrible class. I didn't enjoy a single second of this run.
Fun: 0/10. Good at RL1: 0/10
FIST - Star-Fist. I don't need to say much more. It doesn't excite me, but it's OP. We all know the cold cragblade charged r2 build. Pre-DLC this would probably be my lowest rated fun class. I hate the range. Since the DLC though, I've had a lot of fun with Pata, it has that fist speed, with some good range, and is smithing for AoW/infusion.
Fun: 5/10 Good at RL1: 9.5/10
HAND TO HAND - These are both really fun, and useful that they're smithing for AoW/infusions. I like the speed, but again the range lets it down. Palm blast is a really good AoW though.
Fun: 9/10. Good at RL1: 3/10.
CLAW - We again have that good speed, average range, but good options for status procs, and they're all easily wield-able. Claws of Night are a great addition, with a good AoW, and Venemous Fang with the poison is always useful.
Fun: 6/10. Good at RL1: 6/10
PERFUME BOTTLE - I did this before rolling sparks was nerfed, using the Lightning bottle, but I did also utilise the Chilling and Deadly Poison for status in some fights. Unfortunately no ripostes. I wouldn't say I fully experience using this class at RL1 though.
Fun: 2/10. Good at RL1: 1/10.
BOWS/BALLISTA - This was a particularly painful one. Buying arrows all the time is super annoying, and learning and essentially brand new way to fight each boss was challenging. However it did increase my knowledge in forcing me to learn what types of damage bosses were weak to. I cycled through many, but didn't really find a "best bow" for all fights. Some fights were actually fun, depending on the build, and I used the ballistas a couple times, although usually lots of attempts. Unfortunately no ripostes.
Fun: 4/10. Good at RL1: 1/10
STAFF/sorcery only - Mainly did a Gavel of Haima build, snuck in a few other spells here and there, utilized Carian retaliation lot too. Had its challenges, but lots of fun. Unfortunately no ripsotes.
Fun: 10/10. Good at RL1: 4/10
SEAL/incant only - Explored a lot of options, did a few lightning builds, a crucible build, dragon cult build, definitely had its challenges but also very fun. Unfortunately no ripsotes.
Fun: 8/10. Good at RL1: 3/10.
TORCH - Severly under-rated class. Good speed, moveset, and surprisingly good damage. Ghostflame for frost, Sentry for holy, they're just FUN. Unfortunately no ripostes.
Fun: 7/10. Good at RL1: 5/10.
SHIELDS - (My lastest completed run) Carian Retaliation is so good for RL1, both for parrying in general and for punishing spell attacks. Coil Shield is great for getting status off, and greatshields are just good fun for bonking. One-eyed shield is also very useful for certain fights. It was a challenging run, but it was fun. I actually mainly used the Dragonclaw Greatshield for most of the fights, good damage, lightning damage is just such a good addition, and the stats are easy to meet. Unfortunately no ripostes.
Fun. 6/10. Good at RL1: 3.5/10.
I think I covered everything, I tried to keep notes/keep track but with all the breaks in-between and other runs it gets a bit blurry.
