Physical

Physical Damage is a category of damage that can be inflicted in all the Dark Souls games.

Most weapons inflict solely some form of physical damage, or physical damage in addition to elemental damage.

General information
There are four forms of physical damage: Regular (absent from Dark Souls II), Strike, Slash and Thrust. Each have a corresponding defense stat that they are measured against. Because of this, certain physical damage may be ineffective against certain enemies, while other forms will be very effective.

What damage type a particular weapon deals varies and can be determined by toggling a weapon's display and looking under "Attack Type". Many weapons will display two types of physical damage. Which one is dealt is dependent on which attack of its moveset is used.

Physical damage is encountered most commonly out of all the damage types when facing enemies and can also be encountered in the form of traps.

Any Dexterity or Strength scaling a weapon possesses goes to its physical damage.

All shields reduce a high percentage of physical damage, many of them 100%.

Heavy Armor Sets provide the most protection from physical damage.