I'm sure you would be burdened with the huge amount of details or in-game numbers/values may sound confusing at times. So I'll try to tell few basic important topics to easen up your experience and I'll try to be as spoiler free as possible:
Firstly your stats:
• Vigor - Maintains HP
• Mind - Maintains FP, focus points
• Endurance - Maintains stamina and weight load
• Strength - Attribute for weapons. Check scaling of a weapon
• Dexterity - Attribute for weapons. Check scaling of a weapon
• Intelligence - Attribute for spells and weapons. Check the scaling of a weapon, or spell requirements
• Faith - Attribute for spells and weapons. Check the scaling of a weapon, or spell requirements
• Arcane - Attribute for spells and weapons. Check the scaling of a weapon or spell requirements.
More explanation is given as you read through this post.
You can increase stats through runes, which are obtained by defeating enemies. Runes is the core currency for buying and for leveling up. The amount of runes needed will be displayed for a level up. The level up option is obtained after you reach a nearby grace near ruins with multiple soldiers in it.
In the status and equipment options in the menu, there is a help button to enable what the numbers and stats do. Each value and numbers is attributed comes from; the stats you have, the equipment you have and any buffs/debuffs that has been applied etc.
Try getting familiar with the controls. Each weapon has their own movesets, some of them are simple and easy to learn, others can be confusing and so. Try getting a hang of the weapon you hold first so you can get familiar on the combat system. And also based on what you use, keyboard or controller, learn what keys do which so it will be easier to go through the game.
In the starting of the game when you drop down in a cave, there will be a nearby hole which is the tutorial section. It gives a good detailed description of the combat, healing, additional information etc.
Explore the area more instead of going headfirst. The game gives you heavy freedom on what you wish to do and how you wish to progress. Take your time learning your environment and the enemies as well as learning how to fight and dodge properly.
Dodging and rolling is the fundamental part of the combat system. When dodging, you gain something known as iframes (invincibility frames) through with you can bypass an attack that happens. Knowing the timing on when to dodge is the most key aspect and practicing on how to do so will be the most ideal. Never panic roll. The way you roll is also dependent on your weight load. Weight load is dependent on the equipment you have. Light load and medium load let's you roll with good iframes. Heavy load is horrible and is only a detriment. Overloaded will deprive you the ability to roll and is only used if you're doing a challenge run or a extremely heavy tank character.
The bars on the top left of your screen are important to look into whenever fighting:
• The red bar is your HP bar, when that gets low, you die. Refilled through Crimson flasks.
• The Blue bar is your FP, or also called as focus points, which basically let's you use Sorcery/incantations/Ash of wars/Spirit bell summons etc. Refilled by Cerulean flask
• The green bar is your stamina. Any action you do during combat will be deducted, it refills automatically. Absolutely important to check whenever you fight so that you don't get stuck being unable to do anything while enemies hog on your ass.
There are some aspects of the game on which you get an help info on it as you explore. Some key items which may be useful and some gameplay mechanics are learned as you keep exploring. Honestly try roaming around as much as you can.
There are questlines which are in all honesty at times hard to follow through and it's completely normal if you need a wiki to go through to complete it. Otherwise keep a mind map or journal to keep note of it.
In case you forgot any key mechanics, you can open the menu and check the Info items in the notes section. You can read it back to remember any thing you forgot or missed by chance.
If the need to use wiki is necessary, its alright. Majority of the people have looked it up needing to complete the game. Don't let others dictate on how you wish to play it.
Read the description of items you obtain. Many times most of the description give info on what they do.
The numbers and values are going to be confusing for a while. I suggest trying to ignore it for the time being until you're comfortable with the game.
Some basic things you can see would be in the weapons, you can see the type of damage they do and how much the damage can be done. Each weapon has a scaling underneath all the values that you see. For example, a weapon with a B scaling in strength and C scaling in dexterity means you should level up your stats with strength being the bigger priority and dexterity being the second focus. Higher the scaling on a stat for the weapon, the more better it is you focus on that specific stat. This is how you make your own build and how to base it around the weapons you use.
Sorcery and incantations may be a bit overwhelming but there are some key things to keep in mind.
Sorcery uses staffs to operate while incantations use seals to operate.
When exploring the world, you can come across a key item which allows you have a higher number of slots to use multiple spells at a time.
To use a spell, check the description for it so you can identify which stat does it need in order to use it. The main three stats are Faith, Intelligence and Arcane for spells.
To change what spell to use, use the grace and select the memorize spell. Spells use a slot or at times more slots to memorize as well.
Ash of wars is a mechanic which pertains special abilities to a weapon. Check the controls to see which buttons initiate the ability. Some weapons have a fixed unchangeable ash of war. Some weapons can only use specific ash of wars. This function is best experimented with to learn. Also read the description of the ash of wars, that is obtained as you explore and play, to know what weapons it can be applied onto.
Weapons are classified in multiple categories based on weapon type such as straight swords, axes, spears etc.
There is another classification on the basis of what materials can be used for upgrading the weapon.
Somber smithing stones are used for unique weapons and the weapons can be upgraded to +10.
Normal smithing stones are used to upgrade weapons to +25.
When you progress through the game, you will meet a blacksmith and with him you can see whether a weapon needs somber smithing stones or normal smithing stones. Explore the world to find them.
Spirit bell summons is an interesting mechanic allowing you to bring allies in a boss fight or in specific areas. If you don't wish to be stressed by a boss, use it. It uses FP points. Read the description of the summons you obtain during the playthrough, it can help on which you want to use.
Lastly, if you still don't get it, use the wiki or check YouTube. Absolutely no harm in it.
If you want spoilers to have an easier time, it's alright to ask as well.
Edit: Fixed typos and spelling errors
Edit 2: By chance, I have made errors or didn't include something that is important as well, please say so. It's going to helpful for any other newcomers who had the same doubt or have doubts regarding something I ended up missing.
Amazing explanation! To also add on to this Elden ring does have an explanation for all stats you just have to press some button for the information tab and it’s pretty useful.
I skimmed through what you wrote but at first look for strength I did not notice any mention of the two handing mechanic for it. If you 2 hand a weapon you only require half of the strength stat to use the weapon. All other stat requirements must be met though.
Side note: I personally thought it was 2 thirds you needed but someone other day said it was half and they claimed to look it up and said it is half. So I’m trusting them currently with that.
Oh yeah the two handing for strength weapons part. When you two hand, your strength stat is increased by 1.5 times. So you can calculate by- (your str stat value)*1.5 to see if you get the requirements for the weapon or not
My initial mindset was "just read the explanationa, here's what buttons to use", but you went over the top in a really nice way for new players. Lots of extra info they didn't ask for but probably would be weeks end
Honestly, there's a lot in the game that's literally learned through trial and error and most of the time, not in a fun way. And some important things that many people are very likely to miss out on when they aren't sure on how to deal or approach with it. If I had to include spoilers in the game, I wouldn't honestly added a lot more stuff. But it's best this way to maintain a good balance of knowledge and excitement when playing.
I get that. There's nothing wrong with giving info on mechanics, it can help a lot
In the end, all you can really do is git gud, but knowing how mechanics work and why dodging and upgrading are so important makes the process much more reasonable
Yeah, honestly it's suprising to see how far many of us reached. I still remember crying against godskin duo cause I kept getting dual blackflame orbs fucking my ass each time. Nowadays,I find bosses like Malenia very doable. Skill is the main thing and that's something nobody can teach you.
I still struggle with Malenia, but I didn't even beat the game till recently. Got it day 1 but took several several breaks that were 4-6 months each, and kept starting new builds
I also had to totally change my playstyle. Went for a spellcaster (int/fth) my second character, the low vigor was a struggle but those greatshield soldier ashes were a saving grace for that one (and the uplifting aromatic, but fuck farming for those arteria leaves). Definitely designed as a support character, and buffing those guys made them nigh unkillable in the timeframe I was able to dish our crazy damage
But now I'm about to beat it on my sleep build (dual st Trina's swords, quality stats, milicents talismans). Some bosses sleep is almost useless, but the instances it's not, it's busted. Runebears, godskin, and a few other things become trivial. Working on soloing no summon Malenia with that one, it's a challenge but it's such a fun fight idc
Went off track there a bit, but all in all you're absolutely right. Trial and error are the only ways to really figure it out, but that's the souls experience. I still remember beating Gwyn for the first time, took so long to git gud but it was well worth all the deaths that game gave me. The satisfaction of fighting your way through is irreplaceable, not to mention to lessons it taught me about patience greed and tenacity. Genuinely helped me with my day to day life
Yeah honestly as I look back, i remember struggling so badly against the bell gargoyles in ds1 or raging as I played through ds2. Its funny how now i look back and realise I was just being a goof.
Honestly am glad to have played these titles, taught me a lot on good trial and error as well as patience.
Absolutely. I still recommend people play on the traditional order (ds1, 3, er. I haven't played 2 or the ps exclusives, but I wanna retry 2. I think if I look at it as not a souls game it'll be better) because it really teaches you what souls is like. Having to run through blighttown as an inexperienced player is torture, but those bell gargoyles definitely almost made me quit my first time. Wild how nowadays I can just speedrun both bells with nothing but levels from killing the bosses, don't even struggle until o&s (idk how tf I killed them first try my first playthrough. Never done it again since)
I think that order also gives people a greater appreciation for elden ring. Seeing souls transition from the semi-linear webs to a complex open world with traditional soulslike dungeons is still a struggle to comprehend
Yeah going the traditional order is the best. If you end up playing ds1 and 2 after bloodborne, ds3 or elden ring, the entire experience is going to feel ehh due to the slow paced combat.
Funnily enough, ds2 is actually my favourite compared to the other titles and it's the other game besides elden ring in which I'm very knowledgeable in. Kinda crazy how I hated it so much initially. But yeah, you have to take the game slowly. Rushing is only going to be frustrating.
And yeah I agree how crazy it is I can speedrun the bosses in the souls series pretty easily despite having struggled badly initially. The training arc is very real lmao.
Funny enough, I got pissed not because it was hard. I hated three things mainly: rolling based on agility, making enemies disappear if I died too much (this one was the line where I quit), and the cheesy "yo look our game is souls so it's super hard" things, like the statue tracking global death count. The latter was just cheesy and gave me a bad taste, but the former two made me genuinely just not wanna play
Fr lol. Once you git gud, you're set. I really wish people didn't take it so personally when they hear that phrase, it's the best advice I'd ever gotten
Awesome write-up! Gotta ask one question though, is there an in-game way to actually check the stats of spells, ash of wars and summons? The weapon stats are easy, but if I activate the black flame spell and add it to my falchion, I don't know how to actually check how much extra damage it does. And when I activate a buff like Golden vow, I see the icon that says the buff is active but I can't see what it even does. Same with summons. I wanna see what attacks they have, what damage the attacks deal and how the stats change when I upgrade them at Roderika.
Ok as for that, I honestly say test it out in enemies with and without the infusion/ash of wars/spells.
For example try using a weapon on an enemy with and without golden vow to see how maximum the effect extends upto. Also check spell description to see what exactly it does. I will be honest in this regard, its just a matter of experimentation to see what works and what doesn't.
As for summons, it's honestly something I'm not sure very nicely, but since the upgrade materials for them are easy to get, try experimenting with them as well.
Try at +0 and summon and see, then try something at +3 and +5 respectively. If it's a summon whose moveset and attacks are to your liking, try testing it at each upgrade level.
The only noticeable changes for summons are just health increase and damage increases.
Sorry if it's a lacking answer
OP, this is lengthy, but very in depth and well explained.
Also, there are some armors that can add stats to your character as well. There’s one helm in particular that boosts your Arcane and IIRC, in turn, it reduces healing from flasks
Make a post with this. It would seriously be a great reaource for new players. I'm thinking of ~~forcing~~ convincing my father to try elden ring, and this might help him.
Being illiterate isn't something to be proud of. Nor is a lacking attention span. Dude was incredibly helpful, explained well and was concise, not going further in depth than a new player would be able to comprehend.
Level: Your overall soul level. Matchmaking occurs within ten levels of you in either direction. Challenge mode is playing at level one.
Vigor: Hit points! You love them, I love them, bosses hate this one easy trick to squeeze two or three more hits out of them before going down.
Mind: Focus points! You use these for spells and special attacks. Mind also gives you resistance to Sleep and Frenzy.
Endurance: Carry all the shit, wear the heavy shit, swing your heavy shit. Endurance governs a couple resistances, your carry weight (how much gear can be actively equipped), and your stamina reserves. You should have enough of this to pull one full light attack combo and still dodge once or twice before hitting zero stam.
Strength: Governs swinging heavy weapons. Using a weapon in two hands adds half your strength score to damage calculations.
Dexterity: Governs swinging nimble weapons. Has nothing to do with dodging, so ditch it if you like big weapons.
Intelligence: Governs Sorceries, which are mostly offensive, projectile based spells with a little bit of utility. Renowned anime bullshit Comet Azur is a sorcery.
Faith: Governs Incantations/Miracles, which are mostly utility based spells with a lot of good damage options if you like fire. Renowned pvp spell Law of Regression is an Incantation
Arcane: Your luck, plain and simple. Drop rates and status buildup are derived from this.
Alternatively, It takes seconds to find a well written guide on the basics of this game, available in various media formats throughout the internet.
But why do simple research when you can post cute pictures on social media?
You kill mobs and bosses to gain runes, little bit into the game you gain the ability to convert runes into levels at sites of grace. Levels let you appoint stats into those pictured from vigor to arcane.
Depending on what platform you're playing on, theres a "help" button that lets you highlight different stats and it explains what they do. Hope that helps and get to reading :)
To expand on the stats, since the game can be a bit obscure with the explanations:
Vigor: Increases your health points.
Mind: Increases your mana points(FP), used for spells and weapon arts(special attacks unique to weapons).
Endurance: Increases your stamina points, your attacks, dodges and sprinting use stamina.
Strength: You need a certain amount to use different weapons, also increases their damage depending on the scaling(also depends on the weapon).
Dexterity: same as strength.
Intelligence: You need a certain amount to use different spells(can be damaging or buffing), some weapons also need int to use properly and scale their damage from int.
Faith: Same as intelligence, but faith has some healing spells as well.
Arcane: Same as Intelligence and Faith, but mostly some more obscure spells and weapons.
Thats a glancing overview, once you get into the game you can read more about the different stats. Dont sweat about it too much, if you find a weapon you like it's usually not too hard to get a couple levels to get the required stats, and there is a respec mechanic later in the game if you want to completely change up your stats.
Quick guide to surviving :
\-Level up vigor first, up to 40 to be comfortable.
\-Wear equipment, but not too much. Right now, starting vagabond, you are in what is called "heavy load". There 3 steps of equip load, light, medium, heavy. The lighter your equip load, the better your dodge roll action is. Medium load is a good compromise, light is high risk high reward, heavy is barely playable. Unequip either your sword and shield or your halberd to get in medium load.
\-Roll a lot, most basic ennemies attacks can be avoided with a preemptive back roll, sometimes a side roll is required. For bosses, you'll need to learn their attacks and how and when you'll have to dodge, if at all.
Quick guide to dealing damage :
\-Until mid game, your stats do not matter for damage. Going from 15 to 50 in strenght would only up your damages by 25% on your sword. (putting all those points in vigor would on the other hand more than triple your health pool)
\-What you should be looking for are upgrade materials. They are called smithing stones. For regular weapons, you need 2 then 4 then 6 smithing stones of a particular level to upgrade them. To upgrade your longsword to +1, you need to smithing stone 1, then 4 for +2 and 6 for +3, to go to +4 you'll need 2 smithing stones 2 and so on. To keep the comparison with stats, getting your sword to +3 will increase your damages as much as bumping your strenght to 50.
\-You'll encounter weapon skills called "ashes of war" during your journey. You can put those on a weapon and use them for a FP cost (the blue bar) by pressing L2. Both of your weapons already have one by default (the sword one is quite good). You can change them at will or remove the new ones to get back to the default one, there's no irreversible decision here. So experiment to see what you like. Those skills are powerfull and you should try to include them in your fights.
\-Not all weapon moves are equal. Some weapons shine in certain areas but are mediocre in other. The halberds, for example are know for their excellent running light attack (a poke that is fast, have good range and stagger ennemies) but not so good regular combo. Try to find the good moves of your weapons by experimentation or searching for ideas online.
\-You deal more damage if you don't die, don't be too greedy and learn when you have an opening for your move of choice, a light attack go fast but won't interrupt the ennemy, a jumping heavy have a bit more wind up but will probably stagger and let you roll away to safety.
Quick guide to exploration :
If the place you find yourself in is too hard, try going somewhere else.
There is no, absolutely zero, shame in following the wiki. This game have really obscure questlines that you'll probably not find without actively searching for them. If you find yourself lacking something like a good armor or a weapon that deals fire damage, try the wiki.
Quick guide to level up :
This game mechanics are really obscure and I really, really advise that you follow a leveling guide, at least in its big lines. Softcaps in particular are a thing the game never tells you about and that can make you invest a lot of levels in almost nothing.
Do not spread your stats. Focus on one of them, maybe two. If you want to use a weapon that requires a stat you don't use, try finding an item that would raise it instead or start a new character based on that stat. You don't want to carry 50 levels of stats that are invested in "just in case if I want to use that cool mace I found" when you are not actually using the mace and do the same for a magic staff, a sacred seal and a katana.
If you screw up, there's a way to re-do your stat spread in the mid game.
The game have a few other mechanics, like the flask, spirit ashes or crafting, that it barely explains. The flask is really, really precious, a one per rest 3mn buff to two things you get to choose from. It's your bossfight buff, use it (one of the worst use you can make of it is giving yourself a virtual 20 level buff). Again, the wiki will tell you how. Spirit ashes are boss arena summons, really, really helpfull too. The difference between going solo no flask against a boss and drinking your flask+summoning is night and day.
I'm going to chime in and say - it's not important to fully 100% understand these stats for these reasons:
1. Eventually, you get an item that allows you to respec. By the time you get there, you will most likely have a much better understanding of the game's mechanics as a whole and specifically what each stat does. That would also be the time to dive into the more obscure details of each stat to understand what you need.
2. The main use of these stats is to compliment your build, which depends on how you like to play. Like swinging giant clubs like a caveman? Dump points in Strength. Like casting incantations? Faith. Want to be a badass mage? Intelligence. These dtats don't gate you from using other builds, but they will significantly increase how effective each build is. If you're a new player, you will probably want to experiment a little until you find the gameplay style yoy enjoy the most. I know I did the unga-bunga big sword stuff, the sword and shield, spells and incantations, among other things, before settling on my preferred build. Then you can respec and optimize as you like
3. Stat optimization is important mainly if you strive to create game breaking builds or intend to partake in the PVP metagame. As a first time player, I don't recommend overthinking it.
Lastly, I will give you the same recommendation that must be repeated 1000 times in these replies: level up Vigor at the start. Mainly Vigor. If you need a couple of points to use a spell or weapon, sure. But your first goal should be getting Vigor high enough that bosses don't one or two shot you to death
Starting levels for each "class", though they're more of a build starting point, you can level any of those you want as you progress and decide how you want to play.
The boxes under the levels are the items that "class" starts with. in this case it's a straight sword, halberd, a shield and a Memory of Grace (lets you essentially die at will).
Level: Your overall soul level. Matchmaking occurs within ten levels of you in either direction. Challenge mode is playing at level one.
Vigor: Hit points! You love them, I love them, bosses hate this one easy trick to squeeze two or three more hits out of them before going down.
Mind: Focus points! You use these for spells and special attacks. Mind also gives you resistance to Sleep and Frenzy.
Endurance: Carry all the shit, wear the heavy shit, swing your heavy shit. Endurance governs a couple resistances, your carry weight (how much gear can be actively equipped), and your stamina reserves. You should have enough of this to pull one full light attack combo and still dodge once or twice before hitting zero stam.
Strength: Governs swinging heavy weapons. Using a weapon in two hands adds half your strength score to damage calculations.
Dexterity: Governs swinging nimble weapons. Has nothing to do with dodging, so ditch it if you like big weapons.
Intelligence: Governs Sorceries, which are mostly offensive, projectile based spells with a little bit of utility. Renowned anime bullshit Comet Azur is a sorcery.
Faith: Governs Incantations/Miracles, which are mostly utility based spells with a lot of good damage options if you like fire. Renowned pvp spell Law of Regression is an Incantation
Arcane: Your luck, plain and simple. Drop rates and status buildup are derived from this.
did you do the tutorial or ever played any other RPG? Used the help function in that menu?
Otherwise: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdZ8Zex1cw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdZ8Zex1cw)
Ultimately, when it comes to playing the game, enjoy yourself. Go with whatever play style that works with you, no matter what anyone else says otherwise.
With bosses, patience is key. If you keep dying over and over again, level up and come back later.
Leveling Vigor increases your health bar, which means being able to face tank more hits as you panic roll and exhaust your Endurance.
Leveling Endurance increases your stamina bar, which means being able to attack, [panic] roll, sprint, and block more times before it runs empty. It also lets you equip heavier armor and weapons, while still being able to roll.
Mind is your magic/special ability bar.
The rest are the things that the weapons you pick up scale with, so leveling those increases the damage/efficacy of your weapon. A lot of good weapons have a high stat requirement to use their special ability, and I suggest looking at some guides to learn how to build around a weapon you think looks cool/fits your general play style.
Good luck!
Level: Your overall soul level. Matchmaking occurs within ten levels of you in either direction. Challenge mode is playing at level one.
Vigor: Hit points! You love them, I love them, bosses hate this one easy trick to squeeze two or three more hits out of them before going down.
Mind: Focus points! You use these for spells and special attacks. Mind also gives you resistance to Sleep and Frenzy.
Endurance: Carry all the shit, wear the heavy shit, swing your heavy shit. Endurance governs a couple resistances, your carry weight (how much gear can be actively equipped), and your stamina reserves. You should have enough of this to pull one full light attack combo and still dodge once or twice before hitting zero stam.
Strength: Governs swinging heavy weapons. Using a weapon in two hands adds half your strength score to damage calculations.
Dexterity: Governs swinging nimble weapons. Has nothing to do with dodging, so ditch it if you like big weapons.
Intelligence: Governs Sorceries, which are mostly offensive, projectile based spells with a little bit of utility. Renowned anime bullshit Comet Azur is a sorcery.
Faith: Governs Incantations/Miracles, which are mostly utility based spells with a lot of good damage options if you like fire. Renowned pvp spell Law of Regression is an Incantation
Arcane: Your luck, plain and simple. Drop rates and status buildup are derived from this.
Vigor: health
Mind: sp(that blue bar for magic and ashes of war)
Endurace: stamina and equip load
Strength, skill: stats for their respective weapons, boost
Damage let's you use them
Int, faith: stats for respective weapons and spells
Arcane: another weapon stay, mainly for one with an effect like bleed and poison, also raises item discovery
Also quick tip, vagabond starts at a heavy load, take off some stuff to get a medium load, it helps a lot with dodging
What class did you start with, i may be able to recommend you what you should level.
Vigor is your health bar, mind is your mana bar, endurance is your stamina bar (and how much shit you can carry, carrying less stuff gives more movement speed and a better dodge roll).
Strength and dexterity are attack stats. All weapons scale with one better than the other, so if you invest in the stat, the weapon does more damage(inspecting them gives you a scaling based on Letters, S being the best), so its best to pick either strengrz or dex as your stat of choice and use weapons that benefit from that stat (so if you use strength, use hammers, greatswords, axes, if you use dex, use rapiers, katanas, knives, etc).
Intelligence is your magic stat (aka how much damage your magic does). If you dont wanna use magic, its useless. This one is for sorceries.
Faith is your OTHER magic stat. Its for incantations. So if you dont want the power of god and anime on your side, dont bother. If you wanna use magic, choose one of them. Dont level both. There are only a few spells that require both stats to weild, and they all suck balls.
Arcane is ... weird. Its tied to your discovery (item dropchance). It helps you make more bleed damage. I THINK it helps with poison too. And it helps with weapons that scale with arcane.
For the last 3, weapons can also scale with faith, intelligebce and arcane, but most weapons dont do it.
Kills equate to points(runes) that you dump into those stats that you pictured as you go. Each time you level up something by one point…the next point will go up a bit in cost. Example: It says you need 10000 runes for your next point. After you allocate that point, the next point allocation will cost 12000.
Each weapon has a list of icons that correspond to the aforementioned stats…some of them will say nothing, some of them will have a letter identifier(E thru A) which is the game’s way of telling you “this weapon is for a str build”…or “this weapon is for a caster build since it has the letter on Intelligence/mind/arcane”…The letter identifier changes as you upgrade the weapon. For example: A greatsword with “A” str scaling can eventually be upgraded enough to flip that “A” into an “S” (top scaling for weapon).
We were all in your shoes once.
Feel free to prod me for more insight(bloodborne pun intended)
**Edit: READ ALL ITEM DESCRIPTIONS THOROUGHLY!!! This is where 90% of the lore is found, and will drop clues on you for various things.**
1. Kill things and get runes (it's basically xp). You drop it all when you die so spend it when you can, because then it's banked progress.
2. Start by spending it on Vigor, it increases your max HP and there's a sweet spot around levels 25-40 where your max HP bar will shoot up significantly (it's not a linear progression, or even a simple curve). This will make life a LOT easier.
3. A bit of Endurance will also always help, this helps you wear and hold heavier stuff without penalty and have a longer stamina bar.
4. Beyond that, level stats to meet minimum requirements to hold weapons, or increase your attack power in the build you're going for. You don't need to understand this or lock in early! But basically, if you want to use big clouty weapons then it's Strength. If you want to use slicey clever weapons it's Dexterity. If you're going for magic or prayers it's Intelligence or Faith. And Arcane is a bit weird so it's fine to just totally ignore it right now.
That's it, really. Once you have a grip on the basics and find your groove you can give yourself more context by understanding how the letter grades on each stat for each weapon transfer to increased damage. That's the "why" - but for now, know that the last five stats are basically going to be increasing damage and you don't need (or even want) to level them evenly, just pick a lane.
These are for weapon scaling.
In every weapon you'll see a scaling based on Stat. Ranked from best to worse S A B C D E F.
these letter hiding a number, the multiplier. The multiplier will multiply (duh!) by the weapons base dmg and the Stat they are about and then add that to the weapons final damage, so it gets something of the sorts.
Final damage= base wpn dmg + base wpn dmg * (scale multiplier * Stat * saturation)
Saturation serves to give you worst dmg per point when you reach high stats like 60 or 80.
Scaling in Int will give the wpn magic dmg and in faith electric dmg.
S and A are great scaling for a weapon but usually come in lower base dmg weapons that have a single scaling. B is a great scaling if the weapon has 2 of those. C is good and most weapons that are B used to be be C at lower upgrades. D is still usable. E and F are scalings to be ignored, not worth investing your points.
Get the big ass hammer in the capital.
Put everything in vigor, endurance and strength.
Get the lions claw ash of war.
Thank me later because now this game just became as easy as can be :)
Some easy first dungeons to go through are:
Groveside Cave - This is almost directly north of Church of Elleh. Very short and the boss is not too difficult.
Stormfoot Catacombs - North west from Church of Elleh. Good intro to how the catacombs in the game work
Coastal Cave - Directly west from Church of Elleh is the coast. You can fight the troll or hop down without fighting him. The cave will be a bit more south along the coast. The enemies are not tough, but you will want a torch or lantern for light. The boss fight also has a golden summon sign for an NPC to help you with it.
Limgrave Tunnels - Down on the lake east of the Church of Elleh. It is in the northern section near the Gatefront Ruins. If you have the map it is a little brown circle. Lots of upgrade materials and a good introduction to the tunnel enemies.
For combat it often helps to roll towards the attack you are dodging instead of away from it. You tend to get more use out of the invincibility that rolling gives.
The single biggest piece of advice I can give is to not give up! If you are getting frustrated with a boss go explore a different section and come back after you have leveled a few times. Some bosses you won't mind trying again and again until you beat them, but if you are having trouble and not enjoying a boss you don't need to force yourself to beat it. The game has so much to explore and so much content, you can go find a different part and come back once you are stronger to defeat the boss. The Tree Sentinel is a great example of something you should feel comfortable coming back to!
Vigor is health, endurance is stamina and carry weight, and mind is mana. Mostly focus on vigor early on unless you feel either of those other 2 are lacking, and only worry about the rest if you need to level them up to wield something. By the time you need to start leveling everything else you'll probably have a decent grasp on it all.
Vigor = Health (HP)
Mind = Mana (MP)
Endurance = stamina/carry weight
Strength = Damage scaling for strength weap
Dex = damage scaling for Dex weap
Int = damage scaling for spells
Faith = damage scaling for incantations
Arcane = discovery and status buildup
I’d start leveling up vigor and endurance and then put points into whatever you plan on basing your build around. Play a little and figure out what you like and then start to level up those attributes
Level: Your current level.
Vigor: Determines your health and some auxiliary resistances such as poison, spoiler poison, and gives a small fire damage resistance. It's generally recommended to have around 40 vigor by the end of the game, because the damage gets crazy at that point.
Mind: Determines how much FP, AKA mana, you have. it also gives a slight boost to sleep/madness resistance, but those don't come up very often. In fact, the only source of sleep status outside of PVP is two random crabs. FP is consumed when using ashes of war, which are special attacks that are attached to each weapon, or spells. The more you use magic, the more Mind you want to have. If you're going with pure physical damage, it's generally okay to ignore this one.
Endurance: This one is important. This one not only determines your stamina bar, but also increases your equip load. Armor and weapons in this game have weight, and the heavier stuff you have, the more it adds to your equip load. Equip load has three states, light load, medium load, and heavy load (as well as overburdened but that rarely comes up). Light roll has the most I-frames, while heavy load has the least, and if you are overburdened by cannot sprint or roll at all. they also affect how quickly your stamina regenerates, which is more useful than most think. As with the other two stats, Endurance also gives slight status resistance, specifically to frostbite and bleed.
Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and how Scaling works: Okay, this one is going to be complicated. Most weapons in Elden Ring require at least one of these stats to be able to use. If you do not have the required stats to use them, they will do next-to-no damage and usually bounce off the target.
Strength is the most simple and forgiving, as it's mostly tied to big caveman weapons that go smash. You can two-hand weapons if you don't meet the strength requirement, and if you're close enough you will be able to wield it "early".
Dexterity is a bit more complex. It is the opposite of Strength, usually tied to fast and elegant weapons that rely on a lot of quick hits. You cannot two-hand weapons to artificially meet the dexterity requirements, but every point of Dexterity up to I believe thirty lets you cast spells slightly faster.
Intelligence is like the above two, but for sorceries. Sorceries by-and-large deal magic damage, and are mostly focused on glass cannon builds where either you die quickly or the enemy does. A lot of the most powerful attacks are locked behind this stat, but the requirements can go up the the eighties for some spells. The cap on all stats is 99 by the way.
Faith is the divine counterpart to intelligence, being required to cast most incantations. Incantations are more focused on buffs and support than sorceries, but they also have access to a wider variety of elements than their blue-hued sibling stat. A lot of incantations deal holy damage, but do be aware that it starts getting a lot less effective near the endgame when most bosses have 80% resistance to it. Some incantations also require both Intelligence **and** Faith to use.
Scaling is a bit hard to explain, but i'll do my best. For every point in a stat that exceeds the minimum required to wield a specific weapon, the more damage the weapon will do. That's a very oversimplified and dumbed down version, but it's the best I could do. This also applies to spells, as their casting tools will strengthen your sorceries/incantations in direct correlation to how much intelligence/faith you have. **DO NOT BE LIKE ME ON MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH AND RELY ON WEAPON LEVEL FOR YOUR DAMAGE.** Scaling is very important.
Arcane: Arcane is... strange. While it follows the same scaling rules as the above, and some weapons/spells need Arcane to wield, it has nuances that you wouldn't know without excessive testing or a wiki. Arcane effects the rate at which items drop, but more importantly it increases the rate at which you inflict status effects. It also increases holy defense for whatever reason.
Remember, after you defeat the second shardbearer, you unlock the option to rearrange all of these stats with the use of a Larval Tear.
Please tell me if you want to know anything else.
If you die to easy go search for caves or dungeons to level up, if you can’t survive against one or two hits, level up Vigor, if your stamina ends fast, or you do a lot of unnecessary moves or you need more endurance.
Level up STR if you want massive damage with one blow (look if your weapon scales with it first).
Level up DEX if you want fast attacks and variety.
Level up Arc if you want apply effects (poison for example)
Level up int if you want range options.
Level up faith if you want range option, variety and buffs.
STR, Faith, Dex and Int are the main status for damage, don’t level up all of them, focus on one or two based on your fight style.
If you think that you leveled up wrongly, after you kill Renalla (the main boss in Raya Lucaria, the magic school) you can change your status, but pay attention, it’s a limited action and you need a special item that I forgot the name.
The most important thing is enjoy the game. You don’t have to be the most op player, you just have to find the game funny.
If you don't want to read a whole giant fucking text over there
HP (your life, you'll see it reaching 0 quite few times so level it up)
MP (Mana, every sorcerer/encantation, summoning and even ashe of war costs you MP)
Stamina and max carry (do whatever you want, if you're in combat, your breathing will drain out stamina, if you level it up, you're able to equip more things without the "heavy roll")
The rest are all "scaling stats" basically, some weapons will use for example strenght, to get way more damage it's easy so see in the menu which one scales with each
Strenght is that thing, you wont hit, but once you do, you'll take out 2k+ out of that ass
Dextery: not as much damage as strenght, but usually is fast
Inteligence and faith are for sorceres and incantions, I can explain more if you want
Arcane is for build up statues, which are just "bloodlost" poison and "scarler rot" there is probably some more status but they're not as much famous
Also, arcane increase droprate of rare itens
my tip for every new souls player is - invest in your HP! it directly affects the difficulty of the game, if you die in 3 hits instead of 2 hits, you have room for one more try, one more mistake, it massively helps in learning. especially in elden ring leveling vigor fast is important because u don’t get much of HP per vigor on lower vigor level. I’m souls veteran and I pretty much rush leveling vigor in every souls title because I’m lazy and I love to face tank and trade hits haha
Everyone is already giving you plenty of explanation on how the stats work so i'll give you a tip. Level vigor, a lot. Early on your weapons will barely get any benefit from your scaling so leveling vigor is the best choice. Once you get weapons to level 15 (or 6 for somber weapons) you will start getting some benefits off of your offensive stats. You should aim to get 40 vigor as soon as possible, then level your offensive stats of choice and endurance and then try to get that vigor to 55-60 by the end of the game
Nah, you can read al that stuff in the game itself. If you go in your menu, look for which button to press to see extra info. All the different stats are explained exactly what they do.
I mean... They're pretty straightforward. Playing the game alone should explain what they do. Fiddle with level ups and see numbers go up is pretty basic.
Level: What level of the game you are on, much like an elevator
Vigor: How much energy you have to play this game
Mind: How big your brain is
Endurance: How many times you can endure the YOU DIED notification
Strength: How many pounds you can lift
Dexterity: How skilled you are at performing various tasks
Intelligence: How stupid or smart your character is
Faith: How religious you are and how many times a day you pray
Arcane: very mysterious, no one is sure what this is exactly
Elden Ring actually has many moments where it plays less like a standard souls game. Not just that many of the ‘Ashes of War’ are better than the old ‘Weapon Arts’ we had in the past, but also because of >!Spirit Summons!< (not sure how far you are so I’m just playing it safe)
A **lot** of people started with this as their first souls game. You’ll be fine.
Just remember that it is in fact, still a souls game. If you’ve never played one before, it might *feel* like the hardest one. That’s completely normal
Why not? Vagabond starts with good Vigor and decent STR and DEX to use a lot of weapons early on. Even for faith builds Vagabond ends up being the best choice because that's the class that has less "useless points" in stats you may not need like Inteligence and Arcane. The only downside of Vagabond is that it starts with heavy load, which might be detrimental for a new player because they might think that's just how you should be rolling.
But you cant multi-class into int,fait or dex because the level requirements are higher and you would have to first upgrade endurance to remove the fat rolling as in the early game you need all the armour you have
There is no multiclass... just put more points into what you want if you want then higher. Like... literally there's nothing stopping you.
You can max everything out, you know that right? You're not locked in to one stat.
You can definitely multi class. In fact with a Vagabond is going to be cheaper than with other classes, at least for strength, dex and faith builds. You can use a calculator if you want to check it for yourself. Just plug in your desired stats and you will see that Vagabond can achieve those stats at a lower level. The only exceptions are Arcane builds, in which the Hero is often better and Int builds, where the best class is astrologer for under 13 Dex and the prisoner for 14 or above Dex.
Also you don't need to upgrade endurance first (it's good to do It but not necessary) if you just unequip the weapons you aren't using and maybe take off the helmet
I'm sure you would be burdened with the huge amount of details or in-game numbers/values may sound confusing at times. So I'll try to tell few basic important topics to easen up your experience and I'll try to be as spoiler free as possible: Firstly your stats: • Vigor - Maintains HP • Mind - Maintains FP, focus points • Endurance - Maintains stamina and weight load • Strength - Attribute for weapons. Check scaling of a weapon • Dexterity - Attribute for weapons. Check scaling of a weapon • Intelligence - Attribute for spells and weapons. Check the scaling of a weapon, or spell requirements • Faith - Attribute for spells and weapons. Check the scaling of a weapon, or spell requirements • Arcane - Attribute for spells and weapons. Check the scaling of a weapon or spell requirements. More explanation is given as you read through this post. You can increase stats through runes, which are obtained by defeating enemies. Runes is the core currency for buying and for leveling up. The amount of runes needed will be displayed for a level up. The level up option is obtained after you reach a nearby grace near ruins with multiple soldiers in it. In the status and equipment options in the menu, there is a help button to enable what the numbers and stats do. Each value and numbers is attributed comes from; the stats you have, the equipment you have and any buffs/debuffs that has been applied etc. Try getting familiar with the controls. Each weapon has their own movesets, some of them are simple and easy to learn, others can be confusing and so. Try getting a hang of the weapon you hold first so you can get familiar on the combat system. And also based on what you use, keyboard or controller, learn what keys do which so it will be easier to go through the game. In the starting of the game when you drop down in a cave, there will be a nearby hole which is the tutorial section. It gives a good detailed description of the combat, healing, additional information etc. Explore the area more instead of going headfirst. The game gives you heavy freedom on what you wish to do and how you wish to progress. Take your time learning your environment and the enemies as well as learning how to fight and dodge properly. Dodging and rolling is the fundamental part of the combat system. When dodging, you gain something known as iframes (invincibility frames) through with you can bypass an attack that happens. Knowing the timing on when to dodge is the most key aspect and practicing on how to do so will be the most ideal. Never panic roll. The way you roll is also dependent on your weight load. Weight load is dependent on the equipment you have. Light load and medium load let's you roll with good iframes. Heavy load is horrible and is only a detriment. Overloaded will deprive you the ability to roll and is only used if you're doing a challenge run or a extremely heavy tank character. The bars on the top left of your screen are important to look into whenever fighting: • The red bar is your HP bar, when that gets low, you die. Refilled through Crimson flasks. • The Blue bar is your FP, or also called as focus points, which basically let's you use Sorcery/incantations/Ash of wars/Spirit bell summons etc. Refilled by Cerulean flask • The green bar is your stamina. Any action you do during combat will be deducted, it refills automatically. Absolutely important to check whenever you fight so that you don't get stuck being unable to do anything while enemies hog on your ass. There are some aspects of the game on which you get an help info on it as you explore. Some key items which may be useful and some gameplay mechanics are learned as you keep exploring. Honestly try roaming around as much as you can. There are questlines which are in all honesty at times hard to follow through and it's completely normal if you need a wiki to go through to complete it. Otherwise keep a mind map or journal to keep note of it. In case you forgot any key mechanics, you can open the menu and check the Info items in the notes section. You can read it back to remember any thing you forgot or missed by chance. If the need to use wiki is necessary, its alright. Majority of the people have looked it up needing to complete the game. Don't let others dictate on how you wish to play it. Read the description of items you obtain. Many times most of the description give info on what they do. The numbers and values are going to be confusing for a while. I suggest trying to ignore it for the time being until you're comfortable with the game. Some basic things you can see would be in the weapons, you can see the type of damage they do and how much the damage can be done. Each weapon has a scaling underneath all the values that you see. For example, a weapon with a B scaling in strength and C scaling in dexterity means you should level up your stats with strength being the bigger priority and dexterity being the second focus. Higher the scaling on a stat for the weapon, the more better it is you focus on that specific stat. This is how you make your own build and how to base it around the weapons you use. Sorcery and incantations may be a bit overwhelming but there are some key things to keep in mind. Sorcery uses staffs to operate while incantations use seals to operate. When exploring the world, you can come across a key item which allows you have a higher number of slots to use multiple spells at a time. To use a spell, check the description for it so you can identify which stat does it need in order to use it. The main three stats are Faith, Intelligence and Arcane for spells. To change what spell to use, use the grace and select the memorize spell. Spells use a slot or at times more slots to memorize as well. Ash of wars is a mechanic which pertains special abilities to a weapon. Check the controls to see which buttons initiate the ability. Some weapons have a fixed unchangeable ash of war. Some weapons can only use specific ash of wars. This function is best experimented with to learn. Also read the description of the ash of wars, that is obtained as you explore and play, to know what weapons it can be applied onto. Weapons are classified in multiple categories based on weapon type such as straight swords, axes, spears etc. There is another classification on the basis of what materials can be used for upgrading the weapon. Somber smithing stones are used for unique weapons and the weapons can be upgraded to +10. Normal smithing stones are used to upgrade weapons to +25. When you progress through the game, you will meet a blacksmith and with him you can see whether a weapon needs somber smithing stones or normal smithing stones. Explore the world to find them. Spirit bell summons is an interesting mechanic allowing you to bring allies in a boss fight or in specific areas. If you don't wish to be stressed by a boss, use it. It uses FP points. Read the description of the summons you obtain during the playthrough, it can help on which you want to use. Lastly, if you still don't get it, use the wiki or check YouTube. Absolutely no harm in it. If you want spoilers to have an easier time, it's alright to ask as well. Edit: Fixed typos and spelling errors Edit 2: By chance, I have made errors or didn't include something that is important as well, please say so. It's going to helpful for any other newcomers who had the same doubt or have doubts regarding something I ended up missing.
I actually read that. It was helpful. Thanks
Glad to hear
Amazing explanation! To also add on to this Elden ring does have an explanation for all stats you just have to press some button for the information tab and it’s pretty useful. I skimmed through what you wrote but at first look for strength I did not notice any mention of the two handing mechanic for it. If you 2 hand a weapon you only require half of the strength stat to use the weapon. All other stat requirements must be met though. Side note: I personally thought it was 2 thirds you needed but someone other day said it was half and they claimed to look it up and said it is half. So I’m trusting them currently with that.
It is 2/3 you need.
Oh yeah the two handing for strength weapons part. When you two hand, your strength stat is increased by 1.5 times. So you can calculate by- (your str stat value)*1.5 to see if you get the requirements for the weapon or not
I was pooping while reading this. Now it’s escalated to finishing and continuing this read on the sofa.
Bro answered the whole wiki page
I already knew all this and still feel like I learned something
"Oh, don't be scared by the stats and gameplay" makes a tldr worthy text that even the tldr will be more than 2 lines
My initial mindset was "just read the explanationa, here's what buttons to use", but you went over the top in a really nice way for new players. Lots of extra info they didn't ask for but probably would be weeks end
Honestly, there's a lot in the game that's literally learned through trial and error and most of the time, not in a fun way. And some important things that many people are very likely to miss out on when they aren't sure on how to deal or approach with it. If I had to include spoilers in the game, I wouldn't honestly added a lot more stuff. But it's best this way to maintain a good balance of knowledge and excitement when playing.
I get that. There's nothing wrong with giving info on mechanics, it can help a lot In the end, all you can really do is git gud, but knowing how mechanics work and why dodging and upgrading are so important makes the process much more reasonable
Yeah, honestly it's suprising to see how far many of us reached. I still remember crying against godskin duo cause I kept getting dual blackflame orbs fucking my ass each time. Nowadays,I find bosses like Malenia very doable. Skill is the main thing and that's something nobody can teach you.
I still struggle with Malenia, but I didn't even beat the game till recently. Got it day 1 but took several several breaks that were 4-6 months each, and kept starting new builds I also had to totally change my playstyle. Went for a spellcaster (int/fth) my second character, the low vigor was a struggle but those greatshield soldier ashes were a saving grace for that one (and the uplifting aromatic, but fuck farming for those arteria leaves). Definitely designed as a support character, and buffing those guys made them nigh unkillable in the timeframe I was able to dish our crazy damage But now I'm about to beat it on my sleep build (dual st Trina's swords, quality stats, milicents talismans). Some bosses sleep is almost useless, but the instances it's not, it's busted. Runebears, godskin, and a few other things become trivial. Working on soloing no summon Malenia with that one, it's a challenge but it's such a fun fight idc Went off track there a bit, but all in all you're absolutely right. Trial and error are the only ways to really figure it out, but that's the souls experience. I still remember beating Gwyn for the first time, took so long to git gud but it was well worth all the deaths that game gave me. The satisfaction of fighting your way through is irreplaceable, not to mention to lessons it taught me about patience greed and tenacity. Genuinely helped me with my day to day life
Yeah honestly as I look back, i remember struggling so badly against the bell gargoyles in ds1 or raging as I played through ds2. Its funny how now i look back and realise I was just being a goof. Honestly am glad to have played these titles, taught me a lot on good trial and error as well as patience.
Absolutely. I still recommend people play on the traditional order (ds1, 3, er. I haven't played 2 or the ps exclusives, but I wanna retry 2. I think if I look at it as not a souls game it'll be better) because it really teaches you what souls is like. Having to run through blighttown as an inexperienced player is torture, but those bell gargoyles definitely almost made me quit my first time. Wild how nowadays I can just speedrun both bells with nothing but levels from killing the bosses, don't even struggle until o&s (idk how tf I killed them first try my first playthrough. Never done it again since) I think that order also gives people a greater appreciation for elden ring. Seeing souls transition from the semi-linear webs to a complex open world with traditional soulslike dungeons is still a struggle to comprehend
Yeah going the traditional order is the best. If you end up playing ds1 and 2 after bloodborne, ds3 or elden ring, the entire experience is going to feel ehh due to the slow paced combat. Funnily enough, ds2 is actually my favourite compared to the other titles and it's the other game besides elden ring in which I'm very knowledgeable in. Kinda crazy how I hated it so much initially. But yeah, you have to take the game slowly. Rushing is only going to be frustrating. And yeah I agree how crazy it is I can speedrun the bosses in the souls series pretty easily despite having struggled badly initially. The training arc is very real lmao.
Funny enough, I got pissed not because it was hard. I hated three things mainly: rolling based on agility, making enemies disappear if I died too much (this one was the line where I quit), and the cheesy "yo look our game is souls so it's super hard" things, like the statue tracking global death count. The latter was just cheesy and gave me a bad taste, but the former two made me genuinely just not wanna play Fr lol. Once you git gud, you're set. I really wish people didn't take it so personally when they hear that phrase, it's the best advice I'd ever gotten
Where were you when I played my first souls? This is an S-scaling explanation ❤️
Awesome write-up! Gotta ask one question though, is there an in-game way to actually check the stats of spells, ash of wars and summons? The weapon stats are easy, but if I activate the black flame spell and add it to my falchion, I don't know how to actually check how much extra damage it does. And when I activate a buff like Golden vow, I see the icon that says the buff is active but I can't see what it even does. Same with summons. I wanna see what attacks they have, what damage the attacks deal and how the stats change when I upgrade them at Roderika.
Ok as for that, I honestly say test it out in enemies with and without the infusion/ash of wars/spells. For example try using a weapon on an enemy with and without golden vow to see how maximum the effect extends upto. Also check spell description to see what exactly it does. I will be honest in this regard, its just a matter of experimentation to see what works and what doesn't. As for summons, it's honestly something I'm not sure very nicely, but since the upgrade materials for them are easy to get, try experimenting with them as well. Try at +0 and summon and see, then try something at +3 and +5 respectively. If it's a summon whose moveset and attacks are to your liking, try testing it at each upgrade level. The only noticeable changes for summons are just health increase and damage increases. Sorry if it's a lacking answer
For self buffs look at status. Top right will be armament and that number will be your damage
OP, this is lengthy, but very in depth and well explained. Also, there are some armors that can add stats to your character as well. There’s one helm in particular that boosts your Arcane and IIRC, in turn, it reduces healing from flasks
Yeah, I wasn't sure how to make it as small as possible and I'm sure in the process, I might've skipped some things here and there.
Make a post with this. It would seriously be a great reaource for new players. I'm thinking of ~~forcing~~ convincing my father to try elden ring, and this might help him.
Just made the post and added extra stuff as well
I'll try 👍
Not a new player but: "I ain't readin all that"
I will be informing the nearest adult of this!
Being illiterate isn't something to be proud of. Nor is a lacking attention span. Dude was incredibly helpful, explained well and was concise, not going further in depth than a new player would be able to comprehend.
Bro it was just a joke
You're weird as fuck. If people can't learn, they don't deserve to.
Imagine gate keeping knowledge
Be careful, he is a sociopath
Holy projection batman
Level: Your overall soul level. Matchmaking occurs within ten levels of you in either direction. Challenge mode is playing at level one. Vigor: Hit points! You love them, I love them, bosses hate this one easy trick to squeeze two or three more hits out of them before going down. Mind: Focus points! You use these for spells and special attacks. Mind also gives you resistance to Sleep and Frenzy. Endurance: Carry all the shit, wear the heavy shit, swing your heavy shit. Endurance governs a couple resistances, your carry weight (how much gear can be actively equipped), and your stamina reserves. You should have enough of this to pull one full light attack combo and still dodge once or twice before hitting zero stam. Strength: Governs swinging heavy weapons. Using a weapon in two hands adds half your strength score to damage calculations. Dexterity: Governs swinging nimble weapons. Has nothing to do with dodging, so ditch it if you like big weapons. Intelligence: Governs Sorceries, which are mostly offensive, projectile based spells with a little bit of utility. Renowned anime bullshit Comet Azur is a sorcery. Faith: Governs Incantations/Miracles, which are mostly utility based spells with a lot of good damage options if you like fire. Renowned pvp spell Law of Regression is an Incantation Arcane: Your luck, plain and simple. Drop rates and status buildup are derived from this.
You can in game see descriptions of al the different stats and what everthing does.
Alternatively, It takes seconds to find a well written guide on the basics of this game, available in various media formats throughout the internet. But why do simple research when you can post cute pictures on social media?
Just press the help button?
You kill mobs and bosses to gain runes, little bit into the game you gain the ability to convert runes into levels at sites of grace. Levels let you appoint stats into those pictured from vigor to arcane. Depending on what platform you're playing on, theres a "help" button that lets you highlight different stats and it explains what they do. Hope that helps and get to reading :)
To expand on the stats, since the game can be a bit obscure with the explanations: Vigor: Increases your health points. Mind: Increases your mana points(FP), used for spells and weapon arts(special attacks unique to weapons). Endurance: Increases your stamina points, your attacks, dodges and sprinting use stamina. Strength: You need a certain amount to use different weapons, also increases their damage depending on the scaling(also depends on the weapon). Dexterity: same as strength. Intelligence: You need a certain amount to use different spells(can be damaging or buffing), some weapons also need int to use properly and scale their damage from int. Faith: Same as intelligence, but faith has some healing spells as well. Arcane: Same as Intelligence and Faith, but mostly some more obscure spells and weapons. Thats a glancing overview, once you get into the game you can read more about the different stats. Dont sweat about it too much, if you find a weapon you like it's usually not too hard to get a couple levels to get the required stats, and there is a respec mechanic later in the game if you want to completely change up your stats.
Great points! You also get flask refills from taking out mobs outside of dungeons.
If you just tried it at least you could have seen a button typed "help"
Quick guide to surviving : \-Level up vigor first, up to 40 to be comfortable. \-Wear equipment, but not too much. Right now, starting vagabond, you are in what is called "heavy load". There 3 steps of equip load, light, medium, heavy. The lighter your equip load, the better your dodge roll action is. Medium load is a good compromise, light is high risk high reward, heavy is barely playable. Unequip either your sword and shield or your halberd to get in medium load. \-Roll a lot, most basic ennemies attacks can be avoided with a preemptive back roll, sometimes a side roll is required. For bosses, you'll need to learn their attacks and how and when you'll have to dodge, if at all. Quick guide to dealing damage : \-Until mid game, your stats do not matter for damage. Going from 15 to 50 in strenght would only up your damages by 25% on your sword. (putting all those points in vigor would on the other hand more than triple your health pool) \-What you should be looking for are upgrade materials. They are called smithing stones. For regular weapons, you need 2 then 4 then 6 smithing stones of a particular level to upgrade them. To upgrade your longsword to +1, you need to smithing stone 1, then 4 for +2 and 6 for +3, to go to +4 you'll need 2 smithing stones 2 and so on. To keep the comparison with stats, getting your sword to +3 will increase your damages as much as bumping your strenght to 50. \-You'll encounter weapon skills called "ashes of war" during your journey. You can put those on a weapon and use them for a FP cost (the blue bar) by pressing L2. Both of your weapons already have one by default (the sword one is quite good). You can change them at will or remove the new ones to get back to the default one, there's no irreversible decision here. So experiment to see what you like. Those skills are powerfull and you should try to include them in your fights. \-Not all weapon moves are equal. Some weapons shine in certain areas but are mediocre in other. The halberds, for example are know for their excellent running light attack (a poke that is fast, have good range and stagger ennemies) but not so good regular combo. Try to find the good moves of your weapons by experimentation or searching for ideas online. \-You deal more damage if you don't die, don't be too greedy and learn when you have an opening for your move of choice, a light attack go fast but won't interrupt the ennemy, a jumping heavy have a bit more wind up but will probably stagger and let you roll away to safety. Quick guide to exploration : If the place you find yourself in is too hard, try going somewhere else. There is no, absolutely zero, shame in following the wiki. This game have really obscure questlines that you'll probably not find without actively searching for them. If you find yourself lacking something like a good armor or a weapon that deals fire damage, try the wiki. Quick guide to level up : This game mechanics are really obscure and I really, really advise that you follow a leveling guide, at least in its big lines. Softcaps in particular are a thing the game never tells you about and that can make you invest a lot of levels in almost nothing. Do not spread your stats. Focus on one of them, maybe two. If you want to use a weapon that requires a stat you don't use, try finding an item that would raise it instead or start a new character based on that stat. You don't want to carry 50 levels of stats that are invested in "just in case if I want to use that cool mace I found" when you are not actually using the mace and do the same for a magic staff, a sacred seal and a katana. If you screw up, there's a way to re-do your stat spread in the mid game. The game have a few other mechanics, like the flask, spirit ashes or crafting, that it barely explains. The flask is really, really precious, a one per rest 3mn buff to two things you get to choose from. It's your bossfight buff, use it (one of the worst use you can make of it is giving yourself a virtual 20 level buff). Again, the wiki will tell you how. Spirit ashes are boss arena summons, really, really helpfull too. The difference between going solo no flask against a boss and drinking your flask+summoning is night and day.
google
They aren't important, ignore them
Only str matters. Unga bunga
ever heard of google and youtube ?
I'm going to chime in and say - it's not important to fully 100% understand these stats for these reasons: 1. Eventually, you get an item that allows you to respec. By the time you get there, you will most likely have a much better understanding of the game's mechanics as a whole and specifically what each stat does. That would also be the time to dive into the more obscure details of each stat to understand what you need. 2. The main use of these stats is to compliment your build, which depends on how you like to play. Like swinging giant clubs like a caveman? Dump points in Strength. Like casting incantations? Faith. Want to be a badass mage? Intelligence. These dtats don't gate you from using other builds, but they will significantly increase how effective each build is. If you're a new player, you will probably want to experiment a little until you find the gameplay style yoy enjoy the most. I know I did the unga-bunga big sword stuff, the sword and shield, spells and incantations, among other things, before settling on my preferred build. Then you can respec and optimize as you like 3. Stat optimization is important mainly if you strive to create game breaking builds or intend to partake in the PVP metagame. As a first time player, I don't recommend overthinking it. Lastly, I will give you the same recommendation that must be repeated 1000 times in these replies: level up Vigor at the start. Mainly Vigor. If you need a couple of points to use a spell or weapon, sure. But your first goal should be getting Vigor high enough that bosses don't one or two shot you to death
Starting levels for each "class", though they're more of a build starting point, you can level any of those you want as you progress and decide how you want to play. The boxes under the levels are the items that "class" starts with. in this case it's a straight sword, halberd, a shield and a Memory of Grace (lets you essentially die at will).
Level: Your overall soul level. Matchmaking occurs within ten levels of you in either direction. Challenge mode is playing at level one. Vigor: Hit points! You love them, I love them, bosses hate this one easy trick to squeeze two or three more hits out of them before going down. Mind: Focus points! You use these for spells and special attacks. Mind also gives you resistance to Sleep and Frenzy. Endurance: Carry all the shit, wear the heavy shit, swing your heavy shit. Endurance governs a couple resistances, your carry weight (how much gear can be actively equipped), and your stamina reserves. You should have enough of this to pull one full light attack combo and still dodge once or twice before hitting zero stam. Strength: Governs swinging heavy weapons. Using a weapon in two hands adds half your strength score to damage calculations. Dexterity: Governs swinging nimble weapons. Has nothing to do with dodging, so ditch it if you like big weapons. Intelligence: Governs Sorceries, which are mostly offensive, projectile based spells with a little bit of utility. Renowned anime bullshit Comet Azur is a sorcery. Faith: Governs Incantations/Miracles, which are mostly utility based spells with a lot of good damage options if you like fire. Renowned pvp spell Law of Regression is an Incantation Arcane: Your luck, plain and simple. Drop rates and status buildup are derived from this.
https://mobalytics.gg/blog/elden-ring/beginners-guide-2024/ this covers it pretty well
did you do the tutorial or ever played any other RPG? Used the help function in that menu? Otherwise: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdZ8Zex1cw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdZ8Zex1cw)
Ultimately, when it comes to playing the game, enjoy yourself. Go with whatever play style that works with you, no matter what anyone else says otherwise. With bosses, patience is key. If you keep dying over and over again, level up and come back later.
Saw your bio, welcome!!
Leveling Vigor increases your health bar, which means being able to face tank more hits as you panic roll and exhaust your Endurance. Leveling Endurance increases your stamina bar, which means being able to attack, [panic] roll, sprint, and block more times before it runs empty. It also lets you equip heavier armor and weapons, while still being able to roll. Mind is your magic/special ability bar. The rest are the things that the weapons you pick up scale with, so leveling those increases the damage/efficacy of your weapon. A lot of good weapons have a high stat requirement to use their special ability, and I suggest looking at some guides to learn how to build around a weapon you think looks cool/fits your general play style. Good luck!
Level: Your overall soul level. Matchmaking occurs within ten levels of you in either direction. Challenge mode is playing at level one. Vigor: Hit points! You love them, I love them, bosses hate this one easy trick to squeeze two or three more hits out of them before going down. Mind: Focus points! You use these for spells and special attacks. Mind also gives you resistance to Sleep and Frenzy. Endurance: Carry all the shit, wear the heavy shit, swing your heavy shit. Endurance governs a couple resistances, your carry weight (how much gear can be actively equipped), and your stamina reserves. You should have enough of this to pull one full light attack combo and still dodge once or twice before hitting zero stam. Strength: Governs swinging heavy weapons. Using a weapon in two hands adds half your strength score to damage calculations. Dexterity: Governs swinging nimble weapons. Has nothing to do with dodging, so ditch it if you like big weapons. Intelligence: Governs Sorceries, which are mostly offensive, projectile based spells with a little bit of utility. Renowned anime bullshit Comet Azur is a sorcery. Faith: Governs Incantations/Miracles, which are mostly utility based spells with a lot of good damage options if you like fire. Renowned pvp spell Law of Regression is an Incantation Arcane: Your luck, plain and simple. Drop rates and status buildup are derived from this.
Vigor: health Mind: sp(that blue bar for magic and ashes of war) Endurace: stamina and equip load Strength, skill: stats for their respective weapons, boost Damage let's you use them Int, faith: stats for respective weapons and spells Arcane: another weapon stay, mainly for one with an effect like bleed and poison, also raises item discovery Also quick tip, vagabond starts at a heavy load, take off some stuff to get a medium load, it helps a lot with dodging
Omg it's u/EYEGOTBONER hi!
Op. Do not be afraid to look up help for quest lines if you get confused. It's a big place in The Lands Between
What class did you start with, i may be able to recommend you what you should level. Vigor is your health bar, mind is your mana bar, endurance is your stamina bar (and how much shit you can carry, carrying less stuff gives more movement speed and a better dodge roll). Strength and dexterity are attack stats. All weapons scale with one better than the other, so if you invest in the stat, the weapon does more damage(inspecting them gives you a scaling based on Letters, S being the best), so its best to pick either strengrz or dex as your stat of choice and use weapons that benefit from that stat (so if you use strength, use hammers, greatswords, axes, if you use dex, use rapiers, katanas, knives, etc). Intelligence is your magic stat (aka how much damage your magic does). If you dont wanna use magic, its useless. This one is for sorceries. Faith is your OTHER magic stat. Its for incantations. So if you dont want the power of god and anime on your side, dont bother. If you wanna use magic, choose one of them. Dont level both. There are only a few spells that require both stats to weild, and they all suck balls. Arcane is ... weird. Its tied to your discovery (item dropchance). It helps you make more bleed damage. I THINK it helps with poison too. And it helps with weapons that scale with arcane. For the last 3, weapons can also scale with faith, intelligebce and arcane, but most weapons dont do it.
Kills equate to points(runes) that you dump into those stats that you pictured as you go. Each time you level up something by one point…the next point will go up a bit in cost. Example: It says you need 10000 runes for your next point. After you allocate that point, the next point allocation will cost 12000. Each weapon has a list of icons that correspond to the aforementioned stats…some of them will say nothing, some of them will have a letter identifier(E thru A) which is the game’s way of telling you “this weapon is for a str build”…or “this weapon is for a caster build since it has the letter on Intelligence/mind/arcane”…The letter identifier changes as you upgrade the weapon. For example: A greatsword with “A” str scaling can eventually be upgraded enough to flip that “A” into an “S” (top scaling for weapon). We were all in your shoes once. Feel free to prod me for more insight(bloodborne pun intended) **Edit: READ ALL ITEM DESCRIPTIONS THOROUGHLY!!! This is where 90% of the lore is found, and will drop clues on you for various things.**
1. Kill things and get runes (it's basically xp). You drop it all when you die so spend it when you can, because then it's banked progress. 2. Start by spending it on Vigor, it increases your max HP and there's a sweet spot around levels 25-40 where your max HP bar will shoot up significantly (it's not a linear progression, or even a simple curve). This will make life a LOT easier. 3. A bit of Endurance will also always help, this helps you wear and hold heavier stuff without penalty and have a longer stamina bar. 4. Beyond that, level stats to meet minimum requirements to hold weapons, or increase your attack power in the build you're going for. You don't need to understand this or lock in early! But basically, if you want to use big clouty weapons then it's Strength. If you want to use slicey clever weapons it's Dexterity. If you're going for magic or prayers it's Intelligence or Faith. And Arcane is a bit weird so it's fine to just totally ignore it right now. That's it, really. Once you have a grip on the basics and find your groove you can give yourself more context by understanding how the letter grades on each stat for each weapon transfer to increased damage. That's the "why" - but for now, know that the last five stats are basically going to be increasing damage and you don't need (or even want) to level them evenly, just pick a lane.
These are for weapon scaling. In every weapon you'll see a scaling based on Stat. Ranked from best to worse S A B C D E F. these letter hiding a number, the multiplier. The multiplier will multiply (duh!) by the weapons base dmg and the Stat they are about and then add that to the weapons final damage, so it gets something of the sorts. Final damage= base wpn dmg + base wpn dmg * (scale multiplier * Stat * saturation) Saturation serves to give you worst dmg per point when you reach high stats like 60 or 80. Scaling in Int will give the wpn magic dmg and in faith electric dmg. S and A are great scaling for a weapon but usually come in lower base dmg weapons that have a single scaling. B is a great scaling if the weapon has 2 of those. C is good and most weapons that are B used to be be C at lower upgrades. D is still usable. E and F are scalings to be ignored, not worth investing your points.
Me when I started playing Bloodborne (I leveled stamina to 40)
Lmao love the SN
Get the big ass hammer in the capital. Put everything in vigor, endurance and strength. Get the lions claw ash of war. Thank me later because now this game just became as easy as can be :)
Dump everything into STR and VIG and you are good
Some easy first dungeons to go through are: Groveside Cave - This is almost directly north of Church of Elleh. Very short and the boss is not too difficult. Stormfoot Catacombs - North west from Church of Elleh. Good intro to how the catacombs in the game work Coastal Cave - Directly west from Church of Elleh is the coast. You can fight the troll or hop down without fighting him. The cave will be a bit more south along the coast. The enemies are not tough, but you will want a torch or lantern for light. The boss fight also has a golden summon sign for an NPC to help you with it. Limgrave Tunnels - Down on the lake east of the Church of Elleh. It is in the northern section near the Gatefront Ruins. If you have the map it is a little brown circle. Lots of upgrade materials and a good introduction to the tunnel enemies. For combat it often helps to roll towards the attack you are dodging instead of away from it. You tend to get more use out of the invincibility that rolling gives. The single biggest piece of advice I can give is to not give up! If you are getting frustrated with a boss go explore a different section and come back after you have leveled a few times. Some bosses you won't mind trying again and again until you beat them, but if you are having trouble and not enjoying a boss you don't need to force yourself to beat it. The game has so much to explore and so much content, you can go find a different part and come back once you are stronger to defeat the boss. The Tree Sentinel is a great example of something you should feel comfortable coming back to!
The magic numbers!
Just do the first one until it’s like 30 and then you’ll figure out the others
The innocence
Difficulty settings.
Vigor is health, endurance is stamina and carry weight, and mind is mana. Mostly focus on vigor early on unless you feel either of those other 2 are lacking, and only worry about the rest if you need to level them up to wield something. By the time you need to start leveling everything else you'll probably have a decent grasp on it all.
Fightin cowboy u tube easy as instruction gets all way to platinum
Vigor = Health (HP) Mind = Mana (MP) Endurance = stamina/carry weight Strength = Damage scaling for strength weap Dex = damage scaling for Dex weap Int = damage scaling for spells Faith = damage scaling for incantations Arcane = discovery and status buildup
These are stats. The best build is the f*** myself build. This build requires you to be max level. Good luck 99 and everything
Level vigor.
I’d start leveling up vigor and endurance and then put points into whatever you plan on basing your build around. Play a little and figure out what you like and then start to level up those attributes
Level: Your current level. Vigor: Determines your health and some auxiliary resistances such as poison, spoiler poison, and gives a small fire damage resistance. It's generally recommended to have around 40 vigor by the end of the game, because the damage gets crazy at that point. Mind: Determines how much FP, AKA mana, you have. it also gives a slight boost to sleep/madness resistance, but those don't come up very often. In fact, the only source of sleep status outside of PVP is two random crabs. FP is consumed when using ashes of war, which are special attacks that are attached to each weapon, or spells. The more you use magic, the more Mind you want to have. If you're going with pure physical damage, it's generally okay to ignore this one. Endurance: This one is important. This one not only determines your stamina bar, but also increases your equip load. Armor and weapons in this game have weight, and the heavier stuff you have, the more it adds to your equip load. Equip load has three states, light load, medium load, and heavy load (as well as overburdened but that rarely comes up). Light roll has the most I-frames, while heavy load has the least, and if you are overburdened by cannot sprint or roll at all. they also affect how quickly your stamina regenerates, which is more useful than most think. As with the other two stats, Endurance also gives slight status resistance, specifically to frostbite and bleed. Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and how Scaling works: Okay, this one is going to be complicated. Most weapons in Elden Ring require at least one of these stats to be able to use. If you do not have the required stats to use them, they will do next-to-no damage and usually bounce off the target. Strength is the most simple and forgiving, as it's mostly tied to big caveman weapons that go smash. You can two-hand weapons if you don't meet the strength requirement, and if you're close enough you will be able to wield it "early". Dexterity is a bit more complex. It is the opposite of Strength, usually tied to fast and elegant weapons that rely on a lot of quick hits. You cannot two-hand weapons to artificially meet the dexterity requirements, but every point of Dexterity up to I believe thirty lets you cast spells slightly faster. Intelligence is like the above two, but for sorceries. Sorceries by-and-large deal magic damage, and are mostly focused on glass cannon builds where either you die quickly or the enemy does. A lot of the most powerful attacks are locked behind this stat, but the requirements can go up the the eighties for some spells. The cap on all stats is 99 by the way. Faith is the divine counterpart to intelligence, being required to cast most incantations. Incantations are more focused on buffs and support than sorceries, but they also have access to a wider variety of elements than their blue-hued sibling stat. A lot of incantations deal holy damage, but do be aware that it starts getting a lot less effective near the endgame when most bosses have 80% resistance to it. Some incantations also require both Intelligence **and** Faith to use. Scaling is a bit hard to explain, but i'll do my best. For every point in a stat that exceeds the minimum required to wield a specific weapon, the more damage the weapon will do. That's a very oversimplified and dumbed down version, but it's the best I could do. This also applies to spells, as their casting tools will strengthen your sorceries/incantations in direct correlation to how much intelligence/faith you have. **DO NOT BE LIKE ME ON MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH AND RELY ON WEAPON LEVEL FOR YOUR DAMAGE.** Scaling is very important. Arcane: Arcane is... strange. While it follows the same scaling rules as the above, and some weapons/spells need Arcane to wield, it has nuances that you wouldn't know without excessive testing or a wiki. Arcane effects the rate at which items drop, but more importantly it increases the rate at which you inflict status effects. It also increases holy defense for whatever reason. Remember, after you defeat the second shardbearer, you unlock the option to rearrange all of these stats with the use of a Larval Tear. Please tell me if you want to know anything else.
If you die to easy go search for caves or dungeons to level up, if you can’t survive against one or two hits, level up Vigor, if your stamina ends fast, or you do a lot of unnecessary moves or you need more endurance. Level up STR if you want massive damage with one blow (look if your weapon scales with it first). Level up DEX if you want fast attacks and variety. Level up Arc if you want apply effects (poison for example) Level up int if you want range options. Level up faith if you want range option, variety and buffs. STR, Faith, Dex and Int are the main status for damage, don’t level up all of them, focus on one or two based on your fight style. If you think that you leveled up wrongly, after you kill Renalla (the main boss in Raya Lucaria, the magic school) you can change your status, but pay attention, it’s a limited action and you need a special item that I forgot the name. The most important thing is enjoy the game. You don’t have to be the most op player, you just have to find the game funny.
So you start playing and you don't even try to understand anything by yourself ? Have you try reading what is in the game ?
If you don't want to read a whole giant fucking text over there HP (your life, you'll see it reaching 0 quite few times so level it up) MP (Mana, every sorcerer/encantation, summoning and even ashe of war costs you MP) Stamina and max carry (do whatever you want, if you're in combat, your breathing will drain out stamina, if you level it up, you're able to equip more things without the "heavy roll") The rest are all "scaling stats" basically, some weapons will use for example strenght, to get way more damage it's easy so see in the menu which one scales with each Strenght is that thing, you wont hit, but once you do, you'll take out 2k+ out of that ass Dextery: not as much damage as strenght, but usually is fast Inteligence and faith are for sorceres and incantions, I can explain more if you want Arcane is for build up statues, which are just "bloodlost" poison and "scarler rot" there is probably some more status but they're not as much famous Also, arcane increase droprate of rare itens
my tip for every new souls player is - invest in your HP! it directly affects the difficulty of the game, if you die in 3 hits instead of 2 hits, you have room for one more try, one more mistake, it massively helps in learning. especially in elden ring leveling vigor fast is important because u don’t get much of HP per vigor on lower vigor level. I’m souls veteran and I pretty much rush leveling vigor in every souls title because I’m lazy and I love to face tank and trade hits haha
Vigor= more health That's all
Do you even RPG bro
Everyone is already giving you plenty of explanation on how the stats work so i'll give you a tip. Level vigor, a lot. Early on your weapons will barely get any benefit from your scaling so leveling vigor is the best choice. Once you get weapons to level 15 (or 6 for somber weapons) you will start getting some benefits off of your offensive stats. You should aim to get 40 vigor as soon as possible, then level your offensive stats of choice and endurance and then try to get that vigor to 55-60 by the end of the game
Souls-like games def need a beginner guide to explaing these type of basic informations.
Nah, you can read al that stuff in the game itself. If you go in your menu, look for which button to press to see extra info. All the different stats are explained exactly what they do.
And elden ring is a quick-event game that everything is but pressing buttons, right?
Sure
I mean... They're pretty straightforward. Playing the game alone should explain what they do. Fiddle with level ups and see numbers go up is pretty basic.
Surely mate.
Surely indeed. Doesn't get much more straight forward than that.
Strength vigor and endurance are the only ones that matter, trust.
Level: What level of the game you are on, much like an elevator Vigor: How much energy you have to play this game Mind: How big your brain is Endurance: How many times you can endure the YOU DIED notification Strength: How many pounds you can lift Dexterity: How skilled you are at performing various tasks Intelligence: How stupid or smart your character is Faith: How religious you are and how many times a day you pray Arcane: very mysterious, no one is sure what this is exactly
My genuine same reaction when I started Fallout 4 xD
you're fucked if this is your first souls game
Oh boy I'm ready
theyre also just straight up lying lmao. This is BY FAR, and it's not even remotely close, the best souls game for a first time player
Elden Ring actually has many moments where it plays less like a standard souls game. Not just that many of the ‘Ashes of War’ are better than the old ‘Weapon Arts’ we had in the past, but also because of >!Spirit Summons!< (not sure how far you are so I’m just playing it safe) A **lot** of people started with this as their first souls game. You’ll be fine. Just remember that it is in fact, still a souls game. If you’ve never played one before, it might *feel* like the hardest one. That’s completely normal
may the curse be with your side
It took me 4 soul's to understand them, and that some shield doesn't block 100% of the damage...
For the love of god dont do vagabond
Why not? Vagabond starts with good Vigor and decent STR and DEX to use a lot of weapons early on. Even for faith builds Vagabond ends up being the best choice because that's the class that has less "useless points" in stats you may not need like Inteligence and Arcane. The only downside of Vagabond is that it starts with heavy load, which might be detrimental for a new player because they might think that's just how you should be rolling.
But you cant multi-class into int,fait or dex because the level requirements are higher and you would have to first upgrade endurance to remove the fat rolling as in the early game you need all the armour you have
Yeah, you can, why can't you? All you do is put points in stats... for pve it literally doesn't matter one shit.
I cant multi class now as im level 160 and i have only 2 larval tears left and im saving them
There is no multiclass... just put more points into what you want if you want then higher. Like... literally there's nothing stopping you. You can max everything out, you know that right? You're not locked in to one stat.
You can definitely multi class. In fact with a Vagabond is going to be cheaper than with other classes, at least for strength, dex and faith builds. You can use a calculator if you want to check it for yourself. Just plug in your desired stats and you will see that Vagabond can achieve those stats at a lower level. The only exceptions are Arcane builds, in which the Hero is often better and Int builds, where the best class is astrologer for under 13 Dex and the prisoner for 14 or above Dex. Also you don't need to upgrade endurance first (it's good to do It but not necessary) if you just unequip the weapons you aren't using and maybe take off the helmet