Elden Ring, much like Dark Souls, offers players little advice and guidance beyond the basics of the game. Details concerning combat, exploration, and progression are largely unclear, leaving players to learn with time and experience. The lack of player support garners Elden Ring much praise from hardcore action RPG fans but complicates certain gameplay elements, such as stats. Thus, causing beginners much confusion and frustration throughout their playthrough rather than making their first-time experience more manageable.
In Elden Ring, there are eight stats that every character possesses: Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane. These are a character's main attributes that dictate various secondary characteristics like HP or FP. Builds utilize some stats over others to better serve an individual playstyle. As such, players need to understand stats and how they work towards strengthening elements of a character. Only then can they produce characters fit for facing the overwhelming dangers of the Lands Between.
Character Stats
Of the stats that characters possess, each holds varying degrees of importance. Some are beneficial regardless of a character's build, while others are very niche. Vigor, Mind, and Endurance are always worthwhile investments, as they bolster secondary attributes that every character utilizes. Others, however, only aim to serve niche character designs. Thus, players should review what each stat covers and how it will influence their character. In addition, they should consider the stat spread of every available class, determining which best fits their preferred build or playstyle.
Stat | Description | Classes |
Vigor | Attribute governing HP. Also affects fire resistance and Immunity stat. | Hero, Vagabond |
Mind | Attribute governing FP. Also affects the Focus stat. | Astrologer, Confessor, Prophet, Warrior |
Endurance | Attribute governing Stamina. Also affects Robustness. This attribute also determines how heavy your equipment can be. | Samurai |
Strength | Attribute required to wield heavy armaments. Also boosts attack power of your strength-scaling armaments and affects your physical defense. | Hero, Vagabond |
Dexterity | Attribute required to wield advanced armaments. Also boosts attack power of dexterity-scaling armaments, reduces casting time of spells, softens fall damage, and makes it harder to be knocked off your horse. | Bandit, Prisoner, Samurai, Warrior |
Intelligence | Attribute required to perform glintstone sorceries. Also boosts magic power of intelligence-scaling sorceries and improves magic resistance. | Prisoner |
Faith | Attribute required to perform sacred incantations. Also boosts power of faith-scaling incantations. | Confessor, Prophet |
Arcane | Attribute governing discovery. Also affects holy defense, vitality, and certain sorceries and incantations. | Astrologer, Bandit |
Upon doing so, players will have a complete understanding of stats, allowing them to make a viable and capable character. They will know which stats to improve when leveling up and what strategies their characters can best utilize. In addition, players will know what stats to increase when their characters level up, building upon their strengths and compensating for their weaknesses.
Should a player be unhappy with their character's stat spread, they can look into respeccing them. While doing so is time-consuming and taxing, it is well worth the opportunity to respec a character, making them a clean slate perfect for improving upon. With a keen understanding of stats and experience, players can effectively improve upon their character's build or change their focus entirely.
Elden Ring is now available for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S