Elden Ring has spent a long time as one of the most mysterious games in development, but that's changing quickly now. Not only is FromSoftware finally sharing lots of details on Elden Ring, but some fans finally got a chance to play the game thanks to its recent network test. So far, the game looks like a worthy spiritual successor to Dark Souls, blending the high stakes combat of FromSoftware's signature franchise with a wholly new fantasy world. There's still a fair few gameplay details to learn, but early looks at Elden Ring's classes make it clear that players have plenty of build options to choose from.
Unsurprisingly, that includes Dexterity based options. Players interested in building a character around Dexterity can choose the Warrior class, which has the highest Dexterity out of the five known Elden Ring classes. It's great to have that option, but admittedly, there's something a little odd about calling such a class a Warrior, rather than styling the class around a more archetypical Dex-based class. The Warrior certainly looks like it serves its purpose within Elden Ring well, but if there's more classes on the way, one wonders what it says about the odds of getting more Dexterity classes.
The Warrior's Role in Elden Ring
When asking an RPG fan to name a class that's based on Dexterity, it's most likely they would default to a Thief or an Archer. Most RPGs, from video games to Dungeons and Dragons, do associate Dexterity with either ranged martial characters or with stealthy, nimble characters. With that in mind, one would expect Elden Ring's top Dexterity class to be something like this. Dark Souls has featured high-Dexterity classes like Thieves and Hunters before that fit comfortably within the stat's typical image, but as far as players can tell right now, Elden Ring doesn't have any of these archetypes.
Instead, Elden Ring has the Warrior. It's the most dexterous class in the game by far, featuring a base Dexterity of 15 compared to the runners-up Enchanted Knight and Bloody Wolf with 12. Warriors start the game with scimitars that they can nimbly dual wield, and they're naturally strong with bows. While it plays the part of a Dex-based class well, the class still feels odd. Calling it a Warrior class evokes the image of a more heavyweight character akin to the Bloody Wolf; if it's meant to be a melee class built on Dex, then the moniker of Duelist or Hunter might have felt a little more appropriate.
The Potential of the Warrior
It's possible that FromSoftware has another Dexterity class up its sleeve, but since the Warrior has such a high base stat already, any other starting class can't go much higher. A Thief class could have slightly more Dexterity than a Warrior, but it would struggle to establish itself as the most dexterous class of all while the Warrior offers such a comparable option. Even if the Thief differentiates itself by trading in durability for more points in Intelligence or Faith, the Warrior would remain highly competitive with the Thief.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. As weird as the Warrior's moniker might be, it could actually be good to have the Warrior as a close comparison to a theoretical Thief class. Dark Souls has lots of classes with somewhat similar stats, so in the long run, it wouldn't be that strange for Elden Ring to follow that pattern. A Warrior and a Thief would simply be tuned for slightly different approaches to Elden Ring that happen to both use Dexterity.
There's only a couple months to go before Elden Ring releases, but maybe FromSoftware will surprise fans with an additional Dex class. If it doesn't, then at least fans will still have the trusty Warrior to rely on for all their dual wielding and archery builds.
Elden Ring releases February 25, 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
