Strength | Elden Ring Wiki

Should've gave some (maybe 1/10th of endurance) equip load too.

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Probably gonna get my head chopped off for this, but I think Dexterity and Strength should've been combined and made into one stat called "Proficiency" or something. They're already basically the same thing since both focus on physical damage and (mostly) infusable weapons. Fire and Lightning affinities should've been given/made exclusive to Faith instead. I also think more consumables and Ashes of War should've scaled with that new, unified stat to give the melee play style a couple more options.

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They called dex skill in bb for a reason.

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Str is honestly really good right now whether you go pure Str or Str/Fth, Str/Int, or Str/Arc you get pretty good weapon variety. A lot of Dex non somber weapons can even be used on str builds since with the two handed bonus you still can get pretty good AR. When set to heavy you can get decent damage with almost any weapon. Str can range from colossal weapons to even smaller weapons like daggers or curved swords. With 15 Dex and the rest in Str you can use almost any non somber weapon. Get to 18 Dex for greatbows if you want to use them. Since you only need 54 str to meet hardcap when two handed you can put those extra points in endurance for heavy armor or into other stats to use weapons like starscourge, Marias executioner sword, etc. I think that aside from certain somber weapons and casting speed (Max can be reached with just Radagon’s icon and azur glintstone staff on int builds with no Dex) that Str just outclasses Dex in the sheer amount of options you have at your disposal. When you get good at hardswapping then str just gets even better.

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I like how even with Dex, all the weapons that require it are listed, but since basically everything that weighs more than zero needs strength, they don't even try.

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The 1.09 strength renaissance is here.

Those dex builds are about to get flexed the **** on.

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I hate the stereotype that Strength is all about huge bonk weapons. It's actually quite a versatile array of strength weapons - greatspears, spears (Partisan), greatswordscurved greatswords, even curved swords like beastman's or serpent god's.

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Weapons that get A or S scaling when made Heavy:

S Scaling
Watchdog Greatsword
Warped Axe
Gargoyle's Great Axe
Brick Hammer
Giant-Crusher
Gargoyle's Halberd
Nightrider Glaive

A Scaling
Dagger
Parrying Dagger
Great Knife
Bloodstained Dagger
Erdsteel Dagger (Also scales D in Faith but deals purely physical damage)
Broadsword
Noble's Slender Sword
Bastard Sword
Iron Greatsword
Gargoyle's Greatsword
Greatsword
Rogier's Rapier
Great Épée
Falchion
Beastman's Curved Sword
Serpant God's Curved Sword
Beastman's Cleaver
Uchigatana
Gargoyle's Twinblade
Jawbone Axe
Iron Cleaver
Executioner's Greataxe
Rusted Anchor
Club
Curved Club
Spiked Club
Stone Club
Mace
Hammer
Chainlink Flail
Large Club
Great Mace
Pickaxe
Battle Hammer
Rotten Battle Hammer
Great Stars
Greathorn hammer
Golem's Halberd
Prelate's Inferno Crozier
Clayman's Harpoon
Lance
Serpent-Hunter (Cannot be infused)
Halberd
Banished Knight's Halberd
Lucerne
Glaive
Vulgar Militia Shotel
Vulgar Militia Saw
Pest's Glaive
Urumi
Caestus
Spiked Caestus
Iron Ball
Star Fist
Venemous Fang
Raptor Talons

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Weapons that get A or S scaling when made Heavy:

S Scaling
Watchdog Greatsword
Warped Axe
Gargoyle's Great Axe
Brick Hammer
Giant-Crusher
Gargoyle's Halberd
Nightrider Glaive

A Scaling
Dagger
Parrying Dagger
Great Knife
Bloodstained Dagger
Erdsteel Dagger (Also scales D in Faith but deals purely physical damage)
Broadsword
Noble's Slender Sword
Bastard Sword
Iron Greatsword
Gargoyle's Greatsword
Greatsword
Rogier's Rapier
Great Épée
Falchion
Beastman's Curved Sword
Serpant God's Curved Sword
Beastman's Cleaver
Uchigatana
Gargoyle's Twinblade
Jawbone Axe
Iron Cleaver
Executioner's Greataxe
Rusted Anchor
Club
Curved Club
Spiked Club
Stone Club
Mace
Hammer
Chainlink Flail
Large Club
Great Mace
Pickaxe
Battle Hammer
Rotten Battle Hammer
Great Stars
Greathorn hammer
Golem's Halberd
Prelate's Inferno Crozier
Clayman's Harpoon
Lance
Serpent-Hunter (Cannot be infused)
Halberd
Banished Knight's Halberd
Lucerne
Glaive
Vulgar Militia Shotel
Vulgar Militia Saw
Pest's Glaive
Urumi
Caestus
Spiked Caestus
Iron Ball
Star Fist
Venemous Fang
Raptor Talons

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They keep nerfing this stat but it just keeps being the king.

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It would be really cool to see the minimum Strength requirement to Two-Hand a weapon.

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str should be for bows/xbows like dex is for spells

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return the table please

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love how half the posts are just dex users trying guts sword and getting angry they gotta play differently

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Remember: It's not strength that sucks, it doesn't suck at all in fact, It's just colossal weapons/swords that suck, Fromsoft really did Ultra Greatsword/Giant Weapon enjoyers so dirty in this game, they are so **** compared to the previous Souls games, Seriously find 1 Colossal Sword/Hammer main who isn't spamming nothing but jump attacks/crouch pokes or Royal Knight's Resolve/Lion's Claw over and over and/or powerstancing them just to again Spam nothing but Jump Attacks and likely Royal Knight's Resolve, Not talking smack about strength, but Colossal Swords/weapons suck ass, not saying you shouldn't use them, but they inarguably suck compared to the other games, any who think otherwise must be seriously in denial.

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If someone more experienced with formatting the wiki could make a table, here are the strength requirements for all weapons.

(NOTE: Weapons with 0 strength requirement are not shown)

4 - Clawmark Seal, Finger Seal, Gravel Stone Seal, Giant's Seal, Godslayer's Seal

5 - Dagger, Parrying Dagger, Glintstone Kris, Reduvia, Torch

6 - Great Knife, Celebrant's Sickle, Ivory Sickle, Scorpion's Stinger, Blade of Calling, Raptor Talons, Demi-Human Queen's Staff, Meteorite Staff, Glintstone Staff, Academy Glintstone Staff, Carian Glintstone Staff, Carian Glintblade Staff, Albinauric Staff, Staff of Loss, Gelmir Glintstone Staff, Prince of Death's Staff

7 - Misericorde, Erdsteel Dagger, Weathered Straight Sword, Rapier, Scimitar, Shamshir, Wing of Astel, Albinauric Bow, Astrologer's Staff

8 - Crystal Knife, Black Knife, Shortsword, Noble's Slender Sword, Cane Sword, Lazuli Glintstone Sword, Rogier's Rapier, Nox Flowing Sword, Varre's Bouquet, Family Heads, Bastard's Stars, Celebrant's Rib-Rake, Whip, Thorned Whip, Magma Whip Candlestick, Caestus, Spiked Caestus, Katar, Clinging Bone, Hookclaws, Shortbow, Red Branch Shortbow, Serpent Bow, Erdtree Bow, Digger's Staff, Crystal Staff, Rotten Crystal Staff, Staff of the Guilty, Carian Regal Scepter

9 - Bloodstained Dagger, Wakizashi, Noble's Estoc, Falchion, Scavenger's Curved Sword, Flowing Curved Sword, Magma Blade, Shotel, Hand Axe, Forked Hatchet, Venomous Fang, Harp Bow, Longbow, Black Bow

10 - Cinqueda, Longsword, Broadsword, Lordsworn's Straight Sword, Warhawk Talon, Carian Knight's Sword, Sword of St Trina, Ornamental Straight Sword, Mantis Blade, Eclipse Shotel, Twinblade, Club, Envoy's Horn, Flail, Nightrider Flail, Short Spear, Crystal Spear, Rotten Crystal Spear, Hoslow's Petal Whip, Urumi, Bloodhound Claws, Horn Bow, Soldier's Crossbow, Full Moon Crossbow, Azur Glintstone Staff, Lusat's Glintstone Staff, Steelwire Torch, Ghostflame Torch, St Trina's Torch

11 - Miquellan Knight's Sword, Bandit's Curved Sword, Uchigatana, Serpentbone Blade, Ripple Blade, Icerind Hatchet, Curved Club, Warpick, Iron Ball, Pulley Bow

12 - Golden Epitaph, Regalia of Eochaid, Sword of Night and Flame, Dragonscale Blade, Moonveil, Rivers of Blood, Eleonora's Poleblade, Battle Axe, Highland Axe, Celebrant's Cleaver, Spiked Club, Mace, Morning Star, Scepter of the All-Knowing, Clayman's Harpoon, Spear, Ripple Crescent Halberd, Star Fist, Light Crossbow, Beast-Repellent Torch
13 - Crystal Sword, Rotten Crystal Sword, Beastman's Curved Sword, Serpent-God's Curved Sword, Monk's Flamemace, Iron Spear, Pest's Glaive, Halo Scythe

14 - Forked Greatsword, Sacred Relic Sword, Godskin Stitcher, Grossmesser, Morgott's Cursed Sword, Jawbone Axe, Hammer, Spiked Spear, Torchpole, Death Ritual Spear, Halberd, Banished Knight's, Halberd, Vulgar Militia Shotel, Scythe, Heavy Crossbow, Crepus's Black-Key Crossbow

15 - Flamberge, Sword of Milos, Death's Poker, Great Epee, Meteoric Ore Blade, Iron Cleaver, Ringed Finger, Partisan, Treespear, Lucerne, Vulgar Militia Saw, Veteran's Prosthesis, Composite Bow, Sentry's Torch

16 - Bastard Sword, Claymore, Lordsworn's Greatsword, Knight's Greatsword, Alabaster Lord's Sword, Dark Moon Greatsword, Golden Order Greatsword, Bloody Helice, Zamor Curved Sword, Hand of Malenia, Twinned Knight Swords, Sacrificial Axe, Butchering Knife, Stone Club, Cross-Naginata, Cleanrot Spear, Vyke's War Spear, Winged Scythe, Misbegotten Shortbow, Pulley Crossbow

17 - Banished Knight's Greatsword, Godskin Peeler, Nox Flowing Hammer, Guardian's Swordspear, Grave Scythe

18 - Iron Greatsword, Gargoyle's Greatsword, Gargoyle's Blackblade, Inseperable Greatsword, Dragon King's Cragblade, Monk's Flameblade, Bloodhound's Fang, Nagakiba, Gargoyle's Twinblade, Gargoyle's Black Blades, Rosus' Axe, Chainlink Flail, Celebrant's Skull, Inquisitor's Girandole, Glaive, Giant's Red Braid, Arbalest

19 - Helphen's Steeple, Zweihander, Dismounter, Omen Cleaver, Stormhawk Axe

20 - Troll Knight's Sword, Godslayer's Greatsword, Onyx Lord's Greatsword, Marika's Hammer, Beastclaw Hammer, Pike, Bolt of Gransax, Lance, Loretta's War Sickle, Grafted Dragon, Greatbow, Erdtree Greatbow

22 - Blasphemous Blade, Large Club, Great Stars, Greathorn Hammer, Pickaxe, Dragon Halberd, Lion Greatbow

23 - Great Omenkiller Cleaver, Envoy's Long Horn

24 - Marais Executioner's Sword, Magma Wyrm's Scalesword, Warped Axe, Gargoyle's Great Axe, Longhaft Axe, Gargoyle's Black Axe, Curved Great Club, Devourer's Scepter, Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear, Commander's Standard, Golem Greatbow

25 - Ordovis' Greatsword, Beastman's Cleaver, Crescent Moon Axe

26 - Royal Greatsword, Rusted Anchor, Battle Hammer, Rotten Battle Hammer, Cranial Vessel Candlestand, Gargoyle's Halberd, Gargoyle's Black Halberd, Nightrider Glaive

27 - Siluria's Tree

28 - Great Mace, Troll's Hammer, Envoy's Greathorn, Ghiza's Wheel

29 - Troll's Golden Sword

30 - Watchdog's Greatsword, Greataxe, Winged Greathorn, Duelist Greataxe, Rotten Greataxe, Hand Ballista

31 - Greatsword, Brick Hammer

34 - Maliketh's Black Blade, Executioner's Greataxe, Axe of Godrick, Watchdog's Staff, Staff of the Avatar, Rotten Staff, Fallingstar Beast Jaw, Jar Cannon

35 - Great Club

36 - Golem's Halberd

38 - Starscourge Greatsword

40 - Grafted Blade Greatsword

42 - Axe of Godfrey

45 - Prelate's Inferno Crozier

50 - Ruins Greatsword

60 - Giant-Crusher

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Please update Oath of Vengeance note. It currently says the buff lasts for 30s, but as of update 1.0.7 the buff lasts for 60s.

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99 Strength with +25 Giants Crusher only nets 996 AR.
That's ridiculously low. Strength 100% needs to be buffed.

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You gain approx +5% Innate Flat Physical Defense , just by having 30 Strength upgraded to 40 Strength in Leveling Attributes. ( The Best cap being 40-to-60 Strength lending you further 15% Innate physical Defense , as in Flat Defense not the Gear Absorbtion Defense Stat ). And from 10STR upto 30STR you gain about +6.6% Flat Physical Defense overall.... This innate Flat Defense does stack with the Armor Defense Absorbtion Gear set-up aswell as Aura and Body Buffs... Keep that in mind this Attribute is mainly good for facing mostly Physical dealing enemies PvE and in PvP. Aside from Scaling STR weapons ofc... That's why you see many Pure Mage builds get 1 shot lol :D

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Strength in Elden Ring is a pretty Essential Attribute honestly... I'd say not just mainly for Weapons and Scaling etc.... But rather the Defense it offers is very High when leveling up between Soft-to-Hard Cap in Strength Attribute. Having from 30STR atleast is essential just as Endurance is for lending you Solid Physical Defense... So i'd say even if you are mainly a Dex , INT or Faith build... Strength comes pretty useful later on specialy around NG+ runs for how Bosses and enemies hit harder.

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So 13 x 1.5 = 19.5 . Is it now 19 or 20?

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Does 2 handing any weapon with slightly strength scaling boost damage? For example, 2 handing a keen nagakiba?

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quality builds should be renamed quantity due to how many damn stat points you need to get decent damage.

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strength should scale how fast you pull back bows/crossbows/arbalests/whatever. it would be fitting since dex scales the cast speed of magic

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You sure you strength builds aren't just trying to overcompensate for something?

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You know whats really chad? Not shaming and ****-talking others based on what stats they level, and what kind of build they find fun, and not going "HURR DURR STRONGTH=CHAD, AND YOU ARE DUMB BETA VIRGIN CRINGE IF YOU ARE DEX!" (OR ANYTHING ELSE FOR THAT MATTER), idc if it's a meme, its become extremely stale and annoying.

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How much strength does an astrologist with a great epee (frost)?

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Why are dex and strength users always at each other's throats?

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the ability to 2-hand above 99 strength means dusty dudongo can actually make his 100 strength build now

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Why strength is the best damage stat:

1. The ability to two hand for a 1.5x boost allows you to get away with investing less strength for a hybrid build, or get you a bit of extra damage even at max strength
2. High strength lets you use the heavier shields, opening up more tank/turtle builds.
3. Strength has the biggest and hardest hitting weapons, but a fair number of fast weapons like the Serpent God's Curved Sword. You can even just meet the min dex and infuse something like an uchigatana for only a slight AR decrease compared to Keen at high dex. Go heavy or light as the situation demands.
4. Strength lets you become the unga bunga caveman you're destined to be.

Spellcasting may be effective, arcane and bleed may be busted, and dex may have great weapons in general, but strength is beauty in simplicity. No flashy gimmicks, no busted mechanics, no other stats needed, just pure strength and power.

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“Nah man you don’t get it strength is fun and for chads” -someone who does absolutely nothing except jumping attacks for the entire game

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Str builds are opposite of Dex/Arc in my opinion. Very easy up until very late game where Dex/Arc get their cancer knife and start to delete everything. I soloed godskin duo without summons easily but on malekith I've given up and popped a mimic. Late game bosses are far too fast for me to solo them. Surprisingly got much better results at PvP than any other builds mainly cause str weapons are fairly easy to use: jump attack, crouch poke, L2 with occasional rolling R2. Also if you sprink some int on top or use equipment you get amazing stuff like radahns greatswords and ruin greatsword which are very good to invade with

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Dont worry strength. Even though you aren’t as strong as what you were in dark souls. I still love you

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Godfrey: "A crown is warranted with STRENGTH"
Malenia: "Your STRENGTH... Extraordinary"
Melina: "Shall I turn your runes to STRENGTH"

Strength is what matters lad and lassies

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"I only need to hit you once, dex nerd!"
-A chads comment i saw here

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Is 66 str worth it or should I stop at 55 if I mainly 2h?

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This is never relevant to gameplay, as far as I can figure, but interesting trivia: While wielding your right-hand armament with two hands, the Strength requirement of your left-hand armament is affected (and vice versa). Like, a red X might disappear. The "modifier" applies to the character and not the item.

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Grafted sword also gives you plus 5 strength if your strong enough to use its ashes

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So, since virtual str isn't capped to 99 any longer, what would be a decent stopping point for quality builds?

Assuming you mostly use 2-handed, is it better to go 54/80 than thr full 80/80? And how about lower levels, 14/20 vs 20/20?

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Forgot the fanged imp head

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When I two-hand a weapon, my strength has a 1.5x multiplier. is that also true with fist weapons that i just equip in both hands if i "two-hand" it?

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if you want easy mode get the rune greatsword from radahn's castle which has S scaling in strength and just steamroll everything

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Is this where all the chads hang out?

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I've seen a lot of claims that DEX is the superior stat because it also includes making spells faster, reduces fall damage, etc. However In my opinion STR builds have always had it easier in FromSoft games, including Elden Ring, for the following reasons:


1. Two handing a weapon increases your effective strength by 50%. That's a huge deal. That means you only have to level strength to 54 to reach the soft cap of 80, whereas DEX builds need to level dexterity all the way up to 80. That's 36 extra points to spend on endurance, vigor, or mind for more tankiness or fp. This even applies to conventially DEX weapons, for example two handing a Heavy Uchigatana with 54 strength does as much damage as two handing a Keen Uchigatana with 77 dexterity.


2. STR weapons have higher damage per hit. At first glance that damage by the numbers you see on the wiki may seem proportional with the speed of the weapons, but the thing is with the way defense is calculated in these games in practice the higher damage per hit weapons do more. With this factored in I'm pretty sure STR weapons do more damage per stamina point than DEX weapons as well, though I'm not totally sure since it's hard to get that data. Obviously with bleed factored in that can change, and in Elden Ring bleed is pretty strong, but even here not all bosses are susceptible to bleed.


3. STR weapons stagger pretty much all enemies and even some bosses while having long range. That means you can stunlock enemies to death before they even get near you, including crowds. Furthermore you have hyper armor when attacking with STR weapons so you don't get staggered as easily yourself.


4. The main drawback of STR weapons is that you need to two hand them to get the best results, which means no shield. But dodging has always been pretty reliable in these games so shields are not that necessary. Even if you want a shield the big STR weapons are actually pretty decent at guarding themselves.


While I like playing STR I actually don't find STR to be the "chad" stat, I find it to be far easier to build for. Whenver I play a FromSoft game with STR I just smash everything to pieces, with DEX almost everything is harder to kill.

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Str builds overall are underrated by the community of Elden Ring. Because everyone thinks that dex builds and katanas are broken in terms of dps, which it's true, but dex builds doesn't offer the survavility and the stagger/stance break that str build offer. I know, some ashes of war can do a lot of poise damage, but with str builds you don't even need ashes of war to stagger the heaviest enemies. I'm doing a run with str/faith character and I'm having an easier time killing everything than my previous dex build run.

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Is STR rounded up or down when two handing with regards to weapon requirements? E.g., does 11 STR become 16 or 17 STR?

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I wish Strength did more than add damage. Make it reduce incoming damage and increase poise - actually functional poise.
Strength weapons are far too slow, so being able to trade hits ought to be a viable Strength playstyle, yet we aren't allowed to.

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I wish Strength did more than add damage. Make it reduce incoming damage and increase poise - actually functional poise.
Strength weapons are far too slow, so being able to trade hits ought to be a viable Strength playstyle, yet we aren't allowed to.

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currently destabilizing the the dogs at caelid with one hit and killing them with 2 hits at 40 str, feels so easy compared to my first run as a squishy faith caster

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So wait, if i two hand with 66 STR and level up to 70 STR my attack goes higher? Does it no longer cap at 99 when achieved by two handing?

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Why can I 2 hand some weapons with half the strength requirement but some weapons I can't even with well over half the strength requirement?

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we need a list that shows what weapons are useable at each strength level

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The correct way to go. Even Melina says "Shall I turn your runes to STRENGTH?"

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The real man's stat

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Ok so I have a STR build with strength at 99, now I see if I level up DEX the attack power goes up, does that mean DEX increases my damage for strength weapons?

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this page links to a bugged version of Ordovis' Greatsword that doesnt exist in game

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correction: level 20 does not add defense and resistance, the poster mistook up overall level giving defense as a buff. There a numerous similar error in the table.

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This chart is wrong. Strength does level up defense more than other stats, but this chart is tested at a low level and therefor the values are skewed to also take into account natural defense gained by level. At around the top meta cap (150), if you had 99 strength you would have around 180 defense, versus around 140 with minimal strength. The soft cap for defense increasing with level is actually level160 (putting you at ~140 with no str). If we take the dark souls 3 chart into account

1. - If DEF >8x ATK, deal damage equal to 0.10 * ATK
2. - If DEF >ATK, deal damage equal to (19.2/49 * (ATK/DEF-0.125)^ 2 +0.1) * ATK
3. - If DEF >0.4x ATK, deal damage equal to (-0.4/3 * (ATK/DEF-2.5)^ 2 +0.7) * ATK
4. - If DEF >0.125x ATK, deal damage equal to (-0.8/121 * (ATK/DEF-8)^ 2 +0.9) * ATK
5. - If DEF <0.125x ATK, deal damage equal to 0.90 * ATK

a whole 40 can easily be enough to take attacks down one defense tier and drastically reduce the damage taken. Especially true for split damage and multi hit attacks.

For example, one hit out of a multi hit attack does around 400 damage. 400 * .4 = 160, which would make the difference between strength invested vs non strength invested. In this example, that attack would be moved up to tier 2 defense calculation from tier 3. This is also why things like RoB wreck lower levels but do not have the ahmagawd damage at higher levels.

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I'm confused. The wiki, and in-game tooltips, say that increasing Strength specifically increases your physical defense. But when I go to level up in-game, raising literally any stat increases my physical defense, and by the same amount. Are we sure Strength is actually giving a defense bonus that other stats don't?

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i like doing str/int build, both have nice addition on ur defense, and u have myriad choice on weapons too, if u want to go slow but have massive dmg u can use any type of collosal weapon u want, and if u r tired of slow attack there's also quick attack weapon viable for u (beastman curved sword & gargoyle twinblade is the best for me) and u can do ailment build like cold & bleed while still having pretty decent durability & raw damage.

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In the beginning, I always raise my STR, VIG, and END in equal measure. Then I focus on getting END to point where I'm medium load. Then I raise VIG so I don't get one shot. Then I raise STR to higher levels.

Honestly, I don't think END is a luxury for STR builds. Wearing good armor and having excellent stamina regen has saved me scores of time. Beating bosses more about exploiting timing and taking advantages of the weaknesses than hitting slightly harder. Weapon ashes are game changing to the point where I think any STR build would not be disadvantaged by putting some points in MND. I have utterly dissolved some bosses with weapon ashes. Then there's also spirit ashes which are pretty handy as well.

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Kinda sucks they removed equip load with strength since hyper armour is gone. Now strength builds NEED endurance for poise while other builds its more optional. I like equip load being tied to Endurance but STR should have also gave you some equip load (maybe 30% of how much endurance gives)

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Strength does not cap at 99 when you two hand in this game, that needs to be corrected on this page.

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It's possible to get your strength damage ok over the 99 limit in this game by two handing. At 80 strength you will get the effect of a "120" strength when you 2 hand your weapon. No point in stopping at 66 strength.

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Strength scaling is currently still broken on heavy infused weapons, weapons will lose attack power upgrading past +19

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''A crown is warranted with strength!''

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Alright, I've seen a lot of flak for STR in the chat, so I'm going to drop some of my knowledge (read: informed opinion). This is how I strength build, and why:


1. While leveling, STR > VIG > END, with the caveat of having enough equip load for the biggest hammer and coolest rags. Probably should balance health as you level, aiming for 40 VIG / 66 STR. The physical defense from STR is key, saving you from having to level END except as a luxury (gosh, those are some really nice rags...).


2. Greathammers (the bigger the better to intimidate your foes), while not your only choice, are a great entry as they stagger most foes (justifying low attack speed) and deal strike damage (best for hitting rocks/armor). You can get a large club or great mace early, but play the way you want!


3. Greatshields -- you have the STR, so they're always an option. I'm a shield user since always, despite the tiny e-peen that gives me. No END, no problem -- stability helps oodles, and there are talismans, physicks, and ashes out there as well. Less END is more damage, and let's be real -- that's the priority here! Make sure to release block in between boss attacks to regenerate your stamina and dispel the notion that there's no skill involved. You can get a gilded greatshield very early.


4. S P A C I N G . You are slow, but you hit hard. You can't expect to play a Greathammer like you'd play a Katana -- R1 spam is not (always) the play. Learn your moveset and predict enemy movement. What you lack in attack speed, you make up for in hyperarmour (look it up) and stagger. That leads us to our next point...


5. Stagger! Don't just take advantage of attack windows, __make__ attack windows and smash smash smash!!! Tall skinny angry jerks are usually great candidates for a 3-4 hit combo, made possible by your friend Stagger. Leonine Misbegotten? A ha ha ha haaa.....


If running around as a shirtless maniac wielding a giant club doesn't make you happy, you might not be content with a STR build. I don't care what blue magic katana does on paper, I'm all about intimidating my foes with the giant-ness of my blunt force trauma. I want big hits in small windows, stagger-lock to deal with tall angries, and a whopping great shield to hide behind when big bosses wombo the crap outta me.



Ultimately, I recommend just giving it a go sometime. You just might like it :)

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A lot of people in comments don't seem to understand the benefits of Strength. In addition to increasing your attack, almost all weapons have at least some strength scaling and all weapons and shields have a strength requirement. You can also further increase damage by 2-handing a weapon and this increase is based on your strength. Heavier weapons, which require higher Strength, are also much better at damaging poise.

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Does Strength even actually increase defense? Your defense increases as you level up. Are we sure that Strength's listed increases to defense are due to increasing Strength and not just from leveling in general?

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my keyboard and mouse don't seem to have a triangle or l1 or l2 key........................

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I just tried doing the fights. 6 out of 8 attempted fights had a frost/bleed build, 4 of them both. Dude, what the **** is going on. Is everyone running these builds now?

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https://i.imgur.com/OKqIpwB.png graph for weapon damage based on strength levels 12-99. Simple notes levels 1-20 100% efficiency, 21-80 55%-35%, and 81+ 13%. So the major soft caps are 20 and 80. At level 55 for 5 levels there is a very weird discrepancy in the diminishing returns so you could consider that a soft cap as well but not as major as the others.

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As the description describes there is no soft caps for Str/Dex scaling. All weapons have diminishing returns but no exact soft or hard cap. It's possible there are soft caps every ~2-5 levels or so but even then that doesn't seem to be the case when looking at damage numbers. Which is awesome if you ask me, there is no set number when you should stop putting points in. If anyone tells you there is a soft cap at 40 or 50 or 60 that's just not right. Every point after the other lowers the efficiency.

Due note though this does not apply to int/faith. Both int/faith scale linearly till 50 at which point there is a pretty big soft cap lowering their efficiency immensely. Unless the int/faith applies to the physical damage of the weapon then it's the same as str/dex but I think only 1 weapon has that property.

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So all scaling is pretty much trash on weapons, spells and mind(though going high on mind is useless passed 50s) till after 20 then you hit a lil cap 40-50 than really high up it goes up again till 80s... Unlike previous games where you can see the scaling go up solidly from low levels to soft cap you won't really see **** till 20s-30s..

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STR seems so weak in this game compared to sorcery and dex. :/

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From personal experience I'd say that softcap is at 80 because before 80 I was getting 3-4 atk by points on my A rating colossal sword and when I got 80 it lowered to 2, also I powerstance so my other colossal sword was getting 2 atk by points (B rating) and at 80 it only gets 1 point, I don't know if this is the real softcap but it seems like it.

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When leveling up, why does it say STR increases armament 1, and Dex increases armament 2? Does this mean the weapons dmg changes with each slot it's in?

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After 1 hour of test i find its very close to :

5 load or less = 15% damage boost
15 load or less = 10% damage boost
after 15 load it become realy fast useless so be sure to keep your load lower that 15

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My Str is at 25
And my Dex is at a 20
My weapon is a level 5 with an attribute scaling of D do I need to upgrade my Str and Dex to get it to a C or B

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Anyone have any data, anecdotal or otherwise about softcap? From person experience, I was only getting 1 point of damage per 1 point of strength 2-handing a B scaling weapon from 37 to 38. I then 1 handed the weapon and tried the same thing and was getting 3 points. Suggesting a Soft cap is at most 55? (37*1.5)

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Honestly? Good that they moved equipment load to Endurance. Strength builds would have been crazy SAD if they'd kept weight tied to this one stat.

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Strength no longer governing equipment load kind of sucks, but getting rid of the separate stat for equipment load altogether is nice. Only 3 stats to level for a strength build.

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This needs to be changed, strength no longer increases equipment load.

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To clarify the two-hand damage bonus description: similar to previous FromSoft games, two-handing your weapon effectively grants you 1.5x your strength stat to equip heavier weapons and deal more damage. For example, if you have only 10 strength you can still weild weapons requiring 15 strength by two-handing. Also, two-handing a weapon with 66 strength effectively grants you 99 strength, meaning you'll be dealing maximum damage with strength scaling while two-handing for much less stat investment.

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Look how they massacred my boy

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If the change to endurance being the equip load stat now is true, then we might see dagger builds in full plate armor while heavy weapon builds are stuck in rags lmao

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I find this change to be concerning due to *potentially* limiting build diversity, but I definitely see the great deal of positives especially with how the gameplay works overall. I like this change.

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I think that tying equip load to strength is a very good improvement!

Think, not only are strength weapons heavier than dexterity, but strength weapons are also usually slower, and thus require poise to be more effective, which is what the equip load will lead to (heavier armor = more poise). Plus, dexterity has it's load of freebies too, those being fall damage/cast time.

... and sure, this would be broken if this was DS1/DS3/whatever other game. But this ISN'T those games, it's being designed with this from the ground up, and if they can balance it right, this will make the PvP, need I say, more bonkers and varied than ever. (I could write like a 2 page thesis on why this is a good change I swear)

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so what from software do when they see everyone playing strength and rarely try other builds ? yeah make strength more powerful , couple with the fact they added DS1 poise back and no mention on getting more iframe with low weight armor means its thing are even worst

PS: don't be tricked by giant magic spells , they cost tons and tons of FP , there is good reason nobody use soul stream despite its strongest miracle damage wise in the game , now as magic build you need strength to wear armor and dex to cast faster and arcane for future spells that require them

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the virgin dex vs the chad strength

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It would be so amazing when this stat increases the equip load

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Best stat!!!! Only level this!!!!

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