Classes | Elden Ring Wiki

good website

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my favorite boss is godrick the grafted

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Wretch class for me. Allows me to be any build I want. I use up larval tears like it’s nobodies business. I just now finally got my dream build

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The prisoners lost their faith...

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Ten classes, Ten save slots

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How to make an efficient build:
Have at least one stat tied with or lower than a base stat of the other class' for each other class (preferably lower imo).
It's called minmaxing

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Free build guide for newbies: pick Bandit, go to Murkwater Cave, and get carried by Yura to beat up the NPC invader Nerijus. Might need to sneak in a few backstabs when they're focused on each other. Now you have Reduvia and can spam the weapon art to win 98% of the game. Just dump stat points in Vigor until it's 40 and then you can level up Mind to 20 if you don't like drinking Blue Flasks as much. After that you can level up Endurance as needed for whatever Armor set you want to wear without hitting Heavy Load, and you can level Faith up too if you want to use *Golden Vow and/or Black Flame's Protection for the extra damage and defense. They both stack so they're very effective defense tools together

You can leave Mind at 15 and leave Faith at 20/30 for *GV or BFP if you plan to use Godrick's Great Rune, and you can reduce those Faith by another 5 if you're fine with swapping to the Two-Fingers Heirloom every time you want to buff, such as if you mainly use em before boss fights. You can reduce em by another 10 with the Flask of Wondrous Physick. You can redistribute points later in the game, so it's fine to "waste" some points now and shuffle them around later. You'll mainly want things that increase survivability or skill damage / bleed synergy (such as a certain headgear and talisman that both increase your damage big time when any Bleed effect takes place). Of particular note is the Warrior Jar Shard, which you can get in the 1st zone of the game if you kill a certain NPC. It gives a 10% increase, whereas if you finish the character's questline you can get a better version with a 15% increase... in the last zone of the game, when the final boss(es) are immune to bleed anyways. The character dies either way, so it's up to you if you want to have a weaker buff for 99% of the game or the stronger buff for maybe 5%. You can get the stronger version in New Game +, so it's not locked out forever.

After all of those baselines are met, then just level up Arcane. 60 is a fine stopping point, but 80's still a decent increase. This is your main damaging stat since it makes Reduvia proc bleed faster, but it's strong enough with base stats that you really don't need to worry about it until everything else is taken care of. There are only a few bosses in the game immune to bleed, but by the time you reach any of them, you'll be late enough in the game it won't be hard finding other weapons to swap to. It's such an easy build that you can start on at the beginning that most people consider it almost cheating, but if you want a casual playthrough without needing to rely on summons, it's perfect.

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For any newbies looking at this page and wondering what the heck to do, stop wondering. None of these starting stats really matter that much unless you're really intending a very, very specific final level and setup for minmaxing. Your first playthrough can be whatever you like. If you pick a caster starting class and then want to bonk stuff, just level STR or DEX later.

Pick something that looks like it might be good to you and start playing. You're not going to find out you made a horrible mistake in 6 hours and have to restart as long as you focus on leveling your health and main damage stat. Minor spoilers, too: in an area designed for level 50ish, there's a way to change your stats.

Don't stress and start playing.

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I picked Confessor and i dont know what im doing lmao, my souls vets bro alrd warned me to not, but i beat the game yaaay!, and see u friends in DLC(i bought it)

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I feel like samurai and vagabond are objectively the best classes, but wretch and prisoner are significantly funnier.

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So, IDK why these comments and Youtube comments as well are so focused on trying to justify the Wretch class. Let's take their argument that minmaxing isn't that important and most new players won't care about it (which is obviously false but ok).
That would still make the wretch class godawful. You literally start with no armor, one weapon and no spells. Unless you've already played ER or are just godlike at picking up games (I struggled as a Souls vet), you're gonna have a terrible start to the game doing no damage and taking a ton. And let's say you use everyone's favorite weapon Rivers of Blood later in the playthrough; you'll have wasted stats in faith and intelligence. Or if you're a strength build you'll have wasted stats in dex, arcane, faith and intelligence. People should understand that, unless you're going to level 200+, the wretch is easily the worst class but it's a master of nothing and doesn't allow for optimization of stats.

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Dark souls I start deprived, Elden ring I start wretch, 10 in all stats, level 1, a club to bonk enemies with, find all your items and nothing given to you. Best class to start with.

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Choose prisoner, funny helmet

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Samurai and Vagabond are two of the best starting classes in souls history

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If you're not starting out as a naked club, I have to question whether you're really playing the game. ;^J

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Here's an explanation of the upsides and downsides of choosing a specialized Class vs choosing Wretch:

In the short term, it obviously can let you start off in a better position to choose a non-Wretch class, although Wretch is perfectly viable too. If you want to cast spells, though, starting as a wretch will delay that since you have to get a staff and/or seal before you can (and your incantation selection especially is pretty limited at first). For staves, your options in Limgrave are the basic glintstone staff (this is dropped randomly by wandering noble mages but there's one guaranteed to drop it under some rubble a little south west of Sorceress Sellen) and the Demi-Human Queen's staff, which you can get in the Weeping Peninsula. For Incantations the only seals I know of that's strictly in Limgrave is the Dragon Communion Seal from Fringefolk Hero's grave, which can be a tough dungeon if you're new and requires 2 stonesword keys, and the Godslayer Seal from Stormveil Castle. You could also get the Clawmark seal from Gurranq. Other than that you could probably rush to buy a Finger Seal from the Roundtable hold or the Astrologer's Staff from a Nomadic Merchant in Southern Liurnia.

In the long term, the main concern is what you can respec to. You can never respec your stats below your Class baseline. This means that depending on your build, your class may let you be effectively several levels higher than a Wretch at the same rune level because it took points from your dump stats to add to ones you wanted. However, if you end up wanting a build that doesn't use the stats that start higher than 10 for your class and you want to use the ones that were lower than ten, you'll be worse off by several levels than a Wretch. In essence, this means that if a Warrior and Wretch both do the same build that doesn't use Faith or Arcane but uses at least 11 Vigor, 12 Mind, 11 Endurance, and 16 Dex, the Warrior's important stats will be 3 levels ahead of the Wretch because Faith and Arcane (which you don't care about anyways) will use a total of 3 fewer points, meaning they can go to more important stats since the sum of all of a characters stats is always equal to 79 + RL. But if those same characters respec to use Dragon Communion Incantations, and ignore Dex entirely, suddenly the Warrior will have 6 more dead points stuck in Dex than the Wretch, meaning the Wretch will be effectively 6 levels ahead. If they decide they want a build that uses exactly 12 dex, the Wretch would only be 4 points ahead because only 4 of those Dex points are unwanted, and if they decide they want a build with more than 11 Vigor, 12 Mind, 11 Endurance, 16 Dex, 10 Faith and 10 Arcane, then there will end up being no difference. These level differences can be more extreme in classes with stats further below 10. This means that if you know exactly what build you want to do for the character, choosing a class that aligns with that build will make your character stronger than a class that doesn't align with that build. Even if you end up wanting points in the stats that start low somewhere down the line, as long as you still want the stats that are higher than 10 in class, you'll be no weaker than a Wretch at the same level (though you could be weaker than a different class at that same level with the same build). On the other hand, if you don't want those stats that are higher than 10, you would have ended up being better off as a Wretch. The maximum benefit of a specialized class (compared to the same build on a Wretch) is 7 points as a Hero build that makes good use of Vig, End, Str, and Arcane but does not want more than 9 Mind, 9 Dex, 7 INt, or 8 Faith, and the maximum detriment from a mismatch between class and build (when compared to the same build on a Wretch) is 13 points as either Hero, Astrologer, Vagabond, Prisoner, or Samurai, if you somehow made a viable build that doesn't want more than 10 in any of the stats they start with extra in. Realistically, the detriment would likely be much less because many builds benefit from at least a few points in stats that aren't their primary, and all builds can make use of Vigor especially (and to a lesser extent Mind and Endurance, since every playstyle has a way to utilize FP (unless you refuse to use weapon skills, I suppose), stamina, and equip load). When all is said and done, the difference these stats make may be noticeable but can be made up for by practicing. That said, if you know what for sure what you want to do and there's a class designed to do it, there's no reason not to take that class. If you aren't as confident in what you want long term, Wretch is a safe choice.

TL;DR the difference can end up being minor depending on how extreme your build is, but if you are strongly committed to taking certain stats and ignoring others, take the class that already does that. If you want to be able to completely what your build is later on, Wretch is safer. Essentially, Wretch can do anything at an average level, and the other classes will be better at some things than Wretch (best case is 7 levels better as a Hero if you never go above 9 mind, 9 dex, 7 int, or 8 faith and make full use of your other starting stats) and worse than Wretch at others (theoretical worst case is 13 levels worse but it would generally require a very weird build to get that bad). This difference can be pretty big early on, but the higher level you are the less difference each new level makes. If you've never played a FromSoft game before, I recommend choosing a class that does something you think sounds fun and sticking to that playstyle until you're used to the game mechanics. It'll make the early game easier, and if you want to change later on in the run the difference in stats matters less due to your higher overall level and you'll hopefully have the skill to cover for it. Worst case for PvE you can grind runes for a bit. Not sure how it'd work out for PvP since I don't really play PvP.

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the game is so hard, i almost die on starting class selection menu, so hard to pick between Samurai and Vagabond

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With how much discussion there is about best/worst classes and stats layouts I feel fromsoft should make an option to choose your own starting stats, you choose your stats (5 being the lowest you can go in a single stat maybe?) and your starting loadout, and the classes above can just be suggestions on possible paths you can take

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So basically, Samurai is a better Bandit?

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I've been doing a bit of stat math this morning since I have nothing better to do today, and because I've been seeing some people in these comments say that there are "other classes" (vague) better for respeccing than Wretch. This is not true. The only stats that every class will want in abundance is Vigor and Endurance, every other stat being interchangeable depending on the build. If you disregard Mind, Wretch has the lowest spread between all other stats at 50 (Hero is a close second at 51, but has 1 less Mind which is still universally useful). I made a few test builds in a calculator to find the level difference between Wretch and the optimal class for each build and Wretch never seems to go more than 5 levels above the minmax. The higher level you go, the less this is going to matter. Obviously there is no right or wrong choice for what class you want to play, but unless you really care about squeezing the absolute most amount of damage out of your build (I'm talking about maybe 10-20 AR), the 5 level difference between Wretch and minmaxxing won't matter. And besides, if you find yourself in a situation you really need those 5 stat points, there are talismans for exactly that! I'm seeing a lot of Wretch hate but for me I'm going to want to try experimenting with different builds and the ability to change it up if I get bored without having to play through a whole new character just to get a few extra points of damage.

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I posted this in a comment down below but I didn't think anyone would get to see because the original thread was so far down so I'll post it here again. If you read this comment page you would think arcane is there to mislead you into wasting money, however, even on characters that are not arcane focused I still like to have a little arcane. The reason is discovery, which determines how often enemies will drop items. One tip that even pro players seem to forget is that farming is not just a way to get items, it is also a way to get levels. As you kill enemies you get money. As they drop items, you get things to sell for more money. Of course, don’t sell anything that you don’t have multiple copies of, but if you do have multipules then you can sell them to get more money to level up with. More arcane facilitates more drops which means more money. This is especially useful early on because if you find ten swords that sell for 100 runes each that is a free level. Keep finding swords and sometimes it can fill that tiny gap you have left between runes that you have and runes that you need to level up.

— The Fist of Fury

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If you don’t use arcane: pick vagabond 100%
If you use arcane either warrior (str) prophet (fai/dex) prisoner (int)
Confessor has good drip and starts with a broadsword, they probably thought it out as a GO class with enough str and dex to wield sonaf, but unless you want to dabble in dragon communion/blood incantations, vagabond is much better even there.
Wretch is for people that don’t want to do multiple playthroughs, and the price to pay is horrible stat spread.
Warrior is literally trash, only useful to showcase powerstancing early on
Bandit suffers from low faith, which screws it over since faith and arcane have exceptional synergy, making prophet overall better, or even prisoner, if, for some reason you want to use the bubble attack
Samurai isn’t inherently bad, but you can get the nagakiba right at the start, which out lassed the uchigatana hard, and low arc/faith is a problem, not as much that this class is trash like warrior, but still, if you don’t want arcane on your “samurai” just pick vagabond, even moonveil, will enjoy having to spend one less point for golden vow
Astrologer is horrible, completely outclassed by prisoner, has 1 more faith just because, the starting equipment and stats forces it to only rely on range, when prisoner can rush in saving Sellen in order to have both melee and ranged option, alongside 6 faith.

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I've restarted so many runs cuz classes can get some attributes below 10 and I wanted to minmax for a possible build. Also larval tears are lame, they couldn't just give free respec could they? You already lose smithing stones by changing your build mid-game. My point is this game doesn't allow you to experiment much. You find a cool weapon but its the opposite of your build so you respec and then end up not liking it and so on and so forth, now you lost a shitload of stones and larval tears, not to mention starting as say a hero then changing to a dex or int is so wasteful

This is why I've been researching all the info I can find bout this game cuz I just want a stable run with a build that I settled on

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do an all cerulean flask prophet build sometime, its so fun. You have soooo much fp this way and u can still heal, albeit a bit risky

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Why is confessors level considered a negative?

Sure, the higher your level, the higher the cost, but starting at a higher level means you get the previous levels for free.

Compared to the wretch who has to spend a couple thousand runes just to match.

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Vagabond is better than wretch for people who don't know what build they want to do.

If you end up trying to do a magic build early game, then with either class you're not going to be able to use pure magic. So Vagabonds better equipment and melee/general stats help compensate for when magic won't cut it.

Also consider that when Vagabond spends an extra level to get to 10 int/fth, wretch still needs to spend an extra 5 levels just to match Vagabonds vig. Even for an arcane build that's still 2 extra levels in Vagabonds favor.

And once you get to mid game, the difference won't matter anymore.

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Here's some info to help pick a class based on starting stats:
A value of 10 in a stat is average
Vigor is proportional to heat resistance
Mind is proportional to madness and sleep resistance
Endurance is proportional to cold resistance
Strength is proportional to grip strength
Dexterity is proportional to joint flexibility
I don't know what intelligence is
Faith is proportional to conviction
Arcane, I think, is willpower. It grants resistance to "living in death" (deathblight) and to holy attacks

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I chose prisoner to use magic glintblade as my starting spell

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If you come here from demon souls,pick confessor.
If you come from ds1 pick hero.
If you come from ds2 pick warrior.
If you come from ds3 pick vagabond.
If you come from BB pick bandit.
If you come from sekiro pick samurai.
For anything else pick the one that rings a bell.
I'm not forcing this, Just do anything to feel like lands between is your own home. Don't even care about meta. Just do whatever you want and enjoy it. Be it reviving your other souls game experiences.
You've got enough time to grow, so rest here for now, and share a toast with us, Long may the sun shine! [T]/

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"Although some classes may have higher or lower total points than other classes, their levels are also varied. By 10th level, every class will have 89 points."

—What the Christ does this actually mean?

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Hero best class for strength pvp since you gain extra 5 stats, if you only level vigor, strength and endurance.

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Questionnaire/flowchart to help pick the right class for you:

- Are you doing a RL1 run OR just don't know what you want to do yet and want max flexibility to respec later?
Yes: Wretch
No: Next question

- Do you care about min/maxing and not going above PvP meta?
No: Pick whichever one you want
Yes: Next question

- Are you planning on using sorcery OR planning on being a INT/FTH hybrid?
Yes: Astrologer (slightly better than Prophet for hybrid due to lower arcane)
No: Next question

- Are you a faith focus OR a melee focus that plans on using at least a little bit of faith for buffs?
Yes: Prophet
No: Next question

- Do you plan on being a bleed/status effect focus with high arcane?
Yes: Bandit if Dex co-focus, Hero if Strength co-focus
No: Next question

- Are you a pure Strength, Dex or Quality focus?
Strength: Hero
Dex: Warrior
Quality: Vagabond

The rest still work fine if you like their starting equipment and just want to have fun, the classes above are just for min/maxing for a chosen focus. Otherwise starting class matters less and less over the long run, while some classes are objectively "better" than others depending on your focus it's rarely by much so bottom line just do some experimenting and pick what you feel is right for you.

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Doing a strength build? Hero
Doing a strength build but you want access to more than like 5 weapons and definitely don't care about bleed at all? Vagabond
I hope this helps.

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My stupid brain won't let me have stats at anything but multiples of 5 so as far as I'm concerned anything but wretch is pointless.

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So... whats the difference between samurai and warrior apart from starting equipment?

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No class should have less in an attribute than what Wretch has. Wretch should be the absolute baseline.

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level 351 on samurai allows all play styles 50 vigor 50 mind 50 endurance 60 strength 50 dexterity 70 intelligence 50 faith 50 arcane

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For most builds, it is the Arcane that is the most useless characteristic. Look at Arcane level and you will understand who is really worth starting the game with. The choice is literally between a Vaganond (the highest physical stats) and an Astrologer (the lowest physical stats).

The levels are priceless, especially in the later stages, so think about whether you really need 9 Arcane or are the knight's stats (Vig, End, Str) actually more useful?

The commentators who think that the Wretch is the best class laugh the most.

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Vagabond's Arcane 7 is not weakness. )))

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Wretch is S++ class.

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i messed up so bad by picking prisoner and then choosing to do a faith build after i unlocked respeccing. the end-game was brutal af because i was utilizing my levels so poorly but it felt too weird to respec back into int after using incantations for so long so i ended up just suffering through it lol. i have no idea why i even chose that class to begin with, i was never planning on doing an int build i must've been high or something.

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my favourite class is wretch because you can take the teleporter behind the physick church get radagons soreseal, grab the uchi and gold pickle to get 100k souls to put into whatever you want

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Wretch because I constantly change my builds to bring myself refreshness, easier for me to reallocate the points. Also that's why wretch's been my first choice for soul series except for DS1 where almost everyone would start with thief.

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Wretch because I constantly change my builds to bring myself refreshness, easier for me to reallocate the points. Also that's why wretch's been my first choice for soul series except for DS1 where almost everyone would start with thief.

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95% of builds can be effectively min/maxed at RL125 by choosing either Prophet or Astrologer. Given this only matters if you care about wasting as few points as possible, at not much higher levels than meta your starting class becomes basically irrelevant so in that case pick what's fun for you.

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I overthink and second guess everything, but I have never regretted picking deprived/waste/wretch. With any other class I'll agonize over base stats and builds for literal days, but there's something about wretch that just feels right. It puts some part of my neurotic chimp brain at peace, and I can move on. Thank you wretch.

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Every starting class meets the weapon requirements for the torch

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S-Tier - Hero, Vagabond, Samurai.
A-Tier - Astrologer, Bandit.
B-Tier - Prisioner, Prophet.
C-Tier - Confessor, Warrior, Wretch.

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Damn, that class art is really nice.

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Assuming you want a weapon/scaling that needs or has a requirement for strength and dex for a faith fighter build, Vagabond is actually better then the confessor or prophet (min-max of course) since the total of his arcane and int (the two you don't use) are lower meaning less wasted points.

Neat

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i think most people think way too hard of which class is the best, this barely matters in the long run

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Wretch level 1 being a green stat is technically correct, as it requires its own kind of strength.

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For my comment below I forgot that The Man in the Iron Mask has many renditions, but the 1998 version with Leonardo Dicaprio is the most talked about.

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The prisoner class seems inspired by the movie "The Man in the Iron Mask" due to the mask, cloth, prisoner concept, and thrusting sword. In the movie, The Man in the Iron Mask is royalty. The prisoner class is also very similar to the royalty class in Demon's Souls, the armor of said class (wizard set) is in the prison area, so inspiration for this could have been back when Demons Souls (2009) came out (11 yrs after the movie, which was 1998).

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Wretched. Always

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Start with Vagabond and you will get one of the best looking set in the game

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All the classes have the same net sum of stats, and I heard most weapons don't get as much benefit from quality build. Therefore, pick the class with the lowest some of points you don't need; wether its in stats you wont use, or in stats you don't need to level up beyond Stat requirements for items.

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Samurai is very quickly OPed. In 5 min, you run to deathtouched catacombs and get a 2nd uchigatana which will take you all the way to the final boss.

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The best advice I could give to any newcomer is to pick a class with high vigor and endurance, for you are going to use that when you reborn to whatever you want

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sick

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Just gonna say, prisoner is a more diverse starting class, able to go to an Int. or Dex. build, since it has around 14 in both of those stats

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Just use a class calculator with the stats you need for your build if you need to optimize your character perfectly, anyone reading these sprawling paragraphs of advice are gonna say "I'm still not sure" anyway. Get the exact math and get back into the game, I promise it's less tedious than agonizing over your starting class.

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Stop telling others how to min-max their classes oh my gosh, what benefit do you get from others being min-max ?? Also half of you don’t even give good advice anyway..

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For lv125 that doesn't use soreseal
For pure str, str/dex, pure dex or dex/faith: because good weapons in this category usually need 16+str, therefore hero(if str of weapon more than16, 9 mind is enough for pvp,or14mind pve,while the same time you only need 12dex) or vagabond(other situations, you may also choose samurai, just 1more mind which may be useful for some ash of war)
For arc(including arc/faith):hero(unless you need16faith14mind, if so you can also choose prophet),bandit wastes point in int.Also cross naginata needs 16str so hero's 16is not wasted
For pure int:depends on weapon you use,prisoner(str more than11, while the same time dex more than14) or astrologer(others)
For pure faith: depends on if you need14 mind, and the str/dex of weapon you use:hero,vagabond or prophet(if you only use very low str/dex weapons like coded sword as melee in pvp, need at least 14mind, want to use blasphemous blade in pve with soreseal or godricks rune ).
For int/faith:depends on if you need high mind: astrologer or wretch(better than astrologer if you only need very low mind)
For jack of all trade: really?you don't have a plan for your build?Then clearly a little waste in points wouldn't hurt you.Choose Wretch or whatever class you like.
If you use soreseal or if you forcus on low(er) level pvp, or you focus on pve co-op rather than invasion/duel, the best choice might be different. For example:wretch waste more points than others in almost every builds:but all 10 means you can meet many weapons'/spells' requirements with the help of two soreseals, and other equipments that boost your attributes. So it's a very good class(may be best) for invaders of very low level.
For lv150 or more, don't bother a liitle waste in points.

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Why the bandit has the higher Arcane?

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Best starting class: Wretch
You godda lern to club a seal before you can kill god
The stats are 10/10
Nr 1
Chadclass

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So, unlike Dark Soul 2, almost all the classes start with a shield?

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Wish rebirth allowed you to respec stats lower than what you class starts with. Full 9 points in intelligence wasted on my build

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For pure builds:
Str: Hero
Dex: Samurai
Int: Astrologer
Fth: Prophet
Arc: Bandit

For hybrid builds:
Str/Dex: Vagabond or Samurai
Str/Int: Astrologer
Str/Fth: Prophet for 11 dex or less, Vagabond for 12 or more
Str/Arc: Hero

Dex/Int: Astrologer for 10 str or less, Prisoner for 11 str or more
Dex/Fth: Prophet
Dex/Arc: Bandit for 10 str or less, Samurai for 11 or more.

Int/Fth: Astrologer or Confessor for 12/12 str/dex, Vagabond for anything higher.
Int/Arc: Don't try Int/Arc you have minimal options and they all suck.

Fth/Arc: Prophet

Try not to focus three or more stats unless you're very high level or you'll spread yourself too thin and be weak. Get the minimum stats to wield your weapons than then focus one or two.

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Am i the only one who wanted vagabond to come with a great sword like a claymore

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most stat efficient choice if you're going for an int/fth pure caster build is astrologer due to low physical damage stats and higher int/fth, while keeping arcane on the lower side as opposed to the other casting based classes

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Would've been interesting if each class started in a different region of the map. Would help in keeping things fresh on new playthroughs, at least.

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Wretch best class

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if u choose the wrong class just use whatever weapon works with ur current stats the best and build around that until ur able to rebirth and change everything to what u want. it takes more time, more runes, and makes ur build even worse when u try to level up the stats u want with the current build u have

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going samurai for dex/faith

low int and arc with good dex
and just a healthy amount of endurence

not to mention the swag rags and katana power-stance 10 minutes into the game

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Mfs drew the vagabond so cool and mysterious but in game he looks so not that

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Fun fact: Assuming you intend to get some Str on a class (for shield and/or a decent melee armament) and intend not to go full glass cannon, the Hero is by far the most versatile class when respeccing. This is because the hero has "downstats" (under 10) which benefit every single class with surplus points, and no "upstats" (over 10) which do not benefit most classes.

If you intend to try different builds, therefore, but intend to stick to a single character, I strongly recommend the Hero, as opposed to the commonly recommended Wretch. This has the added advantage of decent early game gear (though to be fair, the Club has made its return as a powerful Str weapon, and going naked forces you to learn the game better).

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what would be the best class for early game int/faith?

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I did some computation on the classes to see what combinations were the least compatible with each other. This is that data, it contains the level penalties required to change from one class to another

--------------------key---------------------
the starting class
max level possible for that class
the worst respecs in format: [extra levels needed, class to respec to]
##############################################################
hero
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[19, 'astrologer']]
------------------------------------------------
bandit
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[11, 'hero'], [11, 'prophet']]
------------------------------------------------
astrologer
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[18, 'hero']]
------------------------------------------------
warrior
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[13, 'hero'], [13, 'prophet']]
------------------------------------------------
prisoner
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[15, 'hero'], [15, 'prophet']]
------------------------------------------------
confessor
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[15, 'hero']]
------------------------------------------------
wretch
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[8, 'astrologer']]
------------------------------------------------
vagabond
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[17, 'astrologer']]
------------------------------------------------
prophet
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[14, 'hero'], [14, 'astrologer'], [14, 'vagabond']]
------------------------------------------------
samurai
max level: 713
worst respecs: [[15, 'astrologer'], [15, 'prophet']]
------------------------------------------------
##############################################################
all class penalties
--------------------key---------------------
the starting class
class respec penalties in format: [extra levels needed, class to respec to]
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hero
[[0, 'hero'], [13, 'bandit'], [19, 'astrologer'], [12, 'warrior'], [13, 'prisoner'], [12, 'confessor'], [13, 'wretch'], [7, 'vagabond'], [14, 'prophet'], [9, 'samurai']]
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bandit
[[11, 'hero'], [0, 'bandit'], [10, 'astrologer'], [5, 'warrior'], [7, 'prisoner'], [6, 'confessor'], [8, 'wretch'], [8, 'vagabond'], [11, 'prophet'], [6, 'samurai']]
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astrologer
[[18, 'hero'], [11, 'bandit'], [0, 'astrologer'], [9, 'warrior'], [6, 'prisoner'], [9, 'confessor'], [13, 'wretch'], [14, 'vagabond'], [13, 'prophet'], [12, 'samurai']]
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warrior
[[13, 'hero'], [8, 'bandit'], [11, 'astrologer'], [0, 'warrior'], [4, 'prisoner'], [7, 'confessor'], [10, 'wretch'], [8, 'vagabond'], [13, 'prophet'], [4, 'samurai']]
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prisoner
[[15, 'hero'], [11, 'bandit'], [9, 'astrologer'], [5, 'warrior'], [0, 'prisoner'], [9, 'confessor'], [13, 'wretch'], [10, 'vagabond'], [15, 'prophet'], [7, 'samurai']]
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confessor
[[15, 'hero'], [11, 'bandit'], [13, 'astrologer'], [9, 'warrior'], [10, 'prisoner'], [0, 'confessor'], [11, 'wretch'], [10, 'vagabond'], [7, 'prophet'], [9, 'samurai']]
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wretch
[[7, 'hero'], [4, 'bandit'], [8, 'astrologer'], [3, 'warrior'], [5, 'prisoner'], [2, 'confessor'], [0, 'wretch'], [5, 'vagabond'], [5, 'prophet'], [5, 'samurai']]
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vagabond
[[9, 'hero'], [12, 'bandit'], [17, 'astrologer'], [9, 'warrior'], [10, 'prisoner'], [9, 'confessor'], [13, 'wretch'], [0, 'vagabond'], [16, 'prophet'], [6, 'samurai']]
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prophet
[[14, 'hero'], [13, 'bandit'], [14, 'astrologer'], [12, 'warrior'], [13, 'prisoner'], [4, 'confessor'], [11, 'wretch'], [14, 'vagabond'], [0, 'prophet'], [13, 'samurai']]
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samurai
[[11, 'hero'], [10, 'bandit'], [15, 'astrologer'], [5, 'warrior'], [7, 'prisoner'], [8, 'confessor'], [13, 'wretch'], [6, 'vagabond'], [15, 'prophet'], [0, 'samurai']]

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Wretch is only viable option.

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I feel a bit confused about what class means in this game. I understand they have different stat initialization points, but is some point important as we can get community when leveling up? I choose Samurai to defeat Tree Sentinel as soon as I started playing this game, and really wanted to use that weapon, but according to people, Samurai is not suitable for it? Should I choose a different class and try to beat T.S again?

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best classes for min maxing from my research assuming you lvl up vigor, mind, and endurance (im 5 playthroughs in and i finished wretch, prophet, bandit, confessor, and hero)

hero - pure strength (you can also do str/arcane or str/faith optimally but it will match with prophet if you do anything more than 9 dex)

bandit - pure arcane (if you level up to 11 strength and no int/faith it will be optimal, if its 12 it will match with samurai, and if its 14 it will match with hero aswell, if you put any faith and i recommend prophet will match at 10 strength and will be better at 11 assuming you leveled up dex a little bit)

astrologer - int (if you lvl up dex to 14 and str to 11 prisoner will be better, if not this the perfect class for raw sorcery spam)

warrior - dex or dex/int? (this class is the second to worst min maxing wise only first being wretch, i can hardly make a build with it and i'd say if you're doing dex do samurai, if you want int hybrids do prisoner/astrologer, it will only match samurai if you have 10 str and it will be "better" if you intentionally skew your endurance)

prisoner - int/quality (when i mean quality i mean if you lvl up str or dex whatsoever above 11 and 14 respectively it has the lowest stat and that is faith with 6 out of any class any other stat wise)

confessor - int/faith (sounds weird but this will never be better than prophet faith wise, if you want some holy spells aka putting some int in with little or some arcane or you want to do int/faith at 50/50 12 str and 12 dex gives perfect amount for s&f which is one of the only weapons that natural scale besides the casters, clayman harpoon, and erdsteel dagger)

wretch - all around or rl1 (my first playthrough i did wretch for fun and over leveled to 200 something and have everything state wise, fun class but not optimal in any means)

vagabond - quality (it's the best stat wise for quality and matches with samurai if you do 11 mind, and if you do anything past 14 str and dex it matches with samurai too stat wise, really good all around class)

prophet - pure faith (if you do no arcane vagabond is better but if you pump into str and dex it will match with quality and if you do no dex and str/faith hero is better, personally my favorite class)

samurai - pure dex (if you lvl 14 str or more vagabond matches but if not samurai better, if you do dex arcane bandit will match but samurai will still be optimal)

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This entire article forgets to mention the Memory of Grace starting item

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First time i play souls type of game, since i come mostly from PC experience, I am enjoying most aspects of the game open world and rpg alikeness to other rpg's I used to play. I tend to feel like i`m playing some sort of Diablo 2 3D in a Disciples world, mixed with a path of exile tint, also seeing some resemblance to guild wars 2 weapon/skills system. I found it extremely difficult at start when trying to fight bosses, starting with not such a good choice (bandit). I moved to a prisoner mostly based on int sorcery which was way easyer to advance with. I played about 50h so far and still find it difficult to play a more melee class. So what would we some good steps to improve on defeating bosses/minibosses with a melee class? I tested a bit and enjoyed the dual wielding warrior, watched some videos but it still seems to me to be hard to take down bosses, unless you are really have alot more levels higher over it.

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Which character can use both magic attacks and knights class attacks at the same time

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Idk why fromsoft omitted putting a plank shield or equivalent to the deprived (wretched) in their games after ds1. Especially here in ER, the tutorial tells you to guard before it tells you how to two hand; its probably just me wanting a proper flow in the tutorial part.

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How do I know which class suits my playstyle best?

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Update:
Hero - Strength fighter, Samurai - Dex fighter
Warrior - DexFaith, Confessor - StrFaith
Vagabond - everything high (quality) except low Arcane
Astro - DexIntFai, Prophet - StrIntFai
Prisoner - Int-Arcanist, Bandit - Faith-Arcanist

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what is the best class to use spear?

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Use mugenmonkey to find out what the best class to pick for what your trying to do is. The worst feeling is trying to respec but you picked some dumb class like bandit at the beginning and have a set 15 in a stat you dont want

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The wiki is useful for gathering empirical game data for convenience: everything else is subjective. For example, the Astrologer starting class is great for my battle-astrologer run beyond the stats: I get weapons and spells that I'd otherwise need to purchase with additional runes had I chosen Vagabond. I could still go with Vagabond should I desire it, but I enjoy using the spells ASAP. If I want more Vigor to endure more hits, Endurance for more armor options, Dexterity to utilize a longbow for increased range with physical attacks or Faith to utilize additional ailment-curing incantations, then I spend those points ASAP while leveling is cheap since my Intelligence is perfectly fine in the beginning: the availability of additional sorceries, upgrade materials and staffs can satisfy the damage requirements until I'm ready to invest in more Intelligence later on. Again, use the information collected here to then calculate your personalized conclusions.

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I wonder why they renamed the Knight class from Souls games to Vagabond. Makes it sound so much more negative

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Vagabond actually winds up being the best class for faith builds, assuming you will be leveling endurance above 10 eventually, it has the most "free" points from 7 arc and 9 int, stats you could realistically never level above 10 in a faith character. Prisoner is the best for int builds because all of astrologer's "free" points are lost as soon as you level vigor, end, and str above 10. Possible to avoid but you'd be limiting your character quite a bit.

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Doesn't matter, you will be required to waste points in intelligence, faith, and mind no matter what class you choose. Magic is OP as usual. Armor is **** and mobs will do stupid crap like cartwheels and will be able to change direction in the middle of one if you try to dodge and hit you anyway. You will also be invaded every 3 minutes by the griefer friendly, forced invasion, garbage pvp system making coop play cumbersome, annoying, and extremely slow.

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Why on earth are there so many "the best"-lists on every page on this wiki? Who curates them? Why?

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Vagabond and Samurai have the two lowest combined INT/FAI/ARC out of all the starting classes, making them good for going all in on pure strength, dexterity or quality (str/dex for newbies) builds. Samurai has slightly higher drop rates.

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I like the samurai, his stats are balanced and his starting weapon can be viable all the way to end game, and you can have two +6 uchis early.

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Who is picking these best classes and best weapons on this site? Most are terrible, yes wretch is a decent starting point with everything at 10, but if you know the build you want most classes offer you a stat below 10 so you can specialize better, wretch is a jack of all trades even at re-spec and a huge beginning handicap, definitely not the top class imo.

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Tip for picking classes: Pick whatever class suits your playstyle :)

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try finger but hole

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