Strength

Type Main Attribute
Effects Attribute required to wield heavy armaments.
Also boosts attacks power of strength-scaling armaments and affects your Physical Defense.

Strength is one of the Stats in Elden Ring. Stats refer to various properties that govern your character's strengths and weaknesses, as well as how they are affected by interactions in and out of combat. Strength primarily affects a player's ability to wield Strength-based Armaments, as well as the damage dealt by such weapons. It is one of the 8 Main Attributes that players can spend Runes on to level up, increasing the Stat's effectiveness and influencing their relative secondary stats. Stats such as Strength are an important aspect of character progression in Elden Ring.

 

Elden Ring Strength Stat General Information

  • Strength (STR) is a Main Attribute that primarily allows the wielding of Strength-based Armaments (Weapons). It also acts as the primary modifier that influences the damage dealt by such weapons.
  • Weapons in Elden Ring have a minimum Stat requirement that needs to be met before the weapon can be wielded. Most weapons require investment in either the Strength or Dexterity stats, or a combination of both. For example, Ordovis' Greatsword requires 14 STR and 8 DEX to equip. Some weapons may also require points in Intelligence, Faith or Arcane in order to wield. This is especially true for spell-based weapons such as Glintstone Staves and Sacred Seals.
  • Weapons are also given a Scaling Grade denoting the degree to which they scale with an attribute. Each point allocated to the Strength stat increases the damage dealt by weapons with Strength scaling. A weapon with a Strength scaling grade of S will benefit the most from the Strength Attribute, followed by grades A, B, C, D, and E.
  • Note that attributes will incur diminishing returns at higher levels, significantly reducing their benefits after a certain point with regards to weapon scaling. This is often referred to as the 'Soft Cap'. A 'Hard Cap' also exists in which additional points in an attribute returns little to no benefit.
  • When scaling the attack power of a melee armament, like all stats, Strength soft caps differ depending on the weapon and the damage type being scaled. Scaling on physical damage is often 18/60/80 by default, 20/60/80 on heavy affinities and some unique weapons, and 16/60/80 on quality affinities. Strength has a hard cap of 150 when scaling physical damage. Note that in the rare case that magic, fire, lightning, or holy scales on strength, the soft caps are always 20/50/80 with a hard cap at 99, even when two-handing.
  • When scaling the incantation scaling of the Clawmark Seal or the Frenzied Flame Seal, Strength soft caps are 15/30/45.
  • Wielding an Armament with two hands will multiply your Strength with that armament by 1.5. If an armament scales with Strength, it will deal more damage when used two-handed. In addition, strength requirements can be met by two-handing. To wield an armament with both hands, press Triangle + L1/R1.
  • Strength is the only attribute that can virtually increase beyond 99. This is not shown to the player. Wielding an armament with two hands while at 99 strength will grant 148 virtual strength, but 150 strength is possible with the help of strength-boosting equipment. Without two-handing, up to 126 strength can be achieved with strength-boosting equipment. (strength can no longer be increased beyond 99 with equipment. Only wielding a weapon 2-handed increases damage derived from the STR stat at 99 STR).
  • The following armaments are not given a strength bonus when two-handed due to being dual-wielded instead:
  • Note that despite the fact that Starscourge Greatsword is dual-wielded rather than two-handed, the weapon still receives the two-handed strength bonus for non-paired attacks and can be properly wielded below strength requirement when two-handing despite the game showing otherwise. Paired attacks do not receive the two-handed strength bonus.

How to Increase Strength in Elden Ring?

Strength is one of the Main Attributes that players can spend Runes on in order to level up.

  • The ability to level up is unlocked after meeting Melina at the Gatefront Site of Grace.
  • Leveling up can be done at any Site of Grace once unlocked.
  • The amount of Runes required to raise an Attribute increases with each character Level.
  • Runes are obtained primarily by defeating Enemies and Bosses. Certain consumables such as the Fringefolk's Rune can also be used to gain a fixed number of runes.

Strength can be increased by using various Strength-boosting Equipment and Effects:

Level Progression for Strength in Elden Ring

  • Improving Strength grants a small boost to Physical Defense, reducing damage taken from sources of Physical Damage, including enemy attacks and special abilities. Boosting Strength beyond 99 does not increase Physical Defense.
    • +0.33 Physical Defense per level from 1 to 30 Strength
    • +0.5 Physical Defense per level from 31 to 40 Strength
    • +0.75 Physical Defense per level from 41 to 60 Strength
    • +0.25 Physical Defense per level from 61 to 99 Strength

 

Elden Ring Strength Builds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elden Ring Strength Notes & Tips

  • Notes & Tips go here.

 

Stats in Elden Ring
Arcane  ♦  Dexterity  ♦  Discovery  ♦  Endurance  ♦  Equip Load  ♦  Faith  ♦  Fire Damage Negation  ♦  Fire Defense  ♦  Focus  ♦  Focus Resistance  ♦  FP  ♦  Holy Damage Negation  ♦  Holy Defense  ♦  HP  ♦  Immunity  ♦  Immunity Resistance  ♦  Intelligence  ♦  Level  ♦  Lightning Damage Negation  ♦  Lightning Defense  ♦  Magic Damage Negation  ♦  Magic Defense  ♦  Memory Slots  ♦  Mind  ♦  Physical Defense  ♦  Poise  ♦  Robustness  ♦  Robustness Resistance  ♦  Runes Held  ♦  Stamina  ♦  Vigor  ♦  Vitality  ♦  VS Pierce Damage Negation  ♦  VS Pierce Defense  ♦  VS Slash Damage Negation  ♦  VS Slash Defense  ♦  VS Strike Damage Negation  ♦  VS Strike Defense  ♦  Weight



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    • Anonymous

      I know this is a weird thing to say, but I kinda wish that having a higher strength stat would change the way you hold weapons. like great swords for instance where they could've had it be held like a straight sword, and im not saying it should change the move set or anything like that, but a simple cosmetic change could've been a nice way of showing your character being strong, but I can understand it is kind of a pointless and niche thing to have in the first place.

      • Anonymous

        this stat is easy mode, any weapon + lions claw trivializes the entire game and if you disagree your objectively wrong

        • Anonymous

          I used to play sorcery and incantation builds, then I tried strength and it was total easy mode compared to spells. Yes, spells are easy if you're new to the game, but once you learn, strength is far easier with dex a little behind it. I don't have to split my flask between health/fp. I don't have to worry about running out of fp so i can't cast. i don't have to manage 2 flasks. I can tank hits with my phys resist from str and my armor. i can stagger enemies. I can parry enemies. I hit radahn 4 times and he died to my giant crusher, others can kill him in 1. i kill other enemies i would have avoided with spells. I'm no longer a glass canon. All the 1 shot kill videos are melee builds. there is no way I'd go back to sorcery again, I'll stick to melee, the true easy mode. Melee people want to say sorcery is easy mode so they can feel like they're elite, but really, melee is easier for anyone who isn't a noob.

          • Anonymous

            Strength is probably the best it's ever been with the addition of stance-breaking and jump attacks. Enjoy, my friends.

            • Anonymous

              I don't know who decided to start the lie that Strength is bad in Elden Ring but they should be charged with slander. Physical defense boost resulting in the defacto tankiest build type in the game, 1.5 multiplier on two-handing, access to the highest Stance damage weapons in the game for easy and frequent ripostes, holds a practical monopoly on weapons with natural Poise, and if all of that somehow isn't enough, you can now make SPELLS scale with this. A shocking number of 'dex' weapons do better damaged Heavy Infused and two-handed with the same Strength investment, including the Nagakiba. Nothing is stopping you from running fast Strength weapons, or power-stanced Strength weapons or whatever else you feel like. Might not match Arcane or Intelligence for PVE Cheesiness but if you try to tell me this is worse than Dex, I am laughing you out of the room.

              • Anonymous

                Best stat in the game when you pair it up with something. Str int is the most fun you can have in this game

                • Anonymous

                  The key reason I prefer strength over dex builds is that dope boost to defense and damage at the same time.

                  • Anonymous

                    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.

                    • Anonymous

                      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.

                      • Anonymous

                        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.

                        • Anonymous

                          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.

                          • Anonymous

                            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

                            • Anonymous

                              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

                              • Anonymous

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

                                • Anonymous

                                  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.

                                  • 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

                                    • Anonymous

                                      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.

                                      • Anonymous

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

                                        • Anonymous

                                          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

                                          • Anonymous

                                            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.

                                            • Anonymous

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

                                              • Anonymous

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

                                                • Anonymous

                                                  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.

                                                  • Anonymous

                                                    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.

                                                    • Anonymous

                                                      “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

                                                      • Anonymous

                                                        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

                                                        • Anonymous

                                                          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

                                                          • 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.

                                                            • 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?

                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                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?

                                                                • Anonymous

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

                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                    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.

                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                      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.

                                                                      • Anonymous

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

                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                          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.

                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                            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.

                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                              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

                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                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?

                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                  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?

                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                    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?

                                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                                      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.

                                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                                        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.

                                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                                          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?

                                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                                            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.

                                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                                              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.

                                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                                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)

                                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                                  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.

                                                                                                  • Anonymous

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

                                                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                                                      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 :)

                                                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                                                        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.

                                                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                                                          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?

                                                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                                                            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?

                                                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                                                              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.

                                                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                                                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.

                                                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                                                  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..

                                                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                                                    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.

                                                                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                                                                      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?

                                                                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                                                                        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

                                                                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                                                                          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

                                                                                                                          • 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)

                                                                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                                                                              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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