Wretch is a starting Class in Elden Ring. The Wretch is the “deprived” of the game. It starts at level 1 with 10 on all stats and just a club for weapons. It is the weakest starting Class in Elden Ring, and should be selected by those who want an added challenge in the earlier parts of the game. The Classes only determine the starting Stats and Equipment of the player, but as the game progresses, players can freely change their build to their preferred playstyle.
As poor, purposeless and naked as the day they were born. A nice club is all they have.
Wretch Starting Equipment for Elden Ring
This class starts with the following equipment:
Starting items for Wretch in Elden Ring
This class starts with the following items:
- Memory of Grace
- Player choice of Keepsake
Wretch Builds in Elden Ring
Wretch builds coming soon!
Elden Ring Wretch Notes & Tips
- Due to it's lack of starting equipment, this Class is best recommended for experienced Souls players, or for players that are looking for more challenge
- Although the Wretch is the least optimized for any one build, the lowest starting level and evenly distributed stats make them ideal for players new to PvP wanting to dabble in different builds since they can respec into any other build and be fairly efficient at it. Significantly easier than going through the game with an entirely different starting class just to try a new build.
- Since start of the game does not have any non-optional boss, starting with this class is easier than in previous games.
- You can get your first armor set by farming Godrick soldiers near Groveside cave entrance.
- Notes, Tips, and Trivia go here
AnonymousAlways want this to be a class that player can allocate stats somewhat which will probably never happen. I have to confess that I always use trainer to allocate the stat since I barely use incantation or magic so I reduce those stat and Increase other instead but I never increase it more than my lvl.
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I always pick this while adhering to the meta pvp levels just to drive min/maxers crazy
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Best class ever, merchant sees you walk up basically butt ass naked holding a big stick. "I sell armor, you know, and my buddy down on the beach sells a nice sword. Go pick some plants. I'll buy them off you, and we will get you started." That started the best friendship I ever had. I love my elden Santa. Where would I be without you, buddy? Still naked and laying in a ditch, that's where. Rags to riches baby! Wretch all the way! Wooo!
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why this class not have shield like other classes ? it took away the parry option
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Never used these classes back when I played Dark Souls, but lately this has become my class of choice simply because it makes you appreciate your early game loot more. When you start with basically nothing, scoring even weak gear is an upgrade.
Jack of all trades, master of all. If you gonna respec and try out different styles this is the best class. Even the most optimized one, too, for some builds
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I liked the simplicity and meaning of it: some rags, a club and "go meet your destiny" kind of thing
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The gelmir staff and many magma sorceries conveniently require 10-15 fth, which is the exact range a strength intelligence wretch build is efficient with.
Plus you can pick up rancorcall relatively early
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Don't see any real difficulty for this class even as a new player. I mean just go to the Gatefront Ruins after the tutorial to farm some plate for yourself and you are no longer naked or level 1. So it's pretty much the hardest if you intend to stay naked for the whole playthrough.
Started a fresh Wretch character after picking up the game on a Steam sale last week. Was thinking yesterday about working up to a bash n poke build using the Guilded GS and Partisan spear. Stealth killed my way over to the knight at Gatefront, picking up a trusty Lordsworn SS to do battle with.
Lo and behold, he dropped both the Guilded AND a Partisan the FIRST TIME. I will probably never have that kind of luck again. God I love Wretch.
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personally, i start with this class and then dupe 99 larval tears; then you will never have to make another character, just respec. mage? no problem. melee unga bunga? has you convered
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Someone told me there's a different ending with only Wretch build, is that true cause i couldn't find anything on the internet.
Personally, I greatly prefer starting at level 1 with universal 10s across the board.
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god i love starting out at pure base 10s. give me the most average stats. make my character Normal
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Best starting class first playthrough if you want to really feel like you're a stranger to the lands.
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Good class for people willing to try different builds during one play through but at the end starting class makes very little difference for anyone not participating in PVP and not trying to stay under certain level.
This was my first character in elden ring as I preferred its flexibility and I thought it would be fun to bonk enemies with a club
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Ah yes, the OCD "all my stats need to be at multiples of 5" class. :)
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The best starting class in the game!
Gives you tons of options and allow you to respec later to go any route you want. You won't be lacking in anything and min/maxing you stats are for more experienced players who knows what arcane does etc. Here there is a nice level playing field and it's the only class suitable for a mix of int and faith.
My recommendation for new players is simple, get this and find everything! :D Get yourself all the fashion in the game, all weapons and spells and spend your time figuring out what to use and when. Test everything and enjoy figuring out what is weak to what. Be sure to just get your stats to the minimum level that you need for each weapon as this class excel at diversity, the rest should go into vigor to get you some leeway to make more mistakes so focus that once you feel like you have the stats for all the weapons you wanna use for now. And be careful with what you choose to strengthen as you can't get everything to max.
Oh and good starting locations to grind some early souls is Patches cave and the place where several giants walk around, just be careful during night time... ;)
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Why does the picture look like Agent 47 if he was a cavewoman?
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Real talk, this start is good if you, like me, tend to restart you character pretty often. With this, you can have 10 in all stats at 1, and as the game progresses you will be able to respec if need be.
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bro i can't with this game no gamehanging next gen fun
all jokes love all the ds games that mean bb ds 1-3 ssdt and OH RISE YE TARNISHED
I've found that the Wretch is the most optimal class for any build following these conditions: 1.) You need no more or less than 10 Strength and Dexterity 2.) You need 10 or more Intelligence. 3.) You need 8 or more Faith. For example, an optimal Clayman's Harpoon build would want 80 Intelligence to cast a max power Scholar's Armament using Lusat's Glintstone Staff onto a Standard Clayman's Harpoon, and 25 Faith to cast Golden Vow, 12 Mind to cast both of those spells without needing to drink, and no Dex or Strength investment beyond the minimum requirements of the weapon (the 2 points needed to reach 12 Strength can be made up by equipping the Omensmirk Mask, or the Haima Glintstone Crown), with the rest of the points going into Vigor and Endurance to maximize survivability.
Kinda wish this class started with absolutely nothing (just bare fists) like in DS2
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I was not sure what I will build going into this game. Somewhere in starting area found this weapon "Cipher Pata" with 30 Faith req. After that I was like: "Huh, I guess I'll try faith fist weapon. After i got weapon to +4 I was finally able to take down Margit boss. All it took 24 lvls and about 8-9h of playtime :D
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happens to be the only class that starts with a strike weapon, unlike Dark Souls 1 and 3 which had at least one class with the mace
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Best starting class for the first run since it's the only time you won't know every usefull item's location.
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since this was my first soulslike game ever with 43 years i tought its a good idea to start as wretch ^^. way was hard but now at ng 7+ i think it was the best choice at all.
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I think the Wretch is good for a first playthrough, not because it's masochistically hard, but because 10 in all stats lets you experiment with weapons and spells far more than the game would normally allow. I tried all sorts of low level weapons, shields, and spells with 10 in requirements until I got a good feel for what I should expect from the game.
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I usually use Wretch as my early game workhorse until I can respec when I have more levels. Some builds really don’t get good until midgame or even late game, so having a template that I can change later is really nice.
- Anonymous
The biggest benefit to me of choosing this class is that it starts out at level 1. Most of the other classes are level 5 or higher. By the time the Wretch gets to level 5-10, you can have them specialized in something while still retaining a 10 in the other statistics. Even with that though, some of the other specialized classes make far more sense. If you wanted to make an intelligence/faith hybrid build, it works decently enough compared to a lot of the other options since the only stat you inevitably wont put any points into eventually is Arcane.
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Not only is this class basically a clean slate stat wise, it’s also a clean slate lore wise too. You can decide how he became deprived or if your character was always like that.
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The only reason I continuously choose wretch / depraived is to satisfy my OCD with the smooooooth 10s
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10 in all stats is a waste, i wish there was a way to freely assign the initial 80 stat points
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why the artwork be lookin like female patches with no stuff on
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Nothing wrong with this Class, TBH. It's not difficult starting out. For 600 Runes you can buy a shield from the first merchant, and start guard countering enemies. You will spend more time exploring for equipment, but that's part of the appeal of this class. Every piece if armor, and weapon you pick up? You honestly consider using it, because all you got is a club.
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first thing i did was go the wretched route on my first playthrough. wretched gang where you at?
- Anonymous
Played and beat the game with the other 9 classes, saved wretch for last. I like the blank slate and am clueless what to do with it!
- Anonymous
I always play souls games with the deprived equivalent class currently at level 40 in every stat because I got lost more than the socks you lose in the laundry. I can do a little in everything and most “non viable” weapon load outs are the best ones for me. The Carian knight sword for example with its 3 stat distribution is great. I like the idea of starting with a stick and dream.
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Me, completely clueless about the game, starting as an ugly as hell naked guy: "Well, I'm not into it, let's try, die and never start the game again"
Me, after a few dozen of hours in the game:
*Psychotic sounds of wooden club violence*
My first playthrough of Elden Ring is going to be this class. I've played DS1 a TON but this is my first more modern FromSoft game since trying DS2 when it came out. Wish me luck
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honestly I prefer using the wretch. it really isnt all that hard to get some earlier armor and a weapon. and using a wretch is just such a good blank template and rebirthing with it is honestly so nice
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Wish I picked a melee class like hero or samurai. Every build needs melee stats (maybe not PVP only builds..) but not every build needs int/fth
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Pick this if you don't know where you're going yet and minmax'ing for PvP is not on your mind yet, as you simply want to play through the story at first. You start with a club and struggle your way through limgrave until you find or buy your first set of armor and new weapons. You character will grow as your knowledge of the game grows.
The option to reskill (around midgame) allows this class to go into all builds easily.
40 Vigor, min. 18 Endurance, and another main stat at 40 while having the min. requierements for everything you want to use, is a good goal for midgame-lategame. Good luck, my fellow wretch connoisseur!
I've always picked this class and it's equivalent in every souls game and then regret it later when I wanna pvp because it's bad at min maxing the stats lol. Especially in this game where building a new character is a bit longer than previous games.
- Anonymous
This class is best for competitionist!
Many of you have several characters, each specializing into something. But you really don’t need to do that with this game! Instead, chose this class and level up everything evenly with increments of 10 starting with arcane. Level it up to 20. Pick another stat, repeat.
This game is about the gear, not so much about your level! You can quite literally be every class with one class. Sure, it will take you 10 times longer, but it’s better then playing 10 separate characters.
Arcane will allow you to get gear, and let you suit up specialized gear that’s required Arcane. You will be able to suit up every single type of gear the game offers.
Once all stats hit level 20, and you farmed all types of beginner level gear, you can chose what character you want to play that day, or that hour.
This also opened up more strategic game play. You can morph your char into whatever on the fly.
Also, even though you may only have 20 points into everything, and yet your a level 90, (seems like your gimped on paper) your not gimped at all. Because each level also builds up your defenses, especially Arcane. Arcane also helps with vitality, and more. It all scales.
For instances. You might be a level 90 with 20 strength, but your defenses are off the charts because your a level 90. Tanky as hell.
Another thing to consider, you don’t have a skill level cap under 99. So why not slowly build your God character?
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Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind but now I see
- Anonymous
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind but now I see
- Anonymous
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind but now I see
- Anonymous
wretch. seems overpowered and unpowered all in the same note. if done right can out level just about ever class of there main stat. the only 3 classes that even come close to having a stat that matches or over takes are the Prophet (which matches at level to level) or the Astrologer which beats it by one. the bandit has arcane that can match at level. combine that with items... Having experience will help if playing as a wretch. it is more newbie friendly than previous souls games though I still recommended getting experience from the other classes to learn what playstyle you want. :)
- Anonymous
Best class for respeccing when you're still trying to figure out what you want to do, as is typical for the "Naked guy" class in FS games. Of course, you don't get to minmax like picking prisoner (lowest faith) or prophet (lowest int), but that's the price of not specializing from the start.
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This is my first from software game and i started with wretch, i pretty much farmed in the camp near the beggining of the game and the soldiers there ended up dropping their entire set of armor and sword, plus the shield i bought and i got to lvl 10, i'm feeling pretty good about it, game got a LOT easier once i got the sword, so the practice with wretch gave me a good beat down to get ready for the rest of the game.
- Anonymous
No bonus level and no equipment (to sell or use) just means you miss out on free runes the other class gets. Probably not much, but a lot early game
- Anonymous
the best start in the game. this is the only real way to mold your character. You start with all equal stats so nothing leans toward anything
- Anonymous
Wretch is probably one of the best classes to start off as. Find yourself a shield early on, even just buy it from the first shopkeeper you meet, and you can easily take out most mobs by guard countering with your club. Being level 1 means it costs much less to spec into any weapon you would pick up in the early game, with a 10 baseline being great for most equipment anyways. In my first playthrough I used the club until I beat Margit and never struggled too much.
If you want to totally cheese the early game its pretty easy, though I suppose this could be done with any other character too. Take the stone sword key as your keepsake and go grab the dragon communion in the fringe folk heros grave. From there go get Torrent the spectral steed and grab the Reduvia from Bloody Finger Nerijus. If you then head over to Elder Dragon Greytoll you can hit his tail with a bleed weapon until he dies. Gets you 5 dragon hearts you can use to get some really busted dragon incantations. Insta kills most enemies and groups.
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after getting torrent and bell. everyone should head straight to caria manor and get hoarfrost stomp. farming easy mode regardless of class. long run up there but saves ridiculous amount of time. when not farming i have bloodhound's step addiction
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As poor, purposeless and naked as (they) day they were born. A nice club is all they have.
^ (they) -> the
someone please edit this, thank you
- Anonymous
There is literally no downside to wretch. You can easily defeat most enemies with an non-upgraded club and you gain a few extra points in stats due to starting at lvl 1 with a baseline of 10. I find it impossible to pick any other class as you're cucking yourself out of 2-3 stat points for what? Decent gear that is easily replaceable within an hour of farming the knights where you find the whetstone. Wow.
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why do we have to sacrifice everything only to be able to setup our starting stat points, so outdated, give us stat retribution in character creation already ,
play this so i am not stuck with low faith or int, some gear needs that,
spend 1st 4hrs refusing melina, best decisions of my life as a wretch ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
- Anonymous
Probably the best class to chose!
You get a badass club and are free to distribute yoir stats however you want
I just hate it from a roleplay perspective
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I took a wretch and if you explore a bit (which is kind of the point of the game) you don't come out badly. In fact, being able to build freely is good. 4 hours in and I was lvl 11 already and found/bought good equip that I used until lvl 24 or so.
I'm not even a DS player and did just fine.
Highly recommended if you like a little challenge.
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Had to go in naked with the toothpick, although good gear is pretty difficult to come by in the early game, so the first 10 to 20 lvls as a wretch are a pain in the ass. It does catch up to the other classes pretty quickly though.
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"A poor purposeless osd naked as they day they were born. A nice club is all they have"
I think its supposed to say sod, not osd.
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What's the best starting gift for the wretch?
Imo it's probably the Golden Seed but I'm not too far in.
In DS3 the firebombs were arguably the best just to speed up the first part. Opinions of best starting gift for a wretch?
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Damn, wretch is truly tough this time. 3 hrs and still rolling naked, without a shield
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After doing 100 dice rolls, fate has determined this will be the class of my first character.
Let's GO
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People say playing this class as a newbie is not recommended, but I am recommending everyone right now to play as this class the first time. I do not care if you have 0 hours in souls games or 10k. This class will give you the best possible experience on your first playthrough. While all other builds are basically set for the next 5 - 15 hours of gameplay, the wretch actively requires you to go from 0 to gigachad. As a wretch, you won't miss out on the majority of weapons, since you don't already have something better from your starting class. If you play as the vagabond, and you get dropped a shortsword, you will obviously not care at all and go about your way, as a wretch player, you go "LETS F*CKING GOOOOO!" and try it out, until you find something better. Same thing with all the armor, why in the hell would you equip any other armor that is worse than the one you spawned with? And as a samurai starter, why would you ever wear any other armor? As a wretch, you don't really have the option to just stay with your current equipment... because you don't have any, aside from your chad nice stick. This way you can get the most out of your first playthrough, since you give everything you find a try. If you play as the samurai or vagabond your second time around doesn't matter, because after finishing the game as the wretch first time, you already experienced most of what there is, and you won't be missing out on a bunch of weapons because your starting gear was just better.
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Honestly the best class for you to play in the first campaign ( of course I don't recommend it for beginners in "Souls" games )
Because simple you don't know anything about the game with this class, what you find ahead you will use, this is a very unique experience, which loses part of its effect if you already know what to expect
Also, as you start at Lv 1 this will allow you to get initial lvs very quickly so you can distribute what you need
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This will be my exploring, story, jack of all trades character. After when you get a feel for the game, magic and weapons and so on. Then, i will go more specific build with my second character.
Do you agree?
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I think this is the best class for an open world. Start with nothing and explore the world, becoming more and more powerful. I think this is the best first playthrough class, but samurai looks awesome
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I really want to play with Wretch, but min-maxing seems so bad with this class. Why don't FromSoftware give you a stat advantage in exchange for starting as a poor bastard.
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The sigma does not need anything more than a simple weapon.
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People who stay at lv1, monster who just see the normal game that is alrd hard still to easy for them
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