We’re going to suggest a few builds that we found to be not only more than formidable in battle; but also quite a lot of fun to play with too (always a good combination). We’ve zero doubts any hardcore Dark Souls fans will have ‘better’ builds that come to mind, and that’s cool.

Melee Character¶

Weapon of Choice: For us, the Bastard Sword (found for free just after beating the Forest of Fallen Giants boss) is the perfect melee weapon. It’s a Great Sword that uses regular titanite to upgrade with to +10 and its final damage output is around the 400 mark per swing (its move-set is also very powerful with a compliment of both horizontal and vertical slicing attacks).

Shield: Early game the choice can only be the Drangelic Shield that you can find after beating the Pursuer boss as it offers 100% physical damage resistance and isn’t too heavy either.

Although later on though we moved to the Drakekeeper’s Greatshield, as it offers 100% physical damage, greater poise and a much higher resistance to elements such as lightening, fire, magic etc. It does require a lot more strength to hold one-handed; but we felt it was more than worth it.

Armor: We’re big fans of the Alva’s Armor (available to buy from Maughlin the Armorer after spending 16,000 souls with him and resting at a bonfire). It is light in weight, offers good protection and uses regular titanite to upgrade; meaning you can keep your weight down and your rolling speed up.

Long Range: The short bow from the blacksmith in Majula is a great start for picking off enemies from afar and then moving up to Pyromancy is worthwhile as it has a zero INT/FTH stat requirement to use (you just need to make sure your Attunement stat is at 10 to unlock one slot).

For mid/late game playing; we strongly recommend the Dragonrider Bow (from trading his soul with a certain cell-bound merchant) as it hits really hard (but make sure you have plenty of END as it soaks up loads per shot).

Stat Dispersion: We’ll cover the ideal stats you’d need for a solid melee-build that’ll carry you well throughout every encounter in the main game.

• Vigor: 20+
• Endurance: 30+
• Vitality: 30+
• Attunement: 10 (for pyromancy)
• Strength: 40 (soft cap)
• Dexterity: 18+ (for Bastard Sword scaling and Dragonrider Bow)
• Adaptability: 28 minimum (38 preferred for additional I-frames)
• Intelligence: 5
• Faith: 5

Magic Character¶

Weapon of Choice: The Mace (your starting weapon as the Cleric class), is actually a really good weapon right off the bat. You don’t have enough strength to one-hand it yet , but two-handing it is worthwhile.

Shield: Grabbing the Large Leather Shield just before the first boss in the Forest of Fallen Giants is pretty decent being 90% physical damage block, is light and requires little strength to hold one-handed.

Armor: The starting Sorcerer gear is sufficient for the first-half of the game, and then you can add magic-focused armor such as the Hexer’s Hood.

Magic: Soul Arrow (with an appropriate catalyst - like a staff), (Great) Lightening Spear (use a chime) and Great Soul Resonant (Hex).

Stat Dispersion: We’ll cover the ideal stats you’d need for a solid magic-build that’ll carry you well throughout every encounter in the main game.

• Vigor: 16+
• Endurance: 20+ (for the bigger spells)
• Vitality: 20+
• Attunement: 20 minimum
• Strength: 18 (to one-hand mace)
• Dexterity: Default for Cleric
• Adaptability: 28 minimum (38 preferred for additional I-frames)
• Intelligence: 30+
• Faith: 30+

Our Just for Fun Build¶

Weapon of Choice: After beating the game a few times we heard that it was great fun to try ‘fisty-cuffs’ with Dual-Caestus (ultimately at +10 and poison infused for maximum damage).

Power-stance attacks can prove very powerful (especially the L1/L2 combos) and learning how to roll when you’re used to potentially blocking makes for a very interesting experience. Add on Covenant of Champions (and surprising people in PvP) and you can have quite a lot of fun with this build.

Shield: None

Armor: None (or Alva’s Armor if you’re getting killed too often).

Long Range: Nothing

Stat Dispersion: We’ll cover the ideal stats you’d need for a solid fisty-cuffs-only-build that’ll give you the best odds at survival.

• Vigor: 20+
• Endurance: 20+
• Vitality: 20+
• Attunement: Doesn’t matter.
• Strength: 40 (soft cap)
• Dexterity: 25+ (for Caestus’ scaling is ‘B’ in Dex)
• Adaptability: 38 (You’ll really need those additional I-frames)
• Intelligence: 3
• Faith: 8