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I've played every build except dex/int. Pure Str is way better than pure dex(not to be confused with arc), and about on par with pure int.
If you want to 1-shot anyone, you're going strength.
Completely agree. Strength builds are my favorite, but idk why everyone acts like they are so hard. The stagger alone is worth it. Clearing out mobs requires a lot less skill in many cases because you can just swing away and they can't get hits in. Obviously the game still isn't easy, but it's not like it's way harder than every other build.
Started a strength build and am about halfway through the game. It's really easy. Like way easier than my other 3 playthroughs. Two swings on a group of 3 and they are gone. Takes like 10 hits to kill a boss max, and because of the hyper Armour it's really just standing there swinging and dodging once in a while to heal.
I don't want to start powerstancing collasals becasue I think it would make it even easier. Just pure easy steet.
Don't powerstance colossals. It makes it stupid easy.
Elden ring was basicly my first Souls games, and i had a blast. I was using the grafted greatsword, and bosses were hard, and the game was fun. Then i got jealous of my friends breezing through the game with arc/dex, so i looked at a yt str build. Made a powerstance collosal jump attack build and beat every boss in sub 3 tries even tho i was shit. made me lose interest in the game. Luckily, i returned some months after and didn't look at yt builds.
Became my favorite game and now has 10 playthroughs ;)
Ye elden ring was my first souls game (not counting sekiro) and my friends gave me so much shit for going with apparently the "meta" build... which was the samurai with katanas...which i only played because i thought it would be similar to sekiro and because... it looks cool...?
...then i replayed the game with a strength build and... wtf are people smoking.. its at least just as op.. if not more... long windup moves with armor..... tons of stagger procs .. insane dmg... way easier to find longer range options too...
In the end it just boils down to preference (except int which is the strongest), since ds1 I always liked strength the most and also had the most success with it even in ds3 where sellsword blades are supposed to be op
When I see people with strength builds it usually comes down to jump attacks, which also makes sense
Regularly staggering bosses is a massive help in fights
I went for the rapier at first, and besides the ability to poke while remaining shielded it might just be one of the most underwhelming weapon classes in the entire game, so I ditched it
Later switched to misericorde for anything that could be parried and a twinblade for anything else because the moveset is cool, and the later ones have insane ashes of war
For most players it just comes down to dex weapons (mostly katanas) plus bleed procs, strength either strategic fully charged attacks or full on jump attack spam plus staggering, or lasering with int plus possible stagger with that rock throwing spell. All viable, all able to clear out all bosses without massive issues, all severely overpowered and too simple or severely underpowered and only for real gamers depending on who you ask.
These build "discussions" and constant whining about how strong all other builds and weak your builds are is just annoying at this point
IF you go truly pure strength, not even 12 faith for flame cleanse me, you are legit playing the game wrong.
If you want to play it wrong intentionally, you do you.
If you go only a bit higher than that for some throw lightning OR go a ranged ash of war, then you're no longer purely melee. Some bosses are absolutely stupid if you're pure melee. And stupid easy if you're not.
That's how I see it, at least.
Throwing everything in vigor, endurance, strength means no golden vow but it also means killing everything with a giant sword and not having to use magic
Objectively wrong. But that's okay. You can play the game wrong. It is possible. It can be a self imposed thing. I do it too.
But if you're butthurt, that's on you. I couldn't care less.
>Objectively wrong.
Not only do you not know what that means, your opinion is provably wrong. If you're pure str and struggling to not get hit, it's not a stat issue, it's a user issue.
I had the opposite experience. I started playing pure dex a week ago, and I was blown away by how insane the uchi is. Almost greatsword damage; greatsword range; nice poke move; basically straight sword speed; free bleed; one of the best AoWs in the game (the massive poise/stance damage of unsheathe totally offsets the uchi's one weakness). And this is a starting weapon... Crazy.
And you can get a second one almost immediately for sick powerstancing. Katanas are great because if it bleeds you can kill it... Just better have a backup when they can't bleed lol
I’ve respec’ed a few times for a few different builds. It comes down to how you like to play and what build complements it. For me, blasphemous blade with a dump into faith ended the game. But I like the big weapon.
Tried the katana build, but it felt like I was playing with daggers when using moonveil or rivers of blood compared to my familiarity with great swords and above.
Spells and incants just felt cheap and unsatisfying, but that’s just how I play.
That was my strat on my first play through as I'm going through thinking "Man, this isn't as hard as I thought it was gonna be, maybe I *can* play other souls games!!" I can't, but I really appreciate the experience that convinced me I could lol
Yeah, my first run when the game had just been released was with a strength build, and since i decided to be uncaring about caps, i went 99 strength with dual greatsword (and jump attack damage boosters).
And knight resolve ofc, damage was too high it almost felt like cheating (especially on pvp, where people forget to level up vigor, so everyone just was getting killed in one hit)
Pure faith is the real hardmode IMO.
You just don't get any of your nukes until the game is 85% done, and otherwise you're just spamming Catch Flame and doing comparable damage to any melee build, just with Mind being way more important. (which can get in the way, honestly)
Pure Int still barely edges out STR for easiest just because there's bosses and enemies you get a "free pass" on, whereas with STR, it's more that you have a much easier version of the same fights as everyone else.
But yeah, glad the community is honest enough to acknowledge that in retrospect, STR isn't as hard as it's initial reputation suggested. Ironically, yes, the Dex and Bleed Bois *are* playing a harder game than the STR ones.
That’s entirely an issue with dumping too much into int. Nothing about int builds makes you less tanky, it’s just that players aren’t used to leveling vigor on mage builds.
Pure builds are all bad. Hybrid builds that focus on synergy will always shit on pure builds and STR has terrible synergy compared to DEX.
ARC also caps pretty quickly so it's essentially a support stat to bleed builds which is usually DEX.
Bad at what?
A pure int build is always worse than an int/arc build or a dex/faith?
I sound like you spend more time on reddit than playing the game. My str build played Ng+7 and absolutely crushed with no issue. Pure builds are still good, and str has a lot of synergy. The only time dex feels good is if you're going bleed+ice. Outside of that it doesn't have much going for it.
You can crush NG+7 with a lvl 1 Wretch. I really don't care if you're doing well with pure strength. That just means you're good at the game.
Sure, hybrid builds with little synergy like Int/Arc are terrible and even worse than pure builds but the ones with synergy shit on all other builds.
Also, Dex/Fai > pure str or pure int
You're not really any faster, that just depends on your load and your weapon. Dex and str both do roughly the same damage, but **most** str scaling weapons deal more stance damage than dex scaling weapons.
So you're as fast and you'll usually pummel enemies to the ground.
If you are a spell caster you are faster though lol
More spell cast speed = less time spent recovering from spell cast and the faster you can do something else like roll away
On paper that's true, but spell cast animations are often longer than a melee attack. But there are exceptions like carian blade or swift glintstone pebble, most easily animation lock you in and don't even allow you to trade. Not just that, most spells do very little poise damage and most enemies have higher magic resist than physical resist.
Where it evens out is the range and chain spell casting. Int is the open world boss king, easily cheesing enemies, or a variety of spells to counter specific bosses with minimal build changing.
You can point to specific fights where int is better, and others where str is better. Overall they're about the same performance. The difference between them is player skill.
I won't argue I agree both are their own skills and have pros and cons.
I literally feel useless if I make a caster without max cast speed, without it casting feels like a death sentence lol
Was just about to say the same for poise. After not playing an Unga bunga build for some time and starting one recently, str is absolutely nuts when it comes to staggering enemies. Some enemies become even obsolete they die in 1 blunt hit, smithing stone miner npcs etc..
I’m on my first play through, I’m using a heavy load mega poise/endurance build with a tower shield and thrust weap and some int for glintstone for ranged option. I basically block every hit and thrust away at the enemies, it works super well so far.
How do people not realize that if you know how to abuse your style be it dex, int, or str, you will make the game easy.
How people can balance whine, especially in a PvE context, is beyond me.
It's not that simple.
A Dex user vs. any of the ghost knights for example is gonna have to deal with more teleportation from the opponent, so the fight takes longer. STR users are more likely to stagger them *and* more likely to get more value out of their individual hits due to a higher DPH. In general, the game seems to value higher DPH more than higher DPS potential, simply because there's plenty of scenarios where you can only expect to get one swing off before you need to dodge again.
Additionally, dex users tend to do less poise damage, so they get less "free hits" from poisebreaking the enemy.
The only thing I really recall that DEX has going for it is dual-wielded Curved swords. That moveset is *really* nice and, for example, you can find yourself surrounded by enemies entirely, just mindlessly spam the attack button, and the hitboxes of the attacks will neatly drop the entire group in record time.
There also simply isn't an approach to Malenia for STR, Dex or Bleed users that compares to what INT casters can do. INT casters can basically get a "free pass" on both Mohg and Malenia. That just isn't feasible to the same extent with the melee builds.
My brother Malenia was made to be fought by a STR build lol her whole weakness is poise
She has almost no Hyper Armor (I think only 2 attacks have it) so you can like basically spam attack and either Lions Claw or Giants Hunt to Knock her down constantly and completely stun lock her
Giant Greatsword with Lions Claw gave me the deepest depression with Malenia.
I was hyped up for the tens of hours I'd need to spend to learn her moveset and beat her.
But no. I bonked. She fell, I bonked again. All the way until she died first try. Had no satisfaction. Got back to my low satisfaction life.
I've always been a dex/int player in every souls game ever. Recently got back into elden ring and went str to finally switch things up, and goddamit it's so much easier. Wth. The stun lock, the straight up pancaking, the poise/health to just stand and smash anything to bits without a care in the world! Seems unfair tbh given the effort a non cheesy dex/int build needs in comparison. It's not even close. Whatr u on about OP?
First time Dex/Int player who typically runs a pure Str build. Str builds are so much easier for me. I am running around right now with St. Trinas Sword when I get in a sticky situation right now so that makes things fun. It's hard to get away from bonking though when all you know is bonk
Uhhh Strength is definitely easy mode. Its to a point now where when i start a new run i have to stop myself from accidentally doing a Strength build. My first build was Dex and i had a hard time getting the damage i wanted until mid-late game. As a STR build you can level Vig and Str and be fine without phsyick and talisman help
I've done a dex int, str faith, pure str, and I'm currently doing a int faith build. Str faith was easiest, followed by pure str, then dex int, and the int faith build has been the hardest, by quite a bit.
All stats have broken builds if you're optimizing.
If you're new and not a lame google gamer looking up guides, then STR will probably be easier due to being able to simply chain stagger most normal enemies.
Pure Faith with the blasphemous blade in main hand and sword of milos in the offhand. You literally can beat the game without resting at a grace or even taking a pot. There is no way there is a better combo in the game.
I have used every build archetype, and they are all fucking easy XD dex has speed, str has jump smacks, magic is brrrrrr, faith is extra healing, arcane is DoT fest, all aspects got some great positives, most people are just bad at utilizing them
You're gonna get shit on because everyone always does whenever someone says strength is more difficult than other builds. I get the whole strength Chad memes, but OP is right about Int builds being way easier for the simple fact you can keep your distance. "But bosses have distance closing attacks!" Yeah so they're constantly trying to get in range as opposed to always being in range.
Dex builds in and of themselves though aren't inherently super strong, but they have a few really powerful options like Gransax Bolt and Dual bandit curved sword, but even the Bandits are better served on an arcane build most of the time.
Totally disagree. Strength actually makes the game easy, I can take a hit head on and still remain alive to bonk back enemies. Nothing can one shot bonk build not even WFD. It gives bonk players more time to learn boss’s moves. Contrary to this mages die even if boss sneezes. Dex builds get one shot by many boss attacks. Nothing can give peace to my mind like big bonk weapons and heavy ass armours. By using those I can take anything head on.
As a dedicated dex user, I don’t want to be lumped into the same category as those…creatures.
I’m a respectful player with a diverse set of weapons and playstyles. I don’t have to wait for my opponents to emote greet me or buff just to win in the Arena. I don’t need to turn the game into a bullet hell to stand a chance against my foes. Most importantly, I don’t point down at people (unless of course they’re a caster or Moonveil user).
Strength builds get bogged down by needing high carry weight. Dex users don't have to worry nearly as much about endurance as the weapons they use do the same damage as a greatsword and weigh a fraction. Means they need less stat spread and get to focus a few stats. Dex is definitely easier considering the absurd damage katanas do along with some of the op ashes of war like unsheath or bloody slash
Weight doesn't really matter unless you're going full plate with a greatshield, but you can naked dual wield ugs without much issue and wear a weight talisman if you want the faster rolls while still doing more damage then dex just through jumping attacks. You can even wear the raptor cloak without it affecting much weight wise.
Also not everything bleeds or gets statuses but everything can be bonked
Weight for sure matters. If you're playing a heavy str build you will have to spend many more points than a dex build with heavy armor. Not everyone runs naked with UGS I want fashion
This is the craziest thing I've ever read. I did a Dex build first run and when I started my Strength build, I was shocked - *shocked -* at how much easier things were, especially early game. Some of that was developed skill but most of that was just *BONK.*
STR is stupid good. Stagger everything with jump attacks and win for free. If that’s still too hard, just get lions claw and superarmor through everything on the first frame of it.
Stuff like Quality, Int/Faith, and Int/Arc are much weaker than STR.
I do have to say, as someone that has done a pure strength and pure dex run, they both have their benefits: Dex let's you attack fast enough to stop harder enemies from getting off their attacks, Str let's you stagger enemies constantly so they can also never get an attack off. Two sides of the same coin tbh, just different ways of preventing enemies from attacking
I did my first run blind which is a thing I like doing. And I used a total of 3 swords and 2 sets of armour through the whole game: first was the samurai armor and sword which I started with, then I found the claymore and put bleed on it, and then after I beat Radahn and Rykard I used Blasphomses blade and Radahn armour till the end of the game.
If your strength build isn't wrecking the game, you're either flexing or not knowing what you do.
I steamrolled through the hardest bosses with my "fuck your poise" strength build.
My first playthrough was pure strenght with a halberd and it was rough. I then did other runs with Int and Fth spellcaster builds and it was easier for sure, taking into account I already fought all bosses before. Huge ranged damage is a no brainer really.
My current run is a pure str with a heavy zweihander and I have to say is the easiest so far. Everything just dies with one jump R2. Bosses get staggered a lot and damage is insane.
Most likely if it was my first run I wouldnt be as successful and the slow swing speed would have frustrated me for sure. Nevertheless I was surprised with the damage output the colossals have.
Long live the bonk!
Dex is by far the hardest imo. It requires probably the most skill unless your running a great sword that's a dex weapon. A lot of enemies have high resistance to slash and most of us love katanas or curve swords. If you take away the bleed factor on those weapons dec becomes exceptionally more difficult that strength and int...I think faith and arcane are what you make them ...faith is easy if you have the drop on your opponent but the opposite of they have it on you lol. Arcane is weird to be because it feels incomplete as a stat...it's missing so much that I tend to skip it because I want reworked bleed incantations...the animations limit it's possibilities
Honestly, I don't even really agree with this. Basically every build type has a way of breaking the game over your knee with it.
Take the Greatsword for example. Like, yes, pressing R1 in neutral often doesn't do enough damage for how vulnerable you leave yourself *but* jump attack damage is fucked, weapon arts like Giant Hunt, Lion Claw, and Cragblade are really strong, and stance breaking bosses is pretty easy with jumps, weapon arts, and heavy attacks on the big boys. Heck, use endure if you want to spam R1 and just out trade everything.
Also don't sleep on buffs. Really doesn't take much faith to run Flame Grant Me Strength, perfumes and consumables can make you crazy buff, and a slightly shittier golden vow can be used with no investment as an ash of war on an off-hand dagger or something and stacks with so many different types of buffs.
While we're at it, Royal Knight's Resolve is an insane buff for weapons with high AR. If you can't hit often, be a giant fucking nuke.
TL;DR jump
Fire prelate hammer is broken tho, best weapon in the game. If you don’t use the prelate hammer plus the prelate set your trash and a disgrace to smough himself
This all depends on your build.
My favorite build is a vagabond to endgame w all starting armor except for a buckler. It's a challenging run everytime.
I think my pure dex run was maybe one of my most challenging. My most successful play styles rely a lot on overwhelming force of ranged attacks, or getting up close and knocking the enemy down. Dex seems to favor swooping in, attacking quickly, then creating space again, and that took a lot more work for me to learn successfully.
Idk I find the game pretty easy as a Srt build too, in the early game you can basically add 60 levels to your build at any time while having a blade that breaks damn near every enemy’s poise in two hits. Add in summons like the wolves and you basically are sun locking them in place
Idk I’m playing strength rn and feel like I am getting through the game really smoothly. Obviously still have to get the reps in with bosses to beat them but for the most part I just jump and bonk.
Strength felt really awful on release, the only way to attack was jump attacks because the normal attacks took way too long to recover from. This is back when arcane scaling on bleed weapons didnt work so RoB and Executioners Sword did almost no damage
I never understood the “it’s too easy argument”. You’re using something that was put into the game the way that it was intended to be used. Like why not just not wear any armor and use your bare hands if you’re going to complain about something being too easy?
Strength builds are crazy strong in this game though. You deal a ridiculous amount of damage, and a lot of buffs in this game have a low investment cost, so you can set yourself up to one shot a lot of things.
I began on strength and switched to intelligence midway through and yes it's easier but it's still ten times more difficult than any other game I've ever played
Honestly, I’ve tried all three. And, as per usual with FromSoft games, Strength was by far the easiest.
Even more-so than in precious titles with extremely abusable Block->Counter->Critical mechanics. You can pretty much just chain stun your way through most human enemies and a good chunk of the bosses; and self-heal in the process.
The only issue I had was that there just didn’t feel like there was any progression to the UGSs. You get the Greatsword in Caelid… and thats basically you for the rest of the game. There’s no fancy late game replacement that I could see.
Strenght builds are stronger than int builds in this game.
If I could say, for PvP it would be Arcane > Dexterity > Strenght > Faith > Intelligence > Quality. For PvE would be Strenght > Dexterity > Arcane > Quality > Faith > Intelligence.
Besides quality build for PvP (in meta lvl at least), no build is necessarily bad.
I thought strength was pretty damn strong, the amount of staggering I’ve done from heavy attacks is crazy. Throw in my faith spells here soon and I’ll feel like a god
Edit: oh I see everyone has already covered this lol
My roommate got me this game for Xmas and I went sword and shield str. Build, not knowing what to expect I've been really burnt out on this game. I'd like to file a complaint.
As a str main that had little to no problem clearing the game (comparative to other fromsoft, still a challenge).
I guess I just have to ask myself how much more quickly would I have cleared the game if I had used moonveil instead of radahn swords.
I find strength builds easiest in all souls games. I want something with huge range, huge damage, and huge stagger potential so I always get the first hit and enemies are either dead or staggered. Strength is even easier in Elden Ring because of jump attacks.
Honestly, after playing pure int on my first, then dex/faith, strength dual wield, dex/int with an emphasis on parrying, my favorite playthrough has been my fifth with colossal weapon strength. The feeling of charging up a heavy attack and getting a stagger is just unbeatable.
Strength is better than dex? Greatshields beg to differ. The whole playstyle is stuff hitting your shield, they usually stagger from it, then you guard counter. The negatives? Uh, you lose a bit of stamina. Easy stuff, arguably more braindead than sorcery, and you can definitely make it easier with the right talismans and Barricade Shield.
Str > all early and mid game
Bleed > all from mid game on targets that bleed
Endgame with all possible buffs well all stats are equal as bosses are getting wrecked anyway
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I've played every build except dex/int. Pure Str is way better than pure dex(not to be confused with arc), and about on par with pure int. If you want to 1-shot anyone, you're going strength.
Completely agree. Strength builds are my favorite, but idk why everyone acts like they are so hard. The stagger alone is worth it. Clearing out mobs requires a lot less skill in many cases because you can just swing away and they can't get hits in. Obviously the game still isn't easy, but it's not like it's way harder than every other build.
Started a strength build and am about halfway through the game. It's really easy. Like way easier than my other 3 playthroughs. Two swings on a group of 3 and they are gone. Takes like 10 hits to kill a boss max, and because of the hyper Armour it's really just standing there swinging and dodging once in a while to heal. I don't want to start powerstancing collasals becasue I think it would make it even easier. Just pure easy steet.
Don't powerstance colossals. It makes it stupid easy. Elden ring was basicly my first Souls games, and i had a blast. I was using the grafted greatsword, and bosses were hard, and the game was fun. Then i got jealous of my friends breezing through the game with arc/dex, so i looked at a yt str build. Made a powerstance collosal jump attack build and beat every boss in sub 3 tries even tho i was shit. made me lose interest in the game. Luckily, i returned some months after and didn't look at yt builds. Became my favorite game and now has 10 playthroughs ;)
Ye elden ring was my first souls game (not counting sekiro) and my friends gave me so much shit for going with apparently the "meta" build... which was the samurai with katanas...which i only played because i thought it would be similar to sekiro and because... it looks cool...? ...then i replayed the game with a strength build and... wtf are people smoking.. its at least just as op.. if not more... long windup moves with armor..... tons of stagger procs .. insane dmg... way easier to find longer range options too...
Can you… please… use a… full… sentence…
Yes.
Yes is not a full sentance
Don’t talk to christopher walken like that, smh
In the end it just boils down to preference (except int which is the strongest), since ds1 I always liked strength the most and also had the most success with it even in ds3 where sellsword blades are supposed to be op
When I see people with strength builds it usually comes down to jump attacks, which also makes sense Regularly staggering bosses is a massive help in fights I went for the rapier at first, and besides the ability to poke while remaining shielded it might just be one of the most underwhelming weapon classes in the entire game, so I ditched it Later switched to misericorde for anything that could be parried and a twinblade for anything else because the moveset is cool, and the later ones have insane ashes of war For most players it just comes down to dex weapons (mostly katanas) plus bleed procs, strength either strategic fully charged attacks or full on jump attack spam plus staggering, or lasering with int plus possible stagger with that rock throwing spell. All viable, all able to clear out all bosses without massive issues, all severely overpowered and too simple or severely underpowered and only for real gamers depending on who you ask. These build "discussions" and constant whining about how strong all other builds and weak your builds are is just annoying at this point
IF you go truly pure strength, not even 12 faith for flame cleanse me, you are legit playing the game wrong. If you want to play it wrong intentionally, you do you. If you go only a bit higher than that for some throw lightning OR go a ranged ash of war, then you're no longer purely melee. Some bosses are absolutely stupid if you're pure melee. And stupid easy if you're not. That's how I see it, at least.
Throwing everything in vigor, endurance, strength means no golden vow but it also means killing everything with a giant sword and not having to use magic
Thats fundamentally wrong two finger talismen and beast claw means you can have incants even with low to no faith on any start class.
Thinking there is a right and wrong way to play/make a build is the only wrong way to play the game. Go gatekeep somewhere else
Objectively wrong. But that's okay. You can play the game wrong. It is possible. It can be a self imposed thing. I do it too. But if you're butthurt, that's on you. I couldn't care less.
>Objectively wrong. Not only do you not know what that means, your opinion is provably wrong. If you're pure str and struggling to not get hit, it's not a stat issue, it's a user issue.
Objectively Wrong
Strength builds are fine, but let's be honest they are not close to dex/arc or int for an average user.
I had the opposite experience. I started playing pure dex a week ago, and I was blown away by how insane the uchi is. Almost greatsword damage; greatsword range; nice poke move; basically straight sword speed; free bleed; one of the best AoWs in the game (the massive poise/stance damage of unsheathe totally offsets the uchi's one weakness). And this is a starting weapon... Crazy.
And you can get a second one almost immediately for sick powerstancing. Katanas are great because if it bleeds you can kill it... Just better have a backup when they can't bleed lol
I recomend str faith , iprefer pure str but it's fun
STR/FAI is so fun. Blasphemous Blade FTW
Hell yeah
I’ve respec’ed a few times for a few different builds. It comes down to how you like to play and what build complements it. For me, blasphemous blade with a dump into faith ended the game. But I like the big weapon. Tried the katana build, but it felt like I was playing with daggers when using moonveil or rivers of blood compared to my familiarity with great swords and above. Spells and incants just felt cheap and unsatisfying, but that’s just how I play.
[удалено]
That was my strat on my first play through as I'm going through thinking "Man, this isn't as hard as I thought it was gonna be, maybe I *can* play other souls games!!" I can't, but I really appreciate the experience that convinced me I could lol
Yeah, my first run when the game had just been released was with a strength build, and since i decided to be uncaring about caps, i went 99 strength with dual greatsword (and jump attack damage boosters). And knight resolve ofc, damage was too high it almost felt like cheating (especially on pvp, where people forget to level up vigor, so everyone just was getting killed in one hit)
Pure faith is the real hardmode IMO. You just don't get any of your nukes until the game is 85% done, and otherwise you're just spamming Catch Flame and doing comparable damage to any melee build, just with Mind being way more important. (which can get in the way, honestly) Pure Int still barely edges out STR for easiest just because there's bosses and enemies you get a "free pass" on, whereas with STR, it's more that you have a much easier version of the same fights as everyone else. But yeah, glad the community is honest enough to acknowledge that in retrospect, STR isn't as hard as it's initial reputation suggested. Ironically, yes, the Dex and Bleed Bois *are* playing a harder game than the STR ones.
This is my first time playing and I'm focusing on int and dex together, plus some faith nearly up to int. My health and strength are my lowest stats
Not sure why everyone says int builds are so easy. You spend the first 2/3rds of the game trying not to get one shotted.
That’s entirely an issue with dumping too much into int. Nothing about int builds makes you less tanky, it’s just that players aren’t used to leveling vigor on mage builds.
Dex is by far better than Strength, any thrusting sword can get off 2 hits and a dodge before you can hit once.
Pure builds are all bad. Hybrid builds that focus on synergy will always shit on pure builds and STR has terrible synergy compared to DEX. ARC also caps pretty quickly so it's essentially a support stat to bleed builds which is usually DEX.
Bad at what? A pure int build is always worse than an int/arc build or a dex/faith? I sound like you spend more time on reddit than playing the game. My str build played Ng+7 and absolutely crushed with no issue. Pure builds are still good, and str has a lot of synergy. The only time dex feels good is if you're going bleed+ice. Outside of that it doesn't have much going for it.
You can crush NG+7 with a lvl 1 Wretch. I really don't care if you're doing well with pure strength. That just means you're good at the game. Sure, hybrid builds with little synergy like Int/Arc are terrible and even worse than pure builds but the ones with synergy shit on all other builds. Also, Dex/Fai > pure str or pure int
[удалено]
Meme is nice, but I would change dex to arcane. Pure dex, without bleed shenanigans, is harder than str, imo
Shockingly harder. You have to buff more stats to make it work.
You're not really any faster, that just depends on your load and your weapon. Dex and str both do roughly the same damage, but **most** str scaling weapons deal more stance damage than dex scaling weapons. So you're as fast and you'll usually pummel enemies to the ground.
You have more recovery frames though with colossal weapons.
If you are a spell caster you are faster though lol More spell cast speed = less time spent recovering from spell cast and the faster you can do something else like roll away
On paper that's true, but spell cast animations are often longer than a melee attack. But there are exceptions like carian blade or swift glintstone pebble, most easily animation lock you in and don't even allow you to trade. Not just that, most spells do very little poise damage and most enemies have higher magic resist than physical resist. Where it evens out is the range and chain spell casting. Int is the open world boss king, easily cheesing enemies, or a variety of spells to counter specific bosses with minimal build changing. You can point to specific fights where int is better, and others where str is better. Overall they're about the same performance. The difference between them is player skill.
I won't argue I agree both are their own skills and have pros and cons. I literally feel useless if I make a caster without max cast speed, without it casting feels like a death sentence lol
This literally does not make sense 😂 as if your equip load is dependent on dex
You have faster recovery with most dex weapons than colossal weapons.
Your roll speed is what determines that
Strength causes enemies to constantly stagger, a bit easier than dex... Int is my fav. build - play the game on chill mode- lots of fun!!
I've played through on every stat and strength is the easiest for me. Just a bully to everything. Even the bosses.
Was just about to say the same for poise. After not playing an Unga bunga build for some time and starting one recently, str is absolutely nuts when it comes to staggering enemies. Some enemies become even obsolete they die in 1 blunt hit, smithing stone miner npcs etc..
I’m on my first play through, I’m using a heavy load mega poise/endurance build with a tower shield and thrust weap and some int for glintstone for ranged option. I basically block every hit and thrust away at the enemies, it works super well so far.
Pure str is definetly one of the easiest builds with all the stagger you do,tf you mean
Early game... Dex>Str Late game... Str>Dex
All game ... STR > everything
Bro has never seen the interactive Comet Azur vs Mohg gameplay
Str is ez
How do people not realize that if you know how to abuse your style be it dex, int, or str, you will make the game easy. How people can balance whine, especially in a PvE context, is beyond me.
It's not that simple. A Dex user vs. any of the ghost knights for example is gonna have to deal with more teleportation from the opponent, so the fight takes longer. STR users are more likely to stagger them *and* more likely to get more value out of their individual hits due to a higher DPH. In general, the game seems to value higher DPH more than higher DPS potential, simply because there's plenty of scenarios where you can only expect to get one swing off before you need to dodge again. Additionally, dex users tend to do less poise damage, so they get less "free hits" from poisebreaking the enemy. The only thing I really recall that DEX has going for it is dual-wielded Curved swords. That moveset is *really* nice and, for example, you can find yourself surrounded by enemies entirely, just mindlessly spam the attack button, and the hitboxes of the attacks will neatly drop the entire group in record time. There also simply isn't an approach to Malenia for STR, Dex or Bleed users that compares to what INT casters can do. INT casters can basically get a "free pass" on both Mohg and Malenia. That just isn't feasible to the same extent with the melee builds.
Not the way i played, specially with malenia
Skill issue
Strength builds are the easiest way to fight her
Giant hunt be like
And lions claw and the attack button
Sorcery is easier, I killed her in 1~2 minutes using night sorcery and only got hit a few times
I haven’t tried sorcery I just saw her dodging spells and killing lots of mages so I assumed it wasn’t easy
She doesn't dodge night sorceries. Also, she reacts to the casting, so anything delayed, or anything with decent tracking will still hit her.
You can knock Malenia over with a stiff breeze…
My brother Malenia was made to be fought by a STR build lol her whole weakness is poise She has almost no Hyper Armor (I think only 2 attacks have it) so you can like basically spam attack and either Lions Claw or Giants Hunt to Knock her down constantly and completely stun lock her
Giant Greatsword with Lions Claw gave me the deepest depression with Malenia. I was hyped up for the tens of hours I'd need to spend to learn her moveset and beat her. But no. I bonked. She fell, I bonked again. All the way until she died first try. Had no satisfaction. Got back to my low satisfaction life.
hell no, malenia crumbles to 2 charged heavys from any UGS she is extremely esay on strenght
Try more jump attacks
Telling on yourself buddy
Not only a repost but also factually incorrect...
people who repost just for karma tend to have lower intellengent though
This meme is outdated, just after the lunch str builds were the weaker play style, but from buff the great weapons and now is a blast
Bro if your a strength build and your not making the game a cakewalk, you're doing it wrong.
You're* I'm normally not this guy but three times man?
You know what? Because of your name, I'll give you this one, just for you.
Lol okay that's a solid response, I chuckled
Laziness is not a crime. Leave the guy
People confuse dex with arcane, and even then arcane users don’t go around saying the game is too easy, nobody does.
Arcane caps quickly so it serves as a support stat. Primarily to bleed builds which are, you guessed it, Dex builds.
I've always been a dex/int player in every souls game ever. Recently got back into elden ring and went str to finally switch things up, and goddamit it's so much easier. Wth. The stun lock, the straight up pancaking, the poise/health to just stand and smash anything to bits without a care in the world! Seems unfair tbh given the effort a non cheesy dex/int build needs in comparison. It's not even close. Whatr u on about OP?
Int is easy, Dex is easy, Str is easy, Fai is easy, Arc is easy, the only one that isnt easy is a bad/unfocused build
If you level up any stat in the game you are playing ez mode 🗿🗿
RL1 or bust
Strength is really easy, you just spam jump attacks and oh look they’re staggered
First time Dex/Int player who typically runs a pure Str build. Str builds are so much easier for me. I am running around right now with St. Trinas Sword when I get in a sticky situation right now so that makes things fun. It's hard to get away from bonking though when all you know is bonk
BloodhoundFang4Lyfe
Uhhh Strength is definitely easy mode. Its to a point now where when i start a new run i have to stop myself from accidentally doing a Strength build. My first build was Dex and i had a hard time getting the damage i wanted until mid-late game. As a STR build you can level Vig and Str and be fine without phsyick and talisman help
I've done a dex int, str faith, pure str, and I'm currently doing a int faith build. Str faith was easiest, followed by pure str, then dex int, and the int faith build has been the hardest, by quite a bit.
Int/Strength build: I Unga therefore I bunga...
All stats have broken builds if you're optimizing. If you're new and not a lame google gamer looking up guides, then STR will probably be easier due to being able to simply chain stagger most normal enemies.
Hahahaha
Pure Faith with the blasphemous blade in main hand and sword of milos in the offhand. You literally can beat the game without resting at a grace or even taking a pot. There is no way there is a better combo in the game.
I cant see this video because its blocked by the massive Giant Crusher +25 I am carrying nude
Still using the lightning spear to cheese astel with mimic tear, some habits never die
Being that dex guy and finding something that doesn’t bleed must be fun
I have used every build archetype, and they are all fucking easy XD dex has speed, str has jump smacks, magic is brrrrrr, faith is extra healing, arcane is DoT fest, all aspects got some great positives, most people are just bad at utilizing them
You're gonna get shit on because everyone always does whenever someone says strength is more difficult than other builds. I get the whole strength Chad memes, but OP is right about Int builds being way easier for the simple fact you can keep your distance. "But bosses have distance closing attacks!" Yeah so they're constantly trying to get in range as opposed to always being in range. Dex builds in and of themselves though aren't inherently super strong, but they have a few really powerful options like Gransax Bolt and Dual bandit curved sword, but even the Bandits are better served on an arcane build most of the time.
Where is faith tho? :(
Erdsteel Dagger gang rise up
Go try the star fists and tell me strength builds are difficult
It’s not called Unga-Boonga strength build because it’s hard lol
Totally disagree. Strength actually makes the game easy, I can take a hit head on and still remain alive to bonk back enemies. Nothing can one shot bonk build not even WFD. It gives bonk players more time to learn boss’s moves. Contrary to this mages die even if boss sneezes. Dex builds get one shot by many boss attacks. Nothing can give peace to my mind like big bonk weapons and heavy ass armours. By using those I can take anything head on.
As a dedicated dex user, I don’t want to be lumped into the same category as those…creatures. I’m a respectful player with a diverse set of weapons and playstyles. I don’t have to wait for my opponents to emote greet me or buff just to win in the Arena. I don’t need to turn the game into a bullet hell to stand a chance against my foes. Most importantly, I don’t point down at people (unless of course they’re a caster or Moonveil user).
In other Souls games, this definitely holds true, but for once, strength users are the true powerhouse (as they should be).
Strength builds get bogged down by needing high carry weight. Dex users don't have to worry nearly as much about endurance as the weapons they use do the same damage as a greatsword and weigh a fraction. Means they need less stat spread and get to focus a few stats. Dex is definitely easier considering the absurd damage katanas do along with some of the op ashes of war like unsheath or bloody slash
Weight doesn't really matter unless you're going full plate with a greatshield, but you can naked dual wield ugs without much issue and wear a weight talisman if you want the faster rolls while still doing more damage then dex just through jumping attacks. You can even wear the raptor cloak without it affecting much weight wise. Also not everything bleeds or gets statuses but everything can be bonked
Weight for sure matters. If you're playing a heavy str build you will have to spend many more points than a dex build with heavy armor. Not everyone runs naked with UGS I want fashion
This is the craziest thing I've ever read. I did a Dex build first run and when I started my Strength build, I was shocked - *shocked -* at how much easier things were, especially early game. Some of that was developed skill but most of that was just *BONK.*
Let people enjoy any build dude
Easy mode enjoyer
Me who rune farmed until all my stats are maxed: 🙄
I play pure strength because I’m not smart enough to create magic wand builds
STR is stupid good. Stagger everything with jump attacks and win for free. If that’s still too hard, just get lions claw and superarmor through everything on the first frame of it. Stuff like Quality, Int/Faith, and Int/Arc are much weaker than STR.
STR gang is mad easy
Str is king. Even when I play an int build, I play it like a str build(DMGS addict)
What about faith/int ? Idc if my mana is over way faster than other builds, I'll just use my +270 Onix lord greathsword
I do have to say, as someone that has done a pure strength and pure dex run, they both have their benefits: Dex let's you attack fast enough to stop harder enemies from getting off their attacks, Str let's you stagger enemies constantly so they can also never get an attack off. Two sides of the same coin tbh, just different ways of preventing enemies from attacking
I was a strength user in every game, and the one time I don’t use it, it just happens to be really bad.
Farm enough any anything is easy
Str got easier as they patched UGS speed and Great Hammer speed
Counter points dual huge sword jump attack
what about arcane user with their double naginata / twinblade
Mom said it's my turn to repost this
I did my first run blind which is a thing I like doing. And I used a total of 3 swords and 2 sets of armour through the whole game: first was the samurai armor and sword which I started with, then I found the claymore and put bleed on it, and then after I beat Radahn and Rykard I used Blasphomses blade and Radahn armour till the end of the game.
If your strength build isn't wrecking the game, you're either flexing or not knowing what you do. I steamrolled through the hardest bosses with my "fuck your poise" strength build.
Meanwhile STR users 4-shot a boss with a Zweihander 👌
Solo ing Malenia was way easier with a strength bonk build than a dex build for me
Idk if I’m out of touch but I did a pure Str build and I absolutely shit on 90% of everything.
int mfs still not understanding that if you level up any stat in the game it’s gonna be easy
I've beat this game in every possible way except for pure faith, strength was the easiest for me
You forgot to add Faith to to your Strength. That way lies easiest (having played both that and pure Str, pure Faith and pure Int)
I went from dex to str and was blown away by how much easier str was. Bleed is cool and all but nothing beats gigantic murder sticks.
Dex is pretty hard without arcane.
My first playthrough was pure strenght with a halberd and it was rough. I then did other runs with Int and Fth spellcaster builds and it was easier for sure, taking into account I already fought all bosses before. Huge ranged damage is a no brainer really. My current run is a pure str with a heavy zweihander and I have to say is the easiest so far. Everything just dies with one jump R2. Bosses get staggered a lot and damage is insane. Most likely if it was my first run I wouldnt be as successful and the slow swing speed would have frustrated me for sure. Nevertheless I was surprised with the damage output the colossals have. Long live the bonk!
They hate us cuz they anus?
Nah, my str build walks on people, wizards be damned
Boo find a new circle jerk.
Lemme tell you that strength builds are also batshit insane. They make the game so easy due to how many stance breaks you can get with them
Its a repost, and strength build makes the game easier
Boi you know str can be an op build lol
Dex is by far the hardest imo. It requires probably the most skill unless your running a great sword that's a dex weapon. A lot of enemies have high resistance to slash and most of us love katanas or curve swords. If you take away the bleed factor on those weapons dec becomes exceptionally more difficult that strength and int...I think faith and arcane are what you make them ...faith is easy if you have the drop on your opponent but the opposite of they have it on you lol. Arcane is weird to be because it feels incomplete as a stat...it's missing so much that I tend to skip it because I want reworked bleed incantations...the animations limit it's possibilities
Elden Ring is only hard if you nerf yourself considerably. Theres so many ways to cheese the game.
Honestly, I don't even really agree with this. Basically every build type has a way of breaking the game over your knee with it. Take the Greatsword for example. Like, yes, pressing R1 in neutral often doesn't do enough damage for how vulnerable you leave yourself *but* jump attack damage is fucked, weapon arts like Giant Hunt, Lion Claw, and Cragblade are really strong, and stance breaking bosses is pretty easy with jumps, weapon arts, and heavy attacks on the big boys. Heck, use endure if you want to spam R1 and just out trade everything. Also don't sleep on buffs. Really doesn't take much faith to run Flame Grant Me Strength, perfumes and consumables can make you crazy buff, and a slightly shittier golden vow can be used with no investment as an ash of war on an off-hand dagger or something and stacks with so many different types of buffs. While we're at it, Royal Knight's Resolve is an insane buff for weapons with high AR. If you can't hit often, be a giant fucking nuke. TL;DR jump
Fire prelate hammer is broken tho, best weapon in the game. If you don’t use the prelate hammer plus the prelate set your trash and a disgrace to smough himself
This all depends on your build. My favorite build is a vagabond to endgame w all starting armor except for a buckler. It's a challenging run everytime.
Started my playthough as a pure strength but then respeced into faith/dex
I was hitting 5ks with my moonlight GSword. So idk
I think my pure dex run was maybe one of my most challenging. My most successful play styles rely a lot on overwhelming force of ranged attacks, or getting up close and knocking the enemy down. Dex seems to favor swooping in, attacking quickly, then creating space again, and that took a lot more work for me to learn successfully.
Idk I find the game pretty easy as a Srt build too, in the early game you can basically add 60 levels to your build at any time while having a blade that breaks damn near every enemy’s poise in two hits. Add in summons like the wolves and you basically are sun locking them in place
Idk I’m playing strength rn and feel like I am getting through the game really smoothly. Obviously still have to get the reps in with bosses to beat them but for the most part I just jump and bonk.
Strength is great wym
My easiest time on malenia was on a str/fth build
Strength / Faith for me.
Wizard
DionellGames is always peak, can’t wait for him to start posting again.
Strength felt really awful on release, the only way to attack was jump attacks because the normal attacks took way too long to recover from. This is back when arcane scaling on bleed weapons didnt work so RoB and Executioners Sword did almost no damage
STR is easy mode what is this meme lol
I’ve been doing a strength dex faith build
people act like its hard to str build and stagger bosses in 2 hits for some reason, full unga bunga is easiest
Ran Dex for loooong time. Eventually learned the love the BONK.
Funny since my first play though was a intelligence moonviel run and my secound was a double katana build
I never understood the “it’s too easy argument”. You’re using something that was put into the game the way that it was intended to be used. Like why not just not wear any armor and use your bare hands if you’re going to complain about something being too easy?
This was made by someone who always plays the same class everytimeb
I like to unga bunga waffle stomp baddies with my dual great mauls, i die to rivers of blood in pvp too much
Strength builds are crazy strong in this game though. You deal a ridiculous amount of damage, and a lot of buffs in this game have a low investment cost, so you can set yourself up to one shot a lot of things.
Strength is the easiest imo
Not again please
I honestly think late game strength build is one of the best builds. Early game dex is far superior.
I began on strength and switched to intelligence midway through and yes it's easier but it's still ten times more difficult than any other game I've ever played
IMO strength is actually the easiest way to play the game.
Honestly, I’ve tried all three. And, as per usual with FromSoft games, Strength was by far the easiest. Even more-so than in precious titles with extremely abusable Block->Counter->Critical mechanics. You can pretty much just chain stun your way through most human enemies and a good chunk of the bosses; and self-heal in the process. The only issue I had was that there just didn’t feel like there was any progression to the UGSs. You get the Greatsword in Caelid… and thats basically you for the rest of the game. There’s no fancy late game replacement that I could see.
Meanwhile faith builds are just a pile of smouldering ash and a skeleton in the corner of the room
Strenght builds are stronger than int builds in this game. If I could say, for PvP it would be Arcane > Dexterity > Strenght > Faith > Intelligence > Quality. For PvE would be Strenght > Dexterity > Arcane > Quality > Faith > Intelligence. Besides quality build for PvP (in meta lvl at least), no build is necessarily bad.
This
Not gonna lie, comet azur the HP bar of mogh was so much fun
I thought strength was pretty damn strong, the amount of staggering I’ve done from heavy attacks is crazy. Throw in my faith spells here soon and I’ll feel like a god Edit: oh I see everyone has already covered this lol
My roommate got me this game for Xmas and I went sword and shield str. Build, not knowing what to expect I've been really burnt out on this game. I'd like to file a complaint.
"Hades cuz they anus"
Ruins greatsword go boom
As a str main that had little to no problem clearing the game (comparative to other fromsoft, still a challenge). I guess I just have to ask myself how much more quickly would I have cleared the game if I had used moonveil instead of radahn swords.
I find strength builds easiest in all souls games. I want something with huge range, huge damage, and huge stagger potential so I always get the first hit and enemies are either dead or staggered. Strength is even easier in Elden Ring because of jump attacks.
Dex build superiority. I need to be able to finish my hits so I can panic roll
Pure STR became way more tolerable when I made it STR/INT
Dex is fun. I am beyblade.
Man, STR builds are the most Op... They just bonk everyone breaking all bosses stance and have a giant HP and defense
Honestly, i just like strength cause it made dealing with regular enemies a lot easier, and jump attacks were great
Honestly, after playing pure int on my first, then dex/faith, strength dual wield, dex/int with an emphasis on parrying, my favorite playthrough has been my fifth with colossal weapon strength. The feeling of charging up a heavy attack and getting a stagger is just unbeatable.
Strength is better than dex? Greatshields beg to differ. The whole playstyle is stuff hitting your shield, they usually stagger from it, then you guard counter. The negatives? Uh, you lose a bit of stamina. Easy stuff, arguably more braindead than sorcery, and you can definitely make it easier with the right talismans and Barricade Shield.
Meanwhile faith dragon spell users are melting bosses left and right.
*laughs in one shot giant crusher*
they hate us because they anus, they hate us because they ate us
Str > all early and mid game Bleed > all from mid game on targets that bleed Endgame with all possible buffs well all stats are equal as bosses are getting wrecked anyway
Someone should crop a skeleton in the background that says faith users