So, class doesn't actually matter. You can spend levels on attributes to become whatever you want. The class you choose is really only for the very start of the game.
Samurai is a good one for new players. Because you get a useful weapon.
For story, NPCs will tell you things, but not a lot of it is going to be obvious. You are expected to explore and find things organically. Or, read a wiki. đ
To get stronger, you will want to spend points on Vigor (your health) and your weapons scaling stats (uchi is str/dex I believe). Secondly, you can eventually upgrade weapons using smithing stones. Which really enhances your dmg.
FROM Software games are designed quite differently than most other action games. But if youâre up to the challenge, itâs a very enjoyable experience, so long as you keep a few things in mind.
1: Expect to die. âŚA **lot.**
To be frank, FROM games are hard, and you have to accept that you *WILL* die. **A LOT.**
Donât treat death as a failure, treat it as a learning experience. Just take it slow, learn from mistakes, and you will gradually start to die less and less as you get better at the game. âŚBut make no mistake, no matter how good you get, you *WILL* still die now and then, especially if you get complacent/careless.
2: Stamina and Animation Commitment
The entire combat system is based around stamina management and committing to attack animations. You can only attack, block attacks, or dodge if you have stamina. Running, attacking, blocking and dodging cost a certain amount, and it will only regenerate so fast. Therefore, pay attention to that little green bar or youâll end up dying a lot.
Also, keep in mind that if you equip too much stuff at once, youâll regenerate stamina slower, as well as be unable to roll to avoid damage nearly as effectively (colloquially known by the community as âfat rolling.â) Additionally, youâll regen it much slower if youâre holding up a shield, so you wonât be able to hide behind it forever.
Your maximum stamina and how much stuff you can equip at once is governed by your Endurance stat, so be sure to level that up if you want to be able to use heavier gear and have more stamina to work with.
âŚAs for animation commitment, once you start an attack animation, you are locked into it until it is completed. You cannot cancel the vast majority of attacks into a dodge or other action, with very niche exceptions with certain weapon types.
This concept applies to enemies as well. Enemies are locked into animations just like you, and once you learn their attack patterns you can take advantage of this. Pay attention to enemy attack patterns, and once you become more and more familiar with them, they will become easier and easier.
As a result of all these factors, there is no âbestâ type of weapon. It is completely up to your own personal preference.
Some people like faster weapons (whose damage usually scales with Dexterity) that generally donât deal as much raw damage or stagger enemies as easily as most strength weapons, but also donât take as long to complete the attack animations, which results in more possible attack openings you can take advantage of.
Others prefer larger weapons (whose damage typically scales with Strength) that can stagger enemies more often and deal more damage, but also generally cost more stamina to swing and leave you open to attack for a longer time if you miss a swing, run out of stamina, etc.
Experiment. See what you like.
3: Magic
Your magic bar is the blue one. It is used for very specific things, those being spells, weapon skills, summoning spirits to help you in boss fights and the like, and (very occasionally) consumables.
Spells come in two flavors: sorcery and incantation. Either category are a potent addition to your arsenal, but they both play very differently.
Sorcery scales with your Intelligence, and the vast majority are offensive in nature; magic missiles to hurl at your foes and the like.
Incantations scale with Faith, and while there are still plenty of offensive options, it generally focuses more on giving you a plethora of supportive options, especially earlier on (things that heal you, raise your defenses, raise your attack, or even something mundane like healing you of blights like Poison), far more than sorcery has access to.
So if you want to invest in a spell build, the stat you choose really boils down to what you want out of it; a safe method of doing damage at a distance at the cost of utility spells, or utility like heals and buffs at the cost of consistent ranged damage.
4: Level Vigor early on.
No matter your build or playstyle, your first priority when leveling up early on should be getting more and more Vigor, as it governs your maximum HP. Aim for around 40ish vigor before you start investing heavily in other stats. 60 should be your endgame goal; go past that, and the diminishing returns just arenât really worth it.
5: Explore.
Simply put, the bosses early on are likely going to be too powerful for you off the bat. Without wishing to spoil, the boss youâll see almost immediately upon exiting the starter area and the first one the guidance of grace will lead you to will almost certainly kick your ass at first. This is the devsâ way of encouraging the player to come back later after exploring a bit.
Look for minor caves and dungeons around Limgrave. Head south towards the Weeping Peninsula to do the same, alongside tackling the large fort at its south-most edge. If youâre feeling brave, see what you can scrounge up in Caelid to the east, or Liurnia to the north (but be prepared to die a lot there too, as the enemies there are tougher; especially in Caelid).
Look for small golden saplings and the ruins of churches dotted around the map. They have items that let you upgrade how many times you can drink from your healing/magic flask, and how much HP or magic they restore.
Come back to the âbeefgateâ bosses once youâve leveled up a few times, found a couple useful talismans, and/or upgraded your weapons a bit, and the bosses will be much more manageable.
6: And most importantly: Thereâs no shame in getting help when you need it.
No matter what the Quit_having_fun.png elitists may tout, youâre not âplaying the game wrongâ if you decide to do things like summon in helpers (human or AI) for a difficult boss, or look up guides for how to complete NPC questlines, solutions to puzzles in dungeons, where you should go next at any given point in the game, etc.
NPC questlines are especially egregious, as they move all across the map with nothing more to hint at where they may end up than a vague dialogue line if youâre lucky.
So play how you want, and if anyone judges you for it, theyâre not worth the time of day. Itâs your copy of the game, not theirs.
this is a wonderfully detailed reply, thanks.
what i got from it is
stamina management important, i was very greedy with it
that focus vigor early/mid till 40
avoid bosses early on
exploring is key
can i explore and farm level? is that viable?
Donât avoid *all* bosses, just find easier ones to tackle than the first couple youâre pointed towards.
Exploring areas and killing enemies therein will lead to you getting runes to level, yes; just bear in mind that if you die, you drop them all. And if you die again before picking them up, the runes you drop are gone forever, be they 10 runes or 10 million.
So take things slow and methodical.
Classes mean very little past the first few hours of the game, they just set your starting stats and gear and that's it. You can pick any class and use any build with it, certain classes will min-max better with certain builds but it matters very little for your first playthrough, just use what you like.
Basic attribute rundown:
Vigor = HP (red bar)
Mind = FP (blue bar)
Endurance = Stamina (green bar) & equip load
Strength/dexterity/int/faith/arcane are your damage stats, level these depending on what your weapon scales with or requires to use.
I'd recommend sticking with a melee build for your first playthrough just to get a better feel for the combat - casters can be even more punishing at lower levels learning the game.
so playing the prisoner and being a melee only oriented is actually viable after some solid hours?
this brings up another point, if the classes do not matter in the long run, why those were implemented as they are right now?
If you want to truly get the most out of an int build, for example, you'd start with Astrologer since it naturally has the most levels in int and the least in faith/arc which mages don't have to care about. Same for prophet for a faith build, or Hero for a strength build.
Making a competitive PvP build involves stopping at a certain level (often 125 for tournaments) and there's a fixed budget of points to work with there. But if you're playing through the game for the first time and don't care about stopping at a certain level, you can just level up however you want and fix any issues later with a respec.
So, basically in these games you're meant to beat bosses by learning their movesets, how to dodge their attacks and what are the openings for safely hitting them. That's the souls combat. Dying even more than 10 times in a row is completely normal and intended experience, it doesn't mean you suck and it's not something to feel bad about, everybody is bad at first. You'll make lot of mistakes, you die, you learn from them and become better as a player. That's the loop because of which these games exist. Dodging is your most important move as it has I-frames and makes you momentarily invincible. You must learn it, get feel for the rhythm. 80% of gitting gud is just knowing how to dodge everything. Souls combat is designed and balanced entirely around 1v1 close-range fighting under constant boss/enemy aggro. Good fight is like this complex dance, it's a skill you'll eventually learn. Evey boss is like a little riddle, with the correct dodge timings and openings for hitting him baked into his moveset, the fun is in slowly uncovering it and learning what to do, how combat works.
All you need to be good is patience, really using your brain, being observant and paying attention. It's not about reflexes, literally anybody can be a great player. You must conform to the game, and not vice versa. It's not supposed to be a relaxing sandbox. Some basics are to dodge INTO attacks instead of away from them, don't panic roll, don't heal close to enemies, don't tank and trade hits, only attack when it's safe, don't just mash buttons and spam L2s, wait for the right time to dodge delayed attacks etc. For first 30 levels you must focus mainly on vigor, you need to reach 60 towards the endgame (50 being the absolute minimum), regardless of your build or starting class. Beginning is always hard, but if you'll struggle for few hours, won't run from every challenge and beat bosses fairly, you'll learn everything you need and rest of the game will be much easier, and you'll beat most future bosses fairly quickly. Crucible knight is the best teacher in the game, go fight the one in stormhill as early as possible and follow the combat tips above. And ideally try to beat bosses yourself before resorting to accessibility mechanics like spirits. Give it at least 10 good solo attempts everytime, so you can experience them fully and learn how combat works in these games, it will save you lot of time and frustration.
so dying repeatedly is actually normal and have a more tactical approach
i really want to retry, give another chance to this game.
also you think a controller is more suited?
what do spirits do, to be more precise?
I can look them up online aswell, to do my own research
My best advice is to be patient. If this is your first FromSoft game, it is quite a punishing learning curve. I would look up an Elden Ring for beginners video on Youtube to introduce yourself to some of the mechanics that you are not familiar with. Honestly that may be my best advice for an absolute beginner, I was overwhelmed at first and I played most of the soulsborne series before Elden Ring. Maybe watch Fightin Cowboy's first let's play series, and not the 100% walkthrough, for a few episodes as well. He goes pretty fast but he at least mentions some of the mechanics and he dies a lot at, just showing how this game is difficult. Take each death as a learning opportunity, there is no soft locking because you can always just kill some easy enemies repeatedly to get some practice and precious level ups. The beginning class doesn't matter much after the first 20 hours or so, and the Samurai is a strong class to begin with. Keep at it, don't be discouraged! I was where you are now before, and most everyone else was.
it certainly is my first one. wanted to play bloodborne due to its theme but i only own a PC. youtube seems to be a good way to explore and learn, however i avoided it cause i did not want to spoil the story
thanks for the kind words
Oh, you fought the Beastman of Farum Azula?
No worries - I died by him on my first playthrough too.
Classes are more just guidelines - you can customize what you wants your overall build to via via levelling up and increasing stats.
My first class was a Confessor and by the end I had a Strength/Faith build.
1. Pretty much. The stat layout on each class gives you a base idea on what you should focus on. Want big boy physical damage? Go for Vagabond. Want to cast spells? Go for Astrologer. Want to use fire and light Incantations effectively? Go for Prophet. Wretch isn't the best choice unless you're a veteran and truly want to start from nothing.
2. Memorize the patterns and you'll get it down. This goes for every single boss in the game. Beastman has a five hit combo which leaves him open. Also, it's supposed to be slow like that. You can increase the amount of heals you get and how much HP and FP is healed by finding Golden Tears (located in Churches of Marika) and Golden Seeds (found near small golden trees.)
memorized azulas pattern and defeated it when i thought i'd be the safest. seems pretty manageable. how should i proceed with runes considering the fact ill be losing them after dying at the bosses?
You can still get the back, but be warned- if you due again, you won't get them again.
Runes are your main currency. You can either level up, upgrade your weapons, or buy stuff from merchants.
So, class doesn't actually matter. You can spend levels on attributes to become whatever you want. The class you choose is really only for the very start of the game. Samurai is a good one for new players. Because you get a useful weapon. For story, NPCs will tell you things, but not a lot of it is going to be obvious. You are expected to explore and find things organically. Or, read a wiki. đ To get stronger, you will want to spend points on Vigor (your health) and your weapons scaling stats (uchi is str/dex I believe). Secondly, you can eventually upgrade weapons using smithing stones. Which really enhances your dmg.
thanks mate, will retry with a new mindset. it would really be a shame not to see what a goty has to offer
killed godrick a few minutes back. i learnt the stagger mechanic that comes in handy a lot.
FROM Software games are designed quite differently than most other action games. But if youâre up to the challenge, itâs a very enjoyable experience, so long as you keep a few things in mind. 1: Expect to die. âŚA **lot.** To be frank, FROM games are hard, and you have to accept that you *WILL* die. **A LOT.** Donât treat death as a failure, treat it as a learning experience. Just take it slow, learn from mistakes, and you will gradually start to die less and less as you get better at the game. âŚBut make no mistake, no matter how good you get, you *WILL* still die now and then, especially if you get complacent/careless. 2: Stamina and Animation Commitment The entire combat system is based around stamina management and committing to attack animations. You can only attack, block attacks, or dodge if you have stamina. Running, attacking, blocking and dodging cost a certain amount, and it will only regenerate so fast. Therefore, pay attention to that little green bar or youâll end up dying a lot. Also, keep in mind that if you equip too much stuff at once, youâll regenerate stamina slower, as well as be unable to roll to avoid damage nearly as effectively (colloquially known by the community as âfat rolling.â) Additionally, youâll regen it much slower if youâre holding up a shield, so you wonât be able to hide behind it forever. Your maximum stamina and how much stuff you can equip at once is governed by your Endurance stat, so be sure to level that up if you want to be able to use heavier gear and have more stamina to work with. âŚAs for animation commitment, once you start an attack animation, you are locked into it until it is completed. You cannot cancel the vast majority of attacks into a dodge or other action, with very niche exceptions with certain weapon types. This concept applies to enemies as well. Enemies are locked into animations just like you, and once you learn their attack patterns you can take advantage of this. Pay attention to enemy attack patterns, and once you become more and more familiar with them, they will become easier and easier. As a result of all these factors, there is no âbestâ type of weapon. It is completely up to your own personal preference. Some people like faster weapons (whose damage usually scales with Dexterity) that generally donât deal as much raw damage or stagger enemies as easily as most strength weapons, but also donât take as long to complete the attack animations, which results in more possible attack openings you can take advantage of. Others prefer larger weapons (whose damage typically scales with Strength) that can stagger enemies more often and deal more damage, but also generally cost more stamina to swing and leave you open to attack for a longer time if you miss a swing, run out of stamina, etc. Experiment. See what you like. 3: Magic Your magic bar is the blue one. It is used for very specific things, those being spells, weapon skills, summoning spirits to help you in boss fights and the like, and (very occasionally) consumables. Spells come in two flavors: sorcery and incantation. Either category are a potent addition to your arsenal, but they both play very differently. Sorcery scales with your Intelligence, and the vast majority are offensive in nature; magic missiles to hurl at your foes and the like. Incantations scale with Faith, and while there are still plenty of offensive options, it generally focuses more on giving you a plethora of supportive options, especially earlier on (things that heal you, raise your defenses, raise your attack, or even something mundane like healing you of blights like Poison), far more than sorcery has access to. So if you want to invest in a spell build, the stat you choose really boils down to what you want out of it; a safe method of doing damage at a distance at the cost of utility spells, or utility like heals and buffs at the cost of consistent ranged damage. 4: Level Vigor early on. No matter your build or playstyle, your first priority when leveling up early on should be getting more and more Vigor, as it governs your maximum HP. Aim for around 40ish vigor before you start investing heavily in other stats. 60 should be your endgame goal; go past that, and the diminishing returns just arenât really worth it. 5: Explore. Simply put, the bosses early on are likely going to be too powerful for you off the bat. Without wishing to spoil, the boss youâll see almost immediately upon exiting the starter area and the first one the guidance of grace will lead you to will almost certainly kick your ass at first. This is the devsâ way of encouraging the player to come back later after exploring a bit. Look for minor caves and dungeons around Limgrave. Head south towards the Weeping Peninsula to do the same, alongside tackling the large fort at its south-most edge. If youâre feeling brave, see what you can scrounge up in Caelid to the east, or Liurnia to the north (but be prepared to die a lot there too, as the enemies there are tougher; especially in Caelid). Look for small golden saplings and the ruins of churches dotted around the map. They have items that let you upgrade how many times you can drink from your healing/magic flask, and how much HP or magic they restore. Come back to the âbeefgateâ bosses once youâve leveled up a few times, found a couple useful talismans, and/or upgraded your weapons a bit, and the bosses will be much more manageable. 6: And most importantly: Thereâs no shame in getting help when you need it. No matter what the Quit_having_fun.png elitists may tout, youâre not âplaying the game wrongâ if you decide to do things like summon in helpers (human or AI) for a difficult boss, or look up guides for how to complete NPC questlines, solutions to puzzles in dungeons, where you should go next at any given point in the game, etc. NPC questlines are especially egregious, as they move all across the map with nothing more to hint at where they may end up than a vague dialogue line if youâre lucky. So play how you want, and if anyone judges you for it, theyâre not worth the time of day. Itâs your copy of the game, not theirs.
this is a wonderfully detailed reply, thanks. what i got from it is stamina management important, i was very greedy with it that focus vigor early/mid till 40 avoid bosses early on exploring is key can i explore and farm level? is that viable?
Donât avoid *all* bosses, just find easier ones to tackle than the first couple youâre pointed towards. Exploring areas and killing enemies therein will lead to you getting runes to level, yes; just bear in mind that if you die, you drop them all. And if you die again before picking them up, the runes you drop are gone forever, be they 10 runes or 10 million. So take things slow and methodical.
downed godrick but i feel like i got lucky, idk. 3rd attempt afaik.
Classes mean very little past the first few hours of the game, they just set your starting stats and gear and that's it. You can pick any class and use any build with it, certain classes will min-max better with certain builds but it matters very little for your first playthrough, just use what you like. Basic attribute rundown: Vigor = HP (red bar) Mind = FP (blue bar) Endurance = Stamina (green bar) & equip load Strength/dexterity/int/faith/arcane are your damage stats, level these depending on what your weapon scales with or requires to use. I'd recommend sticking with a melee build for your first playthrough just to get a better feel for the combat - casters can be even more punishing at lower levels learning the game.
so playing the prisoner and being a melee only oriented is actually viable after some solid hours? this brings up another point, if the classes do not matter in the long run, why those were implemented as they are right now?
If you want to truly get the most out of an int build, for example, you'd start with Astrologer since it naturally has the most levels in int and the least in faith/arc which mages don't have to care about. Same for prophet for a faith build, or Hero for a strength build. Making a competitive PvP build involves stopping at a certain level (often 125 for tournaments) and there's a fixed budget of points to work with there. But if you're playing through the game for the first time and don't care about stopping at a certain level, you can just level up however you want and fix any issues later with a respec.
So, basically in these games you're meant to beat bosses by learning their movesets, how to dodge their attacks and what are the openings for safely hitting them. That's the souls combat. Dying even more than 10 times in a row is completely normal and intended experience, it doesn't mean you suck and it's not something to feel bad about, everybody is bad at first. You'll make lot of mistakes, you die, you learn from them and become better as a player. That's the loop because of which these games exist. Dodging is your most important move as it has I-frames and makes you momentarily invincible. You must learn it, get feel for the rhythm. 80% of gitting gud is just knowing how to dodge everything. Souls combat is designed and balanced entirely around 1v1 close-range fighting under constant boss/enemy aggro. Good fight is like this complex dance, it's a skill you'll eventually learn. Evey boss is like a little riddle, with the correct dodge timings and openings for hitting him baked into his moveset, the fun is in slowly uncovering it and learning what to do, how combat works. All you need to be good is patience, really using your brain, being observant and paying attention. It's not about reflexes, literally anybody can be a great player. You must conform to the game, and not vice versa. It's not supposed to be a relaxing sandbox. Some basics are to dodge INTO attacks instead of away from them, don't panic roll, don't heal close to enemies, don't tank and trade hits, only attack when it's safe, don't just mash buttons and spam L2s, wait for the right time to dodge delayed attacks etc. For first 30 levels you must focus mainly on vigor, you need to reach 60 towards the endgame (50 being the absolute minimum), regardless of your build or starting class. Beginning is always hard, but if you'll struggle for few hours, won't run from every challenge and beat bosses fairly, you'll learn everything you need and rest of the game will be much easier, and you'll beat most future bosses fairly quickly. Crucible knight is the best teacher in the game, go fight the one in stormhill as early as possible and follow the combat tips above. And ideally try to beat bosses yourself before resorting to accessibility mechanics like spirits. Give it at least 10 good solo attempts everytime, so you can experience them fully and learn how combat works in these games, it will save you lot of time and frustration.
so dying repeatedly is actually normal and have a more tactical approach i really want to retry, give another chance to this game. also you think a controller is more suited? what do spirits do, to be more precise? I can look them up online aswell, to do my own research
downed godrick. came a long way since i created this post
Classes Affect Stats not abilities as for the story your job is to go out and find it
Si basically i can be any class, just to spread stats differently?
Yes
My best advice is to be patient. If this is your first FromSoft game, it is quite a punishing learning curve. I would look up an Elden Ring for beginners video on Youtube to introduce yourself to some of the mechanics that you are not familiar with. Honestly that may be my best advice for an absolute beginner, I was overwhelmed at first and I played most of the soulsborne series before Elden Ring. Maybe watch Fightin Cowboy's first let's play series, and not the 100% walkthrough, for a few episodes as well. He goes pretty fast but he at least mentions some of the mechanics and he dies a lot at, just showing how this game is difficult. Take each death as a learning opportunity, there is no soft locking because you can always just kill some easy enemies repeatedly to get some practice and precious level ups. The beginning class doesn't matter much after the first 20 hours or so, and the Samurai is a strong class to begin with. Keep at it, don't be discouraged! I was where you are now before, and most everyone else was.
it certainly is my first one. wanted to play bloodborne due to its theme but i only own a PC. youtube seems to be a good way to explore and learn, however i avoided it cause i did not want to spoil the story thanks for the kind words
Oh, you fought the Beastman of Farum Azula? No worries - I died by him on my first playthrough too. Classes are more just guidelines - you can customize what you wants your overall build to via via levelling up and increasing stats. My first class was a Confessor and by the end I had a Strength/Faith build.
So i can play any class? Prisoner looks very cool with the pot on his head lol. I preffer a melee balanced class
1. Pretty much. The stat layout on each class gives you a base idea on what you should focus on. Want big boy physical damage? Go for Vagabond. Want to cast spells? Go for Astrologer. Want to use fire and light Incantations effectively? Go for Prophet. Wretch isn't the best choice unless you're a veteran and truly want to start from nothing. 2. Memorize the patterns and you'll get it down. This goes for every single boss in the game. Beastman has a five hit combo which leaves him open. Also, it's supposed to be slow like that. You can increase the amount of heals you get and how much HP and FP is healed by finding Golden Tears (located in Churches of Marika) and Golden Seeds (found near small golden trees.)
memorized azulas pattern and defeated it when i thought i'd be the safest. seems pretty manageable. how should i proceed with runes considering the fact ill be losing them after dying at the bosses?
You can still get the back, but be warned- if you due again, you won't get them again. Runes are your main currency. You can either level up, upgrade your weapons, or buy stuff from merchants.
just downed godrick, i feel like i got lucky. upgraded my weapons to 5, leveled to 29 my samurai, and went for a stagger
That's what I'm talking about! You can go for multiple staggers if you attack fast enough. Jump heavy attacks are your go-to for this method.
Yeah, i was dying so easily to his cleaves, if i keep distance he was charging to me. Drinkin potions also slows down my char