What are the Best Elden Ring Stats to Level Up?

So Melina joined you, and you can now level up your stats — but you’re wondering which ones are the best. Some are more important than others in the early game, so I’ve listed them in the order of priority. Here are the best stats to level up in Elden Ring.

Which Stats are the Best to Level Up in Elden Ring?

Whether you’ve played any of the Souls games before or not, things work a little differently in From Software’s Elden Ring. With that in mind, while there is some crossover in what I would say are the best stats to level in each game, there are some differences to be aware of. Here, I’ve listed all of the ones you ought to focus on early on the game as you make decisions on what your build will eventually be.

Vigor

No matter which build you play, Vigor will be a universally useful stat. I would highly recommend you level it up early on as much as you can, since it will drastically increase your survivability. There are many early bosses like Margit, Rennala, and Godrick that can one-shot or two-shot you if your Vigor is low. Damage doesn’t scale that well early on, so there’s no need to increase Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Faith too much outside of reaching prerequisite stats for a weapon or spell you’d really like to wield. 

That’s why Vigor should be your priority, keeping you alive longer and giving you more value from your armor’s damage reduction. One exception would be ranged damage caster builds that are focused on staying away from bosses. If you’re playing one of these builds focusing on Glintstone Sorceries, then Vigor won’t be as much of a concern. That said, any melee or half-melee build will love high Vigor as it essentially allows you to make more mistakes before you get the boss’ pattern down.

Damage Stats (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Faith)

Your second priority should be your damage stats like Strength and Dexterity for weapons, Intelligence for Sorceries, and Faith for Incantations. I suggest first trying to increase them to meet the prerequisites of certain weapons and spells you’d like to try. Then, if those suit you, you can feel comfortable increasing these stats to match that weapon or spell. In general, I would focus on learning, upgrading, and increasing stats for a single weapon or two, as upgrades especially provide much more damage than stats early on.

In the case of hybrid builds like Strength/Faith or Dexterity/Intelligence, I would recommend meeting the requirement for the spells you want to use and then focusing on increasing Strength or Dexterity for weapon damage. That said, Elden Ring allows you to go deep into spellcasting stats like Intelligence or Faith and still effectively use weapons by adding affinities through Ashes of War or Whetblades. Fire and Sacred affinities will make it so you only need Faith for weapon damage and Magic does the same for Intelligence.

Endurance and Mind

These two stats are interchangeable depending on your playstyle. If you’re using weapons, armor, and blocking with shields then Endurance should be your third priority after reaching prerequisites for weapons and boosting them slightly. It increases how many attacks and rolls you can do before backing off and how much you can block. Additionally, it allows you to wear better armor and shields with greater Guard Boost so you can block better.

On the other hand, if you’re a caster focusing on spells, using light armor, and generally not attacking with weapons that much then Mind should be your third priority. It’ll increase your FP bar so you can cast more spells before resorting to your Flash of Cerulean Tears.

It goes without saying but if you’re playing a hybrid build that mixes weapons and spells then these stats should be mutually increased whenever you have points to spare.

Arcane

There’s a massive asterisk on this stat. If you’re just looking to increase it for item discovery, then I wouldn’t recommend investing in it. However, if you have weapons or spell catalysts that scale with Arcane then you can treat it like a Damage stat and prioritize it after Vigor. The Occult affinity will make any weapon scale greatly with Arcane.

That concludes my guide on the best stats in Elden Ring to level up. For more Elden Ring tips, check out how to reset stats or the best starting path.