EDIT POST LAUNCH: THIS IS ALL WRONG, DON'T READ IT. KEEPING IT UP FOR POSTERITY
BIG FAT DISCLAIMER:
This is technically a highly speculative document. It uses a combination of data from the Closed Network Test, assumption, and experience with the Soulsborne series. Between the Closed Network Test and now MAJOR balance changes were made- among them, the changing of Equip Load from Strength to Endurance. There are likely other large changes.
Basically, take all of this with a grain of salt.
LEVEL
Your level is based on the total number of points spent between your eight stats.
If you are interested in PvP you should aim for level 120, no more or less. This is because the majority of soulsborne games in the past have had a level meta of 120, so you’re likely to find lots of people to play with at that level.
If you don’t want to play online, 120 is a fine number to plan your build for, since you’ll still create a well rounded character. But you can feel free to continue leveling afterwards.
VIGOR
-Health
-Fire Defense
-Immunity (Poison and Disease Resistance)
10 Vigor = 403 health
27 Vigor = 1000 health
39 Vigor = 1200 health
44 Vigor = 1260 health
50 Vigor = 1300 health
99 Vigor = 1400 health
Vigor is important for everyone, as it determines your character’s health. The vast majority of builds should aim for 39-44 Vigor, but highly specialized builds that need the points can go as low as 27.
MIND
-Focus Points (mana bar)
-Focus (Sleep and Madness Resistance)
35 Mind = 280 Focus Points
99 Mind = 450 Focus Points
Mind is important for casters, and a decent place to dump leftover points for non-casters, since you use Focus Points to use special weapon moves. Casters will want 35, since every point invested afterwards only gives about 2 and half points per level. Hybrid builds will want as close as they can get to 35, but should expect to be significantly lower (about 25, maybe). Others should ignore it or dump extra points in it.
ENDURANCE
-Stamina Points
-Equip Load
-Physical Defense
-Robustness (Hemorrhage and Frostbite Resistance)
10 Endurance = 103 Stamina, 40 Equip Load
15 Endurance = 120 Stamina, 48.6 Equip Load
20 Endurance = 129 Stamina, 70 Equip Load
24 Endurance = 140 Stamina, 73 Equip Load
40 Endurance = 160 Stamina, 85 Equip Load
60 Endurance = 162 Stamina, 100 Equip Load
99 Endurance = 170 Stamina, 139 Equip Load
IMPORTANT NOTE: The above numbers are consistent with how stamina scaled with Endurance and how Equip Load scaled with Strength in the CNT. The final numbers may be different.
Endurance is important for melee characters because they need lots of Stamina to attack, roll, and jump in combat with, and lots of Equip Load to wear the best armor. Casters may want a small investment for some Equip Load, but don’t need a ton.
Melee-only characters who can afford it should aim for 40 Endurance, although depending on the weapon you’re using you may be able to get by on 24. Hybrid characters will likely want 24. Casters should aim for 20, or less.
STRENGTH
-Weapon Requirements
-Damage with Strength Weapons
-Scaling with Strength Skills
IMPORTANT: Two-handing a weapon multiplies your strength by 1.5 (round down).
Lots of weapons have strength requirements, including most shields. Weapons that scale best with strength are often heavy, medium to long reach, and slow.
27 = soft cap for two handing
40 = soft cap for one handing
66 = hard cap for two handing
99 = hard cap for one handing
Pure Strength builds will want either 40 or 66 depending on whether they want to one-hand or two-hand. Hybrid builds will want either 27 or 40, again, depending on whether they want to one-hand or two-hand.
If you aren’t planning on using Strength as a source of damage, you still need exactly enough to use whatever gear you want.
DEXTERITY
-Weapon Requirements
-Damage with Dexterity Weapons
-Scaling with Dexterity Skills
-Makes it harder to get knocked of Torrent
-Reduces fall damage
-Increases spellcasting speed
Lots of weapons have dexterity requirements, even ones that don’t scale especially well with it. Weapons that scale the best with dexterity are often light, low to medium reach, and fast. Of note, all ranged weapons scale best with Dexterity.
40 = soft cap for damage
50 = maximum casting speed (speculation- this is how it was in DS3)
60-70ish = sharper cap for damage (speculation- this is how it was in DS3)
99 = hard cap for damage
Pure Dexterity builds will generally want 60-70 Dexterity, although certain glass cannon builds might go as high as 99. Others will simply want as much as they need to use the weapons they want. Hybrid builds will want 40.
With the bevy of side benefits (fall damage, not falling off Torrent, and casting speed), Dexterity is a decent choice for where to dump your extra points, particularly for casters.
Casters should not bother planning around investing heavily in Dexterity- the casting speed increase is very minor, and there are very likely going to be Casting Speed Talismans.
INTELLIGENCE
-Spell requirements
-Weapon requirements
-Scaling with Intelligence Spells
-Damage with Intelligence Weapons
-Scaling with Intelligence Skills
-Magic Defense
The school of magic called “Glintstone Sorcery” scales with Intelligence. This school is very offensive with a large variety of attack spells. Most spells are single target, with their area spells being harder to use. Most spells work at very long range. Weapons that have Intelligence requirements are rare, but will usually deal magic damage.
40 = soft cap for weapon damage
60 = soft cap for spell damage
99 = hard cap for damage
Pure Intelligence builds will want 60 Intelligence to maximize their spell damage. Hybrid builds that combine with another damage stat will likely want 40.
All other builds will want Intelligence as low as possible.
FAITH
-Spell requirements
-Weapon requirements
-Scaling with Faith Spells
-Damage with Faith Weapons
-Scaling with Faith Skills
-Holy Defense (speculation)
-Lightning Defense (speculation)
The school of magic called “Sacred Incantations” scales with Faith. This school has a mix of healing and attack spells. Most spells affect an area, and deal either holy or fire damage. Most spells are low or medium range. Weapons that have faith requirements are rare, but most deal holy damage.
40 = soft cap for weapon damage
60 = soft cap for spell damage
99 = hard cap for damage
Pure Faith builds will want 60 Faith to maximize their spell damage. Hybrid builds that combine with another damage stat will likely want 40.
All other builds will want Faith as low as possible.
ARCANE
-Discovery (likelyhood to find items on defeated enemies)
-Spell requirements
-Weapon requirements
-Scaling with Arcane Spells
-Damage with Arcane Weapons
-Scaling with Arcane Skills
-Death Resistance (resistance to effects that can cause instant death)
Very little is known about spells that require or scale with Arcane. It is unclear whether the spells that require or scale with it scale with it alone, or whether one will need to invest both in Arcane and either Intelligence or Faith. Weapons that scale with Arcane are rare.
40 = soft cap for weapon damage
60 = soft cap for spell damage
99 = hard cap for damage
Until we get to see what weapons and spells scale with Arcane we won’t have any idea whether an Arcane build will even be remotely worth it. In the event that a pure Arcane build is viable you’ll likely want 60 to maximize spell damage, or 40 if you’re doing a hybrid build.
In all Soulsborne games Discovery has been a useless stat outside of grinding for special items to get achievements. This will probably be different in Elden Ring because crafting exists, and is reportedly very strong. This makes Arcane a decent candidate for where to put your extra points, at least for PvE.
BONUS: I don’t know what I wanna build- what class should I play?
The answer is Vagabond.
The Vagabond’s setup makes them the best choice, or at the very least a really good one, for a WILD number of builds. They’re the best for a Strength/Dexterity build, the best for a pure Strength build, arguably the best for a pure Dexterity build, and among the best for both Strength/Intelligence and Strength/Faith. This is due in large part to their low Arcane, high endurance and vigor, and overall low casting stats to start with- it grants them very high efficiency when brought to level 120 on most builds. But crucially, their Mind is just high enough to still be able to use weapon Skills frequently.
Other classes will, with time, likely be proven to be more efficient when building for specific weapons. For instance, if the best Strength weapon in the game has no dexterity requirement, a pure strength build will ultimately work better on Hero. But since most people are going in blind, Vagabond’s ability to experiment with a wider range of weapons early makes them better.
But wait, isn't Wretch the best for that?
Nope. Their relatively high start in all stats guarantees that while it won’t be difficult to build them into whatever you want, they’re also guaranteed to be less efficient than other choices.
For instance, a pure Intelligence build has no use, at all, for Faith. If you could do it on a Pure Intelligence build, you’d reduce your Faith to 1 or 0 in order to put those points basically anywhere else. The Prisoner’s impressive 6 Faith will mean they are always better than the Wretch on an Intelligence build.
The Vagabond just happens to have a really good balance of stats that makes them highly efficient on a LOT of builds. They even stay under 120 on the expected stats for Pure Intelligence, Pure Faith, and EVEN Pure Arcane- and they’re arguably better than the Wretch for each of them. They aren’t the BEST choice for any of these, but they’re versatile enough that if you wanted to pivot into being a caster you wouldn’t have any issues.
But…
Okay, look at this spreadsheet.
This is the real nerd numbers shit, but it’s all there for you.