Dark Souls 3 features a multitude of gameplay options within its wide OpenWorld. While the game is critically acclaimed to be daunting for newcomers, the class system is the saving grace of the FromSoftware franchise.
While the game is considered balanced, certain classes excel if built properly. However, you must know the proper ins and outs to achieve perfection.
The Deprived is one of the better classes in Dark Souls III that possesses a balanced stat that starts from the beginning level. Therefore, it has immense room for development in the game’s later stages.
That being said, certain abilities and weapons are known to work better than the rest. However, gaining proper knowledge about the class is easier said than done.
Effective Deprived Combat
Since no attribute has priority over the other, the Deprived are depicted as a rather selfless class. However, that does not mean you’re ultimately stuck at upgrading every point. Instead, you can choose what stat to go for.
The combat mechanics are rather simple; you will fight melee or ranged, depending on how you opt for your stat upgrades. Moreover, playing him like a mage is possible as long as you’re well aware of your strengths and weaknesses.
You must track your footing precisely to dodge the opponent’s strikes during battles. Therefore, vigilance is the name of the game here. Furthermore, the class is easy to play in the early game since there is no set playstyle.
Deprived Essential Steps
It is often tough to figure out a proper progression path for the Deprived. This happens because certain stats receive unnecessary points from very early that could’ve been allocated somewhere else for a more specialized build.
Therefore, approaching Deprived for upgrading is rather tricky. Furthermore, you will also need to devise your unique playstyle for the Caveman of the Lands Between. While the class initially looks rather weak and confusing, it is just as fun and promising in the late game.
You will work with perfect jack-of-all stats if you can handle starting with the worst equipment. Being perfectly adaptive to every situation is a huge buff in itself. You can unleash sorcery-based attacks while switching to a Rogue/Assassin playstyle at a moment’s notice.
However, the jack of all trades is often a master of none. Therefore, it will be just as hard to specialize in one stat. However, this is where the fun begins; You don’t need to focus on a single stat to win the game.
While you might not get proper catalysts at the start if you opt for a Pyromancer or a Faith build. It is still possible to tread those routes with an early melee or ranger build. The Deprived in Dark Souls 3 is much more competent than its predecessor in Dark Souls 2.
The inherent pliability of Deprived makes many players prefer the class over the others. Customizing your character from essentially 0 stats is much more attractive than it might sound.
Overall, the class gives you a fair bit of leeway no matter which patch you descend to. While the aspect of it being balanced and reasonably playable in the early game might be appealing, you still need to know what to build on it to make it work.
Bleed and Hollow Deprived Build
As the name suggests, Bleed and Hollow tend to go hand in hand with each other. While it might not be your first time noticing their unnatural synergy, it is often wondrous how well they work along with the Deprived class.
You still need to unlock Hollowfication for this build to work. Therefore, hop along as we show you the ropes.
Attributes
You will be mainly focusing on Dexterity and Luck as your main stats. Invest a hefty amount of points in them until you’re satisfied with the final result. A good balance would be 40 Dexterity for 40 Luck. Since you are ultimately going for Hollow-infused Dexterity-based weapons, deeply investing in Faith and Magic makes no sense.
However, you can still choose to boost a bit of your Vitality and Vigor for some extra sturdiness. While the base stats of Deprived will fulfill most of the weak spots in your build, investing where it’s aptly needed is still recommended.
That being said, this build generally allows you a lot of flexibility regarding investment. Therefore, you can mold it your way once you have fulfilled the base Dexterity and Luck criteria.
The Bleed and Hollow build might not feel as strong in the early game. However, it truly starts to shine once you are done with the Hollow infusion process. Therefore, we recommend you invest more into Dexterity for better survivability before reaching that point.
Equipment and Armor
- Prisoner’s Chain
- Ring of Favor
- Hornet Ring
The equipment is an extremely important part of any build. You cannot channel your acquired stats to the maximum without using the correct weapons. While any Hollowfied Dexterity-based weapon will do the trick, certain rings can boost this build’s viability to greater heights.
The Prisoner’s Chain adds the following stats in exchange for Absorption:
| Stat Name | Points |
| Vigor | 5 |
| Endurance | 5 |
| Vitality | 5 |
This helps in balancing out the overall stats of the class. However, it has rather complex effects on the incoming damage. Therefore, it might not work as mathematically intended. Regardless, it is a great accessory for the Deprived class.
The Ring of Favor is rather meta on almost all class-specific builds. You experience an increase in maximum HP that accounts for better survivability against enemies. Depending on the level, this effect can go up to 6%, along with higher Stamina and Equip load levels.
Having a critical damage boost on Dexterity-based builds is always nice. The Hornet Ring provides a flat 30% critical increase to every riposte and backstab. Thereby making it an extremely attractive option to go for.
As for the pine piece in the puzzle, you can choose to go whatever path you desire for the build.
Spells
This build is not very dependent on the spellcasting aspect. Nonetheless, it is still possible to go for attribute and weapon enhancements in exchange for a few more points in Faith. While you won’t be using them much, having them by your side is still a huge reassurance.
With that said, certain spells can be viable with this build. However, it is still recommended to focus more on its Hollow and Dexterity aspects.
- Blessed Weapon: This spell simply boosts your weapon damage for 45 seconds. It is a miracle, so your scaling will be accordingly to the Spellbuff of your respective Chine or Talisman. That said, there is no damage increase on higher Faith, making it perfect for this build.
- Caressing Tears: This spell is used to cure the player of Frostbite, Bleed effects, and Poison status. It is extremely useful in fighting against tricky enemies and can help you gain an uncanny advantage based on poison damage.
While there are other spells like Lightning Arrows or Way of White Corona, they are generally used in niche cases. Therefore, the final decision lies on your shoulders since it won’t matter much in the grand scheme unless you’re trying to tread a specialized path.
Grass Crest Deprived Build
This one is yet another popular build that lets you hit without a care in the world. You won’t require specific weapons for this once since it is based on throwing punches at your opponent’s face and torso.
This is a relatively no-brain build that can provide the necessary boost needed to find success in Dark Souls 3. With that said, the requirements are relatively easy to fulfill and procure. Therefore, you’ll have a much easier time than you might initially expect.
Attributes
The main idea of this build is to punch hard and fast. Therefore, your main investments will be Vigor and Faith. The Endurance and Vitality will follow suit, and you will generally look to level up everything afterward.
With that said, here are the general ratios for this build:
| Stat | Ratio Value |
| Vigor | 19 |
| Attunement | 10 |
| Endurance | 15 |
| Vitality | 15 |
| Strength | 12 |
| Dexterity | 10 |
| Intelligence | 10 |
| Faith | 18 |
| Luck | 10 |
That said, the main purpose of upgrading so many stats is to find a balance between inflicting damage and mitigating damage without too low an impact. Therefore, it might seem uncanny at first, but it will start to fall in place once you approach the game’s later stages.
Moreover, endurance and Vigor will keep you alive long enough to seriously threaten the PvE bosses. At the same time, the Faith and Strength stat will boost your overall damage while providing a certain layer of flexibility against the enemy.
Equipment and Armor
- Sun Princess Ring
- Prisoner’s Chain
- Pontiff’s Left Eye
The overall appeal of the build is its uniqueness. Therefore, items like Havel’s Gauntlets should be good enough to get you started. As for the other armor pieces, feel free to explore the Solver Knight and Wolf Knight sets to mix and match.
The Sun Princess Ring will gradually restore your HP in and out of the battle. While a 2 per-second rate might seem slow initially, it can be extremely effective for restoring HP out of a battle.
Similar to the previous build, the Prisoner’s Chain also has immense value here. The bonus levels in Vigor, Endurance, and Vitality significantly affect how you approach a fight.
Furthermore, the ability to recover HP by landing your attacks is priceless in Dark Souls 3, which makes the Pontiff’s Left Eye such a good addition to this build. You are rewarded for your stacking attacks in the form of HP, which makes manipulating the said stat easier.
Spells
You won’t need specific spells for this build since the main premise is simply to punch your way through adversity. However, feeling like you’re missing a leg is not recommended since concentrating in the battle is your first and foremost priority.
You can equip certain low-level miracles along with the Sacred Chime of Fillianore for a better spell experience. However, the decision ultimately lands on your shoulder. You won’t be getting many avenues of switching your damage type since you will be fighting at close quarters the entire time.
However, if you want to mix and match certain spells, then the following options might work rather well for you:
- Atonement: This spell attracts attention from your foes in the vicinity. It can be extremely effective in clearing low-level areas without much effort. Furthermore, it can also be used to gather many enemies in a confined space for successive AOE attacks.
- Way of White Corona: This spell deals a respectable amount of AoE damage while being relatively low cost for what it’s worth. You can pair it with Atonement to deal with successive waves of enemies heading toward you since the punches are not always enough for multiple enemies.
- Lightning Arrow: The range’s only missing factor of a melee build. Therefore, this spell can be used to snipe enemies from afar, thereby decreasing the ranged disadvantage by a significant amount.
You can also choose to go spells like Emit Force and Caressing Tears for optimized build paths. However, it is recommended to go for a specialized final spell. If you’re going for a pure punching build, then Emit Force might be a perfect fit, whereas a build with survivability as the main point would make greater use of Caressing Tears.
The Best Overall Options for Deprived Builds
It is tough to go wrong on Deprived when you have such a wide pool of options. The class’s main strength lies in its ability to morph into any build possible. However, such builds will have wasted stats since all classes have the same number of base stat points.
The Deprived is just configured to have those points distributed in every direction. While the efficiency gap might feel exceptional in the early stages, it will eventually balance out. Therefore, don’t hesitate to formulate builds having multiple main stats as their driving force. Furthermore, the even early stat distribution serves as a good roundup for many builds, including the ones mentioned above.
If you are having difficulties in formulating a viable build, then you can use MugenMonkey to essentially calculate the overall viability before having to test it in the actual game.
Furthermore, some great prebuilds are available on the website to help you skip the hassle of building your character by yourself from scratch.
However, doing so often saps away the appeal of the game. But once again, certain players prefer to make the game as hard as possible while others try to spend the least effort possible. Therefore, going either route is perfectly fine if you’re satisfied.
Wrap Up
Overall, the Deprived is a rather advanced starting class since it gives the player a bit too many options, which can blur the line between good and evil. Therefore, we recommend you pick Deprived if you’re fairly confident with your approach to the game.
That being said, it is possible to get better, so don’t hesitate to first time if you want. Nonetheless, this guide should’ve covered the fundamental basics. You can use it as a blueprint to formulate your character’s base and expand from there onwards.