The Wanderer is one of the ten starting classes available to players in Dark Souls Remastered. It also happens to be one of the best beginner classes for players who are new to the series. To most players, the incentive of playing Wanderer is the extra Dexterity combined with starting with a
The Wanderer starts with higher Attunement and intelligence as well as Dexterity, making it a great candidate for builds that combine Sorcery with Dexterity weapons. Its starting weapon the Scimitar is a much friendlier and easier-to-wield weapon than other Dex classes.
This versatility is what makes the Wanderer class so powerful for beginners. It allows you to lean into various builds without committing to any specific playstyle.
Effective Wanderer Combat
The Wanderer’s biggest strength is just how many options it leans into. Some players are going to prefer to go all-in on a Sorcery playstyle, whereas others will focus on Dexterity-scaling weapons.
As a result, it’s hard to recommend a one-size-fits-all combat style. However, we can give you some early-game combat tips and advise you on how to play a Dexterity Wanderer, a Sorcery Wanderer, and a hybrid build.
Early Game Combat
You will not have access to too many spells in the early game. So, you will want to take advantage of your Scimitar and Leather Shield as much as possible. This means you’ll start as a melee player.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that the Wanderer is pretty weak in the early game. Your increase in Intelligence, Dexterity, and Attunement comes at the cost of Vitality. Combine that with the light Wanderer starting armor, and you’ll not be able to tank as much as some heavier classes.
This means you have to be more cautious in your early-game playstyle. Don’t overcommit to fights, and take your time to get comfortable with enemy attack patterns and your weapons.
Mid/Late Game Combat
Once you get over the early-game Wanderer hurdles, you’ve got much more room for customization in how you approach combat.
In other words, your mid-to-late game combat will be entirely determined by how you want to play the game.
- If you’ve opted to learn about your spell usage, you can keep your distance and attack at range.
- If you’ve gone hardcore into Dexterity, you will want Dex-scaling weapons capable of outputting serious damage numbers.
- If you’re a hybrid, you can afford to play a little looser and riskier with your melee combat because you have spells to fall back on when things get dicey.
Wanderer Recommendations
The Wanderer class is very versatile. You’re not pigeonholed into requiring any particular items, Sorceries, or weapons. That being said, there are a few basic recommendations that I can provide:
- If you’re a new player, choose the Tiny Being’s Ring as your starting gift. This will give you a bit of extra health to make up for your early-game weakness.
- Consider bumping your Faith up to 12 and getting the Heal Miracle for extra survivability. You can skip this step if you are confident in your defensive skills.
- Decide whether you want to focus on Dexterity or Sorcery for combat, and get the essential Spells/Weapon required for your choice.
- Begin optimizing your stat distribution for your playstyle of choice.
Sorcerer Wanderer Build
Here is a Wanderer build if you prefer a sorcerer playstyle that capitalizes on spells:
Attributes
- DEX – 40. We’re not relying on Dexterity scaling with this build. Instead, we push Dex up to 40 for an increased casting speed. The faster you cast spells the more damage you dish out.
- INT – 44. The reason behind this stat level is the Crystal Soul Spear Sorcery unlocks at 44 Int and will be one of our go-to late-game spells for this build.
- ATN – 19. This will unlock five slots for spells which is more than enough to equip the best spells in the game.
- STR – 16. We’re investing in Strength up to 16, so we can use the Moonlight Great Sword.
You’ll have less room to put points into your Vitality and Endurance, so we recommend you split it in a rough 1.5/1 ratio of Vit to End. Depending on how you play, you can change that around, but be aware that you’ll start approaching glass cannon territory if you pull more points from Vitality.
Equipment
- Moonlight Great Sword.
- Logan’s Catalyst.
The Moonlight Great Sword is our go-to weapon for this build. It fully scales with Intelligence and doesn’t use much stamina, making it a damage-dealing powerhouse for both PvP and PvE.
If you’re not a fan of Moonlight, you could go with something like a Balder Side Sword combined with Crystal Magic Weapon. This will still give you good range and damage, but it does take a little bit more micromanagement to maintain.
Logan’s Catalyst requires a lot of work, but it’s more than worth it. While it doesn’t hit the damage numbers that some other catalysts do, it will give you many spell uses.
Spells
- Crystal Soul Spear
- Homing Crystal Soulmass
- Crystal Magic Weapon
You’ve got 5 spell slots to work with, so you have room for two more Sorceries of your choice. You can cut out Crystal Magic Weapon if you plan on using the Moonlight Great Sword, meaning all you need to have is Crystal Soul Spear and Homing Crystal Soulmass.
Soul Spear will be your go-to ranged attack for dealing massive damage, while Crystal Soulmass will help add to your DPS once you get in range to start attacking with your sword. All you need is these two to melt enemies.
If you wanted to fully invest in the glass-cannon style, push your Intelligence up to 50 and use White Dragon Breath in conjunction with Soulmass and Soul Spear, but that’s getting into overkill territory.
Dexterity Wanderer Build
Our first Dark Souls Remastered Wanderer build will focus, more or less, entirely on Dexterity:
Attributes
- VIT – 30. Vitality hits a soft cap at 30, so there isn’t much of a point going over that limit, although you can push it up to 50 if you need the extra health.
- END – 40. High endurance is essential for constant attacking off with enough left to dodge in the nick of time.
- DEX – 40. Pushing our Dexterity up to the soft cap of 40 is the bread and butter of this build. This is where all of our damage is going to come from.
- STR – 14. The only reason we’re investing points into Strength is to meet the stat requirement for our weapon of choice.
- INT – 18/ATN – 16. Having 18 Intelligence gives us access to more Sorceries to help lean into a hybrid playstyle. 16 Attunement gives us extra Sorcery slots.
This build is fully customizable to suit your needs. If you are dying a lot, invest up to 50 soft-cap in Vitality. If you don’t need the extra stamina, pull Endurance down to 30 and put those points into Intelligence for more spell damage.
The only hard requirement for this build is having a Dexterity of 40, so we can scale our weapon of choice.
Equipment
- Great Scythe.
- Oolacile Ivory Catalyst.
We’re recommending the Great Scythe as it’s one of, if not the best, Dexterity weapons in the game. However, you can easily swap it out for any other Dex-scaling weapon you prefer. You can find it early on in the game. It gives you a deceptively good range and consumes much less stamina than many other weapons of the same caliber.
Make sure that when you upgrade it, you take the regular path to +15. Otherwise, you’ll lose your Dex scaling and a lot of damage.
The Oolacile Ivory Catalyst is our Catalyst of choice for casting in the early game. Specifically, we’re going to be utilizing Soul Arrow.
Spells
- Soul Arrow
The Soul Arrow is relatively inexpensive to access both in terms of how you get it and how much Intelligence you need to use it. Soul Arrow deals good damage and is perfect for softening targets before engaging them with your primary weapon.
It also scales well throughout your playthrough, with Great Soul Arrow and Great Heavy Soul Arrow being helpful in the late/end game.
To keep banging on the same drum, the Wanderer is an excellent adaptable class that provides a great foundation for some of the best builds in the game. You can either adapt it to be a magic caster, a fast weapon champion, or a hybrid to enjoy the best of both worlds.