Bandit is one of Dark Souls Remastered’s Strength-focused starting classes. This class is going to be moving slower, albeit hitting harder, so consider whether that’s a trade-off you want before you start your new playthrough. Luckily, we are here to guide you through the nitty-gritty of this class so you can make an informed decision.
Bandit is a strange class in Dark Souls Remasted as it’s both beginner-friendly and not-so-beginner-friendly. The VIT, END, and STR stat distribution is great for helping new players find their feet, but Strength-based combat is not recommended for players new to the series.
Getting Started with the Bandit
Early-game combat will be much more forgiving thanks to the Bandit’s increased health and stamina. Both DEX and STR can be leveled up side by side, providing a lot of damage scaling. This will also give you access to most of the game’s weapons. If you’re unsure what you like using, this class is a great way to test multiple playstyles with one character.
Your armor is the only thing you have to worry about at the start of the game. Put on any other armor as soon as you can and try to keep it under the medium load for that quick rolling.
You also start with a Battle Axe, a weapon that can be pretty punishing for players new to Dark Souls mechanics.
Effective Bandit Combat
Bandit’s combat style is simple and effective. You hit things in the face and avoid getting hit in the face. Whether you go for a quality or a pure strength build, that’s up to you.
For the early game, you shouldn’t rely on the low DEX stats but take advantage of your naturally high Strength. This means using Strength weapons that are slow and bulky. This means that you’ll be punished for attacking recklessly in combat. Instead, you’ll be locked into your animations longer and have less stamina to evade if the need arises.
This is where learning the Bandit class can be particularly tricky. It doesn’t give you much room for error, but once you get used to using slow weapons, you’ll notice that combat becomes a lot easier, especially when you’re outputting high damage.
Once you feel comfortable in your build, combat will slow down. You need to be dictating the pace of your fights to make the most of your available stamina. You don’t need to hit something several times to deal good damage, only to connect once. Look for opportunities and openings in your enemy’s attack patterns and exploit them.
Recommendations
- Focus on Endurance and Strength. Heavy weapons and shields will slow down your rolling rate. Having 60 Dex will allow you to keep a fast roll while still using all those big chunky greatswords.
- Consider investing in Dexterity up to level 18. This opens up several heavy weapons. Make sure you don’t have more Dexterity points than you need unless you’re going for a quality build.
- You’ll want to have a quicker weapon in your second slot. This adds an extra utility layer to your build. Being able to swap to something with speed will come in handy.
If you ignore Endurance until the late game, you will struggle to navigate combat even if you’re dealing incredible damage.
Pure Strength Bandit Build
This is a Strength-focused build to pummel your enemies to the ground with those massive weapons:
Attributes
- END – 60. We’ve already stressed how important having high Endurance is for a pure Strength build.
- STR – 45. After this point, you will hit a soft cap with your STR scaling.
- VIT – 45. So that you can tank most incoming damage.
- Dexterity should be leveled up per the requirement of your preferred weapon.
Going for a pure Strength build will limit the range of weapons you can use. It’ll also require you to put a handful of points into Dexterity so that you can use some of the more muscular Strength scaling weapons.
Equipment
- Man Serpent Greatsword.
- Black Knight Greatsword.
The Man Serpent Greatsword is one of the fastest-swinging greatswords in Dark Souls Remastered with an incredible moveset. It means a higher DPS because you’re putting out more attacks and safer, as your enemies have less of a window to punish you.
The Black Knight Greatsword is also an alternative to the previous weapon, it doesn’t swing as fast but it does hit like a truck, especially in PvP.
While these are the two greatswords we’re fans of, don’t feel pressured into using them. As long as your stat points are appropriately distributed, you can make pretty much any Strength scaling weapon work with this build.
Quality Bandit Build
This a melee-only hybrid build that uses both DEX and STR to utilize all kinds of weaponry:
Attributes
- END – 40. We’re forced to spec into both Strength and Dexterity with a quality build. This doesn’t leave enough room for us to power Endurance up to 60, but given that we have access to Dex weapons, it isn’t as important.
- DEX – 40. Having a 40/40 split of DEX and STR is a Quality build staple.
- STR – 40. Like Dexterity, we need to have 40 Strengths for this to qualify as a solid-quality build.
- VIT – 45. Again for tanking damage.
Quality builds forgo specialization in one particular weapon type for the sake of versatility. It gives you access to more weapons and the stat distribution for all those weapons to hit for good damage. However, Vitality and Endurance are going to suffer for the sake of focusing on two weapon types instead of one.
Equipment and Armor
- Any non-Intelligence or Faith weapons.
Yes, that’s a cop-out, but we mean that. The whole point of using a quality build is that you have access to almost all the weapons in the game. If there are no Intelligence or Faith requirements, feel free to use it. Proper stat distribution and upgrading will make almost any Dex or Str weapon viable for you to use.
So when you’re picking your equipment for your quality Bandit build in Dark Souls Remastered, go nuts! Experiment and try as many weapons as you want. Once you’ve found one that you like, learn its moveset and focus on upgrading it.
The Bandit is the tank class of Dark Souls Remastered. It is all about wielding the heaviest of weapons and sacrificing mobility over devastating damage output with each swing. If you are into the hulky nature of this class then play into its heavy weapon nature.