Dark – Game Voyagers

Introduction Dark Souls is a game that exemplifies difficulty in almost every aspect and never holds your hand for one second. Even the second and third games of the series only have a few sparse moments of explanation when it comes to the harder gameplay mechanics to understand, but the original leaves absolutely everything up to the player to discover. Even the statistic and leveling up system of the game is something that the player must pay attention to and study throughout the course of the experience in order to achieve success. It can be very difficult for a first time RPG player in a game of this caliber to wrap their minds around what they are supposed to do. After spending hundreds of hours combing through each of the various versions of the original Dark Souls that have been released, I feel that I have a clear knowledge of the way leveling up works and what effects the player will experience for picking one stat to bolster over another. (In Dark Souls, the act of picking different statistics that benefit your play style over others is known as creating a "build". I will be referring to this term quite a bit in this article.) I have two objectives that I will attempt to complete in this guide: Educate the player on each of the categories available for leveling up.Give a template for what Soul Level you should be at certain points. Spoiler Warning: The second half of this article may necessitate certain boss names or late game locations to be used. Please bare this in mind if you wish to go in to the game blind. First let's take a look at how the statistic categories of the game work and at the effects that leveling them up will have on you. Table Of ContentsIntroductionStatistics BreakdownSuggested Soul Levels Related: The Best Armor in Dark Souls Statistics Breakdown When you level up in Dark Souls you have the option to increase the strength of the following statistics: Soul Level, Vitality, Attunement, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Resistance, Intelligence, Faith, and Humanity. If you will take the time to become knowledgeable about each of these, it will help you greatly to morph your character into exactly who you want him/ her to be. Allow me to summarize what each of these stats do and what kinds of builds that increasing them can benefit the most. Soul Level Soul Level is without a doubt the easiest stat to explain on this list. Whenever you rest at a bonfire and use your souls to level up, you will increase your overall Soul Level. It serves more as a way to tell what strength you are in the game in a very general manner. It does come with a very small increase to each of your elemental and physical defenses that "soft caps" (changes the amount a stat is increased by) at Soul Levels ten, one-hundred, and two-hundred. When I use the term "Soul Level" in the second half of this article, I will be referring to your overall level in the game. Vitality Vitality is also a fairly simple stat to explain as you can simply relate it to "HP", a term used in many games to describe how much health you have remaining. In other words, Vitality is equal to health in Dark Souls. Obviously having more health is a great thing in a game that takes so much of it from you like taking candy from a baby, but for some players emphasizing on Vitality might not not be as necessary. If you are a player that heavily relies on shields to get the win or you are a player that is confident in your dodging abilities, then Vitality is merely a back-up plan and not really a need to succeed. Vitality soft caps at level thirty and again at level fifty. Leveling Vitality past this point is not really advised unless there is nothing else left that you want to upgrade as the increases in health are very minimal. Attunement Attunement is an interesting stat that falls into the "all or nothing" category of builds. That is to say that only those players who wish to focus on or incorporate spells into their build will need it at all. Leveling Attunement will cause the player to slowly increase the number of slots available for magic (Intelligence) or Faith spells. More powerful late-game spells will require more than one slot to use so the more you have available, the more options you will have for spell setups. Attunement "hard caps" (no further increases of any kind) at level fifty, meaning that you can still put points into the category but it will not add any more Attunement slots. Obviously this is not advised but you do you. Endurance Endurance is similar to Vitality in that everyone will end up leveling it up to some degree or another. Endurance is a stat that actually increases three things about your character. It increases the amount of stamina (the green bar below your health) you have, which allows you to dodge, run, and cast spells more before having to stop and let it refill. It increases your equipment burden level, allowing you to carry heavier armor and weapons without slowing your movement. Lastly, it increases your bleed resistance, which as the name implies helps protect you from sharp, slashing attacks. Endurance hard caps stamina at level forty but only soft caps equipment burden and bleed resistance. With that being said, it is only advised that you level Endurance past forty if you are heading towards a "tank" build (one that uses the heaviest of weapons and armors). Strength The name of this statistic implies exactly what it is. Your character's ability to be able wield heavy weapons in addition to how well you wield them is directly tied to your Strength. Certain weapon have stat requirements in order to wield them. Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Faith are all stats that must be leveled in order to carry weapons of its type. For instance, say a heavy weapon such as a Greataxe was set to a level twenty-five Strength, this would mean that your Strength level must also be set to twenty-five before you can even use it in any effective manner. Strength also adds damage to Strength based weapons, meaning leveling up beyond the requirements for your weapon of choice is often something worth considering if you aren't cutting...err smashing it anymore. Strength soft caps at level twenty and again at level forty. Dexterity The stat of Dexterity is setup almost exactly like Strength except instead of Strength based weapons that strike slowly but deal more damage, Dexterity enhances Dexterity weapons that strike quickly, but deal less damage. Many Dexterity and Strength weapons also require some points to be put into the opposite trait as well so be sure to check all the necessary requirements of that weapon before you decide to work towards wielding it. A little bit of double-checking in your planning can go a long way towards having an easier time. Dexterity also slightly increases the speed of all magic spells that the player is able to cast. This can make it key for using magic against bosses who leave little time to heal let alone attack. Dexterity soft caps at levels twenty and forty just like Strength, but the speed increase for magic attacks hard caps at level forty-five. Resistance Resistance is kind of the black sheep of the statistics family because most players will not bother to increase its level until late game or even NG+. This is due to the fact almost every other category you can choose will yield you more results, regardless of your build. Resistance will increase your well... resistance to Poison as well as buff your Physical Defense and Fire Defense. That sure sounds great and all but when you consider the ability to add or remove certain pieces or armor that will have the same effect, it makes putting souls into this category seem pretty useless to start. Once you have reached the final soft cap or hard cap in each of the categories you need for your build, go ahead and start throwing your souls here. Just my opinion though. Resistance soft caps at fifteen and again at thirty, reducing the rate of each increase. Intelligence Intelligence can be defined as the category that allows you to meet weapon requirements, like Strength and Dexterity, but also certain sorceries as well. I must admit that I did not try out any form of magic caster build until my third playthrough of Dark Souls, but when I did I started out as a sorcery caster and then added faith spells later on. That seemed to work pretty well for me. If you have already played through the game as a Strength build and/ or a Dexterity build, go ahead and give spells a shot. It may be just the thing to save you from getting bored of the game. Intelligence also adds damage to all weapons with intelligence scaling so be sure to put more points beyond the weapons requirement to get the most out of it. Intelligence soft caps at levels forty and fifty. Not as much increase after each one. Blah blah blah, you know the drill. Faith Faith is one of the most underrated stat categories in the game because many players do not bother with it due to its confusing nature. You need to have a talisman equipped in the correct weapon slot and then cast a spell on either another weapon of choice or yourself depending on the type of spell. The results can often make you unstoppable in certain situations. Faith works just like Intelligence in how it meets weapon requirements and increases Faith damage to weapons and the effectiveness of Faith spells. Faith soft caps at level fifty. Humanity Humanity is interesting to me because it is not as cut and dry as the descriptions of other stats. Here are the four things that leveling Humanity will do for you: Raise your ability to find better items and weapons in the game.Raises all of your defenses slightly but not as much as Resistance increases Poison Fire, and Physical.Raises your curse defense.Increases damage to Humanity- scaled weapons. See what I mean? It is kind of a catch-all category or miscellaneous one. Depending on your build, some or all of these things may be enticing to you, but I personally never put much stock into it. Humanity hard caps item discovery at level ten and it also hard caps curse resistance at level thirty. Soft caps for all other increases are set to those same levels. Suggested Soul Levels Here are a few thoughts I put together to help guide you on when to stop and grind so that you will be the right level for particular areas or bosses. Not every player will find these suggestions to be accurate as some may need a higher level and the gods of gaming may need even less. First Bell of Awakening Recommended Level: 15-20 As many veteran Dark Souls veterans know, the first actually difficult boss (although the first two sure feel like it) would have to be the Bell Gargoyles. Chances are you are probably going to be higher than twenty when you get there simply out of necessity, but in the off chance that you stumble your way to the first bell, make sure to stop and grind until you are at least Soul Level fifteen for your own sanity's sake. I literally rage quit this game twice before realizing you sometimes need to farm to continue on. Second Bell of Awakening Recommended Level: 30-35 Quelaag can be an incredibly hard boss fight all by herself, but having to wade through the swamps of Blightown and avoid being crushed by giant boulders makes the journey back equally as difficult. Be sure to get up around Soul Level Thirty or beyond before throwing yourself at her over and over again. Lord Vessel Recommended Level: 45-50 Your journey through Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo should be enough to get you up past Soul Level forty or so, but take my advice and grind for fifty before walking into the Anor Londo Cathedral. Ornstein and Smough, arguably the most difficult bosses in the game (not counting the tough-as- nails DLC) await you and they will not show you mercy for poor planning. Seath the Scaleless Recommended Level: 55-60 Seath himself is not a boss that requires a high Soul Level to defeat as most of the fight is spent dodging rather than recovering from hits. The area in which you find him in (Duke's Archives) however, is an entirely different matter. Most enemies in the area have both long range and close range attacks and many groups of enemies will gang up on you sometimes. Come prepared before you enter because Seath really wants you to stay for a while. Gravelord Nito Recommended Level: 65-70 Nito is setup similarly to Seath as he himself is not super difficult but the area leading up to him is a living nightmare. From the Giant Skeletons and their "dogs" to the hideous re-imaginings of Super Mario's Pokeys, this area is littered with ways to punish and kill you. Oh I almost forgot, it is also pitch black down there and all the Soul Level in the game can't buy you a light. You may want to find one of those before heading down. Bed of Chaos Recommended Level: 70-75 Most of the creatures you face in the Demon Ruins and beyond are mob versions of the Taurus Demon and the Capra Demon. That really ought to be enough to explain why you should be Soul Level seventy or above. If the names of those bosses don't bring up some bad memories then all I have to say is "you poor, poor, soul..." Four Kings Recommended Level: 70-75 No matter if you head to the Demon Ruins first or to New Londo first in my opinion the difficulty is about the same. The boss of each zone however is a completely different story. Don't seek the abyss until you have found your way to Soul Level seventy and even that may not be enough. The Four Kings are here to ruin your day four times for the price of one. Gwyn, Lord of Cinder Recommended Level: 75+ You did it. You made it to the Kiln of the First Flame. If you have perfected the art of parrying throughout the course of your playthrough then you could probably get away with being a level forty to fight Gwyn. If you have not though, you should really consider farming for as high of a level as possible before taking on this former savior of Lordran. It will definitely be worth it if you choose to tackle NG+ as well.