A good understanding of Elden Ring stats is vital to staying alive in The Lands Between, but FromSoftware’s dark open-world fantasy is happy to let you figure out how they work on your own. Experimenting with stat levels and builds is mostly risk-free since you can respec later, but knowing what to focus on for your character ahead of time will make life much easier.
Elden Ring Stats Explained
Stats govern more than just your character’s damage output and HP in Elden Ring. They determine what weapons you can wield, how much equipment you can carry, and even how drastic the effects of certain ailments may be. Leveling up stats requires Runes earned from defeating enemies, and the cost increases for each stat even if you haven’t upgraded it yet. For example, if you’ve focused on Strength until level 15, you’ll still need a few thousand Runes to upgrade Dexterity for the first time.
Below, we’ve listed down each major stat and what it does.
Vigour (VIG)
Vigour governs your HP (the red health bar) along with fire and poison resistance. Tempting as it may be to pour your Runes into HP and buff your health, it shouldn’t be your only priority. Regardless of class, HP is less important than Endurance and other weapon-scaling attributes, as you’ll quickly fall behind if you don’t tend to them as well.
Mind (MND)
Mind determines your Focus Points, or FP, which make up the blue bar that’s used for casting spells and summoning Spirit Ashes. Increasing Mind also boosts your Focus — in normal speak, this is your resistance to sleep and madness. It’s worth investing a few points in Mind even if you’re a melee-focused class. Summoning Spirits plays an important role in boss battles, especially later encounters, and you’ll need FP for them.
Endurance (END)
Endurance is your stamina stat (the green bar), but it’s also tied with defense and the maximum equipment load you can bear. Every attack reduces stamina in combat, as do running and dodging, so increasing Endurance means you’ll have more chances to deal damage or flee during a fight. Equally important is your equipment load since every piece of equipment adds to your load. Once you move past medium load – weight that’s roughly half of your current load capacity – your movement and dodge speed are drastically reduced.
Strength (STR)
Strength is what determines whether you can wield heavy weapons such as axes and polearms, making it essential for Hero, Warrior, and other melee-oriented classes. It also increases attack for strength-scaling weapons, which are basically most of them, including ranged weapons.
Dexterity (DEX)
Dexterity is an important stat for any class. It improves the attack of dexterity-scaling weapons, which is handy since most melee and ranged weapons have it as a secondary stat. It also reduces spellcasting time, makes you less likely to fall off Torrent, and reduces fall damage. Shorter spellcasting times is the biggest benefit outside of wielding ranged weapons more efficiently, though you won’t start seeing significant benefits in spellcasting until after level 25 DEX.
Intelligence (INT)
Intelligence governs your ability to use Glintstone Sorceries and improves the attack damage of Intelligence-based spells and items such as Glintstone spells and magic items. It’s a very specific stat, so if you don’t plan on using Glintstone, you’re safe to leave this one alone.
Faith (FTH)
Faith is like Intelligence, but for Incantations – fire, lightning, and holy-based spells. These all scale based on Faith, requiring higher faith to be used. Astrologers and melee classes are mostly safe to ignore this stat.
Arcane (ARC)
Arcane is a bit of a weird one, but the resistances it influences are among some of Elden Ring’s most important. Arcane’s primary use is boosting your Discovery – the chance of finding items after you defeat an enemy. However, it also increases your resistance to death, buffs holy damage, and scales attack for some magic spells, including dragon spells. It might seem a bit pointless if you aren’t specializing in dragon magic, but instant death becomes a significant problem the further you get into the game. Spending a few points on Arcane isn’t a bad idea.
Poise
The remaining stats – Vs. Slash and the rest – don’t have any hidden second meanings and are what the labels say, but Poise is different. Poise determines how much of a sustained attack you can take before your foe breaks your stance, regardless of Endurance, and leaves you vulnerable. In other words, it’s to you what a jump attack is to the likes of a Stormgate soldier. Different pieces of equipment will affect your Poise. While the goal in Elden Ring’s combat is not standing around so your enemies break you down, you’ll inevitably be backed into a corner at some point, and the Poise stat is still worth bearing in mind when deciding on a new set of armor.elden
How to Respec in Elden Ring
Elden Ring’s stats and character building take some getting used to, especially if you’re unfamiliar with Souls games and Bloodborne. However, you’re not locked into your initial build. After defeating the second major story boss, you’ll gain access to “rebirth,” which is Elden Ring-speak for resetting your stats and letting you spend your Runes a different way. Each respec requires Larval Tears. These are somewhat rare in the early and mid-game, though most legacy dungeons, including the Academy at Raya Lucaria, have at least one.
That’s all you need to know about stats in Elden Ring! Again, you’re never locked to a specific build. Once you reach some of the late-game challenges, you’ll likely want or need to reset and focus on a specific element or weapon type.
