Dark Souls is easily one of the greatest games of all time, and certainly one of the most important releases of its time. During a time when pretty much every AAA developer was constantly shying away from adding any degree of challenge in their games, From Software made a bold move that has changed the very landscape of gaming as we know it.
The industry is now pretty much plagued with Soulslikes, with modern AAA releases also trying their hardest to emulate the core aspects of what made Dark Souls such a revolutionary title. However, no studio has come close to making a game that's as true to the elements of Dark Souls except for From Software themselves!
Of course, a game as revered as Dark Souls isn't exactly the easiest thing to get into. First of all, players need to have proper knowledge of the stats that they need to invest in, and the kind of build they wish to go through the game with. There are eight stats that the player can choose from, and — to ease the barriers of entry — here are all of these stats ranked in terms of usefulness.
8 Resistance
The worst stat that one can choose to increase in Dark Souls is the Resistance stat. While the idea of increasing one's defenses and resistances might sound appealing, Resistance just takes too much time and investment for any major improvement to show.
Investing in Resistance is akin to just wasting a Soul Level, which is the last thing anyone wants to do in Dark Souls. There's a reason why most veterans absolutely hate this stat and fervently discourage new players from investing in it.
7 Attunement
If a player is pursuing a Sorcery build in Dark Souls, then increasing Attunement is critical. After all, without high Attunement, a player won't have the opportunity to cast spells for more than a few times, which can prove to be a major hindrance if a player wants to consistently use magic throughout the game.
Most Sorcery builds in Dark Souls are fairly niche and are generally recommended after a player has already played through the game once, making this stat highly subjective and completely useless for the majority of players who are pursuing a melee build.
6 Faith
Faith and Intelligence are pretty much two sides of the same coin. However, one might argue that Faith is a bit more limited, with its influence mainly stretching to Talismans and a few weapons that scale with this stat.
Do keep in mind that Faith also increases Magic Defense, which — while highly situational and largely minor — is certainly a positive to buffing this stat up. However, this shouldn't be the only selling criteria of this stat, and players need to know what they're getting into if they choose to increase this parameter.
5 Intelligence
Intelligence is the bread and butter of any Sorcery build, with investments in this stat becoming pretty much mandatory if one wishes to use spells with the utmost finesse and become one of the most powerful spellcasters that Lordran has ever seen.
From governing the complexity of the spells that the Chosen Undead can use to the damage one can inflict with their Sorcery — Intelligence is a mandatory stat in every sense of the word for a mage.
4 Endurance
Dark Souls' gameplay focuses a ton on item and stamina management, and failing to keep either in check can have some major ramifications when it comes to a person's survivability.
By increasing Endurance, a player can increase both their stamina and equip load — along with their bleed resistance as well — which will prove to be a massive help in the long run when a player to perform a ton of moves and have suitably heavy armor that doesn't cause them to fat roll as well.
3 Strength
Time to talk about two of the most vital and divisive stats in the entirety of Dark Souls. If a player wishes to deal any sort of damage with their melee, then investing in either Strength, Dexterity, or both is pretty much mandatory.
While the distinctions between Strength and Dexterity might not be all that evident at a first glance, the kind of combat that a player wants to get accustomed to in the game is largely dependent on which stat they prefer. Choosing Strength mainly allows players to wield weapons that are slow but extremely powerful, with one or two hits of a particularly great weapon being enough for most of the normal enemies in the game.
2 Dexterity
Slow weapons can seem somewhat unwieldy and awkward to use for the player, and they might want to adapt to a moveset that hits for less damage but its relatively quicker. That's where Dexterity comes into play.
The weapons that one can use with high Dexterity are truly some of the best weapons in the entire game and can cut down a foe in seconds before they can even realize what happened. Another bonus of using Dexterity applies to Sorcery builds — higher Dexterity will allow mages to cast spells faster, which is always a boon in a game where the difference between life and death is just a second's reaction time.
1 Vitality
Regardless of whichever build that one might opt for, it goes without saying that Vitality is definitely going to be a major part of any person's growth. After all, there's no point in trying to reach the highest melee or use the most unique build if all it takes are a few measly hits to bring the Chosen Undead down to his knees.
So, it goes without saying that investing in Vitality is the need of the hour if one doesn't wish to send their player character — and their hopes of ever completing the game — into an early grave.