This guide breaks down the different Attributes in Elden Ring. There are 8 stats in total that you level up throughout your journey by using Runes. Learn the details about what each stat does and what Caps you know to know when optimizing how you spend your levels. You acquire Runes by finding them throughout the world and killing enemies, Runes are spent at vendors and used to level up. You cannot go beyond 99 when leveling your stats, and it is not possible to exceed 99 through equipment or buffs. The only exception is 2-handing a weapon which is covered in the Strength section of this guide.
Note: Soft Caps are points in which leveling beyond those amounts result in diminishing returns i.e. what you get from each stat is much less from that point on.
How to Level
In order to unlock the ability to level, you must first meet Melina. She is easily found by resting at the Gatefront Grace though, if you haven't encountered her yet it might be best to check out our Beginner's Guide to get started with the game's early unlocks.
Vigor
- Your total health.
- Affects fire resistance and Immunity stats.
- Soft Caps - 40/60
Advanced Vigor Breakdown
- Level 1-40 HP gain increases from +4 to +48 (avg: +29.5)
- Level 41-60 HP gain decreases from +26 to +13 (avg: +22.5)
- Level 61-99 HP gain decreases from +6 to +3 (avg: +5.1)
Mind
- Your total FP (Magic Bar).
- Affects the Focus stat.
- Soft Caps - 50/60
Advanced Mind Breakdown
- Level 1-15 FP gains are between +3 and +4 (LV9: +13) (avg: +3.21)
- Level 16-35 FP gain alternates between +5 and +6 (avg: +5.25)
- Level 36-50 FP gains are between +7 and +6 (avg: +6.67)
- Level 51-60 FP gains are between +6 and +4 (avg: +5.00)
- Level 61-99 FP gain alternates between +2 and +3 (avg: +2.56)
Endurance
- Your overall Stamina.
- Affects Robustness.
- Determines how heavy your equipment is aka Equip Load.
- Soft Caps - 15/30/50
- Soft Caps for Max Equip Load - 25/60
Advanced Endurance Breakdown
- Soft Caps
- Level 1-15: Stamina gains are between +1 and +2 (avg: +1.79)
- Level 16-30: Stamina gains are between +1 and +2 (avg: +1.67)
- Level 31-50: Stamina gains are between +1 and +2 (avg: +1.25)
- Level 51-99: Stamina gains are between +0 and +1 (avg: +0.31)
- Soft Caps for Max Equip Load
- Level 9-25: Max Equip Load gains alternate between +1.5 and +1.6 (avg: +1.59)
- Level 26-60: Max Equip Load gains are between +1.0 and +1.5 (avg: +1.37)
- Level 61-99: Max Equip Load gains are between +1.0 and +1.1 (avg: +1.03)
Strength
- The Attribute required for proficiency with heavy armaments.
- Boosts attack power of strength scaling armaments and affects your physical defense (VS Strike/Slash/Pierce).
- Soft Caps: 50/60/80
Note: When you 2-Hand a weapon, you are treated as having +50% strength i.e. If a weapon requires 30 Strength and you have 20, 2-Handing that weapon gives you the required strength needed to use it at full effectiveness. This also affects your scaling, so if you have 40 Strength, 2-Handing a weapon deals damage as if you have 60 Strength.
These weapon types are standout examples that scale well off Strength and while they are slow in speed, they make up for it with damage and poise break. Greatswords, Colossal Weapons, Colossal Swords are commonly sought after and great to use for Strength builds. The Colossal Sword type weapon Greatsword (shown in the image above) is a fan favorite.
Advanced Strength Breakdown
- Minor AP Soft Caps
- 16 for weapons with a quality affinity
- 18 for weapons with poison, blood, and the physical portion of elemental affinities, and those with no affinity
- 20 for weapons with heavy, occult, or elemental affinities, and innate elemental scaling
- Soft Caps
- 50 for the elemental AP when it benefits from this stat (primarily fire affinity); gains drop substantially after this
- 60 for the physical AP on all affinities; 56-60 gives lower returns than 60-80
- 80 for all affinities, but it’s mainly only worth getting this much for physical affinities, even then it's marginal
- Casting Soft Caps
- 30/45 (Clawmark Seal and Frenzied Flame Seal both use Strength)
Note: The 2h AP bonus does not apply to ashes of war or critical attacks.
Dexterity
- The Attribute required for proficiency with advanced armaments.
- Boosts attack power of dexterity-scaling armaments, reduces casting time of Spells, softens fall damage, and makes it harder to be knocked off your horse.
- Soft Caps - 50/60/80
These weapon types are standout examples that scale well off Dexterity providing the agility and capability to get multiple hits in quick succession. Daggers, Claws, Poleblades, and Katanas are commonly sought after and great to use for Dexterity builds. The Katana Uchigatana (shown in the image) is an all around great weapon to start off with or pick up during your playthrough.
Advanced Dexterity Breakdown
- Minor AP Soft Caps
- 16 for weapons with a quality affinity
- 18 for weapons with poison, blood, the physical portion of elemental affinities, and no affinity
- 20 for weapons with keen, occult, or elemental affinities, and innate elemental scaling
- Soft Caps
- 50 for the elemental AP when it benefits from this stat (primarily lightning affinity)
- 60 for the physical AP on all affinities. 56-60 gives lower returns than 60-80
- 80 for all affinities, usually only worth getting this much for physical affinities and even then it's marginal
- Casting Soft Caps
- 30 and 45 (Frenzied Flame Seal uses Dexterity)
Intelligence
- Attribute required to perform Glintstone Sorceries.
- Boosts the power of intelligence-scaling Sorceries and improves Magic Resistance.
- Influences player magic defense and provides AP scaling for weapons that utilize the stat.
- Soft Caps (Attack Rating) - 20/50/80 (Weapon Dependent)
- Soft Caps (Sorcery Scaling) - 60/80 (Sorcery Dependent)
Staves are always intelligence weapons, but there are other standout examples like the Crystal archetype or Moonveil Katana that scale off of this attribute. Intelligence weapons provide a diverse approach of ranged magic or unique abilities. The spell Comet Azur (shown in the image) is enjoyed by any late game Intelligence player.
Advanced Intelligence Breakdown
- Minor Soft Cap - 20
- 20 for weapons with elemental affinities and innate elemental scaling
- Soft Caps - 50/80
- 50 for the elemental AP when it benefits from this stat (primarily magic and cold affinities); gains drop substantially after this
- 80 for all affinities (not worth if you're going for elemental)
- Casting Soft Caps are 30, 45, 60, and 80 depending on catalyst
Faith
- Attribute required to perform sacred Incantations.
- Boosts the power of faith-scaling Incantations.
- Soft Caps (Attack Rating) - 20/50/80 (Weapon Dependent)
- Soft Caps (Incantation Scaling) - 60/80 (Incantation Dependent)
Faith weapons are diverse when it comes to choice and playstyle, whether you want to use Incantations or powerful abilities on your weapons. While there's no weapon specific archetypes on Faith, there are standout examples like the Winged Scythe or Blasphemous Blade that scale off of this attribute. Faith weapons provide a diverse approach of ranged Incantations or unique abilities. The incantation Golden Vow (shown in the image) is a common Incantation players use.
Advanced Faith Breakdown
- Minor Soft Cap - 20
- 20 for weapons with elemental affinities and innate elemental scaling
- Soft Caps - 50/80
- 50 for the elemental AP when it benefits from this stat (primarily sacred and flame art affinities); gains drop substantially after this
- 80 for all affinities (not worth if you're going for elemental)
- Casting Soft Caps are 30, 45, 60, and 80 depending on catalyst
Arcane
- Influences player holy defense and death resistance, provides AP scaling for weapons that utilize the stat, increases item discovery, and provides scaling for poison, bleed, sleep, and madness buildup.
- Soft Caps (Attack Rating) - 20/60/80 (Weapon Dependent)
- Soft Caps (Status Scaling) - 40/45/60 (Weapon Dependent)
Arcane is beneficial since it scales your Status Effects which helps immensely when pairing it with weapon types like Katanas or Incantation Seals. While there's no weapon specific archetypes on Arcane, there are standout examples like the Eleonora's Poleblade or the Dragon Communion Seal that scale off of this attribute. Arcane provides a diverse approach of ranged Incantations or unique abilities. The Katana Rivers of Blood (shown in the image) is among one of the most talked about weapons in Elden Ring.
Advanced Arcane Breakdown
- Minor Soft Caps
- 18 for weapons with poison and blood affinities
- 20 for weapons with occult affinity
- Soft Caps
- 60 for all affinities (56-60 gives lower returns than 60-80)
- 80 for all affinities, but it’s usually only worth getting this much for physical affinities. Even then it's marginal.
- Casting Soft Caps
- 30/45 (Albinauric Staff and Dragon Communion Seal both use arcane)
- Status Scaling Soft Caps
- 40 for Serpent Bow poison scaling
- 45 for everything else - gains drop a decent bit after this
- 60 for everything else - not worth for purely status purposes most of the time
- Strength/Dexterity/Arcane (Incantation Scaling) Soft Caps
- 30/45 (Incantation Dependent)
Note: Since item discovery scaling is linear, there is no decrease in returns. Every Arcane level up to 99 increases item discovery by 1.
Summary
Understanding Attributes and their caps is crucial to optimizing your builds by having the correct stat spread as you progress. Strength users bonk the baddies with oversized weapons. Dexterity builds are agile and strike quickly. Specialize for Intelligence to obliterate foes from afar. Invest in Faith to use powerful Incantations or Arcane for a combination of Incantations and Status Effects. There's so many ways to build your character, and now you have all the knowledge needed to truly become Elden Lord.
Written by: BlameFrost
Reviewed by: Brozime, Tenkiei
