
Various magic users will still need a melee weapon (generally they’ll wind up with one that receives bonus damage for having high Intellect/Faith, but you can worry about that later), but can also damage enemies from afar with spells, potentially buff and heal themselves, and probably won’t have much to do with heavy armour. Dexterity types will favour swifter weapons like rapiers or daggers, will generally have lighter armour (for dodging), and, if they use a shield, will be going with medium or smaller ones. Strength characters will be hitting things with big swords (or halberds or whatever), possibly wearing heavier armour, and will be able to carry the biggest, heaviest shields. They’re all great choices, because they all lead to you playing Dark Souls 3.

We’ll go over what each of the stats mean in more detail shortly, but in general you’re either going to be a Strength, Dexterity, or magic (Intellect for sorcery, Faith for miracles, either/both for Pyromancy) focused fellow. That said, it’ll definitely help to have a rough idea of the basic Dark Souls 3 archetypes. If you feel you’ve really messed up, there’s an NPC later in the game who will allow you to entirely redistribute your points. At the absolute worst you’ll decide after choosing a magic-focused character that actually you’d rather hit things with big swords, but all characters start at such a low level that you can change direction relatively easily. Good news, there isn’t really a wrong choice here. Oh god help, what character class should I be? The vast majority of this guide assumes you’re an absolute beginner at this series. Those who’ve played a Souls game before might want to just skip to the “handy early item locations” section on, but if you’re coming to fresh to this whole world, then read straight on for some stat basics and useful strategies. Which is why PC Invasion is here to offer a little bit of help deciphering some of this stuff.


Lothric is a daunting place, full of curious objects and loosely explained mechanics. If it’s your first foray into From Software’s fantasy lands, it may also seem a bit baffling and overwhelming. While the difficulty of the Dark Souls series has been a bit over-sold by marketing, there’s no doubt that Dark Souls 3 is a challenging game. Also Read: Dark Souls 3 Boss Guide: Tips for Extinguishing the Lords
