Image: FromSoftware Inc, QLOC, Bandai Namco Entertainment via HGG / Koby Gibson Ross
My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
Despite its age, Dark Souls is still one of the best action RPGs out there. It provides a beautifully dark world to explore, challenging combat, and lots of ways to build your character. It’s no surprise then that people are still playing this game to this very day. Dark Souls features many different classes for you to choose from, each giving you a very different experience early game. If you’re new to Dark Souls or you can’t decide what class to do for your next playthrough, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we’ll be discussing and ranking every class, working up to the best class in Dark Souls: Remastered.
Every Class in Dark Souls: Remastered, Ranked from Good to Best
With that intro out of the way, let’s get right into the ranking!
Deprived
The Deprived class is the closest thing to a “create your own class” option. They are a class that starts out with very low stats and no good equipment. They’re very weak and ineffective to begin with, but can turn into a really powerful build if you know what you are doing. I recommend this class only for veterans of Dark Souls or those who have played souls-like games before and want to be challenged.
You begin this class with 11 attribute points in every single stat. This is great if you want a class that is flexible and can be turned into just about any build in the game. No stat points are wasted in categories that you won’t need. In the long run, you can have a really optimized build.
As previously mentioned, the Deprived class begins with terrible starting equipment. You start off with a club, which does poor damage, even to early-game enemies. I recommend two-handing this weapon, as that will allow you to deal more damage. You also start out with a weak shield and no armor, making your defense not that great. If you go to the Darkroot Garden, you can find some Knight armor in a lake guarded by enemies.
Hunter
Hunters are a class that specializes in range-based combat. They are the only class in the game that starts out with a bow and some arrows to use it. If you are someone who likes ranged combat in RPGs, you should consider picking this class so you can start using a bow right away. Do keep in mind that you can still get a bow very early on in the game by buying it from a certain merchant.
The highest stat for this class is Dexterity, which sits at a comfortable 14. It also has a strength stat of 12. You could specialize in Dexterity with this class, or you could do a quality build — leveling both Strength and Dexterity — and they would both be viable. I recommend leveling up your Vitality and Endurance early on, however, as those are the most important stats early game and this class only starts with 11 of both.
As for equipment, as previously mentioned, Hunters start the game off with a bow and some arrows. In Dark Souls, bows aren’t all that useful due to limited arrows. You’ll want to melee weapons fairly often with this class to compensate for it. Hunters start with a shortsword, which is good for Dexterity-based classes.
Sorcerer
Up next are Sorcerers, the class that specializes in casting sorceries. This is a magic-based class that is perfect for any mage build. If you are not that big a fan of using melee weapons and would prefer to use magic for many of your attacks, then this is the class I recommend you use. You will still be using melee weapons a lot — as you will with all classes — but Sorcerers allow you to use many different spells.
Your highest stats with this class will be Intelligence and Attunement, both of which will be 15. Intelligence allows you to deal more damage with certain spells, while Attunement lets you hold up to 3 spells at once. You also have a Dexterity stat of 11. This isn’t great, but it’s higher than your Strength stat. I recommend leveling it up and use Dexterity weapons for your melee combat.
Sorcerers begin the game with a dagger as well as a leather shield. This combo makes them good for parrying and dealing critical damage to enemies. Parrying can be a little tricky, but using a small shield makes it easier. You also have access to a Sorcerer’s Catalyst as well as soul arrows, which allow you to deal magic damage from a safe distance away.
Thief
Thieves are an agile class that specializes in parrying enemies and dishing out critical hits with their dagger. Despite what the name may imply, you will not spend the majority of your time being stealthy with this class. Sneaking up behind enemies is very rarely viable when compared to just running up to them and attacking. So if you wanted a sneaky, stealth-based class, you’re going to be disappointed.
This class starts the game with a high Dexterity stat of 15, one of the highest out of any other class. They also have 12 Intelligence, as well as 11 Attunement and Faith. You could get away with incorporating some magic into your build, but for most players, I just recommend sticking to leveling up your Dexterity and Endurance and using parrying and critical hits as your main form of damage-dealing.
You start out the game with a Bandit’s Knife, which is a pretty good dagger for the early game. This weapon also does bleed damage. When dealing bleed damage, a meter will fill up for an enemy. Once the meter is full, the enemy will take bonus damage. This is good for tanky enemies and bosses. This class also starts with the Target Shield, a small shield that makes parrying much easier.
Cleric
Now onto the Cleric, a magic-using class that specializes in casting miracles. Miracles are usually for healing/buffing yourself and allies, but there are some offensive miracles that deal magic damage. The Cleric can become one of the best classes in the game for PVE if you level your attributes right and get the right gear and equipment. So if you are someone who prefers to play single-player, this might be the class for you.
As for its beginning attributes, Clerics start the game out with 14 Faith and 12 sSrength as their highest stats. The Faith is great for casting miracles, while the Strength is good for using its starter weapon (more on that in a moment). As you get more and more spells, you should be sure to level up your Faith so that you are able to use them. Early on, focus on leveling up Strength for more damage with your melee weapon, as well as Endurance for more stamina.
Clerics begin the game with a mace, which is a fairly strong early game strength-weapon. They also start out with a talisman, which is needed in order to cast miracles. The only miracle you have at the start is “Heal.” As the name implies, this will heal some of your health. This spell may be simple, but it’s great for the early game, as you don’t have access to that many healing items at the start.
Knight
The Knight is a pretty underrated class that is well-suited to beginners. Knights are heavily armored soldiers that have great defensive stats thanks to their starting attributes and equipment. If you find yourself taking a lot of damage in souls-like games, I recommend reading more into this class to see if it’s the right one for you.
This class starts out with 14 Vitality, as well as 11 Strength and Dexterity. Vitality governs your health, and getting this number up is crucial early on in the game. Additionally, its Strength and Dexterity being the same stat gives you some freedom in how you want to build this character. You could level up either, or do both for a quality build. One stat you should definitely level up early on is Endurance, so you can increase your equip load.
This class starts out with pretty good armor, increasing its survivability even more. The main problem with this armor is that it’s pretty heavy, and thus will decrease the speed that you can roll around in. But you can sidestep this issue by increasing your Endurance, as mentioned in the previous paragraph. Knights also start out with a good shield, helping to reduce the damage that you are taking from enemies even more.
Bandit
The fourth best class Dark Souls: Remastered is the Bandit. Bandits are a pretty interesting class that I think makes for a great DPS build. They are good for those who want to do a lot of melee combat in the game and don’t care too much about using spells and magic-based abilities.
The most notable attributes for this class are 14 Strength, 14 Endurance, and 12 Vitality. The higher Strength and Endurance are great for doing reliable damage to enemies. Strength boosts damage with certain weapons, and Endurance lets you attack more often. The Vitality is great for keeping you alive, as a higher Vitality stat gives you more health and lets you tank more hits from enemies before dying.
The starting gear for the Bandit is pretty good. They begin with a battle axe, which is a good weapon that scales fairly well with Strength. You can two-hand this weapon for even more damage. Bandits also start with a good shield that can block 100% of physical damage, which is perfect for beginners who are still getting used to the game. Bandits also start with Brigand Armor, which is pretty decent.
Wanderer
Wanderers are a pretty interesting class. They seem to be best suited for a hybrid build between Dexterity melee and spell casting. Because of this, it makes the class fairly versatile, and good for multiple different scenarios. Many people consider this a good class for beginners, and I can’t say that I disagree with them.
Its highest starting attributes are Dexterity at 14 points and Resistance at 12 points. It also comes with 11 in the Intelligence and Attunement stats, both of which are good for mages. I recommend you keep leveling up Dexterity with this class so that you can deal more damage with Dexterity-based weapons. If you want to get into spells, level up Intelligence for more damage and increase your Attunement to 12 for an additional slot for your spells.
The Wanderer will begin the game with a curved sword called a Scimitar. While this weapon does not deal high damage on its own, it does attack faster than other weapons and can be deadly in the right hands. Additionally, this class comes with a pretty weak shield. This shield, however, is great for parrying, and I recommend you use it primarily for that purpose. The Wanderer’s armor set isn’t the best starting armor set, but it is decent.
Warrior
The Warrior is another great class that is good for beginners and veterans alike. This is a nice melee-based class that can use many different types of weapons that you will find early game. It’s similar in its play style to the knight, except that it has lighter armor. This offers less defense, but it makes up for it by allowing you to roll around more quickly, which is arguably more important in many circumstances.
Warriors will start out their playthroughs with 13 Strength and 13 Dexterity. This is a pretty nice combo of stats, as it allows you to get a head start on a quality build. As for what stats you should level up when using this class, I recommend keeping Endurance and Vitality high. These are the two most important stats early game, as they govern your stamina and health, respectively.
For gear, you will begin with pretty decent — but not outstanding — armor as well as a longsword. The longsword is a decent weapon that will get you through early-game encounters, but ideally, you’ll find a better weapon early on. I recommend going to the graveyard at the Firelink Shrine and getting the Zweilhander as soon as you can. You may have to level up your Strength to be able to weld it, however.
Pyromancer
Finally, the best class in Dark Souls: Remastered is none other than the Pyromancer! This is a really fantastic class, both for beginners and veterans alike. Pyromancers are magic-users who specialize in pyromancies, a unique magic type that centers around fire. I highly recommend picking this class if it is your first playthrough, or you want to do a battle-mage type of character that can do both physical attacks and offensive spells.
When choosing this class, you will begin the game with higher Attunement, Strength, and Resistance. Attunement and Resistance aren’t the best attributes in the game, but Strength is definitely useful to have. I recommend increasing Dexterity and not Strength, however, as once you get it to at least 35, your casting speed will start to increase.
As for starting gear, you will begin the game with a handaxe, which does good damage, as well as a shield. The shield isn’t that great, but you can get better ones early on. You also start off with a Pyromancy Flame and the Fireball Spell. These two things will allow you to dish out lots of fire damage to enemies. A great thing about Pyromancers is that if you find the NPC called Laurentius of the Great Swamp pretty early on in the game. Once you rescue him, he will sell you new spells.
Join the High Ground!
We hope that you enjoyed reading this ranking for the best classes in Dark Souls: Remastered ranked! What are your thoughts on this list? Did you agree or disagree with our picks? Feel free to leave a comment down below, and make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more Dark Souls content.
Happy gaming!
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