Dark Souls 3 class guide

Knight

Starting stats

Starting gift recommendations

Gold Coins: The knight starts with the lowest luck of any class, yielding a very low drop rate. The large blue Winged Knight in the High Wall of Lothric can be farmed to obtain his halberd. There are also some Lothric Knights that can drop great armor and a very good shield.

Play style

Sword and Board: This class is one of only two that starts with a 100% physical block shield. The knight is best suited for blocking attacks and waiting for the enemy to recoil in order to counter.

Where to focus stats

• Endurance: Blocking an attack takes endurance and the endurance meter refills slower while blocking.
• Vitality: Wearing heavy armor and not fat rolling (a slow roll induced by filling out your max equip load) requires an equip burden below 70%.
• Strength: Sword and Board relies on attacking sparingly between blocking with powerful attacks.

Key early items/NPCs

Claymore: Purchase 99 arrows from the Shrine Handmaid in Firelink Shrine. Once you have the long bow from the High Wall of Lothric find a safe spot to snipe the fire-breathing dragon. You cannot kill the dragon, but you can injure it enough to make it fly away, yielding a large titanite shard. It takes roughly 70 arrows depending on the amount of damage you are dealing. Head up to the rampart that the dragon was facing and the Claymore will be in the far corner.

Pros

• 100% physical block shield
• Good Starting Armor
• Good Poise Damage

Cons

• Low Luck
• High Starting Level

Mercenary

Starting stats

Starting gift recommendations

Gold Coins: The Mercenary starts with relatively low luck, and Gold Coins can help farm the Lothric Knight Sword from the Lothric Knights in the High Wall of Lothric. This sword requires 18 Dex and uses the quick straight sword moveset.

Play style

Dex/Fth: Long range lightning attacks mixed with lightning buffed weapons is a deadly combination that makes this build very powerful. This build is weak against enemies with high lightning protection.

Where to focus stats

• Dexterity: Required to wield higher damage katanas or curved swords.
• Faith: Required to cast more powerful miracles and buffs.
• Endurance: Constant casting, rolling, and attacking requires a lot of Endurance.

Key early items/NPCs

Sword Master: The sword master is located to the left of the entrance to Firelink Shrine. He is a deadly foe early in the game, but defeating him yields the katana. Watch out for him raising his katana as he can parry while in this stance.

Pros

• High Dexterity
• Dual Wield Weapon
• Att/Int for early miracles

Cons

• Weak Shield
• Low Luck

Warrior

Starting stats

Starting gift recommendations

Gold Coins: The Warrior starts with relatively high luck, but these can be used to farm the Lothric Knights for some good armor, or the Greataxe Giant Soldiers to get the Greataxe.

Play style

Berserk: The warrior has the lowest Attunement, Intelligence, and Faith combined of any class, making the build ideal for high damage two-handed heavy weapons that require high amounts of strength, dexterity, and endurance.

Where to focus stats

• Strength: Necessary to wield larger weapons.
• Endurance: The more hits you can string in a row the better.
• Dexterity: A lot of larger weapons require more than the Warrior’s initial 9 Dexterity (the longbow requires 14, for instance).

Key early items/NPCs

Deep Battle Axe: When facing the fire-breathing dragon in the High Wall of Lothric, run up the stairs and underneath him when you get an opening. Down below there will be a mimic disguised as a chest. Killing the mimic or hitting it with a Lloyd’s Talisman will give you a Deep Battle Axe, which deals dark damage but does not scale.

Pros

• Highest combined melee stats
• High Vigor
• High Strength

Cons

• Very low magic stats

Herald

Starting stats

Starting gift recommendations

Sovereignless Soul: This item seems to be a special soul. It may possibly be used to trade for an item, or smithed into a special weapon, or possibly it is just worth 2000 souls. (Insert ambiguous NPC laugh here)

Play style

Shield Poke: The Kite Shield is a 100% physical block shield. Coupled with the spear, this allows the Herald to block while attacking. Although the damage output can be lower, the benefits of being able to constantly block are crucial to new players.

Where to focus stats

• Endurance: Blocking while attacking takes a lot of Endurance and the meter refills slowly while blocking.
• Str/Dex: Spears usually require plenty of both Strength and Dexterity, although there are both Strength and Dexterity based spears as well.
• Vitality: Wearing heavy armor and not “fat rolling” requires an equip burden below 70%.

Key early items/NPCs

Cleric’s Sacred Chime: The Undead Cleric’s in the Cemetery of Ash drop these chimes on a consistent basis. Farming one early is an immediate upgrade over the starting Talisman.

Halberd: Sold by the Shrine Handmaid in Firelink Shrine. This is a good upgrade over the spear and has a great long distance Weapon Art that can be followed up with a spin attack.

Pros

• 100% physical block shield
• Attack while blocking
• Heal Miracle

Cons

• Low Endurance
• Low Damage

Thief

Starting stats

Starting gift recommendations

Black Firebomb: The thief has very low damage early, so firebombs are helpful against the first boss and other Abyss enemies weak to fire. The five Black Firebombs deal enough damage to defeat the first boss after he has entered his Abyss stage.

Play style

Dagger and Bow: Long-range bow attacks are used to either kill or aggro enemies one at a time. Fighting against single enemies makes it easier to parry and counter with the dagger.

Where to focus stats

• Vitality: Staying below 50% equip burden is crucial for the fastest roll type.
• Dexterity: Bows and counter weapons (high critical damage) require high dexterity.
• Endurance: Shooting a bow in quick succession requires a large amount of endurance.

Key early items/NPCs

Long Bow: Head right from the first bonfire and across a stone bridge packed with Undead. At the top of the stairs will be an Undead with a crossbow. The Long Bow is behind him on a corpse. Be wary that one of the Undead will mutate into an Abyss Undead similar to Iudex Gundyr’s second form.

Shrine Handmaid: She is the first source of basic arrows that you will find in the game and sells them for five souls each.

Pros 

• Ranged Weapon
• High Critical Damage
• High Luck

Cons

• Low Vitality
• Weak Armor
• Low Regular Damage

On the final page, read thorough breakdowns of for the last five character classes, including recommendations for a starting gift , play style, where to focus stats, key early items, and important NPCs to find. Are you cruel enough to play deprived?