Classes in Dark Souls determine the starting Stats and Equipment of the player. There are 10 Classes in Dark Souls that the player can begin the game with. They are listed below:

Classes do not determine what weapons, items, armor, or spells your character is able to use, they only determine what your character starts the game with. As you progress through the game and raise your levels, your character can potentially take up any role regardless of class.

In addition to choosing a class, players can choose a gift to begin the game with. All gifts can be found in the game later on, but taking one here can let the player enjoy a benefit they wouldn't normally have until much later. A first time player should be careful about choosing gifts that will let them enter end-game areas from the start of the game such as the Master Key, since they could potentially end up stranded in a very difficult area without the knowledge or equipment to get back out. Note that the Master Key is infinitely reusable, and the Thief starting class begins the game with one already. Taking a second Master Key as a Thief is a waste of a gift.

The cost of raising a level increases as your character's level increases. The amount of souls each level costs is the same for all classes, though classes begin at different levels. For example, a character that starts at level 1 may find leveling up to be extremely affordable, but the character who starts at level 10 didn't have to pay anything to get to that point. When the level 1 character reaches level 10, going from 10 to level 11 will cost exactly the same amount of souls as it would for the character who started at level 10. Because of this, starting at a lower level actually ends up costing more overall, however the player will be able to put their stats exactly where they want them instead of starting with a more pre-determined kit. The starting level of a character ignores the Resistance stat, so characters with high resistance start at lower levels than they would normally have otherwise.

 

Classes

 

Warrior

warrior starting class male dark souls

icon level 4

icon vitality 11

icon attunement 8

icon endurance 12

icon strength 13

icon dexterity 13

icon resistance 11

icon intelligence 9

icon faith 9 icon humanity 0

Knight

knight starting class male dark souls

icon level 5

icon vitality 14

icon attunement 10

icon endurance 10

icon strength 11

icon dexterity 11

icon resistance 10

icon intelligence 9

icon faith 11 icon humanity 0

Wanderer

wanderer starting class male dark souls

icon level 3

icon vitality 10

icon attunement 11

icon endurance 10

icon strength 10

icon dexterity 14

icon resistance 12

icon intelligence 11

icon faith 8 icon humanity 0

Thief

thief starting class male dark souls

icon level 5

icon vitality 9

icon attunement 11

icon endurance 9

icon strength 9

icon dexterity 15

icon resistance 10

icon intelligence 12

icon faith 11 icon humanity 0

Bandit

bandit starting class male dark souls

icon level 4

icon vitality 12

icon attunement 8

icon endurance 14

icon strength 14

icon dexterity 9

icon resistance 11

icon intelligence 8

icon faith 10 icon humanity 0

 

Hunter

hunter starting class male dark souls

icon level 4

icon vitality 11

icon attunement 9

icon endurance 11

icon strength 12

icon dexterity 14

icon resistance 11

icon intelligence 9

icon faith 9 icon humanity 0

Sorcerer

sorcerer starting class male dark souls

icon level 3

icon vitality 8

icon attunement 15

icon endurance 8

icon strength 9

icon dexterity 11

icon resistance 8

icon intelligence 15

icon faith 8 icon humanity 0

Pyromancer

pyromancer starting class male dark souls

icon level 1

icon vitality 10

icon attunement 12

icon endurance 11

icon strength 12

icon dexterity 9

icon resistance 12

icon intelligence 10

icon faith 8 icon humanity 0

Cleric

cleric starting class male dark souls

icon level 2

icon vitality 11

icon attunement 11

icon endurance 9

icon strength 12

icon dexterity 8

icon resistance 11

icon intelligence 8

icon faith 14 icon humanity 0

Deprived

deprived starting class male dark souls

icon level 6

icon vitality 11

icon attunement 11

icon endurance 11

icon strength 11

icon dexterity 11

icon resistance 11

icon intelligence 11

icon faith 11 icon humanity 0

 

Class Comparison Table

  icon level
LV
icon vitality
VIT
icon attunement
ATT
icon endurance
END
icon strength
STR
icon dexterity
DEX
icon resistance
RES
icon intelligence
INT
icon faith
FTH
icon humanity
HUM

TOT

Warrior 4 11 8 12 13 13 11 9 9 0 86
Knight 5 14 10 10 11 11 10 9 11 0 86
Wanderer 3 10 11 10 10 14 12 11 8 0 86
Thief 5 9 11 9 9 15 10 12 11 0 86
Bandit 4 12 8 14 14 9 11 8 10 0 86
Hunter 4 11 9 11 12 14 11 9 9 0 86
Sorcerer 3 8 15 8 9 11 8 15 8 0 82
Pyromancer 1 10 12 11 12 9 12 10 8 0 84
Cleric 2 11 11 9 12 8 11 8 14 0 84
Deprived 6 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 0 88


 

icon level Level icon vitality Vitality
icon attunement Attunement icon endurance Endurance
icon strength Strength icon dexterity Dexterity
icon resistance Resistance icon intelligence Intelligence
icon faith Faith icon humanity Humanity

 

Origins / Faces

Commoner
Delta Farmer
Astora Noble
Dragon Scholar
Thorolund Cleric
male commoner hollow front1 male delta farmer hollow front1 male astora noble hollow front1 male dragon scholar hollow front1 male thorolund cleric hollow front1
female commoner hollow front1 female delta farmer hollow front1 female astora noble hollow front1 female dragon scholar hollow front1 female thorolund cleric hollow front1
Jubilant Catarina
Dubious Carim
Classic Zena
Eerie Great Swamp
Far East Traveller
male jubilant caterina hollow front1 male dubious carim hollow front1 male classic zena hollow front1 male eerie great swamp hollow front1 male far east traveler hollow front1
female jubilant catarina hollow front1 female dubious carim hollow front1 female classic zena hollow front1 female eerie great swamp hollow front1 female far east traveler hollow front1



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    • Anonymous

      Quick and dirty guide.

      Warrior - For weapon build purists that don't want to mix it up with pyro/attunement.

      Knight - RP or challenge runs from what I can tell.

      Wanderer - For Intelligence/Weapon mixes.

      Thief - For niche Faith/Int/Dex caster mixes

      Bandit - For weapon build purists that don't want to mix it up with attunement. Also for Faith/Weapon builds that want a strong melee start.

      Hunter - RP and challenge run only from what I can tell.

      Sorcerer - For Intelligence casting purists.

      Pyromancer - For any non-Faith Weapon build that will utilize attunement, including Intelligence/Weapon mixes.

      Cleric - For Faith purists (is that a thing?) and Faith/Weapon builds.

      Deprived - For RP and challenge runs, from what I can tell.


      • I suggest that new players choose the Knight class and Master Key, then watch an online tutorial to get to the Straight Sword of Astora, Dragon Crest Shield, and take the necessary steps to become a sunlight warrior.

        • Anonymous

          Hunter is the most optimal for all melee classes, I pick it no matter what. You will need that 14 dex for black knight weapons and greatbows if you play str. Thief is the second best since it has master key by default.

          • Anonymous

            Wait a sec. So resistance is officially useless? Higher starting resistance doesnt mean higher starting level, basically free points on character creation because even devs considered them wasted? LMAO

            • Anonymous

              Vitality and Endurance Only Campaign.

              Hunter Class, get the Great Scythe in the catacombs, 2 hand wield it (Chaos/Lighting or Lifehunt Scythe) invest only in Vitality and Endurance.

              • Anonymous

                I found a build deprived might be best at. Int build with 14 att, 11 str, 13 dex, and 12 fth with a maybe magic or enchanted spear. Since it has higher resistance than the knight that doesn't count towards its soul level, it may have an edge over the knight, but by that logic it may not be able to use the warpick without being outclassed by the pyromancer.
                This depends on the extra dex giving extra damage (or maybe casting speed) worth its weight in soul level investment.
                Also, it turns out the knight is also good with quelaag's furysword.

                • Anonymous

                  While bandit, wanderer, sorcerer, and cleric are often considered the only good classes, the other classes have very straightforward niche builds they are best at (except deprived, who isn't best at anything).
                  The warrior can take advantage of having the lowest attunement value to minmax with the darkmoon seance ring. Best with 13 str, 8 att, 9 int, at least 13 dex, and at least 9 fth. Good with the partizan and winged spear.
                  The knight is best at dex builds with 11 or less str, 9 int, and 12 fth. Good with the basic spear, thorolund talisman, and sun princess ring
                  The hunter is best with dex builds with 12 str and 9 att. Good with the balder shield.
                  Thief is best with dex builds with 9 str, 12 fth, and att and or int less than that of the sorcerer. Should have access to hidden weapon.
                  Pyromancer is best with at least 12 str, at least 10 int, at least 12 att; and att, dex, and/or int less than that of the sorcerer. Good with moonlight greatsword, moonlight butterfly horn, and mace.

                  • Anonymous

                    If we level up all the classes to level 6, the number of points is different in some of them. The sorcerer has fewer points (85), the pyromancer will have 89 points, the deprived 88 points (we didn't need to level him up), etc.

                    • Anonymous

                      hot take: beating the game as SL6 Deprived is more impressive than SL1 Pyromancer, in large part because of having half the number of spell slots

                      • Anonymous

                        The thief, hunter, and deprived all need faith leveled to at least 12,attunement leveled to at least 10, and intelligence leveled to 10-14 to make use of their faith and attunement that's somewhat extra but not quite as specialized as classes like the cleric, bandit, wanderer, and sorcerer. The warrior is tied for lowest attunement and there's a ring that gives attunement slots, so you can leave attunement unleveled on a warrior if you want. The advantage to this is it gives you offensive and buff sorceries, and the heal miracle which you can minimal with the thoroland talisman. Try a rapier buckler build if you're going with thief, it can work well whether you're going for agility or tanking.

                        • Anonymous

                          On my first character I couldn't defeat O&S because I was leveling all of the stats. So much for tip "don't use guides or you'll ruin your first play". No. You will ruin your first play if you don't use guides at all because game tells you absolutely nothing and you'll probably end up with character with bad stats that requires good player's skill to deal with bosses. And you will not have this skill since you are new player.

                          So next time I used armored pyro/sorc with chaos zweihander and strong magic/fire damage. Even if I still lacked skill O&S was much easier fight. Same goes to 4 Kings or DLC bosses. I was terrible at parying or rolling but since I was like heavy tank shooting lasers and fireballs I could beat every boss with tanking and high ranged damage. So if you are new player with no skill use guides to pick your build cause good build can help you if you lack skill.

                          • Anonymous

                            Quick Guide to new players:
                            WARRIOR - great choice for any pure physical build (strength, dexterity or both)
                            KNIGHT - crappy choice, you will soon learn than mobility is much better than being slow snail-tank, don't pick it!
                            WANDERER - best class for battle mage path that combines sorceries and pyromancies with dexterity weapons
                            THIEF - for speedrunners and more experienced players who use mixed builds, don't pick it!
                            BANDIT - probably best class for pure physical builds especially strength based, if you like smash things with big weapons it's your choice
                            HUNTER - used only for pure dexterity builds, if you want to stick with daggers and bows you can pick this one
                            SORCERER - great only if you want focus purely on casting sorceries most of the time, for mixing sorceries with melee pick something other
                            PYROMANCER - most balanced starting class with lowest level, used to combine pyromancy with anything you want, one of the best starting classes due to versality
                            CLERIC - best class for any faith focused build that combine miracles with any form of melee fighting
                            DEPRIVED - allrounder for mixed builds for more experienced players who know the game, don't pick it!

                            Of course all of this are suggestions. No one stops you from starting as knight and then focusing on sorcery to spam blue lazers. It's Dark Souls you can do anything here and there are no limts. But by following above tips you will have easier and faster results since each stat increase costs more and more and by making wrong choices you will have to spent hours grinding souls just to level up.

                            • Anonymous

                              my go to pick is always the deprived, you can get good equipment at the start of the game and the stats are good

                              • Anonymous

                                For minmaxing purposes one thing to keep in mind is that resistance points do not come out of the base level budget, so no need to look at that stat even when picking a class.

                                • Anonymous

                                  If you’re new to the game and don’t know what to choose, I’d recommend actually the lowest level class, the Pyromancer. Pyromancers start with Fireball, and Pyromancy spells in general require no stat investment in Intelligence or Faith, just in upgrading the glove for more damage. They shine as a mix of magic and melee. If you decided magic is not for you, it’s easy to abandon it altogether, or just use one of the best utility spells for more damage: Power Within. The only downsides to a Pyromancer is that they start with relatively low Dexterity and Faith, but besides that they’re almost as well balanced as it gets for stats. After you kill the second major boss, her sister gives you one of the strongest Pyromancy spells for free for just joining her covenant.
                                  If it turns out you like spells more than melee combat, Cleric and Sorcerer are more specialists in Faith and Intelligence respectively. If you don’t like magic at all, Bandits are the way to go. Regardless, the first playthrough with a Pyromancer will really help you realize your play style.

                                  • Anonymous

                                    I just started and t have not found my class yet but i am still looking and i hope to find my class some day.

                                    • Anonymous

                                      Never really got the hype behind thief, all the equipment you get from picking the class can be gotten within the first 5 areas of the game and you can get the master key for only 5000 after ringing both bells. DEX is really good at the start but single digit strength almost nullifies any benefit that gives. Odd mix of intelligence and faith allowing you to use the most basic of all magic types but only enough attunement for 1 spell slot. Quite a bit of the same could probably be said for pyromancer (my personal favorite) though, so maybe I'm missing the point entirely?

                                      • Anonymous

                                        Pick whatever class has the fewest points in the stat(s) you don't want to level at all (except for resistance). For example if you don't plan on putting any points in faith go with an 8 faith class. Eventually every stat point costs hundreds of thousands of souls, so just keep that in mind.

                                        • Anonymous

                                          For most min/max builds the pyromancer is the way to to.
                                          Bandit for pure melee builds, cleric for miracle build.

                                          • Anonymous

                                            I picked Wanderer for my first run. Didn't care much about the stats, plus I liked the look of the outfit.

                                            • Anonymous

                                              Why most of the classes have 86 Points, but different lvl?
                                              (Warrior, Knight, Wanderer, Thief, Bandit and Hunter)

                                              • Anonymous

                                                For me I choose sorcerer for only 1 reason: 15 intelligence is the minimum requirement to do the quest line for Logan/Griggs. Why does this matter? Simple. I'm a completionist. I like to do EVERY quest and Logan/Griggs is the ONLY one where you MUST have at least 15 int. As for the practicality of starting classes, it doesn't really matter to me because I'm good enough at the game where I can adjust. Is it weird I do this? Lol

                                                • Anonymous

                                                  i was wondering about what's a good starting class that does melee, along with being quick to dodging, and major damage?

                                                  • Anonymous

                                                    cleric is my favorite,it is easy to go cleric with the master key and go to the valley of drakes and grab the astora straight sword and than got to blight town to get the crimson set,loads of "soul of a proud knight" and go to the great hollow to get the cloranthy ring and loads of twinkling titanite and than i return to firelink and spend all my souls and have 25 faith and enough titanite to get a +5 astora straight sword and than i progress to the parish to get lightning spear.

                                                    • Anonymous

                                                      Knight is pretty tanky but you need havel's ring to actually use the knight armor because eh you probably would know by now

                                                      • The classes aren't too bad, though I truly would go for knight, warrior, or wanderer. Wanderer was always my first choice, especially when I first tried out DS, seeing as how normally dodging and moving with speed were always my top strategies. Excited to try them all though and leave my beginner status behind.

                                                        • Back on this game after my ragequit about 8 mths back when I first bought this for my 360 and I'm glad I found help instead of trying to stonewall this game. Now I found my rythm and am gonna see if I can make my own Holy Knight. Love DS now!

                                                          • Anonymous

                                                            In my experience with this game, one of the most useful classes to use is Pyromancer, I am a veteran player, and nothing can get better than a Pyro, Knight works just as well but the Knight and Pyromancer are the top 2 choices for me

                                                            • Anonymous

                                                              What is better as starting class warrior or cleric ? Played DS3 as knight with later DEX build and enjoyed it a lot, not much into spells, but not sure what to pick in DS 1, any suggestions?

                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                Pick bandit and master key get 16 str, 17 or 16 endurance, and dex to 10. Add fire zweihander, ring of favor, grass crest sheild, havels ring, and if you're luck get mask of the father and you can be a lvl 10 or 11 giant dad who can medium roll. VTJ

                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                  Classes in this game are just a joke. What's the point to even make a distinction if you can go around with a sorcerer wielding an ultragreatsword and a giant armor set, or a warrior casting spell with wearing a skirt. Ok multiclasses could be cool but here there's no limit at all, no point to make 9 classes, is just stupid.

                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                    Wanderer and Hunter can 2H the Great Scythe at starting stats... this means they can beat the whole game because best weapon moveset... presto

                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                      For each starting class, add all starting points except resistance and subtract the starting lv, and the result should be the same (71).

                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                        I did a little bit comparison between all starting classes
                                                                        Why don't they have the same SL when all stats are the same?
                                                                        While all stats are at 16
                                                                        Pyro and Wanderer are SL 45
                                                                        Warrior, Bandit, Hunter, Cleric and Deprived are SL 46
                                                                        Knight, Thief are SL 47
                                                                        And Sorcerer is SL 49
                                                                        Um... Why did they make them like that?

                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                          When you find their armour in the world, you can think it as they died there and see how far they get throughout the game.

                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                            how about a pyro with 50 Vitality, 40 Endurance, 40 Strength, 40 Dexterity build at level 129. Good stats and 2 Slots for pyro.

                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                              pyromacer with 50 Vitality, 40 Endurance, 40 Strength, 40 Dexterity build at level 129. Seems quite good for me. It also has 2 Slots for pyromancie.

                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                So I started my first playthrough of this game not too long ago, and chose the pyromancer class, as I've always been a fan of magic classes in RPG's, and started a new character after I played a bit on my pyromancer to experiment with another class, and where the item the class would be, on the asylum balcony, is gone, and the other enemies seemed to be much harder than usual. Is this part of the game or is that not normal?

                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                  I have always played my games with the deprived class, I wanted this game to be as hard as possible, but it merely offered a somewhat challenging start to the game, nothing dramatic. However, there is a cadre of people who harp on about how hard the class is, well, if you've put a few hours into Dark Souls, maybe even beaten it once or twice; you will realize how little it differs in difficulty from the beginner classes (warrior, wanderer, bandit, etc). All the class really requires is, is a bit of knowledge and patience until you can obtain better gear.

                                                                                  Also, the stick you start with at the beginning has the potential to become THE most powerful weapon in the game. I may seem daft but just take a look at it. It is perfect for STR based classes (A STR scaling) :O
                                                                                  http://darksouls.wiki.fextralife..com/club" rel="nofollow

                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                    An all around versatile Class that is extremely valuable in teaching a beginner how to play. A beginner is in fact encouraged to play a deprived for a multitude of reasons:1. The wiff animation attached to the club encourages proper timing of blows.2. The quality of the shield leaves the player not overly reliant on blocking, and encourages dodging.3. The lack of armor puts meaning into any that you find throughout the game. Especially your first set.4. Because the stats are overall rounded, any type of character can be made based on what the player wants.

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