Elden Ring has a lot of stats to throw at you – here’s what each one means and why you should care about it!
In a game like Elden Ring, knowing which stats to put your points into is key. After all, depending on your playstyle, some will be far more important than others.
In past Souls titles, some gamers have preferred to max out their Strength attribute, in order to become the ultimate glass cannon. However, for most gamers, a more balanced distribution is preferred.
And while Elden Ring allows for a more leisurely pace than Dark Souls, it’s no walk in the park.

Elden Ring: What Does Each Attribute Do?
Here’s our full breakdown of every stat in Elden Ring, allowing you to pick your priorities early on.
Vigor
Vigor directly ties to your health in Elden Ring. Putting points into Vigor will help you live longer (although in Elden Ring, you’ll still be going down to a handful of hits).
On top of overall health, Vigor also contributes to your fire and poison immunity.
Mind
Mind allows you to have more Focus Points (FP) in Elden Ring. It also adds to your overall Focus Resistance, allowing you to resist conditions like Sleep or Madness.
Be sure to check out our full guide to Focus Points (FP) and how to get more in Elden Ring.
Endurance
Your Endurance in Elden Ring is directly reflected in your Stamina, allowing you to pull off more attacks and dodges before tiring. However, it also contributes to your overall Physical Defense, allowing you to negate more damage.
What makes Endurance particularly important is that it also increases your Robustness, giving you resistance against Hemorrhage and Frostbite. Increasing this stat also increases your equipment load capacity.
Read More: Elden Ring PC Minimum & Recommended Specs Are Insane

Strength
Strength in Elden Ring will allow you to deal more damage with Strength-based weapons. It’s also a necessary stat to wield heavy armaments.
If a weapon scales with the STR attribute, you’ll deal more damage with it, the higher your Strength stat is, and even more when wielding it in two hands.
Dexterity
Dexterity is excellent for light builds that focus on speed and movement. The stat is required to wield advanced armaments and boost the power of weapons that scale with DEX.
On top of that, Dexterity will also allow you to reduce Spell Casting Time, and even decreases the amount of fall damage you take. Interestingly, the attribute even makes it harder for a player to get knocked off their horse!
Read More: Elden Ring PS4 & PS5 File Sizes Revealed
Intelligence
Intelligence is a requirement for many Glintstone Sorceries and boosts the power of INT scaling spells. Furthermore, putting points into Intelligence will improve your resistance to enemy Magic.
Those looking for the best Magic class in Elden Ring will want to put a lot of points into this stat.

Faith
Similar to Intelligence, Faith is required to perform Sacred Incantations. Of course, it also boosts the power of Incantations that scale on FAI.
Incantations include Elden Ring’s powerful Dragon Transformations, as well as several healing and support abilities.
Arcane
Finally, Arcana is very similar to the Luck stat from prior FromSoftware games. Not only will it help you find more items, but it also increases your resistance to instant-death abilities.
Some weapons will also scale with ARC, and certain sorceries and incantations will also be affected by the attribute.
Now you know what each stat does, be sure to pick the best starting class in Elden Ring to give you an early boost!
Thursday 17th of February 2022
"In past Souls titles, some gamers have preferred to max out their Strength attribute, in order to become the ultimate glass cannon."
Maximizing strength would make you more of a tank/melee build. Glass cannon refers to a mage build (strong magic/long range while being weak in physical defense).
Tuesday 11th of October 2022
@raptor, No, because the caster is long range, meaning they can steer clear of danger.
Saturday 26th of February 2022
@Max, still not a glass cannon as to melee still have better defense/ abilities to survive than a caster who stands there and blast things only to die to a simple glance.
Thursday 17th of February 2022
But if you put all your points in Strength and nothing else, you hit like a truck and still can't take any damage without dying
Thursday 17th of February 2022
Is this from the final version or the Network Test?
Thursday 17th of February 2022
This should be from the final version of the game! A few tweaks have been made since the Network Test
Wednesday 16th of February 2022
Misleading. Endurance doesnt increase carry weight, Strength doe.
Thursday 17th of February 2022
I know there's some confusion on the topic but it seems that Strength no longer increases Carry Weight. Now it's back to Endurance
Wednesday 16th of February 2022
I thought strength raises equipment burden, not endurance. ?
Saturday 26th of February 2022
@Jozai610_YT, endurance does now. however, all the main states raise defense and some certain defenses more than other.