Dark Souls 3: 12 Essential Tips New Players Need To Know

7. Start Out With A Faster Build (A Quick Rundown Of Important Stats)

So you've bought Dark Souls, you've made a character and now you're... getting killed by everything. What went wrong, and how can you immediately give yourself a better chance?

First off, take note of your 'Equip Load' percentage in the top right of your inventory. 70% is the highest you can go before your character starts 'fat rolling' (a far slower recovery roll by comparison to the standard one), so for me, I always stay below this amount so agility can be prioritised. There's nothing worse than being stuck flummoxing around on the floor because you can't escape a boss, and I'd advise to lead with this first, only wearing heavier armour sets/wielding heavier weapons once you're more confident.

Second, the graded 'Attribute Bonus' that appears on your weapon inventory is linked to how you've specced your character so far. Each weapon will have a letter next to a stat type, so say a Greatsword may have a 'C' next to a Strength icon. This means its tiered towards that stat on your character sheet, and if you've specced in Strength, it'll highlight in blue to indicate you're getting the most out of it.

This will be reflected above in your damage output, where you'll see a '+10' (or whatever number) added to the weapons base damage. Higher graded weapons correlate with better player stats and factor into your playstyles/build, so experiment and see what fits best.