Dominate Elden Ring’s early game with this Warrior build

The Warrior is a versatile starting class in Elden Ring but there’s still a definitive best build for it.

The Warrior touts good endurance and incentivizes a fast playstyle that deals punishing burst damage. When it comes to how to play the Warrior in Elden Ring, here are the basics to get started in the game.

How to play and build the Warrior in Elden Ring

The Warrior thrives off of putting points into endurance, vigor, and either strength or dexterity.

Dexterity is most common, allowing the Warrior to wield fast weapons that can quickly stack status effects. The Warrior’s best friend is light armor and lots of stamina in order to sprint, dodge, block, and strike in long sequences. Where other classes will tire out and have to disengage in order to recover, the Warrior can stay close to the fray thanks to its tanky nature and plentiful stamina.

Given that the Warrior tends towards rapid strikes and quick disengagements, effects like bleed, poison, and similar status effects work well. Dash into combat, rapidly apply an effect that deals damage over time, or burst damage, and dash back out. This lets Warriors deal damage when they’re comfortable and prevents enemies from forcing the player into bad situations.

Part of the process of learning how to play the Warrior in Elden Ring is getting hit. Invest in Vigor to compensate for the lack of powerful armor or consider taking up a powerful physical resistance shield to for the early game.

The Warrior does have some flexibility in terms of its long-term direction, given its relatively balanced stats at the start of the game. It’s not a bad idea to experiment with different weapon types, find a favorite, and get comfortable with it. Because bleed and poison builds are ideal for the warrior, it’s better to avoid heavy weapons but anything from daggers to an axe can work. For players willing to invest a few levels into arcane, the Reduvia dagger is an exceptional weapon for Warriors and Bandits alike.

Warriors are meant to have a very fast-paced playstyle. That might not be for everyone, but it’s the best choice for anyone looking for something in the same vein as Bloodborne.