Elden Ring is the newest FromSoftware action-RPG, where players can choose their starting class among a variety of them. Predictably, Hidetaka Miyazaki’s role-playing game is quite tough to decode, and you’re not told a lot of things directly, especially when it comes to starting your journey throughout the Lands Between.
As for the classes, every one of them has its pros and cons, and it’s good to evaluate those carefully before getting into the adventure. It’s also clear that players often choose their class based on how they look and feel, and pick something familiar as they’re afraid they won’t be able to master anything else in such a complex game.
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Elden Ring offers ten different classes to choose from:
- Vagabond
- Warrior
- Hero
- Bandit
- Astrologer
- Samurai
- Confessor
- Prophet
- Prisoner
- Wretch
Which class not to choose in Elden Ring
If this is your first souls-like game, it’s easy for you to go for a melee class – one that attacks with a sword and defends with a shield. It’s the most obvious choice and there’s wrong with it, as you might want to have something more familiar to play with when crossing the Lands Between.
However, it’s good to keep in mind that choosing the Vagabond made me regret my early decision for almost the entire playthrough.
Firstly: once you beat a boss, you get a Remembrance, an item you have to bring to Finger Reader Enia that allows you to obtain unique weapons and spells. Unfortunately, these bonuses can’t be used by a melee classes such as the Vagabond, the Warrior or the Hero, since their Faith and Intelligence (and often even Dexterity parameters) are too low. This means you’ll never manage to bring in your arsenal some of the strongest and most exciting weapons and spells in the entire game, if you play with those classes, and this gets more frustrating the more you play.
There’s a silver lining, though: you can still sell your Remembrance for a good price at any vendor, earning a significant amount of Runes that you’ll be able to add on top of those earned by beating the boss. This way, at least, you can further improve your character’s skills.
Secondly: melee classes like the Vagabond will always have a harder time, compared to those capable of using magic and ranged attacks. And that’s especially true for boss battles: with a Vagabond, you’ll mostly be forced to stick close to the enemy, in order to deal some damage – a tough proposition if you’re not used to souls-like games’ parry and dodge timings.
Again, magic-based classes are “broken” similarly to Demon’s Souls, as they can get out of full boss battle in seconds, just casting spells from a distance. Keep this in mind, too, when starting your adventure in Elden Ring.
Written by Paolo Sirio on behalf of GLHF.
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