Elden Ring’s combat system can be straightforward for most regular enemies, but leveling up and distributing attribute points can be complex. Choosing the right build and understanding scaling can be overwhelming for players.
This is especially true if you follow our guide on how to level up fast. You will have too many points to spend, and it might be challenging to figure out how to make the most of them. Don’t worry, though. This guide has everything you need.
We will break down the basics of how scaling works in Elden Ring and provide clear, beginner-friendly information on selecting weapons and creating effective builds.
How Does Weapon Scaling Work?
You’ll see many different stats when you go into the menu and check your equipment in Elden Ring.
There’s information on the weight, attribute prerequisites to wield efficiently, damage caused, type of damage, and more. It’s a lot to digest.
The most important thing you need to know is your weapon’s scaling. This is closely related to your attributes and directly impacts the amount of damage you can deal.
In Elden Ring, this can be seen in the Attribute Scaling area when you are checking your Ashes of War or your Weapons.
If there is a letter next to an attribute, it means that the weapon scales with that attribute. For instance, if a weapon scales with Strength, it means that the more Strength you have, the more damage you deal with that weapon.
Some weapons might scale with only one attribute, some with two, so you need to check each one and see if they are a good choice for your build.
It is important to understand that weapons might scale differently. A weapon that scales with two different attributes might scale well with one and not so much with the other.
This means you need to check the letters next to the attributes.
The order from best to worst, within the scaling system, is S, A, B, C, D, and E. So, if you have a really high Strength, having a Dexterity B and Strength D weapon is not the best idea.
Side note: some people ask why ‘S’ is the best. I believe this is to mimic popular tier lists within video gaming culture, with S-Tier typically being used as the top, ‘Super’ or ‘Special’ tier, which actually originates from Japanese school grades.
There’s a lot of experimentation involved in finding the perfect weapon. A weapon with a C on both Strength and Faith might be better than a weapon with just a B on Strength. The opposite might also be true, depending on how you’ve distributed your attribute points.
When you are leveling up, you can see how adding attribute points changes the damage you’re dealing with a weapon — as long as you have it equipped.
That is a great way to see whether adding points to a single attribute is granting you the extra damage you want or if you should go for something else.
It might also help you understand if your weapon is good or if you need another one.
Change the Scaling With Ashes of War
Soulsborne games always had some strange weapons that scale with attributes you wouldn’t imagine.
They are usually rare or enchanted weapons, but Elden Ring has made it much more simple for players. Now you can use a weapon you like and make it effective enough to be fun to use.
If you don’t know how to use Ashes of War, you should spend your time learning it immediately. This is a resource that allows you to add a new skill to your weapon and change how it scales.
For instance, adding the Holy Vow Ash of War to a weapon can make it scale with Faith, although it might change how its other attributes affect your damage too.
Either way, this is a great resource that can make a weapon viable even if it wasn’t meant for you to use in the first place. That helps casters deal decent damage with Intelligence scaling swords and strongly enables paladin builds.
How To Fix Your Build
Elden Ring has many unique weapons and spells, each with different prerequisites and scaling stats. It is only natural to change your mind midway through the game because you found a cool new katana or a magic scythe.
If learning how scaling works made you dislike your build, don’t worry. Check our guide on how to respec in Elden Ring and redistribute all your attribute points the way you want.
