Upgrading vs Leveling

I'm fairly new to Dark Souls but it kinda feels like leveling up is rather pointless when compared to upgrading my equipment. I'm Level 28 currently and it costs 7k souls to level up my endurance and it raises the defense stats by 2. However, if I buy titanite shards from Andrei for 800 souls each and then upgrade my armour it raises the defense stats by 2. Maybe it's because I'm such a low level but correct me if I'm wrong, but is upgrading equipment more efficient than leveling?

In some regards. You can upgrade your armor for 200 souls+ 800 for the titanite shards you need to buy. But after a couple levels you'll need to buy 2 titanite shards which would be 1600 souls.

Then you'd need Large titanite shards to upgrade which are 4000 each. To upgrade a level 6 armor to level 7 I believe you need 3, which would run you 12k. And upgrading armor only raises your defense stat.


If you upgrade your stats then you get defense, plus other stats which are needed to use better weapons with stat limits and heavier armor.


Need both bro

In the situation given I would spend the souls on endurance as it contributes to more than just defence, It also increase equip burden and Stamina, Which means you can equip more and still roll fast, and the increased stamina means you can attack/dodge/block more.

Leveling stats depends on your weapon and chosen playstyle.
But overall a +1 into a weapon will do more than +10 into a stat.
Stats are mostly used to raise your HP and Stamina, have basic requirements to wield a weapon and being able to learn and use spells.

It's fairly complicated for a new player, so it would be better to not bother yourself with it for now and just play however want and simply enjoy the game.

After you beat the game, you can create a new character and fine tune it to perfection.

So for now, pick up a weapon/s you like, no matter how good/bad it seems and use that. In this game, there is no "best", everything and anything is as good as it it's user.

Any stat increases defensive values, but that's not their main purpose. Endurance increases your stamina and equip load, which is extremely important, especially if you're a melee class. All stats give a certain boost and they're all useful in some way (except maybe resistance, better spend little to nothing on that). The defence bonus is just a little extra.

It really depends what type of build you want. If you were only going to invest 16 in strength and 14 in dexterity (with these stats you get a decent choice of weapons and shields), you would be best to have elemental weapons as they do the highest damage in this range. If you have 40 in strength or dexterity, then a normal path will be best due to physical damage being more powerful than magic and elementals (resistances to magic, fire and lighting reduce a lot of damage taken), plus you can buff them for even greater damage. It's important to note the scaling of weapons on normal upgrades because there are some that are not that great and other normal weapons that don't scale at all. The main thing to keep in mind is to decide what build YOU want and just max out the weapons that benefit your build.

Thanks guys. Helps a lot. Right now I have a scimitar and +1 leather armour. Is it a good idea to level them up further or just level up Dex and endurance?

I'm going to mirror Sentiel's comments here - my first character I spent 149 hours on and never finished the game with it.. dont heven think I went into lost izalith before I created a new one with the stats in mind and play style I wanted. Pump loads into health and have fun dude.

At some point though you may want a fire or lightning weapon so levelling up your weapon first is a great idea

NinesVoerman wrote:Thanks guys. Helps a lot. Right now I have a scimitar and +1 leather armour. Is it a good idea to level them up further or just level up Dex and endurance?

Weapon upgrading is what benefits you the most, however the upgrade path you choose is up to you.

Well. I'm about to head to blighttown so what would be more beneficial, electricity or fire?

lightning, but unless you are on ng+ you can't get lightning before Blighttown unless you hook up with Lord of Ash but lightning would be better in blighttown because everyone there has extreme fire defense. So if you can't get lightning, divine, or magic I would just go pure physical for blighttown.

Ah. How do I upgrade it with fire? I have a +8 scimitar now. It is awesome.

To upgrade it with fire you have to go to the Catacombs and around half way through there are some stairs that spiral down, be careful you have to roll forward and land on a ledge, if you miss any ledges on the way down the fall will kill you, and to get through the catacombs it is preferred to have a divine weapon or a weapon that has holy effect. You get the divine ember from beating the moonlight butterfly in Darkroot Forest where the stone giants are. Or you could get astora's straight sword if you have the stats instead of a divine weapon. 12 str 12 dex 14 faith.

Thanks. I was planning on going to the catacombs rather than straight to blighttown.