Deciding how to level your character can be intimidating if you’re new to Dark Souls. This section is here to provide you with some guidance.
While Dark Souls leans heavily on the “action” part of “action RPG,” there is still very meaningful growth and development of your character over the course of the game.
Straight power gains tend to be fairly modest individually as you gain levels and upgrade weapons, but their overall impact by the end of your first playthrough is significant. You can revisit old areas to flex your new muscles occasionally to see just how much tougher you are.
Beyond simple numeric gains in your power, however, the breadth of options available to you for customizing your character is immense.
The massive amount of equipment you can find in the world of Dark Souls III and the range of options that you have for developing your stats over the course of a single playthrough allow for an absolutely huge number of possible builds.
While these generally boil down to fairly simple choices (Str or Dex weapons, heavily using one of the three magic types, which four rings you equip, which armor you wear), the specifics tend to feel quite different in practice.
A heavily armored character with a hefty Greatshield is typically sluggish but sturdy, as you usually can’t get your weight limit high enough to have fast movement until much later in the game.
Likewise, a lightly armored character emphasizing Dex and using a quick Straight or Thrusting Sword and a fast bow with some supportive Sorceries plays and feels very different.
You can also make use of two-handed or dual-wielded weapons, eschewing the use of a shield in favor of straight evasion and devastating counterattacks when your foes leave openings.
Even simply changing your primary weapon and making use of unique Weapon Skills can feel different on a second playthrough.
All three of the magic branches (Sorcery, Pyromancy, and Miracles) offer useful utility spells for any character, and with a significant investment in magical attributes and some rings and armor, you can gain more special effects that amplify your magic power.
