Dark Souls Remastered For Dummies

In Dark Souls, your character can spend souls to level up different stats. You gain souls by deafeating enemies and bosses. The game doesn't really explain what each stat does, so it can be a bit confusing at first. Each stat has a soft cap. This means that after a certain level, a stat may give diminished rewards per level. Each stat also has a hard cap, which means they cannot be improved beyond a certain level. The hard cap is level 99 for every stat. Vitality modifies the player's maximum health points. The soft cap is level 40. After this point you will receive a much smaller health bonus per level. It is not recommended to level vitality beyond this point. Attunement modifies the player's maximum amount of spell slots. The maximum amount of spell slots is 12, however you need to wear two specific rings. Without the rings, the maximum amount of spell slots is 10. Once you reach level 50 in attunement, you will not gain any more spell slots. It is not recommended to level attunement beyond this point. Endurance modifies the player's maximum stamina, equip load, and bleed resistance. Stamina allows you to perform attacks, rolls, parries, and blocks. Equip load allows you to equip more gear. Your run and roll speed depends on how much gear you have equipped. The soft cap is level 40. After this level you will not receive any more stamina, however you will receive the same equip load each level. It is still not recommended to level up endurance beyond this point. Some weapons require the player to level strength to a certain point. Weapons that scale with this stat will do more damage when you level it up. The soft cap is level 40. After this level you will receive a much smaller damage bonus per level. It is not recommended to level past this point. Some weapons require the player to level dexterity to a certain point. Weapons that scale with this stat will do more damage when you level it up. Dexterity will also provide a slight increase to spell casting speed. The soft cap is level 40. After this level you will receive a much smaller damage bonus per level. It is not recommended to level past this point. Resistance provides a slight bonus to resistances and defense, however this stat does not provide enough benefit to justify levelling it up. It is not recommended to level up this stat at all. Sorcery spells, and some weapons require the player to level intelligence to a certain point. Spells or weapons that scale with this stat will do more damage when you level it up. The soft cap is level 40 for weapons, and 50 for spells. After this level you will receive a much smaller damage bonus per level. It is not recommended to level past this point. Miracle spells, and some weapons require the player to level intelligence to a certain point. Spells or weapons that scale with this stat will do more damage when you level it up. The soft cap is level 50. After this level you will receive a much smaller damage bonus per level. It is not recommended to level past this point.

Combat in Dark Souls is hard for newcomers to grow accustomed to. The player takes lots of damage, and every action requires stamina. The tips below can help you adjust to the combat much faster. There are a few ways to avoid damage in Dark Souls. The easiest way to avoid damage is to use a shield. Blocking with a shield consumes stamina. Your stamina will regenerate slower when your shield is raised. Many shields negate physical damage completely, but no shield completely negates magic or elemental damage.
The most important thing about shields is their stability. Each shield has a stability stat. The higher the stability, the more effective a shield can be. Stability is not a stat the player can level up. Small shields have less stability, while standard shields and greatshields have higher stability.
You can also use shields to parry most attacks. Parrying attacks requires practice, and good timing. If you parry an attack, you can immediately counter-attack for massive damage.
Rolling is another way to avoid damage. Rolling consumes stamina. When rolling, you will be invincible for a very small amount of time during the roll. Slow rolls reduce the time you are invincible, while fast rolls increase the time you are invincible. Rolling can be very effective if you are good. Keep in mind that while locked on you can only roll in 4 directions.
You can block with a weapon, but it does not completely negate incoming damage.
Don't underestimate just backing up from an enemy. Sometimes this strategy can help avoid damage without consuming stamina.
The key to avoiding damage is to know when to use each of these strategies. It is important to know when to attack enemies. When you attack, you cannot cancel the animation with another action. Instead you have to commit to the attack. Be thoughtful about attacking. If you use all your stamina attacking, you won't have enough to roll away, or block. Managing stamina is something you will have to learn when playing Dark Souls.

The worst thing you could do is give up. If a boss is too hard, go exploring, level up, upgrade your weapon. These games are only as hard as you make them.