Dark Souls 2 Guide to Creating a Build


Dark Souls 2 Guide to Creating a Build

Here is a guide that will help you with creating a good build in Dark Souls 2. Thanks to Nitos for the guide.

  • Step 1 - Find a weapon you enjoy the move set to, it doesn't matter what weapon, doesn't matter if you want to power stance, two hand, shield, turtle. As long as you enjoy it and it's not Havels. Seriously, stay away from Havels.
  • Step 2 - Place points to reach the minimum requirements of that weapon. If you want to power stance it you will need 1.5 the requirements.
  • Step 3 - Choose an Infuse. You do this by deciding what kind of build you want to have. Quality build - No infuse, Faith - Lightning, Magic - Magic. Then you can build around Dark or Fire. Also there is Mundane. Poison and Bleed are for Dex and require special builds. Not for beginners. I don't consider Raw or Enchanted worth mentioning, however in rare occasions they do have their uses.


  • Step 4 - Find the Soft and Hard caps of said Infuse. If you are playing with the scaling of the weapon, B and A scaling gets more damage from 30-40 points than anything lower. Magic and Faith get more points from 30-40 as well. Dark drops off after 30 points in Int and Faith. Fire is a total combined value between int OR faith of 60, meaning you can have 40 faith and 20 int or 60 int and 0 faith. You will want to reach that cap, so if you choose to do a dark build you will want to have at least 30 in Faith and Int.
  • Step 5 - Adaptability, this stat is very important I recommend 38 on pvp but never any less than 20. If you are a spell caster you will want to shoot for 108 agility, which you can reach through a combination of attunement and adapt. People who say agility doesn't do anything are actually sons of the devil trying to get you killed.
  • Step 6 - Vigor/Endurance/Vitality - Endurance you will always want a minimum of 20, more depends on your weapon, see how much stamina it takes for different swings and try to get 1 more stamina than a swing so you can roll away. Every point after 20 adds 1 stamina. Vitality, depends on your armor. If you choose Havel's.... everything else have enough Vitality to wield your gear under 69%. I prefer to keep around 30-40%. I also like using multiple weapons so I have more vitality than vigor. Vigor is health, dump your remaining points here.
Note: You can cast weapon enchants and infuse weapons for extra damage. A weapon enchant will increase all of that elements damage by a percentage making it extra awesome while also adding a base value on top or visa versa. Never tested it but know it is awesome. Even if you go quality build you should be using resins.
SL 150 seems to be the unofficial stopping point. However NG+ everyone pvps with everyone so it doesn't matter.

Also if you want constant PVP, simply kill every NPC in NG. Invade 10+ people using cracked orbs, then go to NG+. You will never ever not be invaded. Just don't lose because every loss will decrease your chances to a point where it will stop. This can be fixed by invading more and killing more NPCs.

If you have any other hints, tips or tricks for creating a good build in Dark Souls 2, please post them in the comments below. Thanks for your contributions and for visiting the site.

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