Dark Souls 2 Level Up Guide

Levelling up and increasing your stats in Dark Souls 2 are very important aspects of the game that will determine how well your character performs in the harsh and unrelenting world of Drangleic. Choosing which stats you upgrade is a choice that is best left up to the individual, as it is highly dependent on which class you choose and which aspects of your character you wish to improve.

For a list of each of the starting classes and their stats, take a look at this article.


Putting a skill point into a particular stat will have varying levels of effectiveness depending on how much you’ve already buffed the stat. Once it reaches a certain level, the effectiveness of putting further skill points into that stat will be lessened, which is known as a soft cap.

Some of your stats in Dark Souls 2 will only soft cap, whereas others will actually hit a maximum point, beyond which your attributes will not increase any further.

List of skills and when they are most effective to increase

Vigor (VGR)
Up to 20 VGR = +30 Health per level
Up to 50 VGR = +20 Health per level

It is not recommended that you exceed 50 Vigor as the additional Health gains are so minimal that you would essentially just be wasting a skill point.

Endurance (END)
Up to 20 END = + 2 Stamina per level
Up to 99 END = + 1 Stamina per level

Vitality (VIT)
Up until 29 VIT = +1.5 Equip Load per level
Up until 49 VIT = +1.0 Equip Load per level
Up until 99 VIT = +0.5 Equip Load per level

Attunement (ATN)
10 ATN = 1 Attunement Slot
13 ATN = 2 Attunement Slots
16 ATN = 3 Attunement Slots
20 ATN = 4 Attunement Slots
25 ATN = 5 Attunement Slots
30 ATN = 6 Attunement Slots
40 ATN = 7 Attunement Slots
50 ATN = 8 Attunement Slots
60 ATN = 9 Attunement Slots
75 ATN = 10 Attunement Slots

Up until you hit 80 ATN, your Casting Speed will also increase with each successive level.

Diminishing Returns

Stats that have Diminising Returns are more or less the same as above, except that every additional point invested will be less valuable than the last in terms of attribute buffs. For example, levelling your Strength stat from 9 to 10 will give you a comparatively greater Damage boost than levelling it up from 19 to 20.

As a result of this, the only reason to bother increasing these stats beyond the point of their soft cap would be in order to use a weapon that has higher prerequisites than your skill level.

Strength (STR)
Diminising Returns starts at 40 STR

Dexterity (DEX)
Diminising Returns starts at 40 DEX

Intelligence (INT)
Diminising Returns starts at 40 INT

Faith (FTH)
Diminising Returns starts at 40 FTH

Hard caps

Stats with hard caps effectively stop buffing certain attributes at a particular level, making them less viable to continue increasing beyond that point.

Adaptability (ADP)
38 ADP = Maximum cap for Agility
40 ADP = Maximum cap for Resistance

To see all of our Dark Souls 2 hints, tips and guides, take a look at this page.

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