Samurai Elden Ring Class Guide: Stats, Weapons, Armor

The Samurai is one of Elden Ring's most straightforward classes, starting with a collection of some of the best equipment in the game. You won't need to replace much of anything in this class's starting kit, allowing you to focus on getting those all important stats up and living out your samurai fantasies. Here's how to maximize the Samurai's effectiveness.

Samurai Elden Ring Class Guide: Stats

The Samurai enters the Lands Between with a big boost to their Dexterity, but it also has stat boosts spread across Endurance, Vigor, Strength and Mind. The trade off is slight hits to Intelligence, Faith and Arcane, but those shouldn't much matter as this class focuses entirely on physical combat.

The most important stats for the Samurai are Dexterity for damage, Vigor for HP, and Endurance for stamina and equip load. Throwing a few points into Mind won't hurt either, as it will allow you to use your Combat Arts more frequently.

An ideal stat build for the Samurai would look something like this:

Vigor: 40
Dexterity: 50 (34 if two-handing)
Mind: 15
Intelligence: 9
Endurance: 25
Strength: 12 (or higher based on weapon requirements)
Faith: 8
Arcane: 8

Samurai Elden Ring Class Guide: Weapons

The Samurai benefits from starting with the Uchigatana, one of the best Dexterity-based weapons in Elden Ring. This weapon can easily carry you from game start through the end credits. It scales well with Dexterity, causes blood loss in enemies, can be wielded one- or two-handed, and comes with a devastating built-in Combat Art called Unsheath that shreds enemy poise.

If you're looking to dig deeper into the Samurai aesthetic with another strong Dexterity weapon, consider the Nagakiba. It's like a longer Uchigatana that starts to scale even more quickly than the Uchigatana at higher levels. You can get it by killing Bloody Finger Hunter Yura north of Murkwater Cave, or by completing his questline. That will also unlock Elenora's Poleblade.

Samurai Elden Ring Class Guide: Armor

If you're married to the Samurai aesthetic, you'll never replace your starting armor. Nothing else in the game has the same look. Luckily, that's no great pain, as the Land of Reeds set is as useful as it is handsome. You won't lack for resistances wearing it through the whole game.

For other classes, check out our guides on the Warrior, the Vagabond and the Prisoner.