Elden Ring Samurai Build Guide: Mastering the Samurai Class for Beginners
Elden Ring offers a wide array of character classes, but one of the most beginner-friendly and versatile options is the Samurai. If you're diving into Elden Ring for the first time or just want to master this particular class, this guide will walk you through the key strategies, attributes, and equipment that Elden Ring Runes make the Samurai class one of the best choices for newcomers. The Samurai class blends ranged combat with powerful melee attacks, and if played effectively, can dominate enemies with both dexterity and precision.
Why Choose the Samurai Class?
The Samurai is an excellent choice for beginners due to its well-rounded attributes and equipment. From the very start, you'll be equipped with a Longbow for ranged combat and an Uchigatana, a powerful melee weapon, both of which offer versatility in combat scenarios. The Samurai's starting armor also provides a good balance of protection and mobility, allowing you to engage enemies with agility while still offering some defense.
This class leans more toward dexterity-based builds but can be adapted to use strength-based weapons as well. However, this guide will focus primarily on utilizing the Uchigatana to its fullest potential.
Starting the Game: Character Creation and Early Game Tips
When creating your character as a Samurai, it's important to choose a starting item that will provide you with an edge in the early game. For beginners, we recommend picking the Golden Seed. This item grants you an extra use of either a healing or mana potion, which can be crucial in the opening hours of the game. Having more healing or mana resources allows you to be more aggressive in combat without constantly worrying about running out of health or FP (Focus Points).
The Samurai begins the game with a limited number of arrows, so you’ll quickly find yourself needing to craft more. This brings us to one of the early objectives—crafting arrows. To do this, you'll need to visit the Church of Elleh, which is one of the first key locations you’ll encounter. There, you can buy the crafting book and the recipe for bone arrows, which can be crafted using animal bones. A good early farming spot for animal bones is just past the first set of ruins where you find the map shard. If you head down the road and explore the area with trees on the left, you'll find plenty of animals to hunt, especially sheep. This will allow you to stockpile arrows early on.
Understanding the Samurai Playstyle: Bow vs. Uchigatana
One of the most important aspects of playing the Samurai is learning when to use your bow and when to switch to melee combat with the Uchigatana. In many situations, it’s best to start an encounter by picking off enemies with the bow from a distance. The Mighty Shot ability allows you to deal significant damage to enemies with a charged shot, making it especially useful for one-shotting weaker foes.
In boss fights, starting with the bow can also be a smart strategy. If there’s a good amount of distance between you and the boss at the start, you can use the bow to soften them up before switching to melee. Sometimes, you can whittle down a boss’s health to half or even two-thirds before engaging them with your Uchigatana.
Mastering the Uchigatana: Key Moves and Techniques
The Uchigatana is the Samurai’s signature weapon and has one of the best movesets in Elden Ring. Its charging R2 attack is particularly effective, allowing you to cover a lot of ground quickly while dealing a thrusting strike with long range. This is ideal for catching enemies off guard, especially those who wind up for their own attacks when you get close. Timing this attack correctly can allow you to interrupt enemy moves and prevent damage to yourself. Even if the enemy is quick enough to respond, the Uchigatana’s range and speed often allow you to roll away before being hit.
One of the most critical aspects of the Uchigatana is its special ability: Unsheathe. This ability is a quick, high-damage horizontal slice that requires you to be two-handing the weapon. To two-hand the Uchigatana, hold the Y (or Triangle) button and press R1. This technique is a game-changer in both boss fights and standard combat. The speed and damage of Unsheathe make it invaluable for staggering enemies, dealing massive damage, and even clearing entire bosses if used correctly.
To make the most of Unsheathe, you should focus on dodging enemy attacks and then immediately countering with Unsheathe. The quickness of the ability allows you to trade damage efficiently and, in some cases, you can preemptively use the ability to land a hit before the enemy can react. Learning how to predict enemy patterns and when to unleash Unsheathe will significantly improve your effectiveness in battle.
Bleed Build-up: The Samurai’s Secret Weapon
In addition to its fast and powerful moves, the Uchigatana also has an auxiliary effect: Bleed build-up. This means that after enough strikes, the enemy will suffer a massive chunk of health loss as the bleed effect takes hold. Bleed is especially effective against high-health bosses and enemies, as it allows you to chip away at them consistently, then deliver a devastating burst of damage when the bleed meter fills up.
Many weapons in Elden Ring don’t have this kind of auxiliary effect, which makes the Uchigatana particularly powerful in long fights where bleed build-up can accumulate. This is another reason why the Samurai class excels at aggressive gameplay. The more you attack, the quicker you’ll trigger bleed damage, making short work of even the toughest enemies.
Mounted Combat: Combining Bow and Katana
The Samurai class also excels in mounted combat, which is essential for taking on large groups of enemies and field bosses. While riding Torrent, you can use both the Longbow and Uchigatana effectively. For ranged enemies or difficult-to-reach foes, you can use your bow to pick them off from a distance while staying mobile. Alternatively, the Uchigatana's strong R2 attack from horseback allows you to deal massive damage to enemies as you ride by, making it possible to take down field bosses without ever dismounting.
Learning to time your sword strikes while riding is key, as there is a slight delay between initiating the attack and landing the hit. However, once you master the hitbox and timing, you’ll be able to dispatch enemies quickly without taking much damage yourself.
Stats and Attributes: Where to Invest
As a Samurai, you’ll want to focus on Dexterity and Vigor as your primary stats. Dexterity increases your damage with the Uchigatana and allows you to scale the weapon effectively as you progress. Vigor increases your health, which is vital since you’ll often be in melee range during combat, especially in boss fights. A good early-game stat spread would be to aim for 20 Dexterity and 20 Vigor to balance damage and survivability.
You should also consider investing points into Mind, as both your bow’s Mighty Shot and the Uchigatana’s Unsheathe ability consume FP. Having a larger FP pool will allow you to use these abilities more frequently without needing to rely on mana flasks. Aiming for 15 Mind early on should provide enough FP to keep using your abilities in extended fights.
Lastly, don’t neglect Endurance, as it increases your stamina and allows you to wear heavier armor without becoming overburdened. While the Samurai’s starting armor is balanced, you may want to swap in heavier pieces later for more protection, especially if you find yourself struggling against aggressive enemies or bosses.
Upgrading Your Gear
To keep your damage competitive as you progress through the game, you’ll need to upgrade your Uchigatana using Smithing Stones. These can be found throughout the world, but an excellent early-game source is in the tunnels near the lake area, where miners are harvesting them. Additionally, if you explore Stormhill, you can find a statue that, when broken by a nearby troll, reveals six Smithing Stones, allowing you to upgrade your weapon to +2 or +3 almost immediately.
Conclusion: Embrace the Samurai Playstyle
The Samurai class in Elden Ring offers an engaging blend of ranged and melee combat, with plenty of room for strategic play. Whether you’re thinning out enemy packs with your bow or
Elden Ring Items for sale delivering devastating blows with Unsheathe, mastering the Samurai’s tools will help you dominate the battlefield.
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