Elden Ring: What Does Dexterity Do?

In Elden Ring, players earn Runes by defeating enemies and can use them at a Site of Grace to level up. Every level up will increase the character's overall level, but only one stat will be chosen to be leveled up.

Stats will heavily determine how a character plays and the amount of damage they can do with their chosen build. While it is possible to respec your character a bit later in the game, early levels should be chosen carefully to help get far enough to respec if needed. One of the major stats most melee builds will need is Dexterity. Here's exactly what it does.

What Does Dexterity Do In Elden Ring

Dexterity, or Dex in the menus, is one of the main damage-affecting stats for melee weapons. Dexterity is also a common requirement to wield weapons effectively and deal the full amount of damage when using them. Having the required stats will have a weapon deal its base damage, with additional damage being done based on that weapon's scaling multiplied by the character's level in the designated stat.

Dexterity weapons tend to have a faster attack speed and quicker playstyle than heavy strength-focused weapons. While most weapons scale off Dexterity some, Katanas, Spears, Twinblades, Thrusting Swords, Claws, and Bows usually scale off the player's Dexterity much more than strength. Players should only put points in Dexterity if they plan on using Dexterity scaling weapons. It's highly recommended players pick either Strength or Dexterity and focus their levels on one stat or the other instead of trying to focus on both. Dexterity also boosts a player's Fire defense, but only by one point for each level.

Elden Ring: Best Lightning Spells, Ranked

Elden Ring's menu of Incantations includes powerful Lightning spells that can obliterate enemies. Here are the strongest ones, ranked.

Posts

By Andy Chapman

What Is Weapon Damage Scaling In Elden Ring

Weapon scaling refers to the letters that appear in the stats of a weapon towards the bottom of the menu. Weapons can scale in E, D, C, B, A, or S from the player's Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, or Arcane. The letter indicates the amount of bonus damage players will deal based on their character's level in that stat. E is the lowest rating and offers only a few bonus points in damage based on the players' level in that skill, with S being the highest and quite rare to find.

As a weapon is upgraded, there is a chance the scaling of a stat will go up. Players can also infuse an upgraded weapon to make it more heavily favor scaling from a specific skill, with Keen offering a heavier focus on the Dexterity scaling of a weapon. Equipping a powerful Ash of War onto a weapon can also change how it scales, with it being different with every Ash. There are many powerful Dexterity weapons for players to choose from that are worth making an entire build around should they want to.

Weapon Name	Base Dexterity Scaling	Fully Upgraded Dexterity Scaling
Moonveil	Dexterity - D	Dexterity - B
Uchigatana	Dexterity - D	Dexterity - C
Rivers Of Blood	Dexterity - D	Dexterity - B
The Hookclaws	Dexterity - C	Dexterity - B