Everyone Agrees You’ll Need to Level Up 1 Skill More than Any Other for Shadow of the Erdtree, so Get Prepared for Messmer

Elden Ring, like many other Soulsborne titles, has multiple stats that you can level as you gain enough in-game currency. With so many choices, people often debate about what the best stat is to level, and it can get quite heated.

Following a recent argument on the subject, it seems like the debate might finally be settled. If you’re preparing to take on bigger challenges in Shadow of the Erdtree, this is the one stat you’d absolutely want to have leveled sufficiently.

The whole debate started on X/Twitter (as is customary with heated debates) when user @Peeverson tweeted that Elden Ring beginners should prioritize leveling vigor (health) over other stats. This seemed to anger some people, which Peeve clapped back on.

PvE Twitter always finds these posts where I suggest leveling health and get so up in arms lol.

Many think it’s some gigachad strat when there’s virtually no upside to it in Elden Ring.

You do you, but telling newcomers they don’t need to level HP is horrible advice. https://t.co/4Bw5tK5PMg

— Peeve (@Peeverson) May 26, 2024

You can level whatever you want, but newbies should level vigor, according to him. One user replied, insisting it was bad advice; instead, newbies should learn the fights and try not to get hit.

Peeve replied, explaining that with more health, you don’t need to drink your flask as much, and you can live longer in each attempt and learn more. The other user disagreed, insults were thrown, and the conflict raged on.

You can play a game for a long time and still be bad. Learning to not get hit is more important than leveling vigor.

— Benjamin (@poopio_) May 26, 2024

Peeve called the user out for undermining his experience. For the record, he’s been a content creator for 10 years and has been in the Soulsborne community for even longer.

The user continued to argue in his mentions, but one reply put a full stop to the whole debate. Another staple of the FromSoftware community, FightinCowboy, quote-tweeted Peeve and revealed a pivotal statement that he wrote in an Elden Ring guide that FromSoftware contracted him to write.

Here’s a direct quote from the Elden Ring guide I was contracted to produce that was vetted by From Software.

“Vigor is one of the most important stats to level early on, since it’s critical to your chances of surviving.” https://t.co/WJGps3azw7

— FightinCowboy (@Fightincowboy) May 26, 2024

So, according to the official guidebook itself, it’s recommended that vigor be leveled early on since “it’s critical to your chances of surviving.” Case closed. It wouldn’t hurt to have sufficient health to take on Shadow of the Erdtree‘s fearful enemies either.

The post got a ton of traction and a ton of replies. There were nay-sayers, but many seemed to agree that vigor was the best attribute to level for beginners in the game.

Been souls playing all my life. You need life. Vigor is always my 1st stat besides weapon requirements

— BooBo🟠zBelly 🐻🔧 (@CryptoCG2) May 27, 2024

Health is an invaluable advantage to have, and as mentioned earlier, more health gives you more time on the battlefield and more time to learn enemy patterns.

Plus, you’ll spend less time drinking flasks, which can leave you open for attacks.

Always level vigor first gives the most ROI up to 4-5x as much health in a time adding 20 points to strength/dex adds like 20% more damage a large chunk of your damage is gained from leveling weapons in elden ring 💀

— Wheelchair emoji ♿📛 (@arikittox) May 26, 2024

Another player took a statistical approach to explain why vigor reigns supreme. Leveling this attribute first supposedly gives you the best return on interest compared to strength and dexterity in the beginning.

They also mention that in Elden Ring, much of your damage comes from leveling weapons, not your attributes (early game); in that case, vigor is the best way to go.

What build and skill distribution will you go for when you play the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC and why? Let us know in the comments below!