Benefits of Upgrading Your Character in Dark Souls 3
I think everyone who plays Dark Souls 3 is aware of the importance and usefulness of leveling up your character in order to progress in this incredibly difficult game. It’s especially important in the mid to late game. The further you advance into Dark Souls 3, the more challenging it becomes and you’ll eventually hit a point where dying repeatedly only makes the game more difficult.
On my own most recent playthrough, I hit this wall at around level 130–150. Normal enemies were one-shotting me and most bosses had several phases where attacks became so fast they were impossible to dodge or block without taking heavy damage in the process. And just when you think you’re learning their attack patterns, they throw new attacks at you that are almost impossible to dodge.
Gain access to new weapons and armor
It’s at this point where the only feasible way forward is to start upgrading your character by investing Soul Levels. The higher your level, the better weapons you’ll be able to wield and that means more damage per hit. You should also upgrade your armor as much as possible since it provides a significant boost in total defense points.
Upgrade your weapons and armor
The biggest benefit of upgrading your weapons is that you’ll kill bosses faster, especially since some of them have time limits. Killing the Curse-rotted Greatwood (the first boss) in 4 minutes was my best achievement on my own most recent playthrough. Before I upgraded every category on my character, I was taking upwards of 36 minutes to kill him.
If you level up enough and upgrade your weapons as much as you can, it’s possible to defeat bosses such as Soul of Cinder in a little over a minute or two. It won’t be easy at first because the attacks will hit you hard but if you don’t upgrade anything, you’ll have a much harder time.
How to use weapon skills in dark souls
Don’t forget to use your weapon skills! They’re awesome and they can turn the tide of a battle in an instant. I don’t think there’s any boss fight where you shouldn’t make full use of them but I’ve found it especially helpful against bosses who like to teleport around and harass you with ranged attacks such as the Curse-rotted Greatwood.
Weapon skills are also extremely useful for PvP purposes. When you have the right ones, it makes your character seem overpowered and drastically increases your chance of winning a battle. A good example is the Firelink Priestess who has an awesome pyromancy weapon skill called “Trace Warrior” which does staggering amounts of damage.
Weapon skills are also extremely fun to use and most of the animations are actually ripped straight from Bloodborne. I can’t help but grin when I see an enemy go flying 30 feet in the air because of a well-timed weapon skill.
All of this being said, there is a downside to upgrading your Soul Level too much. The more you upgrade, the higher your stats will be and that makes you a bigger target to invaders in PvP or Dark Souls 3’s online component. You’ll also have a harder time leveling up so it might require hours of farming enemies before you level up again.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I can’t stress enough just how important upgrading your character in Dark Souls 3 is. It’s by far the best way to make progress and kill bosses when you’re stuck and it makes PvP much more fun and evens the playing field. Make sure you upgrade your weapons and armor as much as possible because that’s the only way forward from here. Also use your weapon skills because they’re awesome and kill everything in one hit!
