Strength boosts the damage of weapons that scale with Strength, lets you wield heavy armaments and improves your physical defense. Its main soft caps sit at 50 for Fire-affinity damage, 60 for physical damage and 80 as the final breakpoint, and two-handing makes every point count 1.5 times.
What Strength does
Weapons list how strongly they scale with each attribute, and the more Strength you have, the bigger the bonus on any weapon with Strength scaling. Heavier weapons also need a minimum amount just to be used properly. You gain physical defense as you level it too, so you take a little less damage from ordinary strike, slash and pierce hits. If you are unsure which of your weapons benefit, the weapon scaling guide explains how to read the letters. You raise it the usual way: spend Runes at a Site of Grace once Melina has given you the ability to level up.
Which builds want Strength
Pure Strength builds centered on Strength-scaling weapons put most of their points here, usually alongside Vigor and Endurance. Hybrid builds that mix Strength and Dexterity, or Strength and Faith, also need a solid base. If you change your mind later, Rebirth lets you reallocate your points.
Strength soft caps
Strength has a hard cap of 99 like every attribute, but its value drops off long before that. Points still add damage past each breakpoint, just less per level. The first three breakpoints are mild, and which one applies depends on your weapon’s affinity:
| Strength | What changes |
|---|---|
| 16 | Small drop in gains for Quality weapons |
| 18 | Small drop for Standard (no affinity), Poison and Blood weapons, and for the physical part of elemental affinities |
| 20 | Small drop for Heavy, Occult and elemental affinities, and for innate elemental scaling |
| 30 / 45 | Casting breakpoints for the Clawmark Seal and Frenzied Flame Seal, which scale with Strength |
| 50 | Elemental damage that scales with Strength (mainly the Fire affinity) drops off sharply |
| 60 | Physical damage on all affinities slows; 56 to 60 gives less per point than 60 to 80 |
| 80 | Last breakpoint for every affinity. Only really worth chasing on physical builds, and even then it’s a stretch |
In practice that means 50 is the stopping point for a Fire build, while physical builds get good value up to 60. Which affinity you pick changes all of this, so see Affinities before you plan your points.
Two-handing and Strength
Holding a weapon in both hands multiplies your effective Strength by 1.5, and it’s the one way to push Strength past 99. If you mostly fight two-handed, divide each breakpoint by 1.5 and round up:
| One-handed breakpoint | 16 | 18 | 20 | 30 | 45 | 50 | 60 | 80 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two-handed equivalent | 11 | 12 | 14 | 20 | 30 | 34 | 40 | 54 |
One caveat: the two-handed bonus doesn’t apply to Ash of War skills or critical attacks, so backstabs and ripostes still use your real Strength.
Starting classes with the most Strength
| Starting class | Strength |
|---|---|
| Hero | 16 |
| Vagabond | 14 |
| Confessor | 12 |
| Samurai | 12 |
| Prophet | 11 |
| Prisoner | 11 |
The Astrologer starts lowest with 8.
Gear that raises Strength
| Item | Effect |
|---|---|
| Haima Glintstone Crown | +2 Strength and +2 Intelligence, 10% less FP |
| Divine Beast Head | +4 Strength and +4 Dexterity, flasks restore 11% less |
| Radagon’s Scarseal | +3 Vigor, Endurance, Strength and Dexterity, 10% more damage taken |
| Radagon’s Soreseal | +5 Vigor, Endurance, Strength and Dexterity, 15% more damage taken |
| Strength-knot Crystal Tear | Raises Strength when mixed into the Flask of Wondrous Physick |
| Godrick’s Great Rune | +5 to every attribute after using a Rune Arc |
| Grafted Blade Greatsword | Its unique skill gives +5 to all attributes for 60 seconds |
Gear and buffs can’t lift Strength above 99; only two-handing pushes your effective value past it.