How do you level? What to prioritize?

Hey guys! New poster. If I missed something like this on the forum somewhere, let me know and I'll just go to that thread.

How do you guys level typically? In regards to melee, I've read a few different things. One viewpoint is to use your souls mostly for weapon upgrades and just get the stats you really need for weapons. The problem I have with that is I have low vit/end, so then I die too easily.

Another melee tactic is to put most points into strength or dex, and only some in vit/end, and use the rest mostly for weapon upgrades.

Something else I've heard but not tried is int for certain melee weapons. Is that something a caster should do, or is that a pretty good melee build? Seems like you're pigeon-holed into using one type of weapon in that case.

My current characers that I beat the game with are both 2 melee characters. Their stats are:

First go-round:
Lvl 94, 50 hours
Bandit
Master Key
Vit - 36
End - 40
Strength - 42
Dex - 19
Weapons - Drake Sword, and Quelaag's Fury Sword +5

2nd go-round:
Lvl 88
Bandit (again? dang.)
Master Key
Vit - 26
End - 40
Strength - 47
Dex - 20
Weapons - mostly used Drake Sword, Lightning Claymore +5, Lightening Zweihander, and Quelaag's Fury Sword +3.

Are my numbers looking pretty typical? Or is there a lot better way to level and prioritize what points go where?

I'm going to play a caster through for the 3rd go-round. I'm in Anor Londo with him now and he's Lvl 58.
Vit - 20
End - 20
Strength - 16 (for drake sword)
Dex - 12
Int - 37

I think I've messed up by going so full int, and wondering if I should start over or just grind out some Vit/End stats. Magic I'm using is Soul Arrow, Heavy Soul Arrow, and Great Heavy Soul Arrow (I think).

Anyway! Any pointers would be great from some folks that really know what they are doing. My Melee characters have been the easiest to play the game with simply because I put so much into vit/end. My weapons were a little weak, but caught up later. Wondering what to do with my sorc, and I also plan to play a Pyro through too (hopefully).

Thanks for the input!

if youre a caster you need int and vit, dont worry about end or str dont get the drake sword it sucks after the burg unless your going for the moonlight sword. my caster has 10 and 16 dex for velkas rapier and im finishing up a str char right now that only has 10 dex and his main sword is the demon great machete, i take it you put points into dex to use the bk weapons? in higher levels the bk weapons are not the best ones in terms of damage, so far everyone ive face with a bk greak axe ive kicked their axe cause they think spamming r1 will instantly win the duel.

I think the stats really depend on what you are trying to accomplish with the build and how high you want to go with the level. Also, if you plan on buffing weapons as part of this build and getting close to enemies you may want a more balanced build. If you are planning on standing back and casting magic you could than you could keep your end and vit a little lower.

A balanced build would look like this:

Vit: 40-50
End: 40
Int: 40-50
Att: 19+
Fai: Base unless you want healing miracles
Str and Dex: Minimum for weapons

Thanks guys. For the caster, I'm planning to be really mobile (fast rolls) so the armor will most likely be one of the cloth sets, until I get the Channeler set (I read somewhere that's good caster gear).

So it looks like my first character was the most "rounded". 2nd was easiest to play through, probably just because I know the fights better. But my Vit is only 26. High End for my blocking is what really makes the diff on my melee characters.

Since I have such high Int on my current Sorc character, should I stick it out and just put points into vit/end until they are more rounded? Or should I start over and just well-round it from the beginning better?

Is there a reason not to keep leveling up my character? The soul level just goes up when stats go up, but is there any downside to leveling up? Otherwise souls just go to waste, right?

My artorias build:

STR 30

Dex 24

Int 31

Faith 30

Vit 30

End 30

greatsword of artorias does more damage than any other weapon I have found for this build

To me it's all about equipment. Upgrade upgrade upgrade. Once you pick the weapon type and char 'type' you want to play, plan it out. If you like being quick, chose light armor, gold-hemmed is great. Mix of blocking/parrying and defense? Elite Knights is great (or solaire's a little lighter). Heavy defense and slow work for you? Smaug is the best (but really heavy) Havel's if you must. Whatever you chose, check the stats and upgrade the heck out of it.

Spend the min # of points in str/dex for the weapon you want to use. I like Uchi's - kill undead merchant after getting what you need from him . Once you start getting some serious souls, then you can figure out what weapon you want to go with. Just realize that you may need to create a few different characters in order to really 'try out' a weapon. ie. Grant needs 50 str (if memory serves) so it's not likely that you want to take your mage build and invest those points in strength. Right now I have 4 builds going simultaneously: Faith/Dex; Pure mage; Pyro/Dex; Pyro/Str/CMW. I have a few others I started, but realized they weren't right and use those as my 'testers' for certain weapons.

uhhh what? ohhh low levels bah!


just kidding

why not go high level and prioritize in pretty much anything you want really get to lvl 200 and you'll be able to get a few stats on good standing

http://darksouls.itsthatguy.com/?c=Q2xlcmljLDEyMCwzNSwxOSwzNSwxNCwzMCwxMSw4LDUw
use this helped me out a lot

Cool guys, thanks for all the useful responses! I'm really loving the game. That character builder is cool, thanks for that link. I wondered if there was something like that for Dark Souls.

I'll take these responses and use 'em to build my next character out. Thanks guys!

If you go pure strength just pump strength until 50 so that you get decent scaling from the Demon's Axe and havel's shield(idk if that's the best cuz I've been playing mage lately). only pump Dex for a backup weapon. Then pump endurance and vitality until you reach your goal soul level