What is the Hardest Class in Dark Souls 3? An In-Depth Guide for Sorcerers

As a Dark Souls 3 fanatic who has played over 500 hours and completed SL1 runs, I can definitively say the most challenging class to play as is the humble Sorcerer. Their lackluster early game and demanding playstyle earns them the title of DS3’s biggest trial…but also its most rewarding magic experience if handled properly!

Why Sorcerers Struggle in the Early Stages

Let‘s analyze the key Sorcerer attributes that contribute to their difficulty specifically in the critical first areas of DS3:

• Lowest Starting Vitality

  • Begins at just 8 Vitality, tank builds by comparison often start around 15-18 Vitality
  • Translates to only 10 Estus charges, compared to 14-16 for Knights/Warriors
  • Easily 2-3 shot by basic enemies like dogs, undead, and Lothric Knights

• Subpar Melee Abilities

  • Highest starting Strength is a mere 10, Dex at 12
  • Extremely poor damage and stagger capability with starting Dagger/Mail Breaker
  • Not enough stats to wield most viable early weapons like Lothric Knight Sword

• High FP Costs Severely Limit Spells Available

  • Starting Attunement of 14 seems fine until you look at FP costs…
  • Heavy Soul Arrow (13 FP) will barely get you ~10 casts
  • Stronger stuff like Great Heavy Soul Arrow (18 FP) cuts this down to less than 7 casts
  • Not enough Ashen Estus means pure spell damage isn’t sustainable

According to Fextralife community wikis, by Level 30-40 is when Sorcerers overtake other magic classes in sheer damage potential after investing heavily in Intelligence and Attunement. But surviving up to this “power spike” point is the true test of a fledgling mage.

Pro Sorcerer Tips To Surviving The Early Game

Through hundreds of hours experimenting with squishy magic builds across multiple Soulsborne titles, I‘ve compiled the most vital tips for making it through those harrowing first few areas:

Prioritize Vitality First

• Put starting levels into Vitality over Intelligence
• Gets you just high enough HP to not get easily combo’d out by standard foes
• Surviving hits is exponentially more important than min/maxing damage early

Use Raw Infusions & Resins

• Infuse starting dagger/mail breaker with Raw to remove scaling
• Apply Gold Pine Resins found in High Wall of Lothric
• The flat damage bonus will let you tackle melee better than trying Int scaling weapons too soon

Abuse Your Ranged Advantage

• Most enemies have no ranged capabilities
• Kite them while peppering them with Heavy Soul Arrow
• Keep distance and whittle them down slowly rather than face-tanking trades

Hide Behind Your Meatshields

• Early game dogs/undead/rusty armor foes pose the biggest threat
• Let ally phantoms draw aggro and soak hits for you
• Provides breathing room to unleash spells safely from afar

Conserve FP – Use Weaker Spells More

• Avoid blowing FP casting max power spells when not needed
• Use (Heavy) Soul Arrow for weaker foes, Great (Heavy) only on bosses/knights
• Ashen Estus refills are limited, budget FP carefully

The Power Spike Is Real

If you can successfully claw your way through to the halfway point, Sorcerers shed their feeble skins and transform into arbiters of absolute annihilation:

Lightning arrows that melt health bars, crystalline homing souls that shred even magic-resistant enemies, and colossal orb nukes that stagger anything they touch become readily available weapons of sorcery supremacy. The fruits of one‘s patience and fortitude through the early trails will bear a bountiful harvest indeed.

So while the path of a spellcaster presents substantive obstacles for new players, I hope these pointers help better equip burgeoning mages to survive the storm and seize their epic potential. If youfound this guide helpful or want to add suggestions, please leave your praisings of the sun down below!