How to play the Samurai in Elden Ring – Best Strategies and Weapons

The Samurai is a versatile class geared towards melee, ranged battle, and can also utilize magic well enough. The Samurai starts at level 9, which is a bit higher than other classes, and has above average Vigor, Strength, Endurance, Mind, along with high Dexterity. It comess with the Uchigatana, the Longbow, some arrows, and the Red Thorn Roundshield. The Samurai focuses on speed and range, so unless you’re adamant about blocking, the shield is unnecessary.

Despite seeming like a non-magic class, FP will play a factor as the Samurai if you choose to stick with the Longbow. Having distance between you and the enemy is never bad, and the Longbow has a powerful Art of War with the Mighty Shot. The Mighty Show is an attack that takes a little longer to wind up, but deals a significant amount more damage than a regular bow attack. The only problem is that it consumes FP, so if you want to continuously fire off Mighty Shot, you’ll need to raise your FP or allocate your flasks to regain lost Focus Points.

At the beginning of the game you may have issues with running out of arrows, but they are easy enough to farm. First, go to the Church of Elleh, which the game will naturally guide you to at the start of the game, and talk to the merchant there. Buy the crafting kit and the recipe books for arrows and attacking any sheep around Limgrave to get their bones required for the recipe. Later in the game, you can simply buy arrows with the abundance of runes you’ll have.

The Uchigatana is your starting melee weapon, and as far as starter equipment goes, it’s quite good. It has a great piercing dash heavy attack, and the basic attacks can be pulled off in quick succession. The Uchigatana is the main reason you’d want to get rid of your shield, as it has a great Weapon Art ability that needs you to two-hand it. Do you know that moment in every anime where the swordsman crouches, puts their hand on the hilt of their sword, and then does a colossal attack? Well, it’s basically that. The attack has a fast charge and great range and bleed damage. Bleed damage is relative to the enemy’s health, so it’s great for taking care of bosses.

Another great weapon for the Samurai is the Moonveil Katana, if you want to go the magic route. This weapon can be found in the Gael Tunnel, which is right on the border of Caelin and Limgrave. You’ll have to fight a Magma Wyrm, but it shouldn’t be too much trouble. Moonveil scales with Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. It has the Transient Moonlight weapon skill, which throws out a horizontal magical slice attack.

Allocate your skill points in Dexterity, Vigor, and Mind, as most of your weapons will scale with Dexterity. You’ll need the points in Vigor because you can’t always use a bow, especially in boss fights, and more health is never a bad thing. The Mind is for some extra FP if you choose to go the longbow route, or if you decide to use magical weapons like the Moonveil.

Utilize your speed and range well if you want to conquer with the Samurai class.