The Beefcake Knight.
First spotted by weliveinasocietyboi on the Elden Ring subreddit, Bandai Namco has shed light on the stats of one of Elden Ring’s upcoming starter classes, a remarkably strong knight designed for strength builds—whose spellcasting abilities might not be up to par for PvP enthusiasts.
Most reporting on Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition at Gamescom focused on the poor performance on the Switch 2, criticized by both IGN and Nintendo Life. However, my interest lies in the new character classes and items included in the update, which will be available as a free update on PC.
The new knight boasts heavy black iron armor, akin to Tarkus from Dark Souls, without a shield, and a brand new curved greatsword. Their initial stats are as follows:
- Level: 8
- Vigor: 14
- Mind: 7
- Endurance: 17
- Strength: 15
- Dexterity: 11
- Intelligence: 7
- Faith: 7
- Arcane: 9
Just look at them, they can’t even do basic math. Nevertheless, this character’s robust stats make them an excellent starting point for strength builds and a preferred choice for melee-focused min-maxers. Many bulky dex weapons still require a substantial strength investment. Given the level restrictions in PvP—most matches occur below level 200—every stat point is crucial.
The comments from weliveinasocietyboi’s post are filled with predictions that this knight will become a new “meta” choice.
I’m eagerly awaiting the stats for the other new class, which translates to “Knight of Ides” from the Japanese preview earlier this year. This class will come equipped with the DLC Milady light greatsword and sports an armor set that appears like a cheat code for fashion souls. Unfortunately, we still haven’t received a release date for the Tarnished Edition and the corresponding free update for other platforms.
