Best starting class in Lords of the Fallen

With 13 starting classes in total—four of which are secret—you have plenty of options in Lords of the Fallen. Whether you prefer slow and methodical heavy attacks or quick in-and-out flurry attacks, there is a starting class for you. Also, Lords of the Fallen features ranged combat in the form of bows and spells via one of the three schools of magic. With a tough game like Lords of the Fallen, you want to give yourself the optimal chance for success by choosing the best starting class. Here is the best starting class in Lords of the Fallen.

Dark Crusader — Best Overall starting class

The Dark Crusader is technically one of the four secret starting classes in Lords of the Fallen. If you purchase the Deluxe Edition of Lords of the Fallen, you start with the Dark Crusader unlocked. You can also unlock the class later in the game, but you would have to start over to choose it.

As the description indicates, the Dark Crusader is a Paladin in the elite military dedicated to service the Church of Orian Radiance. The strength of this starting class comes in its high starting Endurance and Vitality as well as formidable Strength and Radiance.

With the higher Endurance and Vitality, you have a decent amount of starting survivability. The Vitality will give you more health, and the Endurance will allow you to attack and dodge more frequently.

The increased Strength will help your melee damage, which is what this starting class is all about. As a Dark Crusader, you start with a giant sword. You can actually switch stances to wield the sword with two hands, which will further increase your damage as well.

Finally, the extra starting Radiance will allow you to learn some Orian (Radiant) spells early, giving you the ability to heal and buff yourself as well as deal Radiant damage via spells early on.

The Dark Crusader is a beast of a starting class, packing a heavy punch with outstanding survivability.

Udirangr Warwolf — Best Powerhouse Berserker starting class

The Udirangr Warwolf is essentially a melee damage-dealing glass cannon. The goal is to continue beefing up your Strength and Endurance, which will cause you to deal insane amounts of damage. The increased Endurance will also give you the opportunity to spam attacks more often before having to back out.

Speaking of which, dodging will be your primary form of defense with this starting class. With a lower vitality, you will take a good bit of damage if you manage to get hit. In fact, you’ll also be wielding light armor so that you can increase your speed and ability to dodge around while fighting.

A primary goal as the Udirangr Warwolf is to focus on getting the best possible Strength scaling melee weapons. This will truly push the build, as damage is what it’s all about here.

Pyric Cultist — Best Inferno Spellcaster starting class

Now we transition over to the other glass cannon starting class, the Pyric Cultist. As a Pytric Cultist, you’ll deal an insane amount of damage from afar with your extensive Inferno Spell toolkit. With 18 starting Inferno, your damage output will be absolutely insane.

However, glass cannon has never been a more fitting title. With just nine Vitality, you’ll be extremely squishy. In fact, even early on just a hit or two from some bosses may be enough to send you to the Umbral.

With this build, you’ll have the option of doubling down on your damage, or adding a little of survivability. If you want to do even more damage, just keep pumping up that Inferno. This will just increase how hard your spells hit, and give you access to more Inferno spells.

On the flip side, you can put some points into Vitality to make it so you won’t die as quickly. Of course, you don’t take damage if you don’t get hit, so you want to master the ability to dodge!

Orian Preacher — Best Radiance Holy Magic starting class

The Orian Preacher is equivalent to Faith-based builds from the Souls series. With a high Radiance stat, you will be extremely effective at using Radiance spells. Radiance Spells include heals support buffs, enemy debuffs, and even damage-dealing spells.

Like the Pyric Cultist, the Oriang Preacher starts out with 18 in its damage-dealing stat. However, unlike the Pyric Cultist, the Orian Preacher at least has a little bit of Vitality at 11.

You will once again have the option of doubling down on increasing your Radiance—and therefore enhancing your spell capabilities. Or, you can put some more points into Vitality so you are a little more tanky.

Now that you know the best starting class in Lords of the Fallen, you’ll be in the best spot to tackle some of the tougher bosses in the game!