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Elden Ring Soft Cap Guide: Every Stat and Attribute Listed

Learning Stat soft caps in Elden Ring is one of the first steps to digging deeper into its systems. We'll break it all down in this guide.

John Schutt

Published: Jun 19, 2023 09:00 am

Stats in Elden Ring seem fairly cut and dry at first glance, but every core stat has a soft cap. The more you increase a core stat like Vigor, Strength, or Endurance, the more some other connected attributes like health, weapon damage, and equip load go up. However, there’s a bit more going on under the hood. Our guide covers what soft cap means and outlines the scaling for each stats soft caps.

All Stat and Attribute Soft Caps in Elden Ring

Soft cap is the point at which the increases to a stat/attribute change. These values are significantly higher than they’ve been in previous Souls games. All eight of the core stats in Elden Ring have soft caps — plural. Some have more than others. And unless you plan to play up to the maximum level of 713, you’ll need to be aware of them. Below, I list all of the stat and attribute soft caps in the game.

Vigor

First Soft Cap	Second Soft Cap	Final Soft Cap
Level 40: Health gain increases from +4 to +48.	Level 60: Health gain decreases from +26 to +13	Level 99: Health gain decreases from +6 to +3

Mind

First Soft Cap	Second Soft Cap	Third Soft Cap	Fourth Soft Cap	Final Soft Cap
Level 15: FP gain fluctuates between +3 and +4	Level 35: FP gain fluctuates between +5 and +6	Level 50: FP gain fluctuates between +7 and +6	Level 60: FP gain fluctuates between +6 and +4	Level 99: FP gain fluctuates between +2 and +3

Endurance/Equip Load

First Soft Cap	Second Soft Cap	Third Soft Cap	Fourth Soft Cap
Level 15: Stamina increases between +1 and +2 (+2 favored)	Level 30: Stamina increases between +1 and +2 (+2 less favored)	Level 50: Stamina increases between +1 and +2 (+1 favored)	Level 99: Stamina increases between +0 and +1 (+0 favored)
Level 25: Max equip load increases by +1.5 and +1.6 (+1.6 favored)	Level 60: Max equip load increases by +1.0 and +1.5 (+1.5 favored)	Level 99: Max equip load increases by +1.0 and +1.1 (+1.0 favored)	N/A

Strength/Dexterity

First Soft Cap	Second Soft Cap	Third Soft Cap	Fourth Soft Cap
Level 18: Damage increase varies	Level 50: Damage increase varies	Level 60: Damage increase varies	Level 80: Damage increase varies

Intelligence/Faith

First Soft Cap	Second Soft Cap	Third Soft Cap
Level 20: Attack Rating increase varies	Level 50: Attack Rating increase varies	Level 80: Attack Rating increase varies
Level 60: Sorcery/Incantation scaling increase varies	Level 80: Sorcery/Incantation scaling increase varies	N/A

Arcane

First Soft Cap	Second Soft Cap	Third Soft Cap
Level 20: Attack Rating increase varies	Level 60: Attack Rating increase varies	Level 80: Attack Rating increase varies
Level 40: Status Scaling increase varies	Level 45: Status Scaling increase varies	Level 60: Status Scaling increase varies

Strength/Dexterity/Arcane Incantation Scaling

First Soft Cap	Second Soft Cap
Level 30: Incantation Scaling increase varies	Level 45: Incantation Scaling increase varies

Elden Ring Soft Caps Explained

Beyond the caps themselves, you also must account for the weapon, Sorcery staff, or Incantation Sacred Seal you’re using. Each weapon has a different scaling that determines how much a particular stat increases its damage or effects. Scaling is affected by soft caps, as noted in the tables above, and different gear will be best at different levels.

For example, the Erdtree Seal is almost exclusively a high-level Seal, as it continues to scale well up to the 80 soft cap. The Finger Seal, on the other hand, is best at low levels, as it has underwhelming scaling but functions well without much investment. The same is true for Sorcery Staves.

I know I threw a lot of numbers at you here, but that’s how Elden Ring works at a higher level. Optimizing your build down to the stat point is the goal of almost every player who wants to invade or duel for PvP. And that’s why soft cap matters. If you’re looking for more help with Elden Ring, we’ve covered plenty of it here, including our ranking of the 10 hardest bosses, the 10 best Strength weapons, and more in our Elden Ring guides hub.

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Author

John Schutt

John Schutt has been playing games for almost 25 years, starting with Super Mario 64 and progressing to every genre under the sun. He spent almost 4 years writing for strategy and satire site TopTierTactics under the moniker Xiant, and somehow managed to find time to get an MFA in Creative Writing in between all the gaming. His specialty is action games, but his first love will always be the RPG. Oh, and his avatar is, was, and will always be a squirrel, a trend he's carried as long as he's had a Steam account, and for some time before that.