Attribute scaling in Elden Ring can be quite difficult to understand, but once you know how it works, it can improve your weapons.
Elden Ring is a popular action role-playing video game that focuses on combat and exploration. This game contains elements that are similar to those found in other games developed by FromSoftware, including the Dark Souls series.
Set in a persistent open world, you can freely explore the Lands Between and its 6 main areas. Before you can explore the world though, you have to create and customise a character. Each character in the game has a specific class, which determines their abilities.
Although there are different classes, each character has the same statistics, also known as attributes. You have to scale your attributes in a specific way to get the most out of your weapons.
Attributes in Elden Ring
Attributes, or statistics, are the characteristics that govern your character’s strengths and weaknesses. There are 8 main attributes in Elden Ring: Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Arcane, and Faith.
Each attribute influences your character uniquely. For instance, Vigor governs your health points, while Strength is required to wield heavy armaments.
You do not have to allocate points into all the attributes, instead, you have to select the attributes that function with your character class.
Your character also has several secondary statistics which contribute to their effectiveness and growth. Your level, equipment, and any active buffs and effects have an effect on your attributes.
Elden Ring: Attribute scaling
Attribute scaling can be quite confusing to understand, but once you know how it works, this can help you improve your weapons and equipment.
When you select a weapon in your equipment menu, you will find that each type of attack power has 2 number values. The number on the left indicates the weapon’s base damage, which you can improve by upgrading the weapon.
The value on the right relates to attribute scaling. This is where you can see which attributes will make the weapon more powerful. The attributes that affect this number are Arcane, Faith, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Strength.

The attribute scaling number is determined by the letter grade in the “Attribute scaling” menu at the bottom of the menu, and your character’s statistical levels relating to the graded numbers. The better the letter grade is, the more effectively the attributes power up the weapon.
The letter grade from best to worst in the scaling system is S, A, B, C, D, and E. If players have really high Strength, then having a Dexterity B and a Strength D weapon is not ideal.
Players will find that finding the perfect weapon involves a lot of experimentation. A weapon with a C on both Strength and Faith may be a better option than a weapon with just a B in Strength.
However, the opposite could also work well, depending on how you have distributed your attribute points.
Your primary goal should be to work towards a weapon with a higher letter grade than C. It is recommended that you do not play with weapons with a letter rank of D or E.
Does Ashes of War have an effect on attribute scaling?
If you do not mind spending some time experimenting with attribute scaling, you can go to any Site of Grace and select the “Ashes of War” menu, but not every weapon can have its Ashes of War changed.
Players should note that the Ash of War that they choose will impact how they change the weapon’s attribute scaling. Thus, you should take a look at them all and see what works the best for your build.
Once you have selected a weapon and an Ash of War, the Affinity Granted menu will appear.
Can Affinities increase your letter rank?
Affinities, which are selected when you apply Ashes of War, directly influence your weapon scaling. There are a few basic Affinities you can unlock throughout Elden Ring by finding whetblades. You can only apply Affinities to non-unique weapons.
Some of the basic Affinities are:
Affinity | Description |
Blood | This Affinity affects Arcane Scaling and the bleeding build-up feature to the weapon. However, it reduces base damage and other scalings |
Quality | This is a balanced dexterity and strength scaling. It generally has higher top-end potential, but this requires raising both strength and dexterity |
Heavy | It increases Strength and is recommended for pure strength builds |
Keen | This Affinity increases dexterity scaling and it is therefore perfect for pure dexterity builds |
Can you change your Attributes in Elden Ring?
If you allocated points into the wrong attribute, it means that your attribute scaling does not function properly.
After completing Raya Lucaria Academy in Elden Ring, you can reset point allocations and redistribute all of your earned statistic points however you wish, but only in exchange for a Larval Tear.
Many players will only change their attributes after level 50, so you should allocate your attribute points with caution.