The Bandit is an incredibly versatile starting point in Elden Ring. At first, you may find yourself lamenting your bow and dagger, but with time — and a touch of ingenuity — you’ll be whittling the biggest bosses down without breaking a sweat.
Bandit best practices
Your bandit starts with a dagger that inflicts a decent amount of bleed with each strike and a serviceable bow for taking down enemies at a distance. These are your two biggest hints. A bandit wants to either draw enemies out for a duel, parrying them confidently without a swam of distractions, or they want to dash in quickly to lay down a ton of bleed damage, effectively bursting their opposition before they can react. Your armor is going to be light since we’re not focusing on any stats that will raise your max load by much, so take advantage of that and start encounters off with a free backstab to thin the herd.
Most of your runes are going to be dumped into dexterity, so keep an eye out for weapons that scale well with the stat. Early on, the flail will to save you from encounters with enemies resistant to slashing and piercing damage and it will do so without asking you to invest more than a single point into your strength stat. If you’re feeling spicy, divert a few points into your faith and scour The Lands Between for incantations that will buff your weapons, Bloodflame Blade and Poison Armament in particular will make your bandit a status menace early on. Bosses also despise taking damage from Black Flame Blade, but this will require you get your faith up to 17. The damage over time it inflicts is based on your target’s HP pool, so the buff is well worth the investment (it’s also exquisite flavor for your character if you’re looking to build around role play).
The Wakizashi, buckler, mace, and short bow will carry your bandit a shocking distance by covering most scenarios you’ll find yourself in. Start with the Fanged Imp Ashes to take aggro off of your squishy character during early boss battles — and for aid in your bloody build — and your bandit is ready to take flight.
