I've found a "Paladin" type character to be a ton of fun to play, and even though I'm far from a Dark Souls master I've gone undefeated in PvP and have yet to encounter a PvE area that I didn't feel equipped to handle. If you're interested in being a melee-focused character that also has a ranged spell that hits like a truck, is castable while moving (partly) and looks AWESOME - or if you've never tried Miracles in a Souls game before and just want something different - or (!) you're afraid of getting invaded, I highly recommend giving this a try! :)

Character Creation and Starting Out

The baseline stats we need to hit are:

• 18 STR
• 12 DEX
• 10 ATN
• 17 FTH

And we'll also be wanting a mace ASAP. Feel free to pick any class based on that.

If you don't start with one, the first thing we're going to do is get a mace. Not only is it a great starting weapon, it also shares a near-identical moveset as the weapon we'll be picking up later so you can get used to it. To get the mace (requires 12 STR & 5 DEX) progress through the starting area (Lost Forest) until you reach the first bombfire. Buy the key from the merchant for 1,000 souls and warp back to Mejula to unlock the blacksmith who sells it.

Our later game weapon doesn't use Titanite to upgrade, so don't hesitate to use whatever Titanite you get to upgrade your mace and rip some faces off :) Feel free to advance through the Lost Forest as far as you wish, getting used to things and leveling up your stats toward our baseline goals. Key items in this area are the Large Leather Shield and Chloranthy Ring.

When you feel comfortable, head towards Heide's Tower of Flame which is where we'll get access to Miracles.

Miracles (aka LIGHTNING SPEAR)

Heading to Heide's Tower of Flame, our mace works extra well against the enemies we'll encounter here. But they can be intimidating, so if you're having trouble here's how to handle the area:

Sword & Shield guys: Start their attack animation, roll backwards/sideways, then circle around behind them to attack. Once you get it down, they'll never hit you again. Proceeding, you'll see a two-handed sword enemy standing with two Sword & Shield enemies; fear not, because the Sword & Shield ones won't fight at the same time as their 2-handed counterpart. Just as with the previous enemies, bait the two-handed enemy into attacking and then circle behind to attack - when it dies, the Sword & Shield enemies will then move in to attack, so rinse & repeat the strategy with them.

When given the choice between right and left, go right. After killing the last two-handed sword enemy, enter the fog gate to fight the Dragonrider Boss. If you have trouble with him, here is a strategy to use: As you may guess, the strategy here is the same as against all the other enemies you've been fighting. Except you shouldn't try to bait an attack first - just run right up to him and stick to his back like glue.

At the bonfire, talk to the NPC multiple times to have her sell Miracles and move to Majula. You'll want to pick up Lightning Spear, which is badass, and the Ring of Prayer. Yes the ring is expensive, but the +5 Faith is worth it.

At this point, simply progress through the game at your leisure, making your way up through The Lost Bastille and to the first major boss (The Lost Sinner). Experiment with the other Miracles, upgrade your equipment, finish getting the baseline stats and fill out your HP/END/ADP, etc.

Acquiring the Dragonslayer Crescent Axe and Advancing Onward

After beating the Lost Sinner, use the Yew Branch he gave you to unlock the path from Majula to the Shaded Woods. At the fork bonfire, take the path until you see what is likely a familiar-looking enemy: Flexile Sentry. He's standing in front of a treasure that was forged from the equipment of a thousand fallen foes, a weapon quenched in God's lightning and the stolen virginity of countless Vikings: the Dragonslayer's Crescent Axe. Hopefully you've found enough Twinkling Titanite to upgrade it a few times, but even at base it's beastly.

There are tons of options on how to flesh out your character now, ranging from fast-moving-high-dmg-output-from-all-ranges-and-good-defense to lol-so-fat-tank. I personally went with a fast melee-based character, simply using Miracles as an "enhancer" to that idea. So I will speak towards that from here onwards. One of the great things about Darks Souls, though, is your ability to play however you want! Do what seems fun to you, don't just copy what someone else says they enjoy! :)

Miracles, Faith and STR

I've found Lightning Spear and Resplenant Life (RL) to be the two Miracles I use most. RL seemed weak to me at first, with the regen seeming to slow to be of use. But casting it right before a boss or PvP battle can provide a flask's worth of healing. The regular heals are great for pushing deep into an area, scouring every inch of it for treasures and such. But they take too much time to cast when you're in a tight spot...which is usually any time that you need to use a heal ^_^ Getting off a Great Heal when you have nothing but a sliver of life left and a phantom 2-handing a great sword dashing at your face is an amazing feeling though.

In order to have all three available, you would normally need 20 ATN (one spell slot being gained at 10, 13, 16 and 20 ATN - note that RL takes 2 slots). Instead, what I do is have my ATN at 16 and wear the Southern Ritual Band. Being careful to attune the Great Heal spell to the slot granted by the ring, I enter any area with Great Heal available, using it over flasks - once used, I replace the ring and still have Lightning Spear, RL and all flasks available for use.

Faith is a very tempting stat, as it makes us hit harder, spell stronger and heal heartier. But with a fast, melee-based character who's only using Miracles to gain an edge in combat I don't feel like it's worth pumping over STR. For each point of Faith, we gain 1 DMG to melee (anyone know the exact effects of Faith on Heals & Lightning Spear??)...for each in STR, we gain 2. So I keep Faith at the minimum required. At least for now =)

Our spells may always be useful in PvE, but in PvP you aren't a caster. You're a melee based character with an ace or two up your sleeve. By pumping STR, we gain DMG on a more consistent basis. On the other hand, it's hilarious when someone joins your game and you immediately hit them in a face with a spear that takes off 75% of their HP :O)

Gear

At SL 100 this is what I'm using, giving me ~69.99% encumbrance. And mostly I just think it looks badass, not like every other person I see running around half naked with a giant sword.

Rings

• Ring of Blades
• Ring of Prayer
• Chloranthy Ring
• (Ring to fit situation)

Weapons

• Dragonslayer's Crescent Axe
• Lightning Short Bow (Faith scaling since our DEX is so low)
• Lion Clan's Shield

Armor

• Heide Knight Iron Mask
• Jester's Gloves
• Knight's Armor
• Knight's Leggings

With only 3 more into ATN you get a second slot. And then a third at 16. Then after that they get farther apart. I think the 4th is at 21 or 22. FYI.

Also great guide. I started making mine way to late in the game.

I'll totally use this for my second play-through on PC! This is a smart build.

I've ended up running 16 ATN and the Southern Ritual Ring so I can have all 3 miracles I like. 10 ATN is just to get Lightning Spear early on.

And thanks...I remember a different thread, you mentioned starting to go into Faith & Miracles. Not work out? :(

@ethanielrain: Delete the entire thread? It's not clear what you are trying to accomplish.

If you can't edit, change the url from /#n to /edit

@mb Thanks for the answer.

Definitely worth a shot, I'm having a blast with it.

So I was running a sorcery build and really not liking how squishy I was past the early game, and I've always wanted to run an str/fth build. I was Dex in DaS.

I rerolled a class that matches this build almost exactly, and was about to come post about how awesome it is but you've got it covered! The game is so much more fun now!

@ethanielrain After I get the base stats what am I supposed to put up? Do I just slowly keep adding points to those four categories? or do I add points in other categories? sorry for all the questions but I am a beginner to this game.

I've been using the Velstadt suit at around SL 120 with Defenders Greatsword, 5 attunement slots and the chime shield. The Paladin is a really fun class to play - Versatile. And you can gear your miracle setup for PvE or PVP by swapping in force or the one that casts random lightening. You can go toe to toe in mele, or cast. Just so much fun

Kind of doing an oddball 'lightly armoured but using a tower shield' type faith build.

Why Lightly armoured? Because I'm using the Moon Butterfly set which makes 'huggy' bosses like The Lost Sinner into a waiting game. They love to get in close, them getting in close means they're inside the poison aura range a lot, means the poison builds up faster, means usually about a third of the bosses health in poison damage alone.

Is that chime shield actually any good with magic or for blocking or do you use it because you like it thematically? iirc it only has 80% phys reduction, right? What's the faith/lightning scaling at max (lightning) upgrade?

I've always been tempted to try a dex/faith build, so I think my second character might be a katana wielding lady who flings lighting bolts out of her hands.

Paladins rock! I cleared DS1 and 2 with my own paladin build similar to this and it's always satisfying to chuck a lightning bolt into somebody's face!