Sanctuary
Member
What attributes do I want for a strength build? STR,VIT, and END?
Just focus on STR and END. Get your VIT to around 12 or so, but no more than 15 unless you're hitting NG++. Damage reduction is more important than more health, and raising END gives you more energy (more attacks) and more carrying capacity, which allows you to wear heavier protections and still remain at at least mid speed. Although with my current playthrough I was able to maintain maximum speed the entire time and without a ring that increases your max carrying capacity.
The starting Warrior sword is pretty nice for the moveset, although you should quickly discard it for the weapon you'll get from the first boss. Learn to do jumping attacks by either flicking the stick up and hitting R2, or hitting R2 while sprinting forward. And do them two-handed as much as possible. For enemies turtling behind shields, equip a shield of your own, run into them and hit L1 to open them up for a quick hit. Later you will be strong enough to just do a jumping attack to blast through their shield, and then kill them with the follow-up attack as you land.
Magic is mostly "blah" in this game, but a Warrior can get something from all three schools. However, I would only focus on a single spell after Prayer, since Prayer is a mandatory pick unless you pick the Solace tree. This is what I think are the best abilities for a Warrior from each school:
Solace - Shelter. It does a little bit of damage reflection, but the biggest boon is that it regenerates health. This is important for much later when you get a ring that increases your damage output signifcantly, but you take a bit of damage each time you land an attack. Take this to 3/3.
Brawler - Rage. Rage is completely bugged right now and it only removes the energy requirement for attacks. The rest of what it's supposed to do does not work, and ranks 1, 2 and 3 all do the exact same thing so there's absolutely no benefit for going beyond rank 1. Raising your FTH to around 18 though should at least give you enough mana to cast it two times before having to wait a bit for mana regen.
Deception - Mimic. It basically doubles your damage. Similar to Rage, except more burst potential since the damage happens per swing, instead of you simply getting unlimited swings (which doesn't matter when you are forced to move a lot). Take this to 3/3.
Use Flawless Luck runes (or High Luck Runes) in all weapons and armors that have slots that you're using. Runes are also randomized during crafting, so just use a save crystal and then game the game to get what you want.
My stats for level 50 were: 31 STR, 12 VIT, 20 END, 12 FTH, 8 AGI (base after respec), LCK 0 with Prayer 1/3 and Mimic 1/3.
Agility will help you out, too.
No it won't. Unless you want to waste points to be able to parry a whole four enemy types that a STR build can just blast right through anyway. AGI gives you energy, but END gives more, plus carrying capacity.