Starting Classes | Dark Souls 2 Wiki

Overview of Starting Classes in Dark Souls 2

Warrior - Not worthwhile for starting stats or equipment, choose only for aesthetic concerns
Knight - Ideal start for most PvP melee dueling setups.
Swordsman - Good for PvE Dex and low VIT building.
Bandit - Ideal start for poise-using PvP melee dueling setups.
Cleric - Miracle build Class.
Sorcerer - Great class for those wanting spell buffs or wanting to build a Sorcerer/Hexer/Pyromancer.
Explorer - Abundance of early lifegems.
Deprived - Used for SL1 runs.

Overview of Starting Gifts in Dark Souls 2

Life Ring - Offers very minimal benefit and is found in what can be your first area of the game.
Human Effigy - Is found very often through the game, a single one has minimal use.
Homeward Bone - There are 5 in the hub area Majula, a 6th will not change much.
Seed of a Tree of Giants - These can give you an edge when invaded and are only farmable in 1 place in the game. However this farming spot is in what can be your first area.
Bonfire Ascetic - Increases the Bonfire Intensity of a cleared area by 1, effectively turning it to NG+ so you can get drops from NG+. They are rare albeit you can find one as early as your second area.
Petrified Something - Can be traded in the Thing Betwixt's nest for a random item that can include an upgrade material or a weapon few from Dark Souls 1. These weapons can't be elsewhere but and are generally decent.
Healing Wares - Offers several thousands' souls worth of healing items and status cures. This is by far the most valuable and applicable gift.

Warrior

• This Class starts with plenty STR/DEX but a really bad weapon and shield. The armor is about average with a Helm with decent poise.
• Choosing this class will have you needing to find gear in-game to replace what you start with. The statline is effective at using most early weapons, however it is slightly innefficient at lategame due to additional levels in INT/FTH/ATN when compared to Knight.

Knight

• This Class has a decent weapon and armor with average defenses and the highest start set Poise. Your statline allows for plenty survivability and easy access to plenty of early weapons.
• With this class you can comfortably clear your first area without needing new gear. Lategame you will have an effective statline for most any melee weapon due to more concentrated stats when compared to Warrior.
  

Swordsman

• This Class starts with 2 slightly below average but slightly upgraded weapons. This means that by using both of them, you can clear early areas with durability to spare. The health on this class is relatively low, which is only makes up for with its stamina.
• Starting as a Swordsman you get decent gear and a statline that will easily accomodate weapons with a high Dexterity requirement. At lategame you will have an effcient statline for the same kind of weapons.

Bandit

• This Class starts with a decent poise damaging weapon, a bow and the 2nd highest Poise total of any of the Starter Classes. This paired with the high attack stats and vitality make it an effective class for building heavy characters. However it also starts with the lowest iframes for dodging due to a lack of ADP/ATN
• Using this class will be effective for wearing extremely heavy armor sets. However, due to how Flynn's Ring and Third Dragon Ring work, you will sacrifice some of the maximum DPS you can achieve on all weapons.

Cleric

• Starts with a decent hammer, catalyst and healing miracle. The statline is spread thin but can weild a variety of weapons pretty easily. The biggest issue is that healing miracles are heavily de-incentivized due to Lifegems being infinitely purchasable after beating what can be your first boss. Thus they are only really important in scenarios where you won't have access to them, such as a Co-op run (phantoms can't use healing items when there's an invader in the world) or in a run where you refuse to use lifegems.
• This class depends heavily on it's above average weapon and is innefficient for almost anything other than casting only miracles.

Sorcerer

• Has a very decent spell and staff. The statline is very efficient for focusing on spells and can support Sorceries, Hexes and Pyromancies very effectively. The lack of STR/DEX is a bit of an issue, since all characters benefit from having an melee option, but due to 2-handing halving the STR requirents of weapons, this is of little concern after a couple levels.
• This class starts off with very little HP but has the most robust casting statline out of all the Classes. Lategame it's extremely effective level-wise for any caster that isn't focusing purely on miracles.

Explorer

• Explorer has an very spread out statline and no weapons, which is balances out by giving you access to a plethora of consumables from the get-go. Additionally, it is the class with the highest Agility and thus iframes when dodging. It is capable of using some early weapons but it's truly just noteworthy for items and 1 piece of item discovery gear.
• This class has decent survivability but no effective combat options. It relies on what you find in-game and has an innefficient statline for most builds.

Deprived

• This Class starts you with no gear and the lowest level, being the only Soul Level 1 class.
• The fact this class has 6 levels on all stats means it will be innefficient on all builds that do not want at least 6 levels on all stats.