In Praise of Vigour
I think I'm a convert to the cult of Vigour.
A while back I came across the rule of thumb that vigour should be at least half of the character's current rune level. More recently I came across a post that really resonated, saying that dying isn't fun, fighting is.
Today, for the first time, I've had a character reach the final soft cap1 of 60 vig before reaching RL 60.
It makes such a difference. We still die, but less often, and less frustratingly. We've got more time to learn to dance with the enemies and their movesets.
This requires a different kind of discipline, because at this point in the game it's possible to tank or trade hits instead of learning to dodge or jump or block. So we're practicing taking our time, not being greedy, and learning the dance moves.
soft caps being points at which the benefit of further levelling starts to decline, in contrast to the hard cap which is literally the limit of levelling, 99 for all stats in Elden Ring.↩