The First Berserker: Khazan is a brutal, fast-paced action RPG soulslike where stat allocation makes all the difference between struggling with bosses or taking them down in one fell swoop. Dumping points into your stats without putting much thought behind it won’t get you far.
Compared to similar games, The First Berserker: Khazan keeps things simple, giving you only five stats to work with. But since each of them affects multiple attributes, it’s essential that you think carefully before you start investing your hard-earned Lacrima. In this guide, we’ll break down how each stat works in the game and help you figure out which one you should focus on first for your build.

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All Upgradable Stats in The First Berserker: Khazan
The First Berserker: Khazan gives you only five stats to work with, but each of them affects multiple aspects of your character. Before diving into what to level first, it’s important to understand how each stat influences your attributes:
Upgradable Stat |
Primary Effect |
Secondary Effects |
---|---|---|
Vitality |
Increases Max Health. |
Slightly boosts Attack DMG, increases Attribute Resistances, and Weight Capacity. |
Endurance |
Increases Max Stamina. |
Increases Max Health, Attack DMG, and Stamina Recovery. |
Strength |
Increases Attack DMG with Strength-scaling weapons. |
Adds Max Health, increases Weight Capacity, and reduces Stamina DMG taken. |
Willpower |
Increases Attack DMG with Willpower-scaling weapons. |
Adds Max Health, increases Stamina Recovery, and reduces Stamina DMG while Guarding. |
Proficiency |
Increase Attack DMG with Proficiency-scaling weapons. |
Adds Max Health, increases Stamina DMG dealt to enemies, and decreases Stamina Cost while dodging. |
While in the late game, you’ll want to invest a few points into all of these stats, for the early game, you’ll need to be a bit more picky.
Which Stats to Upgrade First in The First Berserker: Khazan?
While every stat affects more than one aspect of your character, choosing what to level first is actually more straightforward in The First Berserker: Khazan than in most soulslikes.
To start off, you want to invest a few points in Vitality to increase your Max Health. Not only does this improve your survivability, but you also get a small boost to damage and resistance. Once your Health is at a comfortable point, your next priority should be determined by your weapon of choice.
There are only three weapon archetypes in the game, each with a fixed scaling stat:
- Dual Wield weapons scale primarily with Willpower (with Strength as the secondary stat).
- Greatsword scales primarily with Strength (with Proficiency as the secondary stat).
- Spear scales primarily with Proficiency (with Willpower as the secondary stat).
You’ll unlock all three weapons in Mission 2, a bit after defeating the first major boss, Yetuga. Once you’ve picked the weapon that feels right for you, invest around 5 to 6 points into its primary scaling stat. That way, you’ll boost your damage significantly while still gaining secondary bonuses like health or stamina efficiency.
Endurance is also important, especially for faster fights like the one you’ll face against Viper. However, in the early game, many weapon skills help manage your stamina passively, so you can delay leveling this stat until after Mission 2.
Here’s what a late-game Spear build might look like in The First Berserker: Khazan.
We recommend investing a few points in Strength late game even if your weapon doesn’t get any damage from it. This will decrease the amount of Stamina DMG you take from the enemies. By then, however, you should know plenty about the game to build Khazan your own way!

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Choosing the right stat path early will set the tone for your entire run. As you get deeper into the game, you can start balancing out your build, but those first few levels will matter most. Thankfully, there’s a way to respec Khazan, so even if you mess up, you can always reset your stat later on in The First Berserker: Khazan.
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