What stats should I level up as a Samurai?

[Gonsnakex]

I am adding points to strength and vigor mostly. What are your recommendations?

[Hydef]

Don't stress about it. Upgrading your weapon with the smithing stones increases it's damage far more than increasing the stats it scales off of until like the last third of a normal playthrough. And you'll get to the point where you can respec far before that.

[2001 Space Oddity]

If you plan on using the regular katanas (uchi and nagakiba) 1 handed or powerstancing, occult/arcane is best. For two handing them, heavy/str will get a higher AR but not by a whole lot, and the extra bleed you get from occult without the need to re-buff the sword every 30 seconds is probably worth choosing occult over heavy.

For the special katanas, like Dragonscale Blade or Hand of Malenia, dex is the best stat, with the exception of Meteoric Ore Blade which scales best off str/int and Moonveil is dex/int.

Don't forget that you can respec after defeating Renalla, so you can go for str or arc early and once you get a special katana you can respec for whichever katana you want to use.

[Xengre]

Vigor, heavily invested.

Later you can do your str or dex (or both if quality build), but this should come substantially later. Initially, get only the stats needed to actually equip and use your preferred weapon. Beyond that the scaling is so damn poor early on it isn't worth another point in Str/Dex until you've finished Vigor and other stats like getting some stamina or if you want to cast some basic buffs/healing from Faith miracles. As someone else said, weapon upgrade matters way more for dmg scaling than stats like Str/Dex. In fact, it wouldn't be wrong to have the bare minimum str/dex and go 60 Vigor ASAP and this would make the game far easier this way, too.

Another option is arcane for bleed, or some arcane + physical dmg scaling to be more well rounded when up against bleed resistant/immune enemies while having especially great dmg against those who aren't resistant.

Just a few points in Faith can bring a lot of benefits with some basic prayers and buffs (ex Faith 15 has a lot to it, so do other faith values up to 30 at which point it becomes less beneficial and more demanding to invest further).

Some mind isn't bad if you want to more flexibly utilize ash of war and some buffs, but don't go overboard with it.

Stamina is great to have as a partial priority after Vigor but if you got used to combat well enough you would be fine even at the base level stamina so it depends on you and how you feel about your stamina usage.

Weight isn't very relevant. You don't want to fat roll but heavier armor does not typically equate to more defense/survivability. Without going into the math behind it there is a reason the meme Fasion Souls exists. Focus on your fashion aesthetics and less on defensive values from armor.

As mentioned above, you can reset all stats at Renalla. It has a limited number of times per playthrough but it is a pretty decent number of times. Renalla is a reasonably early boss, too.

[zab]

dex

[Faust Wither]

no dex no sex

[GalloglassCA]

Classes only dictate your starting points, so while people usually choose them to get a head start on their builds, you can put points where you like. Upping Vigor and a little Endurance is important early as scaling won't kick in a ton early. So focus on meeting weapon requirements if you know what you want to use them get vigor up as a priority.

[Fenix]

This depends, but Dex is the main Katana stat (usually), with endurance and arcane for better bleed.
Or go high Arcane for Bleed, with Average dex. and endurance

Edit: With 40+ Vigor early game and 60+ Late game

[Dark_DarkZ]

Vigor, Strength, Dexterity, and Arcane for bleed.
Main ones to lvl would be vigor, dex, and arcane for bleed (if you wnat that)
40 vig to 60 vig, 40-80dex, 40-60 arcane. Strength at minimum req or 20 smth,
Mind should be enough for you to use your favourite Ash of War at least 2-3 times before sipping a flask.

dont stress on min maxing, just level vigor, str, dex, and some endurance in the beginning. Dex is ur main attack stat. Once you have reached 40-60 vigor, 20 str, 40-60 dex, you can start minmaxing,

me personally I'd go:
Vigor: 60
Mind: 15-20 (20 for more leisure)
Endurance 25-30.
Strength 20-25.
Dex 80
Intelligence: minimmum (9) / no investment
Faith: minimum // no investment unless u want 25 for some buffs
Arcane: 40-60

Total Level: 176-211