What are the best Elden Ring builds? The first 20 levels shape your entire class, so selecting your stats carefully is essential. While placing some stat points into faith as an Astrologer may be tempting, you’re probably better off committing to the full sorcery build to maximize your damage in the late game.
The builds in this guide are not only compatible with Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, you can easily play through the entire expansion without ever swapping out any of your armor or weapons. If you’ve found that your build has been nerfed, never fear – grab a specific Elden Ring Great Rune. You’ll be able to unlock character respec, and you can simply create a new one!
The expansion has a separate leveling system that involves exploring the map to find Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes; these items buff your attacks while negating damage you take, and they strengthen Torrent and your summons, respectively. Make sure you grab these items right away as you will struggle to defeat the enemies in the new area without them!
These are the best Elden Ring builds:
Once you obtain the required stats for your build, spend the rest of your stats in these three areas: Vigor, Mind, and Endurance. It’s important to remember that the soft cap for Vigor is 60, Mind is 55, and Endurance is 32.
Wing of Astel build
Key Stats: Intelligence 80, Faith 33, Mind 34, Endurance 35
Essential Items: Wing of Astel, Finger Seal, Magic Scorpion Charm
This Wing of Astel build, courtesy of Cell, makes some of the bosses on New Game +7 look like regular mobs. All you need to do is activate some buffs before letting your Ash of War do all the work, spawning waves of homing projectiles that melt health bars in seconds. Alternatively, the Wing of Astel is capable of dealing plenty of damage when used on its own, providing you with the best of both worlds.
The buffs you need to apply are the Golden Vow incantation to improve your attack and defense, Howl of Shabriri to improve your damage output by 25%, and Terra Magica, which increases your magic damage by 22.5%. This will give you 30 seconds to trigger your Ash of War multiple times in quick succession. As long as you time your attacks well enough, you should storm through enemies with ease.
Maximum Faith build
Key Stats: Faith 99, Dexterity 99
Essential Items: Milady, Finger Seal, Rellana’s Cameo, Lord of Blood’s Exultation
After years of experimentation, it’s fair to say that the Elden Ring community knows what to expect when it comes to builds, which means it’s difficult to catch players off guard during invasions. If you want to truly surprise people, ChaseTheBro on YouTube has put together a video showcasing a unique build that combines maxed-out Faith and Dex, giving you access to spells that players rarely see these days.
This build doesn’t require highly specific weapons or armor. As long as you pick something that scales with your two main stats, you should be good to go. Chase settled on Leda’s Sword thanks to its Needle Piercer Ash of War which debuffs opponents, perfect for invaders. Combine this with the Sacred Relic Sword and its Wave of Gold Ash of War to wash enemies away with Holy damage.
The talismans do play an important role, so you’re going to want to get your hands on the following items: Flock’s Canvas Talisman, Godfrey Icon, and Faithful’s Canvas Talisman to buff your incantations, along with Erdtree’s Favor for more health and stamina.
With this build on deck, it’s time to start invading! Wave of Gold is perfect at dealing damage to multiple targets, and it isn’t used very often, which makes some players hesitate when they see it. If your opponents come prepared with buffs, switch to your other weapon and hit them with Needle Piercer to bring them back to size. Use spells like Giant Golden Arc and Elden Stars to deal damage from a distance, and if the enemy gets too close, your weapons should be strong enough to cut any weakened players down.
Milady Bleed build
Key Stats: Dexterity 60, Arcane 57
Essential Items: Milady, Finger Seal, Rellana’s Cameo, Lord of Blood’s Exultation
YouTuber Ousa ran extensive tests to test the Milady’s capabilities, and now we know their fantastic Milady Bleed build is practically unstoppable against most of the DLC bosses. Milady is a light greatsword introduced in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, more specifically located in Castle Ensis inside a chest at the top of a watchtower.
You can maximize the weapon’s damage by changing the affinity to blood and by utilizing the Wing Stance Ash of War to increase your time to kill speed. The Shard of Alexander is a helpful talisman to improve your damage by 15%, and the Dragoncrest Greatshield talisman can help keep you alive by providing you with 25% damage negation from physical attacks. However, the real power comes from Rellana’s Cameo which can deal up to 45% more damage using Wing Stance attacks, and ol’ trusty Lord of Blood’s Exultation to increase your damage whenever you trigger the bleed effect.
The beauty of this build is its flexibility, allowing you to spec into a melee-focused arrangement with the Rakshasa armor set with the White Mask, or increase your tankiness using Rellana’s armor set, which can be purchased from Unia at the Roundtable Hold.
Poison Lizard build
Key Stats: Dexterity 60, Arcane 50
Essential Items: Lizard Greatsword, Poison Flower Blooms Twice Ash of War, Poisoned Hand
Huge thanks to YouTuber BLIND_Playthroughs for this unique build, utilizing multiple poison-centric items from the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. While the name of the build is silly, we can see past this due to its sheer strength. The Lizard Greatsword has a lot of range, and when coupled with the Poison Flower Blooms Twice Ash of War, you can deal destructive amounts of burst poison damage and scarlet rot in your follow-up strikes. This is greatly enhanced by the Poisoned Hand to drastically increase the poison build up applied with each attack.
What’s particularly great about this build is that most of the items are all easy to acquire. The Lizard Greatsword is dropped by imps in the Scorpion River Catacombs, and you can also find some in the Fog Rift Catacombs. As for the Ash of War, simply fast travel from the Ravine North Site of Grace and find the Teardrop Scarab located towards the cross river in the south. Next up is the Poisoned Hand, which can be found in the Belurat Tower Settlement sewers in Gravesite Plain.
To improve your poison buildup further, you’ll want to pick up the Mushroom Crown which raises your attack power whenever you’re nearby enemies afflicted with poison. You can pick this up from one of the corpses hanging in the Lake of Rot. Millicent’s Prosthesis also benefits this build by raising your dexterity and improving your damage with successive attacks-by this point in your Elden Ring journey, you will have more than likely picked this up after killing Millicent.
Likewise, the Two-Handed Sword Talisman also improves your damage output, enhancing all attacks with two-handed weapons. Lastly, the Shard of Alexander greatly boosts your attack power when using skills, something you’ll be taking advantage of often. Pair all of this with the Omen armor set, found after killing the Dung Eater at the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds to complete the mushroom fit.
Burning Black Blade build
Key Stats: Faith 50, Strength 50, Endurance 28
Essential Items: Maliketh’s Black Blade, Black Knife, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, Ritual Sword Talisman, Two-Handed Sword Talisman
Smash minions and bosses alike into tiny pieces with our Burning Black Blade build, utilizing the Colossal Sword, Maliketh’s Black Blade to slam into your foes. This build’s strength comes from the weapon’s unique Ash of War, Destined Death, quickly removing 10% of your enemies’ health bar after landing a hit. You can take this further with Black Knife’s Blade of Death weapon skill, taking the effect to 20% with just two attacks.
Unless you’re reaching the end of your Elden Ring playthrough and are looking for something powerful to get through the DLC, this is primarily going to be an endgame build. Maliketh’s Black Blade can only be acquired close to the end of the game. However, when you finally get your hands on this weapon, it’s easy to see why you must wait before you’re able to use it.
Your game plan is simple: use both of your weapon arts as soon as you can, then switch to Maliketh’s Black Blade to obliterate your enemies. This is one of the strongest weapons in Elden Ring, and when used alongside the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, you should have no problem taking out each and every boss.
You can acquire Maliketh’s Black Blade by trading the Remembrance of the Black Blade with Enia at Roundtable Hold, which you get from defeating Maliketh. The Black Knife is easier to find as it’s an item drop from the Black Knife Assassin enemies found in Sage’s Cave, the Black Knife Catacombs, and the Deathtouched Catacombs. As for your armor, so long as you have enough poise to launch your weapon skills without being knocked down, you should be fine to pick your favorite threads.
Lightning Perfume Bottle Prophet build
Key Stats: Faith 50, Dexterity 50, Vigor 50
Essential Items: Blasphemous Blade, Bloodsucking Cracked Tear, Ash of War Rolling Sparks, Perfumer’s Talisman, Shard of Alexander
Best Incantation: Knight’s Lightning Spear
Okay, so the Lightning Perfume Bottle build was deservedly nerfed, but from our testing post-patch, it seems like this build still has some legs. You can’t electrify bosses in under a minute anymore, but the damage you can deal using the Lightning Perfume Bottle is still impressive. We’re still pairing this weapon with the Ash of War: Rolling Sparks to add lightning explosions to each attack. If you aim directly at the floor where your enemy is standing, you can deal one concentrated burst of lightning damage to eliminate enemies in seconds.
The main change we’re making to this build is to add the Blasphemous Blade to give you another option in combat. This weapon heals you every time you deal damage to enemies, and during boss battles, this can save you from death when you least expect it. Scroll to our dedicated Blasphemous Blade build on this page to find out where to find this deadly sword.
The Lightning Perfume Bottle is easy to find once you find the Cerulean Coast Site of Grace – give our Elden Ring DLC map guide a read if you need help locating it. From the Cerulean Coast, make your way to the body of water in the north and keep going straight until you approach a rock, from there turn left and pick the weapon up. The fastest way to pick up Rolling Sparks is to travel to the Shadow Keep Main Gate, go down the elevator, and ride towards the tallest rock in the west. As you climb the rock, look directly up to find a glowing scarab floating in the air. Kill it before it disappears to claim the Ash of War.
You can go further beyond by equipping the Perfumer’s Talisman which boosts the damage from Perfume attacks by 20%, and by using the Shard of Alexander to boost your skill damage by an addition 15%. There really isn’t much you need to do to play optimally with this build, but there are a few things you should know. Your main weapon scales with Faith and Dexterity, which is why we’ve put so many points into these areas, and you can’t go wrong with a bolstered amount of Vigor.
Bleeding Thorns Mage build
Key Stats: Intelligence 50, Faith 50, Vigor 50
Essential Items: Albinauric Staff, Alberich’s Set, Opaline Hardtear, Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear
Best Spell: Impenetrable Thorns
Can one spell really define an entire build? When it’s as powerful as Impenetrable Thorns, absolutely. This new spell sends forth three winding thorns that track and ensnare the enemy. With enough hits, the thorns create a bleed effect, causing hemorrhage buildup that deals a deadly amount of damage against most enemies. If you use the spell close up to your target, it instantly creates a wall of thorns in front of them, trapping the enemy in place.
Even if this spell lost the hemorrhage buildup, it would still be worth using. If this spell lost the slowdown effect, it would still be worth using. Whether you’re fighting against multiple targets or standalone bosses, Impenetrable Thorns makes light work of anyone standing in your way.
We’ve listed all the items you could use to power up your Thorn spells, but in all honesty, you really don’t need to go that far with this build. You might need a quick respec to gain the minimum stat requirements for the spell, and you should be good to go. Our best Elden Ring spells guide has detailed instructions on where you can find the Impenetrable Thorns spell. If you’re worried about being attacked during the start-up frames of the spell, try equipping the Opaline Hardtear and Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear. This will create a protective shield around you while boosting the strength of your Magic attacks.
If you do want to take this build one step further, you can grab an armor set that boosts thorn sorceries. Alberich’s Set can be found by travelling to the Fortified Manor’s Site of Grace, head to the main hall and you will find this armor. Also located in the Lands Between is the Albinauric Staff which is located in Volcano Manor. Travel to the Prison Town Church Site of Grace, leave the door and go right. Run along the rooftops and head to the left, move past the enemies and jump towards the circular roof. From there, continue ahead and fall to the platform below. Continuing running forward, go across the bridge and head to the ladder on the right side of the building. Fall to the platform directly ahead of you and head through the door on the left to find the staff.
Bloodfiend’s Arm Bleed build
Key Stats: Arcane 50, Strength 60, Endurance 50
Essential Items: Rakshasa armor set, White Mask, Axe Talisman, Two-Handed Sword Talisman
There’s something magical about wielding a colossal weapon that makes you feel unstoppable, and the Bloodfiend’s Arm with the right build will turn you into a destructive force. Despite being hit with a slight nerf in the same patch that killed the Lightning Perfume Bottle, the Bloodfiend’s Arm is still capable of ripping through any enemy you put in front of it. You will need to equip this weapon with Ash of War: Endure (the Blood affinity variation) to make sure it scales with both Strength and Arcane: Strength effects how much damage you deal per hit, and Arcane effects the bleed build up on enemies.
You can find the Bloodfiend’s Arm within the first few hours of the expansion, but first you need to make your way to the Main Gate Cross Site of Grace. Once you’re there, head to the east and jump along the cliff edge, following the hollow gravestones until you reach the arch way. Continue towards the south where you will hit Prospect Town, from here, climb the broken tower to find multiple enemies standing around. The Bloodfiend’s Arm isn’t a guaranteed drop, so you may have to come back to this area and kill these enemies again.
The easiest way to buff your damage is by wearing the new Rakshasa set which we’ve highlighted in our Elden Ring armor guide. As for the helmet, the White Mask is a must-have for any build as it increases your damage whenever blood loss occurs in battle. The talismans can be switched out depending on the boss you’re fighting against, but we highly recommend the Axe and Two-Handed Sword Talisman to maximize your damage output.
There will be times when you take damage as you’re swinging, but that shouldn’t be a problem as long as your Vigor is nice and high. You need to pay close attention to your opponent’s multi hitting attacks – taking too much damage while you’re attempting to attack will knock you out of your animation. Once you’ve analyzed the attack patterns of each boss, it won’t take long before you’re crushing everything in your sight.
Colossal Knight Strength build
Key Stats: Strength 21+, Endurance 25, Vigor 25
Essential Items: Warcry Ash of War, Axe Talisman, Roar Medallion, any great or colossal weapon
This is a powerful early-to-mid game build for those who enjoy crushing foes with pure strength and a giant sword, and it comes courtesy of Fextralife. It’s a risky build, thanks to some exceedingly lengthy windup times, but every time you land a hit, you’ll flatten enemies for massive damage. And if you don’t defeat your target in the first hit, you have huge stamina reserves to draw on to follow up with a second swing. As you get deep into the mid-game, you may find yourself needing more and more swings, but we have some extra guidance for that.
Strength is your primary stat, but the amount you require will depend on the weapon you choose. Endurance and Vigor are also important as you’ll need to bolster your equip load stat – this means you can strap on some good armor in addition to a big sword. Endurance also gives more stamina, which is handy for chaining attacks together or escaping. And you’ll be grateful for the extra Vigor as this build will often see you trading heavy blows, especially against bosses.
You will need a big weapon and the Warcry Ashes of War. Any greatsword or colossal weapon will do, although you must be able to apply weapon arts to it to use Warcry. This gives you a damage buff, but it will also change your R2 attack to a charging attack with an overhead swing. This is key because not only does it dish out some absurd damage numbers, but by charging into enemies, you can usually interrupt their attack patterns before delivering the crushing overhead attack. Depending on the foe’s poise, you will either knock them to the ground or stand a high chance of staggering them, allowing you to go in for a critical strike.
To make this build shine, you’ll need to equip a few Elden Ring talismans. The Axe Talisman and Roar Medallion are essential. The former increases the damage of your charge attacks – helpful for obvious reasons – while the Roar Medallion increases the damage of your attacks after using Warcry. Other talisman slots are less important, so we suggest supplementing these with items that either boost total stamina (Viridian Amber Medallion) or stamina recovery (Erdtree’s Favor talisman), as you’ll be burning through a lot of it with this build.
Glass Cannon Mage build
Key Stats: Intelligence 80, Dexterity 18, Strength 12
Essential Items: Moonveil Katana, Lusat’s Glintstone Staff, Cerulean Hidden Tear
Best Spells: Comet Azur, Terra Magicus
The Glass Cannon Mage deals more damage than literally any other class in the game, but you will be extremely fragile as a result. If a random enemy manages to attack you while you’re fighting against a boss, there’s a good chance you’ll die. Not every fight will be a complete walk in the park, but the ones that are will be over in seconds.
This build becomes borderline broken once you gain access to Comet Azur and the Cerulean Hidden Tear, providing you with access to a constant beam of destructive energy for ten whole seconds. Again, our Elden Ring spells guide highlights exactly where you can find Comet Azur.
As for the Cerulean Hidden Tear, you need to make your way to Mt. Gelmir and defeat the Ulcerated Tree Spirit found near the Road of Iniquity Site of Grace. This Elden Ring crystal tear temporarily eliminates all FP consumption – when combined with several powerful spells like Comet Azur and Meteorite of Astel, you can unleash a constant barrage of damage toward your enemies. Make sure you have the best Elden Ring spirit ash summons equipped to distract any enemies to ensure your spells hit their target.
To deal the most damage with your spells, we recommend picking up Lusat’s Glintstone Staff from Sellia, Town of Sorcery. This staff is available as a reward for defeating the Nox Swordstress and Nox Priest boss. The special effect that makes this Elden Ring staff stand out from the competition is that it enhances the power of all sorceries; however, it also consumes additional FP.
For your main hand weapon, you should use the Moonveil Katana before it receives an inevitable nerf. This sword deals far too much damage in its current state and scales perfectly with the intelligence stat to add to its damage output. Battle against the Magma Wyrm at the Gael Tunnel in Caelid to receive this weapon as a drop.
Samurai Bleed Dex build
Key Stats: Dexterity 55, Strength 40
Essential Items: 2x Uchigatanas (with the Seppuku Ashes of War), Lord of Blood’s Exultation, White Mask, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia
The bleed effect might be the most fun players can have in Elden Ring using melee weapons. With just a few slashes, enemies instantly lose large chunks of their health by filling up their hemorrhage bar. This effect deals damage equal to a percentage of your opponent’s max health points, putting them in danger quickly. A common misconception about this build is that you need to put points into Arcane, but this stat doesn’t scale with Seppuku, the primary Ash of War choice for the Blood Loss Samurai. Huge shout-outs to YouTuber RageGamingVideos for highlighting this fantastic build.
We’ve gone for the Samurai class as it starts with one Uchigatana already. To our knowledge, there’s only one other Uchigatana in the game, residing in the Deathtouched Catacombs in Limgrave. To take these weapons to new heights, equip them with the Ash of War: Seppuku to drastically increase their attack power while adding blood loss to each attack.
Head to the Freezing Lake in the Mountaintops of the Giants area and find the invisible scarab’s footsteps near a tree – take down the scarab to earn the Ash of War. Before applying it to your weapon, duplicate the Ash of War at a Blacksmith to apply it to both katanas.
To amplify this build’s damage output even further, we’re going to need a powerful talisman. Head to the Leyndell Catacombs and make your way to the end to fight against Esgar, Priest of Blood. Esgar drops the Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman, increasing your attack power by 20% whenever it inflicts a nearby player or enemy with blood loss. This buff is almost always active as Seppuku initiates a temporary bleed effect after use.
Another essential talisman is the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, acquired after completing Millicent’s quest line. This talisman raises your attack power with successive attacks, perfect for a dual Uchigatana build. Finally, the White Mask, which you can find as a drop from one of the NPC invaders near the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace. The effect of this mask works just like the Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman, increasing your attack power whenever it senses blood loss nearby.
Ice and Lightning Samurai build
Key Stats: Dexterity 65, Strength 30, Faith 25
Essential Items: 2x Dragonscale Blade, Borealis’s Mist, Shard of Alexander, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia
You know a build will be good when it requires you to obtain an item that only drops once per playthrough. This special Samurai build discovered by YouTuber Jazza97 utilizes the Dragonscale Blade sword, a special weapon that can only be obtained during the Ranni quest line. While you can get away with using one Dragonscale Blade, the damage output with two truly completes this build, so we highly recommend getting your hands on another blade.
The Shard of Alexander is a talisman that greatly boosts the attack power of your skills, and don’t forget to equip the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia to deal more damage as you land successive blows. Finally, the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman will provide you with some much-needed steel, giving you enough health to afford to take some damage occasionally.
Unlike the builds we have listed using Samurai swords in this guide, the Ice and Lightning build can attack enemies from a distance as it’s able to utilize Draconic spells. Check out the video above to find out where you can find all the essential items needed for this build.
Spinning Reaper Bleed build
Key Stats: Strength 55, Dexterity 55
Essential Items: Grave Scythe, Spinning Weapon Ash of War, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, anything that boosts the bleed effect
If you thought you knew bleed builds, think again. The team at RageGamingVideos returns once again to one-up their previous dexterity-based bleed build, which you’ll find above. This unique endgame bleed build focuses on the Spinning Weapon Ash of War. Why? Because it’s fun, mostly. Fun and jaw-droppingly effective. While this weapon art is ostensibly designed for defensive use, you can make this a great offensive tool for dishing out high-damage numbers through successive hits, especially when you’re up against larger, slower enemies.
If you’ve never encountered it before, Spinning Weapon essentially makes your equipped weapon hover in midair and spin rapidly. If you manage to catch a foe at the right angle, they can receive dozens of hits in just a few seconds. As RGV points out, these hits count as weapon hits, which means you can apply your usual weapon buffing shenanigans to combo with Spinning Weapon to proc massive bleed effects.
The Grave Scythe is the weapon that inspired this build, but pretty much any weapon with bleed effects and a long reach will fit the bill. You’ll need the Spinning Weapon Art of War, obviously, and then Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, which buffs damage dealt when you’re making successive attacks. You can buff this build further by equipping Millicent’s Prosthesis or putting the Thorny Cracked Tear on your Flask of Wondrous Physick.
It’s worth noting that you may find it difficult to catch enemies in Spinning Weapon’s attack if they’re quite mobile, which means it’s not viable for PvP. This build also can be risky – you will likely trade damage at times, especially if you’re fighting multiple opponents.
Blasphemous Blade build
Key Stats: Faith 59, Vigor 50, Strength 35
Essential Items: Blasphemous Blade, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, Shard of Alexander. Fire Scorpion Charm, Carian Filigreed Crest
The Blasphemous Blade build has been highlighted by YouTuber Jazza97 for its incredible damage output and healing capabilities. As long as you can consistently land attacks on your opponent, you’re guaranteed to stay in the fight, as this weapon heals you whenever you kill enemies. It’s worth noting that the Blasphemous Blade requires you to complete the Volcano Manor quest line, providing you with the Remembrance needed to purchase the Blasphemous Blade.
What makes this build stand out among the rest in this list is that it’s surprisingly viable in PvP combat, providing you with access to a strong weapon. It can also hold its own on the battlefield thanks to its impressive mobility. It helps that the Taker’s Flames ability is so wide that it often damages multiple enemies even when you weren’t intending to do so.
In terms of talismans, you’re going to want to equip the Fire Scorpion Charm to increase the damage of Fire attacks. Next up is the Shard of Alexander to increase the power of the Blasphemous Blade’s Ashes of War. Speaking of the Ashes of War, you also need the Carian Filigreed Crest to lower the amount of FP used by skills.
There you have it; the best Elden Ring builds in the game right now. Once you’re all set up and ready to go, it’s time to take on every Elden Ring boss and get all the best Elden Ring endings – good luck on your journey, Tarnished. If you’re jumping into the co-op run-based spin-off, check out the best Elden Ring Nightreign classes, and all Elden Ring Nightreign bosses you’ll face along the way.