This is simply what happens when you want your Elden Ring Builds to perform at its peak. Get the most out of your build by following these ideas and see what you can achieve!
► Here is why you should try Elden Ring
First step
The best Elden Ring builds begin with a powerful weapon or play style that will aid you in traversing the Lands Between. Every other piece of equipment revolves around that weapon choice or playstyle: the game contains a plethora of weapons, armor sets, and Ashes of War to base your build on.
You can approach Elden Ring in any way you want—if you enjoy getting into roleplaying, we have some thematic build suggestions based on each class. However, if you’re looking for an unbeatable PvP build or a powerful playstyle for taking down tough bosses, one of the builds we’ve highlighted in detail here is for you.
These are the best Elden Ring builds we’ve seen so far in the community. You can choose to specialize your character in one from the start of the game, or you can respec into one once you have the necessary equipment.
Some of these Elden Ring Builds are suitable for PvP bosses, while others are ideal for PvE bosses. They all deal a lot of damage or make you a dangerous threat in some way.
The best Elden Ring Builds right now
Elden Ring received a few significant balance changes in Patch 1.03, and it’s likely that FromSoftware will make more changes to the game in the coming months. The patch did tone down some of the most popular (and often exploitative) builds that players discovered in the first few weeks, but most of those popular builds are still plenty powerful and capable of carrying you through the game.
The following are the most popular Elden Ring Builds right now.
The Anti-Malenia Elden Ring Builds
Dex/Arc: Let Me Solo Her’s build
- Ideal starting class: Wretch
- Viable weapons: Cold Uchigatana (right hand), Rivers of Blood (left hand)
- Armor: None, except Jar helm
- Stat priorities: Dexterity, Arcane, Stamina
- Ashes of War: Hoarfrost Stomp
In April, Elden Ring’s first legendary player achieved Reddit fame by defeating Malenia, the game’s toughest boss, in 1v1 battles. Let Me Solo Her – a.k.a KleinTsuboiOW – posted the basics of their build on Reddit, which you can see above. Unfortunately, this equipment will not provide you with the supernatural ability required to defeat Malenia solo in multiplayer, where she has a significantly increased health pool.
Let Me Solo Her didn’t specify their exact stats, but with two katanas that can deal bleed damage, dexterity and arcane will be crucial. Let Me Solo Her has a large stamina bar that allows for multiple dodges. They may also have some intelligence points depleted in order to deal more frost damage.
DEATHBLIGHT Elden Ring Builds
Dex/Faith: Eclipse Shotel Deathblight build
- Ideal starting class: Prophet
- Viable weapons: Eclipse Shotel (late-game), Erdtree Greatshield (mid-game, deflects spells)
- Talismans: Taker’s Cameo, Blessed Dew Talisman, Sacred Scorpion Charm
- Minimum stats: 10 Strength ? / 25 Dexterity ?♂️ / 30 Faith ?
- Stat priorities: 55 Strength ? / 55 Faith ? / 50 Endurance ?
- Spells: Fire’s Deadly Sin
The infamous Deathblight Elden Ring Builds is no longer as buggy as it was prior to patch 1.03. You can no longer equip the Eclipse Shotel and use Fire’s Deadly Sin to inflict the Death status on nearby enemies, but that doesn’t mean the Eclipse Shotel and the Erdtree Greatshield aren’t still viable PvP options. With the shield equipped, you can kill people at close range or outright, and then spread Death over them with the Death Flare skill.
REDMANE GREATSWORD Elden Ring Builds
Str: Flame of the Redmanes greatsword build
- Ideal starting class: Hero
- Viable weapons: Greatsword, Gargoyle’s Twinblade, or any Strength scaling weapon
- Armor: Imp Head (Fanged) for +2 strength, General Radahn Set
- Talismans: Starscourge Heirloom, Radagon’s Soreseal, Great-Jar’s Arsenal
- Minimum stats: 31 Strength ? / 12 Dexterity ?♂️
- Stat priorities: 80 Strength ?
- Ashes of War: Flame of the Redmanes
Flame of the Redmanes is a sluggish Ash of War for gaining strength. This attack fires an arc of flames in front of you, dealing massive poise damage; 2-3 hits can knock down some of Elden Ring’s most powerful bosses. This Elden Ring Builds is all about maximizing the damage output of Flame of the Redmanes by stacking on more strength.
Despite being a fire attack, Flame of the Redmanes scales on your weapon level and total strength, so you’ll be putting more points into that stat than anything else. Its damage is unaffected by your weapon’s strength scaling stat, but to maximize the benefit of your strength stat, choose a weapon that scales well with strength. The Greatsword is a good choice, but Flame of the Redmanes can be applied to any melee weapon that can accept an Ash of War.
If you want to add some magic to the mix, use the Clawmark Seal, which scales on your strength stat as well as faith.
DARK MOON SPELLBLADE Elden Ring Builds
Int/Dex: Dark Moon Greatsword spellblade build
- Ideal starting class: Astrologer
- Viable weapons: Dark Moon Greatsword (mid-game), Carian Glintblade Staff (early game), Moonveil (early game), Meteoric Ore Blade (early game)
- Armor: Preceptor’s Big Hat (increases Mind, mid-game)
- Talismans: Godfrey Icon, Radagan Icon, Stargazer Heirloom, Green Turtle Talisman
- Minimum stats: 16 Strength ? / 11 Dexterity ?♂️ / 38 Intelligence ?
- Stat priorities: 60 Intelligence ? / 55 Dexterity ?♂️ / 55 Mind ?? / 55 Strength ? / 50 Endurance ?
- Spells: Glinstone Pebble, Magic Glintblade, Glintblade Phalanx, Loretta’s Great Bow
If you want to use one of FromSoftware’s most popular swords, the Dark Moon Greatsword build is for you. This Elden Ring Builds has you using the Carian Glintblade Staff to pre-cast Magic Glintblade and then going for the charged heavy attack of the Dark Moon Greatsword. This Elden Ring Builds has the potential to repeatedly stun enemies and deal massive damage. If you want to add another stagger, Glintblade Phalanx is a good choice. You can also use Glinstone Pebbles if you need some ranged.
RIVERS OF BLOOD Elden Ring Builds
Dex/Arc: Rivers of Blood dual katanas build
- Ideal starting class: Samurai
- Viable weapons: Uchigatana (early game), Nagakiba (mid game), Serpentbone Blade (mid game), Rivers of Blood (late game)
- Armor: Silver Tear Mask (arcane boost) or White Mask (attack boost)
- Talismans: Winged Sword Insignia, Lord of Blood’s Exultation
- Minimum stats: 12 Strength ?/ 18 Dexterity ?♂️/ 20 Arcane ?
- Stat priorities: 55 Dexterity ?♂️/ 50+ Arcane ?
- Ashes of War: Corpse Piler (unique to Rivers of Blood), Seppuku, Bloody Slash
Bleeding is beneficial. Bleed isn’t just a way to terrorize other players in PvP in Elden Ring: regular enemies and bosses throughout the game melt away under the hemorrhage status effect, and with the right build, you can absolutely pile on the bleed buildup to cleave off giant chunks of those screen-filling lifebars. Bleed is so effective against bosses because it actually depletes a percentage of their total health, so even those with massive reserves of vigor will succumb quickly.
Silver Tear Mask | |
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| |
| Dmg Negation Phy 4,2 VS Strike 3.6 VS Slash 3.8 VS Pierce 3.1 Magic 5.5 Fire 5.2 Ligt 5 Holy 5.3 | Resistance Immunity 26 Robustness 20 Focus 44 Vitality 44 Poise 3 |
| Helm | Wgt. |
You can use bleed on a variety of weapons (daggers and claws are good options), but katanas are the preferred weapon in Elden Ring due to their bleed-based abilities and excellent range. As a samurai, you start with the Uchigatana, a strong blade that can stick with you for much of the game, but for this Elden Ring Builds, you’ll want to dual wield the Rivers of Blood for its excellent bleed Ash of War and the Nagakiba as a powerful off-hand hitter.
Use a Blood Ash of War affinity on the Nagakiba or Uchigatana to add Arcane scaling to your Nagakiba or Uchigatana, which will significantly increase your bleed buildup. Your main source of damage will be Rivers of Blood’s unique skill Corpse Piler multi-slash attack, but you can also use Ash of War Seppuku on your off-hand weapon to pile on even more bleed. Upgrade your katanas as this is the most effective way to increase their bleed buildup. If you’re tired of straight bleed, consider Serpentbone Blade as your secondary katana: it also deals a lot of poison damage.
SWORD OF NIGHT AND FLAME Elden Ring Builds
Int/Faith: Sword of Night and Flame spellblade build
- Ideal starting class: Astrologer
- Viable weapons: Sword of Night and Flame (early/mid game). Off-hand: Astrologer’s Staff or Meteorite staff (early game), Prince of Death’s Staff (mid game), Golden Order Seal (mid game)
- Armor: Glintstone crown or Queen’s Crescent Crown (intelligence boost)
- Talismans: Carian Filigreed Crest, Marika’s Scarseal, Stargazer Heirloom, Two Fingers Heirloom
- Minimum stats: 12 Strength ?/ 12 Dexterity ?♂️/ 24 Intelligence ?/ 24 Faith ?
- Stat priorities: 60 Intelligence ?/ 60 Faith ?/ Mind ??
- Spells: Rancorcall, Ancient Death of Rancor, Explosive Deaeth of Ghostflame, Flame Grant Me Strength (incantation)
The Sword of Night and Flame is perhaps Elden Ring’s most unique blade: it necessitates a significant investment in both intelligence and faith, but rewards your disparate stats with an incredibly powerful pair of magical abilities. If you enjoy a hybrid playstyle, this is the Elden Ring Builds for you: you’ll be wielding this magical sword in one hand while casting spells or incantations with the other. (You could also use a shield, but this sword excels at keeping enemies at a safe distance.) Its damage was reduced in the 1.03 patch, but it is still a fantastic weapon.
The unique Ash of War attack of the Sword of Night and Flame allows you to launch a magical beam attack or swing in front of you to set everything on fire. The damage of these skills increases as the weapon is upgraded, and the sword has decent B tier scaling with both Intelligence and Faith at level 10. (max). The difficulty with this Elden Ring Builds is how squishy you’ll be early in the game because you’ll need to dump so many levels into Faith and Intelligence just to use the sword, and even more into Mind to have a decent FP pool. The Marika’s Scarseal talisman can help you improve your stats slightly. You’ll want to maintain as much distance as possible, which is where an off-hand staff or seal comes in handy.
You can customize this Elden Ring Builds by deciding what kinds of sorceries or incantations you want to cast with your off-hand, but two ideal weapons to use are the Prince of Death’s Staff or the Golden Order Seal, which both scale on faith and intelligence like the sword. There are several Golden Order incantations and Death spells that require both stats, which you would almost certainly never be able to use in a more traditional build. Flame, Grant Me Strength can also increase the power of your sword’s fire attack.
MOONVEIL Elden Ring Builds
Dex/Int: Moonveil katana build
- Ideal starting class: Prisoner
- Viable weapons: Moonveil (early/mid game). Off-hand: Magic/Cold Uchigatana, Academy Glintstone Staff, Horn Bow Elden Ring
- Armor: Haima Glintstone Crown
- Talismans: Green Turtle Talisman, Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger, Carian Filigreed Crest
- Minimum stats: 12 Strength ?/ 18 Dexterity ?♂️/ 23 Intelligence ?
- Stat priorities: 60 Dexterity ?♂️ / 60 Intelligence ?
- Spells: Glintblade Phalanx, Glintstone Pebble, Great Glinstone Shard
Moonveil’s dexterity and intelligence are fairly straightforward. It all comes down to equipping anything that improves your ability to cast the Transient Moonlight projectile skill. Because this Elden Ring Builds requires both FP and stamina, you should equip the Green Turtle Talisman as well as the Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger and Carian Filigreed Crest. Everything else, such as armor, is secondary.
Most fights require you to fling out as many Transient Moonlights as possible. If your enemies are too far away, you can take them out with a staff or bow, but this is primarily a melee build for dealing heavy damage and delivering consistent staggers.
THEMATIC ELDEN RING BUILDS
Here are some of our favorite thematic builds. If one of these doesn’t quite fit your needs, perhaps they can inspire you to create your own:
Crucible Knight Captain
- Starting class: Confessor
- Weapon: Siluria’s Tree, Golden Halberd, Staff of the Avatar, Golden Epitaph, Ordovis’s Greatsword, Gargoyle’s Blackblade
- Casting: Clawmark Seal
- Armour: Crucible Tree or Crucible Axe set
- Attribute priority: Strength/Faith/Endurance/Mind
- Ashes of War: Sacred Blade, Golden Vow, Vow of the Indomitable (if using shield)
- Spells: Aspects of the Crucible: Tail, Aspects of the Crucible: Horns, Aspects of the Crucible: Breath, Beast Claw, Bestial Sling
Carian Battlemage
- Starting class: Prisoner
- Weapon: Darkmoon Greatsword, Moonveil, Troll Knight’s Sword, Sword of Night and Flame, Crystal Sword
- Casting: Meteorite Staff, Carian Glintstone Staff
- Armour: Battlemage set
- Attribute priority: Strength/Intelligence/Mind/Dexterity
- Spells: Carian Piercer, Carian Greatsword, Glintstone Pebble
Berserk-er Elden Ring Builds
- Starting class: Hero
- Weapon: Greatsword or any strength-scaling weapon you can equip War Cry to
- Armour: Blaidd set or whatever will keep you at medium equip load
- Attribute priority: Strength/Endurance/Vigor
- Talismans: Roar Medallion, Axe Talisman
- Ashes of War: War Cry
Black Knife Assassin
- Starting class: Bandit
- Weapon: Misericorde, Reduvia, Scorpion’s Stinger
- Armour: Black Knife set
- Attribute priority: Dexterity/Strength/Arcane/Endurance
- Ashes of War: Blood Blade, Bloody Slash, Poison Moth Flight, Poisonous Mist, Spinning Slash, Quickstep, Impaling Thrust, Repeating Thrust, Parry
Elden Ring Character Builds
The first thing to consider when designing a Elden Ring Builds is what you enjoy doing and how you can channel that enjoyment into dealing damage.
You can start with the Wretch class to have complete control over your stats from the start, but we’ve listed a starting class that makes sense for how you’ll be allocating your level ups on all of our builds below. If you don’t mind an early challenge, the Wretch is the most adaptable of the Elden Ring classes.
One of the best aspects of Elden Ring Builds is the ease with which you can respec compared to the Souls games. As shown in our Elden Ring respec guide, you use a Larval Tear to redistribute your attributes based on your starting class—yet another reason why the Wretches’ balanced starting stat line is so strong. As soon as you defeat Rennala, you will be able to change your build on the fly.
If you want to be purely melee, stat distribution is simple because it is entirely dependent on the scaling of your desired weapon. However, if you want to be a melee/spellcaster hybrid, look for a weapon with excellent scaling and that fits your desired stat distribution. For example, the Darkmoon Greatsword scales very well with intelligence while not requiring a lot of strength or dexterity, making it an excellent choice for a sorcerer. If you prefer incantations, the Staff of the Avatar is fantastic for faith and strength scaling.
Because there are so many different types of sorcery and incantation, your best bet is to experiment and find your favorite magical lore.
But enough with the general advice: let’s get into some specific Elden Ring builds.
⚔️LET’S FIND OUT MORE ELDEN RING MODS⚔️
- Elden Ring Ultimate Table
- Elden Ring Cheat Table
- Elden Ring Pause Mod
- Elden Mod Loader
- Elden ReShade
- Easy Mode for Elden Ring
- Elden Ring Modpack
- Fixed Camera Elden Ring
- Auto Recover HP
- Elden Ring Item Randomiser
- Skip The Intro Logos
- NPCs And Bosses Spirit Summons
- Anti Cheat Toggler and Offline Launcher
- Invisible Enemies Bug Fix
- Elden Ring Trainer
- All item Starter saves
- Unlock the framerate
- Elden Ring Key Item Randomizer
- Seamless Co-op Mod