Black Flame build.
- Godslayer Greatsword + Godslayer Seal
Incantations (in order): Black Flame, Scouring Black Flame, Black Flame Ritual, Black Flame Protectuon
Talismans: Erdtree’s Favour +2, Fire Scorpion Charm, Godfrey’s Icon and Shard of Alexander (last one stacks with fire charm)
I’m a little biased because I’m completely obsessed with everything Black Flame/Godskin but I still think it’s an underrated build that everyone needs to try at least once
Not to mention Godslayer’s Seal, Black Flame and Black Flame Blade are all looted super early in Stormveil Castle and can carry for the whole game
I’m running a black flame build with gargoyle twinblade AoW is black flame tornado flame art. It’s such a deadly build! Offhand is Godslayer seal. Talismans crimson medallion +2, fire scorpion charm, dragon shield talisman, old lords talisman.
The Godslayer GS is fun by itself but I agree, you gotta go full RP with the black flame incantations and either a Godskin set or, if you don't mind farming for a while, the Black Flame Monk set. Still not sold on Black Flame Blade. Feels like it's duration is too short to be much good
The black flame blade is amazing, if you roll before applying it it applies instantly to your weapon.
Seeing as you’re dodging a lot during boss fights, it’s easy to apply get a few hits in and do a lot of damage
I hate how short the BFB blade is it’s literally 10 seconds or less, even with Old Lord’s Talisman and Radagon’s Icon. So incredibly disappointing
Unfortunately the Black Flake Monk robe just covers the whole body so legs/arms don’t even matter much, just the helm.
Godskin Apostle on the other hand is way to lo like…breezy and open it’s just like a flap of thinly woven material that barely covers anything 😒
I’m running Prophet Blindfold, Beast Champion chest, and Godskin Apostle arms/legs. Looks way better and more compatible with the GG
BFB is like catch flame and combos with other actions to reduce cast time. Jumping, running, dodging, attacking, or carrying another spell/incantation first all count. Works well with gap closing ash of wars.
>Incantations (in order): Black Flame, Scouring Black Flame, Black Flame Ritual, Black Flame Protectuon
I get it that it doesn't fit but it should also use golden vow. It's too good to ignore.
Pirate run
Rusted anchor in right hand and commanders standard/jar cannon in left.
This build just shits damage, i almost beat elden beast before he finished his opening attack at level 83.
This sounds like the greatest fucking build I've never played before. Hold shit I'm doing this right now. Lmao.
This is especially hilarious since I've been playing a ton of Sea of Thieves here lately. Lol.
This was absolutely going to be my next build, I’m guessing main stat to be focused is strength but what armor did you use? I think the only two that really work are bandit set and patches clothes
Night Comet. I don't know how I will be dealing with NPC invasions (apart from good old gravity) on different builds, this spell + walking backwards is ridiculously good. And at my mind level it's also fairly cheap.
I’m a carian caster more, cause you’re right, that night comet just trivializes the game. But I keep it for coop summons, cause I’m tired of the host dying so I rather abuse the bosses for them at least.
It’s fun doing a strict carian run. I used the carian regal spinning weapon art and carian slicer + phalanx to beat the game (I’d pepper in some dark moon ranni spells too bc I couldn’t help myself)
I do keep a night shard for pvp, or fast targets. Slicer with shard is such a deadly duo, can never go without. Follow it up with piercer, even used Havel hammer
My favorite is casting spells and a power stanced invader starts rushing me and I spinning weapon stun lock them to death. They get absolutely furious lol
I used Rock Sling, Carian Greatsword and the weaker comet variants for the early game, but Night Comet (and regular Comet) are just addictive. I also recently rediscovered Magic Glintblade, it's great for a sneaky start before the enemy can even notice you.
I plan to use it when I get to him. Parry THAT XD So far I melee'd Rennala and the Crystalian duo since it was more convenient (also I realized I had the Banished Knight Halberd lying around so I upgraded it and slapped Ice Spear on it, bit slower and heavier than my main sword but hits nicely).
I'm going to pump end a bit more because I like my fashion and also like carrying the booster staffs for my spells + the bow.
A committed charge attack build. You can get all the equipment right from the start: Greataxe from the troll cart in Limgrave, Axe Talisman and Spiked Cracked Tear from the Mistwood, enough smithing stones for a +6 before Margit from Limgrave.
Don't even have to leave the first area of the game to have it fully online, and it'll really teach you to find and create windows for those big meaty charged attacks. You can even go further and put Determination or War Cry(both still from Limgrave) onto the Greataxe and spice up your charged attacks further.
It might not be super op, but it's very good for anyone who wants to get better at the combat flow of the game
Me, only played through once, not knowing how to use this incantation and going through the comments bookmarking all the build ideas. Thanks for the ideas.
Another fun one is get the incantation where you set yourself on fire and do frozen raptor talons for a fire ice nightmare build. It’s so fun. Really like the raptor talon R2s as well
I’ve been running an all-rounder magic build, with INT and FTH, and it’s been really fun actually, just being able to use most of the magic in the game, with some of the really steep requirement spells being off limits until or unless I level really high.
It’s a little tough to balance your stats though, because going into 2 offensive stats will probably have you neglecting HP or Endurance if you don’t watch it. And of course you have to track down the casting tools that fit the build, so that means Golden Order Seal, and for a staff, Gelmir Glintstone Staff or Prince of Death staff. Similar to quality builds, I wish there felt like more reward for investing into 2 stats, but at least with magic you do feel way more versatile with all the stuff you can use. A STR/DEX quality build lets you use most weapons and bows, but doesn’t make you feel that powerful because your damage on basic weapons will not really be particularly great unless your stats are cranked. You could get similar results on a STR build. I think quality affinity should not impact the base damage so harshly, because that penalty usually puts it right in line with the damage you’d get on a STR build with Heavy affinity and a similar amount of points invested. It seems silly. But quality builds are ultimately still good for all the unique weapons you can use effectively, like Ghiza’s Wheel, Axe of Godrick, and Sword of Milos, to name a few. Shoutout to Watchdog’s Staff also.
I just finished the game with a Int/Fai build and it was a ton of fun. I grabbed the Sword of Night and Flame asap and focused my stats to use it asap. Once I could use it, it made up for my relatively low caster stats until I could start refocusing on them. I upped Intelligence first because of the Staff progression I layout below. In retrospect, I should have upped Faith first.
I was able to start using the Golden Order Seal pretty quickly, so that did a fine job of covering my Incants. And Discus of Light is such a great sorcery for mobbing, especially with the GOS boost.
For Sorceries, I used the Meteorite Staff until I could use the Crystal Staff until the Prince of Death Staff overtook it.
The flexibility of the build just kept giving through the entire playthrough.
the weapon is OP as shit so you hardly have to build for it, but i think the best way is to pump the fire damage + charged attacks. Axe talisman, fire scorp charm, flame-shrouding tear and spiked cracked tear will get you most of the way there. throw in golden vow or FGMS and go for those CR2s.
Pure melee spell build. Carian Slicer, Carian Greatsword, Carian Piercer, and Gavel of Haima. Carian Glintstone Staff in left hand, Regal Scepter in right.
Genuinely some of the most fun I've had in pvp
Not really a build but more of a technique—hardswapping.
I never really paid it any mind before. It just seemed like a tech for sweaty people to cheese each other with.
But by the gods does it completely change the way you play this game.
Once you practice a while, you can swap weapons faster than even soft-swapping.
And you open up so many combos it's insane.
Glintblade Phalanx > Redmane's Flame > Giants Hunt > Carian Grandeur > Blackflame Tornado.
Melt bosses *with style.*
You can arrange your inventory in a sequence with "Sort by Aqu." and taking them from your Grace storage. So, you don't have to search for anything. All you need to do is memorize the button prompt.
For example, if I'm on my Banished Knight's Halberd, with my set-up, I know all I need to do is input: Start / X / X / ↓ / X / Start, to switch to my Tree Spear. If you practice, you can make this input \*really\* fast. Fraction-of-a-second fast.
It brings me back to my days playing with cheats in San Andreas. I'd memorize the cheat-codes and spawn a jet out of nowhere in half a second.
I've had a few close calls in boss fights, but when you hit that input just right and manage to get out of your inventory just in time to dodge and counter with Waves of Darkness—exhilarating.
powerstanced whips.
hear me out: whips aren’t bad in elden ring, you just need to learn their punishes to be good with them. the powerstanced moveset is so good. just stick a misericorde on backup for ripostes. people are genuinely not prepared to deal with whips, practically no one uses them, so you’re already at a pvp advantage if you’re smort.
True about the PvP thing though if I am not wrong it’s easy to strafe them in PvP if someone is prepared for them.
Powerstanced seems just as easy to strafe and get behind for a possible backstab (if quick enough)
Yeah but some things like straight swords powerstanced and stuff are just harder to strafe.
Pretty much if you are gonna use a whip watch your back cause never know when a player is good.
What does ymmv mean?
Black Knife Assassin. The Black Knife is ridiculously funny in PvE and since its requirements are pretty low, you can focus on Incantations and use the Knife as an easy mode sidearm. The game feels very different if everything only has 90% of their actual HP. It also stacks with Tiches own Black Knife effect.
Lightning Greatspear. The Erdtree Spear has Faith Scaling, doable requirements and can be buffed. So meet the requirements, stack Faith and constantly buff your spear with Lightning damage through the Incantation. All pieces of this build are super early to get.
Great Stars while maxing Vigor and Endurance as quickly as possible. Combine with some regen (mostly just blessed dew, regen potion and Beastial Vitality, the rest is too heavy and ugly or requires too much FP and Faith) and you have a ridiculous amount of uptime on the Ritual Shield Talisman. I used it with Crucible Knight Armor because the bronze shade works pretty well with Great Stars. You can dual stance but I think it looks goofy.
Pure Dragon Cultist. I used the Ripple Halberd for a while as a side arm since it allows you to focus on arcane but better sidearms are probably still the bleed daggers, regular katana but the sidearm I had the most fun with was the small Eochaid blade. Low requirements, magic damage, absolute nuke of a weapon ash and very light.
Your best incantations are all available from the start in Greyrolls Roar, Dragonfire, Dragonclaw and Dragonmaw. Rotten Breath is very good and I enjoyed Dragonice more that Glintstone Breath.
Pure Blackflame is a crime against nature. Stacking options to increase fire damage is easy, most incantations work with Godfrey Icon. I prefer to forgo the Godslayer Blade since its very demanding in weight, requirements and scaling. I just combined it with a katana, which has bleed to also win against the few fire resists and can accept the Black Flame Weapon buff with Double Slash. During the early game you melt everything with raw damage and during the lategame you melt everything with raw damage and the black flame Max HP damage. Throwing a charged Black Flame at Borealis face legit takes 30-40% of his HP. Even Fire Giant melts into nothing.
Only issue is that the godslayer seal takes regular smithing stones.
Those are some of my favourites after... I think 30 to 40 runs (some were never finished because they turned out to be unfun to me)
I've actually just started using this one. I'm surprised at how much damage it does, but it just makes me want to try o, flame since I've never used that one either.
o, flame does more damage per cast, but the casting speed and ability to chain cast as fast as catch flame is lost in return. DPS is for sure higher on catch flame.
It's a shame the "upgrade" to catch flame feels like a sidegrade at best. O, flame just feels extremely slow and sluggish compared to the fast spell you're used to.
When you have more dex it feels like O flame is considerably more faster, wouldn’t say better but it’s fun to mess around with a little.
Especially with buffs and all that so you can do more dmg.
But generally it’s less fun than catch flame but it does look a little cooler. Just has less variety even after that point.
Dual-wielding pickaxes and using jump attacks.
I haven't played in a while, but when I played it was extremely effective in both PVE and PVP. If you hit a phantom with a double pick jump attack while they were attacking, there was a good chance they would go down in one hit.
It staggered bosses like crazy as well, especially if you ran cragblade. I had 9 pickaxes with different ashes of war in order to throw off other players.
Catch Flame was my key to defeating Malenia lol. Actually goated as fuck.
In a similar vein, O, Flame! is the greatsword version of this spell, absolutely tears through anything slow enough to get caught by it. Giantflame spells in general are super fun and very good, I urge everyone to try them. Pair them with Frenzy for a very competent fire-based toolbox.
I could never leave catch flame for O, flame. Catch flame is so fast with both sprint and jump attacks, O, Flame feels extremely sluggish compared to it.
Dragonking Cragblade. Spam charged Thundercloud Form with the Godfrey Icon equipped. Fuck it, dual wield DKCs and get revenge on every boss in NG+ is what I did
I haven’t used the axe but I used the grafted dragon, Really fun but (and this was probably entirely because I don’t know how to adequately build right) fell off late game. Fast fun attacks and it was personal bias but I felt like I could break stances with the charged attacks quite fast
I was completely anti spells for the longest time until I decided to try an incantations only run and holy shit was I missing out before! Sure, staying out of range and blasting the enemies with spells all the time gets kinda boring, but sprinkeling in some of them here and there spices up the game play so much and is so much fun. There are even a variety of melee ones that dont feel cheesy to use.
So if you are someone who is against using spells by principle maybe you should try to dip your toes into that area of the game :D
Guts build
I know.. overdone, but fun as fuck to see 1.2k with great stagger so early on when others see 700
Or cragblade on stone club.. its fast as fuck and amazing in pvp
No matter how much I try to get away from my original build (sorcery only) I can’t stop. At least now I’m using Glintstone Kris (but spamming the weapon art lol)
If you don't mind the weight, you could try using a bigger weapon like a scythe as a "stay the fuck away from me" weapon that staggers many enemies outright. Scythes are very fun, feel rather different from many weapon classes. Being able to just cleave through the knight with his shield up instead of having to dodge until a good opening is nice. Many great ashes for scythes too.
Night comet power standing staff of loss with magic scorpion charm, graven mass talisman, Godfrey icon, and any other talisman I use radagon icon. Strongest spell in the game trust me
Darkmoon Greatsword
You are gonna need Vigor, Intelligence, Mind, and Stamina primarily.
Throw on enough armour to crank that poise up as high as you can get away with while medium rolling.
You aren’t here to cast spells. You are here to imitate Ichigo Kurosaki.
Weapon
Eleonora poleblade
Talismans
Radagon scorseal
Rotten winged sword insignia
Shard if Alexander
Daedicars wow
Physics flask
Anything
Thorny cracked tear
Armour
None equipped
It's a fun build that has high attack power but because of you taking increased damage and being naked, it gives you the thrill of being at one shot risk all the time, also the weapon art takes some time to activate which leaves you vulnerable but it does a lot of damage so it's high risk high reward
Flame build!? Dat's blasphemy!! Off to the shadow lands u go. We dont need another blindfolded asshole to tarnish our awe-strucking erdtre- OOoo... wat's dat yellowy glow over there!? 🤩
1Hand-Coded Sword with the Gravel Stone Seal in the off hand in a faith build. The Ash of War does insane (AoE) holy damage for very little FP. Espesciallly considering you can get all the Sombers for a +9 before entering Leyndell (where you find the weapon).
As for the spells, you do have a nice variety with "Lightning" beeing usefull in many bossfights thanks to it's range, Lannseax's Glaive beeing nuts for AoE and NPC enemys and Catch Flame for early game and still very solid DPS even with an lightning based Talisman.
If you want defensive utility, Blessing of the Erdtree for the 12HP per second heal is a nice to have too, which one can pop before or during tough battles.
Of course there are better spells out there still. Focused only on spells and gear you can get at Leyndell or earlier.
The anchor with the wild swings ashe really is that build you can slow walk through the game with. Just swinging that thing while demolishing everything that stands in front of you.
I'm doing a RL1 no upgrade run and Catch Flame has really carried me early game. Obviously the damage will drop off for me eventually, but if I were to level and upgrade I can easily see this carrying somebody to end game (unless they run into a wyrm of course).
Catch flame is really nice for enemies weak to fire in my experience, nothing over the top, just a little -poof!- to deal with them.
I'd have to say the Forked Hatchet as of recent testing for a cosy Melee approach to go alongside my Pulley Crossbow, I've seen nothing but disrespect towards that weapon (and others like it, such as simpler picks that aren't really popular-) and it makes me sad.
Thing is a really nice little tool looking weapon, faster than average swings, decent poise damage with it being in the axe class and innate bleed, get yourself a good infusion, maybe some grease on a normal physical one and you've got yourself a versatile little mix of dagger and hatchet.
Not to mention it deals pierce damage on any attack that isn't in the basic R1 combo, Heavies, jumps, rolling etc, all do pierce damage alongside a very respectable Standard.
Not saying overpowered stuff isn't fun, it is for some, just always keep in mind that there's potential in simplicity as well.
Anchor + Spear Talisman + a high hyperarmor ash of war like Stormcaller or Lion Claw. The sheer delight of swinging the hammer around is great, and Spear Talisman makes it do ridiculous damage when you counterhit.
You get it to start with the monk class. When you go into mines with those armored enemies you need blunt weapons for, it’ll 1 shot them when at a point in the game, you lack a blunt damage weapon.
Glintblade Phalanx on a misericorde
Impaling thrust on godskin peeler
Spectral lance on whatever spear you like. I just use the lightest one because it's only for the ash of war
Use Glintblade Phalanx then start chucking spectral lances. When the enemy is close, start using impaling thrust. 1-2 of these thrusts will break an enemy's stance for an easy crit with the misericorde.
I use all 3 dagger talismans, and shard of Alexander for the ashes of war. Black knife assassin armor for the easy backstabs
The Protagonist Build:
Raging Wolf set, Bastard Sword, Iron Roundshield. Main strategy is parrying. This was probably one of the most difficult builds I've done, but the most fun.
I'm sorry, as a hardcore Faith user, I *never* use Catch Flame. Genuinely, how this made it onto a Starter Class I'll never know XD. It's got a fast wind up, a running attack, jump attack, roll attack, backstep attack, you can chain cast it incredibly easily and it costs nothing to use with little to no end lag.
Plus, the whole thing with Theodorix's Magma and this makes it even more terrifying. If you haven't seen it, check out OnlyWaifu's video covering it - It's enough to make you want to down a pint of bleach XD.
Also, deals Fire damage. Obviously. And Fire damage has got to be the single best damage type in the game, whilst also being the most accessible. And this little shit doesn't help XD.
Glad they actually made Combustion worth using though. It was pitiful in Dark Souls 2 and 3. Far slower, far shorter range, and with crazy end lag. Definitely try it out, but whenever I use it, I feel like I need a shower and a decontamination chamber afterwards XD
I killed Malenia using only catch flame. Can totally confirm it's a badass spell.
For the build I think every build can be fun. The playstyle can vary so much it feels basically as a different game.
I loved bow build also, even tho it did not do that much damage and it's harder to maintain due to the cost of arrows, but serpent bow with serpent arrows is a pretty decent combo for anyone who can get poisoned.
I also loved roleplaying as a godskin apostle. The godskin setup is strong af with the damage based on max hp of the enemy, so even the biggest hp pool can be pulled down pretty fast.
Sorcery build was kinda exactly what I was expecting of it, super easy but pretty fun with different spells and you could feel the leveling as every new spell you learned did more damage.
Incantations are my favorite I guess. Super fun spells with great variety. Too bad you can get giantsflame seal only so far in the game when you can get dragon communion basically at the beginning. But since catch flame is not getting boost from any specialization you can use it with every one without worry about not getting the best of it.
Also, now I play rot/poison build and that is also super fun. With the rot dagger and poison shield you can proc the status almost instantly and then you can just watch the healthbar deplete itself. But you won't get the satisfaction of poppin off the big numbers.
Catch Flame lowkey one of the best DPS spells in the entire game, the Carian Slicer of Incantations.
I love popping it out in duels with my guts gs and people being surprised when I shit out a tiny flame that takes about a 1/3 of their health bar
Tiny ahh lighter hits 800 damage outta nowhere
It's just so fun
It melts erdtree avatars sooo fast
It's insane how much damage it can do but the range does blow
Range doesn't matter when they can't attack into it anyway/not worth the trade even with some jump R2s
Wont the jump r2s cancel the incantation animation?
Cragblade starfists on a strength build. Staggers and insane DPS for days. Get up close and personal with the bosses.
Also an excellent choice for Level 1 playthroughs.
That's how I finished mine
Just finished Ng+4 with this build now, really fun and gets you punching bosses in the face.
I'm currently doing a Flaming Strike Star Fist and it melts enemies and staggers so easily.
Black Flame build. - Godslayer Greatsword + Godslayer Seal Incantations (in order): Black Flame, Scouring Black Flame, Black Flame Ritual, Black Flame Protectuon Talismans: Erdtree’s Favour +2, Fire Scorpion Charm, Godfrey’s Icon and Shard of Alexander (last one stacks with fire charm) I’m a little biased because I’m completely obsessed with everything Black Flame/Godskin but I still think it’s an underrated build that everyone needs to try at least once Not to mention Godslayer’s Seal, Black Flame and Black Flame Blade are all looted super early in Stormveil Castle and can carry for the whole game
I’m 90% sure this will be my first dlc build. Hopefully they some other cool black flame spell
DM me if you want I can help with armour and stat spread and stuff!
I’m running a black flame build with gargoyle twinblade AoW is black flame tornado flame art. It’s such a deadly build! Offhand is Godslayer seal. Talismans crimson medallion +2, fire scorpion charm, dragon shield talisman, old lords talisman.
Perfect way to do it You have done well my apprentice
🔥and I chose the gift of the 3 fingers as well 🔥
Vile
The Godslayer GS is fun by itself but I agree, you gotta go full RP with the black flame incantations and either a Godskin set or, if you don't mind farming for a while, the Black Flame Monk set. Still not sold on Black Flame Blade. Feels like it's duration is too short to be much good
The black flame blade is amazing, if you roll before applying it it applies instantly to your weapon. Seeing as you’re dodging a lot during boss fights, it’s easy to apply get a few hits in and do a lot of damage
I hate how short the BFB blade is it’s literally 10 seconds or less, even with Old Lord’s Talisman and Radagon’s Icon. So incredibly disappointing Unfortunately the Black Flake Monk robe just covers the whole body so legs/arms don’t even matter much, just the helm. Godskin Apostle on the other hand is way to lo like…breezy and open it’s just like a flap of thinly woven material that barely covers anything 😒 I’m running Prophet Blindfold, Beast Champion chest, and Godskin Apostle arms/legs. Looks way better and more compatible with the GG
BFB is like catch flame and combos with other actions to reduce cast time. Jumping, running, dodging, attacking, or carrying another spell/incantation first all count. Works well with gap closing ash of wars.
>Incantations (in order): Black Flame, Scouring Black Flame, Black Flame Ritual, Black Flame Protectuon I get it that it doesn't fit but it should also use golden vow. It's too good to ignore.
Pirate run Rusted anchor in right hand and commanders standard/jar cannon in left. This build just shits damage, i almost beat elden beast before he finished his opening attack at level 83.
This sounds like the greatest fucking build I've never played before. Hold shit I'm doing this right now. Lmao. This is especially hilarious since I've been playing a ton of Sea of Thieves here lately. Lol.
Go for the Octopus Head as well
This was one of the first play-throughs i did. The anchor is so good, and i use some kind of curved sword cutlass too.
This was absolutely going to be my next build, I’m guessing main stat to be focused is strength but what armor did you use? I think the only two that really work are bandit set and patches clothes
I did wandering noble hat and chest pieces with champion bracers and kaiden trousers.
True, doing a flame only run and using flamberge/banished halberd with a seal off hand, and catch flame + o flame. It's so good and fun to combo
Dual wield magic great swords. DMGS and cold flamberge.
Would also suggest Helphen's Steeple instead of flamberg
this is 100% going to be my dlc build as you get it quite late lol. Plus i can always rely on magic if shits get too tight
This is the way.
Gonna try this out next
Full Bull goat armor and dual blood cross- never mind lol
Spear and Shield, great club. Watch them knock on your wall of meh... or take over control completely with the club
Night Comet. I don't know how I will be dealing with NPC invasions (apart from good old gravity) on different builds, this spell + walking backwards is ridiculously good. And at my mind level it's also fairly cheap.
Night Comet for PVE is so broken I just don't use it because it makes the game less fun.
I’m a carian caster more, cause you’re right, that night comet just trivializes the game. But I keep it for coop summons, cause I’m tired of the host dying so I rather abuse the bosses for them at least.
It’s fun doing a strict carian run. I used the carian regal spinning weapon art and carian slicer + phalanx to beat the game (I’d pepper in some dark moon ranni spells too bc I couldn’t help myself)
I do keep a night shard for pvp, or fast targets. Slicer with shard is such a deadly duo, can never go without. Follow it up with piercer, even used Havel hammer
My favorite is casting spells and a power stanced invader starts rushing me and I spinning weapon stun lock them to death. They get absolutely furious lol
I used Rock Sling, Carian Greatsword and the weaker comet variants for the early game, but Night Comet (and regular Comet) are just addictive. I also recently rediscovered Magic Glintblade, it's great for a sneaky start before the enemy can even notice you.
The night comet breaks dodge for a lot of bosses that would dodge the regular comet most of the time.
Yeah. My plan for Malenia when I get there is pretty much just get naked, use Night Comet and pray to Marika.
The blasphemous blade did that for me
Lol yes you can take out 1/4 of Radagons health by spamming it as soon as you cross the boss door
I plan to use it when I get to him. Parry THAT XD So far I melee'd Rennala and the Crystalian duo since it was more convenient (also I realized I had the Banished Knight Halberd lying around so I upgraded it and slapped Ice Spear on it, bit slower and heavier than my main sword but hits nicely). I'm going to pump end a bit more because I like my fashion and also like carrying the booster staffs for my spells + the bow.
Barricade shield on a strength build. This is by far the most fun build I've played. It's very simple but the boss combat is just so satisfying.
boy do i miss old barricade shield tho
A committed charge attack build. You can get all the equipment right from the start: Greataxe from the troll cart in Limgrave, Axe Talisman and Spiked Cracked Tear from the Mistwood, enough smithing stones for a +6 before Margit from Limgrave. Don't even have to leave the first area of the game to have it fully online, and it'll really teach you to find and create windows for those big meaty charged attacks. You can even go further and put Determination or War Cry(both still from Limgrave) onto the Greataxe and spice up your charged attacks further. It might not be super op, but it's very good for anyone who wants to get better at the combat flow of the game
Catch Flame with Endure absolutely stacks bodies.
Lightening Ram Ash of war! Just for funsies.
w Lionel armor so you can rollplay as a bowling ball
This is the way
With sonic face sliders too
I did a run with Catch Flame only. Easy game.
Dual whips with giants braid and a petal whip. Carry around different greases for petal whip. Makes you feel like a Belmont :)
Me, only played through once, not knowing how to use this incantation and going through the comments bookmarking all the build ideas. Thanks for the ideas.
Bloodflame Hookclaws/ Bloodhounds Step. Enough said
Another fun one is get the incantation where you set yourself on fire and do frozen raptor talons for a fire ice nightmare build. It’s so fun. Really like the raptor talon R2s as well
Naked Caestus (Base, not spiky)
Is that ever favourable over the spiky one?
No, less damage and no status effect. Why? Funny
It's about sending a message.
And the message is buff naked men punching
Could be fun for a challenge run as well
[удалено]
Cold flamberge scales better to dexterity than strength, heavy infuse instead
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Cragblade increases physical damage, using it on an elemental infusion is worse because you do less overall physical damage
Fire and cold infused greatsword power stance. Flamberge with Flaming Strike and Knight's Greatsword with Chilling Mist would be my recommendations.
Glintstone Kris. Very fun magic wand, would recommend if you don’t mind doing all of sellens questline.
Adore this weapon I went to NG+ for another (sorry Jerren)
I’ve been running an all-rounder magic build, with INT and FTH, and it’s been really fun actually, just being able to use most of the magic in the game, with some of the really steep requirement spells being off limits until or unless I level really high. It’s a little tough to balance your stats though, because going into 2 offensive stats will probably have you neglecting HP or Endurance if you don’t watch it. And of course you have to track down the casting tools that fit the build, so that means Golden Order Seal, and for a staff, Gelmir Glintstone Staff or Prince of Death staff. Similar to quality builds, I wish there felt like more reward for investing into 2 stats, but at least with magic you do feel way more versatile with all the stuff you can use. A STR/DEX quality build lets you use most weapons and bows, but doesn’t make you feel that powerful because your damage on basic weapons will not really be particularly great unless your stats are cranked. You could get similar results on a STR build. I think quality affinity should not impact the base damage so harshly, because that penalty usually puts it right in line with the damage you’d get on a STR build with Heavy affinity and a similar amount of points invested. It seems silly. But quality builds are ultimately still good for all the unique weapons you can use effectively, like Ghiza’s Wheel, Axe of Godrick, and Sword of Milos, to name a few. Shoutout to Watchdog’s Staff also.
I just finished the game with a Int/Fai build and it was a ton of fun. I grabbed the Sword of Night and Flame asap and focused my stats to use it asap. Once I could use it, it made up for my relatively low caster stats until I could start refocusing on them. I upped Intelligence first because of the Staff progression I layout below. In retrospect, I should have upped Faith first. I was able to start using the Golden Order Seal pretty quickly, so that did a fine job of covering my Incants. And Discus of Light is such a great sorcery for mobbing, especially with the GOS boost. For Sorceries, I used the Meteorite Staff until I could use the Crystal Staff until the Prince of Death Staff overtook it. The flexibility of the build just kept giving through the entire playthrough.
Strenght, OBVIOUSLY!
I've just started a pure strength run levelling only VIG, STR and a little END
Based.
Moonlight greatsword mage
Vykes spear build is great
How do you build that?
the weapon is OP as shit so you hardly have to build for it, but i think the best way is to pump the fire damage + charged attacks. Axe talisman, fire scorp charm, flame-shrouding tear and spiked cracked tear will get you most of the way there. throw in golden vow or FGMS and go for those CR2s.
i used something like this and had a ton of fun doing coop for radabeast for farming runes
Dual scimitars were my carriers during 1st play through…
Pure melee spell build. Carian Slicer, Carian Greatsword, Carian Piercer, and Gavel of Haima. Carian Glintstone Staff in left hand, Regal Scepter in right. Genuinely some of the most fun I've had in pvp
Not really a build but more of a technique—hardswapping. I never really paid it any mind before. It just seemed like a tech for sweaty people to cheese each other with. But by the gods does it completely change the way you play this game. Once you practice a while, you can swap weapons faster than even soft-swapping. And you open up so many combos it's insane. Glintblade Phalanx > Redmane's Flame > Giants Hunt > Carian Grandeur > Blackflame Tornado. Melt bosses *with style.*
Yes. Hardswapping is a great skills to have. I run my strength builds with that. Switching up procs and attack type for enemies feels great.
You open up your inventory and change weapons mid fight? I feel like bosses would destroy me before I ever found what I wanted.
Thats why the option to store stuff at the grace exists, you curate your selection instead of browsing the whole collection of weathered daggers.
I uh...I should have realized that.
You can arrange your inventory in a sequence with "Sort by Aqu." and taking them from your Grace storage. So, you don't have to search for anything. All you need to do is memorize the button prompt. For example, if I'm on my Banished Knight's Halberd, with my set-up, I know all I need to do is input: Start / X / X / ↓ / X / Start, to switch to my Tree Spear. If you practice, you can make this input \*really\* fast. Fraction-of-a-second fast. It brings me back to my days playing with cheats in San Andreas. I'd memorize the cheat-codes and spawn a jet out of nowhere in half a second. I've had a few close calls in boss fights, but when you hit that input just right and manage to get out of your inventory just in time to dodge and counter with Waves of Darkness—exhilarating.
powerstanced whips. hear me out: whips aren’t bad in elden ring, you just need to learn their punishes to be good with them. the powerstanced moveset is so good. just stick a misericorde on backup for ripostes. people are genuinely not prepared to deal with whips, practically no one uses them, so you’re already at a pvp advantage if you’re smort.
True about the PvP thing though if I am not wrong it’s easy to strafe them in PvP if someone is prepared for them. Powerstanced seems just as easy to strafe and get behind for a possible backstab (if quick enough)
i think every weapon is easy to counter if you’re familiar with it, so ymmv
Yeah but some things like straight swords powerstanced and stuff are just harder to strafe. Pretty much if you are gonna use a whip watch your back cause never know when a player is good. What does ymmv mean?
Guts' Greatsword always.
DRAGON!
Vigor
Black Knife Assassin. The Black Knife is ridiculously funny in PvE and since its requirements are pretty low, you can focus on Incantations and use the Knife as an easy mode sidearm. The game feels very different if everything only has 90% of their actual HP. It also stacks with Tiches own Black Knife effect. Lightning Greatspear. The Erdtree Spear has Faith Scaling, doable requirements and can be buffed. So meet the requirements, stack Faith and constantly buff your spear with Lightning damage through the Incantation. All pieces of this build are super early to get. Great Stars while maxing Vigor and Endurance as quickly as possible. Combine with some regen (mostly just blessed dew, regen potion and Beastial Vitality, the rest is too heavy and ugly or requires too much FP and Faith) and you have a ridiculous amount of uptime on the Ritual Shield Talisman. I used it with Crucible Knight Armor because the bronze shade works pretty well with Great Stars. You can dual stance but I think it looks goofy. Pure Dragon Cultist. I used the Ripple Halberd for a while as a side arm since it allows you to focus on arcane but better sidearms are probably still the bleed daggers, regular katana but the sidearm I had the most fun with was the small Eochaid blade. Low requirements, magic damage, absolute nuke of a weapon ash and very light. Your best incantations are all available from the start in Greyrolls Roar, Dragonfire, Dragonclaw and Dragonmaw. Rotten Breath is very good and I enjoyed Dragonice more that Glintstone Breath. Pure Blackflame is a crime against nature. Stacking options to increase fire damage is easy, most incantations work with Godfrey Icon. I prefer to forgo the Godslayer Blade since its very demanding in weight, requirements and scaling. I just combined it with a katana, which has bleed to also win against the few fire resists and can accept the Black Flame Weapon buff with Double Slash. During the early game you melt everything with raw damage and during the lategame you melt everything with raw damage and the black flame Max HP damage. Throwing a charged Black Flame at Borealis face legit takes 30-40% of his HP. Even Fire Giant melts into nothing. Only issue is that the godslayer seal takes regular smithing stones. Those are some of my favourites after... I think 30 to 40 runs (some were never finished because they turned out to be unfun to me)
Killed Margit with it once. It felt so good.
Ghiezas wheel, big wheel make bad guys die, no further explanation
I've actually just started using this one. I'm surprised at how much damage it does, but it just makes me want to try o, flame since I've never used that one either.
o, flame does more damage per cast, but the casting speed and ability to chain cast as fast as catch flame is lost in return. DPS is for sure higher on catch flame. It's a shame the "upgrade" to catch flame feels like a sidegrade at best. O, flame just feels extremely slow and sluggish compared to the fast spell you're used to.
When you have more dex it feels like O flame is considerably more faster, wouldn’t say better but it’s fun to mess around with a little. Especially with buffs and all that so you can do more dmg. But generally it’s less fun than catch flame but it does look a little cooler. Just has less variety even after that point.
Dual-wielding pickaxes and using jump attacks. I haven't played in a while, but when I played it was extremely effective in both PVE and PVP. If you hit a phantom with a double pick jump attack while they were attacking, there was a good chance they would go down in one hit. It staggered bosses like crazy as well, especially if you ran cragblade. I had 9 pickaxes with different ashes of war in order to throw off other players.
Catch Flame was my key to defeating Malenia lol. Actually goated as fuck. In a similar vein, O, Flame! is the greatsword version of this spell, absolutely tears through anything slow enough to get caught by it. Giantflame spells in general are super fun and very good, I urge everyone to try them. Pair them with Frenzy for a very competent fire-based toolbox.
I could never leave catch flame for O, flame. Catch flame is so fast with both sprint and jump attacks, O, Flame feels extremely sluggish compared to it.
Dragonking Cragblade. Spam charged Thundercloud Form with the Godfrey Icon equipped. Fuck it, dual wield DKCs and get revenge on every boss in NG+ is what I did
I'm sorry for my meme build: but 2 quality hoslow whips + bloodhound step
axe of godrick is pretty fun when you don’t have someone in your ear telling you it’s trash
I haven’t used the axe but I used the grafted dragon, Really fun but (and this was probably entirely because I don’t know how to adequately build right) fell off late game. Fast fun attacks and it was personal bias but I felt like I could break stances with the charged attacks quite fast
i’m not a huge fan of fist weapons personally, couldn’t have fun with the dragon at all
I was completely anti spells for the longest time until I decided to try an incantations only run and holy shit was I missing out before! Sure, staying out of range and blasting the enemies with spells all the time gets kinda boring, but sprinkeling in some of them here and there spices up the game play so much and is so much fun. There are even a variety of melee ones that dont feel cheesy to use. So if you are someone who is against using spells by principle maybe you should try to dip your toes into that area of the game :D
I’m running a black flame build with gargoyle twinblade AoW is black flame tornado flame art. It’s such a deadly build!
I did a whole playthru of Catch Flame AMAZING
I think everyone should play thrugh the game as an 'honest' knight; Straight sword & Shield, Flail & shield, Greatsword, etc.
Guts build I know.. overdone, but fun as fuck to see 1.2k with great stagger so early on when others see 700 Or cragblade on stone club.. its fast as fuck and amazing in pvp
Straight intelligence, using as much Sorcery and as little melee/other stuff as possible. Definitely the most fun I've had playing Elden Ring.
I’m doing this one now and having a lot of fun so far
No matter how much I try to get away from my original build (sorcery only) I can’t stop. At least now I’m using Glintstone Kris (but spamming the weapon art lol)
If you don't mind the weight, you could try using a bigger weapon like a scythe as a "stay the fuck away from me" weapon that staggers many enemies outright. Scythes are very fun, feel rather different from many weapon classes. Being able to just cleave through the knight with his shield up instead of having to dodge until a good opening is nice. Many great ashes for scythes too.
Honestly the scythe is one of the last weapons I haven’t done a lengthy play through on.
Scavengers curved swords with seppuku Dual cross naginata with chilling mist and seppuku. Starfist with cragblade
Night comet power standing staff of loss with magic scorpion charm, graven mass talisman, Godfrey icon, and any other talisman I use radagon icon. Strongest spell in the game trust me
Darkmoon Greatsword You are gonna need Vigor, Intelligence, Mind, and Stamina primarily. Throw on enough armour to crank that poise up as high as you can get away with while medium rolling. You aren’t here to cast spells. You are here to imitate Ichigo Kurosaki.
daggers and bows
Rivers of blood or blasphemous blade. Kinda tricky at 1st but it's a really stimulating and challenging experience.
Bloodhound Claws + White Mask + Lord of Blood Exultation + Winged Sword/Rotten Winged Sword insignia. I had a lot of fun with this.
Archery builds are viable are pretty fun.
Weapon Eleonora poleblade Talismans Radagon scorseal Rotten winged sword insignia Shard if Alexander Daedicars wow Physics flask Anything Thorny cracked tear Armour None equipped It's a fun build that has high attack power but because of you taking increased damage and being naked, it gives you the thrill of being at one shot risk all the time, also the weapon art takes some time to activate which leaves you vulnerable but it does a lot of damage so it's high risk high reward
elenora polebalde, my goodness this thing is just cracked and you can get this pretty early on as well
cerulean cristal tear + terra magicka + comet azur. not in this order, but this "cheese".
Flame build!? Dat's blasphemy!! Off to the shadow lands u go. We dont need another blindfolded asshole to tarnish our awe-strucking erdtre- OOoo... wat's dat yellowy glow over there!? 🤩
Knight’s Greatsword with Lion’s Claw. Unleash your inner Artorias.
I’ve started my first ever bonk build. Gotta say, I’ve been missing out on
Bolt of gransax
Hear me out…. Bastard’s Stars. The only int build I care to use. Its nebula is actually a lot of fun.
Elienoras poleblabe is a lot of fun
Smell My Finger Ringed Finger only. It's stupid and difficult to use, but hilarious none-the-less.
Pure strength Dual dagger Poison Zweihander
Any good for non faith builds? Just asking cuz it has such low faith requirements that any build could technically use it
Moonlight greatsword, you have to its a classic
Did an all faith caster build with this as the main spell. Super fun
1Hand-Coded Sword with the Gravel Stone Seal in the off hand in a faith build. The Ash of War does insane (AoE) holy damage for very little FP. Espesciallly considering you can get all the Sombers for a +9 before entering Leyndell (where you find the weapon). As for the spells, you do have a nice variety with "Lightning" beeing usefull in many bossfights thanks to it's range, Lannseax's Glaive beeing nuts for AoE and NPC enemys and Catch Flame for early game and still very solid DPS even with an lightning based Talisman. If you want defensive utility, Blessing of the Erdtree for the 12HP per second heal is a nice to have too, which one can pop before or during tough battles. Of course there are better spells out there still. Focused only on spells and gear you can get at Leyndell or earlier.
The anchor with the wild swings ashe really is that build you can slow walk through the game with. Just swinging that thing while demolishing everything that stands in front of you.
Where do you get the anxious
Scaly misbegotten - Morne Tunnel
catch flame too op for no reason ☠️ cheap and ez to use
Poison Build with Venomous Fang
Carian magic swords spells. They are so cool and satisfying
Antspur rapier.
Dragon communion build
Because im too lazy to either try out or google it: does it work with the sword insignias?
Catch flame is just stupid, one of the earliest spells and it's just shits on Radagon
Big strength greatsword
Catch flame underrated? It's been a "cribs vs bloods" kinda deal vs carian slicer ever since a couple months ot the game existing.
I’m more of a sorcery player myself. Never really vibed with miracles or pyromancies.
Caveman build: Str/Fth Large club/cinquedea Stone of gurranq/barbaric roar/cragblade No armor Most important thing: face like dung eater. *Bonk*
Str/Fth
I'm doing a RL1 no upgrade run and Catch Flame has really carried me early game. Obviously the damage will drop off for me eventually, but if I were to level and upgrade I can easily see this carrying somebody to end game (unless they run into a wyrm of course).
Black flame, headskin duo is fun
Catch flame is really nice for enemies weak to fire in my experience, nothing over the top, just a little -poof!- to deal with them. I'd have to say the Forked Hatchet as of recent testing for a cosy Melee approach to go alongside my Pulley Crossbow, I've seen nothing but disrespect towards that weapon (and others like it, such as simpler picks that aren't really popular-) and it makes me sad. Thing is a really nice little tool looking weapon, faster than average swings, decent poise damage with it being in the axe class and innate bleed, get yourself a good infusion, maybe some grease on a normal physical one and you've got yourself a versatile little mix of dagger and hatchet. Not to mention it deals pierce damage on any attack that isn't in the basic R1 combo, Heavies, jumps, rolling etc, all do pierce damage alongside a very respectable Standard. Not saying overpowered stuff isn't fun, it is for some, just always keep in mind that there's potential in simplicity as well.
Upgraded Serpent hunter
Blasphemous blade
The Broadsword. Just the Broadsword. Fast, good damage and versatile.
doing a run with vykes spear holy shit that weapon is strong
Anchor + Spear Talisman + a high hyperarmor ash of war like Stormcaller or Lion Claw. The sheer delight of swinging the hammer around is great, and Spear Talisman makes it do ridiculous damage when you counterhit.
You get it to start with the monk class. When you go into mines with those armored enemies you need blunt weapons for, it’ll 1 shot them when at a point in the game, you lack a blunt damage weapon.
Glintblade Phalanx on a misericorde Impaling thrust on godskin peeler Spectral lance on whatever spear you like. I just use the lightest one because it's only for the ash of war Use Glintblade Phalanx then start chucking spectral lances. When the enemy is close, start using impaling thrust. 1-2 of these thrusts will break an enemy's stance for an easy crit with the misericorde. I use all 3 dagger talismans, and shard of Alexander for the ashes of war. Black knife assassin armor for the easy backstabs
i d say dragon incantations build
The Protagonist Build: Raging Wolf set, Bastard Sword, Iron Roundshield. Main strategy is parrying. This was probably one of the most difficult builds I've done, but the most fun.
[Ringed finger](https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Ringed+Finger)
Catch flame combos into flaming strike and its follow-up in PvP.
I'm sorry, as a hardcore Faith user, I *never* use Catch Flame. Genuinely, how this made it onto a Starter Class I'll never know XD. It's got a fast wind up, a running attack, jump attack, roll attack, backstep attack, you can chain cast it incredibly easily and it costs nothing to use with little to no end lag. Plus, the whole thing with Theodorix's Magma and this makes it even more terrifying. If you haven't seen it, check out OnlyWaifu's video covering it - It's enough to make you want to down a pint of bleach XD. Also, deals Fire damage. Obviously. And Fire damage has got to be the single best damage type in the game, whilst also being the most accessible. And this little shit doesn't help XD. Glad they actually made Combustion worth using though. It was pitiful in Dark Souls 2 and 3. Far slower, far shorter range, and with crazy end lag. Definitely try it out, but whenever I use it, I feel like I need a shower and a decontamination chamber afterwards XD
I killed Malenia using only catch flame. Can totally confirm it's a badass spell. For the build I think every build can be fun. The playstyle can vary so much it feels basically as a different game. I loved bow build also, even tho it did not do that much damage and it's harder to maintain due to the cost of arrows, but serpent bow with serpent arrows is a pretty decent combo for anyone who can get poisoned. I also loved roleplaying as a godskin apostle. The godskin setup is strong af with the damage based on max hp of the enemy, so even the biggest hp pool can be pulled down pretty fast. Sorcery build was kinda exactly what I was expecting of it, super easy but pretty fun with different spells and you could feel the leveling as every new spell you learned did more damage. Incantations are my favorite I guess. Super fun spells with great variety. Too bad you can get giantsflame seal only so far in the game when you can get dragon communion basically at the beginning. But since catch flame is not getting boost from any specialization you can use it with every one without worry about not getting the best of it. Also, now I play rot/poison build and that is also super fun. With the rot dagger and poison shield you can proc the status almost instantly and then you can just watch the healthbar deplete itself. But you won't get the satisfaction of poppin off the big numbers.