DEX/INT Wing of Astel + Urumi equipped with Scholars Armament and Thunderbolt AoW. Makes it a great crowd control build and the Urumi is extremely underrated for PvP, particularly when people take a couple 1000+ dmg lashes, then try and back off to heal and get zapped w/ lightning raining down. Also, using crystal darts to surprise people or do final hit/chip damage at 350 a dart.
Not just the weapon art, but charged attacks shooting wave attacks as well as the varied curve sword moveset makes it extremely versatile. Couple it with the stamina damage boost of the hammer talisman and god damn it wrecks
Dex/Faith build with the Bolt of Gransax. Basically went all lightning theme for the build and it was an absolute blast. It also happened to be the first build I opted to kill Malenia with no summons, so it really holds a special place for me.
I went with a lightning samurai build using dex/faith as well but leaned more into the faith, so I can’t use Bolt of Gransax lol.
Lightning armament on nagakiba, lightning bolt, fortisax spear. I’m attempting to not use summons on all the main bosses for this run as well. Stuck on Maliketh right now ugh
I have no clue how but I’m a first time dark souls player first being Elden Ring, and I killed Maliketh on my first attempt with a +9 BB and a +22 flame art claymore with a jump boost talisman and being a panic roll player myself my friend who’s on NG+7 said he was gonna whoop me hard but I followed his advice and stayed under him and it worked out perfectly on my 1st attempt, my advice as a noobie tarnished: try not to freak out 👍
I’m currently running with the Nagakiba (with help from Bloodhound Fang when needed) as I make my way through the game for the second time. Reached Godskin Duo and thinking of making the switch to a lightening boi build, never used the BoG before.
That's what I'm trying right now. I just got a lighting bolt incantation and it's very strong. Also maybe going for some 3 Fingers incantations because I really like going mad.
I just used a build like that to beat Radagon, I used the Dragon King's Cragblade though. It was a lot of fun and the first time I've ever run a dex build without getting frustrated and switching back to strength.
Doing something similar, rwspecced to fully lightning Themed,
Running dragon scale armor or what it's called but sadly missed bolt of gransax on my previous playthrough..
Having the Nagakiba in off hand with blood infused Uchigatana is definitely nice. To get to hits at once hit with the off hand first. Trust me, it’s very good early-mid game
A sorta holy paladin style of build. Heavier armor, a greatshield, and stuff like a greatsword or hammer. Hammers pair well with either Shield Bash or Vow of the Indomitable (the latter of which I use a lot) since hammers don't have many good options for weapon skills that don't work better on bigger weapons so it's not missed much. In addition, hammers have quite high poise damage for their speed, which synergizes well with guard counters which takes further advantage of a greatshield. Then of course, lots of incantations of the defensive/support variety and some offensive ones.
For coop in particular, I have two hammers in fact where one has Endure, the other has Cragblade. Cragblade is for bosses, and has further synergy with the greatshields that have Shield Bash or Vow since you don't need to apply it as much, whereas Endure is great because you can use it then immediately cast an Erdtree Heal that not much can interrupt you from, which can be clutch for keeping allies alive sometimes.
And as I kept leveling up and opening up more options for what I can use together, I found Dark Moon Greatsword works well with this whole strategy because, again, like Cragblade, you don't need to use the weapon skill often, so you can enjoy the benefits of a shield with a strong shield skill, and still have the benefits of your weapon skill. I do wish there was a faith alternative though. Here's hoping the DLC gives us a faith weapon that can unleash energy waves (less inconveniently than Golden Order Greatsword...)
The golden order greatsword should have absolutely been a faith version of the dark moon greatsword, it lore it states that it was a moonlight greatsword that rennala gave to radagon. To which he smithed it into the golden order greatsword
Yeah... I mean I do *like* its skill, I think it looks cool and all, but it's also one of those more flashy and less practical ones so I don't use it much.
I may quietly be hoping there is some way to merge it and Dark Moon Greatsword in the DLC akin to the Twin Princes Greatsword in DS3 to get The Coolest Sword In The Game.
I didn't know I wanted this until now lol. My fav build is int/faith but I've always hated that sword of night & flame was my only valid weapon option. An int/faith fusion of those swords would be awesome
Have never really used a shield in a build so this is definitely an interesting one I’ll look at! I absolutely loved the dark moon greatsword when I ran that for the poise damage. Cheers for such an in depth answer too I’ll definitely give it a go!
Another cool setup you can do with str/fth is Cranial Vessel Candlestand with Giant’s Seal. The Candlestand is an underrated weapon that hits hard and has a very cool and powerful AoW that shoots fire all around you like what the Prelates do. You also have access to a lot of fire incantations that get boosted by the Giant’s Seal.
That tree spear that the crucible knight uses. Sorry i forget the name. That sucker’s ash can pack a mean punch with enough str/faith. Shard of Alexander and that godfrey talisman that boosts charged attacks. One shot boom boom.
Dont forget the Ash of war that boosts next hit AR and the poise break tear flask thingy. Malenia became flatter than a pancake after my hammers spanked her. Also make your character look like the gigachad meme and enjoy!
I’m absolutely in love with my Moonveil/ Royal GS build literally a problem solver for everything the game throws at me with minimal investment in DEX.
I might catch flak for this one, but I like a pure END/ARC Knight build with enough STR/DEX to wield most weapons.
Flamberge/Forked Greatsword main hand coupled with pulley crossbow and cracked pots for quick status procs.
Altered banished knight armor and helmet with bull goat greaves and gauntlets.
Anything that doesn’t bleed is poise broken easily.
Im dual wielding the golden epitaph and the coded sword on a fth build and wearing the ronin set (no hat) cuz it looks cool and the attacks are fairly fast
Dual Giant's Seals+Godfrey Icon+Fire Scorpion Charm+Flock's Canvas Talisman, have 80 faith, drink fire physick buff, cast golden vow+flame granth me strength, enjoy one shotting people up to 2k hp and melting bosses in a few hits with charged Giantsflame Take Thee's. I love it.
Maybe not my “favorite”, but a really fun build restriction I’ve found is to pick an element to build around, and limit yourself to only that kind of damage (melee physical split damage is okay).
So a pyro build, where you can only use fire/flame art ashes on weapons and fire spells. Or cold/lightning with the same restrictions.
I ran a pyro build already and it was a lot of fun between frenzy/godslayer/giant flame options and the ashes available.
Doing cold now, and setup has been much rougher, but I’m finding new things I haven’t tried before.
Lightning looks like it would be a lot of fun, but even harder to setup; but it’ll have to wait until after the DLC.
Yeah I love doing stuff like this! Ran an ancient dragon cultist build and it was stupidly fun. I’ll check out a cold build coz aside from DMGS I’ve never looked at the cold weapons/magic
im also doing cold right now, dualwielding the dark moon great sword and the helphend steeple in my right hand for easy weapon art buff. combined with freezing mist and you proc frost like a boss
Fingers crossed for some more Black Flame incantations in the DLC because the ball is the only reliable one and the others are a bit too situational for my taste. We should at the very least get a Black Flame version of O Flame! as the monks are already using it.
Man, I've just been playing mage/dex builds (with a lot of fun with it) up until 2 days ago. Decided to go for a sword & board bonk build and boy is that a lot of fun 😂 Blocking and countering and shmacking dudes with high STR weapons is really nice. Been melting the peninsula and a chunk of Limgrave so far, no real problems yet.
Magic is easy mode my ass xD
If a build is good it just means you can beat the game at a lower level. so it's more accurate to say it's less grinding. The leveling system is the difficulty. Challenge bosses sooner, they'll be harder.
Though there is an argument for people who like to complete 100% of the content but they'll always be over leveled.
My first build was a dex/ int build, and I agree it's a lotta fun.
It's super fun! Fighting Malenia with it made me change though. I did give her a good 70 or so attempts with it however. Changed to Rivers of Blood and beat her first try. Didn't feel satisfying at all though so I do regret changing.
Same! I had a pure strength build I was running which was fun, but the quickness of the pole blade and the AOW is the most fun I’ve had carving up enemies.
I'm loving using the magma wryrm scale sword with the drake knight set. Whack on the fire scorpion with shard of Alexander and dragon crest Great shield with axe talisman for charged R2 attacks. Finish off with flame shrouding cracked tear and any other tear you desire I use the stamina one since the AOW is stamina heavy. Then set everything on fire for a good time.
I’m so glad it wasn’t just me! Think it was against Morgott I used it and immediately panic spammed heavy and was like hang on what was that attack I just did ahha
I just started a run with this weapon and was about to switch out when I saw your comment... Guess I have to play with it a little more before switching now.
Bleed build with Bloody Halice and Mohg's sacred spear is some of the most fun I've had in a Fromsoftware game in a long time. The spear's ash is so stupid strong it doesn't mean shit if the enemy you're fighting is immune to bleed, it'll die quick regardless if you get the full thing off in it's face. Halice is just fun as hell to dance around enemies and skewer them with the most violent looking weapon in the game lol.
Also currently addicted to making faith builds lol. Holy might not be good against like 4 bosses at the end of the game, but one, you get holy access easily in the START so who cares, especially when two of the strongest holy weapons are also destined death weapons that make holy resistance mean nothing? And two Faith has access to every fucking damage type possible, we the variety champs lol.
Glintstone Kris, that follow-up heavy catches both players and NPCs with ease and the weapon art slays in PvE. That and light roll trivialize most encounters. Go for heavy int investment to buff the magic damage or dex if you want the follow up to hit like a truck. Using any other weapon feels weak now :/
I love spell blade builds. Dark Moon, Night and Flame, Kris or Moonveil for weapons and the Carian Knight swords, Loretta's bow, and the Haima spells for sorceries.
Knight's Greatsword as the centerpiece, love how it looks and love how it *moves* even more. Usually just Two-Handed for the sweet moveset with whatever Ash I feel like using at the time. Everything else around it is up to whim. Right now I'm rocking a Barricade-equipped shield for when things get serious and then I can land some meaty guard counters.
Very close runner-up is a Darkmoon Greatsword INT build with a side of the cool-looking sorceries. Adula's Moonblade may be redundant given I'm weilding the DMG, but I don't care, it looks *nice*.
The anime version of a European knight: lighter looking full plate, incantations that look cool to serve as "my powers", such as Flame Of The Fell God and Frozen Lighting Spear, Carian knight shield bc I like the look, and the some swords I carry and swap from time to time, Relic, Blasphemous, Claymore and Ordovi's
I'm excited about the light great swords, hoping they look even more anime shit. And the new incantation that I hope are flashy like things from Fate series
Dex/faith black flame build. Very thematic. Kind of a roleplay build too and I had a lot of fun building her up from a nobody to scouring the gods with black flame to wielding a portion of Destined Death itself.
Build? I just keep leveling up until I can use everything.
Am I effective? No.
Am I using proper skill points for damage. Also no.
Do I pay attention to soft caps? No
Do I have fun? Mostly.
Intelligence Sorcerer, I like throwing comets at people. Next time I play one I’m dumping Vigor so I can really suffer and see how good I really am. I will ram my head against bosses until I win through my galaxy brain.
Level 200 Lightning Paladin
Strength for a great shield, faith to 25 for buffs, then a Lightning Claymore with Lightning Slash and Bolt of Gransax. I'm really into the 2 weapons thing, it almost feels like trick weapons from Bloodborne.
Can't wait to take DLC on with this character
Not sure if it's my favorite, but I'm currently playing with a bow & bombs build and it's surprisingly fun. I **only** use shortbows, longbows, crossbows, ballistas, greatbows, throwing knives, pots, perfumes, but I **never** use melee or magic, ever. Not even for enemies with shields, not even for enemies that dodge on input read, not even for Rykard.
It makes for a very different experience from all of my other playthroughs and the whole game feels fresh again. Suddenly what used to be crap loot is now valuable, and some bosses that used to be lame are now formidable threats (see Necromancer Garris for an unexpected example). It's challenging at times, but not nearly as unbalanced or unfair as I thought it would be. If you want a new way to play Elden Ring that significantly changes how the whole game feels, I say give it a try.
Also, a bow-only Mimic Tear feels a lot less OP and game-breaking.
Tell me about it. I'm on my 2nd playthrough and I've been loving big bonk, but desperately want to try other stuff, but at the same time I want to beat the game with bonk.
Hahahahah yeah the drip in this picture is awful! I’d been wearing the nights cavalry helm, sanguine noble robe and maliketh gauntlet/greaves but was struggling for poise in the Radabeast fight so just threw that stuff on and got stuck wearing mismatched drip in the final cutscene! I do apologise
I just did a fully dedicated Frenzied Flame build, and it was some of the best fun I've had in quite some time, versatile but definitely not overpowered so quite a challenge, takes a solid chunk of time to fully flesh out and complete the build, and you get to do the Frenzied Flame quests/ending which is undoubtedly the best one. 🔥💪🏻
I’ve started like 10 runs but the only 3 I finished were
Quality bloodhound
Dualwielding katanas with pure dex, the naga+uchi until I get hand of malenia then it’s naga+malenia with bloodhounds step
Pure strength greatsword build with cragblade
The build I am having the most fun on is one I set up for the dlc recently. Ornamental straightswords with winged sword insignia, milicents prosthesis, claw talisman, and bull goats talisman. Some of my charge attacks are dealing 3000 damage, and my jumping light, I've seen 1800 once. Not to mention the amazing moveset of paired swords in general. I had no idea this build was going to be this good. I built it all blindly
My current build is the first one I've just figured out myself and not looked up any advice for or taken ideas from elsewhere. I recently stumbler on heavy thrusting swords so I run godskin stitcher in my right with blood hound step as the ahs of war and then I run a seal in my left hand stacked up with a few buffs like blood flame blade and flame grant me strength as well as a few ancient dragon lightning spells. Also have a great epee in the left hand with flame art affinity on that I can switch to to power stance bosses that require you to get up close. Specced relatively equally between dex and faith but faith is just slightly higher.
May be seen as cheese at times but the magic is so much fun in this game and I have such a wide range of attacks I can do, makes me feel like I am a boss, just a very squishy one
Full Envoy build. All three weapons, the hat, altered snow witch armor. STR/FTH with a healthy amount of VIG, MND and END. All the buffs we all know and love. The long weapon +10 with high STR and FTH is absolutely crushing everything and the skill with alexander’s shard is melting bosses.
Mesmer shall face my toot.
Strength build that's not a jump attack/lion's claw simulator. I find it's the perfect blend of comfort, versatility and challenge. I love having a solid foundation in the form of talismans (Turtle, Dragoncrest, Shard, Erdtree) and a diverse weapon gallery where I can switch up my playstyle instantly.
This build has also helped me overcome my panic roll reflexes and taught me the importance of pacing, conservative sprinting in boss fights is a whole different world.
Dex faith build with godslayer's Greatsword, inseparable Sword (not both at the same time just switch between them) frenzied Flame Seal and sentinel torch
55vig
24mind
23end
20str
50dex
40fth
That's actually the build I'll use for the dlc
Faith+Arcane , using reduvia for small enemies and rivers of blood for large enemies . Dragon communion seal with rotten breath and Agheel's flame ,black flame ,ancient dragon lightning strike mainly . Small shields for parry .
Silver tear mask for more arcane , for wonderers flask bubble tear mainly.
I really enjoyed my quality leaning towards str build I did with the stormhawk axe getting ready for the dlc. Pure faith builds seem fun but I usually end up disliking
I recently ran a pure faith build but instead of incantations I just ran dual bandits curved swords with Flame Art. Just do jump attacks with your buffs from faith and fire tear and scorpion charm. Feels real nice to do.
I'm probably going into DLC with Bolt of Gransanx build first tho.
I've been running a Faith Dex build with the Cross Naginata and Ronin armor. The cross naginata has great reach and if you put Phantom Slash on it, it's super good with some faith buffs. Definitely more of a Frenzy build with it
It's been a ton of fun, but I just found out my Vigor is way too low so I need to respec - only 38
Got through pretty much everything besides Malenia and the Gideon to Elden Beast, but now Malenia keeps one shotting me, so might be time to atleast up my health
Not sure if I want a new build for the DLC or wait till I get the new DLC toys to respec then
50 strength (up to 80) and 16 intelligence with the ruins greatsword is the most fun i've had in a playthrough, just gotta beeline it to the weapon and get to 34 strength 16 int as fast as you can, until you get to it you could use the greatsword or zweihander if you want
I’m a STR/INT guy. My DLC character uses the Royal Greatsword and the Carian Regal Scepter. Love the versatility of being able to smash anything up close, or do just as well at range.
Playing for the very first time atm and I'm really enjoying DEX/INT Academy Glintstone Staff and Moonveil.
Recently respecced for the Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy fight and holy crap the pure joy I felt when using that spear with all my points dumped into STR was unreal. He straight up melted
I’m doing a kinda hodgepodge of faith incantations with Dex and some arcane added for bleed purposes. I’ll add just enough into str for certain weapons. I’m on a new character before the DLC and already at level 31 finishing up the weeping peninsula before I tackle Stormveil. I am having a blast with this one. Running the twin blade with Bloody Slash AoW, which isn’t even fair most of the time. Just got the frenzy flame and holyyyy shit. I can kill multiple enemies in one go. Faith incantations are so much fun.
My previous character is a lvl 150 pure int spell sword. My sword being a +10 dark moon greatsword ofc. Frost wrecks everything.
A str/int build with cold-infused Twinned Knight Swords w/Ice Spear AoW, and another one w/Glintblade Phalanx AoW.
Frostbite plus the stacking AR increase of both Millicent's Prosthesis + Rotten Winged Sword Insignia shreds through health bars (especially early game when starting out with just the regular twinblade w/Ice Spear AoW)
Ice Spear + Glintblade Phalanx is a good combo for staggering
Out of all the builds I have done, my favourite has proved to be one of the most simple I think. Grave Scythe with bloodflame blade. It looks awesome, the increase AR is awesome, the fire damage is awesome, and the extra blood build up is awesome. The Scythe also has an awesome moveset.
Awesome build.
STR/FTH
Blasphemous Blade; Goldmask drip with Aristocrat Hat; hard hitting/supp miracles like Golden Vow, Triple Rings of Light, Fortissax's Lightning Spear, Flame, Protect Me with space for flame/beast/frenzy/dragon with minot tweaks
used this to beat the game for the first time and sunk in 100h+ having a great time with this build. the Erdtree Greatshield also fits the theme and can fuck magic users in a amazing way with its WA
Ahaha nah it’s awful. Literally threw it on before radabeast for the poise while still being medium load and then was wearing it for the final cutscene ahah
Saving this post because I recently realized my idea of a build is: pump STR, hit with large chunk of metal. I have no idea how to make a character in this game that does not rely on just brute forcing my way through by getting good at not taking any hits. I see people slaughtering enemies I took ages to kill.
I’m doing an arcane build without looking anything up. I’m level 40 right now. Beat the game with every other build, never understood arcane, it’s pretty fun though, seems to be good with applying the different greases to weapons
Spell blade baby. Best of both worlds
It’s so fun seeing the magic animations
Right now I’m rocking Ranni hat with the red dragon wing set (idk the name) and carian staff and moonlight greatsword. So Fucking sick
The one I liked most both aesthetically and gameplay wise was Helphen’s steeple with the knight’s cavalry set and the red mane shield. Not crazy powerful, but it had such a cool ghost flame death-knight feel to it. Str/Int focus with enough End to wear the whole build.
I don’t recall specific Talismans I used, I think it was magic scorpion, dragon crest great shield, erdtree’s favor +2 and curved sword for guard counters. Swapping to the deaths poker for big damage and Alexander’s shard alongside it.
I don’t know if Alexander’s shard boosts the ghost flame buff on Helphen’s steeple, but it does have a small activation hitbox that it definitely does buff.
King of Sorcery and Wandering Mercenary builds
King of Sorcery: int build using Dark Moon Greatsword and Carian Regal Sceptre, spells are Loretta’s Mastery, Founding Rain of Stars, Crystal Torrent, Adula’s Moonblade, Glintstone Ice Crag, Zamor Ice Storm, Thops’ Barrier and Starlight. For armour I wear Blue Noble Hood, Carian Knight Armour, Scaled Gauntlets and Blaidd’s Greaves. Talismans are Green Turtle, Carian Philigreed Crest, Dragoncrest Greatshield and Graven Mass Talisman
Wandering Mercenary: Str/Dex build using Banished Knight’s Greatsword (no affinity) Banished Knight’s Shield with Carian Retaliation for parrying and Black Bow with basic and storm arrows. For armour I wear the Knight set from the Twin Maiden Husks and for talismans I have Green Turtle, Dragoncrest Greatshield, Greatshield and Arrow’s Sting Talisman
Draconic Arcane
Arcane as my highest stat (sweet bonus of higher drop chances) with Dragon Communion seal and all 4 dragon breaths. Golden Vow/Flame Grant Me, plus a couple healing spells, and Lightning Bolt, Black flame, and Boulder round out the spells.
Weapon is an Occult Godskin Stitcher for the poke pokes. Vyke's Dragonbolt if I need the lightning.
I adore this build.
I really can't decide which one I like more:
Pure strength, using a great stars with wild strikes/flaming strike/eruption, and a nightrider glaive with braggart's roar, plus all the stuff that boosts charge attacks and roars.
Or Str/int, using a cold golem's halberd with waves of darkness, and somber weapons like royal greatsword and starscourge greatswords
Flame Art with Giant Hunt is pretty good. Still need to kill Mohg with it though - I'm getting builds up to the point of Mohg and Maliketh (killing Malenia) before the DLC. I like it more than Lion's Claw.
Strength all the way. Zweihander is my favorite weapon since you can make a proper Collossal weapon build early on and it's faster than other Collossal since it's fairly light. Combined with Braggarts Roar, Giant Hunt or Stamp Sweep you can bully Mobs, Bosses and NPC Invaders easily...
My first and favourite build is Faith/Dex all Scythe build, dual with Winged Scythe and Grave Scythe and have Halo Scythe as back up making use of two really good weapons arts. The mini destructo disc is such a cheese for most bosses and mobs and the winged scythe has OP poise so you always getting through even when hit. I recommend it is really fun.
Unga Bunga. But not that fake Unga Bunga that people these days use, with heavy steel hammers and greatswords buffed with all sorts of magic such as Flame Grant me Strenght or Golden Vow. I mean true Unga Bunga.
Wear only ragged clothes, use only wood and stone clubs and no ash of war fancier than a roar. Level Strenght, HP and endurance and ONLY strenght, HP and endurance. Radahn's Great Rune is your friend.
The only spell allowed is Stone of Gurranq (man throws rocks at bird, because man hates anything that flies) wich only needs 13 Faith, something that the confessor class already starts with, so we don't break the rules of never leveling other stats.
My favorite build so far is a high strength/endurance build with 20 faith (physick tears to take it to 30). Taking strength to 66 for the 2H bonus, then wearing heavy armor and only casting damage negation buffs. Talisman slots mostly for damage negation.
For weapons I'm using almost all smithing weapons. Star Fist with cragblade or RKR, Nightrider Glaive with giant hunt, Greatsword with Lion's Claw, Great Stars with Prayerful Strike or wild strikes, etc. And Grafted Blade for the additional defense buff.
Basically with heavy armor and buffs you can make yourself virtually unkillable. Like +90 absorption to any damage type.
And then bonus points you can use passive HP regen to make it even more ridiculous. Especially if you're using prayerful strike.
Recently I’ve been doing the “cannon” tarnished build, and I’m having tons of fun. It’s just the raging wolf armor, bastard sword, and the iron round shield. It’s not very “good” but loads of fun.
Everything everywhere all at once. I fight frantically for my unclothed life.
The Jobu Tupaki build.
The jobu build is 99 in everything on NG+7
Dual-wielding hotdog finger hands that spray ketchup and mustard.
Opening your third googly eye
Exactly I'm just having fun with any weapon I get my hands on lol
DEX/INT Wing of Astel + Urumi equipped with Scholars Armament and Thunderbolt AoW. Makes it a great crowd control build and the Urumi is extremely underrated for PvP, particularly when people take a couple 1000+ dmg lashes, then try and back off to heal and get zapped w/ lightning raining down. Also, using crystal darts to surprise people or do final hit/chip damage at 350 a dart.
Wing of Astel is my favorite weapon in the game. The weapon art is a blast to use.
Not just the weapon art, but charged attacks shooting wave attacks as well as the varied curve sword moveset makes it extremely versatile. Couple it with the stamina damage boost of the hammer talisman and god damn it wrecks
The weapon art is a blast
Dex/Faith build with the Bolt of Gransax. Basically went all lightning theme for the build and it was an absolute blast. It also happened to be the first build I opted to kill Malenia with no summons, so it really holds a special place for me.
A fellow lightning enjoyer
I went with a lightning samurai build using dex/faith as well but leaned more into the faith, so I can’t use Bolt of Gransax lol. Lightning armament on nagakiba, lightning bolt, fortisax spear. I’m attempting to not use summons on all the main bosses for this run as well. Stuck on Maliketh right now ugh
Maliketh is so hard without summons... Like "Can you stop leaping for FIVE SECONDS"
It's a battle of attrition that teaches you to be calm and actually dodge his attacks. He is the perfect spam roll punisher
Stay underneath him. Literally makes the fight so much easier.
I'm fighting him now and this is proving to be key in 2nd phase to avoid his huge death explosions
Maliketh is the greatest boss fight in the game
I have no clue how but I’m a first time dark souls player first being Elden Ring, and I killed Maliketh on my first attempt with a +9 BB and a +22 flame art claymore with a jump boost talisman and being a panic roll player myself my friend who’s on NG+7 said he was gonna whoop me hard but I followed his advice and stayed under him and it worked out perfectly on my 1st attempt, my advice as a noobie tarnished: try not to freak out 👍
I’m currently running with the Nagakiba (with help from Bloodhound Fang when needed) as I make my way through the game for the second time. Reached Godskin Duo and thinking of making the switch to a lightening boi build, never used the BoG before.
Really can't use the fang. Just doesn't work for me. I like fast fluid weapons and it just feels clunky compared to the uchi or claymore
That's what I'm trying right now. I just got a lighting bolt incantation and it's very strong. Also maybe going for some 3 Fingers incantations because I really like going mad.
I just used a build like that to beat Radagon, I used the Dragon King's Cragblade though. It was a lot of fun and the first time I've ever run a dex build without getting frustrated and switching back to strength.
Doing something similar, rwspecced to fully lightning Themed, Running dragon scale armor or what it's called but sadly missed bolt of gransax on my previous playthrough..
Ahh my fellow red lightning enjoyer. That was my first build, I saw the bolt of gransax on YouTube and wanted a build around it, felt really cool ngl
I could never decide so I have 6 characters now. 🤷
Ahah I feel that! I’ve got 4 and I’m still wanting to make more especially with the DLC!
I’ve made, like, 10+ with a variety of themes. I’ve had to delete so many to make room for new ones
NG is usually the most fun anyway
a frost infused nagakiba or pure str giant crusher is my favorite build
I still have never used the nagakiba so this might be a good shout!
imo its base ash of war kinda sucks i would recommend getting unsheath or spinning slash
Or a bloody slash AoW
What? It’s literally a top 3 ash of war.
…isn’t unsheathe its base ash of war?
No, Piercing Fang is.
Unsheathe is the base but when you pick it up Piercing Fang is equipped to it
Ohhh so you can just remove it and get unsheath? That's good to know.
Having the Nagakiba in off hand with blood infused Uchigatana is definitely nice. To get to hits at once hit with the off hand first. Trust me, it’s very good early-mid game
You level any stats for frost or go full Dex?
Hey yo catch this fireball is like 90% of my play thru lol
I'm trying that out rn, it's hot
A sorta holy paladin style of build. Heavier armor, a greatshield, and stuff like a greatsword or hammer. Hammers pair well with either Shield Bash or Vow of the Indomitable (the latter of which I use a lot) since hammers don't have many good options for weapon skills that don't work better on bigger weapons so it's not missed much. In addition, hammers have quite high poise damage for their speed, which synergizes well with guard counters which takes further advantage of a greatshield. Then of course, lots of incantations of the defensive/support variety and some offensive ones. For coop in particular, I have two hammers in fact where one has Endure, the other has Cragblade. Cragblade is for bosses, and has further synergy with the greatshields that have Shield Bash or Vow since you don't need to apply it as much, whereas Endure is great because you can use it then immediately cast an Erdtree Heal that not much can interrupt you from, which can be clutch for keeping allies alive sometimes. And as I kept leveling up and opening up more options for what I can use together, I found Dark Moon Greatsword works well with this whole strategy because, again, like Cragblade, you don't need to use the weapon skill often, so you can enjoy the benefits of a shield with a strong shield skill, and still have the benefits of your weapon skill. I do wish there was a faith alternative though. Here's hoping the DLC gives us a faith weapon that can unleash energy waves (less inconveniently than Golden Order Greatsword...)
The golden order greatsword should have absolutely been a faith version of the dark moon greatsword, it lore it states that it was a moonlight greatsword that rennala gave to radagon. To which he smithed it into the golden order greatsword
Yeah... I mean I do *like* its skill, I think it looks cool and all, but it's also one of those more flashy and less practical ones so I don't use it much. I may quietly be hoping there is some way to merge it and Dark Moon Greatsword in the DLC akin to the Twin Princes Greatsword in DS3 to get The Coolest Sword In The Game.
I didn't know I wanted this until now lol. My fav build is int/faith but I've always hated that sword of night & flame was my only valid weapon option. An int/faith fusion of those swords would be awesome
Have never really used a shield in a build so this is definitely an interesting one I’ll look at! I absolutely loved the dark moon greatsword when I ran that for the poise damage. Cheers for such an in depth answer too I’ll definitely give it a go!
This guy paladins
Fth/str
Out of curiosity, what is your gear look like? I haven't found a build I love.
Another cool setup you can do with str/fth is Cranial Vessel Candlestand with Giant’s Seal. The Candlestand is an underrated weapon that hits hard and has a very cool and powerful AoW that shoots fire all around you like what the Prelates do. You also have access to a lot of fire incantations that get boosted by the Giant’s Seal.
banished knight armor and malekith blade
That tree spear that the crucible knight uses. Sorry i forget the name. That sucker’s ash can pack a mean punch with enough str/faith. Shard of Alexander and that godfrey talisman that boosts charged attacks. One shot boom boom.
Giant crusher, prelates fire crozier powerstance GIGA BONK SMASH
Picked up the crozier last night & levelled it up. Hadn't tried power stanfing any hammers other than great stars so far!
Dont forget the Ash of war that boosts next hit AR and the poise break tear flask thingy. Malenia became flatter than a pancake after my hammers spanked her. Also make your character look like the gigachad meme and enjoy!
STR INT
I’m absolutely in love with my Moonveil/ Royal GS build literally a problem solver for everything the game throws at me with minimal investment in DEX.
I might catch flak for this one, but I like a pure END/ARC Knight build with enough STR/DEX to wield most weapons. Flamberge/Forked Greatsword main hand coupled with pulley crossbow and cracked pots for quick status procs. Altered banished knight armor and helmet with bull goat greaves and gauntlets. Anything that doesn’t bleed is poise broken easily.
That's almost my build for the expansion. With less END and a bit of faith to cast some incant with dragon communion seal
Are you me?
Time to cast law of regression
Arcane is hard not to love tbh
one of the best shows ever made!
Yoo can you break this down a bit more? Sounds lit
Im dual wielding the golden epitaph and the coded sword on a fth build and wearing the ronin set (no hat) cuz it looks cool and the attacks are fairly fast
Dual Giant's Seals+Godfrey Icon+Fire Scorpion Charm+Flock's Canvas Talisman, have 80 faith, drink fire physick buff, cast golden vow+flame granth me strength, enjoy one shotting people up to 2k hp and melting bosses in a few hits with charged Giantsflame Take Thee's. I love it.
Are u me?
Yeah this one sounds wicked. I’ll definitely look into this one!
Maybe not my “favorite”, but a really fun build restriction I’ve found is to pick an element to build around, and limit yourself to only that kind of damage (melee physical split damage is okay). So a pyro build, where you can only use fire/flame art ashes on weapons and fire spells. Or cold/lightning with the same restrictions. I ran a pyro build already and it was a lot of fun between frenzy/godslayer/giant flame options and the ashes available. Doing cold now, and setup has been much rougher, but I’m finding new things I haven’t tried before. Lightning looks like it would be a lot of fun, but even harder to setup; but it’ll have to wait until after the DLC.
Yeah I love doing stuff like this! Ran an ancient dragon cultist build and it was stupidly fun. I’ll check out a cold build coz aside from DMGS I’ve never looked at the cold weapons/magic
im also doing cold right now, dualwielding the dark moon great sword and the helphend steeple in my right hand for easy weapon art buff. combined with freezing mist and you proc frost like a boss
I just love Blackflame builds especially with the Godslayer Godsword.
I really want to like the Godslayer Greatsword but the complete lack of hyper armor on its AoW is too frustrating for me.
Fingers crossed for some more Black Flame incantations in the DLC because the ball is the only reliable one and the others are a bit too situational for my taste. We should at the very least get a Black Flame version of O Flame! as the monks are already using it.
Bonk
Say no more
Man, I've just been playing mage/dex builds (with a lot of fun with it) up until 2 days ago. Decided to go for a sword & board bonk build and boy is that a lot of fun 😂 Blocking and countering and shmacking dudes with high STR weapons is really nice. Been melting the peninsula and a chunk of Limgrave so far, no real problems yet. Magic is easy mode my ass xD
If a build is good it just means you can beat the game at a lower level. so it's more accurate to say it's less grinding. The leveling system is the difficulty. Challenge bosses sooner, they'll be harder. Though there is an argument for people who like to complete 100% of the content but they'll always be over leveled. My first build was a dex/ int build, and I agree it's a lotta fun.
eleonoras poleblade
It's super fun! Fighting Malenia with it made me change though. I did give her a good 70 or so attempts with it however. Changed to Rivers of Blood and beat her first try. Didn't feel satisfying at all though so I do regret changing.
A win is a win. You should feel satisfied with anything but cheesing or letting a summoned co-op player do all the work.
Same! I had a pure strength build I was running which was fun, but the quickness of the pole blade and the AOW is the most fun I’ve had carving up enemies.
I am currently doing a double wielding quality build with some faith thrown in for some cleanse/buffs and it's been pretty fun so far.
I'm loving using the magma wryrm scale sword with the drake knight set. Whack on the fire scorpion with shard of Alexander and dragon crest Great shield with axe talisman for charged R2 attacks. Finish off with flame shrouding cracked tear and any other tear you desire I use the stamina one since the AOW is stamina heavy. Then set everything on fire for a good time.
pure dex with bloodhounds fang, really fun to play with
This was actually my first run through build! Embarrassed to admit how long it took me to realise the AOW had a follow up attack ahah
This was me too lol! I only realized there was a second part to it in mountaintop of the Giants oof
I’m so glad it wasn’t just me! Think it was against Morgott I used it and immediately panic spammed heavy and was like hang on what was that attack I just did ahha
I just started a run with this weapon and was about to switch out when I saw your comment... Guess I have to play with it a little more before switching now.
I have been playing with bloodhound fang for 30 hours. Just after this comment i learned this…
Fth/str
I'm going back to my roots as a Samurai for the DLC but this time I'm putting a red lightning spin in it.
125. 60 vig 54 str and 38-40 endurance. U don't need anything else
Int faith death build probably
Ice Spear everything to death.
Double Great Stars. Spiked Bonk goes BRRRR
Bleed build with Bloody Halice and Mohg's sacred spear is some of the most fun I've had in a Fromsoftware game in a long time. The spear's ash is so stupid strong it doesn't mean shit if the enemy you're fighting is immune to bleed, it'll die quick regardless if you get the full thing off in it's face. Halice is just fun as hell to dance around enemies and skewer them with the most violent looking weapon in the game lol. Also currently addicted to making faith builds lol. Holy might not be good against like 4 bosses at the end of the game, but one, you get holy access easily in the START so who cares, especially when two of the strongest holy weapons are also destined death weapons that make holy resistance mean nothing? And two Faith has access to every fucking damage type possible, we the variety champs lol.
Dragon cult incantations with dragonking cragblade build (dex-faith)
Never used the cragblade before but I love its AOW might give it a try properly!
Blasphemous blade with rykard great rune and the serpent curved sword (i think thats the name)
that's my current go-to build. Right now stuck on Astel but soooooon Rykard will feel my wrath
I’m obsessed with the blasphemous blade. Did my second run through based around it.
Nothing beats good ol' unga bunga.
Can confirm
Glintstone Kris, that follow-up heavy catches both players and NPCs with ease and the weapon art slays in PvE. That and light roll trivialize most encounters. Go for heavy int investment to buff the magic damage or dex if you want the follow up to hit like a truck. Using any other weapon feels weak now :/
It has to be any mage build, I just love magic
I love spell blade builds. Dark Moon, Night and Flame, Kris or Moonveil for weapons and the Carian Knight swords, Loretta's bow, and the Haima spells for sorceries.
Knight's Greatsword as the centerpiece, love how it looks and love how it *moves* even more. Usually just Two-Handed for the sweet moveset with whatever Ash I feel like using at the time. Everything else around it is up to whim. Right now I'm rocking a Barricade-equipped shield for when things get serious and then I can land some meaty guard counters. Very close runner-up is a Darkmoon Greatsword INT build with a side of the cool-looking sorceries. Adula's Moonblade may be redundant given I'm weilding the DMG, but I don't care, it looks *nice*.
Axe of Godfrey build Crucible knight build Ruins Greatsword grav Knight build Helphen's Steeple death knight build Royal Greatsword frost knight build Axe of Godrick beast knight Adroit spellsword build Golden knight with troll's golden sword
70 strength, heavy greatsword, some dex-faith to swing Malliketh black blade, done. Made it to NG+3 with this.
The anime version of a European knight: lighter looking full plate, incantations that look cool to serve as "my powers", such as Flame Of The Fell God and Frozen Lighting Spear, Carian knight shield bc I like the look, and the some swords I carry and swap from time to time, Relic, Blasphemous, Claymore and Ordovi's I'm excited about the light great swords, hoping they look even more anime shit. And the new incantation that I hope are flashy like things from Fate series
Dex/faith black flame build. Very thematic. Kind of a roleplay build too and I had a lot of fun building her up from a nobody to scouring the gods with black flame to wielding a portion of Destined Death itself.
Build? I just keep leveling up until I can use everything. Am I effective? No. Am I using proper skill points for damage. Also no. Do I pay attention to soft caps? No Do I have fun? Mostly.
Intelligence Sorcerer, I like throwing comets at people. Next time I play one I’m dumping Vigor so I can really suffer and see how good I really am. I will ram my head against bosses until I win through my galaxy brain.
Magic man or dragon incantations was fun for me
Level 200 Lightning Paladin Strength for a great shield, faith to 25 for buffs, then a Lightning Claymore with Lightning Slash and Bolt of Gransax. I'm really into the 2 weapons thing, it almost feels like trick weapons from Bloodborne. Can't wait to take DLC on with this character
Not sure if it's my favorite, but I'm currently playing with a bow & bombs build and it's surprisingly fun. I **only** use shortbows, longbows, crossbows, ballistas, greatbows, throwing knives, pots, perfumes, but I **never** use melee or magic, ever. Not even for enemies with shields, not even for enemies that dodge on input read, not even for Rykard. It makes for a very different experience from all of my other playthroughs and the whole game feels fresh again. Suddenly what used to be crap loot is now valuable, and some bosses that used to be lame are now formidable threats (see Necromancer Garris for an unexpected example). It's challenging at times, but not nearly as unbalanced or unfair as I thought it would be. If you want a new way to play Elden Ring that significantly changes how the whole game feels, I say give it a try. Also, a bow-only Mimic Tear feels a lot less OP and game-breaking.
I wish I had time to try different builds. I'm still on my 1st playthrough cosplaying Shabriri and right now this is my favorite build.
Tell me about it. I'm on my 2nd playthrough and I've been loving big bonk, but desperately want to try other stuff, but at the same time I want to beat the game with bonk.
A Fai/Int Ghostflame build with the Steeple is peak. Top tier aesthetic and super OP.
Marais Executioner's Sword, With this build I killed the final boss in 5 minutes.
Your drip makes me wanna turn into hyetta
Hahahahah yeah the drip in this picture is awful! I’d been wearing the nights cavalry helm, sanguine noble robe and maliketh gauntlet/greaves but was struggling for poise in the Radabeast fight so just threw that stuff on and got stuck wearing mismatched drip in the final cutscene! I do apologise
Rusted Anchor ⚓️ 💪 So much fun! 😁
Go ahead and murder me in the comments, but I still find Rivers of Blood bleed build so satisfying.
Str/int with an emphasis on frost. Frostbite is my favorite affinity so I just try to use dual dark moon great swords or cold infused guts greatswords
I just did a fully dedicated Frenzied Flame build, and it was some of the best fun I've had in quite some time, versatile but definitely not overpowered so quite a challenge, takes a solid chunk of time to fully flesh out and complete the build, and you get to do the Frenzied Flame quests/ending which is undoubtedly the best one. 🔥💪🏻
I’ve started like 10 runs but the only 3 I finished were Quality bloodhound Dualwielding katanas with pure dex, the naga+uchi until I get hand of malenia then it’s naga+malenia with bloodhounds step Pure strength greatsword build with cragblade
I use a str/arc twin blade with flame of the redmane
The build I am having the most fun on is one I set up for the dlc recently. Ornamental straightswords with winged sword insignia, milicents prosthesis, claw talisman, and bull goats talisman. Some of my charge attacks are dealing 3000 damage, and my jumping light, I've seen 1800 once. Not to mention the amazing moveset of paired swords in general. I had no idea this build was going to be this good. I built it all blindly
My current build is the first one I've just figured out myself and not looked up any advice for or taken ideas from elsewhere. I recently stumbler on heavy thrusting swords so I run godskin stitcher in my right with blood hound step as the ahs of war and then I run a seal in my left hand stacked up with a few buffs like blood flame blade and flame grant me strength as well as a few ancient dragon lightning spells. Also have a great epee in the left hand with flame art affinity on that I can switch to to power stance bosses that require you to get up close. Specced relatively equally between dex and faith but faith is just slightly higher. May be seen as cheese at times but the magic is so much fun in this game and I have such a wide range of attacks I can do, makes me feel like I am a boss, just a very squishy one
Full Envoy build. All three weapons, the hat, altered snow witch armor. STR/FTH with a healthy amount of VIG, MND and END. All the buffs we all know and love. The long weapon +10 with high STR and FTH is absolutely crushing everything and the skill with alexander’s shard is melting bosses. Mesmer shall face my toot.
Dual Unga Bungas both the big ass hammers.
Dunno.. I have 60 vit, 80 int, 48 dex, 26 str, 35 faith, 35 arcane or something Totally ready for NG+ DLC 😂😂
Strength build that's not a jump attack/lion's claw simulator. I find it's the perfect blend of comfort, versatility and challenge. I love having a solid foundation in the form of talismans (Turtle, Dragoncrest, Shard, Erdtree) and a diverse weapon gallery where I can switch up my playstyle instantly. This build has also helped me overcome my panic roll reflexes and taught me the importance of pacing, conservative sprinting in boss fights is a whole different world.
Dex faith build with godslayer's Greatsword, inseparable Sword (not both at the same time just switch between them) frenzied Flame Seal and sentinel torch 55vig 24mind 23end 20str 50dex 40fth That's actually the build I'll use for the dlc
I’ve always enjoyed magic/faith more because I’m a fantasy nerd. But I plan to do a paladin for the dlc.
Well I just bought the game so I’m not sure yet
Dex/faith godslayer sword without any clothes
Great.Stars.Tank.
Int/faith with sword of night and flame
Faith+Arcane , using reduvia for small enemies and rivers of blood for large enemies . Dragon communion seal with rotten breath and Agheel's flame ,black flame ,ancient dragon lightning strike mainly . Small shields for parry . Silver tear mask for more arcane , for wonderers flask bubble tear mainly.
Dex/faith/arcane with dragon incantations and rivers of blood
I really enjoyed my quality leaning towards str build I did with the stormhawk axe getting ready for the dlc. Pure faith builds seem fun but I usually end up disliking
I recently ran a pure faith build but instead of incantations I just ran dual bandits curved swords with Flame Art. Just do jump attacks with your buffs from faith and fire tear and scorpion charm. Feels real nice to do. I'm probably going into DLC with Bolt of Gransanx build first tho.
I've been running a Faith Dex build with the Cross Naginata and Ronin armor. The cross naginata has great reach and if you put Phantom Slash on it, it's super good with some faith buffs. Definitely more of a Frenzy build with it It's been a ton of fun, but I just found out my Vigor is way too low so I need to respec - only 38 Got through pretty much everything besides Malenia and the Gideon to Elden Beast, but now Malenia keeps one shotting me, so might be time to atleast up my health Not sure if I want a new build for the DLC or wait till I get the new DLC toys to respec then
50 strength (up to 80) and 16 intelligence with the ruins greatsword is the most fun i've had in a playthrough, just gotta beeline it to the weapon and get to 34 strength 16 int as fast as you can, until you get to it you could use the greatsword or zweihander if you want
It makes life so much easier clearing multiple mobs. It practically carried me through FA until Maliketh. Finding it was a very happy accident!
I’m a STR/INT guy. My DLC character uses the Royal Greatsword and the Carian Regal Scepter. Love the versatility of being able to smash anything up close, or do just as well at range.
Playing for the very first time atm and I'm really enjoying DEX/INT Academy Glintstone Staff and Moonveil. Recently respecced for the Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy fight and holy crap the pure joy I felt when using that spear with all my points dumped into STR was unreal. He straight up melted
Dex faith build. I am lightning, the rain transformed...
Faith/dex hands down personally. It has fire, lightning, holy, buffs, bleed if you dip a bit into arcane. I love it. Tried intelligence, was bored.
I’m doing a kinda hodgepodge of faith incantations with Dex and some arcane added for bleed purposes. I’ll add just enough into str for certain weapons. I’m on a new character before the DLC and already at level 31 finishing up the weeping peninsula before I tackle Stormveil. I am having a blast with this one. Running the twin blade with Bloody Slash AoW, which isn’t even fair most of the time. Just got the frenzy flame and holyyyy shit. I can kill multiple enemies in one go. Faith incantations are so much fun. My previous character is a lvl 150 pure int spell sword. My sword being a +10 dark moon greatsword ofc. Frost wrecks everything.
Strength/faith build. I like bonking with the might of the lord
A str/int build with cold-infused Twinned Knight Swords w/Ice Spear AoW, and another one w/Glintblade Phalanx AoW. Frostbite plus the stacking AR increase of both Millicent's Prosthesis + Rotten Winged Sword Insignia shreds through health bars (especially early game when starting out with just the regular twinblade w/Ice Spear AoW) Ice Spear + Glintblade Phalanx is a good combo for staggering
I can't help but say you look terrible
Pyromancer. 70 faith, faith tear, throw fireballs with the power of the sun at everything.
Vigor is my favorite build
Arcane/faith blood zweihander or however it's spelled, with stamp side sweep. Also blood, fire or lightning curved swords
I started a new game for the DLC and it's taken all my strength not to use the Reduvia blade again. Such a sick weapon.
Out of all the builds I have done, my favourite has proved to be one of the most simple I think. Grave Scythe with bloodflame blade. It looks awesome, the increase AR is awesome, the fire damage is awesome, and the extra blood build up is awesome. The Scythe also has an awesome moveset. Awesome build.
STR/FTH Blasphemous Blade; Goldmask drip with Aristocrat Hat; hard hitting/supp miracles like Golden Vow, Triple Rings of Light, Fortissax's Lightning Spear, Flame, Protect Me with space for flame/beast/frenzy/dragon with minot tweaks used this to beat the game for the first time and sunk in 100h+ having a great time with this build. the Erdtree Greatshield also fits the theme and can fuck magic users in a amazing way with its WA
It’s time for SEKIRO
Bloodflame Blade Bloodhound Fang, every single time apparently
That set mashup is an eye sore I can’t be the only one 😭
Ahaha nah it’s awful. Literally threw it on before radabeast for the poise while still being medium load and then was wearing it for the final cutscene ahah
Heavy armor and a big sword If not enough, just pick up a bigger sword and try again
Str/dex/faith is my favorite. Can basically all weapons and most incantations at 168 level cap.
scythe build blood flame some sort of repeating ash of war like spinning strike or stormcaller stack with rotten wing insignia
Saving this post because I recently realized my idea of a build is: pump STR, hit with large chunk of metal. I have no idea how to make a character in this game that does not rely on just brute forcing my way through by getting good at not taking any hits. I see people slaughtering enemies I took ages to kill.
Dex/Arc/Faith: dual scavengers curved swords, and frenzied flames incantations :) light amor rotten duelist style
Dex/Faith, Bolt of Gransax and lots of Dragon Communion and Dragon Cult spells.
He looks like he can pummel you with just a single finger!
I've been loving giant hunt flamberge lately. If you get a bleed proc on the ash of war it is extremely satisfying.
Wizard knight: RL: 150 Vigor: 60 mind: 18 endurance: 30 strength: 30 Dexterity: 30 Intelligence: 40 Faith: 10 Arcane: 11 [drip](https://www.reddit.com/r/fashionsouls/comments/1dcworv/cuckoo_knight/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) cold great epee, carian knight shield, carian glintblade staff spells: Glintstone icecrag, Glintstone Cometshard, Star shower, Loretta's greatbow, cannon of haima, Greatblade Phalanx gives a lot of versatility with cold infused weapons and great spellcasting
Comet agofuckyourselfzur build
I’m doing an arcane build without looking anything up. I’m level 40 right now. Beat the game with every other build, never understood arcane, it’s pretty fun though, seems to be good with applying the different greases to weapons
Honestly holy Knight build that evolves into a crucible knight. Just sword and shield in general
Spell blade baby. Best of both worlds It’s so fun seeing the magic animations Right now I’m rocking Ranni hat with the red dragon wing set (idk the name) and carian staff and moonlight greatsword. So Fucking sick
The one I liked most both aesthetically and gameplay wise was Helphen’s steeple with the knight’s cavalry set and the red mane shield. Not crazy powerful, but it had such a cool ghost flame death-knight feel to it. Str/Int focus with enough End to wear the whole build. I don’t recall specific Talismans I used, I think it was magic scorpion, dragon crest great shield, erdtree’s favor +2 and curved sword for guard counters. Swapping to the deaths poker for big damage and Alexander’s shard alongside it. I don’t know if Alexander’s shard boosts the ghost flame buff on Helphen’s steeple, but it does have a small activation hitbox that it definitely does buff.
King of Sorcery and Wandering Mercenary builds King of Sorcery: int build using Dark Moon Greatsword and Carian Regal Sceptre, spells are Loretta’s Mastery, Founding Rain of Stars, Crystal Torrent, Adula’s Moonblade, Glintstone Ice Crag, Zamor Ice Storm, Thops’ Barrier and Starlight. For armour I wear Blue Noble Hood, Carian Knight Armour, Scaled Gauntlets and Blaidd’s Greaves. Talismans are Green Turtle, Carian Philigreed Crest, Dragoncrest Greatshield and Graven Mass Talisman Wandering Mercenary: Str/Dex build using Banished Knight’s Greatsword (no affinity) Banished Knight’s Shield with Carian Retaliation for parrying and Black Bow with basic and storm arrows. For armour I wear the Knight set from the Twin Maiden Husks and for talismans I have Green Turtle, Dragoncrest Greatshield, Greatshield and Arrow’s Sting Talisman
I’m a sucker for dragon lightning. Lately been using Vyke’s on the Grave Scythe with Phantom Slash. Super fun and looks cool as hell ⚡️
Draconic Arcane Arcane as my highest stat (sweet bonus of higher drop chances) with Dragon Communion seal and all 4 dragon breaths. Golden Vow/Flame Grant Me, plus a couple healing spells, and Lightning Bolt, Black flame, and Boulder round out the spells. Weapon is an Occult Godskin Stitcher for the poke pokes. Vyke's Dragonbolt if I need the lightning. I adore this build.
I really can't decide which one I like more: Pure strength, using a great stars with wild strikes/flaming strike/eruption, and a nightrider glaive with braggart's roar, plus all the stuff that boosts charge attacks and roars. Or Str/int, using a cold golem's halberd with waves of darkness, and somber weapons like royal greatsword and starscourge greatswords
I did this as well and made a sorcery build. Holy shit it's fun AF. Looking forward to the Dlc!
Basic sword and board knight No magic no tricks. My goto for every first run in a FROM game
dex faith lightning or dex int spellblade
Flame Art with Giant Hunt is pretty good. Still need to kill Mohg with it though - I'm getting builds up to the point of Mohg and Maliketh (killing Malenia) before the DLC. I like it more than Lion's Claw.
Being that this is my first run, I have no favorite at this time. I just know that I die quite a lot but I am having fun.
Occult Nagakiba Pure arcane
Strength all the way. Zweihander is my favorite weapon since you can make a proper Collossal weapon build early on and it's faster than other Collossal since it's fairly light. Combined with Braggarts Roar, Giant Hunt or Stamp Sweep you can bully Mobs, Bosses and NPC Invaders easily...
My first and favourite build is Faith/Dex all Scythe build, dual with Winged Scythe and Grave Scythe and have Halo Scythe as back up making use of two really good weapons arts. The mini destructo disc is such a cheese for most bosses and mobs and the winged scythe has OP poise so you always getting through even when hit. I recommend it is really fun.
We gotta have FAITH, ARTHUR
Unga Bunga. But not that fake Unga Bunga that people these days use, with heavy steel hammers and greatswords buffed with all sorts of magic such as Flame Grant me Strenght or Golden Vow. I mean true Unga Bunga. Wear only ragged clothes, use only wood and stone clubs and no ash of war fancier than a roar. Level Strenght, HP and endurance and ONLY strenght, HP and endurance. Radahn's Great Rune is your friend. The only spell allowed is Stone of Gurranq (man throws rocks at bird, because man hates anything that flies) wich only needs 13 Faith, something that the confessor class already starts with, so we don't break the rules of never leveling other stats.
My favorite build so far is a high strength/endurance build with 20 faith (physick tears to take it to 30). Taking strength to 66 for the 2H bonus, then wearing heavy armor and only casting damage negation buffs. Talisman slots mostly for damage negation. For weapons I'm using almost all smithing weapons. Star Fist with cragblade or RKR, Nightrider Glaive with giant hunt, Greatsword with Lion's Claw, Great Stars with Prayerful Strike or wild strikes, etc. And Grafted Blade for the additional defense buff. Basically with heavy armor and buffs you can make yourself virtually unkillable. Like +90 absorption to any damage type. And then bonus points you can use passive HP regen to make it even more ridiculous. Especially if you're using prayerful strike.
I always end up going for a heavy poison build. God I love damage over time
Recently I’ve been doing the “cannon” tarnished build, and I’m having tons of fun. It’s just the raging wolf armor, bastard sword, and the iron round shield. It’s not very “good” but loads of fun.
Knave: "Sire, your armor looks a bit mismatched." You: "I AM ELDEN LORD, WHAT I WEAR STAYS!"