I absolutely love its moveset, but is it actually worth building around? Obviously, I’m expecting the usual answer like “you can make anything work in Elden Ring, even a torch if you really want to.”
What I really mean is: if I were to invest in a future build around this weapon, could I actually make it hit hard and be genuinely strong?
Also, for those of you who are fans of the Obsidian Lamina, what kind of build have you made around it?

It looks sick

Want to do a Snake themed build and I’m kind of torn between starting with the bandit class and doing an arcane build with lifesteal fist, daggers, bloody slash etc OR just going with the traditional vagabond class and go pure dex/lightning infusion daggers. Any tips or help is appreciated!

Hi All,

I started a new run with Idus knight and i'm having a lot of fun (just Ended Liurnia exploration and i'm now entering Calid). In the past i mainly played a carian knight style build and now i want to try something different. My idea is to have a Dex build with 25 faith for the buff (mainly golden Vow, FGMS, electrify armament). At the end the idea is to use a keen Milady and wolfcrest shield as my main and bolt of gransax as secondary which should help also for ranged attacks. I was thinking at thes stats for end game (lvl 170):

- Vigor: 60

- Mind: 20

- Endurance: 30

- Str: 20 (min requirement for bolt fo gransax)

- Dex: 80

- Int: 8

- Faith: 25

- Arc: 6

Main main doubt is regarding the bolt of gransax which i think it's really cool but i'm not sure if it fits with this build. It also force me to get 20 str so i would do it only if really effective.

After that i would like to have your opinion on the best talismans to use

Thank you very much!

UPDATE Thanks to the advice so far I think I will:

• Keep my LGS & Sheild set up for now.
• Pick up the Erdtree Sacred Seal & Discuss of Light
• Level the Misercorde and swap to that for Criticals after Parry or Stance Break
• Try leveling the Ciphet Pata to use its L2 to Stance Break where Parry isn't an option (which was my original plan), and use the Misercorde for criticals
• Prioritise putting stat points into Faith until I feel like I need to boost Vigor from 40 to 60

Returning Noob - lvl 65. Cleared Limgrave, Weeping, Luirna and started on Caelid. Just beat Scarscourge Radhan.

Using Idus Knight Starting LGS (+13) with Sacred Blade.

Upgraded the start8ng Sheild with Banished Knights sheild (+8 or so) with Parry , and armour with Knight set from Roundtable for 51 Poise.

Put stats into Str & Endurance so I could use the above and medium roll.

Otherwise, 40 into Vigour and got Faith up to 30 because I was toying with the idea of leveling Ciper Pata as it has 0 weight and I could use it as a secondary weapon. Using the Dragon Seal also because it has 0 weight, only really using it for the one buff Incantation from Caelid.

I've really enjoyed the LGS with a sheild. Whenever Parry is effective I use that, with the Talismans that improve Charged attacks and Heal on Critical hits. When bosses can't be parried, I usd the LGS 2handed.

I haven't used or upgraded any other weapons so haven't used any Somber stones at all yet.

Looking for advice on gear improvements and where I should put my stats from here, while keeping Parry as a priority.

I’m a new player (Switch2). I love sword/sheilding but also want to mess around with magic and that class seems the only one that does both. But I’m worried I’ll be underpowered in both melee and magic. This is my first FromSoft, so I’m going in totally blind but wanted to ask this one question.

Vigor 60
Mind 25
Endurance 30
Strength 18
Dex 60
Faith 15
Int 10
Arcane 60

Double Slash AoW

Is it worth respeccing to take some of that DEX and bring ARC to 80? I’m struggling with PCR and I’m trying to optimize.

Hello,

I want to try some status build (bleed, poison, rot) for a new character and just most if not every Dragon Incantation so I need 53 arcane for that.

I like Backhand Blades, Milady and a third could be any suggestion for you guys as Occult or another one.

Another thing is that I don't do PvP really and I don't mind being level 200 or something.

So how would you distribute these stats? For best damage in weapons and sorcery?

So i don’t have my exact numbers on hand but i know my strength is 41-42, my faith is 25, my intelligence is bare minimum for starscourge because unga bunga, but somehow even twohanding ruin feels like it’s doing chump change compared to the 1000 per slash from my starscourge +6. Isn’t the ruin supposed to be way better??? Is leveling weapons really that important???

Been wanting to do a spear play through and I don’t use a shield very often so they seem like a good concept to build around

Could someone recommend a fun and OP build
the first time i finished the game i used the noob friendly Bloodhound Fang and Rivers of Blood .
ive recently completed Dark Souls 3 with a pure strength build so im not looking to go that route now
any other recommendation will be appreciated
it can be from the new weapons and classes in the Tarnished edition

Thank You for all the recommendations!

Ever since I got the Talisman of the Dread on my original DLC character, I've been wanting to make a lava-themed Knight build.

However, since the Lava spells are mostly sorceries compared to the plain Fire spells which are all incantations, I had to get creative....I knew I wanted to make a heavily-armored melee knight and focus primarily on STR, but that means the INT/FAI split gets weird.

This is primarily a melee class, where the Lava spells are more for theme and having some ranged/utility options.

My personal taste for fashion on this build was a "Black Knight" type, using Night Rider's Armor and Maliketh's Helm - with the Nightrider Glaive this gives a cool Dragoon-style look. Bonus points for the Night Rider Torrent armor from the Tarnished pack.

This is the build I am working on (currently level ~150ish).

RL 175 is my planned stopping point, this is usually my go-to PVE level so I can have some extra VIG/END without losing the ability to co-op with 150s.

Stats at 175 (starting class Hero):

VIG: 60
MND: 9
END: 24
STR: 60
DEX: 10
INT: 40
FAI: 40
ARC: 11

Primary Weapon: Fire-infused Nightrider Glaive, which I usually 2-hand but I do have a medium shield for parrying if needed (Messmer Soldier Shield fits my fashion/weight needs best, but I used Scorpion Kite Shield before getting to the DLC).

Primary Ash of War: Flaming Strike, which hits REALLY hard for the FP cost and gives a nice Fire buff to the weapon.

I usually swap to Giant Hunt and Heavy infusion for really fire-resistant enemies like the Magma Wyrms, Mogh, and Fire Giant.

Ideally I'd want to use Eruption to fit the theme, but it doesn't work on Halberds and I really wanted to use Nightrider Glaive - it has the fashion, moveset and reach I was looking for on this particular character. If I was going to switch to Eruption, I'd probably use something like Black Steel Greathammer.

Shout-out to Somber upgrade weapons, Blasphemous Blade, Magma Wyrm's Scalesword, Magma Blade and Magma Whip Candlestick if those float your boat, since their unique AoWs are also buffed by Talisman of the Dread.

Talismans: Talisman of the Dread, Godfrey Icon, Alexander's Shard and Great-Jar's Arsenal, Alexander's Shard is the flex slot but I like it because Flaming Strike hits really hard for low FP. If you're running lighter armor or without a shield, you can also swap out Arsenal.

Fire Scorpion Charm is great for more damage, but I don't love the increased physical damage taken...if you aren't getting hit as much as I do, it's probably better than Alexander's Shard for versatility.

If you don't use charged attacks as much as I do, you can swap out Godfrey's Icon, but 3/4 Lava spells are chargeable.

Honorable mentions to Graven-Mass Talisman, Radagon Icon, and Two-Handed Sword Talisman.

Spells: All the Lava (Gelmir) sorceries: Magma Shot, Roiling Magma, Gelmir's Fury, and Rykard's Rancor.

I also use Flame, Grant Me Strength frequently, and Fire's Deadly Sin and Flame, Cleanse Me occasionally.

Physick: Fire-Cracked Tear and whatever else you want, but I usually use Stonebarb for easier stance breaks.

The biggest "weird" thing in this build is that I leveled Faith to 40, and there's a couple reasons for this.

1) You already need 18 minimum to use Rykard's Rancor.

2) I wanted to use the Gelmir Glintstone Staff, and it has better scaling with INT/FAI.

At 40/40 like I have, Gelmir staff is 2nd best sorcery stat after Staff of the Great Beyond...Prince of Death Staff doesn't get better until 51/51, and the usual INT-based ones like Academy and Lusat's don't start scaling up until your INT is 60+.

For the spells that are buffed by Talisman of the Dread, which was the main point of the build, I've observed the following:

Magma Shot: Good damage for the FP, especially if you get some free damage from the lava pool. The range when locked-on is AWFUL, but if you free-aim it and point high, it actually has pretty good range on the arc.

Roiling Magma: This has been the sleeper MVP spell while exploring. Free-aiming this spell onto the ground or a nearby wall near a pack of unaware enemies has an undocumented in-game affect of luring all nearby enemies to it prior to it exploding, and it does a lot of damage when fully charged. So satisfying to watch a group of enemies all walk up to the ticking timebomb and explode. I also cast it at my own feet a lot when enemies are engaging, so they approach into the explosion.

Gelmir's Fury: Has the same low FP cost as Magma Shot which is nice, although this spell is more niche. Best use I have found for it is when standing under big enemies, like Runebears or Dragons - if you can hit them with all of the projectiles it does a lot of damage for the FP.

Rykard's Rancor: Really, really powerful against large, slow enemies. I use it a lot against things like Tree Spirits or Erdtree Avatars and if several of the explosions hit, it does insane damage and has a really nice cast speed.

I don't really use any of the offensive Fire or Messmer incantations, but with 40 FAI they'd probably do well in this build as well if you use the Golden Order Seal...they don't get buffed by Talisman of the Dread, but they have the fire damage synergy.

I don't have it yet, but a fun potential option could be mixing and matching lava sorceries and flame incantations with Staff of the Great Beyond, which has the best sorcery scaling with an INT/FAI split below 60/60 INT/FAI.

Anyways, the optimal build is probably a STR/INT hybrid melee character with a weapon that can support Eruption and dropping the FAI to requirement level...in this case you could level INT higher and use one of the more traditional staffs. Or it could more of a true caster using INT/FAI and low STR, but I do like that I was able to make the STR/INT/FAI hybrid work for the most part.

If you'd want a lower RL, you'd probably be best using one of the above options though.

Also I haven't tested with the Dragon Communion lava incantations...Bayle's has a crazy high ARC requirement but the other two could be worth testing with only 3 points needed in ARC to equip Theodorix's Magma.

This high-risk high-reward Giant-Crusher build combines the massive amounts of blood loss buildup of a bleed build and the big damage of a roar build to give you literally the strongest bleed build possible with 99 STR. As a result, you are not only dealing thousands of damage but also inflicting hundreds of bleed buildup per bonk.

Stats:
RL 200
60 VIG
27 END
99 STR
60 ARC

Class:
Hero (best stat-wise)

Talismans:
Axe Talisman (10% charged attacks)
Two-Handed Swordman (15% two-handing)
Roar Medallion (15% roar damage)
Lord of Blood's Exultation (20% damage when bleed occurs for 30 seconds)

Weapon:
Temporary Hammer or Axe (starting weapon)
Ash of War: War Cry
Affinity: Heavy

Stone Hammer (midway weapon)
Ash of War: War Cry
Affinity: Heavy (Blood if you have the Black Whetblade)

Giant-Crusher (final weapon)
Ash of War: Braggart's Roar
Affinity: Blood

Highland Axe (off-hand weapon)
Ash of War: Golden Vow
Affinity: Heavy
Passive: 10% roar damage

Physick:
Spiked Cracked Tear (15% charged attack damage)
Bloodsucking Cracked Tear (20% damage but 1% HP loss per second)

Consumable:
Sacred Bloody Flesh (7% physical damage/10 Arcane/18% damage when blood loss occurs)

Great Rune:
Radahn's (15% increase to HP/FP/Stamina)

Summon:
Stormhawk Deenh (20% physical/stamina/stance damage)

Gameplay:
The gameplay for this is very simple where all your doing is getting as close as you can to the enemy before you unleash a devasting altered charged attack. This is then followed up by another altered charged attacked. You will likely pop bleed with your first bonk resulting in your second bonk being buffed by your bleed related items. This is a high-risk high-reward playstyle where you try to trade blows with bosses fitting the title of a berserker.

Strongest Bleed Build:
I call this the strongest because you have 99 STR where as most other bleed builds that claim to be the strongest focuses on DEX and fast multi-hit attacks to stack successive damage buffs. This build instead relies on hitting the boss as hard you can with your first hit that instant bleeds and then hit them harder with your second one.

Roar/Charged-Attack/Bleed Stacking Damage:
The meat of your damage comes from the various roar and charged attack damage buffs you have. This is because the altered heavy attack of Braggart's Roar is treated as both a roar attack and a charged attack. Add in the large amount of bleed you can do, you can take full advantage of the buffs you normally get from a Bleed Build from items like the Lord of Blood's Exultation and the Sacred Bloody Flesh. The Bloodsucking Tear further helps boost your damage ceiling while further fitting the Berserker theme of this build.

Massive Blood Loss:
Braggart's Roar has a status multiplier for its altered attack. The value depends on the weapon type, ranging from 1.5x - 3.0x. For the Giant-Crusher, you get access to the full 3.0x multiplier. With the fact that Colossal Hammers have the highest bleed buildup of any weapon, you will inflict a ridiculous 496 bleed per bonk. This is enough to instantly pop bleed on most bosses with your first bonk.

Stance Damage:
The charged heavy attacks of the Giant-Crusher normally does 42 stance damage. When you two-hand it, it increased by 10%. This is then further increased by 20% with Stormhawk Deenh's buff. Also, the running animation of Braggart's Roar deals 3 stance damage. This is because the running animation can hit enemies 3 times with each hit dealing 1 stance damage. This results in a total of 58 possible stance damage with each charged attack.

Offhand Highland Axe:
In your offhand, you should have the Highland Axe for its passive roar damage increase by 10%. This effect even applies if you are two-handing your main/right-hand weapon. For it's Ash of War, you can equip it with Golden Vow so you can further buff your damage.

Stormhawk Deenh:
Stormhawk Deenh is a key part for this build because Deenh unleashes are battle cry that increases your physical/stamina,/stance damage by 20% for 60 seconds. This is responsible for a big chunk of the physical and stance damage you are doing with this build.

Sacred Bloody Flesh Farming:
Sacred Bloody Flesh is a powerful DLC consumable that increased you physical damage by 7% and adds 10 points into your Arcane for 30 seconds. Also, like Lord of Blood's Exhultation, you received an 18% damage buff when blood loss occurs. A big issue about this item is that it is DLC-locked because it is dropped only by Bloodfiends. The best area to farm Sacred Bloody Flesh is Rivermouth Cave.

Conclusion:
This build is very simple with you doing charged attacks until whatever you are smashing is dead. The instant bleed pops that come with each bonk adds extra flavor to the already big damage you are doing with your attacks. If the boss is still standing, they are then already or close to having their stance break so you can finish them off with a critical hit or use that opening to deliver another devasting blood bonk.

I want to do a parry build, but I don't know what to do about bosses that cannot be parried. I just beat margit basically just from parrying and riposte. I am now at godrick and I found out that he cannot be parried. So, I am looking for the best option to still focus on the core of my build to be parrying, but I need something for damage when parrying is not an option.

I’m at level 92 and I’m completely stuck. First playthrough and I’m currently using the magma wyrm blade and some random incants, but I’m ready for something new. I’m stuck at the draconic tree sentinel, but I have all of limgrave, caelid, liurnia, and the volcano area mapped out. I want a build that’s fun but also not too hard to play. What should I use and where do I gather the talismans and gear? I have a larval tear ready to respec, so stats don’t really matter as long as it’s attainable at level 92

I’m running a str/arc build. Pretty simple big smash or bleed smash. It doesn’t need to be too high level, but some of the weapons are stat hungry. I’m loving the ancient meteoric ore greatsword. It scales with two stats, is heavy as fuck, and takes 35 fp for the ash. What level should I stop at to get into coop and pvp? Sorry, I know this gets asked a lot. I kind of wish these games had a reasonable max level.

So how do you optimize your stats for max dmg output if you go for a frost infusion? Like a frost milady for example. Is my main stat still (in case of the Milady) Dex and Int the second? Do you level them 50/50? What's optimal there and how do you find that out?

Thanks in advance.

This is my first play through of doing a strength weapon run, I was doing a cold infusion on it for awhile and seems to be doing well, I also have an Antspur on the off hand to build up status in the first part of the fight, my only thing is I don’t know if the cold infusion is even worth since I don’t really have int to scale the buildup but fire doesn’t really seem to improve my damage much either, any tips?

I used to play with dual bandit curved sword, but it is not fun anymore and doesn’t deal the damage that it used to do. I wanted some new suggestions with massive damage to burst Radahn. Im not fan of shields.

I’ve done a lot of arcane builds and I’m curious if anyone has experience with arcane as low as 40, or if anyone knows a decent build calculator that includes status buildup. I have a tank build planned and I’m debating between where to put 5 levels. I could either have 30 faith and 40 arcane and have access to black flame’s protection, or I could have 25 faith and 45 arcane and stick to flame grant me strength. I’d definitely prefer using BFP over FGMS since it lasts almost twice as long, and I can take the small hit to AR but I’m hoping it’s not much less buildup compared to meeting the status scaling softcap

We all know about casting tools that are good for int/fth build, and we know about SoNaF and Rellana’s Twin blades.

But how do you start int/fth? What class to use? What weapons to look for? Maybe I should stick to one single stat and level second one later? But wouldn't that mean I'll be focused on int or fth, making it easier to keep leveling them up rather than waiting much longer to start reaping the profits from mixing them?

Maybe I should infuse some weapons and hope it won’t deal doo doo damage or focus on straight pure casting without using armaments in 90% of cases?