Shadow of the Erdtree is the new expansion coming to Elden Ring and in true Fromsoft fashion will probably be the most difficult content in the game. Elden Ring is a game that offers a lot of freedom and variety in how you can customize your character and playstyle. Whether you prefer to slash, shoot, or cast your way through the Lands Between, there’s a build for you.
This article details some of the best builds for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. So you have the best build to start your journey in the DL, based on unique stats, weapons, and spells.
The builds I will be recommending will all be at level 150, the community decided PvP level, except for one, so they are all PvP viable. There is enough flexibility in the stats so you can add your own spin on the build. Also, none of these builds require NewGame+ and can be completed in a single play through.
Top 5 Builds for Elden Ring End Game
Strength/Faith build: Guts Build
One of the most iconic and effective ways to play Elden Ring, lets start off simple. If you want to wield massive weapons and crush your enemies with brute force, this is the build for you. You’ll need a lot of Strength, Vigor, and Endurance to make this work, as well as some Faith for healing and buffing spells. Here are the recommended stats for this build at level 150:
- Vigor: 60
- Mind: 20
- Endurance: 25
- Strength: 60
- Dexterity: 16
- Intelligence: 10
- Faith: 26
- Arcane: 12
The best starting class for this build is the Warrior, which has high Strength and Vigor. Your weapon of choice? The iconic Greatsword of course, give it a strength infusion, two hand it and, you’re set. You can this weapon quite early but, you have to take a ”small” detour to Caelid. For armor, you’ll want to wear something heavy that offers good physical defense, I recommend The Knights Cavalry set without the helmet for that Guts look, but any heavy armor will suffice. For spells, you’ll want to use Electrify armament and Bestial Vitality to boost your survivability and damage output.
Dexterity/Faith build: : Lighting Samurai
Personally, this is my favorite build to play with. If you want to be fast and agile, striking the with deadly precision, this is the build for you. You’ll need a lot of Dexterity and Vigor to make this work, as well as some faith for utility spells. Here are the recommended stats for this build at level 150:
- Vigor: 55
- Mind: 20
- Endurance: 25
- Strength: 18
- Dexterity: 60
- Intelligence: 9
- Faith: 30
- Arcane: 12
The best starting class for this build is the samurai, which has high Dexterity and Mind. The best weapon for this build is the Nagakiba. Its one of the best weapons in the game, deals bleed damage and scales well with Dexterity. You can find it fairly early on in Limgrave granted you’re not opposed to killing Yura the NPC who owns Nagakiba. Killing him this early will not allow you to continue with his quest line but in my humble opinion his quest wasn’t that great to begin with. But if u want to hold on Yura murder, you can get Nagakiba at the Altas Plateau. But untill then you will need to make do with the Uchigatana.
For spells you only need 2. Bloodflame blade to lean into the bleed aspect of the build and Lighting spear, for ranged attacks. You can also use Rotton Breath to cheese bosses if you want. For armour you can go for the base armour of the samurai class or you can get Yura’s armour when you reach Mountain Top of the Giants.
Intelligence build: The Spellsword
Another build using another iconic weapon from the Fromsoft games. If you want to unleash powerful magic from afar, raining destruction on your foes, also mow down enemies at close range and, want to completely solo the game with 0 summons this build is for you. You’ll need a lot of Intelligence, Mind, and Vigor. Here are the recommended stats for this build at level 150:
- Vigor: 50
- Mind: 35
- Endurance: 25
- Strength: 20
- Dexterity: 14
- Intelligence: 70
- Faith: 6
- Arcane: 9
The best starting class for this build is the Prisoner, which has high Intelligence and Mind. The best weapon for this build is the iconic Dark Moon Greatsword, a sword that deals frost damage and scales well with Intelligence. You can obtain it after completing Rannis quest, so you unfortunately can’t get this weapon early. What you can get early is the Carian Regal Scepter by beating the main boss of Liurnia.
For armor, use the Carian knight armour you wont have alot of endurance to wear heavy armour and the Carian knight set really sells the Spellsword look. For spells you’ll be relying on sorceries like Adulas moon blade, Carian Phalanx, Rannis Dark moon and the Kamehameha spell Comet Azure.
Arcane build: The Peeler
One of the most broken and cheesy ways of playing Elden Ring is bleeding your enemies to death, but one cant say it’s not fun. This build is very simple, you don’t need much, just a high arcane stat and vigor. Here are the recommended stats for this build at level 150:
- Vigor: 50
- Mind: 20
- Endurance: 25
- Strength: 17
- Dexterity: 23
- Intelligence: 9
- Faith: 25
- Arcane: 60
The best starting class for this build is the bandit, which has high arcane in the beginning. You’ll be dual wielding 2 Twinblades the Godskin Peeler with an arcane infusion and Elenoras Poleblade. What you’ll mainly be doing is using the jumping attack to cause bleeding procs and quickly dispatching any foe. You don’t really need any spells for this build as this build is quite strong with just the weapons but, any incantation that boosts damage will serve you well, that’s what the 25 faith is for. For armor, I recommend the war surgeon helmet and Raptors chest piece to boost bleeds and jump attack damage.
Intelligence/Faith build: Dragon Knight
The only build, a bit too high level for pvp but the coolest looking one in my opinion. It revolves around using both faith and intelligence based weapons to burn and freeze your enemies. But putting points in both these stats leads to this build being not being the best for finding matches in PvP. Here are the recommended stats for this build at level 200:
- Vigor: 54
- Mind: 20
- Endurance: 30
- Strength: 45
- Dexterity: 15
- Intelligence: 50
- Faith: 50
- Arcane: 15
The confessor is the best class for this build due to the high faith and strength it provides. You’ll be dual wielding the Blasphemous blade for the faith and fire side of this build, and The Dark Moon Greatsword for the intelligence and freezing side. For armor, you definitely have to go for the Drake knight set to complete the look. For spells, you have the entire dragon communion school at your disposal
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out more content on Poggers Memes. You can check out how Overwatch Genesis could start an extended cinematic universe!