Best in your face Knight kind of build

[Viper]

I played a Magic Wizard kind of build up to level 110. Now I'm wanting to play a guy who can stand toe to toe with an enemy and take a little damage and dish some out.

[Viper]

Is a Vagabond dual wield Great sword focusing on Strength, Dexterity, Endurance and Vigor viable for this kind of build.

[Yal]

There's a bunch of ways to do this, so take your picks from this list:
- 50 Vigor
- Heavy armor
- Ritual Shield talisman (30% less damage taken when at full health), plus other shield talismans as you see fit (the one found in the Haligtree grants +20% physical defense, but it's super lategame - though you can get the base level version (+10%) behind Gurranq's sanctum immediately after starting the game)
- Enough Strength to use a greatshield (e.g. 28 for the Dragonclaw Greatshield or Ant Skull-Plate) - alternatively, the Vow of the Indomitable weapon art which grants actual invincibility during a brief window.
- Main weapon having the Endure ash-of-war (50% less damage taken and greatly increased poise during the defensive stance), or maybe Stamp [Upwards Cut] / Stamp [Sweep] for a more offensive, less defensive version.
- Either a spear or rapier (which can be used while blocking with a shield), or eschew shield entirely and use a greataxe, colossal sword, or other big weapon, possibly with Endure or Stamp. Or you could use the Great Stars greathammer with Prayerful Strike, which stacks two healing effects letting you get health back when doing risky stuff.
- Or alternatively alternatively, you could use the Visage Shield or One-Eyed Shield as your main weapon, always twohanding it for increased stability and using the weapon art to fry/blast enemies. Or perhaps the Spiked Palisade with Shield Crash and Frost affinity, running into enemies and dealing damage through blood loss and frostbite while still technically blocking attacks.

[Viper]

okay thank you...

[Yal]

Originally posted by Viper:

Is a Vagabond dual wield Great sword focusing on Strength, Dexterity, Endurance and Vigor viable for this kind of build.

It could work - I'm thinking going for the Grafted Blade Greatsword (boss loot from Castle Morne) would be an interesting choice here. It's got like 80% physical defense so you can block with it, and the weapon art is basically Endure but it also temporarily raises all your stats by 5 points (including Faith and Endurance, so it could give you a brief window to cast healing spells you normally don't have the stats for, and a little bit extra equip load to let you go from heavy to medium rolls, etc)

[Silverlight]

Step 1: obtain zweihander
Step 2: get medium equip load
Step 3: stam/vit up
Step 4: buff strength and charge attacks
Step 5: turtle amulet
Step 6: ???
Step 7: profit

[impuretrash2878]

greatshield and some kind of pokey weapon is basically easy mode.

[Honk1]

Originally posted by Viper:

Is a Vagabond dual wield Great sword focusing on Strength, Dexterity, Endurance and vigor viable for this kind of build.

Best way to start is focusing on vigor at the beginning until you hit 40 and only leveling other attributes to reach the minimum requirements of your gear. This is true for ANY build, but even more so for a melee build (maybe you had trouble with your first build because you didn't have enough vigor). At the end of the game, you want to be between 50 and 60 vigor.

After getting to 40 vigor, start leveling your damage stat (probably strength) and maybe some endurance. It is usually better to focus on one damage stat and use the corresponding infusions on your weapons (heavy/ flame).

Dual greatswords are fine, but I'd just try out a variety of weapons during the game.

[cheetah1546]

i recommend prelate's inferno crozier

[Viper]

I am finding the Great sword very slow as well as rolling is very slow. Should I use my long sword until I get my load to medium instead of heavy with the great sword equipped.

[Silverlight]

Originally posted by Viper:

I am finding the Great sword very slow as well as rolling is very slow. Should I use my long sword until I get my load to medium instead of heavy with the great sword equipped.

There are a few talismans that lower equipment load.

But in general, I find heavy load to be really hard to play with in elden ring, unless you have tank-poise and vigor to match

If I were in your shoes, which I have been, I would just focus on getting medium equipload asap. Like I said, some equipment will lower it too

[Viper]

Yea even though the damage is quite a bit less with the long sword.I am finding it much easier to fight

[Silverlight]

Originally posted by Viper:

Yea even though the damage is quite a bit less with the long sword.I am finding it much easier to fight

My current build is using a zweihander at level 30 or so right now.

I only have like 12 vigor, but my Endurance is almost 20 just for the medium roll.

Then I just plop the rest in STR over vigor and dodge well.

Currently helping newer players fight Margit by using his shackle

[Humpenstilzchen]

You could try great stars with wild strikes ash and bloodflame incant on it.

[Viper]

Originally posted by Humpenstilzchen:

You could try great stars with wild strikes ash and bloodflame incant on it.

I am at the beginning of the game for this run and the beginning of my build ( level 16 )

[Yal]

If I remember correctly, the first greathammer you can get is the Great Wooden Club, there's a cliff at the southern Limgrave coastline overlooking the Weeping Peninsula (close to the Forlorn Hound Evergaol) where there's a big group of Demi-humans, there's a corpse with the club behind them. Since it's wooden it has pretty low weight which could also be helpful early-game, but you still need a bunch of strength to use it. If you get that you can try out the moveset and stuff already and then upgrade to other greathammers later (Great Stars is pretty good since it's got that HP-stealing effect)

Great Stars is close to the Altus / Gelmir border bridge iirc and the Bloodflame Blade spell is halfway through Liurnia, you can sneak in to get that early on without having to fight a boss but it's not something you'd find without a guide.