Overpowered Leveling Builds With Walkthroughs

Elden Ring can be challenging for new players who don’t know how to build a character efficiently. And even if you have a build planned, where do you go first? What do you do? I have compiled and tested several effective methods for leveling a new character, each build a unique playstyle.

Introduction

There is a color-coded version of this guide, which is much easier to skim through, in the discord server linked on my Steam profile. Feel free to ask questions and leave feedback there. That guide, and my guides for the Dark Souls games are also linked separately on my Steam profile.

This guide is intended for new and experienced players alike, as it mostly covers how to gear a character, rather than hold your hand through the whole game. Much information about Elden Ring has been omitted from this guide in order to prevent spoilers. Following any of the four build guides will help prepare you to take on the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. At the end of the guide I list directions to help you find the DLC's hidden areas without spoiling more than necessary.

So far I have a guide on how to make a strength build that sends enemies flying, a bleed build that melts bosses, an intelligence build that’s dangerous at close and long range, and a faith build that wields multiple elements and utility spells. Each guide begins with a list of things to do that will power-up your character, and a section that shows which stats to level up in order as you acquire runes throughout the game.

Strength Build

Strength builds are likely the most popular build among Elden Ring characters. Strength builds can be pretty simple, but offer unparalleled build variety. Strength builds often use non-unique weapons, so you can mix-and-match your favorite ash of war with the weapon of your choosing. Due to the fact that two-handing a weapon increases your strength by 50%, strength builds typically require less investment into their offensive stat, strength, to deal high damage. This gives strength builds the freedom to boost their endurance and wield heavier weapons that can deal high stance damage. The more stance damage you deal, the more bosses get knocked down.

Points of Interest

This is a list of things to do that will increase your character’s power early on. Make sure to explore all over and level up before trying to complete the later steps on this list. I recommend prioritizing finding golden seeds and sacred tears to upgrade your flasks before fighting difficult bosses. The maps I link at the end of the google doc version of this guide are great tools to locate things.

1. Choose the vagabond class and pick the golden seed keepsake. You can alter your appearance in-game too. Vagabonds start with a halberd equipped alongside their longsword. You must unequip the halberd, as its weight overburdens you. After fighting the Grafted Scion boss, you’ll wake up with a crevice to your right and a ghost telling you to jump down into it. This is the tutorial area: the Cave of Knowledge. At a site of grace you can allot the charges of your flask of crimson and cerulean tears. I recommend around a 10/4 split favoring your flask of crimson tears.

2. Starting from the First Steps site of grace, run north to the church of Elleh and talk to merchant Kale. Avoid the Tree Sentinel patrolling the road for now. From the church, continue along the path traveling north and pick up some kukri just left of the path near a soldier. At the end of the path you can spot the Gatefront Ruins site of grace where you will acquire Torrent.

3. Loot the chest in the nearby carriage to get the lordsworn’s greatsword. Equip it in place of your longsword. You’ll have to unequip your shield to compensate for its heavier weight. Grab the map below the pillar in the center of the Gatefront Ruins, then look for a staircase on the south side of the ruins. It leads underground to a chest containing the whetstone knife and the storm stomp ash of war. Apply storm stomp to the lordsworn’s greatsword at a site of grace.

4. Just east of the Gatefront Ruins is a talking bush near the road. Roll into it to reveal Boc the Seamster, an NPC who’s services you’ll need later. Next, turn around and ride west along the road past the Stormgate and talk to Roderika in Stormhill Shack. Grab the golden seed and stonesword key nearby.

5. Ride east to the Warmaster’s Shack and up the hill to the northeast. Here, kill the mounted Godrick Knight to get the golden vow ash of war. The knight is patrolling the east-facing cliff just above the Deathtouch Catacombs.

6. Ride down below the cliff and enter the Deathtouch Catacombs. Find the hidden passage beneath the staircase, pull the big lever, defeat the dungeon’s boss, and take the deathroot from the chest it guards. Next, follow the road east to the Saintsbridge site of grace. Up a small hill to the south is Iron Fist Alexander who needs your help.

7. Across the Saintsbridge you’ll find D, Hunter of the Dead, on the side of the road. He’ll ask you to kill the Tibia Mariner just past him in Summonwater Village and claim its deathroot. Complete this task and D will mark a portal on your map just north of the Third Church of Marika.

8. Travel southeast down the hill to the Third Church of Marika. Grab the flask of wondrous physick, and collect the sacred tear you can find in most churches. Now enter the portal to warp to the Beastial Sanctum in Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow.

9. Talk to Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, in the Beastial Sanctum and give him your two deathroot to get the clawmark seal. Equip the clawmark seal in your offhand.

10. Resting at a site of grace in a place like Dragonbarrow will grant you access to Roundtable Hold. Talk to everyone in the hold, buy the catch flame incantation from Brother Corhyn for 600 runes, buy a dagger from the Twin Maiden Husks for 400 runes, and buy the memory stone from her for 3000 runes once you can afford it. Rest at a site of grace and select “Memorize Spell” to equip catch flame. Select “Ashes of War” to apply golden vow to the dagger with a heavy infusion. This can be equipped in your second main-hand slot to apply the buff before boss fights.

11. Warp back to the Beastial Sanctum, then exit out the doors and immediately head to the right. Parkour down onto the roots below the southwest cliff next to the sanctum. Drop all the way down the stone pillars to the lowest level where you can loot the dragoncrest shield talisman. Wear it if you like living. If you can’t open the map after taking this route, quit-out to reset enemy aggro.

12. Warp back to the Beastial Sanctum once more and grab the golden seed down the road. Steer clear of the Black Blade Kindred boss stationed outside. During the daytime, take the path left of the Farum Greatbridge site of grace that leads down a hill and across a smaller bridge to Lenne’s Rise. Use the nearby spiritspring to jump onto the roof and drop onto a balcony to get inside. At the top of the building is a chest containing a memory stone.

13. Warp to the Gatefront Ruins site of grace and, during the daytime, follow the road east across one bridge, then south until you reach the bridge to the Weeping Peninsula. Grab the stonesword key sitting on the bridge, then grab the morning star from the chest in a carriage down the road.

14. Keep heading south until you reach the Castle Morne Rampart site of grace. Take the nearby spiritspring up the hill to reach Oridys’s Rise. Read the plaque out front then kill the three phantom turtles that spawn nearby. One of whom is invisible, sitting in the nearby pond. You can loot another memory stone from the chest inside the rise.

15. Head further south until you reach Castle Morne. Head inside the castle, turn right at the 20-foot pile of corpses, and you’ll find the claymore inside a chest. Equip the claymore in place of your lordsword’s greatsword.

16. Return to Summonwater Village and follow the road east to the Smouldering Church in Caelid. Head northeast and follow the cliffside down past the Putrid Avatar and into the Minor Erdtree Catacombs. Send the lift back up and hop down the hole left by the lift. Quickly run up the staircase on the right and up the ladder to reach a room containing the imp head (wolf) helmet. Equip the helmet, it’s a huge upgrade over your starting gear. Now return to the road and follow it further east past the Rotview Balcony site of grace. Loot the greatsword from the chest inside a carriage along the road.

Points of Interest II

17. Warp back to the Church of Elleh site of grace and head west down to the beach. Head south along the beach past the Coastal Cave to where you can loot a gold pickled foul foot next to a spiritspring. While you’re here, defeat the boss of the Coastal Cave to progress Boc’s questline

18. Warp to Lenne’s Rise in Dragonbarrow and take the spirit spring up above the cliff. Run down the hill, behind the minor erdtree guarded by a Putrid Avatar, and up another spiritspring that will take you to Fort Faroth. A golden rune 12 worth 7,500 runes can be found in the fort, and a stonesword key can be looted from atop the giant skull just west of the fort.

19. Use the morning star’s innate hemorrhage status buildup to kill Elder Dragon Greyoll out in front of the fort. Filling up her invisible hemorrhage meter by attacking enough times will proc blood loss, removing over 1/7th of her HP. Consume your gold pickled foul foot right before Greyoll dies to receive 30% extra runes from killing her. A 30% increase to the base 50,000 runes Greyoll drops plus the 7500 from the golden rune 12 equals 72,500 runes: enough to go from rune level 22 to 36, the same number of levels needed to level your endurance from 15 to 29.

20. With 21 strength and 29 endurance you should have no trouble wielding the greatsword. At this point you should decide what your main weapon will be, be it the greatsword, the claymore, or something else. You will only have enough smithing stones to upgrade one weapon for the first chunk of your playthrough, but you will be able to swap weapons later once you have extra smithing stones. The example build in this guide uses the greatsword, as it’s probably the most popular weapon. The wiki page I link here in the google doc version of this guide details a route to get enough smithing stones to upgrade your weapon to +15 without even having to fight a boss.

21. Warp back to the Rotview Balcony site of grace and follow the road southeast to the Smouldering Wall site of grace, then ride west to Fort Gael. Go left around to the back of the fort where you can loot the “flame grant me strength” incantation. Enter the fort on the other side and slay the Lion Guardian to get the lion’s claw ash of war. Apply it to the greatsword with a heavy infusion.

22. Grab the other half of the Dectus medallion from atop Fort Haight in Limgrave. The fort sits at the end of the road leading south from the Third Church of Marika.

23. Beneath the minor erdtree in the Weeping Peninsula is an Erdtree Avatar boss that drops the crimsonburst crystal tear and opaline bubbletear. Equip them in your flask of wondrous physick at a site of grace.

24. The isolated merchant in the southwest corner of the Weeping Peninsula sells a lantern for 1800 runes which is enormously useful in dark places. The lantern can go on your hotbar, alongside the ring to summon torrent, the flask of wondrous physick, and your HP and FP flasks.

25. The erdtree’s favor talisman is found in Fringefolk Hero’s Grave near the starting area which requires two stonesword keys to unlock. Down the second ramp where the path narrows you can jump down the right side onto a secret platform. You can throw a kukri to deactivate the fire breathing statue, and at the end of the tunnel is the talisman. The room containing the talisman is heavily guarded, so be swift. There’s a hidden platform near the entrance you can drop down to to escape.

26. Follow the road northwest from Stormhill Shack to enter Stormveil Castle. The time has come to defeat Margit, the Fell Omen to get a second talisman pouch. Once you’re victorious you can equip the erdtree’s favor talisman.

27. Loot the misericorde dagger and the iron whetblade from a room locked behind an imp statue near the Grafted Scion enemy in Stormveil Castle.

28. Warp to Stormhill Shack, then ride north past Stormveil Castle, hugging its east-facing wall, to reach the next zone: Liurnia of the lakes. Ride down to the Liurnia Lakeshore site of grace and northeast to the Village of the Albinaurics beneath the huge cliff. Here, talk to Albus, who’s disguised as a pot, to get half of the Haligtree medallion.

29. Return to the Liurnia Lakeshore site of grace and follow the road north along the eastern edge of Liurnia until you reach the Carion Study Hall. Kill the Tibia Mariner out front for its deathroot. Warp to the Bestial Sanctum and give the deathroot to Gurranq to receive the bestial vitality incantation.

30. Kill the Leyendell Knight patrolling just north of the Carion Study Hall to get the dragon cult prayerbook. Head further north to the church of Vows and give the prayerbook to Muriel, Pastor of Vows. Purchase the electrify armament incantation from him for 4000 runes. Don’t forget to grab the gold sewing needle from a chest inside the church. Give it to Boc the Seamster so he can alter the attire of demigods.
Right before fighting a boss, drink your flask of wondrous physick, and with 16 mind, you have just enough FP to cast the golden vow ash of war, apply electrify armament to your main weapon, then cast flame grant me strength. Refill your FP with your flask of cerulean tears, then go kill the boss before your buffs run out.

31. Ride past the left side of the Academy of Raya Lucaria until you encounter Glintstone Dragon Smarag. No need to fight it yet, simply grab the academy glintstone key it guards and escape. Use it to enter the academy, then touch the floating blue portal near the Main Academy Gate site of grace to warp across the broken bridge to the East Raya Lucaria site of grace. Pass time at the site of grace until nightfall, then just ahead will be the Night’s Cavalry boss you need to defeat to get the giant hunt ash of war. I prefer to use this ash of war over lion’s claw, but both are very strong.

Points of Interest III

32. Kill the Putrid Avatar outside the Minor Erdtree Catacombs in northwest Caelid to get the greenburst crystal tear. Equip it in place of the crimsonburst crystal tear. Afterwards, return to the Rotview Balcony site of grace and head south to Gael Tunnel. Talk to Iron Fist Alexander next to the site of grace at the end of the tunnel.

33. Warp to the Smoldering Wall site of grace in Caelid and ride east to the Abandoned Cave. Defeating the boss will earn you the golden scarab talisman that increases rune acquisition by 20%. You can equip this talisman just after killing a boss to reap its benefit, as there’s a short delay between when the boss dies, and when you’re granted their runes.

34. South of the Third Church of Marika is the entrance to the Siofra River Well. At the end of the Siofra River is a lift that takes you up to a canyon in Caelid. At the end of the canyon you can challenge the Great Jar’s champions by interacting with their summon signs on the ground. Once you’re victorious, the Great Jar will award you the great jar’s arsenal talisman. I find it’s easier to beat the Great Jar’s champions if you start the game in offline mode.

35. Defeat shardbearers Godrick the Grafted, waiting at the end of Stormveil Castle, and the Renalla of the Full Moon, cloistered atop the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Then, talk to Finger Reader Enia in Roundtable Hold to get a third talisman pouch and equip the great jar’s arsenal.

36. To get the Radahn festival in Redmane Castle to start, activate the Grand Lift of Dectus at the north end of Liurnia of the Lakes with both halves of the Dectus medallion, and rest at a site of grace in the Altus Plateau region. Now that the festival has started, the waygate next to the Impassable Greatbridge site of grace in southern Caelid will be active, providing a shortcut into Redmane Castle. Talk to Iron Fist Alexander who’s already there. Now it’s time to defeat Starscourge Radahn, which will open the path underground to Nokron, the Eternal City. Once he’s put to rest, the General Radahn armor set will be purchasable from Finger Reader Enia in Roundtable Hold for 36,000 runes. Equip the entire set once you have 36 endurance.

37. Ride north from the Grand Lift of Dectus in the Altus Plateau to the Seethewater River site of grace. From here you can continue north and circle around Volcano Manor until you find Iron Fist Alexander who’s bathing in lava near the Seethwater Terminus site of grace. Talk to him again and he’ll move to his final location.

38. Kill the Putrid Avatar in Dragonbarrow to get the opaline hardtear. Equip it in place of the opaline bubbletear.

39. Loot the dragoncrest shield talisman +1 from the Sainted Hero’s Grave in the Altus Plateau. You can reach the Sainted Hero’s Grave by following the road northeast to the broken bridge, taking the waygate to the other side of the bridge, then following the road southeast. The road will curve around to the southwest until you’re on the higher plateau where the Sainted Hero’s Grave is.

40. Defeat the boss of the Black Knife Catacombs in northeast Liurnia of the Lakes, kill the Tibia Mariner in the Wyndham Ruins on the west side of the Altus Plateau, and defeat the boss of Gelmir Hero’s Grave on Mt. Gelmir for a sixth deathroot you can trade Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, for the stone of Gurranq incantation.

41. Travel north around the wall defending the Capital Outskirts to reach the Auriza Hero’s Grave. Raise the fire-breathing pillar toward the end of the zone to summon a chariot that will crash into the others, dropping the tree sentinel armor set. Equip the tree sentinel chest armor, greaves, and gauntlets. You’ll still have to wear the lighter Radahn’s redmane helm for now.

42. Defeat the boss of the Subterranean Shunning Grounds below Leyndell to get the erdtree’s favor +1. You can reach this area by descending the well near the Avenue Balcony site of grace.

43. The final talisman pouch drops from Godfrey’s Shade in the Erdtree Sanctuary high above Leyndell. Equip the gold scarab.

44. The veteran’s armor set can be purchased from Enia in Roundtable Hold after defeating the boss of Castle Sol on the northern tip of the Mountaintops of the Giants. Purchase the helmet for 4000 runes, but you’ll have to wait to use it.

45. The dragoncrest greatshield talisman can be found near the roots of Miquella’s Haligtree. You’ll need to activate the Grand Lift of Rold with both halves of the Haligtree medallion and cross another zone to get there. You should have both by now, as the second half drops from the boss of Castle Sol.

46. Find Iron Fist Alexander in Crumbling Farram Azula to receive the shard of Alexander talisman. Equip it in place of the gold scarab once you reach rune level 150, or during difficult fights.

47. The erdtree’s favor +2 can be found in the Ashen Capital after entering the area backwards from the Forbidden Lands. Now you can equip the veteran’s helm, and equip the misericorde instead of your dagger. Apply the golden vow ash of war to the misericorde with a heavy infusion, and level it up so you can use it for repostes.

Stats

This is how I recommend leveling up your stats as you progress through the game. It is not a rigid doctrine and has room for adaptation. This template is for a rune level 150 build. Many people don’t level past 150 in order to more easily matchmake with other players.

Since your strength is increased by 50% when two-handing a weapon, you don't actually need to invest that much in strength to deal high damage. Once you hit the strength softcap at 80 strength, 54-when two-handing, mind becomes a more efficient stat to increase your dps. With 29 mind you can cast the lion's claw ash of war 8 times in a row, and giant hunt 10 times in a row. I recommend bringing strength up to 60, not so much for the small damage increase, but because strength also grants physical defense, which softcaps at 60. Having 15 faith is another good investment. It unlocks a number of useful spells, including damage buffs like flame grant me strength.

1. Start with the vagabond class and golden seed burial gift.
2. Level endurance to 15.
3. Level faith to 10.
4. Level mind to 11.
5. Level strength to 21.
6. Level endurance to 29.
7. Level vigor to 30.
8. Level faith to 15.
9. Level mind to 16.
10. Level vigor to 40.
11. Level endurance to 36.
12. Level strength to 54.
13. Level vigor to 60.
14. Level mind to 29.
15. Level strength to 60.

Weapons

This is a list of some of my favorite strength weapons ordered based on how early they can be obtained. Strength builds typically go for non-unique weapons that can be heavy-infused to boost their strength scaling. All of these weapons have interchangeable ashes of war, so you can mix-and-match them to find your favorite combo.

1. The tried and true claymore is one of the most well-rounded weapons in the game and performs great on a strength build. The claymore is the only greatsword with a devastating thrust for a heavy attack, and the sword comes stock with one the best ashes of war in the game: lion’s claw. This sword’s called the baemore for a reason. The only thing keeping it from being the ultimate sword is that its two-handed light attacks are the common vertical slash moveset. The knight’s greatsword and a few others boast a fancier two-handed moveset with slightly better hitboxes. Dual-wielding these solves that problem though. You can loot the claymore from a chest inside Castle Morne.

2. The infamous greatsword is a fan favorite and it’s no surprise why. On top of being an obvious homage to Berserk, in exchange for its burdensome weight it boasts the longest range and highest damage among colossal swords. Colossal swords deal high stance damage and will frequently bring large enemies to their knees, especially when spamming a powerful ash of war like giant hunt. You can grab the greatsword from a chest in a carriage along the road into Caelid.

3. The clawmark seal is unique in that it’s the only sacred seal that partially scales with strength. This means that even if you have only the minimum faith required to cast a spell, it can still deal relevant damage. Healing spells and weapon buffing spells only factor in the faith portion of your spell buff scaling, but are still useful tools to have. When this seal is equipped in either hand, your bestial-type incantations deal 10% more damage. This is perfect, as bestial spells usually have low faith requirements. You get the seal by giving a deathroot to Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman.

4. The misericorde deals the highest critical hit damage of any weapon in the game. Strength builds typically use heavy main weapons that stagger foes often. You have just enough time after staggering a foe to swap to a secondary weapon, like the misericorde, and buff it with drawstring grease before performing a riposte. The other benefit of having a secondary weapon is that you can put the golden vow ash of war on it to use before hard fights, bypassing the incantation version’s 25 faith requirement. The misericorde can be found in a room in Stormveil Castle locked behind an imp statue.

5. The lance is the only greatspear from the base game that can be infused to improve its scaling. Greatspears deal high poise damage, but can be difficult to offend multiple opponents with. The lance is a very powerful weapon when dual-wielded, in no small part thanks to its jump attacks. The lance can be found atop a ruined structure along the road just east of the Warmaster’s shack in Limgrave. You can only get one lance per playthrough, but the serpent hunter is a viable substitute for a second lance until you reach new game plus.

6. The rusted anchor is a unique greataxe that deals thrust damage: the best damage type. Enemies’ and players’ thrust damage negation is lowered while they’re performing attack animations. This means you will deal bonus damage when you interrupt an enemy’s attack with your own. The rusted anchor is effective with the royal knight’s resolve ash of war to increase its damage further, or something like wild strikes to increase its attack speed. The rusted anchor can perform devastating jump attacks, especially when dual-wielded. Unfortunately, only one can be obtained per playthrough from the boss at the end of Morne Tunnel in the Weeping Peninsula.

7. The nightrider glaive is a halberd that can deal high damage on a strength build. Like greatswords, halberds are a well-rounded weapon type with few weaknesses. Dual-wield this weapon with the golden halberd if you like jump attacks or your hairline is receding. It drops from the night’s cavalry near the east Raya Lucaria site of grace.

8. Great stars is a great hammer with a few special abilities: it has innate hemorrhage buildup, and it heals you for 1% of your health each time you hit an enemy. This means that if you give it an ash of war that hits frequently, like prelate’s charge, you can quickly heal yourself to full. Great stars is also buffable. While only the first and last hit from prelate’s charge will apply a weapon’s innate hemorrhage buildup, every hit will apply the hemorrhage from bloodflame blade. This means that if you buff your weapon with bloodflame blade, you can deal devastating blood loss damage with a single prelate’s charge.
You can find two great stars per playthrough, which is great because great hammers deal high damage when dual wielded, and I think their dual-wielded moveset is better anyway. One can be stolen from a carriage pulled by trolls near the Road of Iniquity Side Path site of grace in the Altus Plateau. Another drops from Magnus Beast Claw, who you will invade as part of White Mask Varre’s questline in the Writeblood Ruins, also in the Altus Plateau.

9. The giant crusher is a colossal weapon and the heaviest weapon in the game. It can deal the highest physical damage of any weapon. The only drawback is that it lacks the range colossal swords enjoy. Still, this weapon’s heavy attack can one-shot monsters and players alike when buffed with the royal knight’s resolve ash of war. You can loot this weapon from a chest in a carriage south of the Outer Wall Phantom Tree site of grace in the Capital Outskirts.

10. The star fists are one of the hardest hitting fist weapons, and they deal innate hemorrhage buildup on top of that. While the star fists have very short range, they are excellent at killing bosses due to their speedy heavy attack. You probably know that charged heavy attacks deal significantly more stance damage than light attacks. The star fists’ charged heavy attack comes out so fast that you can squeeze it into short windows between boss attacks. With how often you can land charged heavy attacks, bosses will get staggered very quickly. Equip the cragblade ash of war to increase your stance damage even further.
As I discuss in the bleed build section below, star fists perform even better when occult-infused on an arcane build, where they deal about the same damage but have higher hemorrhage buildup. You can acquire a pair of star fists just outside of the Leyndell Colosseum.

Ashes of War

Most non-unique weapons have interchangeable ashes of war, giving you the freedom to pick whichever combination fits your fancy. You can pick an ash of war that compliments your weapon’s moveset. For example, the giant hunt ash of war comes out quickly, compensating for the greatsword’s slow moveset. Lion’s claw gives you instant hyper-armor, something a non-colossal weapon like the claymore somewhat lacks.

1. Golden vow is useful on off-hand weapons to buff yourself before big fights. The ash of war version of golden vow is weaker than the actual incantation, but doesn’t have a faith requirement. It drops from the mounted Godrick Knight who patrols the cliff above the Deathtouch Catacombs in Limgrave.

2. Storm blade is a ranged option for greatswords like the claymore. It can be purchased from Knight Bernahl at the Warmaster’s Shack for 1800 runes.

3. Lion’s Claw is the complete package. It deals high damage and stance damage, provides you with hyper-armor throughout the entire skill animation, and knocks down smaller opponents. Slay the Lion Guardian guarding Fort Gael in Caelid to acquire this ash of war.

4. Cragblade increases your attack rating by 15% and stance damage by 10% for 60 seconds. If you really like the base moveset of your weapon, why not enhance it? The only issue with cragblade is you get a similar damage buff from electrify armament, and you’ll likely see more than a 10% increase in stance damage by spamming ashes of war like giant hunt. To obtain cragblade, kill the teardrop scarab west of the Impassible Greatbridge site of grace.

5. Stormcaller is a great AOE skill for greatswords like the claymore. It hits many times and is perfect for applying the hemorrhage buildup granted by the bloodflame blade incantation. You can acquire it by killing the teardrop scarab just before the Secluded Cell site of grace in Stormveil Castle.

6. Giant hunt is one of my absolute favorites. It comes out faster than lion’s claw, and has a long range. It also deals high thrust damage, which is the best damage type. The start of the animation causes your character to crouch, allowing some attacks to miss you. Giant hunt’s stance damage was buffed and now deals as much as lion’s claw, as long as you’re using something bigger than a hammer. It costs 20% less FP than lion’s claw, and it knocks smaller foes high into the air. With giant hunt you can practically start your own space agency. Seek out the Night’s Cavalry near the East Raya Lucaria Gate site of grace to get it.

7. Waves of darkness is a great AOE skill for heavy weapons. Its range is massive and it hits four times, perfect for dealing with packs of monsters or gank squads. Trade Astel, Naturalborn of the Void’s remembrance to Enia in Roundtable Hold to acquire this ash of war.

8. Royal knight’s resolve boosts the damage of your next attack by 80% and can be devastating on weapons with powerful single attacks like the giant crusher. This ash of war can be found behind the imp seal near the portal that takes you to the boss of Volcano Manor. Drop down the cages until you reach the bottom and you can loot the ash of war from the next room.

9. Piercing fang is a solid option for greatswords like the claymore, giving it an even deadlier thrust. To acquire it, you must complete most of Bloody Finger Hunter Yura’s questline and defeat Eleonara, Violet Bloody Finger, who invades you in the Second Church of Marika. After which, Yura will give you his katana, the nagakiba, and you can extract the piercing fang ash of war from it by talking to Smithing Master Hewg.

10. Prelate’s charge is great for ragdolling humanoid bosses. Stick it on the great stars greathammer for infinite healing. Only the first and last hits of prelate’s charge apply status effects, but every hit applies the hemorrhage buildup granted by the bloodflame blade incantation. This interaction can be used to deal tremendous damage against bleedable enemies. This ash of war drops from the teardrop scarab hanging from a tree south of the Whiteridge Road site of grace.

Spells

This is a list of six incantations with low faith requirements I think could be useful, ordered by how early they can be obtained.

1. Catch flame is probably the strongest melee spell in the game, and is great for killing fire-weak foes like Erdtree avatars. Catch flame doesn’t cost much FP, and is easy to spam repeatedly. You can buy it from Brother Corhyn in Roundtable Hold for 600 runes.

2. Flame grant me strength boosts your physical and fire damage by 20% for 30 seconds. The spell can be found behind Fort Gael in Caelid. The one downside is that the buff only lasts 30 seconds.

3. Beastial vitality is the most FP-efficient healing spell in the game. Give Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, three deathroots to receive this incantation. It heals five HP per second over a course of two minutes and doesn’t scale with faith. It’s great to use when exploring to stretch out your flask of crimson tears, and can be cast before boss fights to help mitigate damage.

4. Electrify armament adds lightning damage to your weapon for 90 seconds. This spell only scales with faith unfortunately, but is still better than using regular old lightning grease. This spell is sold by Muriel, Pastor of Vows, after giving him the dragon cult prayerbook.

5. Bloodflame blade is a weapon buff that adds fire damage to your weapon and 40 hemorrhage buildup for 60 seconds. It doesn’t increase your damage as much as electrify armament, but its hemorrhage buildup can be applied by ashes of war that don’t normally apply status buildup on every hit. Prelates charge and stormcaller, to name a few, attack very quickly and can deal disgusting amounts of damage when combined with bloodflame blade. You can get bloodflame blade by killing the teardrop scarab northwest of the Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes. In order to have enough arcane to cast it you’ll need to equip the silver tear mask that drops from the first boss in Nokron, Eternal City.

6. Stone of Gurranq is your highest damage, spamable, long range spell. It also deals decent stance damage and has a somewhat large hitbox. Learn stone of Gurranq from Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, after giving him six deathroots.

Bleed Build

My bleed (hemorrhage) build is designed to dish out the maximum amount of hemorrhage buildup reasonably possible. This will let you melt any boss that’s not completely immune to blood loss, and one-shot weaker foes with low hemorrhage resistance. The best way to do this that I’ve come up with is to dual-wield godskin peeler twinblades and jump attack. Jump attacks aren’t the only attack in your arsenal though, and I also provide alternate weapon options if twinblades aren’t your style. Bleed builds typically have less weapons to choose from than other builds, but make up for it with their shear DPS.

Points of Interest

This is a short list of things that will increase your character’s power early on. Make sure to explore all over and level up before trying to complete the later steps on this list. I recommend prioritizing finding golden seeds and sacred tears to upgrade your flasks before fighting difficult bosses. The maps I link at the end of the google doc version of this guide are great tools to locate things.

1. Choose the hero class and pick the golden seed keepsake. You can alter your appearance in-game too. After fighting the Grafted Scion boss, you’ll wake up with a crevice to your right and a ghost telling you to jump down into it. This is the tutorial area: the Cave of Knowledge. At a site of grace you can allot the charges of your flask of crimson and cerulean tears. I recommend putting everything into your flask of crimson tears.

2. Starting from the First Steps site of grace, run north to the church of Elleh and talk to merchant Kale. Avoid the Tree Sentinel patrolling the road for now. From the church, continue along the path traveling north and pick up some kukri just left of the path near a soldier. At the end of the path you can spot the Gatefront Ruins site of grace where you will acquire Torrent.

3. Grab the map below the pillar in the center of the Gatefront Ruins, then look for a staircase on the south side of the ruins. It leads underground to a chest containing the whetstone knife.

4. Ride west past the Stormgate and talk to Roderika in Stormhill Shack. Grab the golden seed and stonesword key nearby.

5. Ride east to the Warmaster’s Shack and up the hill to the northeast. Here, kill the mounted Godrick Knight to get the golden vow ash of war. The knight is patrolling the east-facing cliff just above the Deathtouch Catacombs.

6. Warp back to the Gatefront Ruins site of grace and wait till daytime. Follow the road east until you cross a bridge. On the right side of the road, loot a somber smithing stone 1 from a corpse sitting on a chair overlooking the lake. Keep following the road south until you reach the Agheel Lake South site of grace. Up the hill to the east you can loot the great épée from a chest guarded by several enemies.

7. Level up your dexterity to level 17 at a site of grace and equip the great épée in two hands, un-equipping your axe and shield. Use your new weapon to kill the Bloodhound Knight in the Forlorn Hound’s Evergaol to the south. The great épée’s ash of war “impaling thrust” deals high damage and has long range, perfect for dealing with the dangerous and mobile Bloodhound Knight. A couple of these should stagger him, allowing you to ripost for considerable damage. Heroes only start with 9 mind stat, so if you miss the ash of war you’ll run out of FP and have to use jumping attacks to finish off the Bloodhound Knight. Once you’re victorious, equip the bloodhound’s fang curved greatsword he drops and level it up to +1 at the Church of Elleh smithing table.

8. Return to the Gatefront Ruins site of grace and follow the road east again. This time, after crossing the bridge, go left at the fork and follow the road northeast until you reach the Third Church of Marika. Grab the flask of wondrous physick, and collect the sacred tear you can find in most churches. Now enter the portal just north of the church to warp to the Beastial Sanctum in Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow.

9. Resting at a site of grace in a place like Dragonbarrow will grant you access to Roundtable Hold. Talk to everyone in the hold, then buy a dagger from the Twin Maiden Husks for 400 runes. Apply the golden vow ash of war to it at a site of grace. This can be equipped in your second main-hand slot to apply the buff before boss fights. Buy the knight armor set, excluding the helmet, for 10,500 runes as soon as you can afford it. You’ll be wearing this set for a while.

10. Warp back to the Beastial Sanctum. Just down the road is a golden seed you can grab, but steer clear of the Black Blade Kindred boss stationed outside. Warp back to the sanctum once more, then exit out the doors and immediately head to the right. Parkour down onto the roots below the southwest cliff next to the sanctum. Drop all the way down the stone pillars to the lowest level where you can loot the dragoncrest shield talisman. Wear it if you like living. If you can’t open the map after taking this route, quit-out to reset enemy aggro.

11. Warp to the Agheel Lake South site of grace and follow the road south until you reach the bridge to the Weeping Peninsula. Grab the stonesword key sitting on the bridge, then follow the road south all the way to Castle Morne. You can find a somber smithing stone 2 near some Spirit Jellyfish just east of the castle. Use it to further upgrade your weapon.

12. Return to the Agheel Lake South site of grace once more and ride west to the Seaside Ruins site of grace where you’ll meet Bloody Finger Hunter Yura. Ride north across the lake and under the bridge. An NPC will invade you in this area. After you defeat him, talk to Yura again who’s waiting for you further north.

13. Warp to the Warmaster’s Shack and follow the road east past the Saintsbridge and Summonwater Village until you reach the Smouldering Church in Caelid. Head northeast and follow the cliffside down past the Putrid Avatar and into the Minor Erdtree Catacombs. Send the lift back up and hop down the hole left by the lift. Quickly run up the staircase on the right and up a ladder to reach a room containing the imp head (wolf) helmet. Equip the helmet, it’s a huge upgrade over your starting gear.

Points of Interest II

14. Warp back to the Church of Elleh site of grace and head west down to the beach, then south along the beach to where you can loot a gold pickled foul foot next to a spiritspring.

15. Warp to Lenne’s Rise in Dragonbarrow and take the spirit spring up above the cliff. Run down the hill, behind the minor erdtree guarded by a Putrid Avatar, and up another spiritspring that will take you to Fort Faroth. A golden rune 12 worth 7,500 runes can be found in the fort, and a stonesword key can be looted from atop the giant skull just west of the fort.

16. Use the bloodhound fang’s innate hemorrhage status buildup to kill Elder Dragon Greyoll in front of the fort. Filling up her invisible hemorrhage meter by attacking enough times will proc blood loss, removing over 1/7th of her HP. Consume your gold pickled foul foot right before Greyoll dies to receive 30% extra runes from killing her.

17. Grab the other half of the Dectus medallion from atop Fort Haight in Limgrave. The fort sits at the end of the road leading south from the Third Church of Marika. Kill the Godrick Knight inside the fort to get the bloody slash ash of war.

18. Beneath the minor erdtree in the Weeping Peninsula is an Erdtree Avatar boss that drops the crimsonburst crystal tear and opaline bubbletear. Equip them in your flask of wondrous physick at a site of grace.

19. The Isolated Merchant in the southwest corner of the Weeping Peninsula sells a lantern for 1800 runes which is enormously useful in dark places. The lantern can go on your hotbar, alongside the ring to summon torrent, the flask of wondrous physick, and your flask of crimson tears.

20. The erdtree’s favor talisman is found in Fringefolk Hero’s Grave near the starting area which requires two stonesword keys to unlock. Halfway down the second ramp, where the path narrows, you can jump down the right side onto a secret platform. You can throw a kukri to deactivate the fire breathing statue, and at the end of the tunnel is the talisman. The room containing the talisman is heavily guarded so be swift. Once you have the talisman, run back across the bridge towards the room’s entrance and there’s a hidden platform you can drop down to that leads to a stonesword key.

21. Follow the road northwest from Stormhill Shack to enter Stormveil Castle. The time has come to defeat Margit, the Fell Omen to get a second talisman pouch. Once you’re victorious you can equip the erdtree’s favor talisman.

22. Pick up the claw talisman just west of the Rampart Tower site of grace in Stormveil Castle, high up on the roof of a tower.

23. Warp to Stormhill Shack, then ride north past Stormveil castle, hugging the east-facing wall, to reach the next zone: Liurnia of the lakes. Head down to the lake, then ride northwest to the Village of the Albinaurics beneath the huge cliff. Talk to Albus, who’s disguised as a pot, to get half of the Haligtree medallion.

24. Ride past the left side of the Academy of Raya Lucaria until you encounter Glintstone Dragon Smarag. No need to fight it yet, simply grab the academy glintstone key it guards and escape. Keep heading north and pick up somber smithing stones 3 and 4 from corpses sitting on chairs along the shore north of the Academy of Raya Lucaria.

25. Use the academy glintstone key to enter the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Touch the red summon sign near the Main Academy Gate site of grace to assist Bloody Finger Hunter Yura. Talk to him afterward to progress his questline.

26. Use two stonesword keys to enter Gaol Cave, south of Gael Tunnel where you can find a somber smithing stone 5 in a chest. Be careful not to level the bloodhound’s fang past +5, as somber smithing stones 6 are rare in early game zones, and you’ll need one later.

27. Kill the Putrid Avatar outside the Minor Erdtree Catacombs in northwest Caelid to get the greenburst crystal tear. Equip it in place of the crimsonburst crystal tear.

28. Use the Dectus medallion to operate the Grand Lift of Dectus in northeast Liurnia to access the Altus Plateau. Follow the road northeast up the hill, then once the road turns to face due east, instead head west and jump down to the Second Church of Marika. Here you’ll be invaded by Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger, who drops Eleonora’s poleblade.

29. Return to the road and follow it east to the collapsed bridge. Enter the nearby waygate that will take you to the other side, then follow the road east to Dominula, Windmill Village. Kill the Godskin Apostle at the top of the hill to get the godskin stitcher twinblade. Apply the bloody slash ash of war to the godskin stitcher with a blood infusion. Upgrade these two twinblades as much as you can and equip them in place of the bloodhound’s fang, with Eleonora’s poleblade in your main hand. The wiki page I link here in the google doc version of this guide details a route to get enough smithing stones to upgrade your weapon to +15 without even having to fight a boss.

30. To upgrade Eleonora’s poleblade as well: A somber smithing stone 6 drops from the boss of Sellia Crystal Tunnel. The tunnel can be found on the northeast shore of the Swamp of Aeonia. For later: Grab the somber smithing stone 8 that drops from a teardrop scarab just south of the Divine Tower of Caelid in Dragonbarrow. Down near the base of the tower, on the right side, is a somber smithing stone 9.

Points of Interest III

31. Warp to the Smoldering Wall site of grace in Caelid and ride east to the Abandoned Cave. Defeating the boss will earn you the golden scarab talisman that increases rune acquisition by 20%. You can equip this talisman just after killing a boss to reap its benefit, as there’s a short delay between when the boss dies, and when you’re granted their runes.

32. Defeat shardbearers Godrick the Grafted, waiting at the end of Stormveil Castle, and the Renalla of the Full Moon, cloistered atop the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Then, talk to Finger Reader Enia in Roundtable Hold to get a third talisman pouch and equip the claw talisman.

33. To get the Radahn festival in Redmane Castle to start, activate the Grand Lift of Dectus at the north end of Liurnia of the Lakes with both halves of the Dectus medallion, and rest at a site of grace in the Altus Plateau region. Now that the festival has started, the waygate next to the Impassable Greatbridge site of grace in southern Caelid will be active, providing a shortcut into Redmane Castle. Now you can defeat Starscourge Radahn, opening the path underground where you can find some high-level upgrade materials. Once he’s put to rest, the General Radahn armor set will be purchasable from Finger Reader Enia in Roundtable Hold for 36,000 runes. Equip the full set once your endurance is at least level 32.

34. Kill the Putrid Avatar in Dragonbarrow to get the opaline hardtear. Equip it in place of the opaline bubbletear.

35. Loot the dragoncrest shield talisman +1 from the Sainted Hero’s Grave in the Altus Plateau. You can reach the Sainted Hero’s Grave by following the road northeast to the broken bridge, taking the waygate to the other side of the bridge, then following the road southeast. The road will curve around to the southwest until you’re on the higher plateau where the Sainted Hero’s Grave is.

36. Travel north around the wall defending the Capital Outskirts to reach the Auriza Hero’s Grave. Raise the fire-breathing pillar toward the end of the zone to summon a chariot that will crash into the others, dropping the tree sentinel armor set. Equip the full set once your endurance is at least level 36.

37. Defeat the boss of the Subterranean Shunning Grounds below Leyndell to get the erdtree’s favor +1. You can reach this area by descending the well near the Avenue Balcony site of grace.

38. The lord of blood’s exultation drops from the boss of the Leyndell Catacombs. From the Underground Roadside site of grace in the Subterranian Shunning Grounds, enter the large room full of imps crawling across suspended pipes. Drop all the way down to the bottom of the room. Past two Giant Crayfish is a hole in the wall that leads to the Leyndell Catacombs.

39. The final talisman pouch drops from Godfrey’s Shade in the Erdtree Sanctuary high above Leyndell. Equip the gold scarab.

40. The seppuku ash of war drops from a teardrop scarab on the frozen lake in the northwest corner of the Mountaintops of the Giants, and should be applied to your godskin peeler with a blood infusion.

41. The veteran's armor set can be purchased from Enia in Roundtable Hold after defeating the boss of Castle Sol on the northern tip of the Mountaintops of the Giants. Purchase the helmet for 4000 runes and equip it if you want to be more fashionable.

42. Kill the Putrid Avatar in the northeast corner of the Consecrated Snowfield to get the thorny cracked tear. Equip it in place of the greenburst crystal tear. You’ll need to activate the Grand Lift of Rold with both halves of the Haligtree medallion to get there. You should have both by now, as the second half drops from the boss of Castle Sol.

43. The dragoncrest greatshield talisman can be found near the roots of Miquella’s Haligtree. A portal northwest of the Putrid Avatar in the Consecrated Snowfield will take you to the branches of the Haligtree.

44. The erdtree’s favor +2 can be found in the Ashen Capital after entering the area backwards from the Forbidden Lands.

45. The last thing to do that will complete the build is to beat the game and go to new game + to get a second godskin peeler.

Stats

This is how I recommend leveling up your stats as you progress through the game. It is not a rigid doctrine and has room for adaptation. This template is for a rune level 150 build. Most people don’t level past 150 in order to more easily matchmake with other players.

Blood-infused weapons scale with arcane and dexterity, but hemorrhage buildup innately scales with arcane as well, softcapping at 45 arcane. This build gets a lot more attack rating by bringing dexterity up to 45 than it would raising arcane higher. If you aim to use occult-infused weapons instead, keep dexterity at 20 and level arcane up to 70.

1. Start with the hero class and golden seed burial gift.
2. Level strength to 17.
3. Level dexterity to 17.
4. Level endurance to 15.
5. Level vigor to 20.
6. Level dexterity to 22.
7. Level endurance to 19.
8. Level vigor to 30.
9. Level arcane to 19.
10. Level vigor to 40.
11. Level endurance to 38.
12. Level arcane to 45.
13. Level vigor to 60.
14. Level dexterity to 45.

Weapons

This is a chronological list detailing three weapons I recommend using in order of how early you can acquire them, followed by four strong alternative options. In short: the bloodhound blade is a great weapon to get early that will carry you to the Altus Plateau where the strongest twinblades can be found. The goal of this build is to dual wield twinblades as they apply just about the highest possible hemorrhage buildup per second and thus have some of the highest dps in the game.

Some info about hemorrhage: because dual-wielded twinblades and curved swords have jumping attacks that hit four times they are the two best weapon types for status effect builds. The strongest status effect being hemorrhage as it can be continuously applied with zero downtime. Blood loss deals 100 or 200 damage plus a percentage of an enemy’s health, typically 15% for regular enemies and 10.5% for bosses, enabling one to slay bosses with extremely high health pools with ease. Curved swords are the only weapon type with a running attack that hits four times, but twinblades are superior as they deal the same hemorrhage buildup as greatswords, even though their attack speed is closer to light weapons like curved swords which receive less status buildup from infusions.

Note that dual-wielded weapons only apply 65% of their written status buildup. So instead of dealing 200% buildup when landing a dual-wielded hit, only 130% buildup is applied. That’s why this build focuses on jumping or running attacks that hit four times; 260% status buildup is still a devastating amount.

1. The bloodhound blade is a curved greatsword with a unique ash of war that deals high damage and stance damage. It drops from the Bloodhound Knight in the Forlorn Hound’s Evergaol east of the starting area. This is a great starting weapon as long as you meet the minimum stat requirements. Feel free to upgrade it to +5, but don’t waste level 6 somber smithing stones on it, save those to upgrade more permanent weapons like Eleonora’s poleblade. The bloodhound blade has some hemorrhage buildup but is too slow to proc blood loss consistently. That’s ok as it has an unusually high attack rating, and a passive ability that increases the damage of jump attacks by 10%.

2. Eleonora's poleblade is dropped by Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger, who will invade you at the Second Church of Marika in the Altus Plateau. This weapon has a unique ash of war that is too telegraphed for PvP, but deals high damage and stance damage in PvE. While it’s not the best weapon for an endgame bleed build, it’s great in the early and mid-game when dual wielded with a blood-infused godskin peeler, as both scale with arcane and dexterity. The biggest advantage of Eleonora’s poleblade is that it’s a unique weapon that’s upgraded with somber smithing stones, freeing you from having to divide your standard smithing stones between two weapons.
I recommend keeping this in your main hand at first, as during the first half of your initial playthrough you won’t have access to many good ashes of war you can put on the godskin peeler. Once you obtain the seppuku ash of war you should put the godskin peeler in your main hand, and the poleblade in your offhand.

3. The godskin peeler twinblade drops from the Godskin Apostle in the Windmill Village of the Altus Plateau. This is my preferred weapon for this build and the number one thing to get in new game plus so they can be dual wielded. Because the godskin peeler is a regular weapon with an interchangeable ash of war, you can blood-infuse it, and give it the seppuku ash of war to enhance its already impressive hemorrhage buildup. Once you have a second godskin peeler, you can two-hand the one in your offhand, cast seppuku, go back to dual wielding, then apply seppuku on your right hand weapon as well.
With 45 arcane the blood-infused godskin peeler deals 132 hemorrhage buildup. A dual-wielded attack using two of them would deal 132 * 2 * 0.65 = 171 buildup, rounded down. A jumping attack would deal an insane 171 * 2 = 342 buildup. At 45 arcane seppuku adds 39 buildup, 132 + 39 = 171, 171 * 2 * 0.65 = 222 for dual-wielded attacks, and 222 * 2 = 444 for jumping attacks with seppuku. That’s enough to even proc blood loss on many hemorrhage-resistant enemies in one hit.

4. Alternatively, if you care more about PvP or find yourself performing a lot of running attacks, curved swords are the second best weapon type to apply hemorrhage, as they are the only other weapon who’s jumping attacks hit four times. They apply less buildup than twinblades but have faster light attacks and possess the only running attack that hits four times.
If that sounds appealing, you'll want to farm two bandit’s curved swords. This is the longest, heaviest, and highest attack rating curved sword. The bandit’s curved sword’s base drop rate is 1.5%, and it can be farmed from the skeletal soldier who wields them in the graveyard behind the Church of Pilgrimage in the Weeping Peninsula. Just like the godskin peeler, you should blood-infuse these and give them both the seppuku ash of war for maximum damage.

5. However, you don’t need to blood-infuse a weapon to make a bleed build, another option is to use a weapon that has hemorrhage buildup by default and give it an occult infusion. Hemorrhage buildup scales with the arcane stat naturally, and since the occult infusion causes a weapon’s damage to scale with the arcane stat, the occult infusion is a no-brainer.
One of the best candidates for the occult infusion is the scavenger's curved sword which can be looted on Mt. Gelmir. Though like the godskin peeler, the only way to obtain a second one is by going to NG+ or having a friend drop you theirs. There are no other curved swords with base hemorrhage that can be used in an arcane build which is why twinblades are easier to level with. Blood-infused weapons deal more hemorrhage buildup, but occult weapons typically deal slightly higher physical damage. If you want to try an occult build, drop dexterity down to 20, and raise arcane up to 70. The seppuku ash of war scales solely with the arcane stat, so it’s even more important for occult builds.

6. The cross-naginata is another strong weapon when occult-infused. Spears are great in duels due to their speed and reach, but sometimes struggle against multiple opponents. Like all spears I recommend dual-wielding them, which means you’ll have to go to new game plus to acquire a second one. You can find a cross-naginata in Gael Tunnel, near the border between Limgrave and Caelid.

7. The star fists are one of the hardest hitting fist weapons, and they deal innate hemorrhage buildup on top of that, making them perfect for an occult infusion. While the star fists have very short range, they are excellent at killing bosses due to their speedy heavy attack. You probably know that charged heavy attacks deal significantly more stance damage than light attacks. The star fists’ charged heavy attack comes out so fast that you can squeeze it into short windows between boss attacks. With how often you can land charged heavy attacks, bosses will get staggered very quickly. Equip the cragblade ash of war to increase your stance damage even further. You can acquire a pair of star fists just outside of the Leyndell Colosseum.

Ashes of War

Non-unique weapons can be infused with custom, interchangeable ashes of war, replacing the weapon-art system from Dark Souls III.

1. Early game you can use bloody slash to apply a bleed infusion to your weapon. It’s dropped by the Godrick Knight who’s taken over Fort Haight. Bloody slash itself deals high damage and scales with arcane.

2. Golden vow boosts attack rating by 11.5% and damage absorption by 7.5%. The spell of the same name requires 25 faith, but you can bypass this by using the ash of war. Slap golden vow on a lightweight weapon like the dagger, and equip it as your secondary weapon in your main hand. The ash of war gives slightly lower bonuses than the actual spell, but it can be acquired very early in the game by killing the mounted Godrick Knight northeast of the Warmancer’s Shack in Stormhill.

3. Cragblade increases your attack rating by 15% and stance damage by 10% for 60 seconds. Cragblade synergizes with weapons that already deal high stance damage, like the star fists. As opposed to dual wielding, with paired weapons like the star fists both weapons receive cragblade’s buff. To obtain cragblade, kill the teardrop scarab west of the Impassible Greatbridge site of grace in Caelid.

4. Seppuku is an incredibly strong weapon buff that increases a weapon’s hemorrhage buildup for 60 seconds and slightly increases its AR. It’s found by killing a teardrop scarab on the frozen lake in the Mountaintops of the Giants. It costs 15% of your health to cast but only costs four FP. Each cast procs the lord of blood’s exaltation talisman. At base, seppuku adds 30 hemorrhage buildup to your weapon, but it scales with the arcane stat. With 45 arcane, seppuku adds 39 hemorrhage buildup to your weapon, as well as around 30 attack power. Have Smithing Master Hewg duplicate it so you can apply seppuku to both of your weapons.

Intelligence Build

Full intelligence builds like this one have access to every sorcery in the game, and are effective with nearly any weapon that can be cold-infused. Another reason to play an int build is so you can use some of the strongest weapons in the game like the moonveil katana and the darkmoon greatsword. There aren’t too many other great intelligence melee weapons, but intelligence builds specialize in offensive spells and have a vast arsenal to choose from.

Points of Interest

This is a short list of things that will increase your character’s power early on. Make sure to explore all over and level up before trying to complete the later steps on this list. I recommend prioritizing finding golden seeds and sacred tears to upgrade your flasks before fighting difficult bosses. The maps I link at the end of the google doc version of this guide are great tools to locate things.

1. Choose the prisoner class and pick the golden seed keepsake. You can alter your appearance in-game too. Prisoners start with a shield equipped, alongside their sword and staff. Unequip the shield, it only adds extra weight. After fighting the Grafted Scion boss, you’ll wake up with a crevice to your right and a ghost telling you to jump down into it. This is the tutorial area: the Cave of Knowledge. At a site of grace you can allot the charges of your flask of crimson and cerulean tears. I recommend splitting charges between the two 50/50.

2. Starting from the First Steps site of grace, run north to the church of Elleh and talk to merchant Kale. Avoid the Tree Sentinel patrolling the road for now. From the church, continue along the path traveling north and pick up some kukri just left of the path near a soldier. At the end of the path you can spot the Gatefront Ruins site of grace where you will acquire Torrent.

3. Grab the map below the pillar in the center of the Gatefront Ruins, then look for a staircase on the south side of the ruins. It leads underground to a chest containing the whetstone knife.

4. Ride west past the Stormgate and talk to Roderika in Stormhill Shack. Grab the golden seed and stonesword key nearby.

5. Ride east to the Warmaster’s Shack and up the hill to the northeast. Here, kill the mounted Godrick Knight to get the golden vow ash of war. The knight is patrolling the east-facing cliff just above the Deathtouch Catacombs. Ride back down the hill and follow the road east to the Saintsbridge site of grace. Up a small hill to the south is Iron Fist Alexander who needs your help.

6. Warp back to the Gatefront Ruins site of grace and wait till daytime. Follow the road east until you cross a bridge. On the right side of the road, loot a somber smithing stone 1 from a corpse sitting on a chair overlooking the lake. Keep following the road south until you reach the Agheel Lake South site of grace. At the top of the hill to the east is a ruined structure guarded by sorcerers where you can loot the sacred house scroll.

7. Ride west to the Seaside Ruins site of grace. Look for a ledge below the cliffside you can safely drop down to. At the bottom of the cliff is an Alabaster Lord that drops the gravitas ash of war. Apply gravitas to your estoc with a magic infusion at a site of grace.

8. Return to the Gatefront Ruins site of grace and follow the road east again. This time, after crossing the bridge, go left at the fork and follow the road northeast until you reach the Third Church of Marika. Grab the flask of wondrous physick, and collect the sacred tear you can find in most churches. Now enter the portal just north of the church to warp to the Beastial Sanctum in Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow.

9. Resting at a site of grace in a place like Dragonbarrow will grant you access to Roundtable Hold. Talk to everyone in the hold, then buy a dagger from the Twin Maiden Husks for 400 runes. Apply the golden vow ash of war to it at a site of grace. This can be equipped in your second main-hand slot to apply the buff before boss fights. Buy the knight armor set, excluding the helmet, for 10,500 runes as soon as you can afford it. You need 17 endurance to wear it. Last, buy the memory stone for 3000 runes.

10. Warp back to the Beastial Sanctum, then exit out the doors and immediately head to the right. Parkour down onto the roots below the southwest cliff next to the sanctum. Drop all the way down the stone pillars to the lowest level where you can loot the dragoncrest shield talisman. Wear it if you like living. If you can’t open the map after taking this route, quit-out to reset enemy aggro.

11. Warp back to the Beastial Sanctum once more and grab the golden seed down the road. Steer clear of the Black Blade Kindred boss stationed outside. During the daytime, take the path left of the Farum Greatbridge site of grace that leads down a hill and across a smaller bridge to Lenne’s Rise. Use the nearby spiritspring to jump onto the roof and drop onto a balcony to get inside. At the top of the building is a chest containing a memory stone.

12. Warp to the Agheel Lake South site of grace and follow the road south until you reach the bridge to the Weeping Peninsula. Grab the stonesword key sitting on the bridge, then grab the morning star from the chest in a carriage down the road.

13. Keep heading south until you reach the Castle Morne Rampart site of grace. Take the nearby spiritspring up the hill to reach Oridys’s Rise. Read the plaque out front then kill the three phantom turtles that spawn nearby. One of whom is invisible, sitting in the nearby pond. You can loot another memory stone from the chest inside the rise. Return to the road and head south to Castle Morne. You can find a somber smithing stone 2 near some Spirit Jellyfish just east of the castle.

14. Warp to the Saintsbridge and follow the road east past Summonwater Village until you reach the Smouldering Church in Caelid. Head northeast and follow the cliffside down past the Putrid Avatar and into the Minor Erdtree Catacombs. Send the lift back up and hop down the hole left by the lift. Quickly run up the staircase on the right and up a ladder to reach a room containing the imp head (wolf) helmet. Equip the helmet, it’s a huge upgrade over your starting gear.

15. Follow the road into Caelid past the Rotview Balcony, and south past the Smouldering Wall to the Astray from Caelid Highway North site of grace. Just east is the Aonia Swamp Shore site of grace. Enter the swamp and ride north to the Street of Sages Ruins where you can pick up the meteorite staff and rock sling sorcery. Equip both of these. The meteorite staff is much stronger than the glintstone staff you started with.

Points of Interest II

16. Warp back to the Church of Elleh site of grace and head west down to the beach, then south along the beach to where you can loot a gold pickled foul foot next to a spiritspring.

17. Warp to Lenne’s Rise in Dragonbarrow and take the spirit spring up above the cliff. Run down the hill, behind the minor erdtree guarded by a Putrid Avatar, and up another spiritspring that will take you to Fort Faroth. A golden rune 12 worth 7,500 runes can be found in the fort, and a stonesword key can be looted from atop the giant skull just west of the fort.

18. Use the morning star’s innate hemorrhage status buildup to kill Elder Dragon Greyoll in front of the fort. Filling up her invisible hemorrhage meter by attacking enough times will proc blood loss, removing over 1/7th of her HP. Consume your gold pickled foul foot right before Greyoll dies to receive 30% extra runes from killing her.

19. Warp to Stormhill Shack, then ride north past Stormveil Castle, hugging the east-facing wall, to reach the next zone: Liurnia of the Lakes. South of the Lake-Facing Cliffs site of grace is the Church of Irith where you’ll meet Thops, and in a graveyard to the northwest you can loot the academy scroll. Head down to the Liurnia Lakeshore site of grace and ride northwest to the Village of the Albinaurics beneath the huge cliff. Find Albus, who’s disguised as a pot, to get half of the Haligtree medallion.

20. Return to the Liurnia Lakeshore site of grace and follow the road north along the eastern edge of Liurnia until you reach the Carion Study Hall. The Carion glintstone staff is just before the second elevator. You can use this staff in your main hand to passively boost the damage of the Carion slicer sorcery by 15%. Make sure to cast your spells with the meteorite staff though, as the Carion glintstone staff itself deals low damage.

21. Head to the Church of Vows north of the study hall and give the royal house scroll and academy scroll to Miriel, Pastor of Vows. He will sell you the spells great glintstone shard: an upgrade to your magic glintblade sorcery, and Carion slicer: a spell that deals high dps at close range.

22. Grab the other half of the Dectus medallion from atop Fort Haight in Limgrave. The fort sits at the end of the road leading south from the Third Church of Marika.

23. North from the Agheel Lake South site of grace is the Waypoint Ruins. Inside the ruins you’ll find a staircase leading underground to a boss fight. Once you defeat the boss you can talk to Sorceress Sellen. We’ll come back to her questline later.

24. Beneath the minor erdtree in the Weeping Peninsula is an Erdtree Avatar boss that drops the crimsonburst crystal tear and opaline bubbletear. Equip these in your flask of wondrous physick at a site of grace. You’ll find Carion slicer is your highest dps spell, but great glintstone shard is a safer option while on horseback, as you can easily create distance between yourself and the boss.

25. The isolated merchant in the southwest corner of the Weeping Peninsula sells a lantern for 1800 runes which is enormously useful in dark places. The lantern can go on your hotbar, alongside the ring to summon torrent, the flask of wondrous physick, and your HP and FP flasks.

26. The erdtree’s favor talisman is found in Fringefolk Hero’s Grave near the starting area which requires two stonesword keys to unlock. Down the second ramp where the path narrows you can jump down the right side onto a secret platform. You can throw a kukri to deactivate the fire breathing statue, and at the end of the tunnel is the talisman. The room containing the talisman is heavily guarded so be swift. Once you have the talisman, run back across the bridge towards the room’s entrance and there’s a hidden platform you can drop down to that leads to a stonesword key.

27. Follow the road northwest from Stormhill Shack to enter Stormveil Castle. The time has come to defeat Margit, the Fell Omen to get a second talisman pouch. Once you’re victorious you can equip the erdtree’s favor talisman.

28. North of the Church of Vows is another minor erdtree. If you’re brave you can rush in and remove a quarter of the Erdtree Avatar’s health with Carion slicer. Use Torrent to evade its attacks and retaliate at range with great glintstone shard. Circling around the Erdtree Avatar will cause it to kill its minions, and is also a good tactic for dodging its projectiles. Once it’s dead, you’ll be awarded the magic shrouding cracked tear which should replace the crimsonburst crystal tear in your flask of wondrous physick.

29. Ride past the left side of the Academy of Raya Lucaria until you encounter Glintstone Dragon Smarag. No need to fight it yet, simply grab the academy glintstone key it guards and escape. Use the key to enter the academy. Right before the first boss room is an empty bookcase that can be struck to reveal a hidden area. The comet spell can be found here, but it requires 52 intelligence so you can’t use it yet. As consolation you can defeat the boss to get another memory stone.

30. Proceed from the boss room and head to the left. You can take a staircase up to some rooftops you can jump across that eventually take you all the way down to the second floor above the Church of the Cuckoo site of grace. Here you can loot Azur’s glintstone staff, another powerful item you need 52 intelligence to use. Keep an eye out for small crystal crabs that inhabit the academy, they drop unique glintstone crowns.

31. Return to Thops in the Church of Irith and give him the academy glintstone key to receive the erudition gesture. In the northeast corner of Liurnia you’ll find the Converted Fringe Tower. Once you arrive at the tower, equip a glintstone crown and perform the erudition gesture to enter it. Here you can loot the cannon of Haima sorcery. You can also use erudition to enter the Converted Tower in southwest Liurnia to get a memory stone. You can find yet another memory stone in Tetsu’s Rise on an island just north of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. It’s protected by a puzzle similar to Oridys’s Rise.

32. Kill the Putrid Avatar outside the Minor Erdtree Catacombs in northwest Caelid to get the greenburst crystal tear. Equip it in place of the opaline bubbletear.

33. Seek out Gael Tunnel south of the Rotview Balcony site of grace. Talk to Iron Fist Alexander next to the site of grace at the end of the tunnel. Following the order in the stat section of the guide, once you have at 18 dexterity you should challenge the nearby Magma Wyrm boss. If you’re having trouble, go level up some more. Make sure you drink your flask of wondrous physick and cast golden vow with your dagger before the fight. Stay behind the Magma Wyrm and spam carion slicer. Pay attention to its attacks as it can two-shot you. Upon defeat it drops the moonveil katana: a powerful melee weapon you’ll probably use for a while.

34. Now to upgrade it: Somber smithing stones 3 and 4 can be found on corpses sitting on chairs along the shore north of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Use two stonesword keys to enter Gaol Cave, south of Gael Tunnel in Caelid, where you can find a somber smithing stone 5 in a chest. A somber smithing stone 6 drops from the boss of Sellia Crystal Tunnel who is conveniently weak to magic. The tunnel can be found on the northeast shore of the Swamp of Aeonia. For later: grab the somber smithing stone 8 that drops from a teardrop scarab just south of the Divine Tower of Caelid in Dragonbarrow. Down near the base of the tower, on the right side, is a somber smithing stone 9.

Points of Interest III

35. Warp to the Astray from Caelid Highway North site of grace and follow the road south around the Swamp of Aeonia until you reach Sellia, Town of Sorcery. Here you can loot the night comet sorcery from a chest sealed by a barrier. Light the brazier on the tower on the southwest side of town to dispel the barrier. Light the rest of the braziers too while you’re at it. You can also find the staff of loss on a balcony on the west side of the town. It buffs night comet when held in either hand.

36. In the northwest corner of Liurnia is Caria Manor. Climb to the top of the manor and defeat Royal Knight Loretta. She drops the Loretta’s greatbow sorcery. Behind her boss room is the entrance to the Three Sisters region. There’s a dragon here you’ll need to chase away before you can explore the rises. Up the ladder in Seluvis’ Rise is a memory stone.

37. Warp to the Smoldering Wall site of grace in Caelid and ride east to the Abandoned Cave. Defeating the boss will earn you the golden scarab talisman that increases rune acquisition by 20%. You can equip this talisman just after killing a boss to reap its benefit, as there’s a short delay between when the boss dies, and when you’re granted their runes.

38. South of the Third Church of Marika is the entrance to the Siofra River Well. At the end of the Siofra River is a lift that takes you up to a canyon in Caelid. At the end of the canyon you can challenge the Great Jar’s champions by interacting with their summon signs on the ground. Once you’re victorious, the Great Jar will award you the great jar’s arsenal talisman. I find it’s easier to beat the Great Jar’s champions if you start the game in offline mode.

39. Defeat shardbearers Godrick the Grafted, waiting at the end of Stormveil Castle, and the Renalla of the Full Moon, cloistered atop the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Then, talk to Finger Reader Enia in Roundtable Hold to get a third talisman pouch and equip the great jar’s arsenal.

40. To get the Radahn festival in Redmane Castle to start, activate the Grand Lift of Dectus at the north end of Liurnia of the Lakes with both halves of the Dectus medallion, and rest at a site of grace in the Altus Plateau region. Now that the festival has started, the waygate next to the Impassable Greatbridge site of grace in southern Caelid will be active, providing a shortcut into Redmane Castle. Iron Fist Alexander and other allies are already here. Now you can defeat Starscourge Radahn, opening the path underground to Nokron, the Eternal City. Once he’s put to rest, the General Radahn armor set will be purchasable from Finger Reader Enia in Roundtable Hold for 36,000 runes. Equip the entire armor set.

41. The next order of business is to complete Ranni’s long and complicated questline. I don’t want to spoil it here, so you can look it up in the wiki linked at the bottom of the guide if you get stuck. You’ll need to follow the path underground through Nokron, the Deeproot Depths, Nokstella, and past the Lake of Rot. Complete as much of Selivus’ questline as you want before giving Ranni the secret treasure of Nokron she asks for. Once you do, return to Selivus to get his bell bearing. Give it to the Twin Maiden Husks in Roundtable Hold and you’ll be able to purchase the Carion phalanx sorcery from her for 12,000 runes.

42. Back to the underground, you can find a somber smithing stone 7 in the Deeproot Depths, which should let you upgrade your weapon to +9. Don’t miss the somber smithing stones 7, 8, and 9 in the Lake of Rot. Past the Lake of Rot is a bossroom with a lift on the far side. Ranni will give you the key to the lift if you’ve progressed her questline. The lift will take you up to the Cathedral of Manus Celes. The cathedral is guarded by Glintstone Dragon Adula who you chased from the Three Sisters region. Defeat Adula to receive the Adula’s moonblade sorcery. Inside the cathedral you can obtain the fabled dark moon greatsword. I recommend leveling it up and using it as your main weapon, but you can keep using the moonveil if you prefer that.

43. Once you have 52 intelligence, start leveling up Azur’s glintstone staff to replace the meteorite staff. Once the staff is at least +7 it will hit harder than, and cast much faster than your other staves.

Points of Interest IV

44. Ride north from the Grand Lift of Dectus in the Altus Plateau to the Seethewater River site of grace. From here you can continue north and circle all the way around Volcano Manor. Talk to Iron Fist Alexander who’s bathing in lava near the Seethewater Terminus site of grace. A ways past Alexander you’ll run into the boss Demi-Human Queen Maggie, who drops a memory stone. Right next to the boss is Primeval Sorcerer Azur who you need to talk to to progress Sorcerer Sellen’s questline.

45. Now report back to Sorcerer Sellen who will task you with finding the location of the other primeval sorcerer. Warp to Sellia, Town of Sorcery and follow the road northeast. Behind an illusory wall in the cliffside is the entrance to Sellia Hideaway. Deep within Sellia Hideaway you’ll find Master Lusat. Talk to him to receive the stars of ruin sorcery.

46. Kill the Putrid Avatar in Dragonbarrow to get the opaline hardtear. Equip it in place of the greenburst crystal tear.

47. Loot the dragoncrest shield talisman +1 from the Sainted Hero’s Grave in the Altus Plateau. You can reach the Sainted Hero’s Grave by following the road northeast to the broken bridge, taking the waygate to the other side of the bridge, then following the road southeast. The road will curve around to the southwest until you’re on the higher plateau where the Sainted Hero’s Grave is.

48. Travel north around the wall defending the Capital Outskirts to reach the Auriza Hero’s Grave. Raise the fire-breathing pillar toward the end of the zone to summon a chariot that will crash into the others, dropping the tree sentinel armor set. Equip the entire set.

49. Defeat the boss of the Subterranean Shunning Grounds below Leyndell to get the erdtree’s favor +1. You can reach this area by descending the well near the Avenue Balcony site of grace.

50. The final talisman pouch drops from Godfrey’s Shade in the Erdtree Sanctuary high above Leyndell. Equip the gold scarab and Radahn’s redmane helm.

51. The veteran’s armor set can be purchased from Enia in Roundtable Hold after defeating the boss of Castle Sol on the northern tip of the Mountaintops of the Giants. Purchase the helmet for 4000 runes, but you’ll have to wait to use it.

52. The dragoncrest greatshield talisman can be found near the roots of Miquella’s Haligtree. You’ll need to activate the Grand Lift of Rold with both halves of the Haligtree medallion and cross another zone to get there. You should have both by now, as the second half drops from the boss of Castle Sol.

53. Find Iron Fist Alexander in Crumbling Farram Azula to receive the shard of Alexander talisman. Equip it in place of the gold scarab once you reach rune level 150, or during difficult fights.

54. The erdtree’s favor +2 can be found in the Ashen Capital after entering the area backwards from the Forbidden Lands. Equip it and the veteran’s helmet.

Stats

This is how I recommend leveling up your stats as you progress through the game. It is not a rigid doctrine and has room for adaptation. This template is for a rune level 150 build. Most people don’t level past 150 in order to more easily matchmake with other players.

In the endgame I recommend having 60 vigor and 35 mind in order to have enough max HP and FP, 25 endurance in order to wear protective armor, 18 dexterity in order to wield the moonveil katana, 16 strength so you can use the dark moon greatsword, and 60 intelligence to scale all of your damage. While intelligence weapons like the moonveil katana softcap at 50 int, spell catalysts softcap at 60, and the damage of your spells is greatly increased by those last ten levels.

1. Start with the prisoner class and golden seed burial gift.
2. Level intelligence to 18.
3. Level endurance to 13.
4. Level vigor to 15.
5. Level intelligence to 23.
6. Level endurance to 14.
7. Level dexterity to 18.
8. Level strength to 12.
9. Level vigor to 20.
10. Level mind to 20.
11. Level vigor to 40.
12. Level endurance to 25.
13. Level mind to 28.
14. Level intelligence to 38.
15. Level strength to 16.
16. Level intelligence to 60.
17. Level vigor to 60.
18. Level mind to 35.

Weapons

You’ll find the game hard to beat without these. I personally prefer melee over spellcasting, but both are powerful and viable. In the endgame I recommend wielding the moonveil katana or dark moon greatsword in your right hand, where you have easy access to their powerful ashes of war, and hold Azur’s glintstone staff in your left hand allowing you to freely cast spells.

1. The dagger can be purchased from the twin maiden husks in Roundtable Hold. It can be used to cast the golden vow ash of war, and it won’t weigh you down much due to its light weight.

2. The meteorite staff is found in the Aeonian Swamp in central Caelid and is extremely strong at low levels as it can not be upgraded. The rock sling sorcery is also found here and the staff boosts this sorcery’s damage by 30%. This is good to grab very early in the game and is a big upgrade from the starting glintstone staff.

3. The carion glintstone staff is found in the Carion Study Hall in Liurnia of the Lakes and boosts the carion slicer sorcery by 15% while held in either hand. This staff has low spell buff so it should only be used in your offhand, while you use a more powerful staff like the meteorite staff to cast spells.

4. The moonveil katana can be acquired from the Magma Wyrm boss in Gael Tunnel in Caelid, enemies in this zone are stronger than in Limgrave or Liurnia of the Lakes but the weapon is worth getting early. I recommend using this weapon during much of your playthrough because of its devastating ash of war: transient moonlight. It comes out fast, has long range, deals decent stance damage, and deals magic damage that rivals the strongest sorceries. Transient moonlight scales with your intelligence stat and the moonveil’s upgrade level, not its attack rating.

5. The staff of loss can be looted from Sellia Town of Sorcery in Caelid. The staff itself is unremarkable except for the fact that holding it boosts the damage of night sorceries by 30%. This buff stacks multiplicatively when dual wielding two of them, however only one can be obtained per playthrough so you would need to reach new game plus to dual wield them. Because of this, it’s possible for night comet to outdamage regular comet in spite of costing less FP and requiring less intelligence to cast.

6. Death’s poker is a greatsword that drops from the Death Rite Bird in Caelid and has a very powerful ash of war that applies frostbite buildup. The ash of war can either shoot a fireball, cause an explosion, or set the ground ablaze depending on your inputs. If you want an actual magic sword to use, not an ash of war stick, the dark moon greatsword deals higher melee damage.

7. Azur’s glintstone staff increases casting speed significantly and is a fantastic endgame staff. Casting speed scales with your dexterity and has a hardcap at 70 dex. Azur’s glintstone staff increases your casting speed as if you have 40 more dexterity than you actually do. With 60 intelligence, only two staves deal more damage. The carian regal scepter only deals 3% more damage, and Lusat’s staff increases FP costs in order to boost its damage, neither of which are worth losing Azur’s casting speed. Azur’s glintstone staff is found on the second floor of the Church of the Cuckoo in the Academy of Raya Lucaria and requires a good deal of parkour to reach. To reach it, start from the courtyard just past the Red Wolf of Radagon boss fight. To the left is a spot where you can jump onto a series of rooftops which will eventually lead down the room containing the staff.

8. The clayman’s harpoon can be farmed from claymen at the Uhl Palace Ruins and other places. It is the only weapon to have split physical and magic scaling while still being infusable and buffable. It can deal high damage when buffed with the scholar’s armament sorcery. The clayman’s harpoon is also effective cold-infused with the ice spear ash of war. If you don’t care about inflicting frostbite, a magic-infusion will increase its damage, and the damage of ashes of war, more than a cold infusion.

9. The wing of astel is a curved sword found in a chest that can only be accessed once you’ve unlocked the northern section of the Ansel River. The wing of astel is one of two weapons who’s heavy attacks shoot a projectile by default. The real strength of this weapon is that its unique ash of war deals the highest stance damage of any skill in the game, especially to large foes. Pair this with a magic-infused misericorde to riposte staggered foes for massive damage.

10. The dark moon greatsword is a reward for completing Ranni’s entire questline. Its unique ash of war increases its damage and causes its heavy attacks to fire projectiles that apply frostbite buildup. Not only do the projectiles cost 0 FP, they each deal 22 stance damage, 35 when fully charged. These projectiles also benefit from both the shard of Alexander and Godfrey’s icon talismans. If you get tired of spamming the moonveil’s ash of war, try this sword. As a biased greatsword enjoyer this is my favorite intelligence weapon bar none.

Spells

What is a sorcerer without their spells? Sorcery specializes in offensive projectile spells that mostly deal magic damage, which few enemies are immune to. Below I list 12 sorceries in order of how early they can be obtained. Note that the first two are low-level spells that will eventually be replaced by comet.

1. Prisoners start with the magic glintblade sorcery. It’s more powerful than the glintstone pebble sorcery that astrologers start with.

2. Great glintstone shard can be learned from Miriel, Pastor of Vows after giving him the academy scroll found in a graveyard west of the Lake Facing Cliffs site of grace in south Liurnia of the Lakes. This spell deals similar damage to magic glintblade, but comes out quicker.

3. Carian slicer can be purchased from Miriel, Pastor of Vows, or Sorceress Sellen after giving one of them the royal house scroll. It deals very high DPS but only in melee range.

4. Rock sling is found in the swamp in central Caelid alongside the synergistic meteorite staff. It deals physical damage making it crucial to defeat magic-resistant enemies. It also deals high stance damage.

5. Terra magica can be found in a chest at the end of the Academy Crystal Cave in Liurnia of the lakes. It creates a spot on the ground that increases magic damage by 35% and lasts 30 seconds. It’s really only useful for big boss battles.

6. Comet is found inside the Academy of Raya Lucaria and deals high damage at long range. It is the final form of glintstone pebble dealing the most damage but costing the most FP.

7. The cannon of Haima is found in the Converted Fringe Tower in northeast Liurnia of the Lakes and has a large AOE for taking out multiple targets. You must progress Sorcerer Thopp’s questline before you can gain access to the tower.

8. Potentially the most powerful spell on this list is night comet due to the fact that it can’t be detected by enemy AI like other spells. Normally its damage is average, but because the staff of loss boosts its damage by 30% and stacks with itself, dual wielding staves of loss empower this spell to outdamage even its most powerful visible counterparts like comet. The downside of dual wielding staffs of loss is that you can’t take advantage of the casting speed increase provided by Azur’s staff. However, night comet is perfectly viable cast from Azur’s staff with only one staff of loss equipped in your offhand. Interestingly, casting the night shard sorcery and chaining it into a night comet only takes a single frame longer than an initial cast of night comet alone. You can find night comet in a chest in Sellia, Town of Sorcery, in Caelid.

9. Lorreta’s greatbow is dropped by Royal knight Lorreta in Caria Manor and has extremely long range. I prefer this spell over Lorreta’s mastery because it’s more FP efficient.

10. Carian phalanx is sold by perceptor Selvius in the three sisters region of Liurnia of the Lakes after progressing his questline. If he dies, you can still learn it by giving his bell bearing to the Twin Maiden Husks in Roundtable Hold. This spell deals high stance damage and has combo potential with other spells.

11. Adula’s moonblade is a powerful melee sorcery that is dropped by the boss outside of the Cathedral of Manus Celes in Liurnia of the Lakes. You can only access this area toward the end of Ranni’s questline. This is probably my favorite sorcery, it has a melee hitbox and a projectile, comes out fast, deals decent damage and stance damage, and even applies frostbite buildup.

12. Stars of ruin is found in Sellia Hideaway in Caelid during Sorceress Sellen’s questline. It fires a lot of projectiles that have excellent tracking.

Faith Build

Full faith builds like this one have access to nearly every incantation in the game, and are effective with any weapon that can be flame art-infused. Another reason to play a faith build is so you can use one of the strongest weapons in the game: the blasphemous blade. Another perk of playing a faith build is that you can wield the sacred relic sword, which is the best weapon to farm runes with as its ash of war has a larger area of effect than anything else in the game. I find that faith builds have more melee options than intelligence builds. These melee weapons synergize well with utility spells, the lion’s share of which are incantations. While there are fewer offensive incantations than sorceries, incantations have greater variety and span several different damage types.

Points of Interest

This is a short list of things that will increase your character’s power early on. Make sure to explore all over and level up before trying to complete the later steps on this list. I recommend prioritizing finding golden seeds and sacred tears to upgrade your flasks before fighting difficult bosses. The maps I link at the end of the google doc version of this guide are great tools to locate things.

1. Choose the vagabond class and pick the golden seed keepsake. You can alter your appearance in-game too. Vagabonds start with a halberd equipped alongside their longsword. You must unequip the halberd as its weight overburdens you. After fighting the Grafted Scion boss, you’ll wake up with a crevice to your right and a ghost telling you to jump down into it. This is the tutorial area: the Cave of Knowledge. At a site of grace you can allot the charges of your flask of crimson and cerulean tears. I recommend splitting charges between the two 50/50.

2. Starting from the First Steps site of grace, run north to the church of Elleh and talk to merchant Kale. Avoid the Tree Sentinel patrolling the road for now. From the church, continue along the path traveling north and pick up some kukri just left of the path near a soldier. At the end of the path you can spot the Gatefront Ruins site of grace where you will acquire Torrent.

3. Loot the chest in the nearby carriage to acquire the lordsworn’s greatsword. Equip it in place of your longsword. You’ll have to unequip your shield to compensate for its heavier weight. Grab the map below the pillar in the center of the Gatefront Ruins, then look for a staircase on the south side of the ruins. It leads underground to a chest containing the whetstone knife.

4. Ride west past the Stormgate and talk to Roderika in Stormhill Shack. Grab the golden seed and stonesword key nearby.

5. Ride east to the Warmaster’s Shack and up the hill to the northeast. Here, kill the mounted Godrick Knight to get the golden vow ash of war. The knight is patrolling the east-facing cliff just above the Deathtouch Catacombs. Apply golden vow to the lordsworn’s greatsword with a sacred infusion at a site of grace.

6. Ride down below the cliff and enter the Deathtouch Catacombs. Find the hidden passage beneath the staircase, pull the big lever, defeat the dungeon’s boss, and take the deathroot from the chest it guards. Next, follow the road east to the Saintsbridge site of grace. Up a small hill to the south is Iron Fist Alexander who needs your help.

7. Across the Saintsbridge you’ll find D, Hunter of the Dead, on the side of the road. He’ll ask you to kill the Tibia Mariner just past him in Summonwater Village and claim its deathroot. Complete this task and D will mark a portal on your map just north of the Third Church of Marika.

8. Travel southeast down the hill to the Third Church of Marika. Grab the flask of wondrous physick, and collect the sacred tear you can find in most churches. Now enter the portal to warp to the Beastial Sanctum in Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow.

9. Resting at a site of grace in a place like Dragonbarrow will grant you access to Roundtable Hold. Talk to everyone in the hold, buy the catch flame incantation from Brother Corhyn for 600 runes, buy the finger seal from the Twin Maiden Husks for 800 runes, and buy the memory stone from her for 3000 runes once you can afford it. Equip the finger seal in your offhand. Rest at a site of grace and select “Memorize Spell” to equip catch flame.

10. Warp back to the Beastial Sanctum, then exit out the doors and immediately head to the right. Parkour down onto the roots below the southwest cliff next to the sanctum. Drop all the way down the stone pillars to the lowest level where you can loot the dragoncrest shield talisman. Wear it if you like living. If you can’t open the map after taking this route, quit-out to reset enemy aggro.

11. Warp back to the Beastial Sanctum once more and grab the golden seed down the road. Steer clear of the Black Blade Kindred boss stationed outside. During the daytime, take the path left of the Farum Greatbridge site of grace that leads down a hill and across a smaller bridge to Lenne’s Rise. Use the nearby spiritspring to jump onto the roof and drop onto a balcony to get inside. At the top of the building is a chest containing a memory stone.

12. Warp to the Gatefront Ruins site of grace and wait till daytime. Follow the road east until you cross a bridge. On the right side of the road, loot a somber smithing stone 1 from a corpse sitting on a chair overlooking the lake. Follow the road south until you reach the bridge to the Weeping Peninsula. Grab the stonesword key sitting on the bridge, then grab the morning star from the chest in a carriage down the road.

13. Keep heading south until you reach the Castle Morne Rampart site of grace. Take the nearby spiritspring up the hill to reach Oridys’s Rise. Read the plaque out front then kill the three phantom turtles that spawn nearby. One of whom is invisible, sitting in the nearby pond. You can loot another memory stone from the chest inside the rise.

14. Head further south until you reach Castle Morne. You can find a somber smithing stone 2 near some Spirit Jellyfish just east of the castle. Now head inside the castle, turn right at the 20-foot pile of corpses, and you’ll find the claymore inside a chest. Equip the claymore in place of your lordsword’s greatsword and apply the golden vow ash of war to it with a sacred infusion like you did before.

15. Return to Summonwater Village and follow the road east to the Smouldering Church in Caelid. Head northeast and follow the cliffside down past the Putrid Avatar and into the Minor Erdtree Catacombs. Send the lift back up and hop down the hole left by the lift. Quickly run up the staircase on the right and up a ladder to reach a room containing the imp head (wolf) helmet. Equip the helmet, it’s a huge upgrade over your starting gear.

Points of Interest II

16. Warp back to the Church of Elleh site of grace and head west down to the beach, then south along the beach to where you can loot a gold pickled foul foot next to a spiritspring.

17. Warp to Lenne’s Rise in Dragonbarrow and take the spirit spring up above the cliff. Run down the hill, behind the minor erdtree guarded by a Putrid Avatar, and up another spiritspring that will take you to Fort Faroth. A golden rune 12 worth 7,500 runes can be found in the fort, and a stonesword key can be looted from atop the giant skull just west of the fort.

18. Use the morning star’s innate hemorrhage status buildup to kill Elder Dragon Greyoll in front of the fort. Filling up her invisible hemorrhage meter by attacking enough times will proc blood loss, removing over 1/7th of her HP. Consume your gold pickled foul foot right before Greyoll dies to receive 30% extra runes from killing her. Use these runes to level up your endurance to 15, faith to 27, strength to 18, and mind to 11. Spend the rest of your runes toward leveling your vigor to 20, like it says to in the stats section of the guide.

19. Warp to the Smouldering Church site of grace and follow the road into Caelid past the Rotview Balcony site of grace and south to the Smouldering Wall site of grace, then ride west to Fort Gael. Go left around to the back of the fort where you can loot the “flame grant me strength” incantation.

20. Grab the other half of the Dectus medallion from atop Fort Haight in Limgrave. The fort sits at the end of the road leading south from the Third Church of Marika.

21. Beneath the minor erdtree in the Weeping Peninsula is an Erdtree Avatar boss that drops the crimsonburst crystal tear and opaline bubbletear. Equip these in your flask of wondrous physick at a site of grace. Erdtree Avatars are weak to fire, so catch flame will make quick work of it.

22. The isolated merchant in the southwest corner of the Weeping Peninsula sells a lantern for 1800 runes which is enormously useful in dark places. The lantern can go on your hotbar, alongside the ring to summon torrent, the flask of wondrous physick, and your HP and FP flasks.

23. The erdtree’s favor talisman is found in Fringefolk Hero’s Grave near the starting area which requires two stonesword keys to unlock. Down the second ramp where the path narrows you can jump down the right side onto a secret platform. You can throw a kukri to deactivate the fire breathing statue, and at the end of the tunnel is the talisman. The room containing the talisman is heavily guarded so be swift. Once you have the talisman, run back across the bridge towards the room’s entrance and there’s a hidden platform you can drop down to that leads to a stonesword key.

24. Follow the road northwest from Stormhill Shack to enter Stormveil Castle. The time has come to defeat Margit, the Fell Omen to get a second talisman pouch. Once you’re victorious you can equip the erdtree’s favor talisman. Margit is resistant to holy damage, so your catch flame incantation is your best weapon against him.

25. Talk to Sorcerer Rogier in the chapel past the Rampart Tower site of grace in Stormveil Castle. Loot the godslayer’s seal and godskin prayerbook from a room locked behind an imp statue down the stairs past the Grafted Scion enemy. Equip the godslayer seal in place of your finger seal. Use all of your regular smithing stones to upgrade it.

26. Warp to Stormhill Shack, then ride north past Stormveil Castle, hugging its east-facing wall, to reach the next zone: Liurnia of the lakes. Nearby you’ll find the Church of Irith and meet Thops. Ride down to the lake past the Liurnia Lake Shore site of grace and find Rya, the Scout in a gazebo. Talk to her, then locate Blackguard Big Bogart at the Broilprawn Shack to the northwest and progress Rya’s questline.

27. Ride northwest to the Village of the Albinaurics beneath the huge cliff. Talk to Albus, who’s disguised as a pot, to get half of the Haligtree medallion. Show it to Latenna at the end of the Lakeside Crystal Cave to the east to receive Latenna’s Ashes.

28. Return to the Liurnia Lake Shore site of grace and follow the road north along the eastern edge of Liurnia until you reach the Carion Study hall. Kill the Tibia Mariner out front for its deathroot, then warp to the Bestial Sanctum and give the deathroot to Gurranq to receive the bestial vitality incantation.

29. Kill the Leyendell Knight patrolling just north of the Carion Study Hall to get the dragon cult prayerbook. Head further north to the church of Vows and give the dragon cult prayerbook and the godskin prayerbook to Muriel, Paster of Vows. Purchase the black flame incantation from him for 7500 runes. When you can afford it, purchase lightning spear for 6000 runes, and honed bolt for 7000 runes as well.

30. Get the gargoyle’s black blade by killing the Black Blade Kindred stationed outside the Beastial Sanctum. Level up Latenna the Albirnauric to at least level five and place her on the tree branch east of the Black Blade Kindred. Run in and out of the Beastial Sanctum to maintain the Kindred’s aggro. Hide behind the columns when it attacks you, and pelt it with black flame when possible. In the google doc version of this guide I link a video showing the correct Latenna placement here.
You can also skip this step if you’d rather level with the golden halberd or the winged scythe instead. Read more about them in the weapons section of the guide below.

31. Now to upgrade your new weapon: Somber smithing stones 3 and 4 can be found on corpses sitting on chairs along the shore north of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Next, warp to The First Step site of grace and ride east to the Dragon-Burnt Ruins to loot a stonesword key. Use two stonesword keys to enter Gaol Cave, south of Gael Tunnel, where you can find a somber smithing stone 5 in a chest. A somber smithing stone 6 drops from the boss of Sellia Crystal Tunnel. The tunnel can be found on the northeast shore of the Swamp of Aeonia. For later: Grab the somber smithing stone 8 that drops from a teardrop scarab just south of the Divine Tower of Caelid in Dragonbarrow. Down near the base of the tower, on the right side, is a somber smithing stone 9.

32. Kill the Erdtree Avatar in northeast Liurnia of the Lakes to get the lightning and holy shrouding crack tears. Equip the holy shrouding cracked tear in place of the crimsonburst crystal tear.

33. Get the frenzied burst incantation by killing the teardrop scarab south of the Church of Inhibition in northeast Liurnia of the Lakes.

Points of Interest III

34. Kill the Putrid Avatar in northwest Caelid to get the flame shrouding cracked tear and the greenburst crystal tear. Equip the greenburst crystal tear in place of the opaline bubbletear. Afterwards, return to the Rotview Balcony site of grace and head south to Gael Tunnel. Talk to Iron Fist Alexander next to the site of grace at the end of the tunnel.

35. Warp to the Smoldering Wall site of grace in Caelid and ride east to the Abandoned Cave. Defeating the boss will earn you the golden scarab talisman that increases rune acquisition by 20%. You can equip this talisman just after killing a boss to reap its benefit, as there’s a short delay between when the boss dies, and when you’re granted their runes.

36. Ride past the left side of the Academy of Raya Lucaria until you encounter Glintstone Dragon Smarag. If you don’t feel like fighting it yet, simply grab the academy glintstone key it guards and escape. Use the key to enter the academy and defeat the first boss to get a memory stone. Give the academy glintstone key to Thops back at the Church of Irith to learn the erudition gesture. Ride to the Converted Tower in southwest Liurnia and use erudition to enter it and loot a memory stone.

37. Another memory stone can be found in Tetsu’s Rise north of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. It’s protected by a puzzle similar to Oridys’s Rise. Further north, behind Caria Manor in northwest Liurnia, is the Three Sisters region where you can loot yet another memory stone inside Seluvis’s rise.

38. South of the Third Church of Marika is the entrance to the Siofra River Well. At the end of the Siofra River is a lift that takes you up to a canyon in Caelid. At the end of the canyon you can challenge the Great Jar’s champions by interacting with their summon signs on the ground. Once you’re victorious, the Great Jar will award you the great jar’s arsenal talisman. I find it’s easier to beat the Great Jar’s champions if you start the game in offline mode.

39. Defeat shardbearers Godrick the Grafted, waiting at the end of Stormveil Castle, and the Renalla of the Full Moon, cloistered atop the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Then, talk to Finger Reader Enia in Roundtable Hold to get a third talisman pouch and equip the great jar’s arsenal.

40. To get the Radahn festival in Redmane Castle to start, activate the Grand Lift of Dectus at the north end of Liurnia of the Lakes with both halves of the Dectus medallion, and rest at a site of grace in the Altus Plateau region. Now that the festival has started, the waygate next to the Impassable Greatbridge site of grace in southern Caelid will be active, providing a shortcut into Redmane Castle. Iron Fist Alexander and other allies are already here. Now you can defeat Starscourge Radahn, opening the path underground where you can find some high-level upgrade materials. Once he’s put to rest, the General Radahn armor set will be purchasable from Finger Reader Enia in Roundtable Hold for 36,000 runes. Equip the entire armor set.

41. Ride north from the Grand Lift of Dectus in the Altus Plateau to the Seethewater River site of grace. From here you can continue north and circle around Volcano Manor until you find Iron Fist Alexander who’s bathing in lava near the Seethwater Terminus site of grace. Talk to him again and he’ll move to his final location. A ways past Alexander is the boss Demi-Human Queen Maggie who drops a memory stone.

42. Kill the Putrid Avatar in Dragonbarrow to get the opaline hardtear. Equip it in place of the greenburst crystal tear.

43. Loot the golden vow incantation in the Corpse-Stench Shack on Mt. Gelmir. The quickest route up the mountain is to warp to Volcano Manor by talking to Rya, the Scout next to the Grand Lift of Dectus. Head out the main doors past the Troll Knight, then ride down past the Road of Iniquity site of grace and west across a broken bridge to the Corpse-Stench Shack.

44. In Volcano Manor’s main hallway, there’s an illusory wall in the first room on the right that leads to the Prison Town Church site of grace. At the end of this area is a portal that will take you to Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy. Use the serpent hunter greatspear found by the boss room’s entrance to slay Rykard, then trade his remembrance to Enia in Roundtable Hold for the blasphemous blade. The blasphemous blade is the main weapon this build is designed around, so level it to max asap.
Killing Rykard will lock you out of all Volcano Manor assassination quests. Patches’ quest and Tanith’s first two are easy to accomplish, but Bernahl’s requires you to reach Leyndell, the Royal Capital, and Tanith’s last quest takes place in the Mountaintops of Giants past it. If you really want to be a completionist, you can wait to kill Rykard until you’ve unlocked these areas, though you can also just get the quest rewards on a different playthrough.

Points of Interest IV

45. Loot the dragoncrest shield talisman +1 from the Sainted Hero’s Grave in the Altus Plateau. You can reach the Sainted Hero’s Grave by following the road northeast to the broken bridge, taking the waygate to the other side of the bridge, then following the road southeast. The road will curve around to the southwest until you’re on the higher plateau where the Sainted Hero’s Grave is.

46. Travel north around the wall defending the Capital Outskirts to reach the Auriza Hero’s Grave. Raise the fire-breathing pillar toward the end of the zone to summon a chariot that will crash into the others, dropping the tree sentinel armor set. Equip the chest armor and greaves.

47. Defeat the boss of the Subterranean Shunning Grounds below Leyndell to get the erdtree’s favor +1. You can reach this area by descending the well near the Avenue Balcony site of grace.

48. The final talisman pouch drops from Godfrey’s Shade in the Erdtree Sanctuary high above Leyndell. Equip the gold scarab, the tree sentinel gauntlets, and Radahn’s greaves.

49. Complete Fia, Deathbed Companion’s questline to fight Lichdragon Fortissax in the Deeproot Depths. Trade his remembrance to Enia in Roundtable Hold to get the Fortissax’s lightning spear incantation. I don’t want to spoil her questline here, so for the sake of brevity you can look it up in the wiki linked at the bottom of the guide.

50. Loot the giant’s prayerbook at the top of the Guardian’s Garrison in the Mountaintops of the Giants. Give it to Muriel, Pastor of Vows, who will sell you the “giantsflame take thee” incantation for 13,000 runes.

51. The veteran’s armor set can be purchased from Enia in Roundtable Hold after defeating the boss of Castle Sol on the northern tip of the Mountaintops of the Giants. Purchase the helmet for 4000 runes, but you’ll have to wait to use it.

52. The dragoncrest greatshield talisman can be found near the roots of Miquella’s Haligtree. You’ll need to activate the Grand Lift of Rold with both halves of the Haligtree medallion and cross another zone to get there. You should have both by now, as the second half drops from the boss of Castle Sol.

53. Find the ancient dragon prayerbook near the Crumbling Beast Grave depths site of grace in Crumbling Farram Azula. Give it to Muriel, Pastor of Vows, who will sell you the ancient dragon lightning strike incantation for 10,000 runes.

54. Find Iron Fist Alexander in Crumbling Farram Azula to receive the shard of Alexander talisman. Equip it in place of the gold scarab once you reach rune level 150, or during difficult fights.

55. The erdtree’s favor +2 can be found in the Ashen Capital after entering the area backwards from the Forbidden Lands. Equip it and the tree sentinel greaves and veteran’s helm.

56. Loot the Erdtree heal incantation from Marika’s Bedchamber in the Ashen Capital.

Stats

This is how I recommend leveling up your stats as you progress through the game. It is not a rigid doctrine and has room for adaptation. This template is for a rune level 150 build. Most people don’t level past 150 in order to more easily matchmake with other players.

22 strength and 24 dexterity allow this build to wield powerful swords like the blasphemous blade and the sacred relic sword. Faith weapons have a softcap at 50 faith. After that point, increasing strength and dexterity provide a bigger damage boost anyway.

1. Start with the vagabond class and golden seed burial gift.
2. Level endurance to 15.
3. Level faith to 27.
4. Level strength to 18.
5. Level mind to 11.
6. Level vigor to 40.
7. Level endurance to 25.
8. Level strength to 22.
9. Level dexterity to 15.
10. Level mind to 20.
11. Level faith to 50.
12. Level mind to 32.
13. Level vigor to 60.
14. Level dexterity to 24.

Weapons

You’ll find the game hard to beat without these. I personally prefer melee weapons over spellcasting, but both are powerful and viable. In the endgame I recommend wielding the blasphemous blade in your right hand, where you have easy access to its powerful ash of war, and hold the godslayer’s seal in your left hand allowing you to freely cast incantations. Unlike the intelligence build’s dark moon greatsword, the blasphemous blade has good strength scaling, so two-handing it will measurably increase its damage.

1. The lordsworn’s greatsword is a decent very-early-game weapon. Slap on a sacred infusion to boost the weapon’s base damage considerably. The claymore is a slightly better version of this sword you can get pretty early too.

2. The gargoyle’s blackblade is a powerful sword that you’re not meant to unlock until much later in the game. This sword hits very hard as long as you meet the minimum stat requirements due to its high base damage. Its ash of war is similar to the infamous blasphemous blade. If you grab this weapon early, you’ll feel right at home when you swap to the blasphemous blade later, and you’ll have the option to dual wield them eventually.

3. The golden halberd is an alternative early-game weapon if you don’t feel like killing the Black Blade Kindred. I recommend this weapon to brand-new players. The Blackblade Kindred cheese strat is somewhat advanced, but a fun challenge. The golden halberd can be found very early, as it drops from the Tree Sentinel patrolling in front of the First Steps site of grace. It comes with the golden vow self-buff ash of war, and has a very high attack rating for a halberd. Because of its high strength requirement, you won’t be able to wield it in one hand. As biased as I am in favor of greatswords, halberds are a very well-rounded weapon class that don’t have many weaknesses.

4. The winged scythe is another alternative early-game weapon. It has a long range and deals partial damage through shields. The ash of war temporarily prevents tarnished from drinking their flask of crimson tears, so it’s more PvP focused. The winged scythe can be found beneath the Tombsward Ruins on the west side of the Weeping Peninsula. Take the stairs leading underground to find the winged scythe in a chest.

5. The blasphemous blade is easily one of the most powerful weapons in the game, and this build is centered around empowering it. Most faith scaling weapons deal holy damage, but many enemies and bosses are resistant to holy damage. The blasphemous blade is fairly unique in that it scales with faith but instead deals fire damage. The blasphemous blade’s ash of war: taker's flames is obscenely strong. It has long range and heals you for 10% of your maximum health for each enemy it hits. Additionally, each enemy you kill while holding the blasphemous blade heals you for 2% of your max health. Taker's flames scales with your faith stat and the blasphemous blade's upgrade level, not its attack rating. You can transpose Rykard’s remembrance into the blasphemous blade by talking to Enia in Roundtable Hold.
A trick to easily obtain a second one in new game plus is to duplicate Rykard’s remembrance at a wandering mausoleum, and instead of transposing it into the Rykard’s rancor incantation, proceed to new game plus and kill Godrick. Rykard’s remembrance will still be in your inventory and you’ll be able to transpose a second one without having to go all the way to Volcano Manor again. This works for any remembrance weapon you want to duel-wield. If you think one blasphemous blade is strong, try two.

6. The coded sword can be found on the second floor of the fortified manor in Leyndell, the Royal Capital, accessible from outside the building. It’s one of the two weapons that deals pure holy damage and no physical damage, and it cannot be blocked by shields. This weapon, like most straight swords, is commonly used dual-wielded, though you can’t get a second one until new game plus.

7. The envoy’s longhorn is a greathammer that can be farmed from large envoys who wield it. It’s a pain to farm however. I believe the best farming spot is at the top of Miquella’s Haligtree. Its unique ash of war, bubble shower, shoots many projectiles. Against large targets this will deal immense damage. Great hammers also deal high damage when dual-wielded.

8. The sacred relic sword can only be obtained by beating the final boss of Elden Ring and transposing its remembrance. The sacred relic sword’s ash of war has the largest AOE in the game and is ideal for farming runes at the Palace Approach Ledge-Road site of grace in Mohgwyn Palace.

Spells

Incantations scale with faith and offer greater variety than sorceries. Offensive incantations span a variety of different elements, and there are healing and buffing incantations that are useful for a melee play style as well as for casters. Below is a list of useful incantations ordered by how early in the game they can be acquired. The first three are early-game spells that you should replace once you learn the later spells on the list.

1. The catch flame incantation can be purchased from Brother Corhyn in Roundtable Hold for 600 runes. This is arguably the strongest melee spell in the game for PvP, and performs well in the early game before you have a good sword to upgrade. It’s especially potent against enemies that are weak to fire damage like Erdtree Avatars.

2. Beastial vitality is the most FP-efficient healing spell in the game. Give Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, three deathroots to receive this incantation. It heals HP slowly over a course of two minutes. It’s great to use when exploring to stretch out your flask of crimson tears. In the late game you will have enough FP to cast more potent healing incantations.

3. Black flame is a well rounded spell with decent range and damage. It can be found in a cellar in Stormveil castle that requires a stoneword key to access. Like other godskin incantations, in addition to dealing fire damage it removes 2-5% of an enemy's maximum health. 2% for strong enemies, and 5% for weaker ones. This effect is less potent in the late game when you can scale the base damage of incantations very high.

4. Flame grant me strength boosts physical and fire damage by 20% for 30 seconds. The spell can be found behind Fort Gael in Caelid. The only downside is that the buff only lasts 30 seconds. This spell synergises extremely well with the blasphemous blade as it increases both the blasphemous blade’s physical and fire damage.

5. Lightning spear can be purchased from Muriel, Pastor of Vows, in Liurnia after giving him the dragon cult prayerbook. The prayerbook drops from a Leyendell Knight who patrols outside the Artist’s Shack south of the Church of Vows. Lightning spear is a well-rounded long range spell that can be charged to deal more damage.

6. Honed bold can similarly be purchased from Muriel, Pastor of Vows, after giving him the dragon cult prayerbook. It’s highly spamable and difficult to dodge. Honed bolt doesn’t have as long a range as lightning spear, but it’s better for PvP thanks to its tracking. Honed bolt is also useful for hitting enemies that are out of your line of sight.

7. Frenzied burst is dropped by a teardrop scarab south of the Church of Inhibition in Liurnia of the Lakes. It is the longest range incantation in the game and ideal for sniping enemies from afar. Frenzied burst can be charged to deal more damage, but still not as much as shorter-ranged spells.

8. The golden vow incantation is a more powerful version of the ash of war of the same name. It buffs you and your teammates’ damage by 15% and damage absorption by 10% for 80 seconds. It’s not a body buff like flame grant me strength so they both stack multiplicatively. You can find this spell in the Corpse-Stench Shack on Mt. Gelmir.

9. Fortissax’s lightning spear can be obtained by defeating Lichdragon Fortissax and trading his remembrance to Enia in Roundtable Hold. You must gain access to the Deeproot Depths and complete Fia’s questline in order to challenge Fortissax. This is a melee spell with a large AOE that deals high damage and provides the caster with a significant amount of hyperarmor. It is a great tool fo combat swarms of enemies.

10. Giantsflame take thee is the highest form of the basic fireball pyromancy and requires two spell slots to equip. It can be charged to further increase its range and damage and has the potential to one-shot other players with the right setup. To learn it you must find the giant’s prayerbook at the top of the Guardian’s Garrison in the Mountaintops of the Giants. Give the tome to Muriel, Pastor of Vows, in Liurnia and you can purchase this spell from him for 10,000 runes.

11. Ancient dragon lightning strike has the highest potential damage output of any spell in the game, and excels against very large enemies. The spell shoots out multiple lightning bolts that radiate outward. Only a few bolts will hit a small enemy, but if you are next to or underneath a giant enemy they can get hit by dozens of bolts, each dealing damage separately. To learn this incantation find the ancient dragon prayerbook near the Crumbling Beast Grave Depths site of grace in Crumbling Farram Azula. Give the tome to Muriel, Pastor of Vows, in Liurnia and you can purchase this spell from him.

12. Erdtree heal is the most powerful healing spell in the game and is capable of healing yourself and nearby allies up to full health with a single cast. It can be found in Marika’s Bedchamber in the Ashen Capital.

Armor

These last few sections contain information that applies to all builds.

Heavier armor offers better protection, so it’s best to wear the heaviest armor you can without going over 70% maximum equip load, which will slow your character down considerably if you do. In the endgame, I recommend wearing the veteran’s helm paired with the rest of the tree sentinel set.

1. The knight set is sold by the Twin Maiden Husks in Roundtable Hold for 10,500 runes if you omit the helmet. If you started as a vagabond, the starting vagabond set is superior to the knight set.

2. The imp head (wolf) helm can be found in the Minor Erdtree Catacombs in northwest Caelid. It offers high damage negation and increases endurance by 2 levels which will compensate for its heavy weight. Starting in Limgrave, take the road east to Caelid, run past the Putrid Avatar and into the Minor Erdtree Catacombs. Send the lift back up and hop down the hole left by the lift. Quickly run up the staircase on the right and up a ladder to reach a room containing the imp head (wolf) helmet.

3. Once you reach Stormveil Castle you can farm the banished knight near the Castle Ramparts site of grace for the full banished knight armor set. This may take a half hour for all four pieces to drop. This is a significant upgrade to the knight set, though farming it isn’t necessary as you don’t need heavy armor to acquire the next armor set on this list.

4. The General Radahn set will be sold by Enia in Roundtable Hold after defeating him. Once you clear Castle Redmane and gain access to the Radahn festival by progressing Ranni’s questline, you can then challenge Starscourge Radahn.

5. The crucible tree armor set can be looted from a chest in a hollow tree east of the Nameless Eternal City site of grace in the Deeproot Depths. It has high poise for its weight.

6. The Gelmir knight’s armor set can be looted from the Gelmir Hero’s Grave on Mt. Gelmir. It is a slight upgrade to the knight’s set, but less protective than the other armor on this list.

7. The tree sentinel armor set can be obtained in Auriza Hero’s Grave northeast of the Royal Capital. This set has incredible stats for its weight and is superior to everything save for the ultra-heavy sets. Raise the fire breathing pillar toward the end of the zone to summon a chariot that will crash into the others, dropping the armor set.

8. Loot the bull goat armor set by progressing Patches’ questline in Volcano Manor. This is the most protective armor set in the game, but also the heaviest. It’s good for mixing with lighter armor pieces especially at higher rune levels. Be warned that the chest armor is one of the “fatty” armor pieces that cause your character’s arms to be held further out from your body thus increasing the size of your hitbox. You probably won’t get hit more often because of this, but the chest specifically is so heavy, and its bulky shape obstructs your view, that I don’t recommend wearing it.

9. The veteran’s armor set can be purchased from Enia in Roundtable Hold after killing Commander O’Neil at Castle Sol in the Mountaintops of the Giants. This armor set offers similar or lesser stats than the tree sentinel’s set while having a better looking helmet in my opinion.

Talismans

Throughout your playthrough you will unlock four talisman slots. These items grant significant power boosts and weigh very little. In the endgame I recommend wearing the erdtree’s favor +2 and the dragoncrest greatshield talisman. Strength, Intelligence, and faith builds should also use the Great Jar's Arsenal in order to wear heavy armor, and Shard of Alexander to deal more damage. Bleed builds should instead use the claw talisman and the lord of blood’s exultation for extra damage.

1. The dragoncrest shield talisman reduces all physical damage taken by 10%. It is found north of Caelid below the Bestial Sanctum in Dragonbarrow. You’ll have to drop down a series of roots sticking out below the cliff, then drop down the stone pillars until you reach the very bottom of the structure. This talisman is a priority for melee builds that get hit often. You can reach Dragonbarrow early by following D, Hunter of the Dead’s questline. This is also the fastest way to reach Roundtable Hold without fighting Margit. The +1 version can be looted in the Sainted Hero’s Grave in the Altus Plateau, the +2 version is in Crumbling Farram Azula, and the dragoncrest greatshield talisman is near the base of Miquella’s Haligtree.

2. The erdtree’s favor talisman can be found by the Fringefolk Hero’s Grave near the starting area. It boosts your max health by 3%, stamina by 6.75%, and equip load by 5% making it one of the best talismans in the game, similar to the ring of favor and protection in past souls games. The +1 version drops from Mohg in the Forsaken Depths below the Subterranean Shunning Grounds, and the +2 version can be found in the Ashen Capital.

3. The crimson amber medallion increases your health by 6%. Replace the dragoncrest greatshield talisman with the crimson amber medallion for PvP, as the dragoncrest greatshield talisman has reduced effectiveness against players. You can purchase the crimson amber medallion from the nomadic merchant on the east side of the Weeping Peninsula. The +1 version is locked behind an imp statue near the Prison Town Church site of grace in Volcano Manor, and the +2 version is in the sewer of the Ashen Capital.

4. The claw talisman can be found high atop a tower near the Rampart Tower site of grace in Stormveil Castle and boosts the damage of jumping attacks by 15%, further enhancing your most powerful attack.

5. The arsenal charm boosts your maximum equipment load by 15% and is given to you by Nepheli Loux in Roundtable Hold after killing Godrick the Grafted. The upgraded version, the Great Jar’s arsenal, can be found after taking the lift at the end of the Siofra River up above ground to Caelid and defeating the Great Jar’s champions.

6. The golden scarab increases rune acquisition by 20% and drops from the boss of the Abandoned Cave in Caelid. A pro-strat is to use a different talisman during a boss fight then quickly swap back to this one after killing the boss, as there is a short delay between killing the boss and being awarded runes for it.

7. The lord of blood’s exaltation drops from the boss of the Leyendell Catacombs and increases your attack rating by 20% for 20 seconds after blood-loss occurs nearby, even to yourself like when using the seppuku ash of war.

8. The shard of Alexander can be obtained by completing Iron-Fist Alexander’s questline in Crumbling Farram Azula. The shard of Alexander increases the damage of ashes of war by 15%.

9. The graven mass talisman can be found in the Consecrated Snowfield and boosts sorcery damage by 8%. It’s a good option for people who use spells more than ashes of war.

10. The flock’s canvas talisman boosts the damage of incantations by 8%. If you complete Milicent and Gowery’s questline, Gowery will drop you the talisman.

11. The rotten winged sword insignia is obtained by completing Millicent’s questline and boosts the damage of continuous attacks by up to 13%. It’s a good alternative to the lord of blood’s exultation when fighting enemies immune to hemorrhage.

Flask of Wonderous Physick

This flask has a single charge and is refillable at sites of grace similar to health and mana flasks. It can be outfitted with any two powerful effects, many of which last three entire minutes. In the endgame I recommend every build use the opaline hardtear. For your second tear I recommend the strength build use the greenburst crystal tear, the bleed build use the thorny cracked tear, the intelligence build use the magic shrouding cracked tear, and the faith build use the flame shrouding cracked tear. This way you can use your physick to buff both your defense and offense before tough fights.

1. The opaline bubbletear gives you a shield that absorbs the first hit you take, and the crimsonburst crystal tear restores seven health per second for three minutes, both are dropped by the Erdtree Avatar in the Weeping Peninsula.

2. The magic shrouding cracked tear boosts magic damage by 20% for three minutes and is dropped by the Erdtree Avatar in northeast Liurnia of the Lakes. This provides an enormous buff to intelligence builds that deal mostly magic-type damage.

3. The lightning and holy shrouding cracked tears are dropped by the Erdtree Avatar in northeast Liurnia of the Lakes and increase the damage you deal with their respective elements by 20% for three minutes. These can be useful to faith builds who use those elements.

4. The greenburst crystal tear is dropped by the Putrid Avatar in Caelid and boosts your stamina regeneration by 33.3% for three minutes.

5. The flame shrouding cracked tear is also dropped by the Putrid Avatar in Caelid and increases your fire damage by 20% for three minutes. This is a must-have for faith builds that use the blasphemous blade and "giantsflame take thee" incantation.

6. The opaline hardtear is dropped by the Putrid Avatar in Dragonbarrow and boosts all damage absorption by 15% for three minutes. This is one of the few ways to scale your defense in this game. I consider it a must-have.

7. The thorny cracked tear is dropped by the Putrid Avatar in the Consecrated Snowfield and boosts the damage of consecutive attacks by up to 20% for three minutes. This is very useful for builds that attack quickly like the dual-wielding bleed build.

Spirit Ashes and Consumables

Spirits are summonable in many boss fights and can often trivialize them. They can be upgraded with glovewart similar to upgrading weapons with smithing stones. I only recommend summoning spirits if you don’t intend to fight a boss on even terms and would rather skip it. Even the lone wolf ashes you receive at the start of the game will make most bosses in Limgrave a joke, which is why I only recommend them if your goal is speedrunning.

1. Latenna the Albinauric is essential to defeating the Black Blade Kindred early due to her long range, and can be used to cheese many other bosses as well. I recommend upgrading her to at least +5. Talk to Albus in the Village of the Albinaurics in southwest Liurnia of the Lakes to get part of the Haligtree medallion, then show it to Latenna in the Lakeside Crystal Cave to the east to receive Latenna’s Ashes.

2. Everyone knows the mimic tear is overpowered. Found in Nokron the Eternal city, it creates a clone of you with all of your armor, talismans, weapons, and spells. It will even use your equipped ashes of war, and can heal itself with the blasphemous blade. It makes for a great meat-shield during boss battles. It doesn’t deal incredible damage but it applies just as much status buildup as you do, making it an easy choice for bleed builds. In fact, it’s so strong I recommend you don’t use it; Elden Ring’s less fun when it’s easy.

3. You don’t need to use great runes to beat any part of the game, but I do recommend Radahn’s great rune above the others. Increased maximum HP, FP, and stamina is nice to have. Scale the divine tower of Caelid after defeating Radahn to acquire it.

4. I’m not a big fan of using consumables but the medicinal effects of seafood are undeniable. Boiled crab is sold by Blackguard Big Boggart for 600 runes each after he moves to the Capital Outskirts. It increases your physical damage absorption by 20% for one minute but it does not stack with the “flame grant me strength” incantation as both are classified as body buffs.

DLC Secret Areas (No Major Spoilers)

The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion looks to be about a third the size of the base game. Unlike in the base game, almost the entire map can be reached without fighting a single boss. Instead, the majority of the map’s zones can each only be accessed through a hidden entrance. Without spoiling much, I’ll hint at how to reach each secret area in the list below.

Accessing secret areas is important because your main goal in the Shadowlands is to gather Scadutree Blessings. Scadu, or scædu, is an old English spelling of shadow, similar to gaol/jail. In old English “sc” is pronounced “sh”. You loot these by finding Miquella’s crosses and altars, and from killing Shadowpot and Hippopotamus enemies. Each blessing level increases your attack power and damage absorption, which ends up doubling those stats at level 18, with the max level being 20. You get the bulk of the benefit by level 12 so aim to get your blessing to at least level 12 before taking on major bosses. One last thing: progress as many NPC questlines as you can before opening the door in front of the Dark Chamber Entrance site of grace in Shadow Keep. Some quest rewards are missable.

1. Touching the Cocoon of the Empyrean in Mohgwyn Palace will transport you to the Gravesite Plain in the Shadowlands. To the north you’ll find a map, then the Scorched Ruins and Three-Path Cross sites of grace. The path west leads to Belurat, Tower Settlement, but there’s a hidden path south along the cliffside that leads to Prospect Town. To the northeast of the Three Path Cross site of grace, across the Ellac Greatbridge, is the Castle Front site of grace. The boss of Castle Ensis can be challenging if your Scadutree blessing is at a low level, but the castle can be completely bypassed. To the right of the Castle Front site of grace are no less than three hidden paths.

2. From the Castle Front site of grace, head south down through a large cavern that leads to a poison swamp. From here, follow the cliffside east to a spiritspring. This will take you up to the Fort of Reprimand. Head north from the fort into Scadu Altus to reach the Moorth Ruins. You can reach two more hidden paths from here. Up the path to the northwest is a map of Scadu Altus.

3. North of the Moorth Ruins is a pond with a cave leading to a poison swamp. East through another cave is the Ancient Ruins Base site of grace. To the southwest is a map of the Rauh Ruins and the Temple Town Ruins site of grace. North of there is the Ravine North site of grace and the Scorpion River Catacombs.

4. There’s a hole inside the Moorth Ruins you can drop down that leads to the Bonny Village site of grace. Here you can loot the O Mother emote from a corpse along the north cliff. Head west to the Bridge Leading to the Village site of grace, then north to the Church District Highroad site of grace. To the south is the Cathedral of Manus Metyr, and to the northwest is the Church District Entrance to Shadow Keep, bypassing the boss you have to fight to enter the keep through the front. There’s a lever in this area that opens the way to a hidden boss.

5. Return to the Castle Front site of grace. Follow the path east and drop down the series of ledges on the left until you reach a pond. A cave here leads to the Ellac River Cave site of grace. To the south are the Ellac River Downstream and Cerulean Coast sites of grace. West of here is the Cerulean Coast West site of grace where a cave along the cliffside grants access to the island off the coast. South of the Cerulean Coast site of grace is a map of the Southern Shore and the Cerulean Coast Cross site of grace. To the east, along the beach and up a huge stone coffin are the Finger Ruins of Rhia.

6. South from the Cerulean Coast Cross site of grace is The Fissure which you can drop down. This area is blocked off by Miquella’s magic until you reach Shadow Keep. This is because all the way down the Fissure Depths is a difficult, late-game boss. My advice is that when the boss rises up in the air and bathes the arena in blue ghostflame, don’t try to dodge-roll, you have to jump over the flames to avoid them.

7. Back at the Castle Front site of grace, follow the same path south past the Pillar Path Waypoint site of grace all the way to the Suppressing Pillar. Just west of the pillar is a cave called the Dragon’s Pit. The cave empties out to the Dragon’s Pit Terminus site of grace. From here the path forks. The right path leads south to the Grand Altar of Dragon Communion. From here, you can head west to reach Charo’s Hidden Grave and the Lamentor’s Gaol. The left path heads up Jagged Peak, full of strong dragon bosses.

8. Past the Church District Entrance site of grace is the Storehouse, Back Section site of grace where you can drop down to the Storehouse, First Floor site of grace. From here you can reach the West Rampart site of grace which leads to the Ancient Ruins of Rauh, a super late-game area. From the Storehouse, Back Section site of grace, climb up to the Storehouse, Loft site of grace. Across the rafters and down two lifts is the Shadow Keep, Back Gate site of grace. There’s a boss here you can fight who’s quite strong. Try using the O Mother emote in front of the nearby statue of Marika. It’ll reveal a path to the Hinterlands which you can follow southeast to the Finger Ruins of Dheo.

9. The final and craziest secret begins in Shadow Keep. Starting from the Storehouse First Floor site of grace, head south to the line of flaming boats guarded by the Shadow Militia, then turn east and there’s a ladder you can climb down from to reach a secret chamber. An illusory wall in the chamber leads to the Castle Watering Hole site of grace and the Ruins of Unte. Head south, past the Recluses’ River Upstream and Recluses’ River Downstream sites of grace and follow the right side of the cliff down to the Darklight Catacombs.

10. The Darklight Catacombs lead all the way down to the Forsaken Graveyard site of grace. South from here is the Woodland Trail site of grace, and the Church Ruins site of grace where you’ll find the map of the Abyss. West from the Woodland Trail site of grace is the Abyssal Woods and Divided Falls sites of grace. The enemies in this area can be parried. South from the Divided Falls site of grace is Midra’s Manse. Here you’ll find an extremely cool and extremely dangerous hidden boss.

Tips on how to beat the Furnace Golems (wicker men): The fire from their stomps can be jumped over. Each of their legs have separate poise meters and they seem to be based on the number of hits dealt to them, not how much stance damage you deal. The pest threads incantation is great at this and has a low faith requirement. Once they fall over, find their face plate and riposte it. Two golems near spiritsprings have armor on their legs. Get above them and throw three craftable furnace pots into them to kill them.

Notable DLC Gear

1. The bloodfiend’s arm is a colossal weapon that drops from a particular Blood Fiend in Prospect Town. Thanks to its unique arcane scaling, with 60 arcane stat it deals 199 hemorrhage buildup, 20% more than other colossal weapons’ 166 buildup. On top of that, its heavy attack causes a blood-splatter AOE that deals additional damage, stance damage, and hemorrhage buildup. Thanks to this, the bloodfiend’s arm’s charged heavy attack deals an incredible 53 stance damage, 26% more than other colossal weapon’s 42 stance damage. You deal 10% more stance damage when two-handing your weapon, and you can use the cragblade ash of war to boost it by a further 10%. You can also use the stonebarb cracked tear which increases your stance damage by 30% for 30 seconds. Many bosses have 120 poise so this will enable you to stagger them in two hits. It makes short work of the DLC’s final boss.
Take the axe talisman to empower your charged heavy attacks by 10%. The new two-handed sword talisman provides another 15% damage boost. You can also run the spiked cracked tear for its 15% damage boost to charged attacks, and the lord of blood’s exultation and white mask helm since many enemies will suffer blood loss after a single attack. As always, I recommend wearing the dragoncrest greatshield talisman and the rest of the tree sentinel armor set so you can poise through some attacks. The optimal stats for this weapon at rune level 150 would be to start as a hero and level vigor to 60, endurance to 41, strength to 33, and arcane to 60. If you’re at a higher rune level I recommend taking strength up to the softcap at 54.

2. The spinning gravity thrust ash of war is very strong when paired with high-damaging colossal swords. Spinning gravity thrust grants a bunch of hyperarmor and causes you to float up into the air, avoiding certain attacks. It hits several times and can be chained into a second cast. Even though it’s a gravity-type skill, it’s technically a strength ash of war like cragblade so it can apply any infusion to a weapon. It’s especially strong on a blood-infused greatsword as, perhaps unintentionally, the multihits all seem to apply hemorrhage buildup. Yet another option for strength/arcane builds. Spinning gravity thrust can be taken from the remembrance weapon you get from beating the boss in front of the Shadow Keep, Back Gate site of grace.

3. Carian sovereignty is a new ash of war similar to Carian grandeur, except it has a followup attack with an enormous AOE. The two hits deal 48 and 43 stance damage totaling an insane 91. Putting Carian sovereignty on a greatsword like the claymore will grant it hyperarmor. Carian sovereignty scales with your intelligence stat, weapons upgrade level, and infusion type, so it’s best used on an intelligence build with a magic-infused claymore or similar greatsword. With 60 intelligence like this guide’s intelligence build has, Carian sovereignty can dish out some insane damage. It drops from a teardrop scarab inside a cave southwest of the Cathedral of Manus Metyr. Start from the Church District Highroad site of grace, head southwest, and follow the west cliffside south down to the cave.

4. The dryleaf seal is now the best pure faith scaling seal between its minimum of 27 and 50 faith. Below 27 faith the finger seal is still the best, between 51 and 68 faith the godslayer seal is still the best, and the erdtree seal is still the best at 69 faith and above. This means that for this guide’s faith build that has exactly 50 faith for the ash of war damage softcap, the dryleaf seal is slightly better than the godslayer seal it uses. The difference is only two spellbuff though, 259 vs 257, but if you want your incantations to deal slightly more damage consider leveling it. The dryleaf seal also boosts Miquella’s incantations, though I haven’t found myself using any. The dryleaf seal can be found north of the Recluses’ River Downstream site of grace.

5. The knight’s lightning spear is an upgraded version of the lightning spear incantation. It can be charged to fire up to seven projectiles, scaling with the Godfrey icon. Another great spell for faith builds. It can be found in the Scorpion River Catacombs. As a dragon cult incantation, knight’s lightning spear is buffed by the death knight armor set found in the Darklight Catacombs.

6. Lots of people were excited to find out about the two-handed sword talisman. It increases damage dealt by two-handed weapons by 15%, but doesn’t buff ashes of war or paired weapons. It can be found in the Temple Town Ruins.

7. The crimson amber medallion +3 increases your HP by 10% and drops from the boss of the Fog Rift Catacombs. A must-have for PvP builds.

8. The talisman of dread increases the damage of magma by 15%, which includes the blasphemous blade’s ash of war: taker’s flames. Above rune level 150, when you have more endurance, this guide’s faith build would use this over the great jar’s arsenal. The talisman of dread can be found in the Elder’s Hovel east of the Pillar Path Cross site of grace, near the spiritspring up to the Fort of Reprimand.

9. The verdigris armor set, whether you like it or not, is the new and improved bullgoat set. It has the same poise and standard physical negation, higher pierce, slash, magic, and holy negation, and weighs slightly less. Interestingly, the chest armor is not a “fatty” armor, so it won’t increase the size of your hitbox like the other heavy sets. Many high rune level builds are going to go for this armor set. It can be acquired by completing Moore’s questline and reaching the final zone of the DLC.

10. The deflecting hardtear is one of the most powerful items the DLC added to the game. It significantly increases your guard boost and damage negation when performing spontaneous guards, as well as increases the damage of subsequent guard counters. Basically, it enables you to perform Sekiro-like parries, and boosts the damage of your next attack by 20% each time you do. It drops from the Furnace Golem in the Gravesite plain.

[DrummerBoy]

I assume you're talking about the incantation "giantsflame take thee". Those were not instructions, but if you're curious, if you dual-wield giant's seals, equip the godfrey icon, fire scorpion charm, flock's and faithful canvas talismans, and maybe cast golden vow, you can significantly increase the spell's damage. A lot of spells can one-shot players if you stack enough relevant modifiers. I don't cover it in the guide because glass cannon builds aren't beginner friendly.

[Lex Mortis]

No "1shot fireballs" build, instructions unclear

[hellboychess]

Thank you very much! Exactly what I was looking for to get back into Elden Ring. Tremendous work, with excellent formatting. I joined your Discord to take advantage of the guide you're sharing there. Magnificent.

[DrummerBoy]

The strength and faith builds were tweaked in an update a little while ago. The walkthroughs are still essentially the same, just a bit clearer. The faith build used to start as a prophet in order to have arcane to cast rotten breath. I tested that the early-game bosses were easy enough to kill without rotten breath, so by starting as a vagabond you have enough points to bring vigor up to 60, which is huge in the endgame. I have older versions of the guide saved somewhere, but I highly recommend the current version. If you already started as a prophet you can leave vigor at 59, or just go up to rune level 151, not a big deal.

[helix389]

Was there a previous version of this guide? If so could someone post it? I feel like the faith build part was changed a lot or maybe im confused???

[DrummerBoy]

Yeah, you're right. I added the rusted anchor. I probably didn't include it originally because I prefer to dual-wield them, and you only get one per play-through.

[LuckyCheshire]

I personally would mention the Rusted Anchor for the strength build, since it's one of the best str weapons in the game and can be obtained extremely early. It's a subjective choice, of course, but I'd rank it higher than most of the weapons you suggest there.

[JuniorBattles]

Wow, this must have taken quite a while to complete. I commend the hard work and dedication.

[SirButtface]

@DrummerBoy aah right forgot it doesnt cost fp, thanks for explaining

[DrummerBoy]

The mimic tear is the best summon for bleed builds and doesn't cost fp. The seppuku ash of war consumes like 4 fp so you shouldn't need much mind stat for that either. If you want to summon different spirit ashes feel free to invest in mind. If you drop dexterity below 45 you should still deal decent damage.