One of the best things about Elden Ring is the number of viable item builds you can use to play the game. Apart from giving you that power fantasy fix, the game's item variety enables you to play a character that fits your playstyle while also giving you some cool ways to dispatch your enemies. Even more importantly, Elden Ring has a respeccing system during its later stages, allowing you to play around with different builds in the same playthrough.
As you likely now have plenty of Elden Ring Runes burning a hole in your pocket, trying out builds is a perfect way to spend them, especially when your character is well above the soft level cap. Below you can check out some of the best builds the game has to offer for every playstyle.
Best Item Build for Bleed
Elements
- Items: Rivers of Blood
- Starting class: Bandit
- Core stats: Strength, Dexterity, and Arcane
- Spells/Ashes of War: Corpse Piler
Bleed builds are all the rage amongst the Elden Ring playerbase, and for a good reason. They do massive amounts of damage because of the Blood Loss status effect. When combined with a Mimic Tear summon, the potential to take down bosses is fast is relatively high. On top of that, bleed builds are highly versatile as they're effective in both PvE and PvP.
Elden Ring's Rivers of Blood katana is one of the finest bleed builds in the late game. Use the Corpse Piler weapon skill to unleash a 6-slice combo that inflicts bleed on nearly every enemy you come across. The high Arcane stat and a few additional levels in Strength and Dexterity make Bandits an excellent place to start if you're making a fresh character for this setup.
You'll want to play this build fairly aggressively in order to succeed, meaning at higher levels putting Elden Ring Runes into your Vigor stat is a must. The speed of your weapon, though, allows you to rack up Blood Loss quickly, so you should be able to make quick work of any foe that blocks your path.
Best Item Build for Mages
Elements
- Items: Astrologer's Staff, Azur's Glintstone Staff
- Starting class: Astrologer
- Core stats: Intelligence and Mind
- Spells/Ashes of War: Swift Glintstone Shard, Glintstone Cometshard, Carian Slicer
Sorcery builds are pretty in vogue with a lot of casual players, as well as those newly introduced to the world of From Software games. In Elden Ring, in particular, using magic is far more viable, making them a good choice for those who want to keep things simple and stay out of the range of danger.
This sorcery build is ideal if you prefer to do damage from afar. Glintstone Sorcery teaches you a range of spells that let you strike your opponents while remaining far away from them, making some boss fights a piece of cake. If you want to maximize your magic damage and meet the requirements of your chosen weapon, Intelligence and Mind should be your primary stats. If you don't want to become a conventional glass-cannon wizard, Vigor is a must. The Astrologer class is ideal for this setup because it comes equipped with a staff and boasts the highest Intelligence stat.
The Astrologer's Staff is automatically given to you if you begin the game as an Astrologer, although it can also be purchased at the Liurnia Lake Shore Site of Grace. In order to advance through the main questline, though, you'll want to equip the Azur's Glintstone Staff, which you may find at the Academy of Raya Lucaria's Church of the Cuckoo (Ollie has a helpful video guide on how to get it).
Best Item Build for Defense
Elements
- Items: Katana, Nagakiba, any Tower shield
- Starting class: Samurai
- Core stats: Strength and Endurance
- Spells/Ashes of War: Any
While defense and tank builds aren't as popular as the previous ones on this list, they can be relatively effective in Elden Ring as the items used to build them scale well with the stats that matter. Though they're called defensive builds, they don't just stand there all day taking damage. Instead, they give you enough leeway to last a bit longer in a boss's face, even when it takes a swing at you for enormous damage.
You should select a defensive melee build if you want to take a lot of damage and hold your ground against an aggressive foe. Strength and Endurance are the primary features of this build, which utilizes a katana for fast attacks and a large tower shield to enhance your defense. The Samurai class is recommended if you plan to use this build, as it provides you with the best weapon right out of the gate.
Your character's stamina and equip load is boosted by Endurance, allowing them to block more hits and employ better armor like the Twinned Armor Set, while Strength will enable you to use certain shields that improve damage negation and let your character wield more potent combat weapons. Adding some points to Vigor will help you maintain a higher maximum health bar in case you are hit.
A towering tower shield for your off-hand is a must-have piece of equipment since you can use it to stop an enemy's attack and avoid dying from a hail of blows. Early in Castle Stormveil, you can acquire a powerful tower shield. A small outside space with an Imp Seal may be found through the entrance on the Western side of the hall with the Grafted Scion. The Hawk Crest Wooden Shield can be found in another room after using a Stonesword Key on the Imp Seal.
Best Item Build for Ranged
Elements
- Items: Longbow, Shortbow
- Starting class: Samurai or Bandit
- Core stats: Dexterity, Vigor, and Endurance
- Spells/Ashes of War: Barrage, Mighty Shot
Elden Ring is the first From game to make proper archery-based builds actually viable. They're not as OD as bleed and sorcery builds. What they lack in power, though, they make up for in style and utility. If you enjoy a ranged hit-and-run style, check out what we have in store below.
An archery-based build in Elden Ring is a more subtle approach for players who aren't interested in using magic to get the job done while keeping their distance. Though a more challenging build than the magic build detailed earlier in this post, it's a gratifying alternative for those who prefer classic ranged fighting to the magic and melee builds that form the basic choices for combat in Elden Ring.
Having a high level of dexterity is the most essential attribute for a ranged archery build since it will improve your damage and allow you to carry more powerful weapons. Keep in mind, though, that this only works in conjunction with regularly upgraded weapons and intelligent selection of which arrows to employ in specific scenarios, so keep that in mind as you work on upgrading your character as well as your weapons. Endurance is a close second in stat priority, as avoiding and dashing out of melee range will be a crucial skill. Of course, the HP boost from higher Vigor never goes amiss, especially for builds that are likely to sustain some damage while you learn the ropes.
Best Item Build for Battle Mages
Elements
- Items: Rapier
- Starting class: Astrologer or Prisoner
- Core stats: Intelligence and Dexterity
- Spells/Ashes of War: Scholar's Armament, Glintstone Pebble, Carian Greatsword
A battlemage is what you get when you combine melee-based combat with spellcasting. Apart from oozing with style, this type of build can also compete with proper melee builds in terms of damage. There's a fair bit of upkeep as you need to enhance your weapons with Scholar's Armament, but the result is a very gratifying, fantasy-fueled combat experience.
You'll utilize Scholar's Armament to enhance your Rapier, which is a highly dexterous stabby weapon, then press L2 to unleash Glintstone Phalanx. This Ash of War can only be buffed if you utilize the Keen version.
To counter the Glintstone Phalanx's burst attacks, use your Rapier, which has a Critical Rating of 130 and can do some serious damage. You'll be able to take out even the most difficult of your opponents with relative ease.
Glintstone Pebble can be used to reduce the number of foes or to reach those you can't get to with melee or horseback attacks, as needed. When outnumbered or on a horse, use the Carian Greatsword to quickly slaughter foes in a wide arc in front of you.
Best Item Build for Aggressive Melee
Elements
- Items: Reduvia and Eleonora's Poleblade
- Starting class: Warrior
- Core stats: Dexterity and Endurance
- Spells/Ashes of War: Reduvia Blood Blade, Bloodblade Dance
This duel-wielding aggressive melee build is ideal if you want to close the distance on your opponent and unleash a fierce volley of attacks. A dagger and a longer weapon like a spear or twinblade are ideal for this build, which places a heavy emphasis on Dexterity and Endurance. For weapon requirements, be sure to allocate some points to Strength and Faith as well. Warrior is the best class for this build because it has the highest Dexterity stat.
As previously stated, Endurance boosts stamina and load, two critical metrics for melee builds. It is possible to wear some of Elden Ring's greatest armor, such as Twinned while retaining a low weight for quick rolls if you have enough Endurance points. Your off-hand dagger's damage will improve as a result of a gain in dexterity, which is essential to this build.
Two unique weapons with an emphasis on applying the bleed status effect should be used in this build. Equip Eleonora's Poleblade, which you may also find in the Second Church of Marika, in your primary hand, precisely like Nagakiba did in the previous version. The Reduvia dagger can be used as an off-hand weapon by the narrator. Bloody Finger Nerijus can be defeated near Murkwater Cave to obtain this.
Eleonora's Poleblade may be used to narrow the distance, and then Reduvia can be used to deliver the bleed effect on your opponents immediately. Enemies will suffer a massive loss of health if they reach full-bleed, making it easier for you to win.
Best Item Build for Moonveil Katana
Elements
- Items: Moonveil
- Starting class: Samurai or Prisoner
- Core stats: Intelligence, Vigor, and Dexterity
- Spells/Ashes of War: Transient Moonlight, Loretta's Greatbow, Glintstone Pebble, Carian Greatsword
The Moonveil katana is one of the best weapon items in Elden Ring thanks to its built-in skill, Transient Moonlight. Using this ability puts you in a sheathed stance. Attacking with your light attack from here unleashes a magic projectile, while the heavy attack becomes a downward slashed with a magical extended bladed. This skill makes the weapon highly versatile when combined with a dexterity build's high mobility.
This build takes full advantage of the katana's skill. When foes are stunned by Transient Moonlight, this melee-mage build can deal considerable critical damage to them. Stagger your opponents with Transient Moonlight and then critically attack them with R2 instead of R1. As a result of using the Assassin's Cerulean Dagger and Carian Filigreed Crest, you will never run out of FP.
When fighting challenging foes at a distance, utilize Loretta's Greatbow and Glintstone Pebble. When closer, use Glintstone Pebble so you can either get some distance or continue your assault. With the help of the Radagon Icon, Carian's Greatsword is capable of dealing AoE damage to large groups of foes.
How to Build Your Items in Elden Ring with Runes
The first step to making any build in Elden Ring is first to acquire the necessary items and abilities. Even if you're respeccing, though, you may still need a few stats to equip them. Apart from that, you'll also need to upgrade your gear so that it can reach its full potential and dish out the big damage. For both of these things, you need Runes, and lots of them.
You can choose to use one of the game's many farming spots to accrue thousands of Runes in a few hours. However, if you don't have the time to do that, you can use our service to buy Elden Ring Runes you need to make your dream item build complete.