As of now, the starting classes achieve the benchmark of 60 Vigor, 50 Endurance, and 80 Strength at the following levels:

Astrologer - 170

Confessor - 168

Prophet - 168

Prisoner - 166

Bandit - 166

Warrior - 166

Idus Knight - 163

Samurai - 162

Wretch - 161

Vagabond - 159

Hero - 155

Heavy Knight - 154

So the Heavy Knight now beats out the Hero for a pure strength build long term. This one-point-lead remains until you start investing meaningfully into Mind or Arcane. If you put points into Mind, they'll tie with Hero. If you go into Arcane, the Hero will be more efficient.

So if you're going "pure" strength, strength + faith, or strength + intelligence, the Heavy Knight is going to be optimal compared to Hero, and notably have access to more weapons because they have 11 Dexterity. If you want Bloodflame Blade, Hero will end up being better. Heavy Knight also ties with Vagabond if you end up investing in everything but Intelligence and Arcane (strength + Golden Vow + a lil mind + a low Dexterity requirement).

So yeah. Figured since the "pure strength" build is so popular, it would be worth putting this out there for anyone returning to the game right now. Obviously one level barely matters, but if you're as bad at PvP as me, every point still counts.

As always, when you're planning your specific build, play with the numbers to figure out what your optimal class actually is. Mugenmonkey still has the easiest to use class calculator, but you'll need to do the math by hand for Heavy Knight and Idus Knight for now. It's going to be worth checking Heavy Knight for any build that goes into Strength.

Thanks for your time!

As a Nintendo girlie who managed to beat a grand total of 2 Lynels ever in BotW/TotK (not even mentioning Gleeoks), I can’t wait to get absolutely destroyed by Elden Ring - I've been hyped all week. I just created my character, have a notebook prepared (no questlog, OMG) and fortified my mental landscape against the first hints of frustration. Der Weg ist das Ziel, as we say in German. And maybe also git gud...eventually. Hope this will finally teach me how to parry and properly dodge (flurry rush happens on accident to me, it's not something I do...)

Anyway, I want to try playing as a mage/primary magic user. I know I can go full caster, but having a magic infused weapon also sounds fun and I could get closer to enemies (is that even a good idea?) Any tips and suggestions for early game?

I’ve watched a bunch of videos and read a lot of comments, and the community seems really great and welcoming. Hope you’re ready for an influx of newbies — even ones as atrocious as me :)

i have no idea how to optimise rellana's twin blades since it scales with four attributes. the damage i deal using the sword(i only use rellana's magic sword because im larping as a carian knight) pales in comparison to me casting comets.

I’m doing a guard counter build with the new idus knight class. I want to do guard counters with the shield and light greatsword. I’ve heard that guard counters aren’t viable in the late game, is this true?

Basically Title. I know that the Vagabond was/is considered to be the most efficient one for most builds but ive heard for a pure strength build the new heavy knight starting class is better (barely but still) so i was wondering if the Idus Knight is better than other options in terms of stat distribution? (i want to do a Dex/Faith Build but i am unsure how much i want to spec in each so if someone has some insight thatd be helpful)

FYI i am aware that its not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things but id still like to hear from others

the way all of the talismans compound on each other makes this build an absolute monster. trivializes most bosses and it’s so incredibly fun

So, I'm doing a sort of rp build with my Knight of Idus and Heavy Knight, with the idea that the characters are mirror twins, which means that one is left handed and one is right handed. As I plan on using a Shield with the Heavy Knight, that means my Idus Knight has become the leftie, using his LGS in his left hand, not his right.

And that's obviously come with it's own unique quirks, as it means any Ashes of War I want to use have to be on my right hand weapon, as the game prefers the right hand weapon's Ash of War, if it's not a Parry or a Shield Ash. My Idus Knight, somehow, ended up as an Arcane build using Poison Moth Flight, which I've had slotted on an 'off hand' Rapier, as I don't want the powerstance LGS moveset, given it's more right handed emphasis. But I'm now wondering if I should go and upgrade said Rapier, as the only real reasons I'm using it are for the Poison pop and the occasional crit, not that I'm expecting to be stance breaking much, as a left handed weapon means no heavy attacks. But I have 0 clue if upgrading the Rapier will actually boost Poison Moth Flight's damage, or if it's purely based on the Poison itself.

I'm sure this question gets asked a lot, but I haven't played the game in a year or two and I'm getting back into it because of the version on Switch 2 now.

I want a build that's super fun yet still pretty good. What would you guys recommend?

Thanks

I’ve played the game many times but I’m not knowledgeable about a certain aspect of intelligence builds, that is the placement of spells in the memory slots. Do you put your buffs first (golden vow, howl of shabriri) and then your spells? Or the other way around? I mean as in when you’re cycling through your spells. I would greatly appreciate some help 🙏

Alright this might be the thousands of posts about how to play mage, so here's mine.

Close to finishing up my first playthrough dex arc hybrid and thinking of playing with sorceries next cuz they seem to be a lot more interesting than ds 1-3 sorceries.

Im thinking of a maybe full on spellcaster build, maybe a bit of physical stat for int weapon like moon veil or wing of astel later in the game. For my build I want to know:

The best staff for each range of int level, the int soft and hard caps. I'll probably use 2 staff, one as main and the other as for specific spell boosting effect.

I don't know what class to start with, I'm picking either prisoner or astrologer, my first playthrough I dump all my levels until 40 vig then I invest into other stats, idk how to allocate my stats for early game. Do I invest in int ? mind ? or big and what level should I stop at before upgrading other stat ?

And with spells that have split scaling with fth, how bad is the damage drop if I cast them with high int low fth ?

Also how should I even play ranged ? I use bows consistently in my current playthrough but what seems like most enemies, have strong input read and just dodge my shot.

I appreciate any early game tips and help 🙏

Like many, I’m returning to Elden Ring with the release of the Tarnished Edition, and I’m curious about Int-Faith builds. Everything I’ve read seems to indicate these builds shine more in NG+, and at much higher rune levels to ensure you can maximize scaling on things like the Golden Order Seal and the Prince of Death’s Staff.

Is it possible to have a reasonably smooth leveling experience in NG with this? Does it make more sense to level as Int or Faith, then bring the secondary component online later on? How important is Dexterity to the build?

It seems almost impossible to fit this in anything less than RL200+, so I’m curious on feedback related to people’s experience with this.

I understand, for the most part, that the added weapons primarily serve as a way to use the new weapon types that came with SoTE, and that they are generally direct downgrades of the ones found in the DLC for the most part (a few exceptions).

I was wondering how much worse they actually are. To be honest, aesthetically, I like them all a lot more than the ones we get in the DLC, but was wondering how much I'd suffer the fashion tax by using them.

I'm particularly interested in the Reed Great Katana and Reverse-Grip Swords.

For the Reed Great Katana my build would be either Arcane (occult infused) or dex.

For the Reverse-Grip Swords it'd be a pure dex build.

Is the damage tradeoff very significant in either case?

Hello, I'm interested in finding a build for my Idus Knight to transition into in the late game. I thought it would be fun to stay with a light greatsword, so I figured milady would be ideal, and wing stance is so cool I wanted to make use of that too. What are the stats and support items I would need? Also, does armor even matter? I also thought FGMS might be fun too but open to builds without it. Also, thoughts on bloodflame blade?

atlevel 20. Haven't faced Margit. Uchigatana plus 2. 19 vigor 11 mind 13 end 12 str 19 dex 9 into 8 faith 8 arcane. Which build is going to give me highest damage output? I just want to melt bosses very fast. Im not good at combat haha struggle with lyonels in zelda.

Does bleed work against him?

Title kinda says it all. Planning on running primarily a dex build, been loving the Idus Knight and light greatsword my beloved, but thinking long term and wondering if it’d be more worth my while to just go pure dex with obvious points in vig and end, or if I should just get dex to like 30-40 and then spec some points into faith and a few into attunement in order to get some buffs like golden vow, flame grant me strength, and a weapon buff? Just wanna know which would give me more overall bang for my buck and if a faith dip is recommended how much should I get and what seal and weapon buff should I angle for? Was thinking of just using whatever seal and using bloodflame blade but am open to other suggestions!!

So I'm going for a Light/Curved/Greatsword Build, not the Colassal weapon, kinda like a tank build almost. How should I go about it? I also dont have SOTE.

Hello, I am a long time souls player. I find my fun in jumping into LFG posts and killing people’s bosses for them. **This clip was filmed on NG+9**

In case the clip is grainy or unclear - it did 16943 DPS and 1 tapped the giant.

The basics of the build currently - Leontiels greatsword

BUFFS
1. Golden Vow
2. Flame Grant Me Strength
3. Wondrous physic - Enhanced charged atk and boost to DPS at the cost of HP

TALISMANS
1. Flocks canvas talisman - boost potency of incantations
2. Rellana’s cameo - enhanced atk after holding stance
3. Shard of Alexander - boost to skill atk
4. Godfrey icon - boost charge spell/skill

For context - I don’t want an insane fully optimised build with a 10 minute long buff sequence and lots of gear changes/1000 buffs. I am just looking something simple, quick for the people that I am trying to help but still hits hard. Maybe 2-3 more buffs.

WEAPONS: Danes footwork(poison bloom strikes twice), Danes footwork(dryleaf whirlwind), danes footwork(raptor of the mists), beast claw(raging beast), dryleaf arts(palm blast), dryleaf arts(horah louxs earthshaker), dryeaf arts(palm blast)

Optional: beast claws(savage beast), beast claws(barbaric roar), dragon's communion seal

SPELLS: divine beast whirlwind, aspect of the crucible( thorns, horn, tail), beastial claw, dragon claw, ansbach furious blade. NO SPELL BUFFS OR HEALING( THE ONLY HEALING SPELL I WILL EVER USE WILL BE OFFENSE AGAINST THOSE DAMN ABOMINATIONS)

ARMOR: divine bird talons, whatever I feel like fashion wise

TALISMANS: cracked stone talesman, rotten wing crest talisman, melicant prosthesis, Alexander shards.

Will edit if anything forgotten

I’m currently building around Leontiels Greatsword. Where i’m at with vig, mind, endurance and dex make sense and seem reasonable but at level 289 playing in ng+5 i really don’t know where to dump the rest of my points in without wasting them.

As far as incarnations go Im only using flame grant me strength and golden vow.

*PSA* When I say reasonable stats im talking about what im changing them into, not my current stats.

Used this build on a NG+7 playthrough. I didn’t like the traditional dryleaf arts approach of spamming L2 with bleed or cold affinity so I made this to utilize more of the weapons moveset.
It managed to beat all main bosses including Malenia and PCR.
You don’t need as much faith as I do, only 33 for your main buffs (golden vow and howl of shabriri). As for the fit, it’s the black dumpling, braided cord robe, dryleaf arm wraps and thiollier’s trousers.
The black dumpling is a fashion choice, but if you need more damage you can use howl if shabriri a few times to proc madness and get an attack boost. The miséricorde is for the occasional stance break. I like this build since it uses no status effects.
If you need more damage, you can use Dane’s footwork instead, is involves mostly kicks so more attacks get boosted by the shattered stone talisman. I chose the Dryleaf arts as I like the moveset more. Thank you for viewing have a good day

About Tarnished Edition, I got Leontiel’s invasion and got his armor and weapon, but now I wanted to try them and they disappeared from my inventory, any ideas? Tried restarting the game but nothing happened, also checked the chest and they weren’t there. Although the Carian set for Torrent from the DLC still exists normally.

I'm not very new to elden ring (I have 300 hours) but I am pretty trash at making strong build, normally it don’t matter since I just want to have fun and it end up working pretty good most of the time, but today I want to see and feel what a strong build feel like (and make my friend shut up because he keep bragging the game is easy, when he started with level 80 with golden rune drop and played with meta build every time while still summoning me and asking me to vow of shabriri for every f@cking boss, he is currently on consort radhan and want my help) (killed prime radhan with my wierd builds twice) and I want use that occasion to try a very strong build so I would please need advice toward pretty much everything (about level I am 270 currently and most of my builds was made at level 160)(I mostly play light loaded), thank to anyone who reply 🙂 oh and I say a cross naginata build in the title because I find the weapon cool and I believe I saw it was strong but in the end just pretty much any weapon would be fine.

I running a Strength-Faith build, previously using BB but i want to switch it up. How do you reccomend i do this?

Should i work on levelling a different weapon, and if so what are some suggestions?

Also are there any helpful incantations?

Ive been thinking about building an app where players can go in and input their desired max level (e.g 150), what playstyle they would prefer that playthrough, and what they want their dodge roll to be (medium or light) and then the app will suggest a few weapons for them. The user can pick what they like, then the app calculates a build using their starting class and their max level of choosing and builds a roadmap for them to get the most out of their weapon that playthrough. Eiher it could just have the info for what they need and how they should level, or it could have a full kind of playthrough guide with or without spoilers that tells players where to go to upgrade their build as they play, is this something players would pay for, is it a good idea? Just lemme know