In the minds of many Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree players, the most iconic build of the series is to take the biggest sword available and hit the bosses in the head as hard as possible with it. The way to do it must have evolved over the games, and it is far from being the most difficult way to play, quite the contrary, but it remains enjoyable. In addition, it preserves the fundamentals of the gameplay based on rolling and using attack opportunities.
Starting class
The Vagabond is probably the best choice, it has the right attributes and great starting equipment, including a shield. But many classes lend themselves to it too, such as the Samurai.
Gameplay
You can use your weapon’s different attack types on basic enemies, or on bosses depending on the circumstances, but the build is mainly based on two specific movements:
L‘jump attack’ : (Jump + R2 with one weapon, or Jump + L1 with two weapons) With one or two colossal weapons, the damage and posture damage are enough to kill most enemies. On bosses, this attack has many advantages, since jumping gives iframes on your lower body, making it a better option than rolling in many situations. As a bonus, upon impact, your character will automatically duck, which helps dodge other attacks.
Using the Ashes of War Lion’s Claw (or Wild Lion’s Claw on the DLC): A forward jumping attack, with a greater range, and an absolutely massive impact. You benefit from a hyperarmor effect that allows you to take any amount of damage while performing it without being interrupted. Any humanoid target will find themselves pinned to the ground, even Malenia, which will give you the opportunity to inflict a charged attack on them while they get up for example. This often guarantees a broken posture, and therefore a critical hit.
Trick : Crouching (or rolling) then performing a light attack gives a very fast thrusting attack, ideal for bosses, rats, and dogs.
Attributes
For a character of level 175+, here is the recommended distribution. Feel free to adapt it according to your equipment choices:
- Vigor: 60
- Spirit: 25+
- Endurance 40 to 50+
- Strength: 66+
- Dexterity: 13
- Intelligence: 9
- Faith: 25+
- Esotericism: 7
Weapons
For this specific build, the Greatsword is considered the best choice if you are going for a colossal sword. The Two-Handed Sword, aka Zweihander is an almost equally powerful option, but lighter. This second sword is particularly interesting if you decide to equip a weapon in each hand, without being overloaded.
Another extremely popular option is the hammer Giant’s Bane. You can also opt to have one in each hand, in order to try to have the heaviest character with the most devastating attacks in the game.
Dual-wielding gives you even more powerful jumping attacks. But it’s also a massive constraint in terms of weight, but also the flexibility of your attacks. You’ll also need more strength to fully exploit their potential.
The Ruin Greatsword is another popular choice, should you decide to forgo the Lion’s Claw.
Ashes of war
- Lion’s Claw with Heavy Affinity, found in Fort Gael, west of Caelid.
- Wild Lion’s Claw once in the DLC, but it is more difficult and dangerous to use well, since it gives two. You can stick with the Lion’s Claw if you prefer. It is found in a small abandoned camp north of the Grave Plain.
Shield
By default, this build does not actively use a shield, but there is nothing stopping you from using one if you have trouble dodging attacks. It can be a simple supplemental shield like the Bronze Shieldor something Massive like Fingerprint, but that might require some extra tweaking to handle its weight. You could also opt for the Large Turtle Shell which will stay behind your back while you hold your greatsword, in order to passively gain a bit of extra Stamina (3 per second), although it’s not much. Of course, all of this is out of the question if you choose to equip a weapon in each hand.
Armors
Your choice will mostly depend on what you can equip with your colossal weapons, without ending up with a roll charge, which would render your roll completely ineffective. A very popular choice is the Mouflon armor (Volcano Manor quests), which is very heavy, very protective, and gives you a ton of balance. It will help you perform attacks, limiting the chances of being interrupted by the damage received.
One piece of armor that caught our attention is the armor Black feathers of the raptoras it provides a +10% damage bonus on jumping attacks. This is a multiplicative damage bonus with the Jump Talisman, and it greatly helps with one-hit kills in the base game. You can find it in the Invisible Assassin dungeon on Altus Plateau.
The DLC introduces some interesting new armors, such as the Solitude Armor (Black Jail Knight) or the Green-Grey Armor (Moore).
Spells
It’s not mandatory, but investing in Faith can seriously boost your character’s potential. Being able to heal yourself with Bestial Vitality, dispel rot with Flame, purify me, and protect yourself from the elements with various protection spells is very useful, and you only need 12 Faith to do so. You can climb higher, and benefit from very powerful spells, such as Weapon Electrification. By climbing to 40 Faith and above, with a good incantation catalyst, like the Seal of the World Treethe damage bonus then becomes massive. You can just stick with the Two Finger Catalyst while waiting to have a very high level.
Talismans
Here is a list of the most useful talismans:
- THE Turtle Talismanthen the Two-headed turtle talisman in the DLC, will help you regenerate your stamina faster.
- THE Talisman of the Claw will be a valuable source of DPS throughout much of the campaign.
- Alexander Fragment is by far the best damage bonus, as it will increase Lion’s Claw damage by +15%. It does have the drawback of being obtained in Farum Azula, on Alexander, at the end of the game. You can also kill him early in the game, if you are willing to settle for a +10% bonus.
- To carry your weapons and armor, you will certainly need to use the Great Jar Arsenal for the weight bonus, and possibly the Blessing of the World Tree +1, even +2.
- If you opt for only one weapon, the new Two-Handed Weapon Talisman of the DLC will be an interesting choice.
Once in the DLC, the damage taken will become titanic, and you will potentially have to play more on survival. In this case, the Draconic Shield Talisman and a Dragon Talisman of the element used by the boss, will seriously improve your chances. You can also opt for the Purple Seed Talisman +1 from Ymir’s quests, in order to strengthen your Healing Vials.
Major Rune
Godrick’s Major Rune will help you greatly early in the game. At high levels, Radahn’s is an excellent choice, as it grants maximum health and stamina.
Vial of salvation
- Green Crystal Tear : Greatly increases your stamina regeneration for 3 minutes.
- Opaline solidified tear : Reduces all damage by 15% for 3 minutes, this becomes a valuable tool in the DLC.
- Winged Crystal Tear : An interesting choice, especially if you decide to carry 2 weapons and heavy armor. The tear will allow you to have a medium, even light roll for 3 minutes.
- Stone-spiked cracked teardrop : Significantly increases the balance damage you deal for 30 seconds. The effect is very short, but if used at the right time, it allows you to break a boss’s posture in record time, which allows you to chain into a critical hit.
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