Elden Ring: Class and build advice to tame FromSoftware's souls

Elden Ring

It may be FromSoftware's most talked about and successful video game, but Elden Ring isn't exactly a walk in the park compared to the other souls. Indeed, being the most extensive and rich in options title of this type, creating an impeccable character is nothing short of difficult: valid weapons are dozens, witchcraft and spells have never been so flexible and powerful, and certain weapon arts are so devastating. to allow the entire development to be built around them.

Finding the way in this ocean of possibilities is not something for everyone, so today, having already stripped the title thoroughly, we want to give you some advanced advice on how develop your Senzaluce. We will try to avoid spoilers, so we will be very smoky on the location of some weapons and war ashes, but we believe it is still appropriate to indicate a handful of the most powerful to make life easier for those who decide to follow a specific build. Let's get started, because there is a lot to discuss, starting with starting classes and stats.

Starting class is just a starting point

Elden Ring: don't worry too much about starting class, unless you are clear on how to build Our first tip is pretty simple: don't overestimate the importance of the starting class. Of course, the equipment with which certain choices begin can make your life significantly easier during the first few bars, but now it is the end of just a basic cast that you can develop and modify at will. There is respec in the game though, so you might even decide to flip your initial options entirely in favor of a completely different build at some point.

That said, selecting specific classes undoubtedly facilitates life in choosing some builds: the confessor is very suitable for a mixed faith / physical build, the prisoner is fabulous for those who want to focus on dexterity and intelligence, the excellent astrologer for pure magicians and so on. If you are a beginner, just avoid the outcast as it starts at a lower level and with equipment at an all-time low ... experienced players will take little to adjust, but those who have never faced a FromSoftware title could be traumatized from the first hour of game. For its part, this "naked" class has the advantage of perfectly adapting to any future choice, with no real advantages or disadvantages. Finally, for a dexterity build we highly recommend the samurai: it starts with a uchigatana, one of the best weapons in the game, and is particularly well suited to a specialization of that type.

At the base of everything, as you will have understood, there are weapons, spells and spells, and it is almost only based on these that the player is pushed to tweak his stats. Weapons in particular have requirements to be used properly (you can handle them normally, but if you don't respect them they won't do any damage and you won't be able to use their skills) and their damage increases based on their characteristics; the amount of extra damage increases according to the letter linked to the scaling (S is the maximum, followed by A and B, if the scaling is E it is extremely low). Obviously the scaling rises with the increase in the power of the weapons, taking advantage of the materials collected and the blacksmith.

The choice of the offensive statistics to use, therefore, is all here: you like the brand new greatsword you have found, but predominantly climbs with force? Bet everything on that, easy. That said, Elden Ring contains an insane amount of weapons and powers to say the least, so limiting yourself to a single instrument of destruction isn't smart. Not enough, if a weapon is "normal", it can also be modified by type, and therefore its scaling changes according to your needs thanks to the ashes of war. Also for this reason a real build can often be based on "special" weapons (usually weapons related to bosses, although there are many also scattered around), not modifiable and with unique limbs that cannot be freely equipped. For heaven's sake, you might as well abandon the cold metal altogether and devote yourself exclusively to the mystical arts, but that's another limitation we don't recommend.

A few builds for those who love magic

Elden Ring: being a wizard allows you to do amazing things, but beware of FPs. If you are a lover of mysticism and sorcery, you will have a little more difficulty with regards to the statistics in the lower levels. Whether it is in fact a build focused on intelligence or faith, you will in fact also have to develop the mind statistic, to have a fair amount of FP with which toa> use your powers (the weapon arts consume them in turn, but they tend to be much less expensive). Normally having to accompany the catalysts for magic also weapons with basic requirements of some kind, you will also be forced to raise the physical characteristics a little, and this will make you weak during the first few bars due to the scattered distribution of points, albeit benefiting from the possibility of using projectiles from a distance. Any advice for anyone who wants to pursue a career as a sorcerer? The stonecutter pebble will be one of your most used spells for the entire campaign: it has a negligible mana cost, great range, decent damage, and can be thrown in bursts without too much thought; many of its variants, or more powerful bullets, consume so much that they are not very advantageous now of the end.

Mage builds do not necessarily have to be based on intelligence alone: ​​a mixture with a little dexterity, for example , is our favorite build of the game, due to the ability to use the Veiled Moon: a powerful katana found in the Galleries of Gael in Caelid. It is simply among the best weapons in the game due to a devastating special attack, and is even more effective when paired with a second magical katana, thanks to its high damage and maintaining a passive bleed effect.

Purer wizards instead could aim for the so-called "build one shot", which requires the spell Terra Magicus (it is hidden at the end of a cave at the base of the Raya Lucaria academy). This sorcery places a glyph on the ground on which all your spells are empowered (yes, even magical weapon arts), and combined with some powers like the Comet of Azur, stars of doom, or other particularly explosive projectiles can wipe out bosses in a few seconds. But be careful, the most devastating powers consume a lot of mana: make sure you find the tear of the special ampoule that cancels the mana cost of the spells for ten seconds, so you can perform your "combo" without added costs (the boss of a tree at Mount Gelmir, so you will get there quite a bit).



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For the chronicle, even the frost weapons scale with intelligence and, since the spells of this type are not lacking, you may want to base your build entirely on them: it is a useful status to decrease the defenses of the bosses and particularly devastating in PvP. We do not recommend a build based on strength and intelligence instead: there are some rather powerful weapons of this type in the game, but the very high strength requirements of some of them force you to overlook the other stats.

Faith builds are slightly different, because although the powerful spells are not lacking, the most powerful weapons available to the player often scale very differently from the best in intelligence. Creating sacred normal weapons is always a sensible option if you want to freely upgrade your favorite stats (for those who love dexterity there is a scythe that is particularly suitable among the special weapons, but we believe there are better dexterity weapons), however some of the best faith weapons available of the player either scale with strength or are quality weapons - that is, they scale at par with strength and dexterity.

Here the choice is therefore sometimes less integrated with offensive spells: empowering to maximum faith favors sacred weapons, the powerful pyromancies of the game, and a series of other devastating but less flexible offensive spells than sorcery. If you decide to bet everything, the bestial spells obtainable with the De Gurranq quest are highly recommended (among the best also for PvP given their speed and area). If, on the other hand, you want to focus more on the physical, you can keep faith low to use mainly support spells: weapon upgrades, status heals, passive protection and regeneration, or other buffs (particularly strong the Vyke Dragonbolt in this case, which requires 23 of faith). Or you could follow a completely different path and use draconic spells: these also require investments in arcane, and are therefore particularly suitable with weapons that inflict bleeding (arcane seems to increase the effectiveness of this effect).

They have a slow start, but normally boast a huge range, and can inflict devastating statuses as well; the only problem? You have to slay dragons scattered across the maps to get the best in the draconic communion churches. Then there is a completely meaningless spell called Fire's Deadly Sin, which copies whatever status you want to inflict on it and translates it as constant damage to enemies, but we believe (or rather we hope) it will be fixed, because at the moment it completely breaks the game in both PvE and PvP .

For lovers of beating

Those who love pure slaps without the need for mana, on the other hand, can once again focus on pure strength, pure dexterity, or the evergreen quality build that raises both to a tie based on your favorite weapon. There are multiple truly devastating force weapons in the game (starting with a great greatsword that is at the beginning of Caelid and is practically identical to Gatsu's dragon slayer), but their general slowness leads us to recommend the use of a specific weapon art: a night knight (who appears only at night) in the east of Caelid drops the equivalent of Bloodborne's quick dodge; using it not only allows you to move like lightning in combat for a very limited FP cost, but also allows you to use it immediately after the post dodge attack.

Weapons like the zweihander have lightning-fast attacks of this type, and can become hellish against both bosses and PvP. Force builds are greatly underestimated in Elden Ring: heavy weapons stun at great speed, guaranteeing devastating executions on the most powerful enemies, and the presence of war ashes like the one described above offers many options for approaching confrontations. If that were not enough, raising temper and strength properly allows you to use heavy shields: if you upgrade them properly to the blacksmith, their resistance to blows increases, up to bringing you to a minimum consumption of stamina on parade. In combination with the ashes called Barricade Shield you can become immovable tanks if you don't like dodging.

Dexterity builds are more flexible and oriented towards pure damage instead, also due to the return of dual wield. Using two fast weapons at the same time allows for example to inflict status at great speed, or even better bleeding. Where poisonous weapons and the use of grease on normal weapons to inflict other statuses are very valid only against some bosses (scarlet rot is the only status that seems to devastate almost everything, but we only found a rather advanced knife that inflicts it) , bleeding is efficient with 90% of this game's enemies, and building your character around blood weapons is by no means a foolish choice (also because bleed damage is percentage-based and always devastating).

The most effective power in that case? Seppuku, which sacrifices part of your life points to enhance its effect, and we recommend absolutely putting on any katana that can be modified (the basic uchigatana of the samurai class is fine). You'll find it way back in the game, but it's really devastating. Be very careful though if you're aiming for this build - some special blood-type weapons in the game have fantastic movesets and devastating powers, yet they're sadly buggy at the moment. Only one thing unites these tools ... they are all special weapons that climb with arcane, and in the group there are the beautiful Rivers of Blood katana, Eleonora's double blade, and others. It is therefore advisable to focus on normal blood weapons or on special rare pardons (such as the Reduvia dagger) for such a build, at least until the problem is corrected by FromSoftware. Ah, if you feel the lack of ranged attacks, fear not: there are bows and crossbows perfectly suited to every physical build, and you can inflict status with darts and arrows as well, so use them shamelessly.

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