Elden Ring: The generally best build currently – This is how you play it

Since release, Elden Ring has changed significantly with new patches. The meta has shifted. Old builds that were strong at launch are now considered weak. That’s why you will find the best and most current build here.

In Elden Ring, there are many builds, but none is as versatile as a Str/Faith build. The build we will introduce to you not only uses the strongest weapons from our tier list and the strongest summons in the game. It also offers the most adaptable and versatile gameplay in Elden Ring.

With this build, you can easily master any situation in the game. All without regular respeccing. This is a build that relies on the attributes Strength and Faith, the so-called Str/Faith build.

We will explain to you here why this build is so good, in what versatile forms you can play it, and how to play it correctly. Because this build excels even when you mainly smash with your blunt weapons.

How to level up correctly for this build

Why is this build so strong? The Str/Faith build relies equally on strength and faith. Thus, it covers several of the best categories in the game:

• Weapons that require faith usually also scale with strength – such a build harmonizes perfectly.
• Faith also has the best buff summons and debuffs in the game – Thus, you can not only strengthen your environment and yourself but also weaken your enemies.
• The strongest weapons in the meta, such as the Blasphemous Blade, Maliketh’s Black Blade, or the Envoy’s Longhorn, can be exchanged as needed to have something ready for every boss.
• The recommended equipment is light, meets the minimum requirement for balance, and ensures that you do not stagger after each hit.
• The build allows you to use and switch many weapons.
• Several great weapons can be combined for more flexibility and DPS.
• The best weapons for the build use Darksmithing Stones, making weapon upgrades significantly cheaper, faster, and easier.

How do I level up best for this build? While strength and faith are your most important attributes in a Str/Faith build, you should not underestimate the importance of strength, mind, and endurance attributes.

These are the attributes and what they do:

• Vigor:  Vitality affects your hit points and affects fire resistance and poison immunity.
• Mind:  Mind affects FP (Mana) and focus resistance. Important for magic and sorcery builds.
• Endurance:  Increases your character’s stamina and physical defense. Especially important for melee fighters, as it enables dodging and blocking.
• Strength:  Is required to wield heavy weapons. It also increases the attack power of weapons with strength scaling.
• Dexterity:  Is required to wield advanced weapons. It also increases the attack power of weapons that scale with agility. Shortens the casting time of spells, reduces fall damage, and makes it harder to fall off the horse.
• Intelligence:  Increases the spell power of intelligence-scaling spells and improves magic resistance. Also increases how often you can use spells.
• Faith:  Is required to perform summons. Also strengthens summons that scale with faith.
• Arcane:  Affects death resistance and certain spells and summons.

Depending on which weapon you want to use, you should level your attributes according to this priority list. Also, consider that the choice of helm and talismans can also affect these attributes. We also pay attention to the “Soft Caps” (more on this can be found on Reddit), which are the values after which investments hardly pay off:

• If you want to play the best class, you should choose the Vagabond. With its even distribution of attributes, it has the best prerequisites to build any build from it. We will now explain why our points were distributed this way.
  • Strength: 45
    • The soft cap is 40. That’s why we settled on 45 to be able to endure a little more.
  • Mind: 23
    • Mind is important for this build for three reasons: War ashes, summons, and spirit ashes.
    • With 23 points, you have enough FP to summon the most expensive spirit ash (Tiche of the Black Blade). You also have more resources available so you do not constantly have to refill with a Flask of Celestial Tears.
  • Endurance: 25
    • The soft cap for equipment loads is 25. We do not want to go into battle naked, and with this amount, you can equip armors with good balance and still wield weapons.
  • Strength: 65
    • With 65 points, you are above the second soft cap (55 points) and can deal a little more damage. Important for wielding weapons that have high strength scaling.
  • Dexterity: 22
    • Dexterity stands at 22 points to use the Greatsword of the God-slayer and the God-scalper. Two strong weapons for Str/Faith builds.
  • Intelligence: 9
    • Not relevant for this build.
  • Faith: 33
    • With 33 points in Faith, you can use one of the strongest buffs in the game – Shabiri’s Wail. In addition to the buffs, you can also use strong summons with this amount of faith, such as Oh Flame!, Lightning Strike of the Ancient Dragons, and Lightning Spear of the Ancient Dragons.
  • Arcane: 7
    • Not relevant for this build.

If you want to play PvP long-term, you should try to keep your character under level 150. In the community, the meta level has settled around 125 – 150.

Because you will only find players in PvP who are at a similar level as you, it will be hard to find opponents if you are at a too high level. Because when respeccing, you have to redistribute all the “bought” levels again, you can’t undo this investment – the only rescue here is a brand new character.

How to find the right weapon for this build

Which weapons does this build use? The question of weapons in this build is perhaps the most exciting. Because you have quite a few different options, all of which are equally strong and serve different niches. You have the following options:

• A weapon with Str/Faith scaling and a shield for blocking or parrying.
• A weapon with Str/Faith scaling and a seal in the offhand.
• Two weapons with Str/Faith scaling from the same category in each hand (the so-called “Power Stance”).

Depending on your preference, the following weapons are the best:

• The Blasphemous Blade
  • Location: Trade the Echo of the Blasphemous (Rykard) at the Finger Reader in the Grace Table.
• Maliketh’s Black Blade
  • Location: Trade the Echo of the Black Blade (Maliketh) at the Finger Reader in the Grace Table.
• Envoy’s Longhorn
  • Location: Can be farmed from the Envoys in Leyndell or the Haligtree.
• Ordovis’ Greatsword
  • Location: Defeat the boss in the dungeon “Tomb of the Hero of Auriza” northwest of Leyndell.
• Siluria’s Tree
  • Location: Defeat the boss in the “Depths of Deeproots” near the tree trunk.
• Greatsword of the God-slayer
  • Location: Open the chest in the “Holy Tower of Caelid” after the boss.
• Magmacentipede Scale Sword
  • Location: Defeat “Magmacentipede Makar” in the “Ruined-Affected Abyss” northwest of the Great Lift of Dectus.
• Finger Seal for Buffs
  • Location: Can be purchased from the Twin Maiden Husks in the Grace Table for 800 runes.

If you are missing one of these special weapons, you can also use standard weapons like the Magma Blade or the God Slayer. This way, you can also use completely different weapon types than those listed here and equip them with war ashes if possible.

The perhaps most interesting decision is about the offhand:

• With a shield for protection, you can play more cautiously, but you exchange offensive stamina for defensive actions.
• With a parry option, you can brutally punish many opponents, but parrying requires a lot of skill from you and is risky.
• With Power Stance, you deal the highest DPS but are also the most vulnerable. Here, you need to be able to dodge very well.

If you are looking for a good shield for defense, the Beast Triangular Shield is an excellent choice. For parrying, there is no better option than the small buckler. A brief overview of the best shields can be found here:

More on the topic

The 3 Best Shields in Elden Ring with Locations – This is What Makes Them So Good

von Christos Tsogos

But a seal should not be missing in the build: If you only want to buff and use your summons for support, the Finger Seal is sufficient. However, if you also want to deal damage with your summons, the Seal of the Raging Flame is perfect for Str/Faith builds.

Which summons are the best? What would a Str/Faith build be without summons? The wonders actually take a rather subordinate role here and are meant to buff you and your colleagues. The summons you should definitely use include the following specimens:

• Golden Oath
  • Effect: Increases your damage by 15%. Increases your defense by 10%
    • Location: In a hut at the site of grace “Hut with Corpse Stench” on Mt. Gelmir.
• Shabiri’s Wail
  • Effect: Increases your damage by 25%. Increases the damage taken by 30%
    • Location: On the second floor of the tower “Tower of the Raging Flame” in a chest, south of the lift of Dectus.

If Shabiri’s Wail damages you too much, you can also use Flame, Give Me Strength! or Protection of the Black Flame instead.

There are also offensive summons, but these are relatively limited and not the focus of the build. However, you can use the following:

• Oh, Flame!
• Lightning Spear of the Ancient Dragons
• Lightning Strike of the Ancient Dragons
• Stone of Gurranq
• Insect Threads
• Raging Explosion

Which weapon type is the best? This actually depends on the boss and the enemies you want to deal damage to. Many weapons with faith have strong effects that will benefit you in combat.

Maliketh’s Black Blade or the Black Knife can weaken bosses, drain hit points over time, and temporarily shrink their health bars with their unique talents.

The Blasphemous Blade is an all-rounder. It can handle any opponent, deals massive damage even at range, and heals you with each hit due to its unique talent.

The Envoy’s Longhorn looks the silliest of all weapons but can destroy huge enemies like dragons or monsters with small bubbles in seconds. Handy when you want to attack from a distance.

However, if you prefer fast attacks, the Magma Blade or the God Slayer would be the better choice. They can deal massive damage in quick succession and consume little stamina.

How to find the right gear for the build

Which armor should I take? In general, for any build: Pay attention to your balance and the overall weight of your armor.

It is important that you reach at least 51 balance with your armor. If you don’t bring that, you will be staggered by almost every attack from your opponent and cannot endure anything.

The weight of your armor also plays a role in dodging and stamina consumption. The heavier your equipment, the higher the load you carry. So always try to achieve a medium load and do not fall below the balance value of 51. You can wear any armor as long as you follow our recommendation.

Which talismans should I take? The choice of talismans can be easily narrowed down. We recommend the following specimens:

• Ritual Sword Talisman
  • Effect: Increases your attack power at maximum HP.
    • Location: Found in a chest after defeating the boss in the ruins of Lux (Altus Plateau).
• Alexander’s Shard
  • Effect: Significantly boosts the attack power of talents.
    • Location: Complete Alexander’s quest.

As a second and third talisman, you can use different talismans depending on what weapon you wield and how you fight. The following are recommended:

• Green Turtle Talisman
• Dragon Greatshield Talisman
• Fiery Scorpion Talisman
• Lightning Scorpion Talisman
• Holy Scorpion Talisman
• Axe Talisman
• Claw Talisman
• Herd’s Canvas Talisman

All weapons usually utilize their unique talents, and with these specimens, you can maximize the damage of these to the fullest.

What does your build look like for the start of Shadow of the Erdtree? Do you also use Str/Faith or do you prefer Dex/Int? Feel free to exchange ideas with other users in the comments! If you are looking for more tips, info, and recommendations for Elden Ring from the MeinMMO editorial team, we have an overview here that we update continuously: Elden Ring: All our guides, beginner tips, and builds at a glance.