Top 3 Elden Ring Strength Builds

With the recent announcement of Elden Ring DLC by FromSoftware and Namco Bandai, there is no better time to dive back into the game. DLC in FromSoftware games are always very difficult, specially if you haven’t played the game in a long time. But fret not. We are here to help you. These are our top 3 strength builds that you can carry into “Shadow of the Erdtree” and will hopefully come out on top against difficult foes.

FromSoftware’s latest game is massive. Elden Ring offers a huge variety of weapons to choose from with RPG elements in the mix. This results in a lot of combinations one can try and it can become a daunting task for the newcomers to the Soulsborne genre. Then there are talismans, ashes of war and armor sets that compliment a particular set of weapons. Try and testing is still the best way to create your own playstyle with your favourite equipment, but if the overwhelming amount of weapons and armors with a lack of tutorials is bothering you, we are here to help.

We will be discussing one of the best builds in FromSoftware games, Strength build. As the name implies, this build mainly focuses on the weapons that are associated with strength attribute. Strength builds are generally “in your face” kind of builds with an aggressive approach towards the enemies. They are also fan favourites for PVP builds. These builds usually drop defence in favour of more attack power. So a lot of health (also known as vigor) and stamina (also known as endurance) is required to pull off this build, in addition to strength.

Endurance has two important roles in the Elden Ring. Swinging a weapon consumes stamina, so the higher your endurance level is, the more attacks you can dish out without depleting your stamina bar. Secondly, it reduces equipment burden. All strength weapons and their associated armour sets are extremely heavy and no one, we mean no one, wants to fat roll. Increasing endurance also allows you to ditch the “Great Jar’s Arsenal” talisman (greatly reduces equipment load) in favour of something else.

Giant Crusher Build:

Most Elden Ring builds are made around the weapons, so they are named after the weapon itself. This build involved two Giant Crushers used via dual wielding. The Giant Crusher is a massive weapon that belongs to the Colossal weapons category and requires 60 str to wield. It also scales beautifully with str attribute and has S scaling with str when fully upgraded (+25). The following build is the best combination, using the Giant Crusher, and it can kill any enemy in the game with a couple of jumping attacks, even some of the hardest bosses.

1. Weapon: Giant Crusher. Can be looted from a carriage near “Outer Wall Phantom Tree” site of grace in Atlas Plateau. (requirements: 60str)
2. Attributes: Three main attributes to increase are Vigor, Endurance and Strength. We also recommend investing a bit in faith to use a couple of incantations that pair extremely well with Giant Crusher build.
3. Ashes of War: Royal Knight’s resolve. Add 80% more damage to the weapon it is applied to (next attack only, and the weapons debuffs immediately after the use) and can be stacked on both weapons.
4. Seals: Clawmark Seal (+25). It allows you to use incantations without investing in Faith. It can be obtained from Gurrang Beast Clergyman after feeding him a deathroot.
5. Incantations: Golden Vow (increases both offense and defence by 15%), Blessing of the Erdtree (restores HP overtime) and Flame, Grant me Strength (increases physical damage by 20%).
6. Armor: Raptor’s Black feathers Garb (compulsory. Adds additional damage to jumping attacks), Raging wolf’s greaves (optional), Bandit Mask (optional) and Blood soaked hand wraps (optional).
7. Talismans: Claw Talisman (enhances jump attacks and stacks with Raptor’s black feathers), Pearldrake Talisman (negates nonphysical damage), Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman (vastly decreases damage taken by physical attacks) and the most important one, Green Turtle Talisman (improves stamina regeneration speed).
   This build looks like a lot of work but it will make fighting the enemies like a walk in the park. We recommend that you start investing in the stats and the required items we have mentioned above to create one of the best strength builds later in the game.

Guts Greatsword Build:

This weapon is directly inspired from Berserk’s manga/anime, written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. This weapon is wielded by the main protagonist of the book/show, named Guts, so the great sword is named after him by the Soulsborne community. It belongs to Colossal swords category and needs 31 strength and 12 dexterity to wield. It scales really well with strength attribute. Using this weapon with the Ash of war “Lion’s Claw” can result in devastatingly fast attacks with window of dodging (rarely available with strength focused weapons). The requirements for this build are

1. Weapon: Guts’ Greatsword. Can be looted from a carriage in Caelid. The carriage is present on North-west side of Caelum Ruins site of grace, and is guarded by huge dogs.
2. Attributes: As we are on the topic of strength focused weapons, the three main attributes to invest in are Vigor, Endurance and Strength. Two other attributes we recommend to upgrade are Faith and Arcane. Faith is required to cast incantations and Guts Greatsword has blood affinity. Increasing Arcane results in faster blood loss build up (which can be disastrous for the enemies with massive hp).
3. Ashes of war: Lion’s Claw. This Ash of war grants Lion’s Claw skill that results in an extremely fast somersault attack. Paired with Greatsword, the animation is not only beautiful, but also dishes out a large amount of damage in a very short time. It can be obtained after defeating Lion Guardian boss in Fort Gael.
4. Seals: Clawmark seal (+25). Same as above.
5. Incantations: Golden Vow (increases both offense and defence by 15%), Blessing of Erdtree (restores health over time) and Flame, Grant me Strength (an additional 20% boost to attack power). So basically the same set as above.
6. Armor: Blaidd’s Armor set (requires you to complete a very lengthy side-quest and is optional for the build). This set makes your character looks like Guts in Berserker armor when paired with Greatsword.
7. Talismans: Lord of Blood’s exultation (increases attack power with blood loss in vicinity), Shard of Alexander (increases the attack power of the skill, Lion’s Claw), Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman (vastly decreases damage taken by physical attacks as Lion’s Claw skill leaves you open to incoming attacks) and the most important one, Green Turtle Talisman (improves stamina regeneration speed).
   This is the kind of build that is both beautiful and practical. Fashion souls doesn’t get any better than this.

Starscourge Greatsword Build:

General Radahan is one of the scariest boss fights in all of FromSoftware games’ and can be considered a make or break point for most of the newcomers. His sword named Starscourge belongs to Colossal swords category. It is not only magnificent to look at but can be used to create a really good strength build around it. Being a boss weapon, it carries a unique skill called Starcaller Cry, that can pull the enemies towards you. This weapon can’t be dual handed as it is dual wield only. The requirements to wield this weapon are very steep and it need 38 strength in addition to 12 dexterity and 15 intelligence. It scales well with both strength and intelligence when fully upgraded. This build has the following requirements

1. Weapon: Starscourge greatsword. Can be obtained by defeating Starscourge Radahan and trading his remembrance with Enia at roundtable hold.
2. Attributes: The most important attributes to enhance for a strength build are Vigor, Endurance and Strength. In this case, we like to recommend investing in both Faith and Intelligence too.
3. Ashes of war: None.
4. Incantations: Same as the first two. Golden Vow, Blessing of Erdtree and Flame, Grant me strength for maximum damage output and minimal damage received.
5. Armor: Radahan armor set. Can be purchased from Enia for 36000 runes at roundtable hold after defeating Starscourge Radahan. It is one of the heaviest armor sets in the game so using Talismans to reduce equipment load is highly recommended.
6. Seals: Clawmark seal (+25).
7. Talismans: Roar Medallion (increases the damage output of Starcaller Cry by a good percentage), Great Jar’s Arsenal (reduces equipment load), Carian Filligreed Crest (lowers FP cost of skills by 25%. Starcaller Cry’s FP cost is huge, so this Talisman is a must), Winged sword insignia (raises attack power with each successive attack. Starscourge greatsword’s damage output is nowhere as crazy as the above two, so this Talisman increases its damage by a good 10%).
   This build is mainly focused on the weapon skill, which is crazy powerful and can one shot a lot of enemies. Starscourge greatsword is also a good option to dish out huge amount of punishment with stylish animations. With the complete armor set equipped, using this weapon makes you feel like God of Thunder.

These are our top 3 strength builds that will satisfy both your pvp and single player needs without compromising on fashion. Let us know in the comments what builds you are using or trying to create in the game.