Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Best builds for PvE & PvP

Here are my picks for the best builds in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, letting you tear through even the toughest bosses, or come out fighting against any opponent in PvP.

Best PvE builds

Of course, many of the best builds utilise the best weapons in the game, but you'd be surprised at how much goes into an overpowered configuration beyond the main source of damage.

You'll have to utilise the perfect Talisman, Spell, and Crystal Tear combinations to really maximise your output, turning great weapons into dominating builds.

Post-release patches have nerfed many of the builds that were significantly overpowered, with the suppression of Impenetrable Thorns in update 1.13 marking the final nail in the coffin. What's left are just all-around great builds that still deal significant damage, albeit without the ability to take bosses down in seconds.

Carian Sovereignty

In terms of sword-based builds, though, you'd struggle to argue that this Carian Sovereignty-based character isn't among the strongest.

I'd say that this specific Ash of War is easily the best introduced in the DLC and among the top five in the entire game. Not only does it deal incredibly high damage numbers, but it also has the potential to stagger pretty much every boss in the game in a single use.

You'll want to make sure that you fully charge the skill and activate the second part which pulls out a circular swipe. Using both of these will deal outrageous stance damage too, and will likely stagger most bosses if you manage to pull off both hits.

While you can opt for any weapon to use this Ash of War with, it's one of the few weapon skills that benefits from the stance damage of Greatswords, and Freyja's Greatsword is my personal pick. As this is obtained late in the DLC though, you could instead opt for the Lizard Greatsword, Queelign's Greatsword, or the Lordsworn's Greatsword from the base game.

Making this even stronger is the equipment, which is largely essential to maintain the true potential of the build. Talismans are your usual skill-boosting fare with the addition of the Magic Scorpion Charm - although that is easily missed in the base game so swap that out for the Two-Headed Turtle to help with stamina.

It might seem weak but the Spellblade Set is essential for this build too, as it increases Magic-dealing Ash of War skills by 2% per piece, resulting in an 8% increase overall. This is the same as Rakshasa's set, only without the damage negation reduction.

Terra Magica is also an essential part of the build, as it increases Magic damage by 22.5% while standing within the zone. You can boost this further by using Golden Vow too, but the 25 Faith needed to cast might be a bit of a struggle depending on your current level.

Finally, packing your Wonderous Physick will be the cherry on the cake, as the Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear is mandatory to continue enhancing your already staggeringly high damage.

I've been pairing that with the Leaden Hardtear personally as otherwise you can get easily stunned out of the charged attack, but both the Stonebarb Cracked Tear and Spiked Cracked Tear work perfectly to increase damage or stance damage respectively.

Thrusting Shield

First discovered by Scott Jund, this Thrusting Shield build remains strong even after targeted nerfs, and is the closest you'll come to an 'easy mode'. While other builds might have higher damage potential, this is by far the simplest way to play Elden Ring as it just requires you to hold L1 and spam R1.

As mentioned, Thrusting Shields were hit with a nerf to their stamina consumption, meaning that you're going to have to back up and regain your stamina more often than you were at launch. However, the core of the build itself remains just as strong, so your fights might just take a bit longer!

The beauty of this build comes from the fact that you're able to poke while blocking with the new Thrusting Shield weapon class. This maintains the effects of blocks while dealing consistently high damage - especially with the right Talismans.

Stamina is the only thing holding you back here, so having your Endurance as high as possible alongside the Viridian Amber Medallion +3 Talisman will allow you to poke for as long as possible, with brief respites to regain your stamina and go again.

You'll find that the biggest benefit of the new Thrusting Shields is that they take advantage of the Two-Handed Sword Talisman which boosts damage while two-handing by 15%. Alongside this, the Spear Talisman takes advantage of the shield's thrusting damage, and the fact that you'll be hitting enemies near the end of their attack animation a fair amount.

It's also essential that you have the Greatshield Talisman, as that'll reduce the stamina consumption from each hit you receive, ensuring that you can keep hitting for as long as possible.

In terms of spells, these aren't mandatory per se but will help significantly in reducing the damage that you're taking. Golden Vow is, once again, just a great all-around spell to boost damage and damage negation, while the other ones you'll want to use depending on the enemy you're facing.

Finally, Opaline Hardtear is the only essential Crystal Tear for your Wonderous Physick, but you should pair this with any of the Thorny Cracked Tear, Crimson-Sapping Cracked Tear, or Greenspill Crystal Tear. The latter is the safest option as it'll let you hit for longer, although the Crimson-Sapping will essentially negate all damage you take through the block.

Wing Stance Milady

Perhaps the most 'ordinary' of all PvE-based builds in this collection, the Milady is simply one of the best standard weapons that you can use in Shadow of the Erdtree and combined with Wing Stance is a key part of that.

The weapon itself has the incredible Light Greatsword moveset, and a Keen infusion and Dex focus to ensure that your damage is as high as possible.

It is, however, the Wing Stance Ash of War where this build really shines though, as its two variants do both high damage and high stance damage, making most enemies a cakewalk without resorting to 'cheese'.

The R1 version does three quick hits, and the R2 does a long-range jumping thrust - which you can also activate immediately after the R1 for an optimal combo. All in all, this does a huge amount of stance damage - especially combined with the Stonebarb Cracked Tear - allowing you to melt through bosses.

The Blade of Mercy Talisman also helps here, boosting your damage by 20% after a critical attack, letting you deal even greater damage if you manage to stack well.

Rellana's Cameo - while it won't always activate - is also particularly useful with this build, as it boosts your attack by 15% when holding the L2 stance for around two seconds. You won't always have the time to pull this off, but it can really make the difference when going up against a big health bar.

If I was playing Shadow of the Erdtree for the first time and wanted a strong build for the entire DLC then this is definitely what I'd go for, as both Milady and Wing Stance can be obtained within the first hour if you know where to head.

I'd also recommend using Grease items to imbue the weapon with elemental damage. If you're doing so, I'd maybe recommend swapping out the Greenburst Crystal Tear for a Crystal Tear that boosts the element of your choosing, or the Oil-Soaked Tear in particular if you're using fire.

Messmer Mimicry

This build based on the Spear of the Impaler carried me through much of the game's latter stages, to the point where it almost felt like easy mode. Your focus with this build is split into two parts: throwing attacks and Messmer's Assault.

Firstly, the throwing attacks (activated by strong, dashing strong, and mounted strong attacks) allow you to deal significant damage from a safe distance - essentially acting as magic that doesn't consume FP.

This damage is boosted by 15% with the Two-Handed Sword Talisman, 10% with the Smithing Talisman, and then the damage range is increased with the Arrow's Reach Talisman. Charged heavy throwing attacks also deal fire damage and create a pool of flames upon impact, giving you a chance to deal further punishment.

When you want to get up close and personal though you'll want to rely on the weapon's Ash of War - Messmer's Assault. This is a multi-hit chain attack that you'll have likely encountered during Messmer's boss fight, and is easily one of the strongest weapon skills in the game, even if you don't manage to land every hit.

You'll want to make sure to use your Wonderous Physick next to the targeted enemy before activating the weapon skill, as the Oil-Soaked Tear should apply to them, increasing your Fire damage by 20%, and the Flame-Shrouding Crystal Tear will increase it by 20% further. On top of this, you'll also get an additional 10% damage increase from the Winged Serpent Helm, making this Ash of War a force to be reckoned with.

Of course, one of the roadblocks for this build is that you have to defeat Messmer in order to get the weapon - but with our full walkthrough and breakdown, that should become a lot easier!

Best PvP builds

While most of the highlighted PvE builds also work great in PvP, these builds are particularly strong when facing online combatants, especially as real players aren't as susceptible to cheese tactics!

Sword of Night

While the Sword of Night itself is a great weapon but not quite 'top-tier', the reason why it excels so much in PvP is the Ash of War Witching Hour Slash. This goes through any form of block and deals massive consecutive hit damage in a similar fashion to Waterfowl Dance.

Talismans like the Shard of Alexander, Godfrey Icon, and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia all help boost this weapon skill, giving you as much damage as possible within the short window.

On its own, the Sword of Night is still more than respectable though, especially as it builds up blood loss. You won't get it as quick as some other builds but the White Mask is also there to boost your damage once blood loss occurs.

Greatsword of Damnation

The unique aspect of this build comes from the Greatsword of Damnation's Ash of War, Golden Crux, which has a special penetrating action when used on NPCs or other players. If you manage to connect it, it'll stab into the player and deal massive damage, while also trapping them in the subsequent AoE attack.

This makes it a weapon that is almost built for PvP, although you'll need to have the timing and overall skill needed to consistently pull off the skill without leaving yourself exposed to counterattacks.

That's why I've included the Crimson Amber Medallion +3 and Two-Headed Turtle Talisman to give you enough to sustain yourself if things don't quite always go to plan. Joining this, of course, is the ever-reliable Golden Vow, which will boost your damage and damage negation.

I've also thrown in the Multilayered Ring of Light Incantation seeing as we've put points into Faith anyway, as this will give whoever you're facing another problem to deal with, hopefully leaving them open to an attack.

Finishing this off is your Wonderous Physick, which will boost the holy damage dealt by Golden Crux, alongside a boost to your stance damage, letting you take advantage of the power of the Greatsword.

Backhand Blade

The Backhand Blade feels made for PvP, with its super-fast moveset and high damage potential, but the thing that pushes it into the meta is the Blind Spot Ash of War.

This skill lunges your character forward and around the enemy, giving you the invincibility frames of a dodge with massive damage on the end. It's an absolute nightmare to keep up with if you can position yourself correctly, and you'll be the pain of any player unlucky enough to face you in online battles.

The invincibility frames for this weapon skill have been reduced (and therefore nerfed) slightly with the release of patch 1.13 - but it still remains an incredibly annoying Ash of War to face, and will leave your enemies spinning in an attempt to hit you.

Boosting this, of course, is the standard selection of Talismans and Spells, with the Two-Handed Sword and Shard of Alexander enhancing your standard attacks and weapon skill respectively.

One key part of the build too is the combined Rotten Winged Sword Insignia and Thorny Cracked Tear, which both enhance consecutive attacks. As this weapon is so quick you'll likely be able to land multiple attacks in a row - possibly stunlocking the enemy too - making this combo extra potent.

Finally, while you can swap it out for anything else you'd prefer, I'd also recommend whacking the Oil Soaked Tear into your Wonderous Physick and buffing your weapon with Fire Grease. This will add even more punishment to your attacks, making each hit more dangerous for your opponent.