Talismans in Elden Ring are critical to rounding out a powerful build. While they are not as flashy as weapons or stylish as armor, these equipable accessories items provide exceptional stat adjustments that can greatly improve combat. Even so, the game offers a massive selection of talismans, and with only four talisman slots at maximum, optimizing a player’s loadout is crucial for making a build viable. Below are listed the ten best talismans for melee builds in Elden Ring. Whether you are looking for a build with speed and maneuverability, or looking to swing the biggest club you can find, these talismans will offer the best setup for taking on The Lands Between up close and personal.

10. The Shard of Alexander

The Shard of Alexander significantly boosts the attack power of weapon skills, such as unique abilities and Ashes of War. While this is normally used more for builds focused around powerful weapon skills such as Moonveil builds, the hefty 15% additional damage can be great for players using skills such as Lion’s Claw for heavy damage. It is however only acquired in late game, and at the expense of one of the game’s most beloved characters, so players may only find it useable in the game’s final areas, or in NG+.

Choose this Talisman if:

• Your build benefits from skills or Ashes of War
• You require extra damage from your skill attacks
• You are using it in tandem with FP reducing items such the Carian Filigreed Crest

Talisman Stats:

• Weapons skills deal an additional 15% damage

9. Carian Filigreed Crest

The Carian Filigreed Crest works well in tandem with the Shard of Alexander as it reduces the FP cost of weapon skills. The 25% reduction is quite noticeable and heavily improves the sustainability of skill based builds in extended fights, such as bosses or PVP. As with the Shard, this is more often used with ranged or elemental builds, but those looking to take advantage of heavy damage skills or the maneuverability of Blood Hound’s Step will find this Talisman quite helpful.

Choose this Talisman if:

• Your build benefits from skills or Ashes of War
• You find yourself short on FP in extended fights
• You require frequent use of skills, such as for dodging or maneuverability

Talisman Stats:

• Reduces FP Consumption of skills by 25%

8. Great-Jar’s Arsenal

The Great-Jar’s Arsenal does not directly affect combat, but it does raise maximum equip load by 19%. With strength based builds often requiring high equip load for larger weapons or heavier armor, this talisman can be crucial for rounding out equip load without investing additional levels into endurance. It can also pay off with low weight builds, as it can help keep weight below the light load limit for the best dodge frames. Players may however find the extra level investment worth it in comparison, as the extra talisman slot can be a heavy price to pay when compared to the other options on this list. 

Choose this Talisman if:

• You are using heavier items such as greatshields or colossal weapons
• You are using heavier armor for extra defense such as the bull goat’s armor
• You would like to run a heavier build without investing levels in endurance
• You are running a lighter build but could use an extra push into the light category for extra dodge frames

Talisman Stats:

• Raises maximum equip load by 19%

7. Bull-Goat’s Talisman

Poise in Elden Ring can be a bit difficult to grasp, as it is an invisible mechanic that governs a player’s ability to take hits without flinching. Heavier armor will increase poise, allowing a player to take more damage before their actions are interrupted. The Bull-Goat’s Talisman can then be a handy tool to have on hand, as it effectively raises the player’s poise pool by a steep 33%. This, coupled with heavy duty armor such as Radahn’s set or the Bull-Goats set, will allow a player to tank through a few decent hits before flinching. This can be incredibly helpful with slower weapons that require significant wind up time, or during fast paced PvP.

Choose this talisman if:

• You are running a heavy poise focused build 
• You are using slower weapons
• You find your attack chains often interrupted
• You would like to take advantage of more charge attacks

Talisman Stats:

• Increases poise by 33%
• Interchangeably, reduces poise damage taken by 25%

6. Green Turtle Talisman

The Green Turtle Talisman is unique on this list as it improves a recovery speed, rather than a base stat. In particular, it increases stamina recovery by 8 per second, allowing for much quicker recovery at the point of exhaustion. This is deceptively useful, as stamina recovery becomes key for numerous scenarios. Many differing builds require high stamina and high stamina usage, such as dexterity based builds focusing on fast combos and dodges in place of blocking, as well as shield oriented builds that require recovery in between blocking attacks. Just as well, players may simply find themselves in desperate need of a breather in between the onslaughts of late game bosses, such as the rapid attacks of Maliketh and Malenia.

Use this talisman if:

• You are running a high stamina build and need to recover your stamina pool faster
• You use a build focusing heavy on dodge capabilities
• You use a build that capitalizes on long combos and/or stunlocking
• You use a shield and find yourself struggling to recover stamina in between blocks

Talisman Stats:

• Increases stamina regeneration by 8 per second

5. Claw Talisman

Elden Ring is the first of Fromsoft’s main series games to include a jump mechanic, and with it has been added a fantastic jump attack option for each weapon. The Claw Talisman capitalizes on this mechanic by adding 15% additional damage for jump attacks. This may not seem particularly important for one attack out of a moveset, but many players quickly found the extra poise damage from jump attacks to be an effective method of staggering bosses for critical hits. While the Claw Talisman and its boost to jumping might not be useful for smaller weapons such as daggers and shortswords, it is highly effective with larger weapons that already deal significant poise damage. 

Choose this talisman if:

• You are running a build with heavier weapons
• You are struggling to stagger larger bosses
• You find jump attacks an effective method of dealing high damage quick

Talisman stats:

• Increases jump damage by 15%

4. Rotten Winged Sword Insignia

In a similar vein to the previous Claw Talisman, the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia is highly effective for lighter weapons, particularly those being duel wielded. This talisman adds additional damage for successive attacks successfully landed, allowing players to rack up high damage for effective weapon combos. Slow moving weapons such as greatswords and colossal weapons will see little use for this talisman, but rapiers, shortswords, daggers, and in particular, powerstanced variations of these weapons, will see a sizeable boost in damage for longer combos. It is important to keep in mind that longer combos then put one at risk for counter attack, so clever timing is important to maximize this talisman’s utility. 

Choose this talisman if:

• You use lighter weapons with faster movesets, particularly dexterity weapons
• You like to power stance for faster fluid combos
• You have boss timings memorized well, as combos leave greater room for retaliation

Talisman Stats:

• Increases attack power for successive attacks
• Attack boost is triggered after three successive attacks
• Damage increased by 6%, then 8%, then 12%

3. Crimson Amber Medallion

The Crimson Amber Medallion is among the simplest on this list as it merely increases the player’s health pool. There are three variations of the talisman, each increasing health by 6%, 7%, and 8% respectively, with only one Crimson Amber variation being equipable at a time. This is however a crucial boost, particularly for newer players or those preferring tankier builds, as it will allow for more damage to be sustained before death. With that said, a higher health pool also means that more crimson flasks must be consumed to reach full health, which can create further problems in sustaining longer boss fights. While this talisman is still helpful, there is a better alternative that will be touched on momentarily, which can also be coupled with it for better effect. 

Choose this talisman if:

• You are a beginning player
• Your build is tanky and you would like to sustain more damage
• You need a bit of extra health to survive a harsh boss encounter

Talisman Stats:

• Raises Maximum HP 
• Base medallion by 6%
• +1 variation by 7%
• +2 variation by 8%

2. Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman

The Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman can be perceived either as a better alternative to the Crimson Amber Medallion or as a great option to couple with it. The talisman reduces physical damage taken by a staggering 20%, improving survivability significantly. Likewise, as the boost does not affect the health pool, players will be able to recover health easier than with the Crimson Amber Medallion. The only catch is that the damage negation is limited to physical damage rather than elemental, so defense against special attacks such as dragons breath would require alternative measures.

Choose this Talisman if:

• You are a beginning player
• Your build is tanky and you would like to sustain more damage
• You are struggling with survivability in intense fights

Talisman Stats:

• Reduces physical damage taken by 20%

1. Erdtree’s Favor

The best Talisman for melee builds in Elden Ring is the Erdtree’s Favor. While this talisman does not provide as sizable a boost as some of the other talismans on this list, the +2 variation of this talisman provides a 4% boost to health, 10% to stamina, and an 8% increase to equip load. This provides a greater overall boost to stats than any of the other talismans listed, as well as to three stats crucial for melee combat. The talisman then works best when paired with other talismans boosting these three stats, as they can effectively double up as a result.

Choose this talisman if:

• You are looking for a boost to all around melee combat
• You specialize in tankier builds, or need a boost to stamina and health for dexterity builds
• You are pairing it with other talismans already boosting these three stats for maximum effect

Talisman Stats:

• Base talisman increases health by 3%, stamina 7%, and equip load by 5%
• +1 increase health by 3.5%, stamina 8.5%, and equip load by 6.5%
• +2 increase health by 4%, stamina 10%, and equip load by 8%

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