Shake a poor sinner’s hand?

Elden Ring has a lot of builds to choose from, and most builds consist of a solid sword and shield, here is our top 10 list for the best sword and shield builds in Elden Ring. As a sword and shield user myself, I highly recommend at least one melee sword and shield build run before you put down Elden Ring as you will have a great time dodging and blocking bosses and enemies' attacks whilst dealing a ton of guard counter damage.

10. Bloodhounds Fang Build

A great build for both PvE and PvP.

With the Bloodhounds Fang being one amazing weapon and being able to deal great damage and this build being usable early on, why wouldn’t you try this weapon? Paired with a good shield you will be able to deal good damage from guard counters as well.

What Bloodhounds Fang build excels in:

• Dealing great damage.
• Can use magic and consumables to buff the weapon.
• Can change its ash of war.
• Has good range.
• Pairs really well with any shield and with blood loss build-up.

Build details:

• Use the Bloodhounds Fang as the main weapon, with a small or medium shield like the Buckler or the Inverted Hawk Heater shield to parry or a Greatshield for better guard counters like the Fingerprint shield.
• Add a Seal in your shield hand to use incantations. 
• For armor use the White Mask that increases attack power when in the vicinity of blood loss, the rest of the armor is up to you.
• For talismans, use the Shard of Alexander as it increases damage from the weapon skill.
• Use the Lord of Blood’s Exaltation to increase attack power when in the vicinity of blood loss.
• For spells, use Golden Vow before a fight and Flame Grant me Strength, other spells are your choice.
• Use the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman for extra damage negation.
• Use the Claw Talisman to enhance jump attacks.
• In the Wondrous Physick, use the Opaline Bubbletear to absorb one hit without taking damage, and the Crimsonburst Crystal  Tear to regenerate health.

9. Radhan Build

A sword that needs no introduction. 

The Starscourge Greatsword is amazing, with B scaling in strength at +10 and a massive AOE attack from its weapon art. Paired with a heavy shield, you will be able to block anything and hit anyone. 

What the Radhan build excels in :

• The weapon has a great weapon art.
• Scales with strength, and can have B scaling.
• Deals great damage.
• Pairs well with a heavy shield and with all your levels going into strength you will be able to use some amazing shields.

Build details:

• Use the Starscourge Greatsword and a heavy shield, the Golden Greatshield or the Fingerprint shield will work great. Use any Seal you prefer and any Staff.
• Using Terra Magica will buff magic attacks, paired with Golden Vow that gives 15% more damage, and reduces damage taken by 10 %, which will make the weapons deal amazing damage. You can also use Flame Grant Me Strength to raise physical and fire-affinity attack power.
• Use your preferred armor, but the Raptors Black Feathers is a great armor piece as it strengthens jump attacks and the Omensmirk Mask will increase strength by 2.
• Use the Cerulean Hidden Tear in the Wondrous Physick to eliminate all FP consumption.
• The Shard of Alexander is a great talisman for this build as it increases weapon skill damage by 15%.
• Magic Scorpion Charm talisman to boost magic damage by 12%.
• Use the  Dragoncrest Greatshield talisman as it greatly increases damage negation
• The final talisman slot is up to you but I recommend the Erdtree Favour +2 as it will increase HP by 4%, increase stamina by 9.6% and equip load by 8%.

8. Rot Build

Rotting more than a tomato on a KFC burger. 

With Rot being so overpowered in Elden Ring, pairing it with a sword and shield, like the Rotten Crystal Sword and a medium to heavy shield will make this build great.

What the Rot Build excels in:

• Has amazing damage.
• Deals damage over time.
• Rot lasts very long.
• Pairs well with a lot of different weapons and shields. 

Build details:

• Use the Rotten Crystal Sword as your main weapon and a medium or heavy shield in your other hand, like the Inverted Hawk Heater Shield or the Golden Greatshield.
• Use the Dragon Communion Seal.
• Armor can be anything you wish to wear.
• The spells you will use are Rotten Breath, Ezykes’s Decay, and Scarlet Aeonia. 
• The best talismans for this build will be the Radagon Icon.
• The Dragoncrest shield talisman.
• The Old Lord’s Talisman for the extra 30% spell duration.
• And the Erdtrees Favour +2.
• In the Wondrous Physick use the Cerulean Hidden Tear and the Faith-Knot Crystal Tear.

7. Dark Moon Greatsword Build

Thank you Ranni for one amazing sword.

Ranni is one amazing NPC in Elden Ring and has one amazing questline, and the sword she gives you is amazing, it can deal massive damage and when paired with a heavy shield it can block almost anything.

What the Dark Moon Build excels in:

• Has great damage.
• Has a great variety of spells to use with the sword and shield.
• Has one amazing weapon with an amazing weapon art.

Build details:

• Use the Dark Moon Greatsword as your sword of choice. 
• Use a staff in your off-hand to cast spells. With a heavy shield, either the Erdtree Greatshield or the Fingerprint Greatshield.
• The armor is up to you but the Snow Witch set fits well with this build. All you need is blue skin and you're all set.
• Use the Shard of Alexander to increase the damage of weapon skills,
• Use the Magic Scorpion Charm for extra magic damage.
• Use the Erdtrees Favour talisman as it is the best.
• Use the Old Lord’s Talisman for the extra 30% spell duration.
• Use the Magic- Shrouded Cracked Tear and the Cerulean Hidden Tear in the Wondrous Physick.
• For spells, use Adula’s Moonblade, Glintstone Icerag, Freezing Mist, Zamor Ice Storm, Ranni, and Renalla’s Moons. 

6. Moonveil Build.

Moonveil is one great Katana..

With the Moonveil being one of the best Katanas in the game and it having an amazing weapon art. This build is amazing for sword and shield users as it will deal great damage and be able to stop the damage from destroying you. 

What the Moonveil Build excels in:

• Easy critical attacks from behind.
• Can deal great damage, especially with the Moonveil’s skill.
• A great variety of spells and incantations to pair with this build.

Build details:

• Use the Moonveil in your main hand and a Staff in the other, preferably the Meteorite Staff as it has low requirements and can get early on, and can be replaced with a better staff later. For a shield use something small like the Buckler or a medium shield like the Inverted Hawk Heater Shield to parry enemies and get that sweet riposte damage.
• Before a boss fight buff up with Golden Vow as it increases damage dealt by 15% and damage negation by 10%.
• Use Ranni’s Dark Moon spell for some great damage.
• Use Ambus Shard as a spell, this will make a Shard spawn behind an enemy and deal damage from behind.
• Use Stars of Ruin for a lot of damage and it can be cast at quite a range.
• Use Karolos Glintstone Crown as it increases your intelligence. The rest of the armor is up to you.
• Use the Magic Scorpion Charm to increase magic damage.
• Use the Claw Talisman to enhance jump attacks.
• And the Shard of Alexander increases damage from weapon skills.
• Use the Magic- Shrouded Cracked Tear and the Cerulean Hidden Tear in the Wondrous Physick.
• Use the Godfrey Icon that enhances charged spells and skills.

5. Rivers Of Blood Build

 

Even viable after the nerf.

With the Rivers of Blood being one of the best katanas in Elden Ring, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it will be on this list. The weapon art is amazing and with that sweet sweet blood loss, you can destroy bosses and enemies. Even after its recent nerf the weapon is still wonderful and worth your time.

What the Rivers Of Blood build excels in:

• High damage, as well as B scaling in dex.
• Blood loss build-up. Great when paired with other blood weapons or incantations.
• Fast attacks, and pairs really well with a medium or heavy shield with the no skill ash of war on.

Build details:

• Use the Rivers of Blood as your main weapon, with a medium or heavy shield. Preferably have the no-skill ash of war on the shield to be able to use the RoB weapon art.
• For armor use the White Mask, which increases attack power when in the vicinity of blood loss, the rest of the armor is up to you.
• For talismans, use the Shard of Alexander for increased damage for weapon arts.
• Use the Lord of Blood’s Exaltation to increase attack power when in the vicinity of blood loss.
• Use the Fire Scorpion charm as the Rivers of Blood also does fire damage.
• Use Millicent’s Prosthesis for a boost in dex and a raise in attack power when you do successive attacks.
• In the Flask of Wondrous Physick, use the Thorny Cracked Tear that increases successive attacks and the Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear that boosts fire attacks. 
• For incantations, you can use Flame Grant Me Strength and Golden Vow. 

4. Lightning Build

Become the Nameless King.

With this amazing lightning build, you will be able to destroy enemies and look great doing it. It can have good damage and with the right talismans, it can be a very powerful build. As you will be a dex/faith character remember to level up those stats. The main weapon pairs very well with a heavy shield as it has one amazing weapon skill.

What the Lightning build excels in :

• Great damage.
• Variety of spells.
• The Dragonscale Blade has a great ash of war, Ice Lightning Sword. 
• Can deal damage from range and close up.
• With a greatshield like the Fingerprint shield, it can be a tank build that deals amazing damage.

Build details:

• Use the Dragonscale Blade as a weapon, with your preferred seal, and use a greatshield in your off-hand. The Fingerprint Greatshield is amazing for this build.
• Use the Golden Vow to buff your character as it increases defense by 15% and offense by 10%. 
• Use Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike as a better version of the Honed Bolt incantation. 
• Armor is your choice, as it has no effect on your build.
• Use Flock’s Canvas Talisman as it increases the potency of incantations.
• Use the Shard of Alexander to increase the attack power of weapon skills.
• Use the Lightning Scorpion Charm to increase lightning damage.
• The last talisman slot is your choice but I recommend the Green Turtle Charm or the  Dragoncrest Greatshield talisman as it greatly increases damage negation or the  Erdtree Favour +2 as it will increase HP by 4%, increases stamina by 9.6%, and equip load by 8%.
• Use the Lightning-Shrouded Cracked Tear in the Wondrous Physick to increase the damage of lightning attacks. 
• Use the incantation Lightning Spear for a quick attack that deals good damage.
• Use the Honed Bolt incantation to deal damage to enemies from afar. 
• Use Lansseax’s Glaive as it does great damage and has a wide swing attack.
• Use Frozen Lightning Spear for some good damage and a delayed attack from the last burst that does high damage.

3. Destined Death Build

Earth bending and a greatsword. 

Maliketh is one of the best bosses and has one of the best weapons. With his weapon primarily scaling with strength and faith, it can have up to B scaling at +10. This weapon pairs well with some of the talismans and can deal % damage with its weapon art. Paired with a shield and some incantations you will be able to deal great damage from range and up close, whilst blocking most attacks.

What the Destined Death build excels in:

• The weapon has an amazing weapon art.
• The build can be greatly improved with talismans and spells.
• The weapon deals great damage.
• Paired with the Mimic summon you can deal amazing damage.
• Build works well in PvP and PvE.

Build details:

• Use the Maliketh’s Black Blade and a heavy shield, preferably the Fingerprint Shield. 
• Use the Clawmark Seal, as you will be using a few incantations. 
• These incantations include Golden Vow. Using Golden Vow which gives 15% more damage, and reduces damage taken by 10 %, will make the weapons deal amazing damage.
• Bestial Sling, Bestial Vitality, Beasts Claw, Stone of Gurranq, and Gurranaq’s Beast Claw.
• Use the  Faith-Knot Crystal Tear in the Wondrous Physick to increase your faith and the Cerulean Hidden Tear to eliminate all FP consumption. Alternatively, you can swap the Cerulean Hidden Tear for the Strength-Knot Crystal Tear to increase strength.
• Use a mix between the Raptors Black Feathers as it is a great armor piece that strengthens jump attacks and the Omensmirk Mask will increase strength by 2 and the Ruler’s Mask to increase faith by 2 and the Cloth Garb to increase faith by 1, alternatively just use Maliketh’s armor as it is amazing looking and solid armor. 
• Use the Shard of Alexander as it is one amazing talisman that increases weapon art damage by 15%.
• Use the Sacred Scorpion Charm to increase faith.
• Radagons Soreseal can be used early on for those extra levels but later on it should be replaced with Erdtrees Favor.
• The last talisman should be the Claw talisman as it increases damage from jump attacks, but you can equip anything you want in your arsenal.

2. Golden Order Build

Join the First Order, wait, that's not Elden Ring.

The Golden Order Greatsword is an amazing weapon with amazing damage and a great weapon art, the weapon primarily scales with faith and has B scaling at +10. The weapon pairs well with a lot of talismans and the Faith-Knot Crystal Tear. The build is amazing when paired with a heavy shield as it can deal massive damage and absorb a lot of damage. 

What the Golden Order Build excels in:

• Has great scaling.
• Can deal massive damage.
• Is good for PvP and PvE.
• The weapon art is great and has good range.
• Can go through enemies.
• Has hyper armor when doing the weapon skill.

Build details:

• Use the Golden Order Greatsword and the Erdtree Greatshield, as well as the Golden Order Seal. 
• For incantations use Discus of Light, Law of Causality, Law of Regression, Litany of Proper Death, Order Healing, Order Blade, Radagon’s Rings of Light, and Triple Rings of Light. As well as Golden Vow.
• Using Golden Vow which gives 15% more damage, and reduces damage taken by 10 %, will make the weapons deal amazing damage.
• Use the Faith-Knot Crystal Tear in the Wondrous Physick to increase your faith and the Cerulean Hidden Tear to eliminate all FP consumption.
• Use the Ruler’s Mask to increase faith by 2 and the Cloth Garb to increase faith by 1, but the armor you wear is up to you.
• The Shard of Alexander is a must as it increases weapon skill damage by 15%.
• Sacred Scorpion Charm to increase holy damage.
• Radagons Soreseal can be used early on for those extra levels but later on, it should be replaced with Erdtrees Favor.
• The last talisman slot is up to you, I recommend the Green Turtle talisman or the Dragoncrest Greatshield talisman.

1.Night And Flame Build

Still one of the best swords against Elden Beast.

The Sword of Night and Flame is personally my favorite sword in the game, as it is still an amazing weapon after being nerfed and has one of the best ashes of war. It pairs amazingly well with a medium or heavy shield.

What the Night and Flame build excels in:

• Dealing amazing damage from range with the weapon arts.
• The fire side of this weapon is great for crowd control.
• Pairs extremely well with a shield. 
• Can knock back enemies.

Build details:

• Use the Sword of Night and Flame, the Dragon Communion Seal, and a heavy or medium shield, I would recommend the Fingerprint shield or a solid Heater shield.
•  For armor use whatever you prefer.
• As it goes for spells and incantations, use the Rotten Breath incantation at the start of the fight to Rot a boss, whilst he/she loses health via the rot you can use the weapon art to deal damage and close the gap to deal physical damage. 
• Use Golden Vow before the start of the fight for the buff and Flame Grant Me Strength for its buff.
• Use the Shard of Alexander as the first talisman.
• Use Erdtree Favour +2 as it will increase HP by 4%, increase stamina by 9.6% and equip load by 8%.
• Use the Magic Scorpion Charm to boost magic damage.
• Use the Carian Filigree Talisman to reduce the FP cost of all skills.
• You can alternatively use the Godfrey Icon that enhances charged spells and skills.
• In the Flask of Wondrous Physick use the Magic- Shrouded Cracked Tear and the Cerulean Hidden Tear.

This concludes our list of the Top 10 best sword and shield builds, if you enjoyed this article be sure to check out these ones as well.

You may also be interested in:

• Elden Ring Best Weapons for Dual Wield
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• Elden Ring Best Keepsakes and How To Get Them
• Elden Ring Best Dex Weapons
• Elden Ring Best Bleed Weapons