The way of the Berserker

The Lands Between are a war torn place of chaos, magic and mighty warriors who have been heroes, and who have fallen from grace. More importantly, it is a world where not even the strongest can always survive, and the timid don't last long. In all of this, a type of warrior has risen who can meet the overwhelming odds, and fight them with a mighty roar. That is the berserker. Fast, equipped with strong weapons in both hands, and jumping straight into the middle of the fight is the way of the berserker. Sometimes the only way to deal with the madness is to charge straight into the heart of it and take everything with you.

 

What is a Berserker, the in and out of playing the battle crazy

Berserkers are probably one of my favorite builds to play in Elden Ring and it entirely has to do with the aggressive damage style and the fact that it doesn't take much difficult thinking. So what is the Berserker? For all intents and purposes, the two hardest hitting build styles in the game are the berserker and the barbarian. The key difference between these two is that the barbarian does a lot more damage per hit, and the barbarian is the class that uses the biggest, heaviest, strongest base damage weapons in the game.

The berserker, however, is even more aggressive and usually has the benefits of running two weapons to beat on the enemy with at the same time. Berserkers are one of my favorite play styles that  I came across when I first started playing because they were one of the easiest styles to play that a person could just rush in and beat down the enemy. That's exactly how they play, too.

The original berserker build that I discovered was the beginner guide on Fextralife's build sections for the vagabond and the hero classes. The playstyle is one of the most straightforward too. I originally leaned towards it because of this, figuring that in the end I could branch out once I understood the game better. The thing was that once I understood the game better, the real nuances of the build began to make sense to me and I suddenly discovered I was sitting on one of the most effective ways to play the game.

Berserkers need two things to really make the build work and it's not just a weapon in either hand. Berserkers need to be fast, and they need to be very good about getting their hits in before the enemy can get theirs in. Being fast means that the armor will be lighter than the heaviest builds, and they will also need to be more aggressive about getting their hits landed. The good thing is that most weapons that power stance well together really do a number on the enemies when you're swinging both weapons at once.

The other big factor for the berserker is knowing your weapons inside and out. I originally started my builds with two weapons of different types, going off their stats more than anything. That's when I learned about power stances and that some weapons work well together with other weapons. The flip side is that sometimes you'll have what looks like two great weapons and suddenly you're getting wiped out by enemies that should never be able to touch you because you've built such a strong character. Synergy is just as important to this build as the weapon stats and the special abilities.

With all that said, even once I moved away from the berserker into builds like the Paladin and the Bushido players, I still found that I always kept my berserker rig hidden in my inventory, just waiting for the day that I found a boss or an enemy that frustrated me enough. If that happened, well it gets pretty common to see a certain Elden Ring character equip two very large curved greatswords to beat even the demigods into submission.

 

Ranking the Top 5

It's rare that there is a build or a playstyle that is so diverse that it's really hard to narrow it down to the top five and not be certain of it. That's one of the things that makes the Berserker so fun though, the complexity and nuance. This is a build that so heavily focuses on the weapons, and the ashes of war that just playing a type of berserker style based on the weapons can change the whole method to madness.

For the purpose of this build, I'm choosing the five best that I have managed to play, and I fully expect that with Shadow of the Erdtree there is going to be a whole list of new options once the great katanas and the new weapons get accounted for. The Void Knight already has a promising look, and honestly with a helm that looks like it's straight out of Lord of the Rings, who wouldn't want to play as Sauron the Berserker? I know I certainly will.

 

5. Berserker Ghoul

What is a Berserker Ghoul

The Berserker Ghoul is the name that I gave to the build of berserkers that focus on the use of scarlet rot and poison. These are both abilities that eat away at the enemy and they're pretty strong in their way. This build focuses on getting the poison and the scarlet rot going and then to use the damage to finish off the enemy fast with your preference in damage styles.

 

Playing a Berserker Ghoul

Stats:

• Dexterity is the number one most valuable stat in this build because it's going to maximize the damage of just about every important weapon that can be found for this build. Scarlet Rot is still a build that is few and far between for options, but the weapons it does use are either large and better for Barbarian Builds, or they're fast weapons that rely on dexterity to get that damage rating.
• Intelligence is common for the Rot weapons because it is used to scale so many of the rot weapons. There aren't going to be a lot of spells used in this build that are for rot, but there are several weapons that do scale with Intelligence which make it as useful as Strength for this build. For players that do want to lean towards adding scarlet rot spells, you're going to look at matching faith as well, just to make sure that this build gets the most out of the incantation powers
• Vigor is good for two reasons. The higher the Vigor, the bigger the HP bar is, but Vigor also affects Immunity which is used to prevent scarlet rot and poison buildup. Vigor usually has caps at 40 and 60, but somewhere in between makes for a good comfort zone to keep yourself strong.

 

The Finer Points

• Poison and Scarlet Rot usually find their way onto the list because they both can trigger and they both get boosted by the same talismans. That means any build with both gets two status effects for the price of one
• While this is a great build that takes plenty off the enemy health bar, it also comes with its fair share of risks. Rot is also one of the only abilities that will hit both the player and the enemy if they end up in the rot clouds. Being able to trigger it is great, having to watch out for yourself too is not. Especially in berserker builds, where everything is a little bit wild and devil may care
• The other downside to Scarlet Rot is that it takes a while to go down again, and that neither poison or rot can set or topped up once the effect is applied. So once that happens, the player needs to find a way to keep doing damage to make the most out of the build. That's part of why this build also comes with a life boost and other options to keep the fight aggressive.
• Scarlet Rot may be a two edged sword, but it's also one of the best status effects in the game because they make a point that even the gods are capable of being consumed by the rot. It also works way more aggressively than even deadly poison damage so you can watch the boss lose a huge chunk of health to it once you have it set.

 

Gear Loadout:

Picking your Weapons:

Rotten Crystal Spear

• Requirements 10 Strength, 16 Dexterity, 16 Intelligence

Rotten Crystal Spears are the original weapon for this build. You can run two of them pretty easily and they are some of the fastest attacking weapons in the game which makes it pretty easy to get the scarlet rot to trigger fast and keep it going. It also scales well with Dexterity and Intelligence which means that you can get some pretty solid damage out of these spears with the right talismans.

 

Antspur Rapier

• Requirements 10 Strength, 20 Dexterity

This is another weapon that almost belongs on a fencer build instead of a berserker build because it's a thrusting sword. But if you pair it with the Cleanrot Knight's Sword that can be given rot grease, you get a very fast and very aggressive playstyle that meets the needs of the berserker. Antspur Rapier is also considered one of the universally best scarlet rot weapons in the game and it goes a long way in inflicting the damage and building up fast damage with talismans like Millicent's Prosthesis and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia

 

Coil Shield

• Requirements: 10 Strength, 10 Dexterity

The Coil Shield makes for a great shield that can be paired off with something like the Butchering Knife or just as an offhand piece for something like the Antspur Rapier. The shield is popular with the original Rotten Crystal Spear build because of the special ability which inflicts deadly poison at a fast rate. I use poison as more of a backup piece to straight damage once the scarlet rot gets going, so I don't run it as often. But it does serve the purpose for a build that follows the original Scarlet Spear Fextralife build.

 

Butchering Knife

• Requirements: 16 Strength, 20 Dexterity

Now there's not a lot that actually suggests this is a good weapon for the build, but I like the way that it plays. The reason for this is because I almost play Scarlet rot the same way that I play vampiric builds in Elden Ring. I get the status affliction going first and then I beat on my enemies while sucking away their HP to refuel my own. It's not scarlet rot specific, but the butcher blade does leech HP and it can be enchanted with a wide variety of Ashes of war including the Spinning Slash, Stormcaller, and Wild Strikes which all hit the opponent over and over triggering a buildup of straight physical damage while also boosting your own health, even if it's just a little.

 

Gear Loadout:

Helms

• Mushroom Crown- Boosts damage 10% whenever poison or rot triggers nearby.       
• Twinned Helm          

Armor

• Mushroom Body- good for the immunity stat
• Black Knife Armor
• Twinned Armor- has a high vitality

Gauntlets

• Mushroom Arms- good for the immunity stat
• Black Knife Gauntlets
• Twinned Gauntlets- has a high vitality

Greaves

• Mushroom Legs- good for the immunity stat
• Black Knife Greaves
• Twinned Greaves- has a high vitality

 

Extra Essentials:

Talismans

• Kindred of Rot's Exultation- Increases damage whenever poison or rot occurs nearby
• Rotten Winged Sword Insignia- increases damage on consecutive hits
• Millicent's Prosthesis- Increases damage on multiple strikes
• Spear Talisman- improves damage of thrusting weapons
• Blessed Dew Talisman- slowly heals health whenever hp is low

Staffs and Seals

• Dragon Communion Seal

Spells

• Golden Vow- Increases damage by 15% and damage negation by 10%
• Blessing's Boon- Gradually heals HP over time
• Poison Mist- Spews poison mist that poisons the enemy
• Rotten Breath- unleashes a dragon breath attack of scarlet rot
• Poison Moth Flight- releases a swarm of poison moths to poison the enemy

Stat Loadout

• 50-60 Vigor
• 20-28 Mind
• 35-50 Endurance
• 21-35 Strength
• 65-80 Dexterity
• 40-45 Intelligence
• 25-36 Faith
• 12-27 Arcane

 

Build Credits:

 Rotten Crystal Spear build by Fextralife

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-scarlet-rot-build-guide-scarlet-spear/

Festering Soldier build by Pastorgainz Games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5wR6ZKKfsY 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVLkMvresJg

 

 

 4. Hoarfrost Howler

What is a Hoarfrost Howler

The Hoarfrost Howler is the name of the berserker of the north which deals in frost and fire damage. Ice and Fire seems to have been a favorite of the George R. R. Martin inspired franchises because the Frostbite skill works so well when combined with fire damage even though the two of them don't really seem like they would normally work out. They do though, and this build works as a great critical hit damage dealing play style that wipes out big enemies and trash mobs with ease.

 

Playing a Hoarfrost Howler

Stats:

• Strength and Dexterity are both fairly important in this build and Dexterity really helps with spell speed at the higher levels. On this one, it's really important to figure out which weapon you're going to want to use so that you know where to put your stats, but I prefer to run both of them at least at 60.
• Intelligence is a huge deal for this build because it almost needs to be maxed out in order to get the most out of any magic and frostbite powers. I always put the most that I can into this stat for that reason, especially since it gives you options to some sorceries if you need them.
• Faith is actually important in this build because it scales some of the fire damage out there and this is a build that is going to use the fire damage to max out the potential. I use some of the AOE fire spells to do damage and they require a higher faith for casting. It spreads the stats out a little bit but it makes for a more aggressive play which feels right at home with the berserker way to play.

The Finer Points

• One of the best parts of this build is that each time the frostbite is set, it takes a chunk of the health bar off. Since this build focuses pretty heavily on setting frostbite over and over, that means that it can take that chunk out of the health bar over and over.
• Once frostbite is set, it makes the enemy weaker to damage for a period of time. It's pretty easy to set the status effect then just beat on the enemies until the debuff wears off, then use fire and set it again.
•  I like the frostbite skills because it's so effective, but it does still end up sometimes being bleed with extra steps. They both have their benefits, but in a play style that focuses on being extremely aggressive, that split second timing and making sure that you have the right tools on hand can be enough to get you hit or take critical damage you don't want to take. It plays differently, but it's still a very strong play style with better AOE options.

 

Gear Loadout:

Picking your Weapons:

Icerind Hatchet

• Requirements 11 Strength, 16 Dexterity

Icerind Hatchet scales best with dexterity and does extra damage against dragon enemies too, which makes it useful against some of the tougher enemies. What makes it even better is that it comes with the Hoarfrost Stomp. This is one of the top skills for the frostbite builds and it's good at damaging the poise too.

 

Sacrificial Axe

• Requirements: 16 Strength, 10 Dexterity

The sacrificial axe is carried in a lot of builds for its passive ability. The downside is that it scales with Strength more than Dexterity. However the axe can also be enchanted with ashes of war which means that it can be given the fire or the ice affinity as well. It's also just a really good axe and it works well with the Icerind Hatchet if you don't have two of the axe.

 

Zamor Curved Sword

• Requirements: 16 Strength, 18 Dexterity

The Zamor Curved Sword is a curved greatsword that uses the Zamor Ice Storm ability. It's strong enough to freeze even the boss Radagon in one hit. It also combines well with the Bloodhound's Fang in order to trigger bleed damage before setting the enemy on fire.

 

Frozen Needle

• Requirements 11 Strength, 18 Dexterity

Pairs well with Cleanrot Knight's Sword which can be given a fire or an ice enchantment. What makes this sword more interesting is that it fires an ice projectile a short distance for its heavy attack which doesn't use FP. This usually makes better for a fencer's build but it can be used here for an aggressive berserk style that triggers frostbite then flame, then frostbite again fast.

 

Magma Wyrm Scalesword

• Requirements: 24 Strength, 15 Dexterity, 18 Faith

There are plenty of fire weapons in the game that work and plenty of custom fire weapons that can be made with the right ash of war and affinity enchantment. That being said, Magma Wyrm Blade is a massive weapon and it has an amazing ability that leaps forward and slams the blade down for plenty of physical and fire damage at the same time. I've used it to tank plenty of enemies in the past just by itself, but it makes for an extra fun piece in a build like this. It's heavy, so you're going to need some extra points in endurance or a talisman for that high equip load, but if you're looking for a fun way to play, this is a good starting point for berserkers.

 

Gear Loadout:

Helms

• Zamor Helm- A good helm for defense and the ice warrior aesthetic
• Queen's Crescent Crown- +3 Intelligence
• Divine Beast's Helm- Increases strength, dexterity, and storms by 4% but reduces the value taken from flasks.
• Spellblade's Pointed Hat- Increases frost damage by 2%

Armor

• Zamor Armor
• Black Knife Armor
• Fingerprint Armor

Gauntlets

• Zamor Bracelets
• Black Knife Gauntlets
• Fingerprint Gauntlets

Greaves

• Fingerprint Greaves
• Zamor Legwraps

 

 

Extra Essentials:

Talismans

• Old Lord's Talisman- extends the durations of spells
• Shard of Alexander- increases the damage of abilities 15%
• Millicent's Prosthesis- increases damage on consecutive hits
• Rotten Sword Winged Insignia- increases damage on consecutive hits
• Beloved Stardust- Shortens casting speed for incantations and sorcery
• Godfey's Icon- Increases damage of charged attacks and skills 
• Blade of Mercy- raises attack power by 20% for 20 seconds after each critical hit
• Marika's Soreseal- increases mind, intelligence, faith, and arcane
• Radagon's Soreseal- increases vigor, endurance, strength, and dexterity
• Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman- Boosts physical damage negation by 20%

Staffs and Seals

• Fire Knight's Seal- boosts Messmer Fire Incantations by 15%
• Giant's Seal- boosts Fire Giant and Fire Monk Incantations by 20%

Spells

• Chilling Mist- releases a cloud of mist that freezes the enemy
• Golden Vow- increases damage by 15% and damage negation by 10%
• Flame Grant me Strength- increases physical and fire damage by 20%
• Rain of Fire- summons a rain of fire for a duration of time, a messmer fire spell
• Fire's Deadly Sin- Sets self and the area ablaze with flame
• Flame, Fall Upon Them- releases a set of 12 fireballs that do a large amount of damage

Stat Loadout

• 35-50 Vigor
• 25-30 Mind
• 30-45 Endurance
• 65-80 Strength
• 65-80 Dexterity
• 65-80 Intelligence
• 25-35 Faith
• 45-60 Arcane

 

Build Credits:

 Royal Frost Knight by Fextralife

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-royal-greatsword-build-guide-royal-frost-knight/

Frost Knight by Fextralife

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-claymans-harpoon-build-guide-frost-knight/

Frost Paladin by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-zamor-curved-sword-build-guide-frost-paladin/

Icerind Hatchet Build by DDGG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72qAf3XST40

 

 

3. Lightning Rager

What is a  Lightning Rager

The Lightning Rager is the umbrella term for any player playing an aggressive dual-wielding build that focuses on lightning damage. What makes this build so strong though, is that lightning isn't well protected against and it can get pretty strong pretty fast. In fact, there are builds out there that showcase the ability to wipe out bosses with two or three uses of the special abilities of weapons like the Stormhawk Axe. When it comes to speed, aggression, and damage, the Lightning Rager is hands down one of my favorite choices to play whenever I'm going for a tough boss that I need to bring down.

 

Playing a  Lightning Rager

Stats:

• Strength is a major factor for this build since most of the weapons that work for it require high strength and high dexterity. Depending on the build we can run strength up to 99 for the weapon, but usually 80 is a good cap.
• Dexterity is the other major player for this build. Since berserker builds usually use lighter weapons than the colossal
• Faith is a major stat for this build because most of the best lightning spells are incantations, or scale with faith like holy damage.  Faith doesn't need to be as high as the other stats in this build, but keeping it above 30 is usually a good idea to keep yourself in reach of some of the stronger lightning spells.

 

The Finer Points

• Lightning is one of the most powerful and aggressive elemental damages in the game and it's not guarded against all that much. It's also used as one of the best builds for taking on bosses, and whittling them down fast.
• This build was originally inspired by the Stormhawk axes and their thunder ability, but there's always several ways to play this. One of them involves using a weapon that can be enchanted and running a Vyke's Thunderbolt build. This relies more on faith, but it also means that you can use just about any weapon with any decent ash of war to make this build yours
• One of the best reasons to run lighting is that it is great against the heavily armored enemies and it works on draconic enemies. That makes taking some of the tougher enemies out just a little bit easier.
• Most weapons can be given a lightning enchantment which means that even though the base build is the Stormhawk axes, the weapon options really open up with ashes of war and enchantments.

 

 

Gear Loadout:

Picking your Weapons:

Stormhawk Axe

• Requirements: 19 Strength, 15 Dexterity

The Stormhawk Axe is the bread and butter of the original build because of its special stormcaller ability that uses lightning damage to hit the enemy over and over again for maximum damage. This weapon is dropped twice by Nepheli Loux, which makes it great for having both weapons taken care of. It also power stances well with the Death Knight twin axes which just released and gives this build a unique option for a skillful player to run one of each in each hand.

            

Dragon King's Cragblade

• Requirements: 18 Strength, 37 Dexterity

The Dragon Kings Cragblade is a heavy thrusting sword which fits for the theme of the berserker build. Normally I would run this for some kind of Lightning Fencer build, but it combines really well with the great epee for a long reaching lightning damage build. Thundercloud Form is the special ability of this weapon and it's essentially a charging ability that turns the player into a bolt of red lightning.

 

Bolt of Gransax

• Requirements: 20 Strength, 40 Dexterity

I don't run too much in the way of range for the berserker builds but the Bolt of Gransax is one of the best weapons in the game, and it deals an amazing amount of lightning damage. There are a few places it doesn't hurt to have a good range piece. I use it for clearing trash or weakening big enemies before they get close enough to switch into my Stormhawk Axes.

 

Flowerstone Gavel

• Requirements: 14 Strength, 8 Dexterity, 15 Arcane

This weapon uses a skill called Flower Dragonnbolt that calls down a lightning bolt then weakens the enemy to lightning damage for a period of time. This weapon is great to run with a Lightning enchanted Monk's Flamemace, or as a weapon to start the fight before switching to the Stormhawk Axes

 

Death Knight Twin  Axes

• Requirement: 14 Strength, 12 Dexterity, 16 Faith

This is another new DLC axe set that lets the player turn into a bolt of lightning and charge forward. It's like the Stormhawk axe in the fact that there's two, but it's also a great weapon to use with the Stormhawk axe as an offhand weapon.

 

Gear Loadout:

Helms

• Okina Mask- Raises dexterity but decreases focus
• Divine Beast Helm- This is a new Shadow of the Erdtree release that is quoted to heighten the intensity of the storm, Strength, and Dexterity by 4%. It does reduce restoration from flasks and focus.
• Greathood- Boosts Intelligence and Faith +2 but reduces health slightly

Armor

• Maliketh's Armor
• Fingerprint Armor
• Leda's Armor- Shadow of the Erdtree Release that slightly increases attack on dodge rolls, backsteps, and dash attacks
• Death Knight Armor- Enhances the skills and incantations of ancient dragon cult spells.

Gauntlets

• Maliketh's Gauntlets 
• White Reed Gauntlets
• Black Knife Gauntlets
• Death Knight Gauntlets- Enhances the skills and incantations of ancient dragon cult spells.

Greaves

• Maliketh's Greaves
• Fingerprint Greaves 
• Black Knife Greaves

 

 

Extra Essentials:

Talismans

• Godfrey's Icon- Increases the damage from skills and charged abilities
• Lightning Scorpion Charm- Increases lightning damage by 12%.
• Axe Medallion – Enhances Charged Attacks
• Radagon's Soreseal- increases Vigor, Endurance, Strength, and Dexterity +5
• Bull-Goat's Talisman- Raises poise 33%
• Rotten Winged Sword Insignia- Increases attack power with consecutive hits.
• Dragoncreast Greatshield Talisman- Reduces damage taken by 20%

Staffs and Seals

• Erdtree Seal- one of the strongest seals in terms of scaling
• Gravel Stone Seal- Boosts Dragon Cult Incantations by 15%

Spells

• Golden Vow- Increases damage by 15% and damage negation by 10%%
• Vyke's Dragonbolt- enchants body and right weapon with red lightning
• Ancient Dragon's Lightning Strike- Summons a storm of red lightning down
• Electrocharge- Calls down lightning to charge the body with electricity.
• Flame Grant Me Strength- Boosts fire and physical damage by 20%

Stat Loadout

• 35-50 Vigor
• 22-35 Mind
• 35-40 Endurance
• 70-99 Strength
• 60-80 Dexterity
• 25-40 Intelligence
• 45-60 Faith
• 9-18 Arcane

 

Build Credits:

 Stormhawk Axe Build by EliteCarlosN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOVdVd2SaaI&list=PLGsjkEmdpvt0pH6DXrKPJkPIceIRaSK2o&index=42

Thunderclap Lightning Faith Build by Lust4Power

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiqScLLRc2Q

 Death Knight Axe Build by Fextralife

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XPipjqNySM&pp=ygUZdmFtcGlyZSBrbmlnaHQgZWxkZW4gcmluZw%3D%3D

 

2. Blasphemous Herald

What is a Blasphemous Herald

This is a fun build that really focuses on the vampiric playstyle that comes from a few rather unique weapons and talismans that can be found in the game. Elden Ring is a little bit slow on the health regeneration powers in the game, but they can come together to form some pretty impressive health recovery. What makes this build fun is that it can be played as either a Paladin, or a Berserker because of the health recovery. However, it makes the build

 

Playing a Blasphemous Herald

Stats:

• Strength is a vital part of this build for the scaling that it uses on the larger weaponry. Both the main weapon choices scale with strength. Most of the weapons in this build scale fairly close on both, so I usually have them about equal, but for a build like this you're going to want to make sure that you check what scales best with what to make sure you have the Strength and Dexterity properly balanced out.
• Dexterity is the other major damage output stat for this build. It helps with the weapon swing speed and spell casting speed. For builds like this I usually put it at least 65, but it really depends on what you intend to play.
• Faith is a major factor for this build, not just for the incantations, but because most of the major weaponry in this build scales with Faith as well as Strength and Dexterity. For the purpose of making sure that everything gets the best out of this build, I like to run it to at least the first cap for scaling, which is usually somewhere around 40, although 60 isn't a bad option either.

 

The Finer Points:

• First and foremost, this build is just fun. You're essentially playing as an immortal that boosts up their own damage as much as possible, then steals back all the health you sacrificed in order to put yourself back at full health.
• This build is incredibly resilient. Not only do you have the crimson flasks to heal if you take too much damage, but there's Blessing's Boon, the royal remains armor, the Blessed Dew talisman, and a few other tricks like the mixed physick up your sleeve that all have health regeneration. That's not counting the health restored by beating on your enemy. It all starts to add up pretty fast and it makes for a lot of ways to keep the health bar high.
• This build has a good damage output and it's pretty aggressive. The Blasphemous Blade is the major weapon for this build but even though it does encourage a little bit of standing back for ranged attack with the Taker's Cameo. In fact, depending on which weapon choice gets used, this build is probably one of the most aggressive playstyles on this list because it maximizes the raw damage.   

 

Gear Loadout:

Picking your Weapons:

Blasphemous Blade

• Requirements: 22 Strength, 15 Dexterity, 21 Faith

Blasphemous Blade is one of the key weapons for this build. It's got a mix of range abilities with the Taker's Cameo special ability, but it also has an aggressive combat style with the Blasphemous Blade and the Gargoyle's Blackblade. Not only does this blade do a fair amount of damage, it also hits with the Taker's Cameo which heals about 10% of health plus 150 straight health when it strikes the enemy. Since this build uses

 

Gargoyle's Blackblade

• Requirements: 18 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 22 Faith

 The Gargoyle's Blackblade is one of the strongest greatswords in the game and it has the benefit of scaling with the same stats as Blasphemous Blade. There are a couple of swords that scale a little better, like the Inseparable Sword, but the Gargoyles Blackblade starts with more base damage to it. Now, if you're wanting to carry a weapon that can use Seppuku to get this build going, you can always carry the Gargoyle's Greatsword, or just a small knife to keep the weight down on the build.

 

Butchering Knife

• Requirements: 16 Strength, 20 Dexterity

The Butchering Knife is one of the original must have pieces for this build and it only got better now that the original has been given a second one, called the Bonny Butchering Knife with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Even though the Bonny Butchering Knife has better vampiric stats with the weapon, we run it in the offhand because it can't be enchanted with ashes of war which makes the Butchering Knife the better choice for this build.

Both of the Butchering Knives leech HP, but the original Butchering Knife leeched 1% of your HP per hit. That may not seem like much, especially with a Greataxe in hand. But the Butchering Knife can be given ashes of war which include special skills like Golden Land, Prelate's Charge, and Waves of Darkness. Golden Land is better for a Paladin build, but Prelate's Charge deals fire damage and is probably the most berserker in nature for this build. Waves of Darkness is great for destroying trash mobs, on the other hand, with an aggressive AOE effect that also keeps the player in the middle of the fight.

The thing is, that each of these techniques, including Waves of Darkness, hit the opponent multiple times per attack, which means that the build can leech a lot of HP for every use of the special ability. So when it comes to this build, the Butchering Knife is every bit as great for the vampiric player as the Blasphemous Blade. Keen affinity seems to be the best affinity for this weapon most of the time but it's also good for a few different types of special ability that may change this depending on how you play.

 

Dagger or weapon with the Seppuku Ash of War

• Requirements: NA

The real only requirement is that the weapon not weigh too much and can be given the Seppuku ash of war. This is for triggering the white mask, and getting the start of the hp recharge going.

 

Gear Loadout:

Helms

• White Mask- Increases damage whenever blood loss occurs near the player
• Helm of Night- Great for the lord of darkness look and a helm of decent defensive stats
• Divine Beast Helm- Increases Strength, Dexterity, and storms by 4% but reduces the value of flasks. 

Armor

• Royal Remains Armor
• Fingerprint Armor
• Black Knife Assassin Armor

Gauntlets

• Black Knife Assassin Gauntlets
• Fingerprint Gloves
• Royal Remains Gauntlets

Greaves

• Royal Remains Greaves
• Black Knife Greaves
• Fingerprint Greaves

 

Extra Essentials:

Talismans:

• Lord of Blood's Exultation- Increases damage dealt when there's blood loss in the area
• Fire Scorpion Charm- Increases fire damage by 12%
• Rotten Sword Insignia- Increases damage on consecutive hits
• Bull-Goat's Talisman- Raises poise by 33%
• Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman- Increases damage negation by 20%
• Blessed Dew Talisman- Restores HP gradually when health is reduced

Staffs and Seals

• Giant's Seal
• Dragon Communion Seal

Spells

• Golden Vow- Increases damage by 15% and damage negation by 10%
• Flame Grant Me Strength- increases flame and physical damage by 20% for a period of time
• Blessing's Boon- Increases HP gradually over time.

Stat Loadout

• 50 Vigor
• 25-30 Mind
• 35 Endurance
• 50-80 Strength
• 65-80 Dexterity
• 18-30 Intelligence
• 45-60 Faith
• 18-27 Arcane

 

Build Credits:

 Blasphemous Beastman by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-blasphemous-blade-build-guide-blasphemous-beastman/

Blasphemous Herald by Fextralife

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-gargoyles-blackblade-build-guide-blasphemous-herald/

Blasphemous Blade build DarkHero2 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ata5AbEzpY

Vampire Knight by Fextralife

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE5SPCzOl_k

 

 

 

 

1. Bloodflame Berserker

What is a Bloodflame Berserker

To put it simply the Bloodflame Berserker is the build that makes the enemy bleed, and then it leaves nothing, not even ash behind. Bloodflame is one of the most versatile and useful powers in the game and it can be found on plenty of weapon sets. The idea is to light the enemy on fire while making that bleed spray animation trigger over and over again. Flame and bleed are two of the most useful and consistent powers in the game. Put them together and you have a fascinating build that puts even the most powerful enemies to shame.

 

Playing a Bloodflame Berserker

Stats:

• Dexterity is vital, because almost all the bleed weapons scale with dexterity and they speed up your weapon skills a bit. In fact, most builds usually keep Dexterity and Arcane maxed out to get the most out of the damage when these builds trigger.
• Arcane is a vital stat for any bleed build because it triggers the effect faster. Most builds max it out, but safe builds usually place it somewhere  starting at 65 to get the most from the status.
• Strength and Faith are both fairly equally important in this build, but mostly for the purpose of meeting the stat requirements for weaponry and the incantations. Keeping both in the higher ranges, anywhere from 40-50 is good, but both are good for being able to get the build as fluid as possible.

 

The Finer Points

• Bleed is one of the universal best status effects in the game and it can affect just about everything. Since it's so popular and so heavily used, it makes for one of the best options to default against most enemies. Even the Lord of Blood is weak to bleed damage in Elden Ring. In fact, if you watch one of the shadows ghosts of the new DLC, even they bleed. Which is kind of trippy to watch, I can't lie.
• Bleed is great because unlike other status effects, it also triggers and then can immediately trigger again. Other status effects like frostbite, poison, and scarlet rot all have cooldown periods where the status is working its charm.
• Each time bleed triggers, it takes a set percentage from the enemies full health bar. On small opponents it may not look like much but on bigger opponents, you can clear a huge portion of the enemy's health bar in just a couple hits.
• This build functions pretty simply. Get in and get the bleed going as fast as possible. If you don't want to wait, you can even carry an extra dagger with the Seppuku ability to trigger blood loss at the start of the fight. After that, it's all about getting that damage and triggering that bleed as often as possible to keep all the damage buffs going.
• Bleed is a little bit of a glass cannon build, when it comes to berserkers. I don't say that because it's not well armored, in fact bleed has plenty of heavy armor options. The problem is that a lot of the bleed abilities also require a lot of HP to use so that means that the player has to start the fight off by finding a way to heal.

 

 

Gear Loadout:

Picking your Weapons:

Morgott's Cursed Sword

• Requirements: 14 Strength, 35 Dexterity, 17 Arcane

Morgott's Cursed Sword is the bread and butter of this build because of the fact that it has the bloodflame powers in its Cursed Blood-Slice ability. Not only that, this weapon does an incredible amount of poise damage which puts enemies on their knees after just one or two shots.

The great part that I love about both the Morgott's Cursed Sword and the Bloodhound Fang combination is that even though the skill is a bloodflame skill, the weapons both put all their damage into physical damage. That means that even if you take away the ability to rely on the bleed and the bloodflame power, these two do straight physical damage which can be buffed up high and take you through even the hardest boss fights without getting your damage output handicapped too much.

 

Bloodhound Fang

• Requirements: 18 Strength, 17 Dexterity

This is a great weapon to use on its own, or to use as the second weapon to go with Morgott's Cursed Sword for the offhand weapon. Both deal straight physical damage and they have good reach on both their blade lengths. What makes it even better is that the Bloodhound Fang is one of the only other curved greatswords that already has bleed attached to it. There are other greatswords that have been released since the new DLC such as Freyja's Greatsword which has a little more physical damage and can be infused with ashes of war, but I stand by the Bloodhound Fang as one of the best matches to go with the Morgott's Cursed Sword both in terms of reach and damage. The aesthetic match doesn't hurt either, since they both have the same wave blade look to it.

 

Varre's Bouquet

• Requirements: 8 Strength, 16 Dexterity, 24 Arcane 

Varre’s Bouquet is one of the best mace or blunt weapons for this build, and it comes pre-equipped with the Blood Tax ash of war. It’s certainly not the best weapon I could recommend for the build but one of the great parts of this is that it’s a blunt bludgeoning type weapon which means it’s better against slash resistant enemies It also pairs extremely well with a couple of the other maces in the game, which can be enchanted with blood affinities to make sure that plenty of damage is done against even the most stone skinned of enemies.

 

Gear Loadout:

Helms

• Silver Tear Mask- Increases arcane by 8
• White Mask- Enhances damage when bleed occurs in the area of the player.
• Curseblade Mask- Increases Dexterity by 5 but reduces flask value 7%
• Divine Beast Helm- Increases storm, strength, and dexterity by 5% but reduces effects of sacred tears        

Armor

• Leda's Armor- Slightly strengthen attacks following a dodge roll, backstep, or dash attack, released in Shadow of the Erdtree
• Fingerprint Armor- a good set of armor for weight and poise
• Thiollier's Garb- A good set of armor that increases Arcane. Released in Shadow of the Erdtree

Gauntlets

• Hoslow's Gauntlets
• Thiollier's Gloves
• Black Knife Gauntlets

Greaves

• Hoslow's Greaves 
• Fingerprint Greaves
• Thiollier's trousers

 

Extra Essentials:

Talismans

• Lord of Blood's Exultation- Boosts damage 20% when blood loss occurs in the area
• Old Lord's Talisman- Increases the duration of spells
• Fire Scorpion Seal- increases fire damage by 20%
• Radagon's Scarseal- raises multiple attributes by +5
• Godfrey's Icon- Enhance charge attacks and skills
• Rotten Winged Sword Insignia- Increases attack damage on consecutive hits

Staffs and Seals

• Giant's Seal- boosts Fire Monk Incantations by 20%

Spells

• Flame, Grant me Strength- boosts physical and fire damage by 20% and can be boosted by Giant's Seal.
• Golden Vow- Increases attack power by 15% and damage negation by 10%
• Swarm of Flies- Produces a swarm of flies that attacks the enemy and causes blood loss
• Bloodboon- Cats a large path of bloodflame in front of the caster

Stat Loadout

• 35-50 Vigor
• 25-35 Mind
• 35-50 Endurance
• 35-50 Strength
• 65-80 Dexterity
• 27-35 Intelligence
• 35-40 Faith
• 80 Arcane

 

Build Credits:

 Bloody Beastclaw by Fextralife

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-beast-claw-build-bloody-beastclaw-shadow-of-the-erdtree-guide/

Crimson Duelist by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-thrusting-sword-build-guide-crimson-duelist/

Blood Dancer by Fexrtralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-eleonoras-poleblade-build-guide-blood-dancer/

 Top 3 New Shadow of the Erdtree Bleed Guides by Arekkz Gaming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3HNiqQMdo0&pp=ygUaYmxlZWQgYmVyc2Vya2VyIGVsZGVuIHJpbmc%3D

 

 

Conclusion

With all the brutal enemies, and all the tough obstacles in the Land Between it sometimes feels like the best answer really is to just charge in, weapons blazing and nothing on your mind except the battle. The Berserker is one of the best ways to do this, and in fact the berserker build might just be one of the best for speed runs in general. But playing aggressive, with no regard, only the fearless and the strongest survive. The berserker will always be one of my favorite builds, especially with the dynamic of dual wielding and carving up group after group of trash mobs to clear the way before I take down their boss.

Making a build is one of the most fun parts of the game, and more than anything I'm so glad that Elden Ring has as many ways to build a character as they do, because there are few games where you can play the berserker, the wild warrior, quite as well as you can in the Lands Between.

 

 

You may also be interested in:

• [Top 10] Elden Ring Best Straightswords (Ranked)
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• [Top 10] Elden Ring Best Greatswords (Ranked)