Katanas are some of the strongest weapons you can wield in Elden Ring. Not only do they have incredible range and damage output, due to their innate blood loss capabilities, they lend themselves perfectly to bleed builds, however, they are also extremely versatile and can be used in several builds. This guide will examine the top 4 best Katana builds in Elden Ring.
It also covers everything from the best weapons and ashes of war to the best Talismans, Flask of Wondrous Physick, and more. Without wasting any more time let’s get into it.
4. Elden Ring Katana Bleed Builds
- Class: Samurai
- Flask Spread: 3 to 1 ratio of HP and FP
- Stats: Dexterity and Arcane (primary), Vigor, Mind, and Endurance (secondary)
- Weapons: Rivers of Blood Katana and Nagakiba
- Ash of War: Corpse Piler/Double Slash and Seppuku
- Incantations: Bloodflame Blade
- Spirit Summons: Dung Eater Puppet or Lone Wolf Ashes
- Armor: Black Knife Set with White Mask
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Dexterity-knot Crystal Tear and Greenburst Crystal Tear
- Talisman: Radagon’s Scarseal, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Lord of Blood’s Exultation, and Green Turtle Talisman
The Katana Bleed Build leverages the Katana weapon class’ inherent blood loss skills and combines them with several powerful Talisman and gear to make a build that excels at quickly taking off large chunks of your enemies’ health.
For this build, you’ll start with the Samurai class as it comes with several points already put into Dexterity and Arcane, our two main stats for this build. Dexterity and Arcane scale with the weapons of this build, while Vigor, Mind, and Endurance, will increase our HP, FP, and Magic bars, allowing us more leeway during combat.
The best weapons to use with this build are the Rivers of Blood Katana and Nagakiba. The former can be acquired after you defeat Bloody Finger Okina near the Church of Repose in the Mountaintops of the Giants. At the same time, the latter can be wielded once you take down Bloody Finger Hunter Yura near Murkwater cave in Limgrave. The Nagakiba will be equipped off-hand, while the Rivers of Blood Katana will be equipped in the main hand.
As far as the Ashes of War are concerned, you can either go with Corpse Piler or Double Slash for your main weapon. Both of these skills deal devastating damage and work the best on Katana’s, for your off-hand weapon, use Seppuku as it will allow you to proc blood loss much faster. Pair these skills with the Bloodflame Blade Incantation which raises your total bleed damage output.
You can go with the Dung Eater Puppet or Lone Wolf Ashes for the Spirit Summons. Both of these summons cause blood loss build up on your enemies but the Puppet is more tanky while the Lone Wolves attack from all directions.
The best armor for this build is the Black Knife Set which provides excellent all-around damage negation. Couple this with the White Mask as it increases the player’s attack power by 10% for 20 seconds after you or your enemy gains the blood loss status effect.
We recommend going with The Dexterity-Knot Crytal Tear and Greenburst Crystal Tear for the Flask of Wondrous Physick. The former increases your Dexterity, While the latter increases the rate at which your Stamina.
For your Talismans go with Radagan’s Scarseal as it increases Vigor, Endurance, Strength, and Dexterity by 3 each, and the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia which increases the power of consecutive attacks. Additionally, also use Lord of Blood’s Exultation which increases your attack power by +20% when you or your enemy experiences blood loss, and the Green Turtle Talisman which lets you increase the speed at which you recover your Stamina.
3. Elden Ring Katana Mage Faith Builds
- Class: Samurai
- Flask Spread: Equal split between HP and FP
- Stats: Intelligence and Dexterity (primary) Vigor, Mind and Endurance (secondary)
- Weapons: Moonveil Katana and Carian Glintstone Staff
- Ash of War: Transient Moonlight
- Incantations: Flame, Grant Me Strength, and Golden Vow
- Spells: Carian Phalanx, Night Comet, and Carian Greatsword
- Spirit Summons: Lhutel the Headless or Spirit Jellyfish
- Armor: Land of Reeds Set
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear and Stonebarb Cracked Tear
- Talisman: Graven-School Talisman, Graven-Mass Talisman, Shard of Alexander and Carian Filigreed Crest
The Katana Mage Build combines the swift attacks of the Katana with several Spells and Incantations to make a build that excels in nearly all situations. This is a dual-wield build that we’ll be starting with the Samurai class.
The main stats for this build are Intelligence and Dexterity along with Vigor, Mind, and Endurance. As far as the weapons are concerned, we recommend going with the Moonveil Katana, this mainly boils down to its Ash of War, which gives it the ability to deal Magic Damage on top of its standard bleed damage. The Moonveil Katana can be obtained from Gael Tunnel in Limgrave.
To use your sorceries, use the Glintstone Staff as this build primarily uses Carian sorceries. You can find the Glintstone staff in a chest in Sellia, which is in Caelid.
The only Ash of War we’ll be using for this build is Transient Moonlight which comes pre-equipped on the Moonveil Katana. This skill conjures up a blue arc of Carian magic that deals damage to your enemies. The range is significantly long allowing you to deal with your enemies from a safe distance.
For the Incantations, go with Golden Vow which increases your damage output and defense, and Flame, Grant Me Strength, this incantation raises your standard and fire damage output (the latter isn’t relevant to this build). Moving on to the spells, we’ll be using three main sorceries to round out the build; Carian Phalanx, Night Comet, and Carian Greatsword.
Carian Phalanx spawns several swords near your character. These swords then attack the enemy you’re locked on to or the enemy nearest to you. Night Comet is a homing attack that seeks out your opponents, like the Carian Phalanx, it attacks the enemy you’re locked onto or the one nearest to you. Carian Greatsword is perfect for crowd control as it spawns a wide-reaching and high-damage-dealing sword that sweeps across the entire area.
As far as the Spirit Summons are concerned, you can go with either Lhutel the Headless or Spirit Jellyfish. Lhutel the Headless is a tank that works slowly and has harder-hitting attacks and a very large health pool which makes him perfect for tanking enemy attacks while you conjure your spells. The Spirit Jellyfish tends to move around a lot more which is perfect for distraction and it inflicts the poison status effect on your enemies, giving you a slight head-up during most combat situations.
For the armor, we recommend going with the Land of Reeds set. This set can be bought from the Isolated Merchant in North Caelid or if you start as a Samurai, this will be your default armor.
Couple this armor set with the Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear and the Stonebarb Cracked Tear, Flask of Wondrous Physick Tears. The former raises the potency of all your magic attacks, making your spells and even your Ash of War for the Moonveil Katana stronger. While the latter makes it easier for you to stagger your enemies, this significantly buffs the Transient Moonlight Ash of War.
Lastly, for your Talismans, go with the Graven-School Talisman, Graven-Mass Talisman, Shard of Alexander, and Carian Filigreed Crest. The Graven-School Talisman increases the potency of all sorceries by +4%, lending you a decent damage buff. The Graven-Mass Talisman on the other hand increases damage from your sorceries by an additional +8%.
The Shard of Alexander boosts the power of your Ashes of War by +15% while The Filigreed Crest simply lowers the amount of FP used by Ashes of War by 25%, letting you spam the Transient Moonlight skill more often.
2. Elden Ring Katana Strength Builds
- Class: Samurai
- Flask Spread: HP Only
- Stats: Strength and Dexterity (primary) Vigor, Endurance, and Arcane (secondary)
- Weapons: Nagakiba (Heavy Affinity)
- Ash of War: Lion’s Claw
- Shield: Inverted Hawk Heater Shield
- Spirit Summons: Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff
- Armor: Bull-Goat Set
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Strength-Knot Crystal Tear and Stonebarb Cracked Tear
- Talisman: Great-Jar’s Arsenal, Crimson Amber Medallion, Dragoncrest Greatshield, and Pearldrake Talisman
The Katana Strength build combines the two most popular stats in Elden Ring to deliver a build that not only does staggering damage but also has the highest damage negation out of all builds in this list. The main stats for this build are Strength and Dexterity while Vigor, Endurance, and Arcane are secondary.
The main weapon for this build will be the Nagakiba with the Heavy Affinity, so that it scales with Strength in addition to Dexterity, allowing us to take the damage output much higher. Now you can either two-hand this weapon for increased damage or you can use the Inverted Hawk Heater Shield in your off-hand if you want more protection.
The Nagakiba can be acquired once you take down Bloody Finger Hunter Yura near Murkwater Cave in Limgrave while the shield is found within the Siofra River Well.
For the Nagakiba, we’ll be going with the Lion’s Claw Ash of War which lets you initiate a powerful attack that deals damage along a very wide AOE, you can couple this with Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff which is an extremely powerful summon that you can acquire once you defeat Ancient Hero of Zamor in Leyndell, the Royal Capital.
The best armor to use for this build is the Bull-Goat set which greatly enhances your poise and provides some of the best damage negation in the game.
For your Flask of Wondrous Physick equip the Strength-Knot Crystal Tear and Stonebarb Cracked Tear. The Strength-Knot Crystal Tear raises your overall strength while the Stonebarb Cracked Tear raises the rate at which you break your opponent’s poise, staggering them.
Lastly for your Talisman, we recommend Great-Jar’s Arsenal, Crimson Amber Medallion, Dragoncrest Greatshield, and Pearldrake Talisman. The Great-Jar’s Arsenal raises your overall equip capacity while the Crimson Amber Medallion gives you additional health.
The Dragoncrest Greatshield reduces all incoming physical damage and the Pearldrake Talisman reduces all incoming elemental damage.
1. Elden Ring Katana Dexterity Builds
- Class: Samurai
- Flask Spread: HP Only
- Stats: Dexterity, Arcane, and Endurance (primary) Vigor and Strength (secondary)
- Weapons: Hand of Malenia
- Ash of War: Waterfowl Dance
- Shield: Great Turtle Shell
- Spirit Summons: Mimic Tear
- Armor: Twinned Set
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Dexterity-Knot Crystal Tear and Stonebarb Cracked Tear
- Talisman: Shard of Alexander, Lord of Blood’s Exultation, Millicent’s Prosthesis, and Green Turtle Talisman
The final of the Katana builds is a pure Dexterity build in Elden Ring. Like all other builds on this list, we’ll be starting with the Samurai class. The main stats for this build are Dexterity, Arcane, and Endurance while the secondary stats are Vigor and Strength. As such the main weapon for this build will be the Hand of Malenia Katana which you can acquire once you defeat Melania and offer the Remembrance of the Rot Goddess to Enia at the Round Table Hold.
For the Ash of War, we’ll be sticking to the default Waterfowl Dance which lets you use a series of quick-hitting slashes in a circular motion, damaging anyone caught in its path. While you can two-hand this weapon to deal more damage, you can also equip the Great Turtle Shell Shield in your offhand for extra protection. Apart from offering great protection, this shield also increases your stamina recovery rate. You can find it near the ramparts in Castle Morne.
You can pair this with the Mimic Tear spirit summon, which conjures a replica of your build that fights alongside you, aiding you greatly in battle.
While you can use any armor that you like, we recommend going with the Twinned Set due to its great damage negation. For your Flask of Wondrous Physick, use the Dexterity-Knot Crystal Tear and the Stonebarb Cracked Tear.
The Dexterity-Knot Crystal Tear increases your total Dexterity, while the Stonebarb Cracked Tear raises the rate at which you break your opponent’s poise, staggering them.
Lastly, for this build’s Talisman use the Shard of Alexander, Lord of Blood’s Exultation, Millicent’s Prosthesis, and Green Turtle Talisman. Shard of Alexander boosts the attack power of your Ashes of War significantly and the Lord of Blood’s Exultation increases your attack power by +20% when you or your enemy experiences blood loss
The Green Turtle Talisman lets you increase the speed at which you recover your Stamina, while Millicent’s Prosthesis not only boosts your Dexterity but also greatly raises the attack power of your successive attacks.
