Dexterity and Arcane builds in Elden Ring are mainly centered around Blood Loss and quick successive attacks. If you decide to go this route, you’ll have plenty of weapons to pick from but building the strongest build can be a little tricky.
In this guide, we’ll explore two Dexterity/Arcane builds in Elden Ring, each unique and powerful in its own right. The builds below everything from the basics like stats and starting classes to more complicated mechanics like Talismans and Ashes of War.
Elden Ring Dex/Arcane Assassin Build Overview
The Assassin Build is built around quick and successive attacks. It leverages the excellent Arcane and Dexterity scaling of the Bloodstained Daggers and their blood loss capabilities to deal massive amounts of damage in a relatively short period. This build also uses stealth, which lets you get the upper hand on your opponents.
- Class: Bandit
- Flask Spread: HP only
- Stats: Dexterity and Arcane (primary) Endurance and Vigor (secondary)
- Weapons: Bloodstained Dagger x2
- Ash of War: Assassin’s Gambit and Blood Tax
- Spirit Summons: Mimic Tear or Lhutel the Headless
- Armor: Black Knife Set with White Mask
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Thorny Cracked Tear and Greenspill Crystal Tear
- Talisman: Green Turtle Talisman, Godskin Swaddling Cloth, Shard of Alexander and Dagger Talisman
Elden Ring Dex/Arcane Flaming Bleed Build
The Dex/Arcane Flaming Bleed Build leverages the fast-hitting attacks of Eleonora’s Poleblade and its inherent blood and flame damage to deliver one of the strongest builds in the game. Given the sheer speed of this weapon’s Ash of War, your damage output will be significantly higher than the other build we’ve discussed above.
- Class: Samurai
- Flask Spread: 3 to 1 ratio of HP and FP
- Stats: Dexterity and Arcane (primary) Endurance, Vigor and Faith (secondary)
- Weapons: Eleonora’s Poleblade
- Ash of War: Bloodblade Dance
- Incantations: Flame Grant Me Strength and Bloodflame Blade
- Spirit Summons: Lone Wolf Ashes or Bloodhound Knight Floh
- Armor: Black Knife Set with White Mask
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Flame Shrouding Cracked Tear and Thorny Cracked Tear
- Talisman: Shard of Alexander, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Fire Scorpion Charm, and Lord of Blood’s Exultation
Best Stats Choices
Stats at level 60
| Stat | Assassin Build | Flaming Bleed Build |
|---|---|---|
| Faith | 8 | 15 |
| Mind | 11 | 9 |
| Dexterity | 28 | 30 |
| Strength | 9 | 16 |
| Endurance | 24 | 18 |
| Vigor | 22 | 19 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 7 |
| Arcane | 28 | 25 |
Stats at level 100
| Stat | Assassin Build | Flaming Bleed Build |
|---|---|---|
| Faith | 8 | 22 |
| Mind | 11 | 9 |
| Dexterity | 43 | 39 |
| Strength | 9 | 16 |
| Endurance | 30 | 30 |
| Vigor | 27 | 22 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 7 |
| Arcane | 42 | 34 |
Stats at level 150
| Stat | Assassin Build | Flaming Bleed Build |
|---|---|---|
| Faith | 8 | 29 |
| Mind | 11 | 9 |
| Dexterity | 59 | 56 |
| Strength | 9 | 16 |
| Endurance | 39 | 32 |
| Vigor | 40 | 27 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 7 |
| Arcane | 54 | 53 |
Best Weapons for Dex/Arcane Builds
For the Assassin build, we’ll be dual-wielding the Bloodstained Dagger. This weapon scales with Dexterity and Arcane, making it the perfect vessel for this build. Like all Daggers, the Bloodstained Daggers move extremely fast and inflict blood loss damage.
You can acquire this weapon by killing Demi-Human chiefs around Limgrave. You can acquire several of these daggers in a single playthrough, making this a viable build if this is your first time playing Elden Ring.
We’ll use Eleonora’s Poleblade for the Flaming Bleed Build, which deals fire and bleed damage, making it a formidable weapon against any enemy. The Poleblade also moves extremely fast and has a relatively large AOE, which protects you when you’re in the middle of an attack and ensures you’re dealing damage from every angle.
Once you defeat Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger, you can acquire this weapon at the Second Church of Marika in the Altus Plateau.
Best Ashes of War Picks
Our daggers for the Assassin build will have different Ashes of War. On the primary Bloodstained Dagger use Blood Tax, this Ash of War unleashes a flurry of quick jabs that produce blood loss and quickly drain out a significant amount of damage. On the off-hand dagger, use Assassin’s Gambit. This Ash of War does not have any direct combat implications. Still, it significantly lowers the volume of your footsteps, letting you sneak around enemies and get the jump on them very easily.
As far as the Flaming Bleed Build is concerned, we’ll be sticking with its default Ash of War, Bloodblade Dance, which lets out a series of hard-hitting slashing attacks. The main advantage of this skill is its ability to easily stagger most enemies – even some large bosses. Coupling this with the weapons of blood and fire damage, you’ll have a combo that will melt almost every enemy.
Best Incantations
Incantations are only relevant for the Flaming Bleed Build. Our main goal with these incantations is to raise the blood and fire damage output, for which purpose we’ll use the following:
- Flame Grant Me Strength: This Incantation raises both your standard damage output and flame-based attacks by +20%
- Bloodflame Blade: Bloodflame Blade imbues your blade with the bloodflame that increases fire damage output and the rate at which blood loss procs.
Best Spirit Summons Picks
You’ll want a Spirit Summon that works well for the Assassin Build to distract your enemies. You’ll spend most of your time engaging your enemies up close, and having them target someone other than yourself will prove very useful. For this reason, we recommend:
- Lhutel the Headless: 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 slash the enemies with your daggers
- Spirit Jellyfish: 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.
On the other hand, for the Flaming Bleed Build, you’ll want Spirit Summons that increase your damage output by not necessarily taking the heat away from you but by laying down massive amounts of damage. For this build, go with either of the following:
- Lone Wolf Ashes: Lone Wolf Ashes summons three wolves that swarm your enemies from every side. Each wolf’s health is fairly low but inflicts blood loss damage quickly.
- Bloodhound Knight Floh: Bloodhound Knight Flo halos inflict bleed damage but hit much harder than the wolves. Overall, this summon synergizes better with Eleonora’s Poleblade.
Best Armor for Elden Ring Dex/Arcane Builds
It doesn’t matter which armor set you equip for either of the builds because none of them rely on tanking damage. For the Assassin build, you’ll be gaining the jump on your enemies through the Assassin’s Gambit Ash of War, while for the Flaming Bleed Build, you’ll be moving so fast due to how the weapon works that you won’t need to worry about damage.
You can go with any armor set, but we recommend the Black Knife Set, along with the White Mask as it increases the player’s attack power by 10% for 20 seconds after you or your enemy gains the bloodloss status effect.
| Stats | Value |
|---|---|
| Damage Negation | |
| Physical | 22.5 |
| Physical (Strike) | 21.6 |
| Physical (Slash) | 24.4 |
| Physical (Pierce) | 24.4 |
| Magic | 17.5 |
| Fire | 18.9 |
| Lightning | 13.5 |
| Holy | 22.5 |
| Resistance | |
| Immunity | 65 |
| Robustness | 108 |
| Focus | 54 |
| Vitality | 54 |
| Poise | 40 |
Best Flask of Wondrous Physick Choice
The Flask of Wondrous Physick allows you to use two temporary buffs in a single-use Flask. For the Dex/Arcane builds, we recommend the following:
Assassin Build
- Thorny Cracked Tear: The Thorny Cracked Tear increases the power of successive attacks after every strike.
- Greenspill Crystal Tear: This Tear increases your maximum Stamina.
Flaming Bleed Build
- Flame Shrouding Cracked Tear: This Tear increases the power of flame-based attacks.
- Thorny Cracked Tear: The Thorny Cracked Tear increases the power of successive attacks after every strike.
Best Talismans Picks
Talisman allows you to buff your builds in several ways. There are a total of four Talisman slots that you can unlock and use. For the Dex/Arcane builds, these are the best Talisman in Elden Ring:
Assassin Build
- Green Turtle Talisman: The Green Turtle Talisman increases the rate at which you recover your stamina.
- Godskin Swaddling Cloth: With this Talisman, you can restore 30% of your HP with each successive attack.
- Shard of Alexander: This Talisman boosts the power of your Ashes of War by +15%.
- Dagger Talisman: The Dagger Talisman increases critical damage by +17%.
Flaming Bleed Build
- Shard of Alexander: This Talisman boosts the power of your Ashes of War by +15%.
- Rotten Winged Sword Insignia: This Talisman increases the power of consecutive attacks, letting you deal more damage the more you attack a single target.
- Fire Scorpion Charm: Increases the damage of fire attacks by +12%
- Lord of Blood’s Exultation: Lord of Blood’s Exultation increases your attack power by +20% when you or your enemy experiences blood loss.
