Poison is one of the many status effects in Elden Ring you can build your character around. Poison builds up over time and slowly deals damage until your enemy’s health bar chips away completely. While it isn’t the most popular choice for builds, when built right, it can be an absolute powerhouse.
In this guide, we will look at two distinct but equally powerful Poison builds in Elden Ring. The guide below covers everything from flask spread and stats to Armor, Talismans, and more. Without wasting any more time, let’s get into it.
Elden Ring Poison Bleed Build Overview
The Poison Bleed Build leverages another strong status effect in Elden Ring; bleed, to deliver massive bouts of damage. This build uses two curved swords with each status effect applied on one. Because of the unique way damage manifests in poison and bleed, you’ll be constantly chipping away at your enemy’s health bar with massive chunks being taken off as soon as bleed procs.
- Class: Samurai
- Flask Spread: 3 to 1 ratio of HP and FP
- Stats: Strength, Dexterity and Vigor (Primary) Mind and Endurance (secondary)
- Weapons: Scavenger’s Curved Sword and Bandit’s Curved Sword
- Ash of War: Poisonous Mist and Seppuku
- Spirit Summons: Spirit Jellyfish or Lone Wolf Ashes
- Armor: Scaled Set with White Mask
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Opaline Hardtear and Thorny Cracked Tear
- Talisman: Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Millicent’s Prosthesis, Kindred of Rot’s Exultation, and Lord of Blood’s Exultation.
Elden Ring Pure Poison Build Overview
The Pure Poison build on the other hand only makes use of poison. You won’t get the same amount of damage as when bleeding procs, but you’ll still be a powerhouse due to the Poison status effect’s inherent damage output.
- Class: Prisoner
- Flask Spread: 3 to 1 ratio of HP and FP
- Stats: Dexterity and Arcane (primary) Vigor and Endurance (secondary)
- Weapons: Noble Slender Swords x2
- Ash of War: Poison Moth
- Spirit Summons: Spirit Jellyfish or Mimic Tear
- Armor: Raptors Set with Mushroom Crown
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Thorny Cracked Tear and Greenburst Crystal Tear
- Talisman: Shard of Alexander, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Millicent’s Prosthesis, and Kindred of Rot’s Exultation
Best Stats Choices
Stats at level 60
| Stat | Poison Bleed Build | Pure Poison Build |
|---|---|---|
| Faith | 8 | 6 |
| Mind | 14 | 12 |
| Dexterity | 34 | 25 |
| Strength | 31 | 11 |
| Endurance | 17 | 25 |
| Vigor | 18 | 22 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 14 |
| Arcane | 8 | 24 |
Stats at level 100
| Stat | Poison Bleed Build | Pure Poison Build |
|---|---|---|
| Faith | 8 | 6 |
| Mind | 19 | 12 |
| Dexterity | 44 | 35 |
| Strength | 43 | 11 |
| Endurance | 23 | 34 |
| Vigor | 25 | 32 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 14 |
| Arcane | 8 | 35 |
Stats at level 150
| Stat | Poison Bleed Build | Pure Poison Build |
|---|---|---|
| Faith | 8 | 6 |
| Mind | 19 | 12 |
| Dexterity | 56 | 54 |
| Strength | 56 | 11 |
| Endurance | 40 | 41 |
| Vigor | 33 | 38 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 14 |
| Arcane | 8 | 53 |
Best Weapons for Poison Builds
Both these builds use dual wield stances, ensuring quick status effect build-up. For the Poison Bleed Build, we’ll go with the Scavenger’s Curved Sword and Bandit’s Curved Sword. These weapons have inherent blood loss capabilities, perfectly aligning with what we’re trying to achieve. Additionally, both weapons scale with Strength and Dexterity.
The Scavenger’s Curved Sword can be found in Mount Gelmir, on a corpse near the first Site of Grace of the area. On the other hand, the Bandit’s Curved Sword can be found abundantly in Limgrave and the Atlus Plateau and is dropped by Skeletal Bandits. You must apply the Bleed Affinity to the Bandit’s Curved Sword and the Poison Affinity to the Scavenger’s Curved Sword.
We’ll be dual-wielding two Noble Slender Swords with poison affinities on both blades for the Pure Poison Build. This makes it so that the weapons scale with Arcane instead of Strength. You can commonly find these weapons by killing Wandering Nobles in Raya Lucaria Academy. However, you may need to kill several of them to acquire two.
Best Ashes of War Picks
For the Poison Bleed Build, you’ll wield the Scavenger’s Poisoned Curved Sword as your main weapon with the Poisonous Mist Ash of War. This skill unleashes a cloud of Poison that quickly builds up poison and increases your poison damage output.
On your off-hand weapon, The Bandit’s Bloody Curved Sword, you’ll apply Seppuku. This Skill allows you to plunge your weapon into your chest to increase bleed damage output and proc rate. The way to use these skills in tandem is to first hand the Bandit’s Curved Sword and use Seppuku, then dual wield both weapons and Poisonous Mist.
Both Noble Slender Swords will use the Poison Moth Ash of War. This skill lets you deal with a swift poison slash attack that can quickly build up Poison. The damage output is almost unbeatable when used on both blades with the Poison affinity.
Best Spirit Summons Picks
Regarding the Poison Bleed Build, you’ll want to use a Spirit Summon that either inflicts Bleed or Poison. For this reason, we recommend going with the Spirit Jellyfish or the Lone Wolf Ashes.
- Spirit Jellyfish: The Spirit Jellyfish is the best choice for a Poison-specific build, as it is the only summon in the game that deals poison damage. Since it fires poison projectiles, you’ll quickly proc poison when up against a tough enemy.
- Lone Wolf Ashes: The Lone Wolf Ashes is better if you want to deal more bleed damage. This spirit summon lets you conjure up three wolves that constantly attack your targets, proccing blood loss in the process.
For the Pure Poison Build, we’ll once again use the Spirit Jellyfish due to its inherent poison abilities; however, you can also use the Mimic Tear.
- Spirit Jellyfish: Same as before, the Spirit Jellyfish will quickly let you proc Poison due to its poison projectiles.
- Mimic Tear: The Mimic Tear summons a replica of your build that fights alongside you, If the Mimic happens to work just right, you’ll be dealing double the damage and proccing poison twice as quickly.
Best Armor Choices
For the Poison Bleed Build, we recommend using the Scaled Set and the White Mask. This armor provides good protection while letting you maintain your speed and swiftness. The White Mask is a pivotal part of this setup as it increases the player’s attack power by 10% for 20 seconds after you or your enemy gains the blood loss status effect.
For the Pure Poison build, go with the Raptor Set, mainly due to the armor’s ability to grant you +10% damage to jump attacks, which pairs nicely with our dual-wield weapon setup. This armor set should be paired with the Mushroom Crown to maximize your damage output, as it allows you to deal +10% increased damage for 20 seconds after you or your enemy gains the blood loss status effect.
| Stats | Scaled Set | Raptor Set |
|---|---|---|
| Damage Negation | ||
| Physical | 31 | 15.1 |
| Physical (Strike) | 27.3 | 16.6 |
| Physical (Slash) | 32.3 | 18.1 |
| Physical (Pierce) | 31 | 18.1 |
| Magic | 26.5 | 19.4 |
| Fire | 27.5 | 19.4 |
| Lightning | 25.6 | 20.7 |
| Holy | 26.5 | 18.1 |
| Resistance | ||
| Immunity | 135 | 129 |
| Robustness | 197 | 77 |
| Focus | 91 | 136 |
| Vitality | 91 | 136 |
| Poise | 71 | 29 |
Best Flask of Wondrous Physick for Poison Builds
The Flask of Wondrous Physick allows you to use two temporary buffs in a single-use Flask. For the Poison builds, we recommend the following:
Poison Bleed Build
- Opaline Hardtear: The Opaline Hardtear reduces all incoming physical damage by +15% for three minutes.
- Thorny Cracked Tear: This Tear increases damage with each successive attack for three minutes.
Pure Poison Build
- Thorny Cracked Tear: This Tear increases damage with each successive attack for three minutes.
- Greenburst Crystal Tear: The Greenburst Crystal Tear increases the rate at which your stamina recovers.
Best Talismans
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 Poison builds, these are the best Talismans:
Poison Bleed Build
- Rotten Winged Sword Insignia: The Rotten Winged Insignia increases your attack power with each successive attack.
- Millicent’s Prosthesis: This Talisman also increases attack power with each successive attack while also boosting your Dexterity by +5.
- Kindred of Rot’s Exultation: Kindred’s of Rot Exultation increases your attack power by +20% for 20 seconds when Poison either you or your enemy experiences Poisoning or Scarlet Rot.
- Lord of Blood’s Exultation: This Talisman increases your attack power by +20% for 20 seconds when Poison either you or your enemy experiences Blood Loss.
Pure Poison Build
- Shard of Alexander: The Shard of Alexander increases the attack power of all skills by +15%.
- Rotten Winged Sword Insignia: The Rotten Winged Insignia increases your attack power with each successive attack.
- Millicent’s Prosthesis: This Talisman also increases attack power with each successive attack while also boosting your Dexterity by +5.
- Kindred of Rot’s Exultation: Kindred’s of Rot Exultation increases your attack power by +20% for 20 seconds when Poison either you or your enemy experiences Poisoning or Scarlet Rot.
