Strength is one of the easiest stats you can build your character around in Elden Ring and one of the most versatile. Given the many directions you can go in, it can be hard to make a build that truly capitalizes on the potential of the Strength stat, and this is where we come in.
In this guide, we’ll be going over two extremely different but equally as powerful strength builds for Elden Ring. The guide below covers everything from the basics, like starting class and flask spread, to the best armor and talismans.
Elden Ring Strength Arcane Build Overview
Combining Strength with Arcane gives us a build that can do devastating amounts of damage while swiftly causing blood loss. This allows us to deal damage along two parameters, which makes this build extremely powerful.
- Starting Class: Samurai
- Flask Spread: 3 to 2 ratio of HP and FP
- Stats: Strength and Arcane (primary), Vigor, Endurance, and Faith (secondary)
- Weapons: Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear and Claymore (Blood Affinity)
- Shield: Brass Shield
- Ash of War: Bloodboon Ritual and Stormcaller
- Incantations: Bestial Vitality, Bloodflame Blade and Flame, Grant Me Strength
- Spirit Summons: Lhutel the Headless or Dung Eater Puppet or Mimic Tear
- Armor: Scaled Set with White Mask
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Opaline Hardtear and Crimsonspill Crystal Tear
- Talisman: The Lord of Blood’s Exultation, Green Turtle Talisman, Radagon’s Soreseal, and Great Jar’s Arsenal
Elden Ring Strength Tank Build Overview
The Strength Tank build is all about maximizing two aspects of your build: your damage output and the amount of damage you can absorb. This build has an extremely high survivability rate and an equally as high damage output.
- Starting Class: Vagabond
- Flask Spread: HP leaning
- Stats: Strength and Endurance (primary), Vigor, Faith, and Dexterity (secondary)
- Weapons: Grafted Blade Greatsword
- Shield: Fingerprint Stone Shield
- Ash of War: Oath of Vengeance
- Incantations: Golden Vow and Black Flame Protection
- Spirit Summons: Lhutel the Headless or Dung Eater Puppet or Mimic Tear
- Armor: Bull-Goat Set
- Flask of Wondrous Physick: Leaden Hardtear and Opaline Hardtear
- Talisman: Flock’s Canvas Talisman, Great Jar’s Arsenal, Ritual Sword Talisman and Green Turtle Talisman
Best Stats Choices
Stats at level 60
| Stat | Arcane Build | Tank Build |
|---|---|---|
| Faith | 12 | 12 |
| Mind | 11 | 10 |
| Dexterity | 15 | 19 |
| Strength | 28 | 27 |
| Endurance | 19 | 23 |
| Vigor | 20 | 22 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 9 |
| Arcane | 25 | 7 |
Stats at level 100
| Stat | Arcane Build | Tank Build |
|---|---|---|
| Faith | 20 | 14 |
| Mind | 11 | 10 |
| Dexterity | 15 | 28 |
| Strength | 36 | 41 |
| Endurance | 30 | 40 |
| Vigor | 25 | 30 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 9 |
| Arcane | 33 | 7 |
Stats at level 150
| Stat | Arcane Build | Tank Build |
|---|---|---|
| Faith | 22 | 18 |
| Mind | 15 | 12 |
| Dexterity | 15 | 44 |
| Strength | 50 | 54 |
| Endurance | 38 | 50 |
| Vigor | 31 | 35 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 9 |
| Arcane | 49 | 7 |
Best Weapons for Strength Builds
We’ll use two weapons for the Strength Arcane build Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear and the Claymore with Blood Affinity. The Claymore is a great weapon that excels in nearly all situations, while it’s good as it is, applying the Blood Affinity and putting points into Arcane will allow you to proc bleed much quicker. This weapon scales with Strength and can be found in a chest inside Castle Morne.
Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear is the main weapon for the Arcane build, and it scales with both Strength and Arcane. This weapon requires considerable investment in Arcane and Strength and is great at dealing large amounts of bleed damage. It can be acquired by offering the Remembrance of the Blood Lord to Enia at the Roundtable Hold.
We’ll be sticking to one weapon for the Tank build: The Grafted Blade Greatsword. This Greatsword is one of the best heavy weapons in the game, as it deals 162 physical damage. It scales with Strength and Dexterity making this a perfect addition to this build. You can acquire this weapon by defeating Leonine Misbegotten at Castle Morne.
Best Shields
Shields work differently for both of our builds, for the Arcane build, you’ll want a shield that provides good damage negation while not sacrificing your mobility too much while for the Tank build, you’ll need something that provides the best-in-class protection without worrying too much about mobility. For this reason, use the Brass Shield for the Arcane build and the Fingerprint Stone Shield for the Tank build.
The former drops as loot from several enemies, including Godrick Soldiers, Radahn Soldiers, and Leyndell Soldiers, while the latter can be found in the Cathedral of the Forsaken behind an unlocked door once you defeat Morgott.
Best Ashes of War Picks
For the Claymore, we’ll use the Stormcaller Ash of War. This skill lets you unleash a flurry of quick strikes, which work in tandem with the Claymore’s base damage and allow you to proc blood loss extremely fast.
As far as Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear is concerned, we’ll be sticking to its default Ash of War; Bloodboon Ritual. This skill allows you to unleash a storm of damage on your enemies that causes blood loss build-up and deals a significant amount of standard damage.
Finally, for the Grafted Blade Greatsword, we’ll be sticking to its default Ash of War. The Oath of Vengeance increases all your base attributes by +5 for one minute and grants you super armor for five seconds.
Best Incantations
Both Strength builds make use of Incantations. Below, you’ll find which ones you should be using with each build:
Strength Arcane Build
- Bestial Vitality: This incantation heals you over some time.
- Bloodflame Blade: This Incantation enchants your main weapon with Bloodflame which not only buffs the total damage output but also increases the rate at which blood loss procs. It is important to note that this Incantation is only for the Claymore as the Spear’s Ash of War works similarly to it.
- Flame, Grant Me Strength: This incantation increases your physical and fire damage by +20% and increases the rate at which stamina regenerates by +5% per second.
Strength Tank Build
- Golden Vow: This incantation increases all your damage output by +15% and your damage negation by +10%.
- Black Flame’s Protection: Black Flame’s Protection increases damage negation by a sizeable +35%. However, this comes at the cost of reduced healing.
Best Spirit Summons Picks
Below, we’ve picked out three Spirit Summons that work for the Tank and Arcane build. Both the Dung Eater Puppet and Lhutel the Headless are extremely tanky summons, which makes them perfect for the Tank build, and they also cause blood loss, which allows them to fit right into the Arcane build. The Mimic Tear is good for just about any build-in Elden Ring.
- Dung Eater Puppet: The Dung Eater Puppet is a tanky single-unit summon that deals bleed damage to enemies. His large health pool makes him a worthy addition to your arsenal.
- Lhutel the Headless: Lhutel the Headless is a tank that works slowly, with harder-hitting attacks and a huge health pool that makes him perfect for tanking enemy attacks while you work to chip away at your enemies’ health.
- Mimic Tear: The Mimic Tear summons a replica of your build that fights alongside you. With this Spirit Summon, you’ll essentially have twice the damage output.
Best Armor Choices For Elden Ring Strength Builds
For the Tank build, you’ll want armor with high poise and good damage negation, which will prevent you from getting staggered. For this reason, we recommend the Bull Goat Set. This set can be acquired after you defeat Great Horned Tragoth.
On the other hand, we’ll go with the Scaled Set along with the White Mask for the Arcane build. The Scaled Set provides some of the best damage negation in the game, and the White Mask increases your attack power by +10% for 20 seconds whenever you or an enemy faces blood loss.
The White Mask can be acquired as loot from the Nameless White Mask enemies near the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum area. While the Scaled Set can be acquired once you defeat Old Knight Istvan.
| Stats | Bull Goat Set | Scaled Set |
|---|---|---|
| Damage Negation | ||
| Physical | 38.5 | 31 |
| Physical (Strike) | 38.2 | 27.3 |
| Physical (Slash) | 34.9 | 32.3 |
| Physical (Pierce) | 34.9 | 31 |
| Magic | 26.1 | 26.5 |
| Fire | 26.5 | 27.6 |
| Lightning | 28.9 | 25.6 |
| Holy | 25.3 | 26.5 |
| Resistance | ||
| Immunity | 170 | 125 |
| Robustness | 197 | 197 |
| Focus | 110 | 91 |
| Vitality | 130 | 91 |
| Poise | 99.99 | 71 |
Best Flask of Wondrous Physick for Elden Ring Strength Builds
The Flask of Wondrous Physick allows you to use two temporary buffs in a single-use Flask. For the Strength builds, we recommend the following:
Strength Arcane Build
- Opaline Hardtear: This Tear boosts your damage negation by +15%
- Crimsonspill Crystal Tear: The Crimsonspill Crytal Tear Increases your maximum GP by +10%
Strength Tank Build
- Leaden Hardtear: The Leaden Hardtear increases your maximum poise
- Opaline Hardtear: This Tear boosts your damage negation by +15%
Best Talismans for Strength Builds
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 Strength builds, these are the best Talisman:
Strength Arcane Build:
- Lord of Blood’s Exultation: Lord of Blood’s Exultation increases your attack power by +20% whenever blood loss occurs in the area.
- Green Turtle Talisman: This Talisman increases your stamina recovery rate.
- Radagon’s Soreseal: Radagon’s Soreseal increases your Vigor, Endurance, Strength, and Dexterity by +5 each. However, you take +15% more damage.
- Great Jar’s Arsenal: This Talisman increases your total carrying capacity.
Strength Tank Build:
- Flock’s Canvas Talisman: The Flock’s Canvas Talisman increases the effectiveness of incantations by +8%.
- Great Jar’s Arsenal: This Talisman increases your total carrying capacity.
- Ritual Sword Talisman: The Ritual Sword Talisman increases your attack power by +10% when you’re fully healthy.
- Green Turtle Talisman: This Talisman increases your stamina recovery rate.
