Elden Ring: No Real Rivers
Posted: Feb 09, 2023 Views: 2288
When we go out of the house, we can go anywhere and walk there for a while. And most of us have probably encountered flowing waters like streams, brooks and rivers. But if we try to do the same in Elden Ring, you'll notice something different. Although we often see water there, we rarely see rivers. What's even more surprising is that it took me nearly a year to discover this.
On the Elden Ring subreddit, user Economics_Various made a post about how many swamps, lakes, and ponds you can find in Lands Between. "However, there's no real sense of streams, reed beds, rivers and idyllic riverbanks." When you look at it carefully, these continental watersheds don't really work. Also, the water in these lakes and ponds has nowhere to go. Logically, these waters should either floor or dry up, depending on the weather conditions. But, they just sit there quietly, looking so perfect and unreal.

For this, some readers and many Redditors may ask, "Siofra River and Ainsel River are not rivers?" In fact, neither of these rivers is really a river, even though they have "river" in their names. Judging from the distance to Siofra River, its water pours down from above. Because this is not really a horizontal flow, Siofra River is more like a wetland. And most of the water in Ainsel River flows through waterfalls between giant ant hives, so it's not really a river either.
In Elden Ring, some areas have zero water, such as Caelid, Altus Plateau and Volcano areas. There is a "river" between Weeping Peninsula and Limgrave. In fact, it is an ocean and separates these two continents. There is also a huge knee-high lake called Raya Lucaria. I guess, in Mountaintop of the Giants, there may be a river connecting Consecrated Snowfield and Freezing Lake. However, the river did not flow because it was frozen over. Maybe there will be water down there, but if it can go somewhere else, the ice in the lake will collapse, so it can't go anywhere.
For Limgrave, I think there might be a river somewhere that connects Agheel Lake to the the area of sea. And the area of sea is just south of the Divine Tower of Limgrave. But, at Murkwater Catacombs, there is a huge cliff that divides that river. In addition, from the surface of this area, it looks more like a fjord, with water all settling at the bottom, rather than being formed by a river. So, I think Lands Between may have had huge glaciers previously, or maybe the continents were once torn apart by a powerful force.
Below the same post, some fans suggested that the lack of a river meant Lands Between had been stuck in place. Other fans felt that animation was too difficult for FromSoftware. All in all, in Elden Ring, there are no rivers.
If you still want to know the latest news about Elden Ring, keep following iggm.com.
Note: everyone can also use the code "CSCCA" to get 5% off when you get Elden Ring Runes or Items here.
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Elden Ring Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows DLC Overview | All New Nightfarers, Bosses, Invasions, Shifting Earth & Features Explained
As is widely known, The Forsaken Hollows DLC will be released on December 4th for Elden Ring Nightreign, available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
As the first official DLC for Elden Ring: Nightreign, Forsaken Hollows offers much more than initially revealed by the developers. It includes two brand-new Nightfarers, Expedition Bosses (often referred to as Night Lords), Shifting Earth modifiers, and other new content, bringing a wealth of new, controllable changes to the ever-evolving action RPG world.
Here, we've summarized all the noteworthy information about this DLC to help you prepare and gain a greater advantage when you start playing!

DLC Pricing
Before we get to the main point, it's important to note that The Forsaken Hollows DLC is a paid expansion, priced at $15, available on platforms like Xbox and Steam. However, players who already own Elden Ring Nightreign Deluxe and Collector's Editions will receive the DLC for free.
So, if you don't want to waste your money, you can use this guide to get a general understanding of the expansion before making a decision!
New Bosses
In The Forsaken Hollows, the new Expedition end boss appears to no longer be called Night Lords, but rather Abominations. Nightreign website mentions that these two new bosses are Balancers and Dreglord.
Balancers
The developers haven't released more information about these two bosses. However, logically, given that Balancers is plural, we speculate that this isn't the official boss name, but rather the name of the Expedition.
Spoiler Alert! Through some early leaks, we know that you might face multiple bosses simultaneously in this battle. They will use some area-of-effect attacks, but their main purpose is to overwhelm you with sheer numbers. In the second phase, they will merge back into a single final Balancer. For this boss, you'll need to fight it in a more conventional way.
Dreglord
Furthermore, Dreglord's trailer is more ambiguous; he appears to be a gigantic dragonborn warrior wielding some kind of giant mace-like weapon in his right hand. The boss arena also seems to be filled with traps. We can imagine that the battle against this guy will be an absolutely spectacular visual feast.
Other Bosses
In addition, several other bosses have been confirmed to appear:
- Demon Prince, Demon in Pain, and Demon from Below from Dark Souls III: The Ringed City DLC will return as enemies in the first night's boss pool.
- Artorias from the original Dark Souls DLC will return as enemies in the second night's boss pool.
- Divine Beast Dancing Lion from Shadow of the Erdtree, along with the Curseblade and Divine Beast Warrior combination, will appear as night bosses.
- Mohg, Lord of Blood from Elden Ring will also appear as a night boss.
Invasions
Regarding boss battles, since these are essentially additional boss fights, at least two new Invasions have been added - the red circle events that appear during gameplay.
We've currently confirmed Gladius Invasion, where players must fight one of three sword-wielding dogs; and Caligo Invasion, where he unleashes frost miasma across much of the map until the player finds and defeats him.
New Points of Interest
In addition, The Forsaken Hollows DLC adds several new points of interest, essentially new activity types: Swamps and Forges.
Swamps are a classic element of Souls series, and this update introduces various new types, including Sleep Swamp, Poison Swamp, Madness Swamp, and Scarlet Rot Swamp.
These swamps feel more like early-game activities than things you should be doing right from the start of your adventure, around level four or five. You might consider exploring them.
Another major new point of interest type is Forges. These are typically small villages or towns with a forging table, allowing you to transfer Ashes of War to your owned weapons that have customizable Ashes of War. If you're lucky, you might get some really useful items, which could definitely get you some kind of weapon upgrade.
However, these forges are usually guarded by enemies, so you must clear them to unlock the forging table. If you don't have enough power to deal with them in the early stages of the game, you can also buy Elden Ring Nightreign boosting service from IGGM to help you complete everything. You just need to enjoy the results and rewards!
Shifting Earth
Next, we should talk about the brand-new Shifting Earth - Great Hollow. This is a very important event, but we currently know very little about it.
Previous Shifting Earths basically occupied a corner of the map, or, like a crater, occupied the top center of the map. Great Hollow completely changes this area of the map, thus changing the way you interact with it.
Unfortunately, we can only learn about Great Hollow from the trailers at present. Information about Hollow. It's worth emphasizing that this feels like a completely new map; its area of effect appears enormous, making the game more vertical rather than large, flat areas. Players can continuously descend to lower levels or jump to new areas.
New Relic Effect
In addition, the Forsaken Hollows DLC introduces new relic effects that can alter starting spells. This means that Nightfarers who begin their adventures with spell-casting tools can now obtain different spells from relics. Similar to the relic effect that changes the starting weapon, Ashes of War, this applies to spellcasters.
Currently known relic effects are all related to Nightfarers, especially the new characters.
New Nightfarers
Finally, we've arrived at the highlight of this DLC: two brand-new Nightfarers - Scholar and Undertaker. Let's take a look at what we know so far.

Scholar
The Scholar is a somewhat unique character. His main characteristic is using items and combining them with his abilities to assist other players.
His passive ability is called Bagcraft. Compared to other Nightfarers, Scholar can carry twice the number of consumables per inventory slot.
Furthermore, he can upgrade items. However, the upgrade system is grouped; for example, using any potion will increase the overall level of all potion-type items; the same applies to bullets, which will increase the level of all dart-type items. Second-tier versions of all items improve their inherent attributes, while third-tier versions add additional effects.
Scholar's ability is called Analyze. Pressing the activation button enters a stage where all enemies or allies within a circle in the player's field of vision will begin accumulating an energy bar. The fuller the energy bar, the stronger the effect. You can cancel early for a weaker effect, but ideally, you'll want the energy bar to be full.
The energy bar's charge level depends primarily on two key points. If the skill is released immediately after activation, it starts as a level 1 skill; once the energy bar is 50% full, it becomes a level 2 charged version; and once the energy bar is fully full, it becomes a level 3 charged version. Furthermore, the closer you are to the enemy, the faster the charge speed.
Additionally, Scholar's ultimate skill, Communion, links all nearby enemies, allowing them to share damage when attacked. While not completely sharing damage, it appears to distribute around 20%, which is still quite powerful in multi-target combat.
Of course, if you prefer to use Scholar's Ultimate Arts for a relentless offensive, you can also have him fight solo, but this will limit your access to some other options in his skill set.
Undertaker
Next is another new character: Undertaker, who is expected to quickly become a favorite among most players.
Undertaker's skill is called Trance. When activated, it grants a buff that lasts approximately 10 seconds. During this time, your dodge roll becomes a dash, increasing your dash distance and seemingly granting a slight movement speed boost. This allows you to maintain extremely high speed in combat without worrying about the stamina drain associated with dashes.
Simultaneously, your Poise is increased, providing better protection against enemy attacks. Additionally, you appear to receive a small damage boost, which further increases after completing a light attack combo.
However, it's important to reiterate that the full buff only lasts 10 seconds. Furthermore, triggering the full buff can be difficult in many situations.
The Undertaker's ultimate ability is Loathsome Hex. If used during Trance activation, it grants additional buffs for the remaining duration, including an overall attack power increase and further movement speed enhancement.
As for the Loathsome Hex itself, she pulls a bone from her body and lunges forward to launch a thrust attack, piercing through the entire boss. Its attack range is very wide and seems to have a good turning radius. Therefore, unless you are completely out of its range, it's difficult to miss a locked-on enemy.
Considering its hit rate, it's arguably the strongest pure damage ultimate ability in Nightreign to date.
That's all we know for now regarding Elden Ring: Nightreign The Forsaken Hollows update. Are you ready for this new DLC? See you next time!
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Elden Ring Best Weapons For PvE | Top Overpowered Weapons In Base Game And Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC
As the largest Souls-like game currently available, Elden Ring boasts an enormous arsenal of weapons. However, many of them can be considered mere "toys"—their weapon arts may be flashy, but their damage can be lower than a standard attack from another weapon.
With the release of Shadow of the Erdtree, some incredibly overpowered weapons have emerged, capable of making the game feel like easy mode. So, which weapons can truly revolutionize your PvE experience?

Commonly Used Top Weapons
- Dark Moon Great Sword
- Blasphemous Blade
- Moonveil Katana
- Executioner's Sword
These Elden Ring items have been proven by numerous players to be extremely powerful. They deal high damage or can easily knock enemies off balance and down. If they suit your character's attributes, you can use them to complete the game.
However, one more weapon deserves special mention: Sacred Relic Sword. This sword is obtained by defeating the main game's final boss and exchanging it for the sword. Its weapon art has a large range, extremely long distance, and deals very high damage.
Besides allowing you to farm Elden Ring Runes in Mohgwyn Dynasty, it becomes exceptionally useful after entering the DLC, and you can try using its Weapon Art to attack Ghostflame Dragon from a distance.
Moghwyn's Sacred Spear
Moghwyn's Sacred Spear is a classic, easy-to-play weapon. It's well-designed and incredibly powerful. Its main damage comes from its Weapon Art, which inflicts three instances of blood loss and has a chance to instantly unbalance enemies.
Furthermore, its Weapon Art deals AoE damage, allowing you to kill enemies even through walls. Even after all the updates and patches, it remains a top-tier weapon. It's a weapon obtainable only through complex side quests, a perfect example of a powerful weapon.
Rivers Of Blood And Eleonora's Poleblade
Both of these weapons inflict accumulated blood loss on opponents, and as you know, blood loss is the most powerful status ailment in Elden Ring.
Eleonora's Poleblade is better against humanoid enemies with low poise, allowing you to apply a Stagger Lock. Rivers of Blood is better against large enemies; simply spamming Weapon Art from a distance can easily defeat most bosses, provided you have enough FP.
Bloodfiend's Arm
Bloodfiend's Arm was incredibly overpowered when the DLC was first released, and although it has been nerfed, it's still a monster. Its unique charged heavy attack splashes twice, allowing for double stacking of status effects like poison and frost. Even without considering status effects, its charged heavy attack excels at breaking stances.
Backhand Blades
Backhand Blades are one of the strongest DLC weapons. Lightweight and highly versatile, they are agile and fluid to use, and suitable for almost any build. Whether it's dexterity blood loss, flame art infusion, or cold affinity triggering frost, it's a viable side weapon choice.
Fire Knight's Great Sword
Also from DLC, Fire Knight's Great Sword features unique light attacks and a charged, heavy attack. Its Flame Art infusion provides the highest damage boost, making it one of the strongest Pyro and Faith weapons. Any enemy prone to Bleed or Stagger is easily defeated.
Nagakiba
Nagakiba is considered the true king of katanas. It boasts an extremely long attack range and can be paired with many builds. Simply enchant it with Lightning or Bloodflame Blade, then use its Weapon Art to return Spinning Strikes, and you can easily complete the entire game.
Antspur Rapier
Antspur Rapier excels at rapidly applying status effects and can apply Scarlet Rot. Combined with the blood loss effect, these two negative effects quickly reduce enemy health. Its power stance move set, especially the second rapid three-hit combo, can trigger status effects extremely quickly.
Great Stars
Great Stars is one of the best weapons in its class. Besides its built-in blood loss effect, it restores 1% health with each hit. It synergizes perfectly with various Ash of War builds, such as Wild Strikes, Stormaller, and Savage Lion's Claw, and becomes even more devastating after being enchanted with Bloodflame Blade.
Star Fist
Star Fist's charged heavy attack is incredibly powerful, easily knocking down enemies. Its light attack move set excels at successful hits and quickly triggers Blood Loss. It combines rapid bleed attacks with powerful heavy bombs, excelling in both aspects. Its only drawback is the relatively short attack range of the gauntlets.
Pota
Pota, as a gauntlet weapon, is a severely underrated secret weapon. Its power is almost equivalent to Star Fist, but its attack range is closer to a throwing sword, breaking the balance of short range common to gauntlet weapons. It is extremely powerful in both PvP and PvE.
Bloody Helice
Bloody Helice is the longest thrusting sword and a quintessential Arcane build. Its weapon art is both vicious and elegant, allowing for a quick return to safety after an attack. While perhaps less effective in cities, it's highly effective against bosses. Its combat art, along with the DLC weapon Obsidian Scythe, inflicts a total of 55 stance damage, making it very effective against breaking stances.
These are some of the most powerful weapons currently available in PvE, but the order is not ranked. Which weapon you choose depends on your preferred playstyle and your character's attributes.
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Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition On Switch 2 Delayed | Here's Why Players Support The Decision
As a wildly popular game that sparked countless discussions among players, Elden Ring offers a rich and open-world adventure. Players can experience a robust adventure mechanic, challenging gameplay, and a remarkably engaging setting and visual presentation.
This is why so many players dedicate their time and effort to exploring the game, earning it a large and dedicated fanbase.
The earlier announcement of Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition's upcoming release on Switch 2 caused a frenzy among players, meaning they could play anytime, anywhere.

However, disappointingly, the official release date for Switch 2 has recently been delayed. If you're curious why, read on.
Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition
At Nintendo Direct presentation on April 2nd, Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition was announced for Switch 2. During the presentation, a trailer showcased classic game scenes and visuals that players had experienced, including but not limited to battles with Radahn and exploration of Shadow of the Erdtree.
These trailers evince that Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition offers players new content and features on top of the original game and Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.
These new features include, but are not limited to, exclusive Armor Sets, new weapons, Torrent customization options, and new classes. All of this has captured players' attention and fueled their anticipation for its release on Switch 2 platform.
However, the core gameplay remains unchanged. Players still take on the role of Tarnished, exploring the game world. Where to explore and how to explore is entirely up to you.
Classic areas appear in Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition, including Limgrave, Caelid, and Liurnia, etc. Furthermore, many more new features await players' discovery.
Gamescom, held from August 20th to 24th, also showcased trailers for Tarnished Edition, with the most exciting aspect being the opportunity for players to experience the new classes firsthand.
Heavy Knight, clad in a black, heavy-plated armor set and wielding a curved greatsword, showcases the game's ongoing improvements and efforts to bring new content and exciting features.
Disappointing Results
While the news of Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition's release on Switch 2 delighted loyal fans, it doesn't mean players are indifferent to the game's quality.
Players anticipated a gaming experience on Switch 2 comparable to PC and other platforms, but player demonstrations clearly show that the current game's performance falls short of their expectations.
Videos of players playing Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Switch 2 can be found on various platforms, revealing that smooth gameplay is somewhat strained.
It doesn't offer the smooth combat performance players expected. Frame rate drops and stuttering occur in almost every action except when the player's character is stationary.
Furthermore, when there are many elements in the scene, they appear more like flat textures than three-dimensional objects.
These points to one fact: the game's performance is unstable.
For a large-scale open-world adventure game, these are almost fatal problems. During the adventure, you need to constantly pay attention to your surroundings, be wary of potential enemies and bosses, and game lag can make it impossible to detect enemy attacks during adventures and battles.
An even more absurd situation is that you see a boss attack, but because of game lag, you can't use your chosen skill in time. In such cases, your character can only take hits and damage.
Both situations can lead to character death, and the consequence of death is the loss of all Elden Ring Runes. Although you have the opportunity to return to the death location to retrieve these runes, you would certainly prefer to avoid this situation if possible.
Besides performance issues, Switch 2's reliance on buttons to control character movement is uncomfortable for many players accustomed to the keyboard and mouse combination on PCs.
The cumbersome button layout makes unfamiliar players feel overwhelmed in combat, not only failing to provide enjoyment but also turning exploration into a burden.
If the release is still in this state, it's easy to imagine how many negative reviews Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition will receive from players.
Looking Forward To The Release
To address the technical issues raised by players, on October 23rd, the official announcement was made that the release of Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition would be delayed.
This is a correct decision for both players and the game developers.
While the delayed release will disappoint players, it's acceptable to play a more satisfactory game a little later than to keep failing in a half-finished game and even lose all resources and runes.
For a game, it's better to carefully polish it and strive for excellence in every aspect than to rush out a buggy game and disappoint the audience. A well-made game will always have its audience.
With the immense popularity of Elden Ring IP, players will probably have high expectations for this game that blends the original game and Shadow of the Erdtree.
In short, the release of Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Switch 2 has been fraught with difficulties. Although it's still uncertain when it will be released in 2026, we all look forward to its return with a brand new look, living up to the expectations of players.
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Elden Ring Ninja Build Crafting | Best Armor, Weapons, And Ashes Of War For Stealthy Combat
Although the release of Elden Ring Nightreign has diverted some attention from the base game, Souls-like ARPG Elden Ring, which became a global sensation in 2022, remains a popular goal for players to explore.
As a game with rich mechanics and up to 10 playable classes, the exploration of Elden Ring builds is nearly endless. While build crafting is mostly based on class, you can also create a build with a specific style through specific gear or skills.
With this in mind, this article will explain how to craft a ninja-style build in Elden Ring.

Ninja-Style Fashion
While clothing is just a bonus to your combat, considering we're introducing a ninja-style build - and since ninjas aren't a class - you should make your style known to your opponents through clothing, which is the most conspicuous way to communicate your style!
Since there aren't any pre-set ninja-style sets in the game, you'll have to rely on your own aesthetic to find the right armor to pair with your build. Of course, the black hood and mask are essential, practically the defining elements of a ninja's look.
As for other parts, such as gloves or leg armor, simply ensure they're dark and complement the other armor pieces. If you're looking for existing plans to directly customize your look, consider the following armor or sets:
- Prisoner Set
- Bandit Mask
- Samurai Gauntlets
- Ronin's Armor
- Black Knife Set
Of course, style is one aspect; the armor itself also provides protection against different types of damage and affects attributes like weight and balance.
So, when designing your look, consider not only the appearance but also the armor pieces you choose that offer good combat benefits. At least for ninja builds, your combat style should prioritize agility, so armor shouldn't be too heavy.
It's worth noting that there are no set bonuses in Elden Ring, so you can mix and match armor freely without worrying about missing out on any extra buffs.
Weapon Choice
You should know that Samurai is one of the starting classes. While it's not the same concept as a ninja, the gear available not only looks good in ninja style but also offers impressive combat effectiveness when used properly.
Most of the available Samurai weapons resemble Japanese swords, and each one has a different method for obtaining. If your character originally chose Samurai class, you should have at least Uchigatana. If not, follow the instructions below to farm it.
Uchigatana
This long sword, the starting Samurai weapon, is hidden in Deathtouched Catacombs. Enter the northern Limgrave, find Saints Bridge, and proceed to the end of the dungeon to find it.
Nagakiba
Enter Bloody Finger Hunter Yura questline near Site of Grace south of Agheel Lake. Find Yura to complete the quest, or simply kill him to obtain Nagakiba.
If you consider yourself a softie (even though Yura is only an NPC) or want the armor as a bonus, you can find him at the following locations to complete the quest:
- Second Church of Marika in Altus Plateau
- Near Murkwater Cave
- On the bridge near Main Academy Gate Site of Grace
Rivers Of Blood
Travel to the snow-covered area in the northern part of the map, starting at Freezing Lake Site of Grace, to find Church of Repose. Bloody Finger Okina will appear; defeat her to obtain this weapon.
Other Weapons
If you prioritize damage over appearance, you can look beyond Samurai weapons and explore weapons that balance agility and lethality.
Take Smithscript Dagger, for example. This weapon, added in Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, is a throwing blade that performs well in both ranged and melee combat.
More importantly, it can be thrown and instantly returns to your hand, like a souped-up version of a true ninja's kunai. Enter Ruined Forge Lava Intake and reach the end of the corridor to find it.
Alternatively, Claws of Night are also excellent, as they also have the ability to return instantly after being thrown. They can be obtained by defeating Swordhand of Night Anna in Cathedral of Manus Metyr beneath Finger Ruins of Miyr during Ymir's questline.
Choosing The Best Ashes Of War To Obtain Armaments
Ashes of War is a unique mechanic in Elden Ring. Essentially, equipping this type of items will grant new skills and affinities to your gear, playing a crucial role in enhancing your build's overall strength.
For ninja builds, good dodging and stealth are essential combat styles, allowing you to stealthily close in and kill enemies, much like an assassin. For this reason, we recommend prioritizing the following Ashes of War:
- Bloodhound's Step: This provides excellent evasion capabilities by replacing dodging with a long-distance teleport dash.
- Assassin's Gambit: Grants invisibility and minimizes your footsteps, allowing you to catch enemies off guard and backstab them.
- Unseen Form: Allows you to become partially invisible, making it harder for enemies to detect you from a distance.
Of course, there are many other Ashes of War with similar effects. If you want more to add, you can actively kill bosses, explore the open world and loot corpses or chests, or buy Elden Ring runes and redeem them at merchants.
In short, while ensuring your appearance is as ninja-like as possible, you should always focus on agility, mystery, and decent damage output as the core of your Elden Ring ninja build. We hope our suggestions help you have a great gaming experience!
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Elden Ring Top 5 Powerful Builds For 2025 Has Been Leaked!
Dear Elden Ring players, have you ever felt lost in Lands Between, struggling to find a powerful and fun build? Do you wish to have the flexibility to switch your combat style depending on the enemy or challenge?
Today, we'll present the top five builds for 2025, combining fun and power, covering everything from burst damage to robust defense. These builds will surely inspire your adventures.

1. Vyke's War Spear Build
First, let's look at Vyke's War Spear build. This build focuses on utilizing the unique madness effect and high fire damage of Vyke's War Spear. It's primarily for PvP, but works well in PvE as well.
Its charged attack deals significant poise damage, and Spear Talisman maximizes its piercing damage; we recommend upgrading it to +10.
Furthermore, we'll choose Bloodsucking Cracked Tear and Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear, offering both damage and survivability, making them popular choices in PvP.
For armor, any piece of Tree Sentinel Set can be used for increased defense. Margit's Shackle provides boss control, and we'll use Sanguine Noble Robe, Shard of Alexander, Fire Scorpion Charm, and Millicent's Prosthesis. This setup can instantly ignite the battlefield.
The stat allocation focuses on high Faith and Dexterity: 60 Vigor, 20 Mind, 25 Endurance, 16 Strength, 45 Dexterity, and 50 Faith.
Finally, we can use Golden Vow, Flame Grant Me Strength, and Blessing's Boon for various buffs.
In summary, this build is ideal for players seeking control and burst damage.
2. Flame Art Great Mace Build
Flame Art Great Mace build is another powerful option, dealing massive poise damage, fire damage, and strong knockback.
Great Mace has high fire damage and a cool appearance, making it a popular choice. Not only that, if you choose Flame Art affinity, its Faith scaling can reach B-tier!
Next, let's look at the build. We need a Great Mace that can increase Flame level by 25, along with Flaming Strike and Erdtree Seal. Then, equip Shard of Alexander and Fire Scorpion Charm talismans, as well as Spiked Cracked Tear and Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear.
Next, equip Two-Handed Sword Talisman and Axe Talisman to further enhance your charged attacks, allowing you to experience the satisfying feeling of one-shot kills! This will allow you to defeat bosses faster, earning a large amount of Elden Ring Runes to level up your character and increase your stats.
For this build, we need 60 Vigor, 20 Intelligence, 26 Endurance, 28 Strength, and 65 Faith. Finally, use the same Golden Vow, Flame Grant Me Strength, and Blessing's Boon incantations as mentioned above.
3. Waves Of Great Stars Build
Waves of Great Stars build is a cold-damage build that combines Strength and Intelligence. Great Stars weapon itself has excellent poise-breaking capabilities, and with Waves of Darkness skill, you can unleash a continuous stream of high-damage attacks through dashes and jumps.
This build offers a strong and visually stunning gameplay experience. Its unique cold damage can effectively deal with various enemies, making it a great choice for skilled players.
We need a +25 cold-damage Waves of Great Stars weapon, which can be used with any seal. What about the equipment?
The answer is Shard of Alexander, Magic Scorpion Charm, Blade of Mercy Talisman, Two-Handed Sword Talisman, Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear, and Bloodsucking Cracked Tear.
Next, the stat allocation: 55 Vigor, 18 Mind, 27 Endurance, 40 Strength, 40 Intelligence, and 25 Faith. Note that if you use dual-wielding, you need 60 Strength.
Finally, the incantations are the same as mentioned above.
4. Executioner's Guard Counter Build
Next, let's talk about Executioner's Guard Counter Build. This is a parry-counter build using Executioner's Greataxe.
With this build, you can achieve one-hit kills, as this weapon has an extremely high critical hit multiplier, giving you a truly epic critical hit experience. This build's core mechanic revolves around perfectly parrying attacks and then unleashing a devastating counterattack. Equipping Royal Knight's Resolve skill further enhances the damage output.
This build requires precise timing, but the rewards are immense, making it a perfect showcase for skilled players to demonstrate their mastery and earn Elden Ring Runes more efficiently to level up their character and attributes.
This build utilizes a +25 Executioner's Greataxe, Brass Shield for increased defense, and a random set of armor, along with the Greatshield Talisman.
It also incorporates Curved Sword Talisman, Blade of Mercy Talisman, and Dagger Talisman to trigger critical hits. Additionally, this build requires Faith-knot Crystal Tear and Greenburst Crystal Tear.
For stats: 60 Vigor, 18 Mind, 31 Endurance, 75 Strength, 12 Dexterity, and 25 Faith. These stats, combined with the same incantations as Waves of Great Stars build, allow for incredibly powerful offense and solid defense.
5. Raptor's Talons Build
Finally, let's discuss Raptor's Talons build, my personal favorite. This build is a visual feast of fast-paced combos. Dual-wielding Raptor's Talons, along with Bloodflame Blade and Dragon Communion Seal, allows you to inflict massive bleed damage on enemies in an instant.
Its unique charged attack and roll mechanic is not only visually stunning but also allows for flexible positioning. Combined with items that enhance jump attacks and bleed damage, such as Raptor's Black Feathers, Solitude Set, Shard of Alexander, and Lord of Blood's Exultation, this build makes one-shotting bosses a breeze.
Use Bloodsucking Cracked Tear and Thorny Cracked Tear, and then use Mohg's Shackle for boss control.
For stats: 60 Vigor, 18 Mind, 25 Endurance, 12 Strength, 75 Dexterity, and 25 Faith. This build also requires Golden Vow, Flame Grant Me Strength, Blessing's Boon, and Bloodflame Blade for additional buffs.
These builds showcase the diverse combinations of equipment, skills, and attributes in Elden Ring, offering players of all skill levels a comprehensive guide to gameplay.
Whether you prefer close-quarters combat, spell-casting, or a more defensive playstyle, you'll find a build that suits your preferences. These builds may evolve and expand further in the future, so players interested in experimenting can try out different strategies and develop their own unique playstyles.
Of course, enhancing these unique builds requires a sufficient amount of runes. Therefore, we highly recommend buying IGGM.com Elden Ring Runes with fast delivery to support your gameplay. Happy gaming!
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Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree: Best Bloodfiend's Arm Cheese Build Guide
Steam Autumn Sale is coming soon, and Elden Ring might even be discounted. It's never too late to experience the most successful Souls-like game of all time.
You might be intimidated by the difficulty of Elden Ring, but the game itself isn't particularly difficult (okay, forget Malenia first). The real challenge lies in Shadow of the Erdtree. However, despite this high level of difficulty, There are still a plethora of powerful Cheese builds.
Some builds, like Shield Poke build, can even solo Messmer without even collecting Scadutree Fragments. Below, we'll introduce one of the strongest Cheese builds in Elden Ring: the incredibly defensive Bloodfiend's Arm build.

Weapons
Bloodfiend's Arm (Blood Upgrade) is one of Elden Ring items for this build. You need to pair it with Ash of War: Rock Sword and Hemorrhage Infusion. Because the weapon's critical hits have a built-in bleeding effect, Bloodfiend's Arm with Hemorrhage Infusion not only has high poise but also high bleeding.
Carry either Fingerprint Stone Shield or Verdigris Greatshield on your left hand, but Verdigris Greatshield isn't as heavy as Fingerprint Stone Shield.
Since we'll be carrying Verdigris Discus Talisman, less weight means less stat bonuses, so we recommend Fingerprint Stone Shield. For daily map play, a lighter shield is recommended.
Armor
The choice is simple. If you prefer a cool look, go with Banished Knight Set. If you want stronger stats, go with Bull-Goat Set.
Flask Of Wondrous Physick
Crimsonburst Cracked Tear
Bloodfiend's Arm (Blood Upgrade) reduces poise and causes bleeding, so the poise reduction bonus from Rock-Spiked Dewdrop is crucial and a must-have.
Leaden Hardtear
Because Bloodfiend's Arm (Blood Upgrade) heavy attack has a strong bleeding effect, and this build tends to rely on heavy attacks for daily attacks, Leaden Hardtear can provide a significant damage boost.
Talismans
- Axe Talisman
- Verdigris Discus Talisman
- Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman
- Bull-Goat's Talisman
The core amulets of this build are Axe Talisman and Verdigris Discus Talisman. The former strengthens charged attacks, while the latter increases defense with heavier weight.
Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman and Bull-Goat's Talisman are changeable. Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman primarily provides damage reduction, while Bull-Goat's Talisman provides resilience, ensuring that charged attacks are not interrupted by the enemy.
Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman can be replaced with Greatshield Talisman or Pearldrake Talisman. Bull-Goat's Talisman can be replaced with Two-headed Turtle Talisman, Pearldrake Talisman +3, or Lord of Blood's Exultation.
Incantations & Sorceries
- Flame, Grant Me Strength
- Golden Vow
- Black Flame's Protection
- Scholar's Shield
Because this build requires a lot of Strength, many lower-level players may not be able to use buff-type Incantations.
If your Faith is low, use Flame, Grant Me Strength. If your Faith reaches 25, use Golden Vow.
If your Faith reaches 30, add Black Flame's Protection. This prayer significantly increases physical damage reduction.
In addition to the aforementioned prayers, another Sorcerie is particularly useful for this build: Scholar's Shield. It increases the damage reduction of the left-hand shield and is very useful in many encounters.
Stat Allocation
Regardless of your level, after entering Shadow of the Erdtree, It's recommended to increase both Vigor to 60. otherwise, the damage tolerance will be too low. Endurance is also recommended to be above 40, as this build relies primarily on shields for damage resistance, and holding a shield consumes stamina.
Strength must be maxed out at 48 to use Fingerprint Stone Shield, Dexterity at 11 to use Bloodfiend's Arm, and Intelligence at 12 to use Scholar's Shield.
Faith is the same as explained in the Incantations section. 15, 25, and 30 are the three nodes, which determine how many Incantations you can use. Arcane doesn't require points and can be ignored. This means that the final level of this build is 201. You can farm Albinaurics in Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum for a while and earn hundreds of thousands of Elden Ring runes in half an hour.
Combat Strategy
This build has a very high physical damage reduction rate. Regularly collect Scadutree Fragments. With 60 Vigor and a shield, you can take on any boss or elite monster head-on. Even a Spiral Tower Horned Warrior will be crippled by your attacks. The summoned Mimic Tear is even more tanky, significantly reducing the difficulty of the boss fight.
During the initial buff phase, use Golden Vow and Black Flame's Protectio. Then, switch to a staff in your left hand and cast Scholar's Shield. Buff your weapon with Ash of War: Rock Sword. Then, drink Flask of Wondrous Physick. Enter the boss room and summon Mimic Tear directly.
Let Mimic Tear attack first, while you stand by and watch, looking for opportunities to use heavy attacks to reduce damage and poise. This build makes Mimic Tear both tough and powerful, so you don't have to worry about it being unable to withstand the boss.
If you draw aggro on the boss, you'll need to immediately use your shield to block, but some magic attacks and large-scale AoE attacks can't be completely blocked. This means that while this build is simple, you still need to memorize some of the boss's abilities.
Although Bloodfiend's Arm has been nerfed after several patches, it remains one of the best weapons in Shadow of the Erdtree and is very easy to obtain, making it a top build for players entering the DLC.
Shadow of the Erdtree's difficulty is significantly increased compared to the base game. If you're at level 150 in the DLC, you'll almost be instantly killed by the first monster you encounter. New players might want to start at level 190 to be somewhat safer. If your level is significantly lower, you can buy Elden Ring runes and items from IGGM.com to avoid being overwhelmed by DLC monsters.






