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Faith, as a stat and playstyle, is one of the most interesting in all of Elden Ring. Where Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence all play into raw damage in one way or another, Faith weaves its way through all kinds of incantations and in various satisfying builds.
Elden Ring's Strength/Faith build is perfect for smacking foes around with colossal weapons while having access to key Incantations that buff, heal, and deal ranged damage. There are very few things your big stick can’t handle, but having some additional options never hurt.
Updated July 16, 2023 by Andrew Scariati: A standard Elden Ring Faith Build remains powerful even after major balance updates, but becomes more potent when combined with a Strength-based weapon. While there are plenty of ways to up the challenge in Elden Ring, this build will surely make the game seem much easier. Grab your favorite colossal weapon and combine it with the best Faith build Elden Ring has to offer to create this devastating hybrid that you'll want to use in Shadow of the Erdtree.
What Is A Faith/Strength Build?
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Elden Ring's Strength Faith build can be altered to access a variety of weapons.
Colossal swords, some incredible spears, and even giant clubs are all fair game. Your balance between Strength and Faith is entirely dependent on what weapon you want to use, but you will always have a book of spells at your disposal to mix things up.
Stats To Aim For
Stats | Value |
|---|---|
Vigor | 50 |
Mind | 20 |
Endurance | 25 |
Strength | 60 |
Dexterity | 14 |
Intelligence | 9 |
Faith | 40 |
Arcane | 9 |
The stat spread must be compatible with colossal weapons and greatshields, heavy armor, and deadly spells.
This of course means stats are stretched a bit thin in terms of distribution, and some sacrifices must be made to get this build up and running.
Having 50-60 Vigor is almost a must for the late game of Elden Ring as enemies hit ridiculously hard. If you don’t have the Vigor, you risk being one-shot by several common threats.
Following suit is Mind and Endurance, at 20 and 25 respectively. This will give you plenty of resources to play with when it comes to combat and spellcasting.
The core of the build is the Strength value of 60. This is the soft cap for Strength, so if you were to stop anywhere for a primary stat, it would be here.
Faith hovers around 40, which may seem a bit on the low end, but it’s more than enough for what the build wants to do.
Leveling Plan
You'll be using two different offensive stats for this build, so exactly how you level up is going to be important - it's no use boosting your Faith incredibly high at the beginning of the game when you have no spells to use, after all.
Here's a suggested outline for your leveling below:
- Start by boosting Strength a bit - the Golden Halberd, the weapon for this build, has a Strength requirement of 30. Two-handing your weapon increases your effective Strength by 50 percent, so first, get your Strength to 20 and use that to two-hand the Golden Halberd.
- Get the other requirements sorted, namely a 14 in Dexterity and a 12 in Faith.
- With your weapon sorted, it's time to start taking on bosses. For this, you'll need some more Vigor and some Faith, to start using spells. Get both up to 20 to match your Strength.
- From here, boost your Strength up to 30, so you can one-hand the Halberd and use a shield with it, or keep your Seal in your left hand.
- Finally, just boost your Strength and Faith alternately until you reach your end goals, taking breaks in leveling to raise your Vigor, Endurance, and Mind when needed.
Tree Sentinel Build - The Bane Of Everything
Overview
This build is all about being an immovable phalanx. You will have chunky armor, a giant shield, and a halberd capable of devastating single targets and large groups effortlessly. Backing this up will be several buffs, ranged spells, and dragon incantations.
Weapons
- Golden Halberd
- Erdtree Greatshield
The Golden Halberd is one of the best weapons in the game, easily being able to reach an attack rating of over 1,000.
This is impressive on any weapon, and excels on a halberd. With the fantastically varied Halberd moveset, you can sweep entire hordes of enemies and smash large targets without breaking a sweat.
Backing up the golden stick of death is the Erdtree Greatshield. This shield is not only a fantastic shield, like most Greatshields, but it comes with a hidden trick that will devastate anyone daring to use magic against you.
The Erdtree Greatshield can parry spells, and even magic-based Weapon Arts, countering with a devastating beam of light. If you can’t get close to a caster, your shield will delete them for you.
- To get the Golden Halberd, defeat the Tree Sentinel hanging around the first grace in Limgrave.
- To get the Erdtree Greatshield, defeat the pair of Tree Sentinels guarding one of the entrances to Leyndell, near the Outer Wall Phantom Tree site of grace.
Main Incantations
- Rotten Breath
- Bestial Vitality
- Lightning Spear
- Frenzied Burst
There are several Incantations that can be used to great effect with this build, but these are a few that can be used to tackle most situations.
We also recommend Golden Vow, which is the Golden Halberd’s Ash of War. This increases your Attack Rating and Defensive Values, making you harder to kill and much more dangerous. This buff also applies to any nearby allies, including summoned players and spirit ashes.
Rotten Breath is a staple in just about any Elden Ring Faith build simply because Scarlet Rot is so powerful. Most bosses in Elden Ring are weak to the ailment, which opens them up to buckets of damage over time from this Incantation.
It requires more Arcane than this build gets, but you will resolve that with Talismans.
Bestial Vitality is an amazing heal-over-time that is quick, cheap, and effective. You should be casting this before and during most encounters. This will free up your flask usage and let you play more aggressively.
Lightning Spear is your long-range sniping spell. Frenzied Burst is also a good spell for this purpose, but Lightning Spear has wider applicability.
We recommend the Gravel Sacred Seal, as it will increase your Lightning Spear spell damage. It will also boost other Dragon Cult incantations, but not Dragon Communion incantations (like Rotten Breath). If you find yourself enjoying the more dragon-breath animation, consider the Dragon Communion Seal instead.
Talismans
Talisman | Effect |
|---|---|
Marika’s Soreseal | Raises Mind, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane by five points each, but increases damage taken by 15 percent. |
Sacred Scorpion Charm | Increases Holy damage by 12 percent, but increases Physical damage taken by ten percent. |
Erdtree’s Favor | Raises HP, Stamina, and Equip Load by a maximum of four, ten, and eight percent, respectively (using Erdtree's Favor +2). |
Dragoncrest Greatshield | Enormously reduced Physical Damage taken by 20 percent (five percent in PvP). |
Pearldrake | Reduces Elemental Damage taken by a maximum of nine percent (using Pearldrake Talisman +2). |
For Talismans, you should look to increase your stats to reach the minimum casting requirements for your spells.
For this, Marika’s Soreseal is fantastic. It will increase your Faith by five, and equally increase your Arcane, allowing you to use Incantations like Rotten Breath. It's simply a must-have for any Faith Build in Elden Ring.
Holy Scorpion Charm is mostly here to make the Golden Halberd even more powerful as the effect also buffs weapons. This, plus Golden Vow, makes a dangerous combination.
It’s hard to pass up Erdtree’s Favor since it increases so many key stats, including HP, which more than makes up for some lower stat values.
Finally, this build uses a lot of Talismans that hinder Damage Negation. To offset this, bring the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman. While it won’t fully negate the talisman debuffs, it will make them noticeably less devastating.
You should swap to the Pearldrake Talisman instead when facing non-Physical enemies.
Armor
For armor, you want to maximize your Damage Reduction and Poise while maintaining a Medium Roll.
Alternatively, you could go full tank and push all the way to a Heavy Roll. However, if you are going to do that, then you will need to mix your Flask differently.
If you want a thematic armor set, grab the Tree Sentinel armor in Auriza Hero's Grave. You'll need to destroy the chariots inside to get the set.
Flask Of Wondrous Physick
- Holy-Shrouding Tear
- Faith-Knot Tear
If you are going full tank and donning the Heavy Roll, then you will need to use the Winged Crystal Tear. This Tear will give you a Light Roll for three minutes, regardless of your Equip Load. This is incredibly useful, but it will also put you on a tight timer during boss fights.
For damage, the Holy-Shrouding Tear will increase all of your Holy Damage, including from weapons (and shield in this case). The tear, combined with Holy Scorpion and Golden Vow turns this into one of the best Faith builds Elden Ring has to offer.
If you want to go even further, then mixing in the Faith-Knot Tear will bump up your Faith by ten for three minutes, giving you even more damage and boosting all of your Incantations.