Elden Ring has been praised as FromSoftware's most accessible and approachable game. It has a more flexible difficulty curve and more freedom than games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. As such, Elden Ring has acquired a large audience hoping to take on the Lands Between.

However, Elden Ring is still a challenging game. In particular, the early game can be a significant roadblock for new players. For players struggling, there are a few builds that can make things easier. Some builds ease Elden Ring's worst blows, whether they melt enemies, keep a player safe, or are very forgiving of player mistakes.

Updated November 13th by Isaac Williams: Elden Ring remains a significant challenge for many players, especially those new to the Soulslike genre. Its difficult enemies and vast build potential can leave players unsure of where to turn. This list has been updated to fit CBR's formatting standards and to provide more information about Elden Ring's best builds.

15 Keen Weapons Hit Fast And Hard To Keep Up With Bosses

Key Abilities: Dexterity, Vigor

Elden Ring's Dexterity weapons cover many unique and powerful choices. In particular, Dexterity enables many of Elden Ring's best and most straightforward builds. A character can handle themselves perfectly well if they turn a more mundane weapon Keen with one of Elden Ring's Ashes of War.

This lowers their innate damage but boosts their Dexterity scaling. This results in a significant damage increase at all but the lowest levels. Commonplace weapons like the Spear or Twinblade combine fast strikes with vicious damage if made Keen, and more exotic weapons like the Godskin Peeler take it to another level. Keen is one of Elden Ring's easiest builds relative to how much effort it takes.

14 Black Flame Devastates Large Health Bars

Key Abilities: Faith, Mind

Elden Ring's Incantations are broken up into many different categories. Black Flame Incantations and their related weaponry are the most practical for new or struggling players. An Elden Ring Black Flame build is especially well-suited to tough boss fights. Alongside their initial damage, Black Flame effects deal additional damage based on an enemy's maximum hit points.

This makes Black Flame impractical against weaker enemies but devastating to Elden Ring's hardest bosses. With Incantations like Black Flame and Black Flame Blade, this Elden Ring build can make short work of most encounters. Further equipment like the Godslayer Greatsword and Godslayer's Seal help elevate it to one of Elden Ring's best builds.

13 Quality Builds Can Use A Vast Range Of Weaponry

Key Abilities: Strength, Dexterity

The "Quality" build has been a Dark Souls series mainstay for a long time. It's beloved and enduring for being both simple and effective. It doesn't use Elden Ring's complex abilities or more intricate weapons. Instead, a Quality build uses weapons with good scaling in both Strength and Dexterity.

A Quality build gives players vastly more flexibility in Elden Ring weaponry at the cost of splitting their stats. Most weapons have some scaling in Quality stats. Notably, the Ashes of War system lets players change most weapons' scaling at the cost of damage. A Quality build is one of the easiest Elden Ring builds to start with because of the freedom it offers.

12 Sacred Weapon Mix Holy Damage And Healing

Key Abilities: Faith, Mind

Elden Ring lets players change the Affinity and scaling of almost any mundane weapon with Whetblades and Ashes of War. As a result, a Faith build can deal respectable Holy damage with almost any Elden Ring weapon. On top of this, some of Elden Ring's best weapon skills can be given Sacred Affinity without needing a Whetblade.

An Elden Ring sacred affinity build can benefit from game-changing abilities like Golden Vow and Prayerful Strike. Few other Elden Ring builds provide as much damage alongside buffs and heals. This build also gives players the stats to wield Incantations should they like. Even in the late game, when most bosses become immune to Holy damage, this build can easily switch to Flame to maintain damage.

11 Glintstone Mages Benefit From The Most Damaging Magic

Key Abilities: Intelligence, Mind

Magic encompasses many of Elden Ring's best builds. Sorceries, particularly basic Glintstone Sorceries, have proven to be the best sort of magic. Spells have limitations, like memory slots and Focus Points. However, magic has several advantages over melee combat. These include the homing ability of most spells, high damage, and the ability to be used from range.

Elden Ring's Astrologer begins with the reliable Glintstone Pebble and only gets better from there. Late-game Sorceries like Comet Azure can devastate most foes. In addition, almost any weapon can scale with Intelligence, giving characters a fallback weapon. This range and versatility make a Glinstone mage one of Elden Ring's best builds.

10 Scarlet Rot Drains Health Rapidly

Key Abilities: Faith, Arcane, Mind

Scarlet Rot is Elden Ring's most infamous status effect. It drains a victim's life much more rapidly than Poison and is harder to cure. The player will be on the receiving end of Scarlet Rot for the most part. However, specific Elden Ring builds can use it against enemies. This is effective against many bosses, particularly challenging ones like Starscourge Radahn.

The Ekzykes' Decay Incantation is the most infamous source of Scarlet Rot in Elden Ring. However, other Incantations and weapons can also inflict it. In addition, some of Elden Ring's Ash Summons, like Cleanrot Knight Finlay, synergize with this build. Some late-game bosses are immune to Scarlet Rot. However, it's still one of Elden Ring's best builds against most tough enemies and bosses.

9 Colossal Weapons Pack A Significant Punch

Key Abilities: Strength, Endurance

Elden Ring builds don't have to be complex to have great returns. A struggling player may benefit from using some of the biggest weapons in Elden Ring. The largest weapons (such as the 'Colossal Sword' class of swords) don't necessarily do more damage per second than faster, weaker swords. However, they have some inherent advantages.

Colossal Weapons deal some of the best damage per hit and plenty of "posture" damage. A few hits can stagger an enemy and leave them open for a devastating strike. Elden Ring's Ashes of War gives these builds more flexibility than previous games. Players with an Elden Ring Strength build can wield fantastical abilities without investing in anything other than Strength, Vigor, and Endurance.

8 Gravity Magic Pays Off Against Most Foes

Key Abilities: Intelligence, Mind

Gravity Sorceries are a special type of magic in Elden Ring. There are only a handful of them, but they can help a player through much of the game. In particular, two things make gravity magic one of the best Elden Ring builds. These are the Meteorite Staff and the Rock Sling sorcery.

The Rock Sling spell is a boss killer in its own right. It has a delayed casting time, disrupting many enemies' AI. In addition, it deals physical damage despite being a ranged magic spell. It also staggers enemies and bosses with ease. Gravity Sorceries are bolstered by the Meteorite Staff in Caelid. Although it can't be upgraded, the Meteorite Staff gives a high damage boost that can carry this Elden Ring build through the early game.

7 Archers Dominate The Open World

Key Abilities: Dexterity, Endurance

The Souls series has always featured ranged weapons. However, they're often hindered by the enclosed nature of many areas. In narrow corridors, a sword is simply more practical than a bow. In Elden Ring's open world, however, the bow can be invaluable to a newer player.

Many Elden Ring enemies use melee attacks and struggle when engaged at range. Bows are an excellent way to take down difficult enemies. New players find the bow one of Elden Ring's easiest builds because they can thin enemy groups before melee combat starts. However, they will struggle against bosses. This Elden Ring build does need a melee weapon to handle enemies up close.

6 Spellblade Gives Many Ways To Take Enemies Down

Key Abilities: Intelligence, Strength, Dexterity

Elden Ring's magic can be powerful even if it isn't a player's sole focus. The game gives players a generous amount of level-ups and ways to alter weapon damage scaling. As a result, it's very feasible to mix Elden Ring's best sorceries with weaponry. A player can create a hybrid character who uses Intelligence and either Strength or Dexterity.

The Elden Ring Prisoner class begins with a Dexterity weapon and some magic. There are several ways to play a spellblade. A player might use Sorceries to soften enemies up and finish them off in melee. Alternatively, they might use sorceries like "Scholar's Armament" to buff their weapon. Mixing melee and magic can make for one of Elden Ring's best builds due to its versatility.

5 Paladin Mix The Best Buffs With Raw Power

Key Abilities: Faith, Strength, Dexterity

Faith-based "Incantations" are still powerful in Elden Ring. However, they lack some of the raw power of Sorceries. What they have in abundance, however, are buffs. Players can use Incantations to heal themselves, remove status effects, enchant their weapons with a variety of elements, and more.

A Faith and melee Elden Ring build can be more complex for newer players. However, the game eases players into its complexity. It's perfectly viable to start with simpler Incantations and simply use more powerful ones as they're found. Elden Ring also has several weapons that scale with Faith and other stats. The Blasphemous Blade and Godslayer's Greatsword are two popular choices that make this one of the best builds in Elden Ring.

4 Night Sorceries Rely On One Devastating Combo

Key Abilities: Intelligence, Mind

Night Sorceries are one of Elden Ring's rarest categories of spell. However, they'll easily break the game if the player creates their Elden Ring build around them. This is due to their unique feature. Enemies won't attempt to dodge or parry Night Sorceries because of the semi-invisible projectile.

There is another reason that Night Sorcerers are one of Elden Ring's best builds. The Staff of Loss boosts Night Sorceries' damage significantly. Night Shard or Night Comet can devastate all foes with one Staff of Loss. If the player acquires two through trading or New Game+, this becomes one of Elden Ring's best builds for taking down tough bosses.

3 Bleed Devastates Enemies And Other Players Alike

Key Abilities: Dexterity, Arcane

Arcane is one of Elden Ring's oddest stats. While it has some magical applications, it functions similarly to the Dark Souls series' Luck stats. One of its more useful features is increasing the rate at which the bleed status effect builds up on enemies. Arcane also increases other status effects like Poison, but it's much more impactful with Bleed.

Bleed is devastating in both PvE and PvP. Only a handful of bosses are immune, and it can do huge damage when it triggers. In particular, dual-wielding bleed weapons are one of the easiest Elden Ring builds. Katanas have been nerfed in various patches. Instead, the Cross-Naginata spear is the go-to bleed weapon for many.

2 Dragon Communion Incantations Give Explosive Versatility

Key Abilities: Arcane, Faith

Dragon Communion Incantations are one of Elden Ring's most unique types of spell. They're not learned by finding them in the game's open world. Instead, players have to hunt down dragons to unlock Elden Ring's Dragon Incantations and offer Dragon Hearts at the Church or Cathedral of Dragon Communion to be able to learn them. This effort is well-rewarded, however.

Dragon Communion Incantations make for one of Elden Ring's best and most versatile builds. Players can deal lethal damage across many elements, inflict status effects like Scarlet Rot, and even debuff enemy attack and defense. The Arcane requirements of this Elden Ring build make it very capable with Bleed or Arcane weaponry.

1 Moonveil Mage Wields One Of Elden Ring's Best Weapons

Key Abilities: Intelligence, Dexterity

Most Elden Ring characters have to trade raw power for greater flexibility. However, the Moonveil katana lets an Elden Ring mage build hit every bit as hard as a dedicated melee character. On top of a lot of damage, they get a powerful ranged attack and the utility of spellcasting.

Moonveil has been nerfed over Elden Ring's lifetime. Its weapon skill no longer deals as much damage or staggers bosses as frequently. It's nonetheless one of the best weapons in all of Elden Ring. A mage with Moonveil is also one of Elden Ring's easiest builds for new players. The only drawback is having to go to Caelid for the weapon.