[Top 5] Shadow of the Erdtree Strongest Builds

Legends seek their way through the Shadow Lands

Updated:

14 Sep 2024

Welcome to the Shadow lands

Welcome to the Shadow Lands, tarnished

The Shadow of the Erdtree more than lived up to the original game by giving Elden Rings fans a whole new host of tough bosses, plenty of new adventures, some great new lore, and of course, a whole host of new weapons and armor. This new gear has brought with it, the inevitable creation of dozens of new builds to match the new prizes that we gather and use.

Playing the Shadow of the Erdtree and Picking your Build

The Shadow of the Erdtree brought to us so much great new content that it was hard not to be sucked in, down the rabbit hole. On top of that, we saw whole new play styles come in with some amazing new weapons that turned the old game on its head. Right off the bat, we have some powerful new additions in the form of the Smithscript weapons, and the new Messmer spells. Fire builds saw a huge buff to their arsenal as well with the Messmer flame options. That's not even accounting for the new bows with their exciting new variations on skills, the creation of the new Great Katanas, Backhand Blades, Hand to Hand Arts, Thrusting Shields, and so much more.

So how do you go about picking your builds? We all know the basics: The sword-and-board, the samurai, the paladin, the spellblade, archers, berserkers, barbarians, and rogues. These collectively make up a covering of your dual wielding players, range players, magically inclined players, your big-and-heavy players, and your sneaky players. These all got their boosts in the new game, and in some cases we even see a bit of a hybrid between the samurai and the sword and board if the player decides to get the decidedly Sauron-themed Armor of Night. On top of that, we see some blends into what can only be called a play on the zanbato-player, and if that doesn't top it off, we even get to turn into dragons now.

Picking your build really will come down to how much of a blend you really want to have between your old player and an all new experience. But if you're really looking for something interesting, why not try the new ninja builds? Or if you've had a hard time choosing between sorceries and incantations, maybe you'll be relieved to hear there's now a staff that does both. There's so much, it's hard to not get lost in the shuffle, but remembering to stick to your strengths and your stats can be a big factor.

Choosing your Top 5

There's no real right answer to the best of the new builds quite yet, because we are all waiting for the last of the infamous nerf hammers to fall. They have to, otherwise the number one build on this list would probably be the Carian Thrusting Shield video. The build was essentially stacking enough armor for poise, and then two handing the new thrusting shield to get an excessive amount of blocking power while being able to stab the opponent for overwhelming damage repeatedly.

There have already been two updates since the initial build posting showed up on youtube, and had several articles written about it already, which is how I found out about it myself. But even now, my once OP Carian Thrusting Shield build has suffered some hits on the hyper armor and damage dealing, and there are sure to be more to come. That being said, the Carian Thrusting Shield is literally so good that it's likely to make several hoplite builds in the near future for intelligence players and strength players alike.

For the purpose of these Top 5, I focused on the best builds that I've seen that have withstood the power of the nerf hammer so far, and will likely get buffs in the near future as well. We inevitably see weapons get faster cooldown rates and slight damage increases, and on top of that, we almost always see some note that says as of some patch or another, the damage for spells has been increased while the FP cost has been decreased. That primes up any of the spell heavy builds for a bright future. Will this list stay constant? No doubt it will be interesting to see how well it ages. But without further ado, I give to you, my top 5 new strong builds of the DLC!

5. Storm Samurai

Beware of tornados

What is the Storm Samurai

The Storm Samurai is the name given by Fextralife to a build that focuses around the use of the new katanas and great katanas, along with the new storm warrior armor. We get to deal with some Divine Beast enemies in the shadow lands that bring back fond memories of Breath of the Wild, and it gives us the Divine Beast armor, as well as the Enraged Divine Beast Talisman. These couple with a few ashes of war that end up making a samurai build with extra bow damage, and a new katana that can pummel enemies for all kinds of different types of damage.

Why to Play the Storm Samurai Pros and Cons

We all love a good Samurai build, and they usually have at least one that can make the top of the list, just because they have all around good utility. The Storm Samurai is no exception, because it's a natural evolution of the main base Samurai concept and the storm build.
Most of the gear can be found early in the DLC, with the exception of the Divine Beast Helm which requires some story work. That said, there is another helm option fairly early in the game, although its a bit clunky and definitely heavy armor status.
One of the great things about this build is the ability to just deal straight damage in one way or another. If we double up on the Cross-Naginata it can get even more interesting
This build isn't the hardest hitting of the new DLC builds, and sometimes it can feel like it falls short until you get the hang of it. It still gets the job done, but even at its strongest, it's tricky to crank out those 20k screencaptures we see in the videos. I often see mine land somewhere about 2k, which is still really formidable in most cases.

Weapon Loadout:

1. Great Katana

Requirements: 14 Strength, 18 Dexterity

This is one of the newer weapons in the game and it can actually be picked up fairly early in the DLC starting area. Granted, there is a giant undead dragon around, but hey. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That's definitely true in the Lands Between and the Shadow Lands, with a really strong new katana as a prize.

Not only is the Great Katana a bigger, meaner, greatsword version of a Katana, it hits a whole lot harder than the Flamberge does as well. The reason that's important, is because this build is the all new Samurai version of an old storm build that used to exist. For this build we give the Great Katana the Storm Blade ability and then tweak the affinities for whatever we need in the part of the game that we're in. This is great because a lot of the new DLC bosses are actually weak to holy damage which means that we have a reason to use this elemental damage at last. But that also means we can give the blade fire, lightning, and bleed if we need to. The point is that storm attacks will get a 14% buff thanks to the new talismans and armor, on top of the fact that this weapon gets buffs from talismans like Shard of Alexander.

The Storm Blade is also a pretty wicked and fast paced skill that can shred even tough bosses pretty easily, as seen in the Golden Hippo demonstrations floating around on Youtube that serve to make the rest of us wonder how we had such a hard time with the boss. Luckily, this is one tool that seems to be suited for the job. And the fire affinity can prove to make for a powerful duo with the Zamor Curved Sword.

2. Albinauric Bow

Requirements 7 Strength, 18 Dexterity

Normally I'm a fan of the Black Bow for most builds, but in this case we're really trying to get the most bang for our buck with each shot. The Albinauric bow can be enchanted with multiple ashes off war, which makes it more diverse than the Pulley bow, and it's also harder hitting than any other bow. That just makes it good for what we need, here.

The Albinauric bow is always something of a disappointment to me in how late in the game it appeared, but with the new DLC, I finally feel like I'm getting some much deserved mileage out of it. Since it pairs well with the Stormwing Bone Arrows here, it makes for a good main bow to our build.

3. Pulley Bow

Requirements : 11 Strength, 11 Dexterity

If you're going to turn this into a sniper build at all, the Pulley Bow is the best choice for the job. Not only does it have pretty much the longest range of any bow in the game, it also is one of the hardest hitting too. That puts it pretty much 2nd after the Albinauric bow in terms of damage with a longer range that can be boosted even further by the new talismans. Since this is a good build for getting that sniping in, the Pulley bow with its +5 range on other bows, also gets an extra 10% arrow flight, 50% total range increase, and 28% damage increase with the full archery loadout for this build. That's nothing to sneeze at when you realize that's not accounting for precision aiming those headshots with the 12% bonus that comes from that.

4. Zamor Curved Sword

Requirements: 16 Strength, 18 Dexterity

We love the Zamor Curved Sword for a lot of reasons. It's already a great sword for a lot of builds, but it comes with a special ability, Zamor Ice Storm. This skill sees a boost in damage from the Enraged Divine Beast talisman, but on top of that, the player can use this skill twice for every once that a mage can cast it. That just makes it so convenient.

On top of that, this is a weapon that deals frostbite. The new Great Katana is also conveniently a weapon that can be given flame affinities pretty easily. It makes for a pretty sweet combo to be able to get up close and freeze the enemy before stepping back to shred them with blows from Stormcaller.

5. Cross-Naginata

Requirements: 16 Strength, 20 Dexterity

The Cross-Naginata is a weapon that is pretty much a staple in every good samurai build, and it sees some use here because it can be given storm abilities that receive a buff from the Enraged Divine Beast talisman and the Divine Beast Helm. It can be left off the build pretty easily, but given the fact it can be given powers like Seppuku as well as storm abilities, it can always be used for that much needed edge in the boss fights.

Gear Loadout:

Helms

Divine Beast Helm- Increases strength, dexterity, and the power of storms by 4%
Rakshasa Helm- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%

Armor

Divine Beast Warrior Armor- the armor that is included in the set with the Divine Beast Helm
Rakshasa Armor- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%
White Land of Reeds Armor

Gauntlets

White Land of Reeds Gauntlets
Fingerprint Gloves
Horned Warrior Gauntlets

Greaves

Fingerprint Greaves
Blaidd's Greaves
Radahn's Greaves- Heavy armor boots with good poise

Extra Essentials Loadout

Ammunition

1. Stormwing Bone Arrows

58 Physical

Stormwing Bone Arrows are an arrow that I already favor thanks to the fact that they fly 10% farther than normal arrows and they do double the poise damage. However, on top of that, Fextralife has the Stormwing Bone Arrows as now doing 58 physical damage instead of 55, which was already 10 higher than normal arrows. On top of that, these arrows are specifically buffed by the Enraged Divine Beast talisman and the Divine Beast Helm which were both released in Shadow of the Erdtree.

Since Samurai builds all make use of a main katana, a main polearm, and a main bow, for this build we're going to just pick the bow that works the best for us.

Spells

1. Golden Vow

Requirements: 25 Faith
Spell Description – Boosts damage dealt by 15% and reduces damage received by 10% for 80 seconds

Talismans

Two-Handed Sword Talisman
Shard of Alexander- Increases the damage of skills by 15%
Enraged Divine Beast Talisman- Increases the damage of storms by 10%
Arrow's Soaring Sting Talisman- increases the range of bows by 50% and the damage of arrows by 8%
Sharpshot Talisman- Boosts the attack power of precision aimed arrows by 12%
Arrow's Sting Talisman- boosts the damage of arrows by 10%
Talisman of Lord's Bestowal- Increases poise by 54% after using a flask of tears
Verdigris Discus- Raises defense with higher equipment load
Blade of Mercy- Raises attack power by 20% after each critical hit
Erdtree's Favor- Raises maximum HP, Stamina, and equip load

Stats

50-60 Vigor
28-35 Mind
35 Endurance
18-25 Strength
80 Dexterity
16-25 Intelligence
9-25 Faith
9-18 Arcane

Credits for the Build:

Samurai Build Fextralife

https://fextralife.com/elden-ring-samurai-build-guide/

Storm Archer by Fextralife

https://fextralife.com/elden-ring-ansbachs-longbow-build-storm-arrow-shadow-of-the-erdtree/

Storm Samurai by Fextralife

https://fextralife.com/elden-ring-storm-build-guide-storm-blade-samurai-shadow-of-the-erdtree/

Dragon Destroyer by Fextralife

https://fextralife.com/elden-ring-dragon-hunters-great-katana-build-dragonslayer-shadow-of-the-erdtree/

4. Colossal Devastator

Hit it with a big stick!

What is the Colossal Destroyer

There's no complete list without a big heavy damage dealer floating around on it. For that list, this is basically the build that runs around with the new hefty crucible knight build inspired by Devonia. We once again see the return of some of the Aspect of the Crucible spells, as well as some new options from Shadow of the Erdtree such as the Thorns and Bloom incantations. We also see some range in the Land of Shadow incantation but for the most part, the Aspect of the Crucible is our bread and butter offensive.

Why to Play the Colossal Destroyer Pros and Cons

This build hits hard, and I do mean hard. We see some showcase videos hitting upwards of 20K when using the special attacks for this build. So it's great for the damage dealing, it really is. No matter how you look at it, even in lighter armor you're likely to shred your opponent.
The downside to this build is you're not going to make it work without taking hits. If you're not an aggressive player, this really isn't the build for you. There's a lot of damage trading, which means you're going to need heavier armor, or you're going to need to be very very clever about the jump attacks.
This is also a build that requires a deceptive amount of precision. Even in the original build videos, you hear most of the players talking about trading damage and ending up, quite often, on the wrong side of it. This makes it a skill build for sure, but it's fun.
The Crucible spells and skills are all fantastic, just in general, and they make a big comeback here. Now that we have an even stronger armory, this just becomes a fun way to play with a boost to old favorites.
The new weapon options for this build are pretty powerful and offer a bunch of aggressive, but diverse ways to go after an opponent. If you're looking to figure out different approaches, this definitely has a few flashy ways to deal with tough foes.

Weapon Loadout:

1. Greatsword

Requirements: 31 Strength, 12 Dexterity

This weapon is back at the top of the list thanks to the new Spinning Gravity Thrust ash of war. It's like someone gave Guts a magical gravity damage pile drive and told him to go wreck gods. This isn't the original weapon of the build, but it sure makes for a great showcase in a build like this.

2. Devonia's Hammer

Requirements: 30 Strength, 13 Dexterity, 19 Faith

This is the original bread and butter of the build, coming to us from the Devonia Devastator build by Fextralife. It has a powerful hammer charge up ability called Devonia's Vortex and essentially annihilates large foes with huge amounts of damage. That being said, this does have a long wind up time, which means being able to take hits and trade damage is vital for this build.

We also see the added benefit that the Crucible Axe armor set actually does boost this skill, on top of the power of the Godfrey Icon, Shard of Alexander, and any number of skill boosting talismans in this build.

3. Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword

Requirements: 35 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 19 Arcane

The Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword is the fun new charging weapon that gets boosts from a two-handed talisman and the spear talisman. On top of that it scales well with both Strength and Arcane, which opens up this build just a little bit for some Dragon Communion incantations or just some straight, Bayle's Tyranny.

On top of that we get a fun new ability called White Light Charge which gives us a long charging attack. This attack hits more than once, and even creates an explosion of white light that can be pretty devastating to the enemy and costs only 10 FP to use.