Quick Links
- What Is An Faith /Strength Build?
- Stats To Aim For
- Tree Sentinel Build - The Bane Of Everything
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 play styles and modes of play. If you dabble in Faith, you are dabbling in everything. If you want a true hybrid, then Faith/Anything will be for you.
Related: Elden Ring Build Guide: Faith
Faith/Strength, however, is for people who love to smack things around with really big weapons, whilst having all manor Incantations to buff, heal, and deal ranged damage. There is nothing your big stick can’t handle, but when you want to make sure something dies, you have the game’s entire arsenal to fall back on.
Updated March 5, 2023 by Ryan Bamsey: Elden Ring, especially after the recent DLC announcement, is as popular as ever, with more people trying the instant classic every day. We've gone over this build guide to make sure things are up-to-date and clear.
What Is An Faith /Strength Build?
-11.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&dpr=1.5 "Elden Ring Build Guide: Faith/Strength (1)")
A Strength Faith build can be a lot of things and use a lot of weapons. Big swords, big sticks, big sticks with big swords on the end, 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 |
For stats, we are aiming to use big weapons, big shields, big armor, and big spells. This of course means we are stretched a bit thin in terms of distribution, and we had to make some sacrifices to get this build up and running, but everything is here.
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 basic enemies. Following suit is Mind and Endurance, at 20 and 25 respectively. This will give us 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
We're 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. We have a suggested outline for your leveling below:
- We'll 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.
- Don't forget to 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, we'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 you need to.
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 myriad buffs, ranged spells, and dragon powers.
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, but when you consider this on a halberd, with the fantastically varied Halberd moveset, it really comes into its own. You can sweep entire hordes of enemies and smash large targets without breaking a sweat.
Backing up our 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 a bunch of Incantations that can be used to great effect with this build, but we’ve highlighted 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, whether they are summoned players or your spirit summons.
Rotten Breath is a staple in just about any 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 we 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 the damage of your Lightning Spear spell. It will also boost the damage of other Dragon Cult incantations, but not Dragon Communion incantations (like Rotten Breath). If you find yourself erring on the more dragon breath-y side of things, consider the Dragon Communion Seal instead.
Related: Elden Ring Build Guide: Strength
Talismans
- Marika’s Soreseal
- Holy Scorpion Charm
- Erdtree’s Favour
- Dragoncrest Greatshield/Peardrake
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 not only increase your Faith by five, but it will equally increase your Arcane, allowing you to use Incantations like Rotten Breath.
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. HP, FP, Stamina, and Equip Load are all boosted by this Talisman, and it more than makes up for our lower stat values.
Finally, this build uses a lot of Talismans that reduce Damage Negation. To offset this, the build is bringing the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman. Whilst it won’t fully negate the debuffs, it will make them noticeably less devastating. You could consider swapping to the Peardrake Talisman when needed.
Armor
For armor, you want to maximize your Damage Reduction and Poise whilst maintaining a Medium Roll. Alternatively, you could go full tank and push all the way to a Heavy Roll. 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 - click the link to find our walkthrough for that dungeon!
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 is amazing. It will increase all of your Holy Damage, including from weapons (and shield in this case). This, combined with Holy Scorpion and Golden Vow turn this build into a true blender.
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.
Next: Elden Ring: Complete Guide And Walkthrough
FAQs
What is the best class for strength and Faith build in Elden Ring? ›
Obviously, The Confessor is the best class for this, because you get a Seal with it. Also, the Confessor armour looks insanely cool. As for the Starting Item, it doesn't matter which of those you pick.
Is a strength Faith build viable in Elden Ring? ›Faith Strength builds in Elden Ring are popular and powerful due to their ability to deal high damage from afar while having a unique weapon. For a Faith Strength build, we recommend a strength and faith level of at least 40 with high vigor, endurance, and mind.
How much Faith is enough in Elden Ring? ›40 Faith is the minimum requirement to cast all of the incantations in this Elden Ring Faith build. Since Faith is the primary attribute for this build, we'd recommend pushing it even further after meeting these minimum requirements.
How much strength is enough Elden Ring? ›Elden Ring Strength build stat requirements
This Elden Ring Strength build requires the following stats: 60 Strength. 60 Endurance. 15 Faith.
- Giant Crusher build. Weapon: Giant Crusher (Dual-wielding also works). ...
- Bleed based strength build. Weapon: Bloodhound's Fang. ...
- Sword and board build. ...
- Starscourge build. ...
- Flame, Grant Me Strength build.
Strength. Strength does several things in Elden Ring, it increases your physical damage output, allows you to wield heavier weapons, and increases your equipment load. This means you can wear heavier armor to increase your defense.
What stats are best for strength build? ›There are three stats that you should prioritise with a strength build in Elden Ring. These are strength, vigor, and endurance. Strength is your primary damage stat you'll be dumping points into as you level up. More often than not, you'll be wanting to pump this up when you're struggling on bosses or later game zones.
What is the easiest build to beat in Elden Ring? ›Magic is one of Elden Ring's easiest 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.
What item requires the most Faith Elden Ring? ›8 Blasphemous Blade
Among the most effective Faith weapons in Elden Ring, Blasphemous Blade makes a rather strong case for itself. The one large drawback it has is its attribute requirements for wielding it effectively. You'll need ratings of 22 in Strength, 15 in Dexterity, and 21 in Faith.
If infused with Flame Art, the Str and Dex scaling get severely reduced, and the fire damage scales strongly with Faith.
What is the best seal in 30 Faith Elden Ring? ›
Overall, the Erdtree Seal is the best option as it has decent stats all around without favoring a single playstyle. It's not the best Seal for a Frenzied Flame build, though, nor is it the best for a player wanting to use Dragon Incantations.
Should I level up strength or Dex Elden Ring? ›you normally only want enough strength to equip your weapon/shield. keen ashes tend to remove strength scaling. some dex focused unique weapons do scale with strength a bit but usually not enough to be worth points that are better spent elsewhere.
What is the best strength build in Elden Ring dual wield? ›If you want a Strength-focused dual wield build, you must equip the colossal weapon Giant Crusher to each hand. It's effective in both PVP and PVE scenarios and can make taking down bosses easy. This colossal weapon is among the best in the game for dealing the massive damage in the least amount of time.
What is the fastest strength weapon in Elden Ring? ›The Beastman's Cleaver is one of the fastest strength type weapons in Elden Ring since it has an equip load of 16.5, significantly less than other strength weapons.
Is strength build better than Dex? ›Strength builds allow players to take and dish out hits equally effectively, while dexterity builds allow players to become opportunistic assassins who dish out massive damage before retreating.
What percent of my max should I do for strength? ›Endurance – would range between around 12 to 20 reps, which equates to around 65% or lower of an individual's one rep max. Hypertrophy – ranges from six to 12 reps, which equates to around 65%-85% of a one rep max. Strength – ranges from one to five reps, which equates to 85% to 100% of a one rep max.
How should I build strength? ›- lifting weights.
- working with resistance bands.
- heavy gardening, such as digging and shovelling.
- climbing stairs.
- hill walking.
- cycling.
- dance.
- push-ups, sit-ups and squats.
They often have a purple glow, and are weak to weapons that share their stellar origins, as well as Starscourge Radahn's weapons.
What Faith weapon does the most damage? ›Overall Best Faith Weapon in Elden Ring: Winged Scythe
It's great at both attacking and defending against holy damage. The weapon has a high critical strike rate and a large AoE that can attack several enemies simultaneously, dealing significant damage.
...
| Faith | |
|---|---|
| Type | Main Attribute |
| Effect | Attribute required to perform sacred Incantations. Also boosts magic power of faith-scaling Incantations. |
Does the helmet increase Faith? ›
Haligtree Helm is part of the Haligtree Set, and is a Medium Weight head protection that increases Faith. Haligtree Helm protect the player's head by applying various defensive properties, it also changes the appearance as well when it is equipped.
What armor raises Faith? ›If you are looking to increase Faith values, then Commoner's set is the perfect choice for you. Commoners also come with four armor pieces, including Helmet, Chest piece, Gauntlets, and Leg armor. However, only the Chest piece grants Faith for your character.
What is the best strong Faith weapon in Elden Ring? ›- 18 Blade Of Calling.
- 17 Golden Order Sword.
- 16 Godslayer's Seal.
- 15 Gravel Stone Seal.
- 14 Erdtree Seal.
- 13 Golden Halberd.
- 12 Giant's Seal.
- 11 Halo Scythe.
For those looking for a solid early-game Sacred Seal in Elden Ring, the Finger Seal is a good pick. It's also likely going to be the first Seal that new players will come across.
What is the best Faith arcane armor in Elden Ring? ›Elden Ring best Faith armor: Haligtree Knight Set
Despite this, there is one armor set that we highly recommend using with Faith characters: the Haligtree Knight Set. The helmet increases your Faith stat by two points, while the set as a whole offers great damage resistance despite not being too heavy.
Endurance is the most important stat to level up early on, no matter your chosen Elden Ring class, because it increases your stamina. Stamina is required for attacking, blocking, dodging, running, and just generally staying alive during fights. It's by far the thing you need most at the beginning of the game.
What is the strongest melee weapon in Elden Ring? ›1 Blasphemous Blade
The Taker's Flames ash of war is easily one of the strongest available to players. The ash of war coats the sword in flames before it is slammed into the ground, sending a wave of flames in front of the player. The flames also steal HP from the affected enemies.
Every point in Dexterity increases the cast speed slightly. Points in Dexterity reduces Fall Damage, as well as making it harder to get knocked off Torrent.
Is dual-wielding stronger in Elden Ring? ›Dual-wielding weapons in Elden Ring allow you to use two different weapons in the same attack. It results in more lethal attacking capability. Giantcrusher is a deadly weapon when dual-wielded, giving a staggering damage of 700+. Its high requirement of strength for dual-wielding is a drawback.
What are the cons of dual wield in Elden Ring? ›Because Elden Ring is the type of game that will punch you in the face after delicately helping you up, dual wielding weapons has a couple of drawbacks. It will stop you from being able to use a shield, as you will have a weapon in both hands.
Is it worth dual-wielding in Elden Ring? ›
Whether it's for aesthetic or practical purposes, dual-wielding weapons in Elden Ring can make for some unique and fun ways to approach combat. The game has a great spectrum of weaponry and picking out a single weapon for your character to be built around can be tough, so why not choose two?
What is the hardest hitting strength weapon in Elden Ring? ›The Giant-Crusher has the highest Strength stat requirement in Elden Ring, and for good reason. It's incredibly powerful, with very high stagger potential against enemies.
What is the strongest strength weapon in Elden? ›1 Giant-Crusher
Last but not least is perhaps Elden Ring's quintessential strength weapon - the Giant-Crusher. With massive weight, damage, and enough size to block a sizable portion of the screen, the Giant-Crusher can be cumbersome to use, but its raw power more than makes up for the inconvenience.
The Axe of Godrick scales primarily with Strength and Dexterity, and is a good Weapon for melee characters that prefer slow, but powerful attacks. Greataxe wielded by Godrick the Grafted.
What is the best strength Faith seal in Elden Ring? ›1 Erdtree Seal
Though it starts at a paltry 60 Incantation scaling stat, one that only goes up to around 240 at +10, its Faith scaling is what raises the Erdtree Seal to be the best Sacred Seal in Elden Ring.
There are two classes in Elden Ring that begin with high Faith and Incantations: the Prophet and the Confessor. While they may initially appear similar, there are some key differences - even with Elden Ring's classes not affecting character builds much in the long term.
What seal scales with Faith and strength? ›Golden Order Seal is a Sacred Seal in Elden Ring. The Golden Order Seal scales primarily with Intelligence and Faith and is a good Weapon for enhancing incantations of hybrid Intelligence/Faith casters. The Golden Order Seal additionally boosts Golden Order Fundamentalist incantations.
Who is the best Faith character in Elden Ring? ›The Prophet is the top class with high Faith value with Arcane and Strength.
Does Faith increase damage in Elden Ring? ›Each point allocated to the Faith stat increases the effectiveness and damage dealt by Incantations cast with weapons that have Faith scaling.
What type of Faith damage is best in Elden Ring? ›Overall Best Faith Weapon in Elden Ring: Winged Scythe
It's great at both attacking and defending against holy damage. The weapon has a high critical strike rate and a large AoE that can attack several enemies simultaneously, dealing significant damage.
What is the best seal for Faith build? ›
What is this? The Erdtree Seal is the go-to Seal if you want to rock a pure Faith build. Not only does it have a high faith requirement, but it also provides the highest damage output for all the incantations.
What is the best early Faith armor in Elden Ring? ›The Carian Knight set is the best early armor in Elden Ring players can obtain if they are going for a low-weight but reliably-defensive build. It can be found in the graveyard of the Academy of Raya Lucaria without beating any bosses, making it suited to early-game players who are struggling.