A few days ago, YouTuber Sax Slave Gael asked the Elden Ring Reddit community a simple question: “Anyone here enjoy Basic Sword and Board Knight Builds?” It turns out a lot of people do. Gael’s clip of a knightly Consort Radahn fight did some numbers among the community, so he soon returned with another duel pitting the knight against fan-favorite boss Bayle the Dread, which quickly racked up nearly 10,000 upvotes.
For the true creation of the Lore Accurate Knight, one of my new favorite Elden Ring original characters, we have to go back to Gael’s video from March on “How to Create an Authentic Knight Build” focusing on blocking and guard countering. But it was the Knight’s battle with Bayle that put his saga on my radar, and Gael tells me that after this unexpected spike in popularity, his fight is not yet over.
Gael is not the first person to play an archetypal knight build in Elden Ring, not by a long shot, but the cinematography of the Lore Accurate Knight’s Bayle fight gives the character some real personality and ultimately won me over. As someone who truly learned to love guard countering in the Elden Ring DLC, and who still has a fondness for that unmistakable knight in fluted armor going back to the original Demon’s Souls trailer, the Lore Accurate Knight hits all the right notes. It’s the purest distillation of FromSoftware‘s disempowerment fantasy: you are just a dude with a sword in a world of gods and monsters. OK, you are also a dude with the Sekiro-grade Deflecting Hard Tear, but still.
“My head canon for this character is that he is a lone Round Table Knight who doesn’t fight because he necessarily wants to, but rather has been told to do so by those he meets on his journey,” Gael tells me. “He has no desire to become Elden Lord, but he has been told that is his destiny, so he remains loyal to that cause as part of his Knights Honor.”
Gael has been making Elden Ring content for years, and has collectively spent over 3,000 hours playing hundreds of builds. Something about the sword and board still hits. “Generally I prefer the more basic stuff in Elden Ring, like the Iron Greatsword, Great Mace etc., but I do particularly enjoy the sword and board playstyle, as there is something very satisfying about overcoming a difficult feat using the absolute bare minimum.”
The creation is definitely influenced by the OG Knights that are across From’s earlier Souls games,” he continues. “The Elite Knight Set from the Dark Souls series is one of my personal favorite sets across the series. The inspiration was definitely a callback to those earlier games, but my overall inspiration has been to showcase that, despite it only utilizing the core basics, a simple knight can still overcome some of the game’s most challenging and intimidating bosses.
“I think it’s the idea of how in a world like Elden Ring, where we have all these mighty demigods, powerful dragons with special powers, just a simple knight with a shield and sword being able to outclass them makes it so memorable,” he says. “Imagine how they must feel losing to a common knight with all their power. I think the classic Yhorm the Giant meme kind of captures that feeling perfectly.”
After the overwhelming response to the Knight’s Bayle fight – “one user even paid me to do it again with the UI/HUD turned off for a more cinematic effect, which I happily obliged” – Gael is now planning another entry and a longer video explaining the Knight’s journey. His current build is a level 150 Vagabond with 60 Vigor, 40 Endurance, and 80 Strength – the only stats a knight truly needs.
It’s wonderful seeing so many players appreciate the simple stuff in such a complex game with so many ways to play,” Gael adds. “It has definitely helped revive my creative thinking and inspired me to create more knight-themed characters, as there are many like myself who are passionate and interested in this playstyle.”