It is no surprise that Elden Ring has a large focus on its magic system, giving players plenty of versatile spells. However, some players may want to take a more direct approach and decimate their foes point-blank with overwhelming power behind every swing. This is where the Strength stat comes into play. There are a lot of powerful Strength-orientated weapons, but players will need to know what builds can bring the most out of a weapon.
Related
Elden Ring: 10 Best Quests That Are Easy To Miss
It’s a bit surprising how much players are prone to miss a few characters’ Quests in Elden Ring.
Most Strength builds play the same way, running up and staggering enemies that survive the first hit with a colossal weapon such as Giant-Crusher. However, some will mix in other stats to achieve levels of power that normally would never be within their reach. This can include dipping into magic-orientated stats such as Intelligence or Faith. Some even dip into Dexterity to make what is known as a Quality build.
Updated on February 10th, 2025 by Chad Thesen: Strength builds are all about destroying enemies with raw power. However, combining these with different Ash of War abilities can completely change how a build is utilized and how it feels to play. Some Strength builds will utilize colossal weapons that have slow wind-ups, but deliver utterly devastating damage numbers. Other Strength builds will focus on stance breaks to stagger enemies, opening them for critical hits. Some of the best options for exploring the world will make use of great shields that let players guard break through enemies to make them incredibly tanky.
1
Crucible Axe Armor & Ordovis Greatsword Build
For Fans Of Eochaid Playstyle
Greatswords are great at melting bosses, making them a great choice for Strength builds. Ordovis’s Greatsword has a Faith requirement of 15, meaning it just covers enough points to pair with the Flame, Grant me Strength incantation. It also comes with the weapon skill of Ordovis’s Vortex Skill. Using Ash of War: Golden Vow will stack with Flame, Grant me Strength. However, the incantation version of Golden Vow will not stack. Godfrey Icon will boost the damage of Ordovis’s Vortex when players charge it, while Shard of Alexander will grant it a flat damage increase.Flock’s Canvas Talisman will increase the potency of Flame, Grant Me Strength. Taker’s Cameo will give players’ health back as they make their way between Sites of Grace and delving through dungeons.
Related
Elden Ring: How To Use The Colosseum
The Colosseum is a PVP-focused location players can go to test their skills against others in Elden Ring; here’s how to use it.
Optionally, players can reduce their other stats to increase their Faith high enough for the listed optional incantations below. These incantations will give them more options in combat. This set will provide an increase in damage output regardless of Faith, justifying its use. However, it will also boost the damage of the listed Optional Incantations and make for a great stance-breaking build. This also makes Flock’s Canvas Talisman an even better pairing than it already is.
This playstyle is reminiscent of builds that are associated with the Eochaid’s Dancing Blade skill on Regalia of Eochaid and Marais Executioner’s Sword.
2
Golem Halberd Bull-Goat Armor Build
Obliterate Enemies At Point Blank
The playstyle for this build is just to walk up and destroy anything in a player’s way — being mindful that this does not mean they cannot die from being reckless. Players will make use of the Golem’s Halberd colossal weapon, which requires a rather high Strength requirement. This will work by putting Ash of War: Royal Knight’s Resolve on the Halberd and using charged attacks to unleash an eye-widening amount of damage per hit. The 
Bull-Goat Set
allows one to have the highest poise in the game and lets one just keep hammering away at their target with charged attacks until it becomes staggered.
Related
Elden Ring: 8 Best Dragon Cult Incantations, Ranked
Lightning Spells, or Dragon Cult Incantations, are some of the most overpowered spells in Elden Ring. Here are the ones you should try out.
Players will want the vast majority of their flasks allocated to restoring HP and topping up their health to keep clear of the danger zone. This build’s talismans will be the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman to improve survivability, Axe Talisman to further boost damage from charged attacks, and Bull-Goat’s Talisman to increase poise to its highest levels. The Curved Sword Talisman is great for clearing away smaller enemies using block counters, but can also be useful to return damage after being hit by a boss when a player does not have enough time to commit to their next Royal Knight’s resolve charged attack.
3
Dragon-Hunter Build
A Quality Build Using DLC content
Most Strength Builds follow the same formula of ramping up damage and smashing enemies point-blank — and a prime example of this can be found using Giant-Crusher. This build offers players the option of putting points into both Strength and Dexterity to create a Quality build with faster attacks and more dodge windows. A lot of the pieces in this set will require players to have the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC — which introduced some great Strength-focused weapons. This is also a great option for players who don’t want to buff themselves up before a fight or put together a setup before they can make their next attack.
The weapon skill of the Dragon-Hunter’s Great Katana means players can fight at a bit more of a distance, and prevent getting hit by their enemies as frequently — or even not at all. The Rakshasa Set, Shard of Alexander, Two-Handed Sword Talisman, and Godfrey Icon will all ramp up this build’s damage to drop enemies as fast as possible. The Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman will help with survivability for the attacks that do connect with the player. Good Quality weapons like this can help players feel like they keep getting stronger and not soft-capped.
4
Magma Blade Build
Covers The Floor in Pools of Magma
This build requires players to get their hands on the Magma Blade. This is a weapon that scales with 3 stats, namely Strength, Faith, and Dexterity. However, it sees better scaling with its Strength when improved. Players will base their playstyle around the Magma Blade’s default weapon skill for this build. This skill will cause pools of lava to be scattered around the battleground, dealing damage to all enemies that touch it. Enemies will continuously take damage from all hits and all pools of magma formed, allowing players to rack up high damage numbers quickly.
The Fire Knight Helm and Fire Knight Armor do nothing for this build’s damage, despite their name. Instead, these are great for raising the maximum health to survive taking hits at such close range. Talisman of Dread will increase the damage of magma, which is one of the primary damage dealing sources for this build. Other Talismans that will be boosting damage for Magma Shower include the Fire Scorpion Charm and the Shard of Alexander. The Two-Headed Turtle Talisman will greatly raise stamina recovery speed, allowing players to play more aggressively and fell foes faster.
5
Highland Troll-Crusher Build
Simple and Devastatingly Powerful
It will not surprise anyone to see a Strength build with a colossal weapon. The Giant-Crusher is one of the most well-known colossal weapons in the game. It is ridiculously heavy and deals obscene amounts of damage. This is because it is one of the few weapons to achieve an S scaling for its damage. The S scaling for this weapon lies with Strength. Its default weapon skill is Endure, but players are going to want to swap this out with the Ash of War called Troll’s Roar. Having the Highland Axe assigned to the player’s offhand will give them a damage boost to this Ash of War.
This is not a dodgy build, but a stand your ground build. This means players are going to want the heaviest armor possible to mitigate as much damage as possible. This makes the Bull Goat Set and the Bull-Goat Talisman valuable pieces of gear for this build. Players will use the Troll Roar on their enemies, then strike to stagger and crit their way through everything. Having both Assassin’s Dagger talismans will be very useful for non-boss fights while exploring the world to stay topped up on HP and FP.
6
Carian Thrusting Shield Build
Highly Versatile Strength Build
Shadow of the Erdtree added plenty of new pieces of gear to theorize new ways to play the game. One such option comes in the form of the Carian Thrusting Shield. This is both a damage-blocking shield, and a damage-dealing weapon. When reinforced to be the Heavy Carian Thrusting Shield, it will scale with Strength with a value of A. Without this crucial step, its scaling will sit at an E. Players can block almost every incoming attack and stand their ground, only taking minimal damage.
This weapon has access to guard counters and can proc stagger from its jump attacks, giving it the versatility to face down every kind of threat the game can throw at players. This build burns through stamina and will need to quickly recover. This makes the Two-headed Turtle Talisman a must-have. The Cragblade Ash of War will further enhance its effectiveness in these areas. Players can wear any armor they want so long as they can roll unencumbered, but 
Raptor’s Black Feathers
can help with jump attacks.
- Released
-
February 25, 2022