In the dark and fantastical world of Ring of Firevery few builds give you the feeling of a traditional adventurer like the Knight build do.
While many builds take advantage of powerful spells or legendary weapons in Elden Ring, others focus on less powerful solutions and remain quite effective against the game’s daunting challenges.
If you’re looking for traditional, simple construction, we’ve got you covered. In this guide you will find a complete overview on the best knight build in Elden Ring with the best stats, weapons, armor and talismans this will allow you to face any enemy in the game.
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How to play with the Knight build in Elden Ring
While we tend to have a preconceived idea of what a knight build is, there are quite a few variations. The “knight” aspect of the build is more thematic than necessarily a specific type of gameplay. For this Knight build, we’re going for a traditional Strength-centric approach, where we use a long or colossal weapon to attack enemies with the War Ash Lion’s Claw.
Lion’s Claw is part of the select group of Ashes of War that can literally carry you throughout the game. Using this ability, you lunge forward with your weapon, striking enemies in front of you, causing posture and direct damage . Lion’s Claw is not as powerful as Taker’s Flame, but it is still extremely strong.
The idea of this build is to use the Lion’s Claw to stagger enemies and allow you to land critical hits. It’s a simple but effective strategy and I’ll explain why. Different from builds focused on damaging effects, such as Poison, or magic damage, this Knight build does not have to worry about facing enemies resistant to the type of damage it causes. Although the amount of damage required to break a boss’s stance varies, all are susceptible to posture damage.
To make your life easier when trying to acquire the Lion’s Claw skill, this build has a lot of stamina and relies on heavy armor. This build requires you to stay close to enemies, who will likely hit you more often during a fight. For this reason, we need a large health pool and high mastery to deal with their attacks.
Elden Ring Knight Best Stats
For this version we want to achieve high numbers when it comes to stamina and strength. While the first stat regulates your health, the second has a direct impact on the damage you can cause. Next to these two attributes, Stamina is the third most important for this build, as we want to use good armor sets without sacrificing the ability to repel enemy attacks.
If you are a new player, we offer you the starter courses Vagabond Or hero. The stat distribution offered by these two classes is enough to start playing as a knight. Below you’ll find approximately how many points a level 150 character should have for each stat:
- Vigor: 60
- Spirit: 24
- Endurance: 30
- Strength: 80
- Dexterity: 14
- Intelligence:9
- Faith:9
- Esoteric:7
In case you would like to have access to more tools, such as incantations to improve your attack and defense, you can take a few Force points to put them into Faith. By leaving 60 points in Strength, you have more than enough to make the construction work.
Best weapons in Elden Ring Knight
It is possible to play a knight build with medium sized swords, maces, hammers and halberds. For this release we are focusing on great swords And colossal swords. We mainly want them because by infusing them with Lion Claws you can deal high posture damage.
Early in the game, when you are still in Stormveil, one of the best options is to get the Claymore. It’s a two-handed sword that you can find in a chest Château Morne and only requires 16 Strength and 13 Dexterity to use. The reason you want this sword is because it already has the Lion’s Claw skill. The Claymore is more than enough to face the initial bosses and learn how to use the skill.
Later, once you are stronger to face Caelid, it will be time to get the best weapon for this build. The Greatsword is a colossal sword, similar to the famous sword from the anime/manga Berserk. This impressive weapon scales with Strength and Dexterity and requires 31 Strength and 12 Dexterity so you can use it.
To find the Greatsword you need to go to Caelid and follow the main road until you find a carriage. Next door there are a few giant dogs, so be careful as they can easily kill you in the early to mid game. Open the trunk in the back of the car to find the Greatsword. For this build, there’s actually no need to search for other weapons once you have the greatsword.
Elden Ring Knight best armor
With this Knight build, you may want to prioritize the aesthetic factor over attributes. Fortunately, there are plenty of armors that offer good strength and balance, and will still make you look like a respectable knight.
THE Knight armor The set is one of the first you have access to in the game as the Twin Mainde Husks sell the pieces in the Roundtable Hold. Although this is a simple armor set, don’t let its appearance fool you. In addition to not affecting your gear charge, this set contains 51 Poise, which is ideal for the early to mid game. If you want to play with his look, consider using the Carian Knight Helm, from the Carian Knight set that you will find in the Raya Lucaria Academy.
If you want a less traditional look but good stats in your armor, consider completing D, the Hunter’s Quest. At the end of his quest, you receive the Twin set armor, which is a huge improvement over the Knight armor in terms of durability.
Once you’re in the latter part of the game, you find a few different sets that can work with the build thematically speaking. Maliketh Ensemble is a great option if you’re looking for ways to create a Dark Knight type. Because you can only purchase this set from Enia in the Round Table after defeating Maliketh in Farum Azula crumbledit may take a while before you can wear this one.
The best talismans of Elden Ring Knight
As a build focused on melee combat and using an Ash of War, the Knight build requires certain talismans to ensure the gameplay loop flows. The talismans selected for this build will not be available until later in the game. At first you should look for talismans that increase the main statistics construction and defense.
When it comes to increasing your damage, the best talisman is the Shard of Alexander. This talisman increases the attack power of your skills, meaning your Lion’s Claw will hit harder when Alexander’s Shard is equipped. To get your hands on this talisman, you must complete the Iron Fist Alexander questline.
Alongside Shard of Alexander, another useful talisman is the Quest for the Filigree Crest, which reduces the FP cost of your skills. While it doesn’t directly increase your damage, this talisman ensures that you can cast more Lion Claws with an FP bar. Once you have met War Advisor Iji while exploring the western region of Liurnia of the Lakes, or during Blaidd’s questline, you can purchase the Carian Filigree Crest from him.
The third talisman you want for this build is the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman. Considering how much damage you will eventually take while playing this build, this talisman’s effect of reducing physical damage taken becomes extremely useful. You will find the Dragoncrest Great Shield Talisman in Elphael, Brace of the Haligtreea secret area in the Midlands that you access by unlocking the Consecrated Snowfield area.
In the last talisman slot you want to have the Grand-Jar Arsenal talisman. This item is ideal for this build because it increases the weight you can carry. If you want to wear heavier armor or more weapons, this talisman is what you need. You obtain this item by completing the Great-Jar’s challenge in the Dragonbarrow region, located in the northern part of Caelid.
Need help? Return to our Elden Ring boss list or our Elden Ring walkthrough.
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