Elden Ring Best Builds For DLC Shadow of the Erdtree in 2024

The highly anticipated Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree is releasing soon in June 2023. This DLC promises to bring challenging new bosses, areas to explore, weapons to find and more secrets of the Lands Between to uncover.

To prepare for this daunting new content, you’ll want to optimize your character build as much as possible. In this guide, we’ll go over some of the best builds to help you conquer the DLC based on the limited information we have so far.

Highlights show

Attack Power Scaling

According to interviews with creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, the DLC will feature a new attack power scaling system similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Essentially, this means your attack power will increase as you defeat bosses and progress through the DLC content.

What this means for builds is that overpowered setups may be less effective early on. However, builds focused on stagger, stance breaks and status effects like bleed, frost and scarlet rot can still thrive regardless of attack power.

Stagger & Stance Damage

Skills and spells that deal high stance damage, such as Square Off, Unendurable Frenzy, Impaling Thrust and others, will be very strong. These allow you to consistently break enemy stances for critical hits.

Weapons with skills like Lion’s Claw and Giant Hunt can also deal massive stance damage. Pair these with the Stonebarb Cracked Tear to boost stance damage even further.

Bleed & Status Effects

Bleed, frost, poison and scarlet rot all scale with enemy health, not your attack rating. So status focused builds should still perform well in the DLC.

Powerful bleed weapons like Rivers of Blood, Eleonora’s Poleblade and more can quickly shred bosses. Occult infusions also boost bleed build up on weapons.

Cold infusions add frost, and Poison/Poison Moth Flight can spread deadly poison. Elden Ring Items like blood grease, frozen grease and more can also help add status effects.

Holy Damage

Some speculate holy damage may be more useful in the DLC since it’s the opposite of the shadowy enemies. The Black Blade incantations already deal a mix of physical and holy damage.

Weapons like the Blasphemous Blade, Golden Order Greatsword and more can also unleash holy power. So faith builds with access to holy spells and weapons may thrive.

New Game & Gargoyle Weapons

If starting fresh, the Gargoyle black blade weapons you can get early from the Valiant Gargoyles boss are excellent choices. They have high base attack ratings while only needing minimum stats to wield.

Some good options are the Gargoyle’s Black Blades, Gargoyle’s Black Axe and Gargoyle’s Black Halberd. All offer physical and holy damage for a potent combo.

Spirit Ashes

How spirit ashes will be affected by the new attack scaling is unknown. But they can provide a useful advantage against tough enemies, so upgrading spirit ashes before the DLC is recommended.

Some great all-round picks are the Mimic Tear, Tiche, Dung Eater and Skeletal Militiamen ashes. Test out different spirits to see which complement your playstyle.

Recommended Builds

Here are some recommended build ideas that utilize the tips mentioned:

Bleed Samurai

Rivers of Blood Katana for exceptional bleed buildup.
Uchigatana with Occult infusion as secondary bleed weapon.
Samurai starting class offers high starting Dex.
Focus on Dex, Arcane and Vigor.

Death Paladin

Blasphemous Blade for holy damage and healing.
Black Blade incantations to complement the sword.
Holy focused seals like Erdtree Seal to boost incants.
Starting as Prophet gets you early access to incants.

Frost Reaper

Dual scythes like Halo Scythe with Cold infusion for frost buildup.
Frost spells like Freezing Mist to boost frost effects.
Bone Rattler Ash of War for Physical and frost damage.
Prioritize Dex, Int and Vigor on an Astrologer start.

There are many other potent builds worth considering too, such as poison, bleed and more. Test out different weapons and items to see what feels most effective and enjoyable for you.

Planning your build for the Elden Ring DLC by utilizing bleed, frost, holy damage, spirit ashes and more can give you an advantage in this new challenging content. We hope this guide gives you some ideas to prepare the best character possible.

You can also buy Elden Ring items from AOEAH to further gear up your builds with runes, weapons, armor and more useful items.

Stay tuned for more Elden Ring DLC guides as we get closer to the release date. And good luck tarnished! May the shadows guide you through the challenging journeys ahead.