Here is the best sword and shield build in Elden Ring (2023)

Ever wanted to play a FromSoftware without constantly dying? Don't worry, your plight has been answered. A Sword and Shield build has held a fairly common place in Elden Ring. As stronger builds take the spotlight, there's one specific flaw a shield can fix that perhaps nothing else can.

In terms of tank ability, you simply survive more hits and even feel almost invincible against some bosses. Having said thatThe best sword and shield build in Elden Ring requires you to be playing the Vagabond class and carrying the following items:

• Waffen:
  • Poison Ant Trail Rapier
  • Blood Ant Trail Rapier
  • blood spike
• Hallows:
  • Großschild-Talisman
  • Radagon's Wound Seal
  • Ritual Sword Talisman
• Armor:
  • Mausoleum Knight's Greaves
  • Vagabunden-Helm
  • Knight Armor of the Mausoleum
  • Mausoleum Knight Gloves

However, this concoction of a build only works best when you have an idea of ​​how shields work in the game and how to use them effectively!

Recommended statistics

For this build, theVagabundenklasseis the way to go, it puts you at a decent level of strength right from the start and is considered the de facto standard if you want to play a tank in Elden Ring. When it comes to scaling, put a big focus on strength. From there, increase your stamina to the point where you can actually equip all of the weapons we'll mention below.

SPOILER WARNING:Big spoilers from this point! Proceed with caution!

Shield: Fingerprint Stone Shield

The be-all and end-all of this build is the Fingerprint Stone Shield. With the Greatshield Talisman (more on that later) it's hailed as the heaviest shield in the game and you can get 100 Guard Boost. Essentially, this allows you to block all physical damage without draining your stamina.

So you are almost invincible if you hold down the block button with the shield. The only way you'll end up taking any kind of damage is by dealing damage that the shield doesn't inherently block against. In this case it is:

Bonus-Tipp:You can place Ashes of War on your fingerprint stone shield, which also grants you elemental resistance!

• Magic
• Feuer
• Blitz
• Holy

However, since most of the bosses in Elden Ring primarily deal physical damage, with a few instances of elemental damage sprinkled here and there, you're ready to make the most of it. With update 1.03 coming and SNAF removed from the meta, you'll be seeing more of Stone Shield as its main weakness (at least if it's not updated), elemental damage, is on the way out.

How to find the Fingerprint Stone Shield

(Video) The Strongest TANK Build You Will Ever See In Elden Ring | Ultimate Shield Only & Shield+Spear Build

Since the shield is an essential part of the build and finding it can be particularly annoying, here's how to do it. You must have defeated before proceedingHe growled, der Omenkönig

• Go to the underground avoidance places
• After that, go west and climb the pipe
• After that, head towards the lower tunnels and move towards the eastern sewers
• Once you reach the ladder, get on an elevator, go down, and you'll have to defeat Mohg.
• Hit the altar behind the chest and reveal a secret passage
• Some platforms require you to navigate to the bodies that are below until you see the shield on the left.

If you're confused, here's a quick guide to help you find the shield fairly effectively:

Weapon: Antspur Rapier / Blood Pike

What a betrayal! Why fit a Pike into a sword and shield only build? Well, we have good reason to. But first, let's talk about why you might want to use a rapier or a pike. Basically, it totally depends on the situation.

• Rapier:A rapier allows you to deal more damage and deal more elemental damage. In addition, it has a faster attack rate and is easier to maneuver.
• Pike:A Pike has a much longer attack range, but is also slower. While it deals a respectable amount of damage, its attack rate generally leaves a lot to be desired.

In our experience, there are two types of bosses in Elden Ring. There are bosses like thatKinship of the Black Bladewho like to keep their distance while a boss like thatRadagon of the Golden Orderstays close and personable so you can use your rapier instead.

(Video) Elden Ring Best Shields Guide : How to Make Shield Builds with Best Ash of Wars !

Alternativer Build: Schildcrash

Assuming you're not a big fan of wielding anything other than the shield, well we've got you covered. To turn the shield into an offensive powerhouse, you'll need to grab its Ashes of War, which grants you a new ability, Shield Crash.

This allows you to effectively smash through enemies with the same damage negation that it already offers. It is located in the Lux Ruins and is dropped by a Teardrop Scarab found near the Trestle Site of Grace.

Now that we have three different builds, let's compare them all and get an idea of ​​which build fits which situation:

Talisman / Armor

In our playthrough, there are a variety of different talismans that you can use. For example, we recommend one of the following:

• Großschild-Talisman: Increases your Defense Boost to 100 so you don't lose stamina no matter how long you block
• Radagon's Wound Seal: Increases the damage you take, but gives you +5 attribute points
• Ritual Sword Talisman: Increases your attack power when your HP is maxed out
• Speer-Talisman:Allows you to counter better if you decide to use your spear/pike (how dare you!)

One consistent factor, however, is the Greatshield Talisman, which allows you to get the aforementioned 100 Guard Boost.

How to get it:

• Go to the Erdtree-Gazing Hill sanctuary
• Head straight east and you'll find a parked carriage
• Go to the back of the carriage and you'll find the talisman behind a chest

In terms of what we found most effective besides the Greatshield Talisman, the Ritual Sword Talisman worked great in PvE as we kept most of our casts at max health, resulting in the boost being permanently active. That said, Radagon's soreseal kept our poke deadly even against tougher bosses.

armor

In terms of armor, we've stuck with the basic Vagabond Helm, aside from the Mausoleum set that can be farmed by the Mausoleum Knights in Lirunia of the Lakes. While you're free to experiment since you don't take much physical damage anyway, investing in armor shouldn't really be your top priority.

How to play Sword and Shield in Elden Ring

With this build you have to play extremely defensively. Staying on offense is never really an option until you're confident you can land a few hits. To keep your stamina high, make sure you keep dropping your cover so you can regenerate it.

That being said, you should be able to do well against any boss provided you make the right weapon choice. Since most bosses don't deal much elemental damage, you should be able to get through their relatively low magic/elemental damage with relative ease.

PvP with sword and shield

However, in PvP you might need to get some elemental resistance going before using this build against other players as you might end up being engulfed in magic/bleed damage pretty quickly. Since you're not going up against AI, you'll encounter a few cheesy players who will be able to stand behind you.

However, if you're good at positioning, even their strongest attack won't do you much damage, especially if they're physical in nature. While this build can feel extremely fun, it is also extremely annoying to deal with. So use it with the caution of your own sanity.

That's it for our presentation of the best sword and shield building in Elden Ring. What are your thoughts? let us know in the comments below!