Elden Ring: The 5 Best Arcane Builds (2024)

Elden Ring has three main stats when it comes to handling spells. Intelligence is for mastering the incredibly large number of Sorceries, Faith is for players that want to commit to a specific style of spellcasting through Incantations, and Arcane for a niche array of spells that can be utterly devastating in the right hands.

Arcane is not just used for spellcasting, it boosts various defenses, will increase the damage of several weapons, and will be the driving force for one of the games most notoriously overpowered mechanics, building up the Hemorrhage status effect on enemies. Another amazing element of the Arcane stat is how it will increase players' Drop Rate. It's a great stat to invest in, so here are some of the best Arcane builds to put together.

5 Bloodblade Dance Build

For Burst Damage Enthusiasts

This build revolves around getting Elenora’s Poleblade. This is a very fun weapon to use in terms of dealing burst damage and triggering the Hemorrhage status effect on enemies. Players will want Shard of Alexander for a boost in damage to this skill, along with Rotten Winged Sword Insignia and Millicent's Prosthesis which will both deal additional damage from consecutive hits.

Lord of Blood's Exultation is a Talisman that will further increase players’ damage whenever the Hemorrhage status effect is triggered in the vicinity. Players will also want to get their hands on the White Mask helm, as it will stack with Exultation.

4 Eochaid's Dancing Blade Build

Not Everything Relies On Bleed

Players may think that having an Arcane build instantly implies playing towards a bleed build, but that is not always the case. Arcane is a very flexible stat that can branch into many different builds down the line. One such example is a Strength/Arcane build that uses Marais Executioner's Sword to devastating effect. Both this weapon and Regalia of Eochaid share the weapon skill Eochaid's Dancing Blade Skill , which allows the user to throw the weapon and deal consecutive strikes with it.

This build is stunning when covering ground between Sites of Grace, as it lets players engage enemies at a distance with Eochaid's Dancing Blade Skill , which will have various stacked damage buffs, allowing players to quickly gain access to a sizable amount of the game’s map. This build is not as effective against bosses as others, but will stagger and annihilate large groups with ease, making it worth adding it to a player’s collection of weapons.

3 Dragon Communion Build

Arcane Spellcaster With Gaurd Counter

Here is something players will love if they want to have access to a wide range of combat options throughout the entire game. This build makes use of theDragon Communion Seal and its associated set of spells, as they scale with the Arcane stat to unleash a massive amount of damage — be warned, they have rather slow wind-ups.

The Ripple Blade scales with Arcane damage, and the Jellyfish Shield can increase one’s damage using its weapon skill. Pulling off a guard counter with this combo trivializes almost every non-boss enemy in the entire game. Players will want to put on the Silver Tear Mask before facing off against bosses for the +8 Arcane boost to their Dragon Communion Spells.

2 Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear Build

Paint The World Red With Blood

Using the weapon skill of Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear takes practice to get the timing right. Players will need to get their positioning down to a science to makeBloodboon Ritual Skill effective against bosses. Making use of a Spirit Ash Summon can be a great way to take some of the aggro off the player, as they spam this weapon skill to proc the Hemorrhage status effect over and over.

Players will want to use Blessed Blue Dew Talisman between bosses, but switch to Carian Filigreed Crest when taking on one of the the bosses themselves. Meanwhile, the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman will help players take a hit, which is tricky with so many of their points allocated into Arcane. In the right hands, this build can trivialize the entire game as one of the most overpowered build options available.

1 Rivers Of Blood Build

Another Great Bleed Option

One cannot make a list of notable Arcane builds without including this iconic build. While it is much better suited to PvP than PvE, it is still a very fun setup to try out. In fact, its playstyle is very similar to the Eochaid's Dancing Blade Build listed above. However, this build relies on triggering Hemorrhage, while the Eochaid's Dancing Blade Build is more about staggering and dealing out large burst damage numbers.

This build will use White Mask and Lord of Blood's Exultation in the same way as Bloodblade Dance Build. It will also make use of Millicent's Prosthesis and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia , as it will deal numerous consecutive hits — since Rivers of Blood is a fast striking Katana.

Elden Ring

RPG

Action

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:95/100 Critics Recommend:98%

Platform(s)

PS5 , Xbox One , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC

Released

February 25, 2022

Developer(s)

From Software

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