If you are looking for powerful setups for Shadow of the Erdtree, then we've got all you need to craft the best Elden Ring builds for both PvP and PvE play.

What are the best Elden Ring builds? The first 20 levels shape your entire class, so selecting your stats carefully is essential. While placing some stat points into faith as an Astrologer may be tempting, you're probably better off committing to the full sorcery build to maximize your damage in the late game.

The builds in this guide are not only compatible with the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, you can easily play through the entire expansion without ever swapping out any of your armor or weapons. If you've found that your build has been nerfed, never fear — grab a specific Elden Ring Runes. You'll be able to unlock character respec, and you can simply create a new one!

The expansion has a separate leveling system that involves exploring the map to find Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes; these Elden Ring items buff your attacks while negating damage you take, and they strengthen Torrent and your summons, respectively. Make sure you grab these items right away as you will struggle to defeat the enemies in the new area without them!

Once you obtain the required stats for your build, spend the rest of your stats in these three areas: Vigor, Mind, and Endurance. It's important to remember that the soft cap for Vigor is 60, Mind is 55, and Endurance is 32.

Bloodfiend's Arm Bleed build

Starting Class: Bandit

Key Stats: Arcane 50, Strength 60, Endurance 50

Essential Items: Rakshasa armor set, White Mask, Axe Talisman, Two-Handed Sword Talisman

There's something magical about wielding a colossal weapon that makes you feel unstoppable, and the Bloodfiend's Arm with the right build will turn you into a destructive force. Despite being hit with a slight nerf in the same patch that killed the Lightning Perfume Bottle, the Bloodfiend's Arm is still capable of ripping through any enemy you put in front of it. You will need to equip this weapon with Ash of War: Endure (the Blood affinity variation) to make sure it scales with both Strength and Arcane: Strength affects how much damage you deal per hit, and Arcane affects the bleed build-up on enemies.

You can find the Bloodfiend's Arm within the first few hours of the expansion, but first, you need to make your way to the Main Gate Cross Site of Grace. Once you're there, head to the east and jump along the cliff edge, following the hollow gravestones until you reach the archway. Continue towards the south where you will hit Prospect Town, from here, climb the broken tower to find multiple enemies standing around. The Bloodfiend's Arm isn't a guaranteed drop, so you may have to come back to this area and kill these enemies again.

The easiest way to buff your damage is by wearing the new Rakshasa set which we've highlighted in our Elden Ring armor guide. As for the helmet, the White Mask is a must-have for any build as it increases your damage whenever blood loss occurs in battle. The talismans can be switched out depending on the boss you're fighting against, but we highly recommend the Axe and Two-Handed Sword Talisman to maximize your damage output.

There will be times when you take damage as you're swinging, but that shouldn't be a problem as long as your Vigor is nice and high. You need to pay close attention to your opponent's multi-hitting attacks — taking too much damage while you're attempting to attack will knock you out of your animation. Once you've analyzed the attack patterns of each boss, it won't take long before you're crushing everything in your sight.

Lightning Perfume Bottle Prophet build

Starting Class: Prophet

Key Stats: Faith 50, Dexterity 50, Vigor 50

Essential Items: Blasphemous Blade, Bloodsucking Cracked Tear, Ash of War Rolling Sparks, Perfumer's Talisman, Shard of Alexander

Best Incantation: Knight's Lightning Spear

Okay, so the Lightning Perfume Bottle build was deservedly nerfed, but from our testing post-patch, it seems like this build still has some legs. You can't electrify bosses in under a minute anymore, but the damage you can deal using the Lightning Perfume Bottle is still impressive. We're still pairing this weapon with the Ash of War: Rolling Sparks to add lightning explosions to each attack. If you aim directly at the floor where your enemy is standing, you can deal one concentrated burst of lightning damage to eliminate enemies in seconds.

The main change we're making to this build is to add the Blasphemous Blade to give you another option in combat. This weapon heals you every time you deal damage to enemies, and during boss battles, this can save you from death when you least expect it. Scroll to our dedicated Blasphemous Blade build on this page to find out where to find this deadly sword.

The Lightning Perfume Bottle is easy to find once you find the Cerulean Coast Site of Grace — give our Elden Ring DLC map guide a read if you need help locating it. From the Cerulean Coast, make your way to the body of water in the north and keep going straight until you approach a rock, from there turn left and pick the weapon up. The fastest way to pick up Rolling Sparks is to travel to the Shadow Keep Main Gate, go down the elevator, and ride towards the tallest rock in the west. As you climb the rock, look directly up to find a glowing scarab floating in the air. Kill it before it disappears to claim the Ash of War.

You can go further beyond by equipping the Perfumer's Talisman which boosts the damage from Perfume attacks by 20%, and by using the Shard of Alexander to boost your skill damage by an additional 15%. There really isn't much you need to do to play optimally with this build, but there are a few things you should know. Your main weapon scales with Faith and Dexterity, which is why we've put so many points into these areas, and you can't go wrong with a bolstered amount of Vigor.