Being a caveman is a perfectly reasonable strategy in most FromSoft games. However, in Elden Ring, going full Unga Bunga isn’t just a fun option—it can deal massive damage, if built carefully. Let’s talk about our favorite options for this build.
For the sake of clarity, we’ll describe an Elden Ring Unga Bunga build as one with high Strength, no magic of any kind, and a simple gameplan of beatdown. We’ll offer a few different options for weapons and armor, because some of these weapon options are for the sake of making a thematic build, rather than a powerful one. However, rest assured that you can beat Elden Ring‘s bosses with most varieties of Club.
Best stats for an Unga Bunga build in Elden Ring
Our stats focus on Strength, Vigor, and a bit of Endurance. As a result, we’ll start as a Hero. These stats are for a level 150 Tarnished.
- Vigor: 60
- Mind: Nine
- Endurance: 35
- Strength: 80
- Dexterity: 18
- Intelligence: Seven
- Faith: Eight
- Arcane: 11
Vigor reaches a pretty hard stat cap at 60, so getting it there is our endgame. Of course, Strength can scale up to 90, but ensuring our Endurance is high is a good idea. This build burns through Stamina if you spam Weapon Skills or jump attacks. And, we get the benefit of being able to utilize heavy armor if we need to.
The only other stat we’ve put points into is Dexterity, to 18. This lets you use nearly any Colossal Weapon of your choice, including the Ghiza’s Wheel—no self-respecting caveman could be seen not wielding most of Elden Ring‘s ridiculously-sized weaponry. However, you’ll only need a Dexterity of 14 to use the weapons and shields we recommend.
You’ll need to get your Dexterity to 22 and Faith to 20 if you want to wield nearly all of the huge weapons in the game, though you’d still miss Intelligence weapons. And we’re not here to do any of that “thinking” thing.
Best weapons and shields for an Unga Bunga build in Elden Ring
The most thematic weapons for an Unga Bunga caveman build are Hammers, Great Hammers, and Colossal Weapons in Elden Ring. We recommend finding and upgrading the following weapons for your toolset:
- Great Club: Requires Str 35, found by killing the Stonedigger Troll in Old Atlus Tunnel.
- Large Club: Requires Str 22, found south of the Forlorn Hound Evergaol in Limgrave.
- Curved Great Club: Requires Str 24 and Dex 10, found by farming Albinaurics (the frog-like creatures holding large clubs).
- Club: Requires Str 10, bought from the Nomadic Merchant.
- Giant-Crusher: Requires Str 60, found in the southwest of the outer wall of Leyndell.
While the Great Club would be the optimal weapon of the Unga Bunga build, it suffers from having Golden Land as its one and only Weapon Skill. This prevents it from becoming Heavy, which reduces its potential to scale off of Strength. Thankfully, the other three weapons are capable of doing this important upgrade. The Giant-Crusher is the least caveman-ish of the three, but makes up for it with the strongest Strength scaling in the game when fully upgraded.
The Large Club, Curved Great Club, Club, and Giant Crusher should be turned into Heavy variants. They should also get brand-new Arts of War—we recommend Wild Strikes or Royal Knight’s Resolve. Wild Strikes gives you consistent and high damage, as long as you have the resources, while Royal Knight’s Resolve is perfect for high-damage jump attacks.
As for shields, we like to run without one most of the time. However, there are a few fun options to play around with.
- Jellyfish Shield: Requires Str 20 and Dex 14, found north of the Foot of the Four Belfries.
- Great Turtle Shell: Requires Str 14, found east of the Castle Mourne Rampart Site of Grace.
The Jellyfish Shield is a Greatshield that grants you a large boost in damage through its skill, giving you a good defensive option while not sacrificing your Bunga. The Great Turtle Shell is more for flavor, but comes with the unique upside where it regenerates Stamina while equipped.
Best armor for an Unga Bunga build in Elden Ring
Armor that involves pelts, like the basic Hero set, might work well for your Unga Bunga build. But, we decided to keep things simple—the Shaman Legs provide a decent enough look while removing your character’s default underwear. Female characters will likely want to use the Hero armor to remove the awkward linen bra, if you care about looks. You can also go armor-less to maximize the benefits of one of our Talismans.
If you want to go full Strength, rather than full caveman, the Imp Head (Fanged) can grant a plus-two to Strength, while still being a fine helmet and maintaining a sort of tribal look.
Our build has a lot of Endurance to make use of sprinting and jumping attack, so feel free to just wear some heavy armor. You can still embrace the soul of Unga while wearing heavier armor—like the Omen or Scaled set.
Best Talismans for an Unga Bunga build in Elden Ring
Your Talisman setup for a pure Unga build can involve many different options. We recommend the following:
- Claw Talisman: Stormveil Castle. Enhances jump attacks by around 15 percent.
- Blue Dancer Charm: Highroad Cave. Bumps Attack Power by up to 15 percent, based on how equip load is.
- Dragoncrest Greatshield: Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. Improves physical defenses by 20 percent.
- Ritual Sword Talisman: Lux Ruins, Atlus Plateau. Increases damage by 10 percent when HP is capped.
This setup grants a large boost to damage while also keeping ourselves marginally safe with the Greatshield. The Blue Dancer Charm only grants about nine percent damage, which is quite good for a Talisman that effects weapon damage. The Ritual Sword Talisman can be replaced for the Ritual Shield Talisman if you need some defense instead—and we don’t blame you, this build takes a lot of damage when unarmored.
However, feel free to swap the Dancer Charm and Ritual Sword Talisman for Alexander’s Shard and the Carian Filigreed Crest. This setup focuses on Weapon Skills more than jump attacks, providing a sharper damage increase. Wild Strikes can deal a lot of damage to bosses with low stagger, after all—focusing on it can lead to many boss fights where you bulldoze your opponent with ease.
