Best Arcane build in Elden Ring

Of all the stats in Elden Ring, Arcane is the one that by far has the least builds accessible to them and the least weapons afforded to them. That doesn’t mean it’s a weak one, though. Let’s talk about some of the best options you can choose for an Arcane build.

Best stats for an Arcane build in Elden Ring

This is where you want to be by level 120, though future levels can improve the build drastically. We started as a Bandit for the highest Arcane value, but several classes can provide a fine start for this build.

• Vigor: 40
• Mind: 11
• Endurance: 21
• Strength: 12
• Dexterity: 30
• Intelligence: Nine
• Faith: 16
• Arcane: 60

Unfortunately, for a dedicated Arcane build, investing in a ton of Dexterity is a good idea. Arcane reaches a soft cap at 60, after all, so having a strong secondary stat is nice. Boosting status effect damage with your main stat means you really like to use quick-hitting weapons, like Daggers or Katanas, over Strength-based weapons.

Vigor is the only other stat you truly care about. A tiny investment into Strength lets you wield most Dexterity weapons without issue, especially if you don’t mind two-handing them. If you want to invest in casting, bumping your Faith is a good idea. Getting Faith to around 16 will let you use all Blood magic, but getting more can give you access to a wider range of buffs. If you don’t care much for magic, feel free to put your points into Endurance instead.

Best weapons and gear for an Arcane build in Elden Ring

The best weapons for a pure Arcane build is any Dagger or Fist Weapon enchanted for Bleed. While there are excellent Arcane weapons, such as Rivers of Blood and Reduvia, they usually scale better with Dexterity than Arcane. You should also get an Occult Weapon or a weapon with high Arcane scaling like the Ripple Blade for fighting enemies immune or resistant to Bleed.

There aren’t too many weapons with S scaling in Arcane. The Ripple Blade, sold by the merchant Pidia, is one of the very few. Its quick moveset is also safe to use wildly, making it a good all-rounder for Arcane. Its Weapon Skill leaves a bit to be desired, though. If you’re not a fan of Wild Strikes, you can use an Occult Iron Cleaver.

However, you’ll probably use a Blood weapon as a sidearm. Bleed is a fantastic debuff to apply to any boss, dealing huge percentage health damage. We like Star Fists for this role, but any quick weapon will do. Reduvia, for instance, is excellent for the early game. You’ll want to use Bloody Slash to get your weapons to bleed your foes, since it deals massive damage at a wide range. But if you want to create Blood weapons out of any Ash of War, you’ll need the Black Whetblade from Nokron. Poison Weapons come from the same thing, though they’re usually more effective for bosses that resist Bleed—like Mohg.

Because you’ll almost always have a bit of Faith with your Arcane, you can use the Dragon Communion Seal to scale Incantations off of your best stat. Even without getting enough Faith for Dragon spells, you can still make dividends off of Blood magic with this Seal.

Best armor for an Arcane build in Elden Ring

Our middling Endurance lets you wear medium-weight armors without a care in the world, which is nice for durability. The Mask of Confidence can boost your raw Arcane stat, which is nice for scaling. The Silver Tear Mask gives you a ton of Arcane but causes you to deal less physical damage. This usually isn’t worth the trade-off, unless your foe is weak to bleed.

Other than those two headpieces, wearing any Medium armor that prevents a slow roll is a good idea. The Godrick Knight gear worked fine for us, for example.

Best spells for an Arcane build in Elden Ring

The best spells you can use for a semi-pure Arcane build in Elden Ring are blood Incantations. These low Faith, high Arcane options provide you with a lot of Bleed damage at a good range—or allow you to apply Bleed to an Occult weapon. These are all fantastic to have in your pocket for long-ranged situations—or boss fights.

The four blood spells—Bloodboon, Bloodflame Blade, Bloodflame Talons, and Swarm of Flies—perform a surprisingly wide variety of positive effects for you. Bloodflame Blade for our Ripple Blade gives you a really strong effect on-hit. However, the ranged potential for Bloodboon and Swarm of Flies shouldn’t be underestimated.

You can also use a handful of strong generic Incantations. Flame, Grant me Strength and Heal are both helpful in their own rights. However, your low Mind means you should probably stick to Bloodflame Blade when possible.

Best talismans for an Arcane build in Elden Ring

We recommend having around six talismans that you swap between, depending on whether you’re doing significant bleed damage or not. Here are the six you use the most often for an Arcane build.

• Erdtree’s Favor +2: To help our Health and Stamina, as well as a bit of carrying limit. You won’t get this until very late of the game.
• Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman: This late-game talisman boosts physical defenses by 20 percent. In general, this helps keep bosses from decimating you as effectively.
• Shard of Alexander: Many Arcane weapons have incredible Weapon skills. Even Bloody Slash can deal huge amounts of damage without much of a startup. So, complete the Alexander questline whenever you can. 15 percent damage to Weapon Skills is fantastic.
• Carian Filigreed Crest: Lowering the FP cost of skills by 25 percent, which basically makes Bloody Slash free. That saves you some FP for spellcasting, or for spamming evermore Weapon Skills. You can get this Crest from War Counselor Iji.

Then you have your two you swap in whenever you want to deal status effect damage.

• Lord of Blood’s Exultation: Boosts your damage by a massive 20 percent whenever you trigger Bleed.
• Kindred of Rot’s Exultation: While we don’t recommend Poison or Rot weapons, they are still quite effective for a Rot build—especially against bosses like Mohg.