Best Assassin build in Elden Ring

With all of the assassins populating the Lands Between, it comes as no surprise that you, too, can silently take out your foes. An Assassin build in Elden Ring is a uniquely powerful one, but takes some skill to pull off. Let’s go over how it all works.

Here’s our best build for Assassins in Elden Ring.

Best stats for an Assassin in Elden Ring

The Assassin is a Dexterity-based build in Elden Ring, with the Warrior the better choice for the Assassin’s starting class. These stats are calculated with a level 150 build.

• Vigor: 60
• Mind: 30
• Endurance: 11
• Strength: 10
• Dexterity: 60
• Intelligence: 20
• Faith: Eight
• Arcane: 30

The main source of damage for this build comes from Dexterity. Keen is a huge boon for your Assassin build, so the soft cap of 60 is the perfect amount. The only other soft cap we hit in the first 150 levels is Vigor, which is more about safety than optimization. This build attempts to parry quite often against most bosses, so having the health to make a mistake or two is a good idea.

Then comes our other stats: A Mind of 30 is great for the number of weapon skills you use over the course of a dungeon. While Cerulean Tear Flasks, empowered with Sacred Tears, can get you most of the way through any Legacy Dungeon you choose, having some extra FP to work with isn’t bad. Arcane and Intelligence both get a bump. Intelligence is for a handful of spells, like Unseen Form, that are more entertaining than actually potent. Arcane is for fighting with Bleed and Poison weapons—the Assassin’s choice based on the boss fight.

Best weapons for an Assassin in Elden Ring

The most important weapon for this build is the Miséricorde, a Dagger with a bonus 40 percent critical hit damage, preferably with a Keen Affinity. This weapon should be used commonly during fights where you can parry, backstab, or stance-break your foes. For that same reason, your offhand should be a Small Shield, like the Coil Shield, with the Golden Parry Weapon Skill. For fights where critical damage is less useful, a Poison or Bleed Rapier suffices.

As an Assassin, our basic game plan against most enemies is to parry and riposte with the Miséricorde. Parrying is tricky, and it can’t be done on gigantic enemies, so you’ll need to learn what enemies can and can’t get deflected. In addition, you may want to try out different parries, such as a Buckler’s parry or a Dagger with Parry, to see what timing suits you the most.

The safest option is Golden Parry, but someone who masters this skill can make a Dagger or Carian Retaliation work for them. The Miséricorde should have a Royal Knight’s Resolve Weapon Skill, so you can buff before getting a critical hit and ruin someone’s day.

For enemies that don’t care about parrying and are thus unlikely to get critically hit very often, swap to a Rapier and swing. Rapiers still boast an impressive 130 percent crit damage and are better at mid-range combat than a dagger. That weapon should likely have a Bleed-applying attack, like Seppuku.

As for a staff, we recommend the Staff of Loss, a Glintstone Staff that boosts Night Sorceries. This staff provides a basic ranged option that deals okay damage.

Best armor for an Assassin in Elden Ring

If you want a classic look for your assassin, look no further than the Black Knife Set, the armor from the legendary Black Knife Assassins. This armor muffles your footsteps and looks incredibly snazzy while offering pretty above-average resistance. However, several other pieces of armor fit the theme while being acceptable armor sets by themselves. The Raptor’s set, for example, is a huge cloak with a hood that belongs to a group of assassins.

If you’re wondering where you can get the Black Knife set, head to Ordina, Liturgical Town in northern Consecrated Snowfield. The full set is on a corpse under an archway in the town, under the bridge that leads to the Haligtree. This is almost certainly the best armor for you, though you can replace the Helm with any Arcane- or Dexterity-boosting item of your choice.

Best spells for an Assassin in Elden Ring

With this build, the only Sorceries you need are Night Shard, Unseen Blade, and Unseen Form. Night Shard is a legitimately good ranged option, especially in PvE. Both other options reduce the chance enemies see you, but is more a funny option than a useful one. Especially for boss fights.

You can also consider using other low-level Sorceries to augment your build. Options like Frozen Armament or Scholar’s Armament can add a bit of bite to your attacks. Ranged options like Glintstone Arc can still be effective, even on lower Intelligence, though usually more for staggering and crowd control than pure damage. Your weapons are going to have to be reliable enough.

Best Talismans for an Assassin in Elden Ring

Unsurprisingly, the best Talismans for an Assassin focus on critical hits and big damage for dungeon crawling. However, you want to swap to multiple hits and hemorrhage for boss fights. Depending on the boss, you can keep some critical hit buffs and try to parry them to death.

• Dagger Talisman: This Talisman boosts critical hits by 17 percent. As long as you can land your parries and backstabs, you’re going to hit like a truck. This one’s behind a Stonesword Key door near the end of Volcano Manor.
• Ritual Sword Talisman: A flat 10 percent bonus to damage, as long as you keep your health high. You get this from the Lux Ruins at the start of Altus Plateau.
• Assassin’s Crimson Dagger: Whenever you Critical, you’ll heal for about 12 to 15 percent of your total HP. The Deathtouched Catacombs holds this dagger.
• Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger: The same thing as the Crimson Dagger, but you gain a flat 15 FP instead. Great for Royal Knight’s Resolve spam. This is from an optional boss in the Black Knife Catacombs against a Black Knife Assassin.

We recommend trading these Talismans out during most boss fights since many of them can’t be parried—or critically hit at all. Here are a few good replacements:

• Rotten Winged Sword Insignia for multi-hits.
• Millicent’s Prosthesis for multi-hits, again. This stacks with the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia.
• Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman for defense.
• Lord of Blood’s Exultation for a damage increase after a hemorrhage against bosses weak to it.