Since the release of Shadow of the Erdtree expansion for Elden Ring, I’ve been playing it non-stop. From the new bosses and areas to enemies and skill, one of favorite parts in the expansion is most probably the different builds that I can create and use. I’m not a min-max type of person so I usually just focus on what looks good and playable. So, I am here to share some of themed builds that I personally loved using; some of these are even my own find!

Oh right, before I forget. These builds do not consider the stats and I do not min-max damage output and whatnot at all, so don’t expect these to be giga-op or be the most efficient builds for killing bosses or getting through areas.

All the time that I have been playing Elden Ring (about two years on-and-off), I’ve always enjoyed a death-themed look. I wore the Royal Remains Set for a long time during my first playthrough of the base game a few years back, or the Hoslow’s Set which looked elegant and deadly. What the Ensha of the Royal Remains and Juno Hoslow’s armor sets had in common was their edge.

I liked the edge. I loved how striking it made my character look, and it made me feel cool as well.

When I played Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, I had a hard time finding armor as strikingly edgy as the Royal Remains Set and Hoslow’s Set. That is, until I got the Hornsent Set hours into the game. I had the Skeletal Mask, which is from the base game, for a while now, and I didn’t find any item that went well with it.

Finally, I found the right pieces: the Braided Cord Robe and Braided Arm Wraps for the chest and arms. For the legs, I did not have much trouble choosing a good one as I knew it just had to match the colors and the lowest part (calves to feet) had to be slim. Surprisingly, Elden Ring has a lot of legwear options just like that, such as the Bandit Boots, Page Trousers, or Perceptor’s Trousers.

Now that I had the armor decided, all that was left was the weapon. At this point, I knew it had to be death-themed. And when I mean death, I meant the Grim Reaper. So I needed a scythe.

Scythes (called Reapers in Elden Ring) always piqued my interest, but I never found any in the base game that fit the dark visuals I envisioned—not to mention there didn’t seem to be a good armor for it. Much to my dismay, I only got the perfect scythe for this outfit after I defeated the final boss of Shadow of the Erdtree. By the end, you get a scythe called the Obsidian Lamina, which had a pure black color and no extra decoration sticking out. Simple yet slick design.

Still, I tried out different weapons that fit the whole set, and I found one that could work but I didn’t really like it just because I really wanted a scythe. If you are curious and want to try out this alternative, it is the Spirit Glaive. While it’s not a scythe, it is also dark with a simple and slick design. Additionally, the weapon skill it has, called the Rancor Slash, makes us of the Dark Seal rune and lets you summon Ghostflame spirits to attack enemies. It’s a perfect fit if not for it being a glaive instead of a scythe.

If you are interested if this is a strong build or not, my answer is this: I have no clue. Again, I was never one to min-max performance in games and Elden Ring is one of them. I was able to make it work when dealing with the remaining bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree so I think it should work, the only problem I really have is you will need to basically finish the whole game before getting this final look. Otherwise, you might only have bits and pieces of this. Sorry!

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This one you can get early on in the Shadow of the Erdtree. Once you get out of the little cave and see the Gravesite Plain after touching Miquella’s hand in Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum, head northwest until you find a small mausoleum. If you have explored the world of Shadow of the Erdtree for a bit but haven’t seen this, you can also access this from the Scorched Ruins then heading directly west.

Inside this is a boss that you have to defeat to get the Solitude Set. The whole look is honestly just the Solitude Set with the headwear replaced with the Confessor Hood. The hood is a MUST have and I can understand why some people would be wondering why I just didn’t use the whole Confessor Set. The simple answer is: the Confessor set looked religious which is the point of that armor.

Anyway, this set is HEAVY. You will probably max out your equip load if you didn’t put in enough points in your endurance stat. Alternatively, you can use talismans such as the Erdtree’s Favor and Arsenal Charm to increase your max load. If you have noticed, you are a hulking figure so you will need to match that aura you are emitting with strong attacks.

Any Talisman that increases the damage you dealt is recommended, but most particularly the Two-Handed Sword Talisman.

Oh, right! I haven’t talked about the weapon yet so I’m just going to recommend one last Talisman. If you want to be an immovable object as well, you can use the Veridigris Discus talisman which can be found in the Realm of Shadow. The only downside is you are going to need to be in a Heavy Load state to make use of this talisman so you might need to exchange the Erdtree’s Favor or Arsenal Charm with this Talisman and be comfortable with a worse dodge roll.

Anyway, my weapon of choice for tis look is the Heavy Greatsword! Nothing too fancy, just a man and his big sword chopping away the extremeties of enemies off their bodies or simply cutting them down in the middle with large heavy swings. Alternatively, you can also use the Greatsword of Solitude from the man you got the Solitude Set from but it’s just not as scary and big as the Heavy Greatsword.

Now, is this also a viable build? Honestly it is, everything here is very simple and much more easy to pull off than the Fear The Reaper one. The armor gives you high defense and poise to tank more hits while the weapon also requires the same stats to equip as the armor. This allows you, the Tarnished, to easily stack points in Strength and Endurance stats as opposed to mixing things up to “perfect” a build.

There’s also nothing too fancy going on with Ashes of War, Weapon Skill, Incantations, or Sorcereries but that’s most probably because I never use them. So, just add whatever you want to this build/look but this is pretty much it.

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This is pretty bland, not going to lie. This is something I quickly cooked up when I was tasked to get some photos of the Sword of Light and what would best match it than something holy-looking.

Well, here it is.

Leda’s Armor is a really good to the heroic look the Sword of Light is giving with the white and gold design of the cape and overall piece. Match Leda’s armor set with a white and gold pants like the Consort’s Trousers, as well as choose anything that is not that does not obstruct the hands and head then you have the perfect vibrant heroic look. Personally, I liked to use Astrologer Gloves on the arms.

Honestly, it is very hard to ruin this look unless you are placing a helm or just choosing something obviously contrasting to Leda’s Armor. So yeah, pretty boring and I don’t necessarily like it that much but everything matches so I thought I’d put it anyway.

Yeah, not much else to say.

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