Best Elden Ring Bandit Build (Weapons, Stats, and More)

Elden Ring features various classes that have their own advantages and disadvantages. The Bandit class allows players to take advantage of the Arcane stat and make their enemies bleed. If you want to find out about the best Bandit build in Elden Ring, you’ve come to the right place.

We will show you everything you need to know about the class. The Bandit can be a difficult class to master for beginners. However, we will also show you the optimal playstyle so that you can master this class and finish the game. With that said, let’s dive right in and check out the Bandit build in Elden Ring.

Bandit Build

In this guide, we will look at all the stats, gear, weapons, and other useful items that you will need to use as a Bandit. This class is quite versatile, so you can mix and match a lot of different items. However, we will talk about some of the best gear that will assist you in the end game as well.

Here is a brief rundown of what you can expect in this build:

Which Stat to Level Up?

Before we take about the gear, let’s take a look at which stats are worth putting points in and which to avoid. Since this build uses a lot of Arcane, Dexterity, and Mind, you’ll need to prioritize these stats as much as possible.

Here is a rundown of the stats that are going to be beneficial for you:

• Endurance: Endurance is also a key stat, but you can leave Endurance around level 25 as you won’t need much more.
• Vigor: Vigor is a good choice to level up and will allow you to actually survive until you can get weapons that utilize Arcane.
• Arcane: The Arcane stat is one of the weaker stats during the early portion of the game, and it takes a while to start being effective. However, leveling it up is crucial as it is the primary focus of this build.
• Dexterity: This stat should be leveled up as much as you can. Having more DEX will lead to lesser casting speeds and will allow you to wield stronger weapons for better DPS.

Armor Sets

When it comes to Armor in Elden Ring, you do not have to put a lot of stock in specific sets and their unique bonuses. Instead, you can mix and match various sets to make the most out of the weight, stats, and protection. While some of the items won’t look good on your character, you’ll have to still use them.

It’s not worth getting a set that gives you a measly +3 Dex/Int stat if the result is a lack of protection from attacks. In that regard, there are only a few armor sets that you can use viably for a Dex/Int build.

I have suggested a few armor sets that you can use throughout the game. It depends on your playstyle and requirement to see which one suits you most and which one you’ll want to level up.

Land of Reeds Set

Land of Reeds Set is an Armor made from strips of iron fastened together and worn by the warriors of the Land of Reeds, made to reduce damage intake and protect warriors during battle. This is the set that the Samurai class starts with and it looks absolutely amazing.

While wielding a katana, you cannot go wrong with wearing a traditional samurai outfit as well. Plus, it is quite lightweight which goes hand in hand with the fast-paced nature of the Moonveil. While wearing this armor, you will mostly stay at Medium Load which is the optimal equipment load that you should aim for.

The best part is that you can easily apply bleed to the enemy as well since you won’t have any debuff on your Stamina either. This is one of the best armors with this weapon in the game.

War Surgeon Set

If this set seems familiar, that is because it is worn by White-Faced Varre. It is dropped by one of three Nameless White Mask NPC invaders in the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum area of Siofra River, west of the Palace Approach Ledge-Road site of grace, in the blood-filled lake.

The easiest way to get there is to start going down the hill from the site of grace and take the first on the left to get to the blood lake. It increases the player’s attack power by 10% for 20 seconds once blood loss has been inflicted on an enemy. This works perfectly with a Talisman that we’ll talk about later.

Briar Set

The Briar set should be your end-game goal when going for the Bandit build. This set can be obtained after defeating Elemer of the Briar, a boss found in The Shaded Castle to the west of the Altus Plateau. Once you’ve defeated him, return to the Roundtable Hold where you can purchase it from Enia.

Keep in mind that this boss is similar to a Bell-Bearing Hunter. So, if you have trouble against those types of bosses, you’ll have to be careful against him as well.

While you can wear the full set, I recommend that you replace the helmet with the Ruler’s Mask. Even though it won’t offer the same amount of protection, it will increase your Faith which is a great thing. This helmet can be found on a corpse northeast of the Abandoned Coffin Lost Grace, which can be accessed from the Ruin-Strewn Precipice dungeon.

Talisman

Talismans play a massive role in all types of builds. That is why Elden Ring is completely filled with different types of them. There are so many Talismans that you can find across the map that it can be quite overwhelming for a newer player.

However, there are a few that will help you take your Bandit build to the next level. So, make sure that you get the ones we’ve mentioned below to make the most out of your build.

Winged Sword Insignia

The Winged Sword Insignia is a great talisman to choose when using the Moonveil. It raises the attack power of your hits with each successive attack. Since you will want to constantly attack the enemy to proc bleed, this is one of the best talismans that you can use.

Plus, if you want to go even further beyond, you can use the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia which enhances your hits even more. Regardless of which variant you go for, both are extremely viable and work great with this katana.

Lord of Blood’s Exultation

When worn, this increases the attack power of your attacks after inflicting blood loss. Since you will be primarily relying on your bleed proc, having this Talisman is crucial. After you deal bleed damage to the enemy, your attacks will hit them like a train.

This will help you deal more damage and quickly take care of whoever you are fighting. It raises your attack power by 20% for 20 seconds.

Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman

The Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman boosts your physical damage negation massively, letting you tank a lot of hits. This works best with the Talisman that we’ll talk about next -Marika’s Sorseal.

Since that Talisman increases your damage taken, having this allows you to almost negate that effect. You will already have less HP in this Bandit build, so, you’ll need all the help you can get.

Marika’s Soreseal

Finally, let’s talk about Marika’s Soreseal. This Talisman increases your magic-based stats by +5 while decreasing the amount of damage you take by 15%. While it does leave your character a bit vulnerable to taking extra damage, it is still worth it.

The additional stats – especially +5 in Aracane – will allow you to make the most out of this build. This also saves you from putting additional points in any stat that you didn’t want to level up. While it might not sound like a lot, this matters a lot during the late game when you require tons of Runes to level up.

Weapons

Moving on to the weapons, having the right sword is extremely important for a Bandit. If you want to use powerful weapons that deal tons of damage, make sure that you have the ideal sword. Since the game offers a wide variety of weapons to choose from, it can be a bit overwhelming for most players.

Uchigatana

To start with, the Uchigatana is a fantastic choice for any character that utilizes melee attacks. While it’s not a traditional weapon for Faith builds, you can use it on the Confessor since it is a strong katana.

If you pick the Samurai class, the Uchigatana will be your starting weapon. Players might think that a starting weapon won’t be this good, but this katana is superb from early to late game. However, if you didn’t pick the Samurai class, worry not because you can still find this weapon pretty early in the game.

The ‘Blood Loss Buildup’ passive effect applies to almost all enemies since you will be leveling up your Strength as a Confessor. As long as you attack frequently and build up the meter, the Hemorrhage status will take place and shred through enemies with high HP.

Elenora’s Poleblade

The weapon is extremely good, especially for the early game. Its scaling is decent at first but becomes superb once upgraded. At first, STR is E, DEX is E, and ARC is D. You will need to have 12 STR, 21 DEX, and 19 ARC to properly equip this pole blade.

On top of that, it also applies a bleed debuff on enemies which is always a good passive to have. Using its skill – Bloodblade Dance – will allow you to do a flurry of tornado-like attacks while leaping in the air. This is a superb way to attack an enemy and immediately go back to your starting position to evade their counterattacks.

Rivers of Blood

This doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Rivers of Blood is the best bleed weapon in Elden Ring. It has dominated the PvP meta for a long time since the launch of the game. Plus, despite being nerfed a lot, Rivers of Blood is still extremely strong and will lead you to victory.

Not only is it the best bleed weapon, but you can also use its skill – Corpse Piler – to increase fire and physical damage as well as increase the amount of blood loss. Once you get used to this weapon, there is no way you can go back to any other bleed weapon in the game.

Winged Scythe

The Winged Scythe has great Faith scaling, to begin with, and it only gets better with each upgrade. The Ash of War it has – Angel’s Wings – is the best, where its initial strike staggers most enemies and the second hit does amazing damage on top of great reach. Also, this weapon has bleed buildup too and we all know that mechanic is extremely powerful in Elden Ring.

If you are having issues against enemies with high armor, make sure that you pick up the Winged Scythe and slice them in half. Plus, you can also use it to close the gap between you and your foe quickly.

While I’m not the biggest fan of sythes in Elden Ring, I cannot deny that the Winged Scythe is one of the best bleed weapons in the game. Plus, you can find this amazing weapon in the Tombsward Ruins which is near the area where you start the game. So, if you want a good bleed weapon with your FAI build, make sure that you pick it up early in the game as soon as you start.

However, as you can see, it requires a high FAI rating before you can properly equip it. So, it might take a while before you can fully utilize this weapon.

Spirit Ashes

Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring are a great tool in your arsenal. They assist you in combat by either tanking damage or applying debuffs to enemies. The good thing is that you can summon Spirit Ashes against bosses and against groups of enemies as well.

While some players say that this makes the game easy, it is your choice if you want to use them or not. I’d suggest using them if you are a new player in the game.

Lhutel the Headless

This is a Legendary Spirit and Summon in Elden Ring. When used, it summons an allied spirit version of an unmounted Mausoleum Knight. Lhutel will periodically teleport while in combat, allowing her to move around quickly, avoid being surrounded by enemies, and avoid large area-of-effect attacks from enemies.

Also, the strikes from her lance cause a buildup of the death blight status on her target. Unfortunately, the vast majority of enemies found in Elden Ring are immune to death blight.

Her heavy armor, great shield, teleportation ability, a mix of melee and ranged attacks, and immunity against all status effects allow her to work well alongside a variety of player builds as a “tank” or damage dealer.

However, due to her teleporting around the area, the enemies might stop attacking her and start focusing on her instead.

Night Maiden and Swordtress

When summoned, you will call upon 2 spirits that wield flowing weapons. The good news is that you summon 2 sisters each with their own HP bars. Both of them deal a lot of damage and can tank quite a few hits before going down.

However, summoning them uses a lot of FP, so make sure that you have FP flasks ready after you call them.

Skeletal Militiaman Ashes

This is a great Spirt Ash in Elden Ring as it allows you to summon the spirits of 2 skeletal militiamen. While the spirits are a bit weak, they will resurrect after dying. Until the enemy properly finishes them off, these skeletons will continue to rise and attack your foe.

This can be great to remove the aggro of bosses from your character. You can run around for a while and wait for the skeletons to rise again. Once they do, attack the boss or enemy while they are distracted by your summons.

Omenkiller Rollo

Once a famous perfumer, Rollo imbibed a physick to rid himself of emotion, thus enabling him to enact his nightmarish labor, hunting the Omen. This is a strong summon that can cause bleeding damage to the enemy. However, it uses a lot of FP which is a major downside. If you do not level up your Mind stat, you might not be able to summon it.

Bandit Build Playstyle

Since you will be mostly using fast-attacking weapons, it is suggested that you focus on attacking when the timing is right. Plus, since you do not have a lot of HP, make sure that you do not get greedy and get hit for no reason. Most late-game bosses will one-shot you with their strong attacks.

Instead, attack them when the moment is right and get a few hits in. After that, focus on dodging until you get another moment to strike. Since you have fast weapons, you can easily get two or three hits before having to roll away from the enemy.

This is a fast-paced build that requires a lot of dodging and having the correct position. So, make sure that you stay near the enemy but not close enough that they can freely attack you. It can take some getting used to but once you get the hang of it, this Bandit build feels amazing and fun to use.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the more you attack, the quicker you’ll activate the bleeding effect. However, don’t get greedy to proc bleed because it has led to a lot of deaths for me in my playthroughs.

Conclusion

That’s everything you need to know about the best Bandit build in Elden Ring. This is a great class if you prefer going for a bleed build. The best part is that you can use some of the best swords in the game which is great since Elden Ring features tons of amazing weapons.

Do you like using the Bandit build? Which class is your favorite in Elden Ring? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!