There are 8 total stats in Elden Ring that you can level up using Runes. Each stat offers different benefits to your character that you can use to excel in combat. The DEX stat allows you to become a DPS threat. That is why this guide will show you the best dexterity builds in Elden Ring.
The primary classes that scale best with DEX are Samurai, Warrior, and Wretch (since you can evenly distribute stats in the latter class). So, if you are planning to do a new playthrough with one of these classes and looking to go for a DEX build, this guide is perfect for you!
Elden Ring: Best Dexterity Builds
Since there are multiple great DEX builds that you can try out, we have listed down some of our favorites. While you might prefer going in another direction, try out the builds mentioned to see if you like them or not.
These are not only great for your single-player playthroughs but also for PvP as well. You can alter certain aspects of these builds to find the sweet spot.
Supreme Samurai
| Armor Sets | Talisman | Weapons | Stat Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nox Swordstress Armor (torso), White Reed Gauntlets, Ronin’s Greaves, and Iron Kasa. | Shard of Alexander, Great-Jar Talisman, and Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman | Nagakiba | Endurance, Vigor, and Dexterity |
The Supreme Samurai is a pure DEX Build that uses the Nagakiba and Grease to have the best damage for any situation, coupled with extremely high mobility.
For your armor, I suggest mixing pieces of different sets to create the ideal one. While you can wear complete sets or try out other pieces as well, I suggest that you give this a go and see how you like it.
When it comes to talismans, you’ll want to increase your equipment load while enhancing your resistances as well. This will help you be a bit more tanky and take extra hits without dying. Plus, boosting the damage of your skills is highly suggested.
For this build, I would only recommend the Nagakiba since it is a great katana that can be easily upgraded as well. While you can try out other weapons as well, I highly suggest only going for this one instead.
Playstyle
The way this Build works is that you’ll focus on using Unsheathe during difficult encounters or during 1v1 situations. The R1 attack is much faster than the R2, but deals less stance damage and is ideal for situations where you don’t know what the enemy is going to do.
The R2 attack is used to deal more damage when you can predict the attack, but also when you are trying to stance-break an enemy or boss. Repeated attacks with the R2 can stance-break most Bosses in 3 hits, allowing you to get free attacks or a critical attack.
You can use different Greases depending on the boss or enemy you are facing. For example, Blood Grease works exceptionally well since the weapon already has native bleed build-up on it, allowing you to trigger Hemorrhage much more easily. Make sure to craft and use Greases on harder-to-defeat enemies and bosses.
Bloodhound
| Armor Sets | Talisman | Weapons | Stat Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raptor’s Black Feathers | Shard of Alexander, Claw Talisman, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, and Warrior Shard | Bloodhound’s Fang | Endurance, Vigor, and Dexterity |
The Bloodhound is a Dexterity build that focuses on the use of the Bloodhound’s Fang and its weapon skill Bloodhound’s Finesse. You can use any class for it as long as you level up the right stats and make use of the Bloodhound Fang weapon.
For this build, there is only one armor that you should be using – the Raptor’s Black Feathers. This will enhance your jump attacks greatly and help you easily defeat enemies. You can wear whatever gear you want that compliments this armor.
Moving on to talismans, you will want to choose the ones that give you resistance, enhance your jump attacks, and increase the damage of your skills. Since you will mostly be relying on your Bloodhound Fang, it is crucial that you boost its skill damage.
When it comes to weapons, there is only one that you should be using – the Bloodhound’s Fang. As the build’s name suggests, you will make use of the Bloodhound’s Fang and its skill. That will allow you to take care of almost all the bosses easily without any worries.
Playstyle
The way this build works is that you’ll use Bloodhound’s Fang from almost the beginning of the game, essentially after you defeat Bloodhound Knight Darriwil. You should two-hand it and lean into its weapon skill: Bloodhound’s Finesse, as much as possible.
Bloodhound’s Finesse gives you some i-frames during its initial attack animation, and some again when you dash forward and strike if you use the follow-up attack. Practice using this ability early on in the game so that you learn these timings, and this will help you use this skill later on without getting hit while simultaneously dealing damage.
Utilize jump attacks with this build when you can as well, since the Bloodhound’s Fang has a higher jump attack damage multiplier than other Curved Greatswords and also because you’ll be wearing Raptor’s Black Feathers and Claw Talisman.
Try not to focus on the Bleed of this weapon, since enemies will usually die before it triggers 9 out of 10 times. However, you might be well off to use Blood Grease during boss fights or other Greases to further boost your damage.
Samurai
| Armor Sets | Talisman | Weapons | Stat Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land of Reeds Set, Raging Wolf Set | Erdtree’s Favor, Graven Mass Talisman, Radagon Icon, and Shard of Alexander | Uchigatana, Moonveil Katana | Intelligence, Endurance, Vigor, Mind, and Dexterity |
The Samurai build is a mix of ranged and melee combat, as well as mounted that makes you feel like a proper Samurai while playing Elden Ring, and is wickedly effective. Keep in mind that you will have to move around a lot during fights since you won’t have a lot of HP.
For this build, there are only two pieces of armor that I would really suggest. This is especially true for the Land of the Reeds set since it is perfect for the samurai build and can hold on its own even in the later stages of the game.
For the weapons, I will talk about the katana. However, I highly suggest that you keep a longbow with you as well since this build is a mix between ranged and melee. Other than that, we will not be focusing a lot of sorceries for the pure samurai build, so you do not need to carry any staves.
Playstyle
This Build plays just like a Samurai by picking off targets with your Long Bow, using Mighty Shot to deal increased damage when needed. Swapping to Uchigatana when enemies close the distance to you, using Unsheathe to deal incredible damage.
Unsheathe is not only fast, but it also deals high damage, and the gap closes all in one rapid motion for minimal FP cost. Learn to roll back and then use Unsheathe in one movement. Continuously roll around to avoid getting hit since you won’t have a lot of HP to tank.
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. While you can use any Spirit Ashes you want, the ones mentioned will give you the best results during almost all boss fights.
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 you 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 bleed 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.
Conclusion
That’s everything you need to know about the best Elden Ring dexterity builds. If you prefer using fast weapons that make you a DPS threat, try out one of the aforementioned builds.
Do you like the dexterity stat? Which stat is your favorite in Elden Ring? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
