
The 10 Best Dark Souls 3 PVE Builds, Ranked
The Dark Souls series is infamous for how difficult it is, making even the most patient of players throw their controllers at the wall. With a game that requires so much patience, it can be beneficial to use a powerful build to make the game less frustrating.
Related: Things You Can Miss By Accident In Dark Souls 3
Of course, the best thing to do is take a break, but some items present in Dark Souls 3 can ease the frustration. Besides summoning phantoms for co-op, your main way of improving your damage is to get better weapons, spells, or improve your stats. To help you create the strongest Ashen One possible, here are the ten best PvE builds in Dark Souls 3 that make the game significantly easier.
Updated August 12th, 2021, by Charles Burgar: Creating a build in Dark Souls 3 can be intimidating when starting out. A large range of stats, items, and spells can make finding a build somewhat difficult. To help you create a good PvE build, each build in this article had its stat and gear breakdown reorganized. They're now listed in tables at the start of the entry, making it much easier to parse. We've also done a review of some of the builds on this list, noting alternate weapons or rings you might want to use.
10 Bleed and Hollow
Stats And Gear
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Core Stats | |
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Rings |
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Both Bleed and Hollow are included in the same entry because there is quite a bit of overlap between the two. If you talk to Yoel of Londor at the Foot of the High Wall Bonfire, he will return to Firelink Shrine and allow you to gain a free level. In exchange, you gain a Dark Sigil, allowing you to become Hollow. That's perfect for this build, as Hollowing increases the damage of Hollow-infused weapons.
Bleed is a status effect you can inflict on enemies and some bosses, dealing a percentage of damage to their health bar and staggering the target. Rapid attacking weapons usually come with this effect intrinsically, so most bleed builds spec for some Dexterity atop Luck to scale the damage of their initial hits and Bleed procs. Luck is what scales your bleed damage for this build, so spec heavily into that stat and increase your Hollowing stat. When done properly, you can stagger most bosses in the game and rapidly defeat tanky enemies. It's pretty good in PvP too. Just note that some enemies and bosses are completely immune to bleed, so be prepared for some boss fights to take ages.
9 Hexes
Stats And Gear
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Weapon |
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Catalyst |
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Spells |
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Hexes have seen a significant nerf in Dark Souls 3 compared to the second entry, distributing these unique spells throughout every school of magic instead of being a dedicated magic archetype.
With that in mind, Hexes are still fantastic for players who want plenty of utility with their build. Want to prevent a boss from using any special attacks? Use Vow of Silence. Want to make an enemy instantly bleed? Using Dorhy's Gnawing. It's a very versatile school of magic that veteran players should try.
Upgrade your Faith and Intelligence evenly, trying to hit at least 30 in each stat. Your chime and catalyst will determine which stat scales your Hex. For this build, we'll be using Caitha's Chime for miracles and the Izalith Staff for sorceries—both of which scale with Faith and Intelligence evenly. The soft cap for both stats is 30, although you'll still gain a sizable damage boost for raising both stats to 45. This build comes online towards the end of a playthrough, although its versatility and ease of use make it a great choice for PvP and NG+ playthroughs.
8 Mage
Stats And Gear
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Core Stats |
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Weapon |
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Catalysts |
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Spells |
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Rings |
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Pure mage characters take a long time to come "online"—capable of finishing the game comfortably. When they do, mages can do nearly anything you would want.
Related: Dark Souls 3: All Titanite Slab Locations
You can either focus on a pure mage build, allocating most of your levels in Intelligence and Attunement, or you can run a hybrid build with Strength or Dexterity. For the former, look out for the Crystal Sage's Staff and any Crystal spells; they're the best for this build. If you are playing a hybrid build, check out the Moonlight Greatsword. This sword's damage scales off your Intelligence and can shoot projectiles with its heavy attack. Whichever route you take, you'll be one-shotting most enemies by the end of a Dark Souls 3 playthrough and subsequent NG+ playthroughs.
7 Dexterity Build
Stats And Gear
Starting Class | |
Core Stats | |
Weapon |
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Rings |
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Dexterity might not be as powerful in Dark Souls 3 as in previous installments, but you can absolutely make a Dexterity build work in DS3. In fact, some of the best weapons in Dark Souls 3 scale incredibly well with Dexterity, making Dexterity builds a solid choice for beginners that aren't sure what to play.
Once you reach Firelink Shrine, defeat the Sword Master that roams near the Firelink Shrine Tower. Killing him will grant the Uchigatana, a fantastic starting weapon that will carry you through the rest of a playthrough. Alternatively, start as the Mercenary to get your hands on one of the best weapons in the game (detailed in our final build entry).
Scale your Dexterity to 60 as soon as possible to get the most out of your weapons. Sharp Gems are also excellent for Dexterity builds, enhancing their Dexterity scaling. Rings are entirely up to you, although you might want to consider the Ring of Favor and Chloranthy Ring to help with Stamina management. Attacking and dodging will chew through your Stamina bar if you aren't careful.
6 Dex/Faith Hybrid
Stats And Gear
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Core Stats | |
Weapon |
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Catalyst | |
Spells |
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Rings |
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This build is focused on using Dexterity weapons and miracles to turn the tide. Utilize the power of lightning and Blessed weapons to smite your foes.
Related: Dark Souls 3: A Complete Guide To Miracles
For this build, your two main stats are Dexterity and Faith. The Dragonslayer Swordspear is a good choice for this, as it scales off of both your Faith and Dexterity quite well. For an earlier alternative, get any weapon you favor and infuse with a Blessed or Sharp Gem to get even more damage. Your miracles allow you to heal and cast lightning-based miracles, giving you a solution to every problem you'll face. The versatility on offer is some of the best you can find in Dark Souls 3.
5 Paladin
Stats And Gear
Starting Class | |
Core Stats |
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Weapon |
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Catalyst | |
Spells |
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Rings |
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Paladins focus heavily on Faith and Strength, casting lightning spells and healing cantrips in between melee attacks. They serve as a great gish or spellsword class in Dark Souls 3, allowing you to carve through enemies with a large sword while throwing an occasional lightning bolt or healing miracle. This is similar to our last entry, except this build focuses more on Strength instead of Dexterity.
Due to Ashen Flasks and a dedicated mana resource being introduced in Dark Souls 3, you'll need to either scale your Attunement or sacrifice a few Estus Flasks for Ashen variants. Don't let that discourage you. With a 60 Faith stat and the Sunlight Talisman, you can output some powerful Lightning Spears and healing miracles. Sunlight Spear and Lightning Stake will shut down most enemies, while healing miracles will be comparable to an upgraded Estus Flask. Since it's a hybrid build, you'll want to be using rings that enhance your miracles and cast speed to prevent the build from feeling clunky. If you value utility but love melee combat, this build is for you.
4 Quality Build
Stats And Gear
Starting Class | |
Core Stats |
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Weapon |
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Rings |
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If you're indecisive about what to play, it's hard to go wrong with a quality build. Quality builds are those that invest equally into Dexterity and Strength to scale a weapon's Attack Rating as high as possible. In practice, this means you can use virtually every weapon in the game.
You can use any weapon you enjoy; just be sure to infuse it with a Refined Gem. If you care about min-maxing, the best weapon for a quality build is the Hollowslayer Greatsword, a boss weapon obtained after killing the Curse-Rotted Greatwood—one of the first bosses you'll face. It scales absurdly well with both Strength and Dexterity, reaching an Attack Rating of 516 when both stats are 40. It also has a great moveset with a healthy mix of hyperarmor (preventing you from getting stunned mid-animation) and swings. If you don't like greatswords, feel free to use any weapon that scales somewhat well with either or both stats. Once again, a Refined Gem will do wonders for this build.
3 Pure Strength
Stats And Gear
Starting Class | |
Core Stats | |
Weapon |
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Rings |
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If casting spells doesn't sound appealing, try out a pure Strength build. Allocate at least 60 points into strength and watch as you one-shot all but the toughest of mobs and bosses.
Greatswords are a fantastic weapon of choice for this, with weapons like the Black Knight Sword and Lothric Knight Greatsword having good movesets and great scaling. Ultra greatswords like the Fume Ultra Greatsword allow you to wield weapons twice their size and deal ridiculous amounts of damage. If you can stand the slow playstyle, this is one of the best builds any player can use. Use rings that enhance your Stamina pool; you're going to need it.
2 Pyromancer
Stats And Gear
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Core Stats |
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Weapon |
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Catalyst | |
Spells |
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Rings |
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With a series focused on linking the fire, it's surprising how pyromancy took a backseat to sorceries and miracles. Thankfully, Dark Souls 3 gives this school of magic a time to shine.
With 40 points in both Faith and Intelligence, pyromancy will deal significant damage and outclass most hexes.Plenty of great damage pyromancies, such as Floating Chaos and Black Serpent, allow you to deal with nearly any situation. Power Within and Flash Sweat are also some fantastic buffs if you want to create a hybrid build. You can even use the Demon Scar to cast pyromancies while cutting through mobs with a burning curved sword. Versatility, damage, defense, this build has it all.
1 Sellsword Twinblades
Stats And Gear
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Gear |
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There's a reason the community calls these pair of curved swords the "Sellsword Winblades." The damage this pair can dish out is nearly unmatched in Dark Souls 3's PvE content.
Funny enough, it's also the easiest build to get going on this list. Pick the Mercenary class, and you'll already start with these blades. Focus on obtaining a Sharp Gem in the early game, then infuse the Sellsword Twinblades. From there, increase your Dexterity stat to 60. You'll be outputting as much damage as some greatswords twice as quickly. It's the reason why so many speedrunners and PvE players use this weapon over others. Equip any rings that increase your Dexterity or Stamina.
Next: Dark Souls 3: Must Know Things For New Players
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The stats and location of every ring in Dark Souls 3.
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About The AuthorCharles Burgar is an expert on all things tech and gaming. Graduating from Pikes Peak Community College in 2018 with an Associate of Science, Charles has spent his time dissecting popular video games, movies, and technology. With an understanding of games for as long as he can remember, Charles has a large interest in understanding what makes things fun. He is currently a Freelance writer for TheGamer and Game Rant.
Crystal Chime
Pyromancer's Parting Flame
Pyromancy Flame+10 (Left Hand)
Chaos Zweihander+10 (Right Hand)
Spells: Chaos Bed Vestiges, Black Fire Orb, Black Flame, Fire Surge
PVP Melee/Ranged Build
Immolation Tinder
&
Dragonhead shield /Caitha's Chime
PVP MAGIC Build
This is my take on a battlemage.
Video Included!
Ledo's Great Hammer / Cleric's Sacred Talisman
&
Gael's Greatsword
PVP STR/VIT Build
The best way i found to use a great hammer was to combo it with a greatsword on the left hand.
Video Included!
Irithyll Straight Sword / Irithyll Rapier
&
Crystal Chime / Demon's Scar
PVP Frostbite Build
Frostbite > Fire > Frostbite > Fire > and so on
Video Included!
Izalith Staff / Friede's Great Scythe
&
Demon's Scar / Scholar's Candlestick
PVP Magic/Pyromancy/Hex Build
Video included!
Fume UGS+5
&
Heavy Longsword+10
PvP build Pure STR
The Valkyrie
Raw Saint Bident +10
&
Saint's talisman/Sunlight Talisman/Yorshka's Chime
PVP Full Faith Build
Video included!
Insidious Knight
Refined Zweihander +10
&
Poison Rotten Ghru Dagger +10
The Underdog (WIN 1V4's) IN DEPTH GUIDE
Crucifix of the Mad King
&
Dark Blade
Low Level Invation Build
Dominate with Hyper Armor, & 2-Hit-Combo
Black Blade
&
Pyromancer's Parting Flame
Solomon Pendragon
Jack-Of-All-Trades
Strength | Dexterity | Intelligence | Faith
Frayed blade & Washing pole
The manliest katana user in all da land. Everytime you say his name you must follow it with a HUAAAA
Hollow Gank Spank
30
Thief
Life Ring
Dex/Luck Build that still works after patch
Poise Daddy
120
Warrior
N/A
Agressive/High Damage/Easy for Beginners
Darkness of the Abyss
120
Pyromancer
/
Fast / Safe / Aggressive / Range and Melee.
Iron Knight Tarkus
54
Deprived
Young White Branch
Greatsword & Black Iron Greatshield
This build is for those who wish to remember the good ol' days of Dark Souls one, where poise actually existed. Show those Casuals how to Git Gud.
Zarqawi
55
Warrior
Not important
Dragonslayer's Axe only
A very strong build for low-level invasions.
I added some tips for lower and higher SL builds with this same weapon, it's in the description of the page.
Deathly Hollow
120+
Irrelevant
Right Hand: HollowOnikiri and Ubadichi
Left Hand: Old Wolf Curved Sword
This build focuses on the attack buff received from consecutive hits (OWCS and Pontiff's Right Eye stack), and this is most efficient with a quick-hitting Hollow Onikiri and Ubadichi.
Darkness my old friend
20
Pyromancer
Doesn't matter
Dark Hand & Pyromancy Flame
Dark Hand is very strong on low level builds, but what is when you boost this with the Blindfold Mask and Dark Clutch Ring?
Darkmoon Ronin
Sunlight Priestess
Moonlight Enigma
Blackflame Forlorn
Branded Struggler
110
110
110
110
110
Knight
Herald
Mercenary
Pyromancer
Knight
Soul
Divine Blessing
Soul
Fire Gem
None
Black Blade & Dragonrider Bow
( Pyromancy Flame )
Onikiri-Ubadachi & Falcon Shield
( Saint's Talisman )
Moonlight Sword & Caestus
( Darkmoon Longbow )
Onyx Blade & Caestus
( Pyromancer's Parting Flame )
Dragonslayer & Caestus
( Mechanical Arm )
Alexander - Strength & Dexterity
Samantha - Dexterity & Faith
Azrael - Dexterity & Intelligence
Alastor - Intelligence & Faith
Guts - Strength & Dexterity
SMURF
40
Knight, pyromancer
fire gem
VARYING
Lvl 40 pvp analysis
Last Dragonslayer
Doesn't matter
(Prefer "Black Firebomb" for the first Boss)
Dragonslayer Helm
Dragonscale Armor
Smough's Gauntlets
Lorian's Leggings
Dragonslayer Spear
Canvas Talisman (Tears of Denial,Sunlight Spear,Lightning Stake)
Chloranthy Ring
Ring of the Sun's First Born
Sage Ring
Lightning Clutch Ring
Close combat is the key
use the weapon art from dragonslayer spear
Edgy Build
Doesn't matter
Izalith Staff and Dark Edge
Cursed Guardian
Does not matter
offhand Greatsword and Demon's Fist
Sorcerer's Staff
(Soul Greatsword, Farron Flashsword)
Strength build
(3 Hit Ko)
Life Ring
Demon's Greataxe +5
I haven't mentioned a few things on the build - I highly suggest using fully upg Brigand axe and use lighter gear or add a bit of weight ratio in order to fit it all. Pm me for any questions or ideas :)
Build link here
Great Machete Knight
Life Ring
Great Machete
PvP Build Halberd+Parry
Gundyr's Halberd
Refined Exile's Greatsword +10
Strength/Dexterity build focused on striking down opponents with elegant strokes. Optimised for PvE and High Volume PvP.
Channel Your Inner Underdog...
Ivan
RH
+10 Greatsword
LH
+10 Blessed Caestus
+Any Cleric's Sacred Chime
Build .
Not the best AR. The levels added really only exist to get to use Bountiful Sunlight. It helps you play a little more reckless as and Ultra Greatsword user.
Moonlight sword Cresentmoon sword and court or crystal staff
AbandonCtrl Dex Pvp Like a Gladitor
List Coming Son
Heavy Dark Sword +10
&
Heavy Zweihander +10
Vanguard of Lanafir
Immolation Tinder
+
[Simple] Shotel
This build is purely PvP and very situational otherwise.
INT/DEX/STR
You don't need to resort to OP, waiting-to-be-nerfed, weapons to be victorious. Just be creative and have fun! ()
I
RH1: Twin Princes' Greatsword
LH1: Golden Wing Crest Shield
(Optional) LH2: Pyromancy Flame
Fire Uchigatana +2
Pyromancy Flame +2
Others reccomended in the build.
Deep Zweihander+10, Pyromancy Flame+10, Grass Crest Shield+5
Smough's Great Hammer+5, Grass Crest Shield+5
Wolf Knight Greatsword +5
Balanced 40/40 Str/Dex + 30 Faith
A versatile PvP build with buffs.
HollowSlayer Greatsword +5
"Do you bleed? YOU WILL."
Hollow Washing Pole +10
Darkdrift +5
Quality twinsword warrior
Refined Gotthard Twinswords +10
Grass Crest Shield
Mad Sage
Immolation Tinder
Sacred Bloom Shield
Profaned Lothric Spearman
Lothric Knight Long Spear
Profaned Greatsword
Quality build with fun, easy to use PvP set-up
Can easily be adjusted for use at SL 100
Thorny Yhorm of the Sunlight
Yhorms Great Machete +5
Sunlight Straight Sword
Heavy STR build focused on maximizing AR
Effective for both PvE and PvP
Reinhardt (OVERWATCH)
Greatshield of Glory
Gargoyle's Flame Hammer
FIRE zweihander
GIANT build
Sharp Sellsword Twinblades +10
Yorshka's Chime +10
DEX/FAITH build revolving around baiting opponents and punishing them with absurd damage. Amazing in PvP but also very effective in PvE as well
Refined Estoc +10
Refined Exile Greatsword +10
Refined Gotthard Twinswords +10
and more
Fashion souls Quality + Faith build (buffs included)
Sovereignless Soul or any
DEX Cosplay/fast-offensive build good for PvP and PvE
Any
Hollowed onikiri and ubadachi +10
Avelyn
Hollowed Claw +10
High dps bleed build
Any
Bare hands
Smough's Great Hammer+5
Baiting people into a fist fight, work on parries and when you think they're low enough, whip out your weapon and finish them off with a final reposte.
Any
Refined Lothric Knight Greatsword +10
Pyromancy Flame +1
0High AR ultra-greatsword. Use superior damage and hyper-armor to easily defeat opponents
Buildmaker
Life Ring
Moonlight Greatsword +5
Court Sorcerer's Staff +10
Basic sorcery build. High damage greatsword and ranged offensive spells. Good for both PvP and PvE
Buildmaker
Life Ring
Anri's Straight Sword +5
Grass Crest Shield +5
Luck build good for PvE and PvP, focus on stamina and flury attacks
Mad
Any
Aggressive build that attacks and defends simultaneously, near unstoppable in PvP
Orandula
Jack of All Trades
mage lean
pyromancer/sorcerer
or any class
Farron Ring, Corrvetius serpent ring, ring of favor, chloranthy ring
any shield, lothric holy sword, or any one handed sword or two handed sword along with a simple gem,crystal gem for magic damage and FP regerneration
shield with a blessed gem for health regeneration
Dont use this build unless you are good with high dextirity. A jack of all trades build is a special build that leans mostly to vigor and dexterity and Intelligence and almost then leans towards the weapons and stats you want or need however almost every stat must be evened out.
Also used as a hiders build in pvp
Is also best for soul farming
WARNING Do not use this build unless you absoulutly want it or need it!
ARTEMIS_FOWL14s
MOONLIGHT WARRIOR
ring of favor,
MoonLight Greatsword
Must be in the moonlight warriors covanent to have this build if you wish to join you must be playing on PS4 consol and must join at starting level or level 25 any higher of a level you cannot join.
ARTEMIS_FOWL14s
Just automatic wins
Dark Clutch, Fire Clutch, Lightning Clutch, Dragonscale
Crystal Great Scythe +2, light crossbow +1
Just level up strength and faith and you win
Meese_Commander
Skelecutioner
Dragonslayer's Axe, Dagger and Dragon Crest Shield.
HihgLordWolnir
Giant Lord
Greatsword and Caestus
HihgLordWolnir
Caestus Godmod
Caestus and Sorcerer's staff
https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Caestus+godmode
Masked Mutineer
Sharp Crow Quills +10
Silver Knight Sheild
Artlas Emberman (Rogue Pyromancer)
RH1: BASS CANNON
RH2: Demon Scar
LH1: Pyromancy Flame
LH2: Caestus
Mercy
(faith Build)
RH1: Drang Twinspears
RH2:Caestus
LH1:Golden Falcon Sheild
LH2:Sunlight talisman/yorshkas chime
poise caster with high damaging miracles paired with decent damaging twinspears
Gromit
RH: Raw Mace
LH: Kite Shield, Sacred Chime of Filianore, Blessed Caestus
Health Regen build for low sl PvP.
Spiicy
- Initial d r34 gtr
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- Green girl bedroom ideas
Dark Souls 3: The 7 Best Dexterity Builds For PVE (& 7 For PVP)
Dexterity builds are somewhat looked down upon by the Dark Souls 3 community due to how powerful they can be. These builds typically revolve around reaching a high dexterity value while investing plenty into endurance. It allows players to attack with reckless abandon, but there's a good reason why these builds are so popular.
RELATED: Dark Souls 3: All Frost Weapons (& How To Use Them)
For PvE, some of the strongest weapons in Dark Souls 3 scale the best with dexterity. As for PvP, many weapon types have incredible movesets that deal large amounts of damage when paired with high dexterity. Here are the best PvE and PvP builds for dexterity users in Dark Souls 3. Since most dexterity builds are the same, this guide will focus less on stats and more on weapons and their playstyle.
Updated on October 8, 2021, by Reyadh Rahaman:Before one can begin slicing and dicing enemies with the best dexterity weapons in the game, Dark Souls 3 players will need to find them first. In true FromSoftware fashion, however, this is more easily said than done in some cases. This is due to certain armaments being hidden in obscure parts of the world map or only becoming attainable after felling a particularly fiendish foe. Regardless, the best builds require the best weapons, and only the truly dedicated will be able to assemble a successful one.
14 PVE: Brigand Twindaggers
Via: SirDifferential (YouTube)
Daggers are mainly used as parrying tools in the Dark Souls franchise, but players might be surprised to know just how deadly the Brigand Twindaggers are when built around. These daggers have the highest damage per second of any dagger in the game, and they have an incredibly fast moveset.
RELATED: Dark Souls 3: The Best Daggers, Ranked
Invest heavily in dexterity, preferably hitting 60 in the stat, then upgrade endurance to take full advantage of this weapon's multi attacks. Infuse the weapon with sharp for even more damage. It also has the Quickstep weapon art for easy traversal.
How To Get The Brigand Twindaggers
- Head to the Road of Sacrifices bonfire in the Road of Sacrifices area
- Proceed past the overturned cart surrounded by corvian enemies
- Beyond where the corvian storyteller is, there will be a way down
- Travel down to an area below a bridge (the same area where one can fight the Madwoman)
- Nearby, there will be a ledge next to a wall with a corpse holding the Brigand Twindaggers
13 PVP: Sellsword Twinblades
Known as the "Sellsword Winblades" by many, these blades make for a top-tier PvE choice and a great PvP option. The moveset for the Sellsword Twinblades emphasizes multi attacks that punish greedy players and those that time their dodges poorly.
The weapon art is great at spacing as well, although be prepared for greatswords to retaliate during the animation. As with most dexterity builds, 60 dexterity and a sharp infusion is the build of choice here.Pontiff's Eye rings are also a great choice for this build since these weapons attack so quickly.
How To Get The Sellsword Twinblades
- Can be obtained as the starting weapon for the Mercenary class
- Alternatively, they can be found on the Road of Sacrifices
- Start from the Halfway Fortress bonfire
- Head down and keep to the right when entering the swamp
- Keep staying to the right and descending until one reaches a dry path with poisonhorn bugs
- Beware the 2 fierce lycanthrope enemies and proceed into the ruins at the end of the path
- After entering the ruins and noticing the locked door on the right, go left into the open area
- In this area will be a black knight
- Behind the black knight will be the Sellsword Twinblades on a corpse.
12 PVE: Claymore
Most community members regard the Claymore as a low-skill weapon that only noobs use. While it is true that newer players typically gravitate towards the Claymore, that is for good reason: it can be earned in the first hour of a playthrough, has a fantastic moveset, and scales well with virtually any build—dexterity included.
RELATED: Dark Souls 3: How To Find & Use The Claymore Greatsword
Infuse the Claymore with a Sharp Gem to achieve an A scaling in dexterity. A high dexterity stat allows the Claymore to safely one-shot most enemies in NG+ and beyond. In-built hyperarmor also allows this weapon to shine when the player gets swarmed by half a dozen enemies, making this a great all-rounder for PvE and even PvP—although its wide swings make it better for dealing with PvE combatants.
How To Get The Claymore
- Begin at the High Wall of Lothric Bonfire in the High Wall of Lothric area
- Go down the stairs, beyond the praying hollows
- Travel through the stairway entrance
- Descend the ladder left of the entrance in this room
- Go out the open metal gate and then make a left at the stone doorway to find a split path
- Ascend the left of this splitting path, up the stairs, to reach the area below the firebreathing dragon
- The Claymore is in the corner of this fire-bathed area but is on an annoying-to-reach ledge
- Use the small set of stairs to get up to the ledge and grab the Claymore from the corpse in the corner
- Beware, as the dragon's fire makes it very difficult to navigate this area, so a suicide run may be in order
11 PVP: Crow Quills
Part rapier and part claw, the Crow Quills are devastating weapons that have an S scaling in dexterity when infused with sharp. These weapons have a solid moveset that can invite attacks from opponents and heavily punish with its quill projectiles or its ability to chain attacks into each other.
It's a difficult weapon to master due to its intricate combos, but a Crow Quill build with high dexterity in the hands of a skilled player is a terrifying sight in PvP. The Hornet Ring also pairs well with this weapon, provided the player is good at parrying enemies.
How To Get The Crow Quills
- In the Painted World of Ariandel, start from the Corvian Settlement bonfire
- Head out the door and travel up and to the left in a wide arc
- Drop down a very short ledge behind a house
- Cross the cobblestone path to the right to a thin ledge hugging the rocky side of a cliff
- Follow the thin path until one reaches an area with an aggressive corvian villager
- Dispatch the weak foe and leap left across the gap nearby
- Within the building to the right of the gap will be a corrupted corvian villager
- After dealing with them, players will notice some boxes and barrels
- Break these boxes and barrels to more easily spot an item on a raised bit of land below
- Since this raised area can only be reached from above, jump down onto it
- The item on the corpse here will be the Crow Quills
10 PVE: Murakumo
Damage output is the Murakumo's strong suit in PvE. Featuring an S scaling in dexterity with a +10 Sharp infusion, this weapon can output enough damage to take down tougher PvE enemies in a couple of swings.
RELATED: Dark Souls 3: A Guide To Building The Ultimate Two-Handed Weapon Character
A solid amount of hyper armor provided by the Murakumo makes it good against a small horde of enemies, especially when coupled with its spinning weapon art. Any build that plans to obtain 20 strength and at least 40 dexterity should give the Murakumo a shot. Its main downsides are its rather high strength requirement, its weight of 11, and only being obtainable around halfway through a playthrough.
How To Get The Murakumo
9 PVP: Any Curved Sword
Virtually every curved sword in Dark Souls 3 will serve as a solid weapon for PvP fights. Every curved sword has a good moveset, at least a C scaling in dexterity when upgraded, and a deceptively large range.
RELATED: Dark Souls 3: The Best Curved Swords, Ranked
Using a Lothric Knight Sword or other meta choices will indeed fare better for most players in PvP, yet these weapons are such a good tool for learning how to duel. Their great variety of moves and great range make curved swords one of the most versatile and hard-to-read weapon archetypes in the game. Curved swords do struggle against great shields and defensive players, although a few slashes of a bleed-infused dagger should get them to panic.
8 PVE: Old Wolf Curved Sword
Via: thesoulzofhadez (Tumblr)
Rapid attacks and innate healing make the Old Wolf Curved Sword one of the most fun weapons in the Dark Souls franchise. This weapon has great scaling with dexterity when upgraded, making it a great fit for pure dexterity builds.
RELATED: Every Covenant In Dark Souls 3, Explained
Since the weapon attacks so quickly with its weapon art, it pairs well with Pontiff's Left and Right Eye rings, granting Attack Power and HP with successive attacks. With this combination of stats and rings, the game plays closer to Bloodborne than Dark Souls.
How To Get The Old Wolf Curved Sword
- Players must enter the Watchdogs of Farron covenant by speaking with the Old Wolf of Farron in Farron Keep
- After entering the covenant, players will need to offer 10 Wolf's Blood Swordgrass (rare drops from Ghru enemies and guaranteed drops from defeating invaders for the covenant)
- Offering 10 Wolf's Blood Swordgrass will allow one to reach Rank 1 in the Watchdogs of Farron covenant
- The Old Wolf Curved Sword can be obtained as a Rank 1 reward
7 PVP: Astora Greatsword
Nearly every build in Dark Souls 3 can turn the Astora Greatsword into a powerhouse thanks to its ultralight weight and great scaling. When sharpened, this sword gains a lot of points in its Attack Rating when past the soft cap of 40 dexterity, meaning the Astora Greatsword hits like a truck when used alongside a dexterity build.
RELATED: Dark Souls 3: How To Find & Use The Astora Greatsword
It has a great mix of thrusts and slash attacks for PvP as well. Few weapons can round off a dexterity build for PvP as well as the Astora Greatsword.
How To Get The Astora Greatsword
- Begin from the Cleansing Chapel Bonfire in the Cathedral of the Deep
- Go out of the main doors and turn right toward the pillar
- Run around the exploding hollows that are praying
- Ascend the curved stairway and pass through the metal gate
- Stay as left as possible and head uphill
- Players will soon find a corpse kneeling at a large gravestone on a patch of cobblestone
- At the bottom of this gravestone will be the Astora Greatsword on a lootable corpse
6 PVE: Onikiri and Ubadachi
For PvE, arguably the best dexterity katana option in Dark Souls 3 is the Onikiri and Ubadachi. Not only do they gain an A scaling in dexterity when sharpened, but they also have an innate bleed that makes these weapons decimate most bosses. They are obtained rather late in the game at Lothric Castle, but any katana will do until players obtain this wicked combo.
RELATED: Dark Souls 3: All Katanas, Ranked (& PVP Tips)
Onikiri and Ubadachi don't get hit as hard by the dexterity soft cap as most weapons do, which makes it a great choice for dexterity builds.
How To Get The Onikiri And Ubadachi
- This paired weapon is a guaranteed drop from Black Hand Kamui, who attacks the player in the Grand Archives along with 2 other hostile NPCs
5 PVP: Murakumo (Yes, It's Great For PVP Too!)
The Murakumo is a top-tier dexterity weapon when wielded by a skilled player. Don't be fooled by its large size; the Murakumo is a weapon built around dexterity. A +10 Sharp Murakumo has an S scaling in dexterity with a base AR of 244. With enough dexterity, this weapon can easily two-shot most opponents. It also has a solid amount of hyperarmor to give players a chance to counter-attack during a gank.
Better than its damage is its moveset: as a curved greatsword, the Murakumo has a great mix of diagonal sweeps and roll-catching attacks that will keep any opponent on their toes. Mix the Murakumo's main attacks with its spinning weapon art for a fun time.
4 PVE: Astora Greatsword (Yes, It's Also Awesome For PVE!)
Via: FurryWulfz (YouTube)
This build was mentioned earlier in the PvP category, but the Astora Greatsword is even more of a powerhouse in PvE that deserves its own mention. Due to this weapon's incredible scaling and ease of use, it lends itself well to clearing out hordes of foes or tougher mobs in PvE.
Invest in 60 dexterity and, if possible, obtain 15 faith to take advantage of Blessed Weapon which grants even more damage. A sharp-infused Astora Greatsword trivializes most of Dark Souls 3's PvE content.
3 PVP: Katanas
Via: TATICADS (YouTube)
Katanas are widely regarded as "cheap" and "overpowered" amongst the community and with good reason. These weapons have a fantastic range, great movesets, are easy to obtain, and have either an A or S scaling in dexterity most of the time. Players can obtain the Uchigatana as early as after the first area in the game to destroy players in some early PvP action.
Most katanas are good in PvP, though, this boils down to preference. Those looking for range should use the Washing Pole and run over 60 dexterity alongside high endurance. Those who want more flourish with their playstyle can opt for the Frayed Blade with the Pontiff Eyes and 60 dexterity to demolish players in a few strikes, recovering HP and gaining damage per weapon art attack.
2 PVE: Sellsword Twinblades (Another Incredible Double-Entry Weapon!)
The "Sellsword Winblades' are mentioned once again for their incredible damage output in PvE content. Same as in PvP, players will want to invest heavily in dexterity and infuse the Sellsword Twinblades with sharp.
These weapons deal some of the highest damage per second out of every weapon in the game for PvE content, and they have an incredibly strong moveset to boot. Better yet, they can be buffed with Carthus Rouge or any element to further enhance their slaying potential.
1 PVP: Lothric Knight Sword
Straight swords have always been great in the Dark Souls franchise, but nothing can compare to the Lothric Straight Sword in terms of damage inside of PvP in Dark Souls 3. Capable of an S scaling in dexterity inside of PvP, the Lothric Straight Sword is the perfect weapon to use a dexterity build with.
Scale dexterity as much as possible to see the most benefits from this blade. Its damage output is incredible, reaching 400 AR easily with some investment into dexterity. Since it has a great critical multiplier, use the Hornet Ring alongside it to decimate targets on a parry or backstab. It's one of the most meta builds and strategies for a reason, though, in recent years, it has been seen less and less due to people getting bored of using a generic-looking straight sword.
How To Get The Lothric Knight Sword
- Can be dropped by the Lothric knights who wield them at the High Wall of Lothric (uncommon drop rate)
- Can be bought from Greirat for 4,000 sounds after he returns from his second expedition
Dark Souls 3 is available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
MORE: Dark Souls 3 Walkthrough - Boss Guides, Tips, & Help
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About The AuthorThe Dark Souls series is infamous for how difficult it is, making even the most patient of players throw their controllers at the wall. With a game that requires so much patience, it can be beneficial to use a powerful build to make the rage less frequent.

Of course, the best thing to do is take a break, but some items present in Dark Souls 3 can ease the frustration. Besides summoning phantoms for co-op, your main way of improving your damage is to get better weapons or spells. With that said, here are the ten best PvE builds in Dark Souls 3 that make the game significantly easier.
Updated February 5th, 2021 by Charles Burgar: Nearly every build can flourish in PvE if the player is skilled enough. However, what makes a build great in PvE is a mix of damage, utility, and ease of use. Some of our original builds were rather vague, relied on late-game items, or were otherwise underwhelming. Not only have these entries been replaced, but we also added key stat and gear breakdowns for each build. This should make it much easier to gauge how to go about making a certain build.


10 Bleed and Hollow
Class And Important Stats
- Starting Class: Thief, Deprived, or Mercenary
- Luck: 40
- Dexterity: 40
Gear

- Weapon: Warden Twinblades with Blood Infusion
- Rings: Ring of Favor, Prisoner’s Chain, two rings of your choice
Both are included in the same entry because there is quite a bit of overlap between the two. If you talk to Yoel of Londor at the Foot of the High Wall Bonfire, he will return to Firelink Shrine and allow you to gain a free level. In exchange, you gain a Dark Sigil, allowing you to become Hollow. For this build, that’s perfect as Hollowing increases your damage if your weapon is infused with a Hollow Gem.
Bleed is a status effect you can inflict on enemies and some bosses, dealing a percentage of damage to their health bar and staggering the target. Rapid attacking weapons usually come with this effect intrinsically, so most bleed builds spec for some dexterity to use these rapid attacking weapons. Luck also scales the strength of bleed in this build, so grab as many Luck and Hollowed stacks as possible. When done properly, you can stagger most bosses in the game and rapidly defeat tanky enemies. It’s pretty good in PvP too. Just note that some enemies and bosses are completely immune to bleed, so be prepared for some boss fights to take ages.
9 Hexes
Class And Important Stats
- Starting Class: Pyromancer
- Intelligence: 30 (60 if possible)
- Faith: 30 (60 if possible)
Gear
- Weapon: Crucifix of the Mad King (if you are playing a hybrid build)
- Catalysts: Caitha’s Chime and Izalith Staff
- Spells: Vow of Silence, Great Soul Dregs, Affinity, Dark Blade (if hybrid)
- Rings: Sage Ring, Ring of Favor, Dark Clutch Ring, one ring of your choice
Hexes have seen a significant nerf in Dark Souls 3 compared to the second entry, distributing these unique spells throughout every school of magic instead of being a dedicated magic archetype.

With that in mind, Hexes are still fantastic for players who want plenty of utility with their build. Want to prevent a boss from using any special attacks? Use Vow of Silence. Want to make an enemy instantly bleed? Using Dorhy’s Gnawing. It’s a very versatile school of magic that veteran players should try. Upgrade your faith and intelligence evenly, trying to hit at least 30 in each stat. It is worth the effort required, even if the build only starts to come together towards the end of a playthrough.
8 Mage
Class And Important Stats
- Starting Class: Pyromancer (best stats) or Sorcerer (start with sorceries)
- Intelligence: 60
- Attunement: 24
Gear
- Weapon: Moonlight Greatsword (if using melee weapons)
- Catalyst: Court Sorcerer’s Staff
- Spells: Homing Crystal Soulmass, Soul Greatsword, Crystal Soul Spear
- Rings: Sage Ring, Magic Clutch Ring, two rings of your choice
Pure mage characters take a long time to come “online”—capable of finishing the game comfortably. When they do, mages can do nearly anything you would want.
You can either focus on a pure mage build, allocating most of your levels in intelligence and attunement, or you can run a hybrid build with strength or dexterity. For the former, look out for the Crystal Sage’s Staff and any Crystal spells. If you are playing a hybrid build, check out the Moonlight Greatsword. This sword does damage mainly based on your intelligence and can shoot projectiles with its heavy attack. Whichever route you take, you’ll be one-shotting most enemies by the end of a Dark Souls 3 playthrough and subsequent NG+ playthroughs.

7 Pure Dexterity
Class And Important Stats
- Starting Class: Mercenary
- Dexterity: 60
Gear
- Weapon: Uchigatana, Sellsword Twinblades, Onikiri and Ubadachi
- Rings: Your choice
Dexterity might not be as absurd in Dark Souls 3 as in previous installments, but it’s still a good stat. Some of Dark Souls 3’s best weapons, such as the Sellsword Twinblades and most katanas, scale absurdly well with dexterity.
Once you reach Firelink Shrine, defeat the Sword Master that roams near the Firelink Shrine Tower. Killing him will grant the Uchigatana, a fantastic starting weapon that will carry you through the rest of a playthrough. Scale your dexterity to 60 towards the end of your playthrough or the start of your NG+ playthrough to squeeze as much damage out of your weapons as possible. Sharp Gems are also excellent for dexterity builds.
6 Paladin

Class And Important Stats
- Starting Class: Warrior
- Faith: 30 (60 if you want stronger miracles)
- Strength: 30
Gear
- Weapon: Astora Greatsword (not infused), anything with a Lightning Infusion
- Catalyst: Yorshka’s Chime
- Spells: Lightning Blade, Sacred Oath, Great Heal, Sunlight Spear
- Rings: Ring of Favor, Sage Ring, Lightning Clutch Ring, Ring of the Sun’s First Born
Paladins focus heavily on faith and strength, casting lightning spells and healing cantrips in between melee attacks.
Due to Ashen Flasks and a dedicated mana resource being introduced in Dark Souls 3, miracles aren’t as strong as they used to be. They can still be formidable in PvE, however. When combined with a faith stat of 60, a Sunlight Talisman can output some powerful miracles. Sunlight Spear and Lightning Stake will shutdown most enemies, while healing miracles will be comparable to an upgraded Estus Flask. If you value utility but love melee combat, this build is for you.
5 Quality Build
Class And Important Stats

- Starting Class: Warrior
- Strength: 40
- Dexterity: 40
Gear
- Weapon: Hollowslayer Greatsword, anything with a Refined Infusion
- Rings: Ring of Favor, Prisoner’s Chain, two rings of your choice
If you’re indecisive about what to play, it’s hard to go wrong with a quality build. Quality builds are those that invest equally into dexterity and strength to scale a weapon’s Attack Rating as high as possible. In practice, this means you can use virtually every weapon in the game.
You can use any weapon you enjoy; just be sure to infuse it with a Refined Gem. If you care about min-maxing, the best weapon for a quality build is the Hollowslayer Greatsword, a boss weapon obtained after killing the Curse-Rotted Greatwood. It scales absurdly well with both strength and dexterity, reaching an Attack Rating of 516 when both stats are 40. It also has a great moveset with a healthy mix of hyperarmor (preventing you from getting stunned mid-animation) and swings.
4 Dex/Faith Hybrid
Class And Important Stats
- Starting Class: Cleric
- Faith: 30
- Dexterity: 30
Gear

- Weapon: Dragonslayer Spear, anything with a Blessed or Sharp Infusion
- Catalyst: Yorshka’s Chime
- Spells: Sacred Oath, Great Heal, Lightning Spear
- Rings: Sage Ring, Ring of the Sun’s First Born, two rings of your choice
You don’t have to go straight into one stat. Instead, you can distribute your levels into different stats to get the best of both worlds.
If you do decide to play a hybrid build, consider focusing on upgrading your dexterity and faith. The Dragonslayer Swordspear is a good choice for this, as it scales off of both your faith and dexterity quite well. For an earlier alternative, get any weapon you favor and infuse with a Blessed or Sharp Gem to get even more damage. Best of all, you can use healing or lightning-based miracles to deal with any situation. The versatility on offer is some of the best you can find in Dark Souls 3.
3 Pure Strength
Class And Important Stats
- Starting Class: Warrior
- Strength: 60
Gear
- Weapon: Lothric Knight Greatsword, any greatsword or ultra greatsword
- Rings: Ring of Favor, Chloranthy Ring, two rings of your choice
If casting spells or miracles don’t sound appealing, try out a pure strength build. Allocate at least 60 points into strength and watch as you one-shot all but the toughest of mobs and bosses.

Greatswords are a fantastic weapon of choice for this, with weapons like the Black Knight Sword and Lothric Knight Greatsword having good movesets and great scaling. Ultra greatswords like the Fume Ultra Greatsword allow users to wield weapons twice their size and deal ridiculous amounts of damage. If you can stand the slow playstyle, this is one of the best builds any player can use.
2 Pyromancer
Class And Important Stats
- Starting Class: Pyromancer
- Intelligence: 30
- Faith: 30
Gear
- Weapon: Demon Scar, anything with a Chaos Infusion
- Catalyst: Pyromancy Flame
- Spells: Power Within, Chaos Bed Vestiges, Rapport,
- Rings: Sage Ring, Fire Clutch Ring, two rings of your choice
With a series focused on linking the fire, it’s surprising how lackluster pyromancy was for most of the series. Thankfully, Dark Souls 3 is an exception to this.
With 40 points in both faith and intelligence, pyromancy will deal significant damage and outclass most hexes. Plenty of great damage pyromancies such as Floating Chaos and Black Serpent allow you to deal with nearly any situation. Power Within and Flash Sweat are also some fantastic buffs to power you through the toughest of encounters. You can even use the Demon Scar to cast pyromancies while cutting through mobs with a burning curved sword. Versatility, damage, defense, this build has it all.

1 Sellsword Twinblades
Class And Important Stats
- Starting Class: Mercenary
- Dexterity: 60
Gear
- Weapon: Warden Twinblades with a Sharp Infusion
- Rings: Hunter’s Ring, Ring of Favor, two rings of your choice
There’s a reason the community calls these pair of curved swords the “Sellsword Winblades.” The damage this pair can dish out is nearly unmatched in Dark Souls 3’s PvE content.
Funny enough, it’s also the easiest build to get going on this list. Pick the Mercenary class, and you’ll already start with these blades. Focus on obtaining a Sharp Gem in the early game, then infuse the Sellsword Twinblades. From there, increase your dexterity stat to 60. You’ll be outputting as much damage as some greatswords twice as quickly. It’s the reason why so many speedrunners and PvE players use this weapon over others.
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Charles Burgar is an expert on all things tech and gaming. Graduating from Pikes Peak Community College in 2018 with an Associate of Science, Charles has spent his time dissecting popular video games, movies, and technology. With an understanding of games for as long as he can remember, Charles has a large interest in understanding what makes things fun. He is currently a Freelance writer for TheGamer and Game Rant.
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Ds3 builds best
Dark Souls 3: The 5 Best Strength Builds
Those seeking to dominate their enemies at close range often focus on either Dexterity or Strength, the latter of which is used to wield some of the hugest and heaviest weapons in Dark Souls 3. Builds that focus on this stat prioritize maximizing damage output, though often in the bluntest and most straightforward manners.
RELATED: Dark Souls 3: Items Every Two-Handed Build Should Have
Over the years since this incredible dark fantasy action RPG was released, players have been finding increasingly novel ways to utilize the Strength stat for the best builds possible in DS3. Some of which can be recreated with some insight into their stats, equipment, and concept.
Updated on July 17, 2021, by Reyadh Rahaman:Putting together a cool and crazy build is always fun, though, novelty does not always equate to success, as experienced foes in PvP using generic and overused tactics can mercilessly put down players trying to experiment and have fun. While annoying, and possibly upsetting, those that intend on coming up with a truly excellent Strength build should also plan for how to counter the conventional PvP strategies. This, of course, will require some fine-tuning and adjustments to suits one's preferences and goals, but such is the way of a constantly evolving battlefield rife with tons of weapons and magic.
5 Efficient Strength
Build Overview
This build aims to perform all the basic maneuvers that Strength builds are capable of, though with a streamlined plan that can be altered as needed, such as splitting up the points invested in Faith with Intelligence for pyromancies instead of miracles.
The goal of this best Strength build in Dark Souls 3 is to hit foes hard at close range while poising through their attacks to stagger and maybe stun-lock them or using spells to pressure them from further away. Nothing ground-breaking, but none can deny this Greatsword-using build is a reliable one.
PVP Tips
The biggest counter to this build is dark-type magic, as Morne's Set does not possess the greatest damage reduction against this element.
This means that players will be susceptible to dark sorceries and dark miracles, however, those who are using the Faith variant of this build should be able to deal with these kinds of threats better than Intelligence-focused ones.
Stats
- Souls Level: 120
- Vigor: 27
- Attunement: 14
- Endurance: 30
- Vitality: 37
- Strength: 50
- Dexterity: 12
- Intelligence: 8 (30 if using pyromancies)
- Faith: 30 (8 if using pyromancies)
- Luck: 11
Equipment
- Right Hand: Heavy Greatsword +10
- Left Hand: Simple Small Leather Shield +10 (& Talisman +10 or Pyromancy Flame +10)
- Head: Morne's Helm
- Chest: Morne's Armor
- Hands: Morne's Gauntlets
- Legs: Morne's Leggings
- Ring 1: Havel's Ring
- Ring 2: Ring of Favor
- Ring 3: Prisoner's Chain
- Ring 4: Knight's Ring
4 Pure Strength Tank
Build Overview
Players seeking the ability to poise through nearly anything should try out this tanky approach to DS3's combat. Utilizing the bonus poise granted by equipping Yhorm's Greatshield, the plan is to go hit-for-hit in damage trades and come out on top while forcing the foe to back off, allowing one to keep applying pressure.
The Zweihander is the weapon that the creator of this build, Youtuber Crozyn, uses, however, Yhorm's Great Machete would not be a bad choice either.
PVP Tips
As with many other DS3 Strength builds, one of the biggest weaknesses of this one is the slow attack speed, however, this can be compensated by outthinking the opponent. It's unlikely that one will be able to land a clean hit on the enemy when swinging wildly, so make sure to lure them in with a feint of some sort so that they begin attacking.
With a setup like this, taking melee hits is actually a good thing as it will temporarily keep the foe in place long enough to land that first crucial hit, which can be followed up with others as the adversary is stun-locked.
RELATED: Dark Souls 3: A Guide To Building The Ultimate Two-Handed Weapon Character
Stats
- Souls Level: 120
- Vigor: 42
- Attunement: 10
- Endurance: 35
- Vitality: 35
- Strength: 50
- Dexterity: 12
- Intelligence: 9
- Faith: 9
- Luck: 7
Equipment
- Right Hand: Heavy Zweihander +10
- Left Hand: Yhorm's Greatshield +5
- Head: Black Iron Helm
- Chest: Black Iron Armor
- Hands: Fallen Knight Gauntlets
- Legs: Northern Trousers
- Ring 1: Life Ring
- Ring 2: Cloranthy Ring
- Ring 3: Ring of Favor
- Ring 4: Havel's Ring
3 Black Knight Greataxe
Build Overview
Here's one that fans of the lore will appreciate, as it aims to use one of the heftier black knight weapons to not only stagger and stun-lock foes but to do so with arguably the best moveset out of any greataxe. The greater than average poise health and poise damage grants wielders of the Black Knight Greataxe the ability to trade blows optimally.
Using some rings to boost one's stats for greater scaling bonuses adds to this build's viability, especially if the player includes some parries and damage-boosted ripostes.
PVP Tips
Much like how the black knights hunted and felled foes much greater in size than themselves, the Black Knight Greataxe is arguably the best DS3 Strength build weapon to use against other great weapons if one wants to beat them at their own game.
The greater poise health and damage enhance the aggressive moveset, especially the one-handed strong attack that can flatten foes similar to what a great hammer can do as well as the fully charged two-handed strong attack that can launch players into the air.
Stats
- Souls Level: 120
- Vigor: 40
- Attunement: 10
- Endurance: 40
- Vitality: 30
- Strength: 50
- Dexterity: 27
- Intelligence: 9
- Faith: 9
- Luck: 7
Equipment
- Right Hand: Black Knight Greataxe +5
- Left Hand: Small Leather Shield +10
- Head: Black Knight Helm
- Chest: Black Knight Armor
- Hands: Black Knight Gauntlets
- Legs: Black Knight Leggings
- Ring 1: Carthus Milkring
- Ring 2: Hornet Ring
- Ring 3: Hunter's Ring
- Ring 4: Knight's Ring
2 Ledo's OP Strength
Build Overview
As this weapon requires the wielder to possess 60 Strength to even be used, this build, by Youtuber Games 4 Days, that focuses on using Ledo's Great Hammer will require players to put even more points into this desirable melee stat.
The extra points are worth it, as this build can demolish a great variety of foes at close range thanks to the great hammer's devastating weapon skill, Call to Stone, which essentially turns the player into a living wrecking ball for a few seconds.
PVP Tips
Since Ledo's Greathammer is relatively short, it does not have the best reach with its regular attacks, however, this can be used to one's advantage.
Enemies who acclimatize to this great hammer's range will likely become more and more confident as a duel progresses, though, players can surprise too-close foes with the weapon skill that has a surprisingly far reach and can stun enemies who panic and mistime their dodge rolls. If the player has enough stamina left, they can follow up their Call to Stone attack with regular strikes for an insane and deadly combo.
RELATED: The Best Hammers In Dark Souls 3 (& 5 Worst)
Stats
- Souls Level: 125
- Vigor: 45
- Attunement: 10
- Endurance: 45
- Vitality: 32
- Strength: 60
- Dexterity: 12
- Intelligence: 9
- Faith: 9
- Luck: 7
Equipment
- Right Hand: Ledo's Great Hammer +5
- Left Hand: Caestus +10
- Head: Helm of Thorns
- Chest: Harald Legion Armor
- Hands: Black Witch Wrappings
- Legs: Morne's Leggings
- Ring 1: Ring of Favor
- Ring 2: Wolf Ring
- Ring 3: Prisoner's Chain
- Ring 4: Havel's Ring
1 Strength & Faith Greataxe
Players seeking a Strength build requiring less raw power and brute force should put some points into Faith, though not for lightning-base ranged miracles. Using the Lightning Blade miracle to buff one's weapon with lightning damage so that even foes with great physical defense won't be able to get off light from damage trades.
This is a relatively simple tactic that has many variants, though, the reason for this is because it is a tried and true method of taking enemies out in both PvE and PvP.
PVP Tips
Flexibility is what makes this one of the best Strength builds in Dark Souls 3, as being able to hit hard, parry, and deal with incoming spells essentially sets one up to deal with any kind of foe save crazy niche ones or the occasionally one-shot builds.
Observe one's opponent to see whether they plan to utilize ranged or melee attacks and then act accordingly: for ranged foes, chase them down and don't give them time to cast spells by making use of running and jumping attacks, though, for melee threats, one should be a bit more cautious and maybe mix in a parry attempt between repeatedly bringing down one's Greataxe upon the enemy's skull.
Stats
- Souls Level: 120
- Vigor: 40
- Attunement: 10
- Endurance: 40
- Vitality: 15
- Strength: 45
- Dexterity: 12
- Intelligence: 9
- Faith: 41
- Luck: 7
Equipment
- Right Hand: Heavy Greataxe +10
- Left Hand: Small Leather Shield +10 (& Yorshka's Chime +10)
- Head: Dancer's Crown
- Chest: Dancer's Armor
- Hands: Dancer's Gauntlets
- Legs: Dancer's Leggings
- Ring 1: Priestess Ring
- Ring 2: Knight's Ring
- Ring 3: Havel's Ring
- Ring 4: Hornet Ring
NEXT: Dark Souls 3 Walkthrough - Boss Guides, Tips, & Help
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About The AuthorTop 5 Dark Souls 3 Best Builds (The Best Builds in Dark Souls 3)
What Are The Best Builds in Dark Souls 3?
There are many different builds available in games that allow as much customization as Dark Souls 3. Some of them are for PVE (player versus environment) and others specialize in PVP (player versus player). Here we’ll show you some of the top builds created by our community of dedicated players.
5. Pure Sorcery Glass Cannon Mage, PVE
Introducing the glass cannon. This build is for 100% ranged DPS. It is primarily PVE focused, but can be adjusted for PVP if need be. Essentially you will become a powerful yet squishy spell slinger.
Build Guide:
- Starting class: Sorcerer
- Max potential reached at soul level (SL) 120
Stat Goals:
- 40 Vigor – to give around 1600 embered HP
- 40 Attunement- for around 300 FP with 6 spell slots available
- 12 Endurance- so that you can cast at least 2 spells without running out of stamina
- 10 Vitality- To give a little wiggle room for equipment load to keep the fast roll
- 8 Strength- to allow the early use of a decent shield
- 12 Dexterity- the base you start with
- 60 Intelligence- the cap before diminishing returns
- 15 Faith- for tears of denial
- 12 Luck- the base you start with
Suggested Rings:
- Bellowing Dragon Crest Ring- increases magic damage by 20%
- Young Dragon Ring- increases magic damage by 12%
- Magic Clutch Ring- increases magic damage by 15% but give -10% absorption
- Lloyd’s Sword Ring- give 10% to all damage at full HP
- Red Tear stone Ring- all damage increased by 20% when below 20% HP
- Dusk Crown Ring- reduces FP cost of spells by 25% but lowers max HP by 20%
- Sage Ring- reduces casting time of spells (equals +30 Dexterity)
- Linger Dragoncrest Ring- increases spell durations by 30%
- Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring- silences movement, helping avoid detection
Suggested Gear:
- Crown of Dusk- adds 10% to spell damage, but -30 magic resistance
- Scholar’s Candlestick- adds 25% buff to spell damage
- Dark Hand- can be used as a shield in the left hand and has 0 equip load
- Court Sorcerer’s Staff- at +10 with 60 INT has the highest spell buff in the game
- Crystal Sage’s Staff- with 60 INT gives 207 spell buff, but can buff your spells by 40%
Suggested Spells:
- Flash Sweat
- Power Within
- Tears of Denial
- Crystal Homing Soulmass
- Crystal Soul Spear
- White Dragon Breath
- Great Heavy Soul Arrow
- Farron Flash Sword
- Hidden Body
- Spook
- Great Magic Shield
4. Ashen Knight, PVE
The Ashen Knight is your basic build created for melee tank and spank game play. You will deal reasonable damage and be able to take a beating. It does not focus on magic and can carry you through multiple NG cycles as a quality build.
Build Guide:
- Starting class: Knight
- Max potential is reached at level 120
Stat Goals:
- Vigor- 25
- Attunement- 10 (base)
- Endurance- 27 (allowing enough stamina for multiple swings and guarding)
- Vitality- 15 (base)
- Strength- 40 (below cap)
- Dexterity- 40 (below cap)
- Intelligence- 9 (base)
- Faith- 16 (enough to wield one of the weapons for the build)
- Luck- 7 (base)
Suggested Rings:
- Havel’s Ring- allowing for additional carrying capacity
- Chloranthy Ring- give increased stamina regeneration
Suggested Gear:
- Broadsword (early game)
- Sunlight Straight Sword (primary weapon)
- Black Bow of Pharis (secondary)
- Shield of Want (left hand)
- Knight armor set (early game)
- Lothric Knight armor set (primary)
3. Righteous Punishment, PVE/PVP
This build is all about faith. It is usable in PVE and very effective in PVP. Few enemies through the game have resistance to lightning and every dragon is weak to it. So get ready to bully those bosses and own on some plebs.
Build Guide:
- Starting Class: Assassin
- Max potential reached at level 125
Stat Goals:
- Vigor- 25
- Attunement- add any points not going into required stats when leveling
- Endurance- 20
- Vitality- optional
- Strength- optional
- Dexterity- 30
- Intelligence- optional
- Faith- 60
- Luck- optional
Suggested Rings:
- Morne’s Ring- casting mode
- Ring of the Sun’s Firstborn- casting mode
- Lloyd’s Sword Ring- casting mode
- Lightning Clutch Ring- casting mode
- Chloranthy Ring- melee mode
- Hornet Ring- melee mode
- Leo Ring- melee mode
- Ring of Favor- melee mode
- Sage’s Ring- PVP mode
Suggested Gear
- Estoc or Rapier infused with lightning at 40 faith
- Estoc or Rapier raw before 40 faith
- Preferably armor that keeps you in fast roll (<30%)
- Staff for casting Spook
- Pyromancy hand for early game buffing
- Saint’s Talisman- for 42+ faith
Suggested Spells:
- Magic weapon- early game
- Carthus Flame Arc- for those time when the enemy may be lightning resistant
- Lightning Blade- imbuing weapons with additional lighting damage
- Great Lightning Spear- end game
- Lighting Spear- early game
- Sunlight Spear- from Carthus Worm
2. Yuria of Londor Build, PVE/PVP
We all love our cosplay. What better to play than the most mysterious of characters within the game. Yuria is loyal to the Ashen One if you have treated her friend correctly and will therefore appear in the Firelink Shrine where you have the option to do her questline, allowing you to get her gear at the end of the main story or kill her. Beware though, she is no small challenge. This build is fast and offensive.
Build Guide
- Starting class: Deprived
- Max potential reached at level 89+
Stat Goals:
- Vigor- 43+
- Attunement- 15+
- Endurance- 40
- Vitality- 10 (base)
- Strength- 10 (base)
- Dexterity- 30+
- Intelligence- 10 (base)
- Faith- 10 (base)
- Luck- 10 (base)
Suggested Rings:
- Chloranthy Ring
- Ring of Favor
- Carthus Milk Ring
- Untrue Dark Ring
Suggested Gear
- Dark Drift +5 (Yuria’s blade)
- Dark Hand (purchasable from Yuria for 12k souls)
- Yuria’s armor set
- Black firebombs
- Throwing knives
1. The Fume Build, PVE
One of the most popular stats in all Dark Souls series is strength. The feeling of power that you have behind the swings of the mightiest weapons is indescribable. The Fume sword is the mightiest of them. It can effectively carry you through the game world.
Build Guide:
- Starting class: Knight
- Max potential is reached at level 100+
Stat Goals: During leveling, you want to keep strength, dexterity and endurance pretty equal until maxing out and completing the build.
- Vigor- optional
- Attunement- 10 (base)
- Endurance- optional
- Vitality- 15 (base)
- Strength- 60 (optional)
- Dexterity- 50 (optional)
- Intelligence- 9 (base)
- Faith- (base)
- Luck- 7 (base)
Suggested Rings:
- Havel’s Ring +3- needed for the heavy sword and armor
- Chloranthy Ring +3 - for increased stamina regeneration
Suggested Gear:
- Any great sword (early game)
- Fume Ultra Great Sword (primary weapon)
- Armor that is light, keeping you hopefully around mid-roll (<50%)
There are many builds available for Dark Soul’s 3. Here we have just touched on five of the most common and powerful of them. Each player can create a build of their own or take one of these. Get out there and let’s see what you can do!
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Elite Fallen Knight
Strength
Heavy Claymore
Dark Sword
A knight, fallen from the path of righteousness, seeks to reclaim their honor as a proud elite knight in the face of insurmountable danger. Donned with a heavy sword and shield, the knight bravely sets out into the world to conquer the darkness that plagues the land of Lothric.
This is a build that I've been running since the launch of the game back in 2016, and have now decided to share with the community. It is an easy and very basic build to accomplish but may require some players to venture into NG+1 at the very least to reach the recommended level.
This build is a high-strength, high vitality build that requires at least 44 Vitality, the Ring of Favor, and Havel's Ring to prevent fat rolling. Even still, the build is tanky and outputs great damage. This page will guide you through the general process of the build. NOTE: For maximum build effectiveness, owning The Ringed City DLC is highly recommended.
Str/Dex
Firelink Greatsword and Pyromancy Flame
Fun cosplay build focusing on the Pyromancy form of the Soul of Cinder. Level 90 allows for standard quality stat allocation. Self buff on the Firelink Greatsword is really great, coupled with Power Within you will be pushing 750 attack rating. Although you have a pyromancy flame, its more for show, as Int/Fth are not leveled up.
Unless you get a friend to drop you the armor and weapon, using a Claymore for the game is fine.
VIG: 30, ATT: 15, END: 14, VIT: 15, STR: 39, DEX: 39, INT: 10, FTH: 10, LCK:7
You can wear any rings, but I usually wear the Life ring, Ring of Favor, Chloranthy Ring, and the last slot I swap out for what I need, such as a Sun princess ring to offset Power Within's life leech, or a hornet ring if you want to use a Blessed caestus to parry.
Black Knight Great Axe
Black Knight Glaive
Black Knight Shield
Anri Straight Sword
&
Morian Blade
100+
Just equip the Anri's sword in main hand with Morion blade in off hand with red tearstone ring get to low health and get wrecked every boss and for stats just get to 60 luck (softcap for Anri's sword) then the rest of the lvls are up to you depending on what lvl you wanna be
Black Blade
&
Pyromancer's Parting Flame
1 2 5
Solomon Pendragon
Jack-Of-All-Trades
Strength | Dexterity | Intelligence | Faith
60 Intelligence/60 Faith... More info in my link!
237
Do You Want to Destroy?! Here is a link to my build:
?!
[30 Intelligence + 25 Faith]
Storyteller's Staff
White Hair Talisman
As soon as you can cast 2 essential spells [24] to core build [80+]
This is not a common mage build, it focus on stealth and status effect spells
Versus most enemies you wont trigger aggro, and vs bosses your damage over time will take them down effectively
So far the funniest build i've ever played, check this guide if you want to try something completely different!
[Faith + Quality]
[Sunlight Straight Sword + Lothric Knight Greatsword]
[Sunlight Spear + Soothing Sunlight]
End game build, will make you a God.
Relies both on heavy melee damage, heavy miracle damage, heals, buffs and Tears of Denial, which will render you immortal.
1) ALL STATS TO 40, EXCEPT: Intelligence at base, Luck at base, and Faith raised to 60, as it is our main DMG proc.
2) WEAPONS: Sunlight Straight Sword +5 => Quick swipes.
, Lothric Knight Greatsword +10 ( Blessed ) => Huge swing.
3) OFFHAND: Shield of Want +4; Yorshka's Chime+10 for attack or Saint's Talisman +10 for defence.
4) ARMOR: Catarina Full Set.
5) RINGS: Havel +3, Favor +3, Ring of the Sun's First Born, Morne's Ring.
6) MIRACLES: Sunlight Spear, Soothing Sunlight, Tears of Denial, Sacred Oath. ( 6 slots )
7) ESTUS ALLOCATION: 9 HP, 6 FP.
DYNAMICS: Beginning of anything you do, cast Tears of Denial and Sacred Oath, rest on the bonfire ( the buffs will remain ), and begin your quests.
Sunlight Spear = ~1200 damage.
Encumberment is 70% sharp.
If invaded, cast Sacred Oath, switch to Lothric Knight GS.
L2, R2 on proper timing is game over.
Dex&Luck///Anri's Straight Sword&The Great Scythe
luck and vitality + symbol of avarice & two crystal sage rapiers & rusted gold coins
Faith&Str&int&dex | Lorians greatsword + firelink set and crystal chime
11 Str, 16 Dex, 20 Luck Fire Uchigatana
SL: 120
Vigor: 30, Endurance: 30, Vitality: 30, Strength: 40, Dexterity: 40
Vigor: 30
Endurance: 20 (NG - 27)
Vitality: 20 (NG - 30)
Strenght: 20
Dexterity: 40
First, you must up Vigor and Vitality to 20. You really can defeat all bosses with standart weapon and clothes. Just upgrade sword meanwhile and all will be good. For NG we need full Lothric set and Lothric Knight Sword. Its best Straight Sword. Upgrade this sword to +10. Set Lothric heavy, so you must up Endurance to 27. You can use any shield. I'm using Crest Shield. Dexterity we up for scale. Lothric sword have default 18 dextery. Vitality we up to 30 because with this 30, we can beat around 10 (!!!) times non-stop. Its really cool. Any enemies will die too fast.
About rings: we need 3 rings before we go to NG (and for first play of course). Its Havel's Ring, Ring of Favor and Pontiff's Right Eye. Its three cool rings. Other 1 slot for ring you can choose itself. I'm prefer Chloranthy Ring.
For PVP this build works too. You can punish your enemy's with fast, non-stop attack. They do not expect that you can hit more than 4-5 times.
Good Luck =)
Min 30 faith
40+attunement
25+dex
Max 24 strength
(not adding strength)
95
This would be a hybrid dex/attunement/faith build. The faith would enable the use of miracles to get weapon buffs/ magic shields. The attunement would allow for one to build a lot of focus along with enough slots for said blessings. The dex is to make sure you use curved swords along with the weapon arts most curved swords have, like chained dance/dancer’s grace/spin slash, etc.
Coming off bloodborne’s constantly moving combat, no blocking (especially if you used the blades of mercy) made me think of this build. So if your first from software game was bloodborne, then this build may be found interesting.
faith is for weapon buffs(darkmoon/lightning blade/blessed weapon), great magic barrier,(and maybe a healing spell because you should have more ash estus flasks than most)
attunement is needed for at least 6 slots for miracles, arts( and some other odd useful spells) and most importantly enough focus
dex for the use of curved swords on which this build is built on(my favorite weapon is the painting guardian's curved sword due to it’s weapon art and above average dex scaling.Problem is that you get this weapon after you are accustomed to another weapon)
I capped strength at 24 only because to get some of the boss soul exchange curved swords you a higher strength stat
40 Dex (with rings)
30 Faith (for bufs)
100
18 attunment is the minum required for spell slots and FP cost. 32 base Dex up to 40 with rings equiped, which I think it's a nice cap for a melee build.
If SL cap is increased improve Vigor and Endurance for more HP and Stamina.
60 Faith
Raw-/Lightning Infusions, Estoc preferred
125
With this build you will not feel powerless at any point of your playtrough. The raw weapon is great in the starting areas, and then you get the buffs needed to keep it up, all while pumping your survivability. Basically you get all the damage early on, but do not need to invest in a core stat (Str/Dex/Int/Fai) for the first quarter of the game. And in the endgame locations you will annihilate everything with the inherently fast Spear Miracles and the Lightning Weapon buff.
Works amazingly well in PvP as well as in PvE - just adjust the rings to your playstyle.
1. Starting with the Assassin is recommended, since the Estoc is a godlike weapon and the Spook Spell is of great use troughout the game.
2. Infuse your Estoc with a Raw Gem as soon as possible. Before that you can have a fire infusion, but switching to raw is mandatory for the weaponbuffs.
3. Get the Magic Weapon buff from Yoel, free the pyromancy trainer and get the Saint's Talisman. (Undead Settlement) (That talisman is for faithlevels 42+)
4. Level your Vigor to ~25 and Endurance to ~20. This will easily be enough until about level 50. Upgrade the Estoc as much and as soon as possible.
5. Start pumping points in Faith until you hit 30, and get the Carthus Flame Arc pyromancy-buff. (Carthus Catacombs)
6. Earn yourself Sunlight Medals along the way. (help kill bosses or invade/duel as a Sunbro)
7. Get the Lightning Blade miracle-buff. (Irithyl-Dungeon) This will be your main buff, at least as long as the boss is not Lightning resistant. In such cases, switch to the Carthus Flame Arc.
8. Level your stats at your leisure in the direction of the liked build.
9. Exchange 30 Sunlight Medals for Sacred Oath (Amazing Buff) and the Great Lightning Spear. Use the Spear, but try to do so in melee range. Equip Morne's Ring, Ring of Sun's Firstborn and (optional) the Lightning Clutch Ring as well al Lloyd's Sword Ring for devastating damage results.
10. (optional) Buy another Estoc/Rapier and infuse it with Lightning once your faith is above 40, for those bosses where you feel uncomfortable with buffing and those people who de-buff you with duel charms in PvP.
11. Slaughter everything and everybody as you go and get the Sunlight Spear Miracle.
12. Get to level 120 and then get the free five levels from Yoel in NG+ to hit the 125 PvP cap.
13. Devastate all living beings with speedy yet extraordinary painful Estoc attacks, bully bosses with Sunlight Spears in their faces or land a Sunlight Spear after a Parry (Sage Ring recommended for this one). For Sunlight Spear damge, check the link below the build-link.
At level ~100+ your rings will determine a lot about your playstyle. You will be able to go full out lightning mage with Morne's Ring + Ring of Sun's Firstborn + Lightning Clutch + Ring of Dusk/Lloyd's Sword Ring,
or you can keep the melee approach with something like Chloranthy Ring, Hornet Ring, Leo Ring, Ring of Favor and Protection, Lloyd's Sword Ring, Flynn's Ring etc.
Build:
NG+ Lothric Knight at the Lothric Castle Bonfire getting "enlightened":
40 STR 20 DEX 30 FTH
Sunlight Straight Sword
106-110
Pairs some great armors together to form a solid defense as well as a stylish look. Remind Bosses and enemies alike the power of Solaire. Using the Sunlight Straight Sword's buff along with Lightning Weapon brings your AR to 650 and higher
Can also increase attunement to allow for usage of Lightning/Greater Lightning/ Sunlight Spear.
37 STR 34 DEX 30 FTH
Dark Sword
120
Capitalizes on Mundane DPS and has a spell for the elemental advantage in every situation.
Backup weapon is entirely user preference.
Jolly
Cooperator/
Coopinvasion
Build
23 VIG, 14 ATN, 9 END, 16 VIT, 12 STR, 11 DEX, 8 INT, 15 FTH, 11 LUCK
Morning Star, Light Crossbow, Wargod Wooden Shield, Priest's Chime
30
This is strictly a low-level coop and/or invasion build.
You have 15 FTH for the Tears of Denial miracle. However, if that is not working out for you (like against poison), replace it with one or two miracles (Replenishment and Blessed Weapon are safe choices). I don't prefer the Heal spells since your allies either get themselves killed too quickly (usually by rushing or prematurely using Estus), or they simply know how and when to dodge and attack properly.
After you help Greirat from his cell, you can buy the Mace from him as your substitute for the Morning Star until you get the Paladin's Ashes. Don't forget your Light Crossbow from his store, too.
All weapons will be +2, no more... no less. You will infuse a Raw Gem on your Morning Star, and a Simple Gem on your shield. Why?
Because you are not relying on stats for scaling... heck, you're not relying on scaling at all, which is why an infusement like this will benefit you more... and you don't lose the Bleed bonus on your weapon. Also, it's weapon art is too good... if you time it right, you can basically tank through any hit or two with no flinching, and damage is also reduced! This is especially great against R1 spammers or gankers (oh and you can put a Resin on your weapon... like more bleed, perhaps?). Take that, spray & pray mentality!
The shield is made Simple because it gets a slight boost to Magic Defense (which it lacks prior), and it helps regen your FP by 1 point every 5 seconds. That may sound redundant, but you can use a weapon art (both the Morning Star and the Chime) with only 1 FP... although I fear this may get patched at some point. If that happens, infuse your shield with a Blessed Gem instead.
You will be able to help (or intude on) people from the very beginning all the way to the end of the Catacombs area. Have fun, and don't go hollow. No seriously, don't go hollow, that's for another build I may just make.
EDIT: Oh yes, Rings! You will have Ring of Favor (of course), Havel's Ring, Prisoner's Chain, and Sun Princess Ring.
With all this ready to go, you would have to be a complete imbecile to not be helpful to your allies... or a complete and successful nuisence to your enemies.
How to become a Lothric Knight
Strength + Vitality
Broadsword
28
In this guide shows how you become a Lothric Knight in the early game. After the second area you will have a great armor, a strong sword which scales well with strength and dexterity for late, a long-range weapon and a 100%-blocking shield. It's a strong start and you can play with this without any struggle through the first half of DS3.
Sweeping Spear
Base stats:
Vigour: 12 Attunement: 14 Endurance: 9 Vitality: 12 Strength: 14 Dexterity: 12 Intelligence: 12 Faith: 13 Luck:11
Weapons:
-Partizan (2 handed) -Pyromancy Flame
20+
An extremely simple concept of progressing damage increase. Use the Partizan with both hands and the extremely long range as well as the varied attacks (thrusting and sweeping) makes it a force to be reckoned with. For particularly difficult enemies that can be stun-locked use the Pyromancy 'Carthus Beacon' to deal progressing damage with each consecutive hit. After the initial build has been reached it is easily tailored to suit your playstyle, wear armour that fits you and level up where you want from there.
Essential stats:
Vigor: 18+
Vitality: 25+
Strength: 25+
Intelligence: 25+
Rings:
Chloranthy Ring, Witch's Ring, Deep Ring, Fire Clutch Ring
55+
This build is easy to create and ideal for close and medium-range combat with enemies, making excellent use of both strength and pyromancy while softcapping.
1. Starting early in the game, many enemies have extensive health and deal extensive damage simultaneously. I recommend killing Leonhard to get a decent set of armor as soon as possible. His set will be available via the Shrine Handmaid. Compared to most sets, it has fairly high defense in all areas, and very high defense in both magic and fire.
2. Pick up the Chloranthy Ring and Grass Crest Shield. These items are essential so you do not have to put any points into endurance. Make sure to acquire the Pyromancy Flame from Cornyx as well, but I do not suggest investing much into intelligence until you can get the Great Chaos Fire Orb (see #4).
3. Use the Butcher Knife you acquire from killing the NPC in the Road of Sacrifices. This weapon scales with an A in strength immediately, has a healing buff, and doesn't require any additional points being put into skill.
4. Get the Izalith Pyromancy Tome in the Smouldering Lake. This unlocks, in my opinion, the best pyromancy in the game: Great Chaos Fire Orb. Many late-game enemies can be killed in 2-4 hits with it depending on how much you invest into intelligence. You need the Deep Ring because this pyromancy requires 2 slots. The Witch's Ring and Fire Clutch Ring will increase your fire attack greatly, but beware your fire defense will be reduced to an average amount while using Eygon of Carim's armor (see #6). I also suggest allotting your Estus Flasks so you have a fair amount of Ashen Flasks to compensate for your default amount of FP.
5. By Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, you should have enough Large Titanite Shards to get your Butcher Knife and Pyromancy Flame to +6 (assuming you also browsed a bit through the Smouldering Lake).
6. Ideally, you want Egyon of Carim's armor, which you can get by killing him once you have invested a bit into strength and vigor. This set is heavy and definitely requires 25+ vitality. I do not recommend using the headpiece because it is so ***** heavy and doesn't provide much extra defense compared to other head attire.
7. I recommend focusing on investing in vitality and strength, then spending extra souls on attunement and intelligence later in the game, as well as endurance or vigor if you feel it is necessary. If you invest a bit into attunement, you do not need the Deep Ring and therefore can use a ring of your preference.
Overall weaknesses:
Moderate melee range, moderate fire resistance, weak to dark damage, not much FP
pure faith build SL 120
Great self- and party support
MercwithMouth82
45 vigor
60 Faith
Straight Swords, Mace
120
Pure Faith Build focusing on self- and party-healing as well as
self- and party-buffing
Infusions for relaxed playstyle or weapon buffs for max dmg
standard pyromancer / dark build SL 120
MercwithMouth82
40 vigor
40 int/fth
Straight Swords, Mace
120
Standard 120 Pyromancer / Dark build
Infusions for relaxed playstyle or weapon buffs on raw
low-level pure faith build SL 25
Great self- and party support
30 Faith
Straight Swords, Mace
25
weapons +2/+1 twink. & scale
Pure low-level faith build for co-op support
self- and party-buffing
Infusions for relaxed playstyle or weapon buffs on raw
low-level pyromancer / dark build SL 25
20 int/fth
Straight Swords, Mace
25
weapons +2/+1 twink. & scale
Pure low level pyromancer for co-op support
Infusions for relaxed playstyle or weapon buffs on raw
Paladin of the Light
Main stats: Faith, Attunement with decent Dexterity and Endurance
190
The Fume Buld
Strength/Dex/
Ultra Greatsword
100+
Start as the knight class to get boosted Vitality and endurance, progress through game while leveling up strength, vitality, Dex, and endurance equally( Be sure to get the 5 free levels from Yoel as well). Once you get to the carthus dungeons cut the bridge leading to the High lord Wolnir boss and descend into smoldering lake. Once in smoldering lake head to the demon ruins (to the right of the demon boss fog gate) and progress until you see a lava lake in the very bottom point of the demon ruins to find knight slayer tsorig. He utilized a greatshield and the weapon you need so he will be fairly tought however he is slow, so use backstabs. Once he is defeated he will drop the Fume Ultra Greatsword, it takes twinkling titanite to upgrade but is well worth it. When upgraded fully it has an S in stregnth scaling and a C in Dex. Comibined if you have 70 in stregnth and 50 in Dex you will push 950 damage per strike two handed. I utilize this build well into my Ng+7 playthrough to easily destroy enemies in PVE and invader from PVP. For this build it is recomonded to just use this sword and no shield because the Fume sword is extremely heavy, so you might need to learn to roll effectively. Be sure to use medium or light armour so you do not become overencumbered.
Lightning Rod of Lothric
Lothric Knight Greatsword
125+
Scales really well up to 40 faith and 60 str/dex. The best defense is a strong counter offensive. For details click the link. <----
Yuria of Londor Build
Darkdrift +5
89+
DEX Cosplay/fast-offensive build good for PvP and PvE
Windalf The Mage
Int 40+
Sage's Crystal Staff + Crystal Sage's Rapier + extras on build
120+
Versatile int build between ranged and melee combat.
Rashtor The Aged Knight (Finished)
Quality Build
Refined Claymore
Court sorcerer
Court sorcerer staff +10 and flame of pyromancy +10.
Lord of Bloody Hollows
Luck/Str Build
Hollowed Barbed Straight Sword +10 / Carthus Rouge
My first attempt at a luck build that wrecks most of the enemies in the game and it's great also for pvp
Ultimate NG Playthrough Pure Builds (Co-Op, Invasion, and Duels)
See Builds to the right
20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 for each Pure build
(Hybrid builds will only be at Level 60 and above, see below)
These are a list of builds decidated to anything and everything but end-game Duels (aka SL120 "meta"). So, go ahead and choose what build you want, but note that you do not need to follow them to the letter, and you may make adjustments if you don't like the results. These are merely guidelines or starting points for you to go on, then you can either keep them or experiment with different ideas in the same build.
Note: You must stay at the required levels mentioned (Soul level and Weapon level) due to the recent patch (Regulation 1.33 App 1.13).
P.S. Each build section has various levels for access to all areas of the game (for example, SL20 is for High Wall of Lothric to Undead Settlement, while SL100 is basically for the DLC areas).
P.P.S. I am going to assume that you are capable of beating the entire game (with or without help from others) at any Soul Level. After all, this is a Souls' game... how can you call yourself the ultimate jolly cooperator, invader, or duelist... if you can't meet the challenges required for any level?
Strength Builds
Dexterity Builds
Intelligence Builds
Faith Builds
Luck Builds
Ultimate NG Playthrough Hybrid Builds (Co-Op, Invasion, and Duels)
See Builds to the right
Level 60, 80, and 100
See Pure builds above
This is a continuation from the list of builds above. Unlike the "pure" builds you see above, these builds focus on using two stats instead of one, and won't be reaching hardcaps. Don't forget that you do not need to copy off the builds, but merely see them as guidelines to start off of, and then make adjustments if you want. The whole point of my builds (both Pure and Hybrid) are to show what is possible, not what is mandatory. Get creative if my versions aren't enough!
STR + DEX Builds
STR + INT Builds
STR + FTH Builds
STR + Luck Builds
DEX + INT Builds
DEX + FTH Builds
DEX + Luck Builds
INT + FTH Builds
INT + Luck Builds
FTH + Luck Builds
The flamesword dude
STRENGTH+heavy exile greatsword
120
Hey you there... yes you. do you like using greatswords? do you enjoy burning your foes alive? then boy do i have a build for you. this build is mostly, as you can guess, for hitting things hard with a flaming sword. black fire orb on the side.
Glass Cannon of the Church
Strength/Faith
120
Crush everyone with yor giant ass hammers, swords, and axes and perfect your dodges so no one will ever know you're actually fragile as a goddamn newborn puppy. Also, lightning.
Sir Daniel Fortesque (MediEvil Cosplay)
Vitality + Strength / Strength + Dexterity
Broadsword / Lothric Knight's Sword
Smough's Great hammer / Follower Javelin
84 (Minimum)
The Hero of Gallowmere returns once again to face the horde of the undead. (Play as a spooky skeleton knight! Will be updated later.)
Vigor + Endurance + Vitality and Strength.
140 (Maximum meta range)
It is theorised that a dragonslaying executioner was the son of an infamous deserter from Mirrah was long forgotten that he rose from his grave to kill Pontiff Sulyvahn and his faithful knights and to kill any of their allies. This dragonslaying executioner also sought out the serpent men of Archdragon Peak. He tried to find his father, but was too late as a Blade of the Darkmoon had killed him. Father is theorised and most commonly Creighton the Wanderer.
Vitalityand Strength
140 (Maximum meta range)
A cosplay of the Dark Souls 2 Giant Lord.
Strength (And a bit of Faith for fun if you wish)
120 (89 without the Faith)
An Efficient Strength build using rings such as the Prisoner's Chain to gain some virtual levels and I added in Faith components near the end for some fun and to allow a buff for our +10 Heavy Greatsword.
Combo people with a Greatsword and parry them while admiring your 20 free virtual levels.
(Without the Faith parts you will reach level 89 and can spend these extra points to 120 on stats like Strength, Endurance, and Vigor or whatever you want)
Faith and Intelligence; Mace or any that requires 12 Strength or less and Crystal Chime.
117
A caster build that focuses on using Sorceries and Miracles thanks to the use of the Crystal Chime. It occasionally uses pyromancy against certain enemies and bosses.
Faith, Attunement
&
2 Simple Daggers
102
A pure healing build, not at all designed for solo fighting.
However, be amazed at the amount of healing.
Quite flexible in terms of soul level, follows simple formula.
Click on build name for more info.
Strength
Harald Curved Greatsword
108
Easy to use build in both PvE/PvP. High Health/Strenth=hard hitting tank. It takes a Noob to Slay a Noob!
Broadsword
Round Shield
Lloyd's Rings
1
This is a level one build. It concentrates on maximum damage and survival ability for a level one character.
Anri’s sword
Caitha's Chime
Ancient Dragon Greatshield
Priestess ring
Sun princess ring
Sage ring+2
Lingering Dragon Crest ring+2
100+
This build is based for fighting everything but bosses so if you are low on health you can “Run and heal” without using any Estus the level and stats are the bare minimum they can go higher the higher the more heal the better the build
Weapons (only one at a time unless you decide to level vitality)
- Friede's Great Scythe
- Greatsword of Judgement
- Crystal Astora Greatsword
Stats
18 STR, 34 DEX, 34 INT, should fit all weapons in list. Past SL100 I would reccomend only levelling DEX and INT.
100+
Versatile build for weapons that scale with Intelligence. Friede's Great Scythe is an immensely fun weapon to use and with these stats and rings (you can check all equipment in the link at the bottom), all of these weapons do fantastic split damage.
- Freide's Great Scythe - 626AR
- Greatsword of Judgement - 639AR when buffed
- Crystal Astora Greatsword - 615AR
Every weapon here has it's own use but mainly I stick to the Scythe because of the unique moveset. Because of the Intelligence stat also, you could add a staff and make this build a spellcaster as well. I hope this helps any of you!
Versatile Build mainly focusing on STR
Lothric Knight Greatsword
125
Easy high AR Build For Beginners
Simple Lothric Knight Sword
100+
Cosplay build
200+