Best Arcane Builds

The best Arcane (ARC) Builds for Elden Ring. From early game to late game, we've got some great builds to cut your way through the Lands Between.

Best Arcane Build Class

Class Guides

Bandit

Samurai

Best Late Game Arcane Builds

Level 150 Arcane Build

Base Stats
Strength	20	Mind	9	Endurance	30
Dexterity	40	Intelligence	14	Faith	15
Vigor	40	Arcane	60	20

Armor
White Mask	Raptor's Black Feathers	Bandit Manchettes	Bandit Boots
Total Armor Weight	17	Poise	9

Talismans
Lord of Blood's Exultation	Claw Talisman
Rotten Winged Sword Insignia	Viridian Amber Medallion

Talismans are flexible and based on player preference.

Recommended Spirit Ashes	Description
Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff	・What Kristoff lacks in damage, he makes up for with insane tankiness as well as being able to hurl lightning from range
Black Knife Tiche	・Very agile and aggressive, Tiche's attacks reduces the maximum HP of enemies and bosses
Mimic Tear	・The Mimic Tear copies the player's equipment, spells, and consumables when summoned (except for Flasks)

Physick
Thorny Cracked Tear	Greenspill Crystal Tear
Note: Physick mixes are flexible and can be up to player discretion.

Weapon	Best Ash of War	Alt. Ash of War
Rivers of Blood Weight: 6.5	Corpse Piler	-
Uchigatana Weight: 5.5	No Skill	-

Rivers of Blood Playstyle: Using this weapon favors either two-handing Rivers of Blood or equipping a Katana with No Skill and leveling Dex and Arcane (the build will work with either a hybrid build or pure Dexterity or pure Arcane). With the No Skill Katana, Corpse Piler can be cast without having to unequip the off hand weapon.

If you would like to cast Corpse Piler without interruption, we recommend using heavy armor to boost Poise, though points in Endurance will be needed to prevent fat rolling. Corpse Piler is the bread and butter for this weapon and it will shred through most bosses and is excellent in one-shotting players in PvP.

Keep in mind, however, that bosses that are immune to Hemorrhage will decrease the effectiveness of this weapon.

Imbuing the offhand Katana with the Cold affinity will also work hand in hand with the Fire damage being done with Rivers of Blood, the Fire damage will reset Frostbite (not the Frost buildup) and allow it it be applied again and again for more triggers and burst damage.

Weapon	Best Ash of War	Alt. Ash of War
Hoslow's Petal Whip Weight: 3.5	Bloodhound's Step	White Shadow's Lure
Hoslow's Petal Whip Weight: 3.5	Bloodhound's Step	White Shadow's Lure

Dual-Wield Whips Playstyle: Both these whips have a B scaling in Arcane if infused with the Occult affinity (other whips such as the Thorned Whip or Urumi can be used). With Occult, their scaling will be mainly from Arcane as opposed to infusing them with Keen, Blood, or Cold.

Using L1 will enable combo attacks using both whips and quickly build up blood loss, which helps with burst. Jumping L1 or R1 attacks will stagger weaker enemies and playrs in PvP, which will stunlock if successive attacks are timed correctly.

Weapon	Best Ash of War	Alt. Ash of War
Bloody Helice Weight: 8	Dynast's Finesse	-

Heavy Thrusting Sword Playstyle: Using this weapon favors two-handing Bloody Helice and leveling Dex and Arcane (with scalings of C and B respectively at max reinforcement). Dynast's Finesse is a great skill used to dodge and counterattack, which can catch another player off guard with a potential one-shot in PvP.

This weapon is favored by speedrunners due to the damage it gives and by also imbuing it with the War Cry effect by holding Bloody in the offhand and a Katana with War Cry in the main hand.

Weapon	Best Ash of War	Alt. Ash of War
Scavenger's Curved Sword Weight: 3.5	Bloodhound's Step	Seppuku
Scavenger's Curved Sword Weight: 3.5	Bloodhound's Step	Seppuku

Dual-Wield Curved Swords Playstyle: Both these swords have a B scaling in Arcane if infused with the Occult affinity. With Occult, their scaling will be mainly from Arcane as opposed to infusing them with Keen, Blood, or Cold.

Jumping attacks with L1 will deal massive amounts of damage to other players in PvP due to the scaling and also the blood loss trigger. Buffs such as Flame, Grant Me Strength or Rallying Standard with the Commander's Standard increases the one-shot potential in PvP, while greatly boosting damage against bosses in PvE.

Weapon	Best Ash of War	Alt. Ash of War
Godskin Peeler Weight: 8	Seppuku	Bloodhound's Step
Twinblade Weight: 7	Seppuku	Bloodhound's Step
Eleonora's Poleblade Weight: 6	Bloodblade Dance	-

Dual-Wield Twinblades Playstyle: Both these Twinblades have a B scaling in Arcane if infused with the Occult affinity. However, infusing them with Blood or Cold will shift their B scaling towards Dexterity, which is also viable for inflicting status effects. To maximize damage, its recommended to have one infused with Occult and the other with Blood or have one infused with Cold and another with Blood for quick status effect buildups.

Jumping attacks with L1 will cause a massive build up of blood loss, which will almost guarantee a trigger if all hits connect. This will chunk bosses for a large amount of HP and if paired with buffs such as Flame, Grant Me Strength, will one-shot low Vigor players in PvP.

Special mention must be said of Eleonora's Poleblade as it can be used as a good substitute when paired with another Twinblade infused with Cold. Due to the flame attacks that come with Eleonora's Poleblade, any Frostbite can be taken away, only to have it inflicted again, resulting in a surprising amount of burst damage, even if the weapon's blood loss buildup is inferior.

Best Late Game Arcane Hybrid Builds

Level 150 Strength-Arcane Build

Total Stats
Strength	55	Mind	9	Endurance	34
Dexterity	16	Intelligence	9	Faith	9
Vigor	60	Arcane	55	-

Armor
White Mask	Raptor's Black Feathers	Bandit Manchettes	Bandit Boots
Total Armor Weight	17	Poise	9

Talismans
Lord of Blood's Exultation	Claw Talisman
Ritual Sword Talisman	Viridian Amber Medallion

Talismans are flexible and based on player preference.

Recommended Spirit Ashes	Description
Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff	・What Kristoff lacks in damage, he makes up for with insane tankiness as well as being able to hurl lightning from range
Black Knife Tiche	・Very agile and aggressive, Tiche's attacks reduces the maximum HP of enemies and bosses
Mimic Tear	・The Mimic Tear copies the player's equipment, spells, and consumables when summoned (except for Flasks)

Physick
Thorny Cracked Tear	Greenspill Crystal Tear
Note: Physick mixes are flexible and can be up to player discretion.

Weapon	Best Ash of War or Spell	Alt. Ash of War or Spell
Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear Weight: 10	Bloodboon Ritual	-
Fingerprint Stone Shield Weight: 29	No Skill	Shield Bash

Spear and Shield Playstyle: This weapon has a C scaling in both Strength and Arcane at max rank and is recommended to be paired with a sturdy shield. Attacks can be safely made behind the shield so defenses are not compromised, and almost no damage will be taken due to Fingerprint Stone Shield's guard boost.

Bloodboon Ritual can be used to take out large groups of enemies in PvE due to its damage and blood loss buildup. This can also be used in PvP as its incredibly difficult to dodge the skill and can be spammed up to three times.

Weapon	Best Ash of War or Spell	Alt. Ash of War or Spell
Marais Executioner's Sword Weight: 11.5	Eochaid's Dancing Blade	-

Marais Executioner's Sword Playstyle: This weapon has a B scaling in Strength and a D scaling in Arcane and is recommended to be wielded two-handed. While its normal attacks aren't anything special, its the weapon skill that makes it stand out.

Eochaid's Dancing Blade is a ranged attack that can be charged for more range and increase the duration of its spins. It also scales with total attack power, so anything to increase that will make this skill deal more damage. Having Armor that gives high Poise will make it difficult for the skill to be canceled by enemy attacks.

The skill is most useful against large, slow bosses, and is also a good tool in PvP for keeping players away and can be cancelled early for a dodge roll and follow-up attack to throw enemy players off.

Weapon	Best Ash of War or Spell	Alt. Ash of War or Spell
Gargoyle's Twinblade Weight: 8.5	Bloodhound's Step	Lion's Claw
Gargoyle's Twinblade Weight: 8.5	Bloodhound's Step	Lion's Claw

Dual Twinblades Playstyle: This weapon has a B scaling in Strength and a D scaling in Arcane if infused with the Blood attribute. Though its the shortest Twinblade, it has 100 blood loss buildup and high Strength scaling more than makes up for it. Hemorrhage can be triggered quickly with jumping attacks, and it can be infused with different Ashes of War.

Powerstancing (L1) with these Twinblades deals a lot of damage in addition to building blood loss quickly for burst and is effective both in PvP and PvE.

Weapon	Best Ash of War or Spell	Alt. Ash of War or Spell
Greatsword Weight: 23	Bloodhound's Step	Lion's Claw

Greatsword Playstyle: This weapon has a B scaling in Strength and a D scaling in Arcane if infused with the Blood attribute. With 120 blood loss buildup, Hemorrhage can be triggered quickly in both PvE and PvP enemies.

Rolling or crouching R1s can be used to attack quickly as well as jumping attacks. Ashes of War are largely flexible and can depend upon player preference.

Weapon	Best Ash of War or Spell	Alt. Ash of War or Spell
Grave Scythe Weight: 9.5	Bloodhound's Step	Double Slash

Grave Scythe Playstyle: This weapon has a C scaling in Strength and a D scaling in Arcane if infused with the Blood attribute. This will give the weapon 100 blood loss buildup, which will trigger Hemorrhage on targets in about 3-4 hits.

In PvP, its reach can roll catch enemy players and its property of bypassing a certain percentage of an enemy's blocks makes this very useful against shields.

In PvE, this can be very powerful against enemies that are weak to blood loss, but mediocre when against those that are immune.

Elden Ring Related Guides

Best Builds: PvE & PvP

Best Builds By Stat

Builds by Stats
Strength	Dexterity
Intelligence	Arcane
Faith

Best PvP Builds

Best PvP Builds (Ver 1.04)