Elden Ring Dane's Footwork Poison Build Guide - Double Dragon (Shadow of the Erdtree)

Jul. 23, 2024

Elden Ring Dane’s Footwork Poison Build Guide – Double Dragon (Shadow of the Erdtree)

In thisShadow of the Erdtreebuild guide, I’ll be showcasing myDouble Dragonbuild. This build focuses onPoisonandScarlet Rotand utilizesDane’s Footwork, a unique fist weapon, and theAsh of War: The Poison Flower Blooms Twice. Many have requested a build featuring thisAsh of War, so let’s dive into how it works.

In this Elden Ring Build Guide, I’ll be showing you myDouble Dragonbuild. This is aShadow of the Erdtreebuild that takes place after level 160. A build that focuses on the fighting technique rather than the speed and damage of the attack.

We have over 120Elden Ring builds. Each one is meticulously crafted to offer unique playstyles, strategies, and experiences, ensuring there’s something for every adventurer in the Lands Between. Whether you seek the raw power of heavy weapons, the finesse of spellcasting, or the versatility of hybrid builds, our collection has you covered. Explore the depths of the game’s mechanics and unleash your full potential with our diverse array of builds.

Let’s discuss theAsh of Warfirst, as it is the foundation of this build.The Poison Flower Blooms Twicedeals damage with the kick itself. When you teleport dive into an enemy, making direct contact with the kick, it causes damage. There’s a small AoE effect that also deals damage. If the target hasPoisonorScarlet Roton them, it deals 5% of their max health plus 250 damage, in addition to the AoE and direct kick damage.

Landing this on a target with these status effects already active results in high damage. The skill also builds upScarlet Rotquickly, between 150 to 200 buildup. This means you can reapplyScarlet RotorPoisonon your target, even if they’ve been cured of the status effect. However, enemies and bosses become more resistant to status effects over time.

TriggeringScarlet Rot, curing it, and then trying to reapply it becomes more difficult as resistance builds. If a target has bothPoisonandScarlet Rot, it doesn’t significantly increase the damage, not resulting in 10% max health plus 500 damage. Therefore, alternating between stacking these status effects yields better damage results rather than stacking them both simultaneously and then removing them.

There are exceptions. Sometimes you may not want to remove the status effects immediately to maintain damage over time. For most bosses, alternating is effective, but for some fights or phases, leaving the status effects on might be better. For instance, in theDivine Beast Dancing Lionfight, during the lightning phase, leavingPoisonorScarlet Roton and dodging while the health ticks away is advantageous. You have 90 seconds before the status effects disappear. The damage fromThe Poison Flower Blooms Twiceis consistent regardless of when it’s used within that timeframe, so waiting for the right moment is beneficial.

For difficult boss fights, you might want to double stack both status effects and not remove them, focusing on regular attacks and letting the damage over time do its work. This build offers flexibility: alternate status effects, double stack them, or wait for the right moment to attack and remove health.

I useDane’s Footworkas my weapon. ThePoison Flower Blooms Twiceis a kick animation, making theShattered Stone Talismanboost its damage, which we use in this build.

Dane’s Footworkfeatures numerous kicks in its attack repertoire, including regular attacks, jump attacks, and running attacks.TheShattered Stone Talisman boosts all these. The general strategy is to start a fight by kicking the foe. Once you triggerPoison, useThe Poison Flower Blooms Twiceto remove a large chunk of health and start building upScarlet Rot. Continue usingThe Poison Flower Blooms Twiceuntil you triggerScarlet Roton the target.

At this point, you have two options. You can useThe Poison Flower Blooms Twiceagain to removeScarlet Rotand repeat the process with kicks to build upPoison. Alternatively, you can leave theScarlet Rotactive and continue kicking to applyPoison, double-stacking the damage over time while fighting regularly. Choose your approach based on the specific boss fight and how it’s progressing.

In my offhand, I usePoisoned Hand, which increases our attack power by 7.5% whenPoisonorScarlet Rotis triggered, similar toKindred of Rot’s Exultationbut with less damage. This passive buff helps enhance our attacks.

I have no armor equipped and useRock Heart, which transforms you into a dragon and provides 10% damage negation with zero weight. This is crucial for maintaining a light setup in this build.

For the talismans, we’re using theBlue Dancer Charmto boost our physical damage, as all the damage we’re dealing is physical except for the poison ripoffs, which are based on the boss’s health. By keeping our equip load very light (around 6 for this build), we significantly increase our damage with this talisman.

We also have theShattered Stone Talisman, which boosts all our kicks and weapon skill damage. This talisman is crucial for this build as it enhances nearly every attack we perform.

TheShard of Alexanderfurther boosts the damage ofThe Poison Flower Blooms Twicewhen you hit with a kick. While it doesn’t increase the damage from ripping off a status effect, it does improve the kick’s damage, which is frequently used in this build.

Lastly, we haveKindred of Rot’s Exultation, which increases your attack power when you triggerPoisonorScarlet Rot, similar toPoisoned Hand. This talisman maintains nearly 100% uptime in most boss fights, especially when alternating betweenPoisonandScarlet Rot. If you’re having trouble triggering it consistently, you can replace it withCrusade Insigniain the landscape.

Rotten Winged Sword Insigniaalso has a place in this build. However, since we’re not playing hyper-aggressively but rather triggering status effects and letting them work,Rotten Winged Sword Insigniamight not be as effective. It’s a good alternative when fightingPoison-immune enemies or bosses whereKindred of Rot’s Exultationwon’t trigger. It can be particularly useful in boss fights whereCrusade Insigniaisn’t relevant.

If you’re fighting an enemy that isPoison-immune but notBleed-immune, you can change the infusion toBloodto proc bleeding and useLord of Blood’s Exultationinstead. This allows you to trigger bleeding frequently during the fight and deal significant damage.

For this build at level 164, my attributes are 60Vigor, 27Mind, 28Endurance, 30Strength, 30Dexterity, 60Intelligence, 7Faith, and 45Arcane. You don’t need anyIntelligenceorFaithfor this build.

60 Vigoris crucial since we’re wearing very light armor and will inevitably take hits; this helps prevent us from dying. Vigor doesn’t need to be higher than this, as its benefits drop off significantly beyond this point.

27 Mindis sufficient to useThe Poison Flower Blooms Twiceliberally. ThisAsh of Warisn’t extremely expensive at 14 FP, but it’s not cheap either. You need enoughMindto use it frequently during boss fights and while exploring. If you prefer to allocate fewer points intoMind, you could use something like theBlessed Blue Dew Talismanto replenish FP in boss fights or while exploring.

28 Enduranceis necessary due to the build’s high stamina demands, which stem from using the weapon skill, attacking regularly, and dodging. This provides enough stamina for these activities.

30 Strengthand30 Dexterityare set because the weapon, despite being infused withPoisonorBloodfor poison-immune enemies, still scales better withStrengthandDexteritythanArcane.

45 Arcaneis needed to enhance our damage and poison build-up, ensuring we get the maximum benefit per hit. Beyond this point, the returns fromArcanedrop off significantly, so you wouldn’t want to go much higher unless in New Game Plus or beyond. To further increase damage, you should then simultaneously raiseStrengthandDexterity, as they have nearly identical scaling benefits.

For theFlask of Wondrous Physick, I have theGreenburst Crystal Tearfor stamina recovery. You can never have too much stamina recovery. You could also use theThorny Cracked Tearto increase your damage with successive hits. While this build doesn’t primarily focus on successive hits unless you’re playing very aggressively, you might swap this in if you find yourself playing that way. I also like theOpaline Hardtearfor additional protection since we’re wearing minimal armor; the extra protection is beneficial.

ForGreat Runes,Radahn’sis excellent because it provides FP, HP, and stamina, all of which are useful for this build.Godrick’sis also a solid choice since you use six out of the eight stats, offering good overall value.

That wraps up myDouble Dragonbuild. I hope you enjoyed this guide. This build is incredibly fun to play and is arguably one of my favorite builds so far. It offers a lot of versatility, dealing tons of damage, and is effective whether you want to play offensively or defensively. I encourage you to try it out.

As always, let us know if you have questions or other tips in the comments below. We have a ton more builds coming forElden RingandShadow of the Erdtreeso stay tuned for those. If you need help finding the spells, items, or equipment in this build, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check theElden Ring Map.

Castielle

Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.