Elden Ring Fire Knight's Greatsword Build - Messmer's Flame (Shadow of The Erdtree Guide)

Jul. 21, 2024

Elden Ring Fire Knight’s Greatsword Build – Messmer’s Flame (Shadow of The Erdtree Guide)

In thisMessmer Fire Incantations Build, I’ll be showcasing myMessmer’s Flamebuild. This build combines theAsh of War: Flame Spearwith theFire Giant’s Greatswordand incorporates a few of theMessmer Fire Incantationsfrom the DLC. This build was highly requested and is coming in second in our poll for the next build to be featured. Let’s dive into the details.

In this Elden Ring Build Guide, I’ll be showing you my Messmer’s Flame build. This is aShadow of the Erdtreebuild that takes place after level 150. If you’ve been looking for a Messmer Fire Incantation build that does amazing damage then you might want to check this build-out.

We have over 110 Elden Ringbuilds. 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.

So first things first, let’s talk about theFire Knight’s Greatsword. This is actually aColossal Sword, despite its name, and it has a very high attack rating. It’s infusible, so what we’ve done here is we’ve put theAsh of War: Flame Spearon it and set it to theFlame Art Infusion. This setup makes the fire damage of this weapon about 2 to 1 to the physical damage, giving it a lot of fire damage. It has fantastic Faith scaling, allowing us to crank up Faith to castMessmer Fire Incantationseffectively and use buffs likeGolden VowandFlame, Grant Me Strength.

TheFlame Spear Ash of Waris also pretty good, with decent range and extra damage when charged. When you hit with both the weapon and projectile, it does even more damage. In my testing, it has significant stance damage, somewhere between 30 to 40 stance damage if you hit with both the weapon and the projectile. This also buffs the weapon for 40 seconds with 95 extra fire damage, so you want to try and get one of these off every so often in fights to keep buffing your weapon.

In my offhand, I’m using theFire Knight’s Seal, which is great because it boostsMessmer Fire Incantationsby 15%. The two damaging spells we’re using in this build are bothMessmer Fire Incantationsincantations, so they get bonus damage from that. When compared to theErdtree Sealwith high Faith, it isn’t that far behind.

You could cast with theErdtree Sealin your right hand while holding theFire Knight’s Sealin your left hand for more damage if you’re min-maxing. However, I prefer holding theFire Knight’s Sealin my offhand and my sword in my right hand so I can use the weapon skill, attack, or cast spells without swapping back and forth. The incantation scaling being slightly lower doesn’t matter much to me.

For spells, we haveGolden Vowto boost attack and defense, including spells, weapon attacks, and weapon skills.Flame, Grant Me Strengthis also included for boss fights, as it boosts fire and physical damage, which applies to our spells, weapon attacks, and weapon skill. The two new spells we’re using areFire SerpentandMesmer’s Orb.Messmer’s Orbis obtainable by defeatingMessmer the Impalerand exchanging his remembrance at theRoundtable Hold.

Fire Serpentis really good. You can charge it for extra damage or spam it for high damage. If you’re methodically picking off enemies, you’ll probably want to charge it to conserve FP, but in boss fights, where bosses put a lot of pressure on you, it’s hard to charge it each time, so you’ll likely spam it.

One of the great things aboutFire Serpentis that it gives us a spell to use on horseback with excellent tracking. When you’re on horseback, it doesn’t matter which direction you’re pointed when casting; it will still track the target. You just need to get good spacing so it doesn’t fly past them. You can ride directly away from your target and cast it, and it will fly behind your head to hit the target. Not many spells, if any, will do that, making it excellent for horseback combat.

Messmer’s Orbis fantastic. It raises you into the air before you charge down and detonate a fiery explosion, similar to whatMessmerdoes during his boss fight. You can charge it for extra damage and hang in the air longer, but you don’t have hyper armor while using this spell, so you need to time it properly and have decent poise to avoid being knocked out of it.

I like using this spell as an AOE when there are lots of enemies. It’s great for quickly dealing with many enemies and can also be used to jump over attacks and punish enemies. If you get good with this spell, it has a lot of utility, but it requires practice.

Rain of Fireis anotherMessmer Fire Incantation, but we don’t use it here because its damage is pitiful and it’s hard to hit a moving target. Even if the damage was increased, it would still be difficult to land. Charging it for extra damage is usually not worth it.

For armor, we haveMessmer’s Helmand the rest of the pieces from theFire Knight armor set.Messmer’s HelmincreasesMessmer’s Flameincantations by 3% andFire Knightskills by 8%, giving a double dip in benefits. You could also use theWinged Serpent Helmto further increaseFire Knightskill damage by 10%, but since I wanted a balance betweenFire Knightskills and spells, I choseMessmer’s Helm.

TheFire KnightArmorincreasesMessmer Fire Incantationsdamage by 5%, so you’re getting incantation damage boosts from the chest, helm, and seal. However, this armor setup doesn’t naturally give you over 51 poise, so you’ll either need to use theBull-Goat’s Talismanto reach 51 poise or swap gauntlets and legs to achieve it natively. I sacrificed a talisman slot for fashion, but you can adjust based on your preferences.

Other talismans that I use as go-to items for this build include theFire Scorpion CharmandShard of Alexander. I almost never unequip these two. TheFire Scorpion Charmboosts the damage of most of your weapon attacks because they predominantly deal fire damage. It also enhances both of your spells and weapon skill damage. Although it increases the damage you take, the trade-off is worth it due to the significant fire damage output.

TheShard of Alexanderfurther boosts weapon skill damage, which is crucial given the high damage of our weapon skills.

Beyond this, theGodfrey Iconis useful because you can charge up your weapon skill and both spells, making it a versatile option.

TheFlock’s Canvas Talismanis another good choice, further boosting incantation damage. Sometimes I swap this with theGodfrey Iconif I find I can’t charge my spells in a particular boss fight and end up spamming them instead.

TheCrusade Insigniais not a bad option for general exploration. You might swap it for theShard of Alexanderif you’re regularly killing enemies with spells or melee attacks without using your weapon skill. This provides flexibility based on the situation you’re facing.

For attributes for this build, I have 50Vigor, 30Mind, 25Endurance, 22Strength, 18Dexterity, 16Intelligence, 74Faith, and 9Arcaneat level 165. You don’t need anyIntelligenceorArcanefor this build.

Vigoris a bit lower than what I would like, but since we’re already at level 165, I haven’t put more points here. However, you’ll eventually want to get this to 60.

Mindis at 30, which I think is the minimum you’ll want for this build because you useGolden Vow, your spells, and your weapon skill regularly, requiring lots of FP. You’ll probably want to take this up to 35 or 38 later on.

Enduranceis at 25, allowing you to medium roll with what we’re using. You could get more, but it’s not super necessary.

Strengthis at 22 to use this weapon one-handed. I find that using the Sacred Seal in one hand and the sword in the other to cast or attack is beneficial. If you don’t mind two-handing the weapon, you can drop this down to 15Strength.

18Dexterityis needed to meet the weapon requirements.

74Faithis crucial because we’re using theFlame Artinfusion and want hard-hitting incantations. Eventually, I’ll take this up to 80 and likely higher as well.

When it comes to theFlask of Wondrous Physick, we use theFlame-Shrouding Cracked Tear. This is because we have so much fire damage in this build. The spells deal fire damage, the weapon is mostly fire damage, and the weapon skills have a lot of fire damage. The theme of this build is fire, so it’s a no-brainer.

Additionally, we use theOil-Soaked Tear. This debuffs enemies to take increased fire damage, similar to oil pots, when they remain near you. So your melee attacks, weapon skill, and even if you useMessmer’s Orband you’re close enough, will benefit from this debuff, increasing your fire damage. This is great for a build that stays close to enemies.

If you’re far away and casting fire spells at range all the time, you won’t get much out of it. But for a melee build that deals a lot of fire damage like this one, it’s highly effective. Honestly, this should have been included in myFire Knight and Impalerbuild as well, but I wasn’t aware of it at the time. It’s a really good one to have and I highly recommend slotting it in that build as well.

RegardingGreat Runesfor this build, there are two I’d recommend.Radahn’s Great Runeis good for stamina, FP, and health, all of which are beneficial for this build. Alternatively, you could useGodrick’s Great Runesince you’re using six of the eight stats, requiring a good amount of attributes, and this can help alleviate that.

That wraps up myMessmer’s Flamebuild. I hope you enjoyed this one; it was a ton of fun to put together. I really enjoy this weapon; theFire Knight’s Greatswordis absolutely fantastic. It has a bit of a weird moveset, but once you learn it, it’s not bad at all.

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.