Elden Ring Giant's Red Braid Build Guide - Flame Dancer
Apr. 4, 2024Elden Ring Giant’s Red Braid Build Guide – Flame Dancer
In thisElden Ring Giant’s Red Braid Build Guide, I’m going to be showing you myFlame Dancerbuild. This is a level 150Strength&Faithbuild that uses aGreatshieldand a Whip to great results
A Strength/Faith Build that uses the Whip: Giant’s Red Braid to great effect, while also slinging Fire Spells.
We have over 110Elden Ring Buildsnow, for all classes and playstyles. This build is recommended forLevel 150.
Let’s start with the weapon I’m using for this build. I am using theGiant’s Red Braidwhip. This is obtained from defeating theFire GiantinMountaintops of the Giantsand then exchanging hisRemembrancefor it. There are a few reasons that I chose this whip.
The first is that it has very good Strength scaling. Not all whips inElden Ringhave goodStrengthscaling. Admittedly, you can change theAsh of Waron four of six of them to have someStrengthscaling. However, what I really like about this whip is that it has a very good attack rating and it scales very well with Strength,Faith, and a little bit ofDexterity, giving it a very good overall attack rating throughout the finishing part of your first playthrough and on into NG+. Also, because it scales well with Strength, it allows you to use aGreatshieldeasily because you’ll meet the Strength requirements for thatGreatshieldjust by boosting the damage of this weapon itself, which is not true very much of other whips. If you went with other whips and theirStrengthinfusions, you would have lower damage than you probably would with Keen or some other infusion in order to be able to use thatGreatshield, but that’s not the case with this weapon.
Secondly, there is a bit of synergy betweenStrengthandFaithbecause of theClawmark Sealthat exists, which increases your Incantation scaling when you put points intoStrengthandFaith, and that allows you to useStrengthandFaithweapons while still having decent damage with Incantations. You’re not going to have as much of it if you went like Pure Faith or if you went Arcane withDragon Communion Seal, but you’re still able to cast these spells, giving you ranged options when you’re going for like a melee type build, which is fantastic. And lastly, theGiant’s Red Braidhas a fantasticAsh of WarandFlame Dance. And what I really love aboutFlame Danceis that it hits in a really large AoE, allowing you to just AoE down tons of enemies. And because whips have like sort of a flinching mechanic built into them when you hit enemies, most enemies, not all of them, tend to flinch.
This allows you typically to hit them over and over and kind of stun-lock them. The weapons themselves have terrible stagger damage, meaning that you’re not going to knock them down and be able to get a critical strike. Whips can’t do critical strikes anyway, so that doesn’t really matter for whips. But when you hit them, they flinch. And when you use thisFlame Dance, basically everything around you is repeatedly flinching, so they can’t get to you. We have a lot of poise for this build in order to be able to pull off this moveset without getting interrupted. But odds are, if you can get that first hit off anyway, you won’t be interrupted because you’ll just keep flinching everything around you, allowing you to wipe them out or just chain spam this if you can.
One of the downsides of whips inElden Ringis that they don’t have a very good variety ofAshes of War. So if you’re using one of the whips that can be infused with anAsh of War, there aren’t too many good ones to pick from. There are some decent ones likeFlame of the RedmanesandThunderbolt. But besides those, there are really not a lot of other good options besides maybeRoyal Knight’s ResolveandDetermination. So by using a whip that has a very goodAsh of War, we sort of remedy that issue.
Additionally, we’re using theGolden Greatshieldhere, and it doesn’t really matter particularly whichGreatshieldyou use as long as it has a decent guard boost, so that you don’t consume a lot of stamina when blocking. I just happen to like this one, but you can use whichever you want for this build. Anytime you’re doing a block counter-based build, you want to try and use aGreatshieldif possible.
It’s easier to do because enemies typically rebuff off yourGreatshield. It interrupts their combos a lot of time and gives you a bigger opening to get that counter off after you block that medium shields just don’t give you. You can still make a block counter with medium shields, but it’s going to be harder to time those attacks. And if you are using a longer windup weapon, like aColossal Weaponor something like that, it will be even harder to do without using aGreatshield. So you definitely want to have aGreatshieldif you can when doing a block counter build. And this allows us to block counter very effectively.
One really good thing about whips as well, they have a very long block counter range. So you almost always connect on that block counter, no matter whether the enemy pushes you back a bit or not. The armor you want to use for this build isn’t super important, but having armor with high poise will allow you to get block counters off more effectively, to hit enemies with charged R2s or R2s and regular R1s without being interrupted. And most importantly, useFlame Dancewithout getting interrupted. Again, enemies tend to flinch when they get hit with this. So if you can get it off that like first hit, you tend to be okay. But sometimes because theFlame Dancehas a long windup, you get hit right in the middle of that. But this will allow you to prevent being flinched if you have high-poise armor like we do in this case. That way, you’ll continue to do the whip attacks, hopefully from that point, continuing to make the enemy flinch over and over.
As for the talismans you can use for this build, there are a lot you can use because there are just so many different ways you can play. But I’m using theFire Scorpion Charm, theRitual Sword Talisman,Shard of Alexander, and theGreat-Jar’s Arsenal. TheFire Scorpion Charmis there to increase your fire damage. This is not only with your weapon but also withFlame Danceand also with the spells we’re using.
We’re using primarily flame spells with this build to take advantage of Fire Scorpion, but also to take advantage of things likeFlame, Grant Me Strengthwhich boosts fire damage and also theFlame-Shrouding Cracked Tearwhich boosts fire damage as well. So you want to focus on fire damage if possible with this build. It’s very fire-oriented.Ritual Sword Talismanboosts your attacks when you’re at full health and your spells and your weapon skills at full health. So it’s very good. We use all three of these things with this build. So it’s a very good talisman for this build. And you just have to make sure that you top up your health.
You can either do that through an incantation that gives you health over time or you can prioritize health less and just top yourself off when you hit it every now and then. But one of the great things about using a build that uses block counters or aGreatshield, is you tend to take damage less often because you can block a lot of things.Shard of Alexanderis there to boost your damage withFlame Dancebecause each hit doesn’t do that much damage. You just want to increase it as much as you can. AndGreat-Jar’s Arsenallastly is there to make sure that we can get up to medium rolling with our equip weight. If you can play this build, if you want, with heavy rolling. But I find it is a little less effective, particularly if you’re coming from a build where you’re used to dodge rolling and you’re going to be wrong on those dodge rolls a lot more than you’re blocking until you get the hang of the build. I would recommend putting this here and not being able to medium roll. But you can take it out and play heavy if you want.
Other good talismans you could put in this build if you want, like maybe if you want to go heavy and you want to swap outGreat-Jar’s Arsenal, likeWinged Sword InsigniaorRotten Winged Sword InsigniaorMillicent’s Prosthesis, that give you more damage as you hit repeatedly. This happens a lot when you’re usingFlame Dancebecause it hits five times. So it’s going to stack that buff when you use that. It just really depends on how often you’re usingFlame Dance. I findFlame Danceto be very situational with this build. So it’s not something I use all the time, which is why I don’t have it here. But you could put it in there if you want instead, or instead of likeFire Scorpion Charmif you want.
Another good option is theCurve Sword Talismanwhich increases your block counter damage. If you find yourself in a stretch where you’re doing a lot of block counters, make sure to put that on and maybe take offFire Scorpion Charmif you’re not casting as many spells. Again, that’s one of the great things about this build. There are so many talismans that you can use. It’s very flexible depending on how you want to play this build, whether you’re leaning more into the spells, more into block counters, or more intoFlame Dance. It’s really up to you.
When it comes to spells I’m using for this build, I haveGolden Vowfor the increase in damage and defense. I’ve gotFlame, Grant Me Strengthto increase the damage that we deal with.Flame Dance, our regular attacks, and also our fire spells, which is fantastic. Other spells I’m using areBlack Flame. This is really good for any fire-based build, and it gives you a nice single-target ranged option.
One of the great things about this build isFlame Danceis your AoE. You have block counters and a single target. But then withBlack Flame, you have like a single target ranged attack that’s going to hold you in good stead when you need to range something down or you just can’t get close to something, etc. I also haveBlack Flame Ritualhere. It’s not something I use super often in this build, but it’s really good when you’re fighting against aggressive enemies or big enemies. Putting it under them will deal a ton of damage, and it puts thatBlack Flamestatus effect on them that saps some of their max HP, which is great.
You can also useFlame, Fall Upon Themfor this build. It’s also very situational, sort of like a shotgun of fireballs, it works best against big targets where you can hit them with all of the fireballs from a very close distance. This is primarily a melee build, so you’re going to be able to get close distance with no problem, particularly with yourGreatshield, since you can hold it up as you move in. But if you can’t hit the enemy with all these fireballs, you’re going to be better off usingBlack Flame, so just keep that in mind.
And lastly, I’m usingStone of Gurranqhere. This is a good physical damage range option. Sometimes enemies resist fire damage. This gives you a nice physical range option to kind of work around that. And it’s also boosted by theClawmark Seal, which is an extra benefit.
Regarding the stats we’re using for this build, I have 46Vigor, 25Mind, 28Endurance, 50Strength, 12Dexterity, 9Intelligence, 50Faith, and 9Arcane.
46Vigoris just there to give you enough health to sustain hits and keep on going. You have decent armor with this build, even withFire Scorpion Charm. And if you don’t useFire Scorpion Charm, you’re going to have even more. And also you’re boosting your defenses withGolden Vowquite regularly. So you don’t need as much HP probably as some other builds because you just won’t die in the same amount of hits. 25Mindis there for the FP. We need lots of FP with this build. We have buffs, we have spells, we have an expensive weapon skill.
Honestly, if you’re taking this build forward, I would highly recommend increasing Mind so you can do these things more easily. But I don’t think I would ever put less than this, or you’re going to struggle and have to use Blue Flasks quite regularly. 28Enduranceis there because we’re using aGreatshield. We have a weapon and a seal equipped. And we have theGreat-Jar’s Arsenal. This will give you enough weight load in order to medium roll and still have this heavy armor equipped with these things. So that’s why I have that there. 50Strengthand 50Faithare there to hit the sweet spot for your whip.
This is kind of where it really shines right in here. You get decreasing performance from this point forward with this. However, you can still get damage out of it and you can increase dexterity in NG+ and onward, making it so this weapon is a very good NG+ weapon, or even NG+ for that matter. And what’s really great is it has fantastic strength scaling, which is a little bit better than its faith. And also allows you to use theClawmark Sealrather effectively as well because it is boosted by both of these rather effectively. We don’t need any Intelligence or Arcane for this build and dexterity is just there to meet the requirements for the whip. But again, you can increase this in NG+ and beyond to further increase the damage of this weapon.
Something that should be pointed out that’s really great about this weapon is that itsAsh of Waris actually physical and fire damage, which means that points and strength, dexterity, and faith all increaseFlame Dance’sdamage. So even when you go into NG+ and you’re getting into dexterity and you’re getting like one point of damage per attribute point you put in there, you’re still going to be boostingFlame Dance’sdamage as well, which is great. And one final tip, if you’re using theFlask of Wondrous Physick, obviously you’re going to want to use theFlame-Shrouding Cracked Tear. This is because it increases your fire damage. So that’s your fire spells, which you’re leaning into,Flame Dance, and your regular attacks. And you also want to useGreenburst Crystal Tearto increase your stamina recovery.
You use a lot of stamina with this build.Block Counters, whips themselves consume a lot of stamina and you’re going to be casting a lot of spells and dodge rolling as well. So that’s a good one to take with it. That wraps up ourFlame Dancerguide. I hope you guys enjoyed it. 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.
