Elden Ring Iron Greatsword Build Guide - Hellfire Herald

May. 14, 2024

Elden Ring Iron Greatsword Build Guide – Hellfire Herald

Welcome to the Elden Ring Iron Greatsword Build Guide, where I’ll be introducing you to my Hellfire Herald build—a level 100 adaptation of the Champion build. If you’ve been curious about mastering the art of dual-wielding greatswords at approximately level 100, then read on to discover the secrets of this formidable build.

A Dual-Wielding Greatsword Build that flattens enemies with Jump Attacks while using both Fire and Holy Damage.

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First off, let’s talk about theweaponswe’re wielding for this Build. We’ve swapped out ourClaymoreandLordsworn’s Greatswordfor twoIron Greatswordsbecause they are arguably one of the best in thegreatswordsdepartment. They dish out the mostdamagein nearly every scenario where agreatswordis involved. Plus, they can seamlessly replace theAsh of Warwith this build. So, those are the two key reasons behind ourweaponchoice.

Now, getting your hands on these is a bit hard. You’ll have to farm theLeonineMisbegottensin theRoyal Capitalarea. There’s a stretch where two of them lurk, albeit not very close together. It’s a bit of a grind, taking roughly an hour or two. That’s how long it took me to nab a pair.

Next up, you’ll need theRed-Hot Whetblade—a crucial item for infusingfireandflame affinityinto yourweapons, which we’ll be utilizing for this build. You can find it inRedmane Castle. It’s not particularly hard to locate, and you can check the wiki for its exact whereabouts.

You’ll also require theSanctified Whetblade, tucked away in theRoyal Capital‘sFortified Manoron the upper floor. Like its fiery counterpart, it’s fairly straightforward to find. Both of these blades allow you to imbue yourweaponswith lightning or sacred statusaffinities, which you’ll switch between depending on your opponent.

Now, theAsh of Warwe’re after is theRoyal Knight’s Resolve—an upgraded version ofDeterminationthat buffs yourdamageby 80% for just 15FPon your next swing. You’ll find it inVolcano Manor. Since you’ll need one for eachgreatsword, you’ll have to duplicate it using aLost Ash of Warat the blacksmith.

Once you’ve gathered all these essentials, slot theRoyal Knight’s ResolveAshesonto bothgreatswordsand set them with either both flame or both sacred, depending on the situation. For example, in fire-resistant areas like theVolcano, opt for sacred to maximize yourdamageoutput.

We’ve chosen theFlame Artaffinityover fire simply because it yields better damage results. You can test bothaffinitiesin your build, but from my trials,Flame Artconsistently outperformed fire. Additionally, I experimented with the heavy versions of theseweaponsand pumping mystrengthto match myfaith. However, the damage output paled in comparison to what I achieved withflameorsacredand an equal amount offaith. So, sticking with thefaithroute not only boosts your natural damage but also grants access to spells that further enhance your damage potential.

When it comes toSacred Seals, which one you use isn’t super important. You don’t even really need to upgrade it with this build if you don’t want. The reason for that is becauseBlessing’s Boon,Flame, Grant Me Strength, andGolden Vowdon’t increase in potency based on the incantation scaling or upgrades orfaith. So they’re not going to get any stronger no matter what you do.

It really comes down to what otherincantationsyou want to use with this build. For instance,Lightning Spearseems to work extremely well. So using theGravel Stone Sealwill buff the damage of that. So it’s not a bad choice. It also has scaling. But if you find yourself using otherincantationslike fire ones or something like that, you may want to use a different seal that’s better for those.

When it comes toarmor, you really want to use the heaviest you got. The one exception is theRaptor’s Black Feathers. We’re going to wear that on our chest because that increases your jump attack damage by 10%. We do a lot of jump attacks with this build, so that’s great. And the other three pieces can be the absolute heaviest that you can get away with and still medium roll.

You really want as much protection with this build because part of playing this build is super aggressive. You want to shrug off attacks and keep on swinging through them and you’re going to have a huge health pool. So you should be able to do this. You just need to make sure you get as much protection as you possibly can.

The fourtalismansI use for this Elden Ring Iron Greatsword build are theGreat-Jar’s Arsenal,Green Turtle Talisman,Dragoncrest Shield Talisman Plus One, and theClaw Talisman.

Great-Jar’s Arsenalis there to increase ourequip load. As I mentioned, you want to get as much protection as possible and this gives you plus 20% to yourequip load, whatever yourequip loadvalue is, which is going to be substantial because you’re going to have a lot of points andendurance. So you’re going to get like 17 or 18equip loadout of this probably which is a lot.

Green Turtle Talismanis a staple of just about every one of my builds. Regenerating stamina quickly benefits almost every play style in the game. And that’s no exception here, which is why we have it.

TheDragoncrest Shield TalismanPlus Oneincreases yourphysical protectionby a substantial amount. It’s like a little over 10% and that’s going to get you to like 40-45%physical protectionwhen you’re buffed withGolden Vow, which means you’re going to be taking about half thedamagefrom everyphysical attackthat hits you, which is like a huge reduction indamage. And that’s going to allow you tojump attackthrough a lot of attacks and takedamageand trade blows and just finish enemies off quickly. You’ll obviously want to swap out theDragon Crest Shield Plus Twowhen you get it, but at this point in the game, I think you’ll probably only havePlus One.

TheClaw Talismanboosts yourjump attack damageby 15%. This does stack with thechest armor, theRaptor’s Black Feathers Armor. So you’re going to get even moredamageout ofjump attacksand you want to be trying to dojump attacksjust about every opportunity you can.

ThespellsI use for this Iron Greatsword build areFlame, Grant Me Strength,Golden Vow,Blessing’sBoon, andLightning Spear. You can of course use any otherspellsyou want for this build, but the magic is not the focal point of this build. They’re really there to buff your melee combat style, exceptLightning Spear, which is just there for, you know, situations where picking off an enemy from afar is easier than facing them head-on.

Flame, Grant Me Strengthis particularly great because it boosts your physical and fire damage by about 20%. So when you’re using the flame versions of your iron greatswords, you’re boosting both the physical and flame damage.

Golden Vowprovides a total damage boost of 15% and adds 5% damage mitigation to your already high mitigations, putting you in the range of about 45% or so. What’s great about this version compared to the one in the Champion build is that it lasts for 90 seconds, so you don’t need to use it as often.

Blessing’s Boonheals you over time, which is useful before diving into a group of enemies or a boss fight, providing health regen over the course of a fight.

The general approach with this Iron Greatsword build is to buff withGolden Vowwhile exploring, maintaining high damage and mitigation, and swiftly dispatching enemies with jump attacks. If your health drops to about two-thirds, useBlessing’s Boonto heal, reserving your healing flask for when you truly need it. UseLightning Spearas necessary.

For tougher enemies or boss fights, buff withFlame, Grant Me Strengthin addition to the others for an extra edge. You can swap between sacred and flame affinities at sites of grace depending on the situation. However, ensure you keep the same damage type equipped for both weapons, as it maximizes the effectiveness of buffs likeFlame, Grant Me Strength. Prioritizeflameoverholyinfusion whenever possible, as it tends to benefit you more.

Mystatsfor this Elden Ring Iron Greatsword build look like 40Vigor, 22Mind, 34Endurance, 18Strength, 12Dexterity, 9Intelligence, 35Faith, and 9Arcane.

That wraps up ourHellfire Heraldbuild. 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.

Would any other greatswords work instead of the iron greatswords? For the sake of time spent farming?