Elden Ring Loretta's War Sickle Build Guide - Carian Cavalier

Apr. 30, 2024

Elden Ring Loretta’s War Sickle Build Guide – Carian Cavalier

In this Elden Ring Halberd Guide, I’ll be showing you my Carian Cavalier build. This is a level 150+ build that is focused on NG+ and playing through a successive playthrough.

A Quality (Strength/Dexterity) Build that uses a halberd to devastating results on horseback and on foot.

We have over 110Elden Ring Buildsnow, for all classes and playstyles. This Build is recommended for Level 150-200.

The weapon that we’re using with this build isLoretta’s War Sickle. This is a halberd which you can get from defeatingLoretta, Knight of the HaligtreeinMiquella’s Haligtree, which is almost at the end of the game, which is why this is an NG+ build. You won’t get this weapon until there’s so little of the game, so it wouldn’t make sense to make a build for it if not for NG+. This weapon has a C-scaling in Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence, although STR and DEX scales much better than INT, so you won’t be using INT until you get much further into NG+ or even NG++.

There are a couple of things that I really like about this weapon. First of all, it is the second-longest halberd in the game. I feel like the reach on it is substantial. When you’re fighting, it feels like you’re hitting enemies from so far away. This weapon allows you to be in a better position in fights. It hits further than I think it’s going to hit most of the time, which is outstanding. Second, considering its long range, it also has an incredibly fast attack speed. It has a similar attack pattern to theGuardian’s Swordspear, although the swordspear has a much shorter range. With this weapon, you’re not only getting the range, but also the attack speed.

The weapon skill on Loretta’s War Sickle isLoretta’s Slash. This is an Ash of War which you can get on a lot of different weapons that you can put manually. Loretta’s Slash doesn’t deal as much damage when using it with Loretta’s War Sickle, compared to other optimized weapons like the Guardian’s Swordspear for example. However, you gain that range that this weapon has, which is absolutely outstanding. Also, the weapon looks really cool and I love the aesthetic of this weapon compared to the swordspear.

Another weapon that I’m using for this build is theStaff of Loss, which we’ll be using for to castFreezing Mist. Freezing Mist requires 21 INT, and you already have 20 points in INT for this weapon, so there’s no reason not to put another point into INT. When you cast Freezing Mist, it is going to put aFrostbitestatus effect on enemies, increasing the damage that they take. At the beginning of a fight, you can cast this then go ham with your R1 attacks. Casting this spell at the beginning of fight just gives you more damage overall.

The armor that I’m using for this build is theRoyal Knight Set, which is Loretta’s armor set. We’re basically cosplaying Loretta here, although you can use whichever armor you want. I just happen to love the style of this armor, and it looks cool with the weapon. I was decided to do a full cosplay with it, so that’s why I’m wearing this armor.

The issue with this armor is it doesn’t have as muchPoiseas I’d like. You’re hanging around 50 or 51 Poise, and I wanted more than that, so I’m using theBull-Goat’s Talismanto supplement that. If you were min-maxing with this build, you would just wear a heavier armor set that had better Poise and replace Bull-Goat’s Talisman withGreat-Jar’s Arsenal. You’d get more protection, and have more Poise at the same time.

The talismans I am using for this build are:Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman,Rotten Winged Sword Insignia,Millicent’s Prosthesis, andBull-Goat’s Talisman

Dragoncrest Greatshield Talismanis going to give you more protection. We’re doing a very aggressive build where you’re just mashing R1 attacks as fast as you can. With spamming attacks, you’re going to inevitably trade damage sometimes, which is why we’re using this.

Rotten Winged Sword InsigniaandMillicent’s Prosthesisare here to increase your attack damage as you repeatedly strike enemies. Millicent’s Prosthesis will also give you a +5 in DEX, which is useful as Loretta’s War Sickle scales with DEX. It seems weird to put these two talismans with a halberd, but as I mentioned earlier, this has a fast attack speed which will trigger the talismans’ effect.

All that you’re going to do with this build is that you’re going to use Loretta’s War Sickle two-handed, run around the landscape, and use your running R1 attack on enemies. Your running R1 attack is a long-range poke, which will usually one-shot most enemies. Another option for you is to jump attack enemies then use your R1 combo, which is a great pairing because there is less delay when you do this compared to other weapons.

Block counters are terrible with halberds, so I didn’t pair it with shields. They’re very slow and very hard to pull off, so there really isn’t any reason to do a block counter build with this weapon. Having noGreatshieldmeans no extra weight, since you can’t really block counter that well. You’re also heavy to begin with, so you should just focus on attacking the enemies to death.

The Attack Rating of this weapon is at around 800 before you trigger any buffs such asWinged Sword InsigniaorMillicent’s Prosthesis. That’s somewhere in theGreatswordandColossal Weaponsrange, which is really good for a halberd.

The times you’re going to use Loretta’s Slash are very situational. This weapon skill has a lot of hyper armor, which means that it’s hard to interrupt you once you use the skill. It’s really good on enemies that you know you can hit repeatedly with R1. This can be a good way to get the drop on them, maybe stagger them, and cast it again. Then, you can use your R1 after. It’s definitely a very situational Ash of War, but we’re not focusing on optimizing the damage for this skill, which will make it less likely for you to use it. Nonetheless, there is a time and place to use it, and you learn how to do it as you’re playing the build.

Freezing Mistis there for difficult enemies in order to debuff them, which will increase further increase your damage. We don’t have a lot of ways in this build to boost our damage other than attacking, so this is a good way to boost it. This reduces the resistance or defenses of a target, so it’ll make you deal more damage.

One thing I love about this build is that it’s probably one of the most straightforward builds I’ve made in Elden Ring. You don’t have to buff with anything, you just have to go in and attack the enemies. You don’t have to block counter, you’re not parrying, you’re not using a combination of spells and magic. You’re literally just running in, attack, something you would do in a Souls game. You’re being super aggressive because of your high Poise and protection because you want to trigger your talismans to boost your damage significantly.

Another thing that I want to mention is that one of the reasons that I call this a Cavalier build is that this weapon type is phenomenal on horseback. The hitbox fans out in a 45 degree angle, allowing you to clip anything on the side you’re aiming at. Since this weapon attacks so fast, you’re able to do a lot of damage on horseback. If you’re someone who likes mounted combat, when you’re fighting big enemies like dragons, or even trash mobs, this is a fantastic weapon for you. You should also consider using theLance Talismanwhen you’re on horseback to get increased damage.

When it comes to the attributes for this build, I have: 50Vigor, 20Mind, 30Endurance, 44Strength, 59Dexterity, 21Intelligence, 7Faith, and 9Arcane. You don’t need any Faith and Arcane for this build at all. There’s no reason to add points towards those attributes, so don’t worry about it.

When it comes to Vigor, we have 50 here. You’ll want to increase this as you progress into NG+, probably up to 60 or 65. You’re trading damage, and if you’re using this armor set the whole way, you’re basically capped out at the amount of damage you can mitigate unless you add something like theRitual Shield Talisman, but your damage will go down. You can change your armor set to get more protection if you want, so that’s up to you. 50 Vigor will give you a larger health pool to trade damage with enemies before you need to step back and heal.

20 Mind is there because you really don’t need much Mind for this build. You don’t use Loretta’s Slash very often, and all you really need it for is the occasional Freezing Mist. It’s not something you’re going to use very often, as you’ll be using your R1 attacks more regularly. You can probably even leave it at 15 points if you want to get some extra points elsewhere.

30 Endurance is enough to give us enough equip load so that we can medium roll with this set-up. This is going to vary depending on which armor you’re going to use. The heavier your armor is, the higher your Endurance should be. If you’re not usingGreat-Jar’s Arsenalto wear heavier armor, you should increase your Endurance. Higher stamina is also good for this build as you chew through your stamina with your regular attacks.

When it comes to Strength and Dexterity, it may seem odd that I have 44 Strength and 59 Dexterity. I tested this back and forth, putting points to maximize the damage. I found out that from 44 Strength onwards, Dexterity will outperform it with every point. I didn’t test it out much further, but you’re going to increase it until 80. Once you get 80 Dexterity, you’re going to put your points on Strength.

The last on the list is 21 Intelligence, as Loretta’s War Sickle scales poorly with Intelligence. Theoretically, you could increase Intelligence instead of Dexterity and Strength in order to do a hybrid build where you’re casting spells and using Loretta’s War Sickle. I opted not to do that for this build, as I have a lot of Spellblade builds. I also feel like this is not the best weapon to make a Spellblade build with as it has a good moveset and it doesn’t deal a lot of magic damage anyway.

If you’re using theFlask of Wondrous Physick, you’re going to want to use theMagic-Shrouding Cracked Tearto increase your magic damage, or theDexterity-knot Crystal Tearto increase your Dexterity instead.

You should also be using theGreenburst Crystal Tearin order to get increased stamina recovery. Again, you chew through your stamina very fast in combat, so you’re going to need all the stamina recovery you can get.

Lastly, if you’re looking at which Great Rune you can use with this build,Godrick’s Great Runeis your only option for a while in early game. It’s fantastic for this build because this build is an extremely stat-hungry one. You’re increasing 6 out of the 8 attributes, so you absolutely need this for this build. Another option when you get towards the end of your NG+ run isMalenia’s Great Rune. This will allow you to regain health after getting hit by attacks. This build is aggressive, so it fits naturally with this build.

That’s it for our Carian Cavalier Build Guide! As always, let us know if you have questions or other tips in the comments below. We have a ton more builds coming for Elden Ring andShadow of the Erdtreeso stay tuned for those. If you need help finding items, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check theElden Ring Map. Happy building!

Castielle

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