Best Samurai Build In Elden Ring [Expert Recommendations]

Consider choosing the Elden Ring Samurai class for your character creation. The Samurai class begins with the Uchigatana as its primary melee weapon, ideal for your desired build. It also provides the Longbow, a strong early-game ranged weapon and grants the impressive Land of Reeds set as your initial armor.

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Alternatively, if you’ve started with a different class but aim for this build, you can still obtain the Uchigatana in the optional Deathtouched Catacombs in Limgrave’s north. Additionally, the Longbow is available for purchase from the Twin Maiden Husks NPC at the Roundtable Hold, where the first Blacksmith resides.

Samurai Build Gear

Let’s delve into the Samurai Build gear, beginning with the best early melee weapon. This build considers starting gear, yet you can swap the mentioned gear for stronger alternatives.

Uchigatana is one of the select few Katanas in the Elden Ring that stands out as an impressive and highly useful weapon, proving effective even after dozens of hours of gameplay. Initially, I used the slightly upgraded Uchigatana for around 50 hours, effortlessly defeating both optional and legacy bosses. However, I later switched to the Elden Ring Meteoric Ore Blade.

• The Uchigatana induces Hemorrhage via its ‘Blood Loss Buildup,’ dealing substantial damage after repeated attacks.
• Its ‘Unsheathe’ skill, accessed by two-handing the weapon and using the Skill button, executes a potent wide slash effective against single or multiple enemies

Initially, the Uchigatana has a D scaling for both Strength and Dexterity. You can invest points in either stat without significantly affecting the inflicted damage. In Elden Ring, you can use Ashes of War to alter the weapon’s Affinity to suit your preference.

• High Strength? Apply Heavy Affinity to boost Uchigatana’s Str scaling to A, amps up damage.
• High Dexterity? Use Keen Affinity to switch Dex scaling to A, ups damage potential.

Both of these are viable options, but since we’re going for a Samurai Build that prioritizes fast hits and the ability to quickly dodge away from enemy attacks, I do think that Dexterity is the correct choice here. This is by no means the Elden Ring’s best dex build, but I do think that it’s the first step toward one.

As far as the Longbow is concerned, it’s simply a really solid ranged weapon. Its “Mighty Shot” skill is also a great Ash of War that uses up a tiny amount of FP but is capable of dealing large amounts of damage with little to no effort.

• Buy Regular Arrows from Merchant Kalé at Church of Elleh for 20 Runes each, available from the game’s beginning. They will seem cheaper with Rune farming.

Alternatively, you can also craft Bone Arrows by yourself if you want access to ammunition on the go. The recipe can be acquired by purchasing Deserter’s Cookbook [1] for 150 Runes from the same vendor as mentioned above. Once you have it, you can use 3x Thin Animal Bones to create Bone Arrows anytime you want from the crafting menu.

You want to stay at a maximum of a Medium Load to allow for fast dodging, and investing a few points in Endurance can help increase the weight of the gear you can carry without being encumbered. If you feel really confident in your dodging skill, you can even choose to take off your armor until you reach Low Load. This will greatly increase the speed and distance of your dodge rolls but at the cost of basically no damage negation.

It enhances the distance of your ranged weapon’s shots, allowing you to hit enemies from further away. With this equipped, you can snipe enemies from further away and make sure that you kill them before they ever reach you.

It increases the power of your charged attacks. The Uchigatana, in particular, has great reach and a devastating heavy two-handed attack. So with Axe Talisman, you can know that each charged blow has a greater chance to stagger.

As a melee build playstyle, Samurai relies heavily on doing consecutive attacks while fighting enemies or bosses in the Elden Ring. That is why you must acquire and equip the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia talisman, which will be the best talisman for Samura’s playstyle in Elden Ring.

It restores health on critical hits. As mentioned before, the Uchigatana has a devastating heavy attack while using the ‘Unsheathe’ skill and a great charged attack, both of which can stagger enemies easily. And when you have the opportunity to gain health from these moments, you should try to avail them as much as possible. 

but commit to it as you progress. I recommend a Dex-focused playstyle for its compatibility with katanas’ swift slashes.

• Both starting weapons, like the Uchigatana’s ‘Unsheathe’ move, feature powerful FP-based skills. Invest in the Mind attribute to enhance the effectiveness of Ashes of War.
• Increase your FP meter by investing in Mind or allocate more uses to the Flask of Cerulean Tears for better healing.
• Prioritize Vigor to boost Hit Points and improve overall durability. This is crucial for the Samurai build, enabling you to endure hits while wielding a two-handed weapon.
• Enhancing evasion is important, but a larger health pool provides a significant defensive advantage.

So while playing as an Elden Ring Samurai, you want to utilize some of the strategies I detail below.

• Keep distance from groups; use Longbow to pick off stragglers.
• Use ‘Mighty Shot’ for weak foes; follow up with another shot if needed.
• Lure enemies away with Longbow and break them off the group to engage them one by one.
• Melee against one enemy, focus on precise, powerful strikes.
• Utilize Uchigatana two-handed for quick ‘Unsheathe’ skill, but be cautious of vulnerability.
• Samurai Build is not reliant on shields; focus on offense rather than parrying.

This makes it so that when you press the Skill button, the game automatically uses the Ash of War of the weapon in your other hand instead. And in this situation, that happens to be the ‘Unsheathe’ skill.

It provides the players with a plethora of choices in terms of weapons and attributes. The samurai class also has high dexterity, endurance, and strength. These features make it a perfect starting class for both veterans and new players.