Elden Ring: BEST Scythe Builds [200+ Hours Experience]

Scythes have always been a niche weapon type, so you won’t see them in too many builds. Maybe it’s because the game doesn’t have any particular scythes that stand out and thus often become overshadowed by Katanas and other popular melee weapons. However, with a proper build, the sheer versatility a single Scythe brings to the table will likely surprise you in Elden Ring.

My Best Builds For Each Scythe

Let’s have a quick look at all of my Scythe Builds, which you can use in Elden Ring:

1. Dual Strength Scythes

For my first build, I’ll be focusing on making a purely Strength and Dexterity-focused build by Power Stancing with the 2 Strength weapons, the regular Scythe and the Grave Scythe. I’ve preferably kept the Grave Scythe in my main hand since it does significantly more damage than the regular one.

• Both weapons’ Ash of War attacks have also been completely revamped.
• Since your default weapon is the Grave Scythe, we’ve given it the aggressive Ash of War, Sword Dance, which does two quick double slashes.
• The other Scythe has the passive and infamous Bloodhound Step as its Ash of War, which you can use to quickly escape deadly situations.

For the armor set, the only necessary item here is the Headwear, the Omensmirk Mask, which raises Strength. This is not only a lightweight mask but is also the only mask that enhances one of your key stats. The rest of the armor set can be anything you like as long as it’s equal to or lighter than Medium Load.

The Talismans here are particularly suited to Strength and Dex builds.

• Great-Jar Arsenal: Raises your maximum equipment load, which is crucial since your dual scythes won’t give much room to wear any heavy armor otherwise.
• Bull-Goat Talisman: Makes your defense stronger since it adds Poise to the build.
• Millicent’s Prosthesis: An offense-based Talisman that increases Dexterity and Attack Power by encouraging an aggressive playstyle.
• Erdtree’s Favor: An extremely powerful talisman that raises your maximum HP, stamina, and equipment load, which makes this build reliable in most situations.

2. Halo Scythe’s Faith And Dexterity

The Halo Scythe is a Dexterity weapon that also scales heavily with Strength and Faith. Its Physical damage output is nearly twice its Holy damage, which is why it’s most suitable for Strength or Dexterity players looking to use Faith as a backup stat.

• The Scythe default Ash of War, Miquella’s Ring of Light, is kept intact in this build because it’s unique, has great range, and, with practice, becomes incredibly powerful via its Attack Power.
• It will take you some time to master it, but the payoff is definitely worth the wait.
• I’ve chosen some of the best and most commonly used Talismans to go with this build.
• This includes Erdtree’s Favor and Radagon’s Soreseal, which enhance multiple attributes simultaneously, making the player much more versatile and well-rounded overall.

For the more specific talismans, I’ve equipped the Two Fingers Heirloom, which raises your Faith by five levels, along with the Shard of Alexander, which boosts the Attack Power of your skills.

• These Talismans work well with each other since the Two Fingers Heirloom, along with the Shard of Alexander, significantly increases the damage of your Ash of War attack.
• Unlike the last build that required more Strength than Dexterity, this one needs much more Dexterity to amplify the Halo Scythe’s scaling.
• As such, we’re using the Okina Mask, which raises your Dexterity in exchange for Focus.
• This lightweight headgear can be coupled with the Beast Champion or any heavy armor set in the Elden Ring.

3. Winged Scythe And Incantations

The Winged Scythe is a Faith-based weapon that also dishes out decent Physical damage as well, giving way to making a powerful Faith build in Elden Ring. Combining it with the Golden Order Seal, you can make the build more versatile by giving you several offensive and defensive options during combat.

• Like all reapers in Elden Ring, the Winged Scythe causes Bleed buildup, which is why you should pair this build with Bleed-focused Incantations like Swarm of Flies and Bloodflame Talons.
• Apart from that, you can also stay on the defensive or passive side of things by equipping the Golden Vow, which raises attack and defense, and the Order’s Blade, which enhances the Holy Damage of your right-hand weapon.

The Talismans here are mainly focused on increasing your Faith potential.

• Marika’s Soreseal, Erdtree’s Favor, and the Two Fingers Heirloom: Significantly increase your Faith along
• Carian Filigreed Crest: Lowers FP consumption, letting you perform a lot more spells and Ash of War attacks.

The Winged Scythe is already considered a nimble weapon in Elden Ring, so you can include a heavy armor set in your build without any difficulty. Alternatively, I’d suggest going with a Faith-based helm to give you more potent with that stat.

4. Grave Scythe’s Immoveable Set

For my final build, I’ll be making something overpowered for Endurance-focused players. The Grave Scythe is arguably the best Strength reaper in the game, which is why it’s my recommendation for this build.

• I’ve also picked the Fingerprint Stone Shield as its guarding ability is way better than most shields, tanking physical attacks with minimal stamina loss.

The Ashes of War, for both the primary and secondary weapon, are offensive and put decent pressure on the opponent. The Phantom Slash is extremely damage-centric and difficult to dodge, especially in multiplayer. On the other hand, the Shield Bash on the Stone Shield makes most enemy counterattacks punishable.

• Similar to most endurance builds, we’ll be choosing one of the heaviest armor sets in the game.
• This includes the Crimson Hood that increases your vigor, with the General Radahn armor set that adds a ton of poise and physical damage negation to the build.

This is further complimented by the talismans I’ve chosen:

• Great-Jar Arsenal: Increases your maximum equipment load
• Dragoncrest Greatshield: Heavily boosts your already vigorous damage negation.
• Erdtree’s Favor and Radagon’s Soreseal: Heavily impact your physical offensive and defensive capabilities.

My Experience With Scythes And My Personal Favorite

Out of the four scythes, my personal favorite is the Winged Scythe in Elden Ring. But that doesn’t mean that the other scythes were bad by any means. The Winged Scythe is just too overpowered, as it offers substantial damage.

When I started dual-wielding the Winged Scythe in the New Game+, it allowed me to drain through the health of bosses with ease, with the correct build, obviously. The only downside I can think of for this scythe is the holy damage, which is not a problem in most of the game but is quite troublesome when you are fighting “God” bosses, especially the Elden Beast. 

In that case, I always kept the Grave Scythe as a backup weapon in case I was ever against an enemy resistant or immune to Holy Damage.

That wraps up my guide on the best scythe builds you can create in the game. As mentioned, these builds, although belonging to the weapon type, are vastly different and offer a completely unique set of versatility, uses, and advantages. So try to use each scythe and its build to see which one suits you the most. You can also check this Reddit thread to see what the Elden Ring community is pairing up with their reapers!

For more unique builds and weapons, check out eXputer’s guide on making a Mage Build in Elden Ring. If you prefer ranged weapons instead, consider reading up on the Best Bows you can find and equip in the game. Apart from that, you can make your custom build even more diverse and powerful by learning how to summon spirits in-game.

Up Next:

• Best Weapons in Elden Ring with locations
• How To Upgrade Spirit Ashes In Elden Ring
• Best Remembrances to Duplicate in Elden Ring