Elden Ring Frenzy Build: Stats, Gear & Playstyle

The Elden Ring Frenzy or Madness Build is a type of playstyle that emphasizes causing the Madness status effect on enemies. And like most status effects in the game, you build this up gradually using various weapons and spells, until the meter fills up completely and shaves off a massive chunk of the foe’s health.

For your ease, here’s the Frenzy Build Summary:

Frenzy Build Overview

In Elden Ring, Madness status damages both health and Focus meter, hindering spellcasting. Spells and items causing Madness affect both enemies and you. In PvE, I experienced that it’s less effective since many enemies don’t use Focus Points (FP), but some Tarnished foes do, making Frenzy spells useful.

The Madness Build shines in PvP, where all players have FP, and I was easily able to catch players off-guard sometimes. Starting Class doesn’t greatly impact the build, but Confessor or Prophet can boost Faith and provide a Sacred Seal.

Madness Build Gear

In Elden Ring, there are no Incantations to apply Madness damage to weapons, limiting the flexibility of the Madness build. Few weapons inherently deal Madness damage, relying more on spells for this build. However, two specific items can work well if you invest in the required stats and learn their unique movesets. If you’re committed to the Madness Build, consider these options.

Vyke’s War Spear

Attack Stats:

Guard Stats:

However, Vyke’s War Spear is powerful. It deals decent physical damage and inflicts 65 Madness damage per strike, potentially causing Madness in the target. Its unique skill, ‘Frenzyflame Thrust,’ imbues the spear with Flame of Frenzy, allowing a jump and slam attack dealing both Health and Madness damage over a wide area, despite a somewhat lengthy animation.

Fingerprint Stone Shield

Attack Stats:

Guard Stats:

In an Elden Ring Madness Build, it deals 70 Madness damage per hit, outperforming Vyke’s War Spear’s passive Madness damage. Combining the shield and spear makes you a formidable melee Frenzy player, in my opinion. However, the 48 Strength requirement may not suit a Faith-focused build, so assess your priorities and resources before using it.

Madness Build Sacred Seals

To cast spells in Elden Ring, you need catalysts like Staffs for Sorceries and Sacred Seals for Incantations, including Frenzied Flame spells. Choosing the right seal is crucial for maximizing damage in an Elden Ring Madness Build.

So we will now look over the ones best suited for an Elden Ring Madness Build.

1. Frenzied Flame Seal: This seal is ideal for the build, boosting Frenzied Flame Incantations by +20% and causing Madness Buildup with melee attacks. Obtainable through the Lord of Frenzied Flame Elden Ring ending.
2. Erdtree Seal: While it doesn’t favor any specific Incantation, it’s one of the best Sacred Seals, achieving S rank with Faith at +5, faster than others.
3. Godslayer’s Seal: Designed for Godslayer Incantations, it enhances their power by 10% and scales well with Faith, reaching S rank at +14.

Your first choice should always be the Frenzied Flame Seal with its massive 20% increase in power. But if you do not have access to it for whatever reason, the other two work perfectly fine as well.

Incantations

You have five Frenzied Flame Incantations in the game, and all of them are insanely versatile from what I’ve tested. They offer diversity, including area attacks, grapples, and long-range laser beams. These spells prove valuable in various combat situations.

However, a crucial point to note is their limited use due to Madness infliction on both you and your target. Your meter builds up slowly, so using it recklessly can leave you vulnerable afterward.

The Flame of Frenzy

The Flame of Frenzy is a unique Incantation that shoots a wildfire from your eyes in a wide cone area, damaging all in its path. It’s good against beast-type foes but less effective against faster enemies due to its spread. It’s great for beginners, easily accessible early in the game, and efficient for crowd control with enough FP, despite the Madness buildup.

Unendurable Frenzy

Unendurable Frenzy may seem similar to Flame of Frenzy at first, both with a cone of flames and the same damage and Madness buildup. However, some key differences set it apart in this Elden Ring Madness Build:

1. Higher Costs: Unendurable Frenzy has significantly higher requirements, demanding 31 Faith and costing 42 FP compared to Flame of Frenzy’s 16 for both. But it deals substantially more damage.
2. Mobility: You can move while using Unendurable Frenzy, giving you flexibility in combat.
3. Second Stage: A unique feature is its second stage. When you stop, your character releases flames in a wild 360-degree angle. This stage is uncontrollable but deals much greater damage.

In summary, Unendurable Frenzy has higher costs but offers enhanced damage and versatility, making it a formidable choice for those willing to invest in it.

Frenzied Burst

My personal favorite among these spells is the Frenzied Burst. It offers an excellent range and is incredibly enjoyable to use. When you cast it, your character takes a moment to aim their head at the target, then releases a concentrated beam from their eyes, dealing significant damage. It resembles a laser and is incredibly fast, allowing you to focus on a single enemy.

What makes it even more exciting is the option to charge the beam by holding down the casting button. This not only increases damage but also boosts Madness buildup. Charging has the added benefit of penetrating shields, enabling you to damage those pesky guards who block ranged attacks.

In terms of requirements, the Frenzied Burst is quite reasonable, needing 22 Faith to wield and costing 24 FP per use. As long as you’ve been investing in the Mind stat, using it regularly shouldn’t be a problem.

Inescapable Frenzy

Inescapable Frenzy: High-risk for PvP, not for PvE. Grabs the enemy’s head, and releases damaging flames with the Madness effect. Close-range and works only on humanoid foes. Ineffective against non-humanoid enemies. Guaranteed kill if executed successfully.

Howl of Shabriri

Howl of Shabriri: Creates noisy sphere, deals low consistent damage, induces Madness in humanoid enemies. Useful for PvP, leaves you vulnerable to close-range attacks. Not recommended for non-humanoid or PvE encounters.

Frenzy Build Armor Sets

When it comes to choosing armor sets for your Frenzy Build, remember that your playstyle should be the primary factor in your decision. While some sets offer enticing buffs on paper, real gameplay should guide your choice.

Are you confident in dodging attacks? Consider Light or Medium armor and leave the shield behind. Prefer blocking and absorbing hits? Keep the shield and opt for a Heavy set.

Attributes like weight, damage reduction, and Poise matter less if they don’t align with your combat style. Feel free to disregard the suggestions below if you have a more effective setup in mind.

Haligtree Knight Set

Damage Negation:

Resistance:

In Elden Ring, as you face stronger enemies and leveling up becomes costlier, careful stat allocation is crucial. Equipment that boosts Faith, like the Haligtree Knight Set, is invaluable. It provides a free +2 to Faith, alongside good damage reduction and manageable weight, making it ideal for this build.

Raging Wolf Set

Damage Negation:

Resistance:

The Raging Wolf Set stands out as one of the best medium armors in Elden Ring, if not the entire game. It strikes a balance between weight and durability, allowing for a medium load with minimal Endurance investment. It offers strong damage reduction against various damage types, except for lightning attacks.

Azur’s Glintstone Set

Damage Negation:

Resistance:

The Azur’s Glintstone Set, while intended for Sorceries, surprisingly complements an Elden Ring Frenzy Build due to two key aspects:

1. Reduced FP Cost: It lowers the FP cost of all spells by 15%, benefiting spellcasting in general.
2. High Focus: With the highest combined Focus in the game, this set helps manage Madness induced by Frenzied Flame Incantations, allowing extended spellcasting without interruption.

These features make the Haligtree Knight Set a valuable choice for an Elden Ring Madness Build, improving spellcasting and Madness control.

Madness Build Talismans

Elden Ring offers a variety of Talismans that can modify your character’s abilities to match your preferred playstyle. These Talismans can enhance stats, increase damage output, or reduce FP consumption for spells, among other effects.

Here are some of my recommendations to enhance your Elden Ring Madness Build:

Mottled Necklace

Using Frenzied Flame Incantations in Elden Ring raises your Madness meter, limiting consecutive use and making you vulnerable. To reduce this buildup, focus on increasing your Focus stat. Equipping the Mottled Necklace Talisman is a convenient way to boost Robustness, Immunity, and Focus by 40 points each.

Flock’s Canvas Talisman

The Flock’s Canvas Talisman has a pretty simple purpose, but it’s fairly powerful nonetheless. It boosts the potency of all Incantations by 8%, allowing them to deal more damage than they usually would. This bonus also stacks with other Talismans and items that give similar buffs, allowing you to increase the damage dealt by much more than the stated 8%.

Fire Scorpion Charm

Frenzied Flame Incantations fall under the flame spells category and can be boosted by items that enhance Flame attacks. The Fire Scorpion Charm is an excellent choice, increasing your Fire attack damage by 12%.

What makes it even better is that this bonus can stack with other Talismans like the Flock’s Canvas Talisman, resulting in a total 20% damage boost. Keep in mind that while using the Fire Scorpion Charm, you’ll also take 10% more damage.

Godfrey Icon

The Godfrey Icon Talisman boosts damage by an extra 15%, encouraging you to charge spells for maximum damage. The bonus from this talisman stacks with other items like the Fire Scorpion Charm and the Flock’s Canvas Talisman, resulting in an impressive 35% total damage increase.

My Thoughts On The Frenzy Build

At this point in time, I have tried basically every unique build in Elden Ring. Playing through the game on multiple different save slots, one of the few builds I was disappointed in was the Frenzied Flame build. Overall, I feel like it’s a fundamental problem with this build due to the lack of variety and freedom.

None of the weapons have necessarily unique visuals or feel especially fun to play with. On top of that, the incantations are very difficult to acquire. It feels like an identical but cheaper, slightly unfun version of scarlet rot or bleed builds due to its generally uninspired weapons and incantations. Though it has potential, until it gets more unique alternatives, it will be a build that’ll go under the radar for me.

This has been my Elden Ring Frenzy Build. While you’re here, why not also check out our other Builds:

• Elden Ring Poison Build
• Elden Ring Astrologer Build
• Elden Ring Bow Build
• Elden Ring Comet Azur Build
• Elden Ring Intelligence Build
• Elden Ring Best Builds