Elden Ring: The BEST Warrior Build [Stats + Gear]

The Warrior build is one of the major starting classes in Elden Ring, mainly focusing on Dexterity and somewhat on Strength. In fact, it has the highest Dexterity level out of any starting class, so if you’re looking to make an agile and mobility-focused melee build, your best bet to begin your journey with would be the Warrior.

Best Warrior Build In Elden Ring

Here’s a brief overview of the best items you can get as a Warrior class, detailing the weapons, attributes, armor, and talismans for the build:

Best Stats To Level Up

As highlighted earlier, you’ll be sticking to a Dexterity build, so you should focus on amplifying both your Physical Damage and defense. However, doing so will restrict you from using incantations and spells, meaning there’s no room for ranged combat.

Here’s a list of the attributes you should prioritize leveling up as a Warrior build in Elden Ring:

Best Weapons

The Warrior class stands out as the top Dexterity-based archetype in Elden Ring. As such, the weapons I’ll be recommending will be melee-oriented Dexterity weapons. Fortunately, there are several Dex weapons scattered throughout the title’s weapon classes, so there are ample options to choose from.

Rogier’s Rapier – Early-game

Most rapiers are well-rounded Dex weapons, and from my experience, the best among these is Rogier’s Rapier. During my initial playthrough of Elden Ring, I extensively used this weapon up till the Mountaintops of the Giants as a Dex and Faith build hybrid. During that time, the rapier served as a reliable backup that I could use to do quick pokes.

You can get Rogier’s Rapier in Limgrave via the following procedure:

1. From the Rampart Tower Site of Grace in Stormveil Castle, follow the narrow path onto the rooftops.
2. These rooftops will lead you to a small pit in a church, after which you must drop down the pit and enter the chapel of your right to meet Rogier.
3. Exhaust his dialogue, then continue through Stormveil Castle until you get to fight Godrick the Grafted.
4. After killing Godrick, return to Roundtable Hold and head for the balcony area.
5. Talk to Rogier, tell him you defeated Godrick, and he’ll reward you with Rogier’s Rapier +8.

Pros

• Regular attacks are quick and have a good range.
• Ash of War can be applied.
• Already upgraded when given by Rogier.

Cons

• No passive effects.
• No Attack Power besides Physical Damage.

Moonveil Katana – Mid-game

Although it’s an obvious choice, the Moonveil Katana remains one of the best Dexterity weapons despite the nerfs from the recent patches. You can use it in almost any passive or offensive play style, making the weapon versatile and easy to use.

Here’s how you can get the Moonveil Katana in Elden Ring:

1. Starting from the Rotview Balcony Site of Grace in Caelid, drop down from the edge and follow the foot of the cliff south.
2. Eventually, you’ll receive a campsite with some Radahn Soldiers guarding the entrance to the Gael Tunnel.
3. Proceed through the cave, and you’ll eventually fight the Magma Wyrm miniboss beyond a wooden gate at the cave’s end.
4. Upon killing the Magma Wyrm, you’ll receive the Moonveil Katana.

Pros

• Incredibly quick Ash of War attack with strong vertical and horizontal range.
• High Blood-loss buildup.
• Easy to use.
• Attacks can be delayed, helping to bait other players in PvP.

Cons

• Low Physical Damage.
• High Intelligence Requirement.

Dragon King’s Cragblade – Late-game

As a Heavy Thrusting Sword, players often overlook the Cragblade due to its niche category, and I personally didn’t pay much attention to it at the start. However, I’ve now realized it’s not only one of the best Dexterity weapons but also one of the best boss weapons in Elden Ring.

You can obtain this weapon by trading the Remembrance of the Dragonlord, obtained after killing Dragonlord Placidusax in Farum Azula, with Enya at the Roundtable Hold.

Pros

• Ash of War has incredible range, stagger potential, damage output, and makes you hard to hit.
• Each frame of the attack hits the opponents if you’re touching them.
• Ideal blend between Dexterity scaling and Lightning Damage out of any weapon.
• Lighter than most Greatswords.

Cons

• High FP-cost for the Ash of War attack.
• Regular and charged attacks have slow animations.

Best Armor

I’ve previously mentioned that Endurance should be one of the priority attributes you should level up for your Warrior build in Elden Ring. As such, that means you’ll have enough weight to support heavy armor sets, increasing your overall defense against enemies.

Okina Mask

The Okina Mask raises your Dexterity stat while lowering Focus, and although this debuff to your Sleep and Madness resistance may seem questionable, the difference isn’t noticeable. The mask is fairly lightweight, and you can easily equip it regardless of your total Weight. Furthermore, the +3 Dexterity you get from the Okina Mask adds significant benefit to your Warrior character.

• You can obtain the Okina Mask after killing Bloody Finger Okina, found just outside the Church of Repose in the southeastern region of the Mountaintops of the Giants.
• It’s also worth mentioning that Okina also drops the Rivers of Blood, arguably the best Arcane weapon in Elden Ring.

Blaidd’s Armor

For your chest part, I feel like the Blaidd’s Armor component fits a Warrior/Dex build the best. It’s got the ideal blend of defense and weight while not being too heavy. Besides that, I’d also recommend getting the ‘Altered’ variant from Boc, which gives you an even better weight-to-defense ratio.

You can get Blaidd’s chest armor alongside its entire armor set after killing Blaidd as part of Ranni the Witch’s questline.

Royal Remains Gauntlets

Moving onto Gauntlets, you can essentially pick any midweight or heavyweight gauntlets, but my personal pick is the Royal Remains pair. It’s the only pair of Gauntlets with a passive ability – slowly replenishing HP when your HP is reduced. Other than that, the respectable weight-to-defense makes it a strong choice for any Warrior build in Elden Ring.

Here’s how you can get the Royal Remains Set in Liurnia of the Lakes:

1. After reaching the Village of the Albinaurics Site of Grace in Liurnia’s southwestern region, head up the hill, and you’ll come across a large pot at the peak.
2. Hit the pot once to reveal Old Albus, a non-hostile, who you can talk with to receive the right half of the Haligtree Secret Medallion.
3. After exhausting his dialogue, return to Roundtable Hold, and you’ll be invaded by Ensha of the Royal Remains.
4. Kill Ensha to teleport back to the original Roundtable Hold, then head to Ensha’s usual location outside Gideon’s office to pick up the Royal Remains set.

Veteran’s Greaves

To complete your set, the Veteran’s Greaves stand out for me as one of the best heavy leggings in Elden Ring. In terms of Physical Damage protection, it’s only beaten out by the Fire Prelate Greaves, which is 50% heavier. As such, if you have enough weight to spare, these Greaves are an ideal choice for any build, including the Warrior class.

You can purchase the Veteran’s Greaves for 4000 Runes from Enya at the Roundtable Hold after defeating Commander Niall in Castle Sol, located in the northmost region of the Mountaintops of the Giants. 

Best Talismans

Talismans are additional add-ons that you can equip to your Warrior character in Elden Ring. Here, I’ll mainly focus on Dexterity-focused and melee-focused talismans to maximize your build’s potential. 

Rotten Winged Sword Insignia

The Rotten Winged Sword Insignia is a powerful late-game talisman that can increase your Attack Power with successive attacks. As the stronger variant of the regular Winged Sword Insignia, this talisman’s boost starts from 6% and goes up to 13% with the third hit. Of course, the three weapons I’ve mentioned above can significantly take advantage of the item effect due to their quick consecutive hits.

• You can find the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia towards the end of Millicent’s Questline in Miquella’s Haligtree.
• Near the Drainage Channel Site of Grace in Elphael, you’ll have the option to either kill Millicent or fight alongside her against Millicent’s Sisters, and doing the latter will give you the Insignia.

Radagon’s Soreseal

If you’re looking to raise your attributes to better wield and utilize weapons without dumping runes, Radagon’s Soreseal is the ideal pick for any Warrior build. The talisman raises your Vigor, Endurance, Strength, and Dexterity stat by 5 levels each but increases damage taken by 15%.

• For a Warrior class, this is much more useful than any attribute-raising talisman since it boosts all the necessary stats.
• And while you do take more damage, you can nullify most of the drawback’s effect with the armor I’ve listed above.
• You can find this talisman atop Fort Faroth, located just beyond Greyoll in Caelid’s Dragonbarrow.

Shard Of Alexander

Most melee builds rely on their weapons’ Ash of War attacks to damage the enemy, which is why the Shard of Alexander is a crucial part of your build, as it raises the Attack Power of skills by 15%.

You can obtain the Shard of Alexander in Elden Ring after killing Iron Fist Alexander in the Crumbling Farum Azula as part of Alexander’s questline.

Carian Filgreed Crest

By lowering the FP consumed by your skills, the Carian Filgreed Crest pairs extremely well with the Shard of Alexander and the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia. With this, you won’t need to allot too many flask charges to the Flask of Cerulean Tears or dump your runes into Mind. Instead, you’ll have more FP to spam your Ash of War attacks continuously.

You can purchase the Carian Filgreed Crest for 5000 Runes from War Counselor Iji, located near the Road to the Manor Site of Grace in eastern Liurnia, after killing Bloodhound Knight Darriwal. It’s worth mentioning that you can only purchase items from Iji as part of Ranni’s questline.

My Tips Using The Warrior Build

I consider the Warrior class to be one of the top 3 starting classes in Elden Ring. However, the way to properly optimize it is by leveling up the right attributes early. As such, I’d recommend leveling up Endurance and Dexterity in the early-game phase.

In case you’re struggling to maintain HP against bosses, you can periodically raise your Vigor. Strength would be the last primary attribute you should focus on since most weapons and armor of a Warrior build rarely use it. By following these progression steps, I’m sure you’ll have a strong build that’ll let you breeze through most encounters.

That wraps up my extensive guide on the best Warrior build in Elden Ring, detailing the attributes, weapons, armor, and talismans to prioritize. If you’re interested in learning about build of other top-notch starting classes, I have a detailed guide on the best Prisoner build in Elden Ring.

If you’re going for a specific themed build, check out Hammad’s Vampire Build in Elden Ring, which will make you stand out in PvP. And for fans of Star Wars, Huzaifa Durrani’s Darth Maul Build will give you the best of both worlds.

Next:

• Elden Ring: Best Rune Farming Spots
• Elden Ring: How To Reach Moonlight Altar
• Elden Ring: Best Bows
• Elden Ring: All Great Runes & How To Get Them