Best Elden Ring Vagabond Build: Gear & Stats

Elden Ring comes with a huge variety of starting classes to pick from. One of those is the Vagabond class. To know whether the Vagabond is a great class or not, you can consult our Elden Ring class tier list. Regardless, we can still optimize our build by utilizing the best Elden Ring Vagabond Build out there.

Here’s a summarized look at the optimal Vagabond Build in Elden Ring:

Vagabond Build Weapons

Here are all the weapons that you can use for the Vagabond Build:

Vagabond is actually a great class. It comes with a good blend of starting stats and is recommended for most new players to the Soulborne franchise. With the highest starting Vigor and decent Strength, the Vagabond class is a great class for those who struggle in the early game.

But what makes it amazing is the fact that it is versatile enough to become almost any build. You can use it for a dex build as well as a strength build. But the build that works the best with Vagabond is an aggressive tank-style build.

With the Elden Ring Vagabond Build, you can expect to dual-wield two great swords and always jump head-in into all fights. With that being said, these are the weapons that work best with the aggressive strength-based Vagabond build.

Lordsworn’s Greatsword

Lordsworn’s Greatsword is a great sword that you can get quite early on with the Vagabond build due to its requirements. You will need 16 in Strength and 10 in Dex. The Vagabond comes with 14 in Strength and 13 in Dex anyway, so you will only need two extra in Strength to equip the weapon.

To find the Lordsworn’s Greatsword, you will need to head near the Gatefront Ruins. Over there, you can find a large wagon with a chest in the back. Inside you will find the Lordsworn’s Greatsword.

With its 136 physical damage, it is a mammoth of a weapon. Additionally, the 110 critical damage makes it great for those who love the parry and backstab playstyle. If you want to perfect your parrying, consider reading our How To Parry In Elden Ring guide.

The Lordsworn’s Greatsword comes with its skill, Stamp, which is an Upward cut. The weapon scales with Strength and Dexterity with an initial D scale. You can infuse the weapon with Ashes of War, allowing you to push the scaling to B for both scales.

Grafted Blade Greatsword

If you want to go over the top with and strengthen your Vagabond Build, consider using the Grafted Blade Greatsword. Despite having Greatsword in its name, you can consider this titan of a sword as a colossal sword.

Regardless, the weapon works well due to its Strength and Dex scaling, which have an initial C and E scale, respectively. But you can upgrade the weapon to get a B and D scale on those stats.

However, it is one of those weapons that you might want to add to your Elden Ring Vagabond Build later on in the game. That is because it has a requirement of 40 strength and 14 Dex. Therefore, if you are incorporating Grafted Blade Greatsword in your build, you will eventually end up going towards the strength-based build.

You will have to beat a boss to attain Grafted Blade Greatsword. In Castle Morne at the Weeping Peninsula, there is the Leonine Misbegotten boss. If you want to have an easier time fighting the boss, consider using your Ashens Remains to aid you in battle.

Grafted Blade Greatsword comes with its skill, Oath of Vengeance. It gives your poise a boost. If you do not know what poise is, it is the attribute that dictates how easily you can get staggered while in the middle of an attack. Therefore, with a higher poise, you can truly become a tank.

Claymore

The Claymore is yet another Greatsword that you can use with your Elden Ring Vagabond Build. Although our aim is to use two Greatswords together, it will be perfectly fine if you opt to only use the Claymore as a two-handed weapon.

Again, it is a weapon that you can get quite early on in the game with a 16 strength and 13 Dex requirement. The weapon scales on Strength and Dex with a D scale can be pushed to a B scale with the quality ashes of war upgrade.

To get the Claymore, you will need to go to Castle Morne, the same as with the Grafted Blade Greatsword. But once you do get there, from the main courtyard entrance, head right. It will lead you to a path to the entrance of a building in the North. The sword can be found in a chest right as you enter the building.

The Claymore comes with a great skill that suits the Vagabond playstyle. It is called the Lion’s Claw, and it allows players to somersault toward enemies. Due to its initial 138 physical damage as well as strength scaling, the Claymore is a great fit.

Greatsword

Despite its generic name, the Greatsword is an amazing sword to have. It is perhaps just as big as the Grafted Blade Greatsword and pairs nicely with it. If the weapon feels familiar to you, then it is because it is an almost direct reference to Guts’ sword from the manga Berserk. The weapon is so great that you could most likely create a build only surrounding it.

The good thing is that although it has a high requirement, you can actually get it earlier than that Grafted Blade Greatsword. That is because its requirement is 31 in Strength and 12 in Dex. Although the weapon scales for both Strength and Dex, your primary focus will be Strength as it has a C scale instead of the E scale in Dex. If you want to take this a step further, you can use heavy Ashes of War to push the scaling as far as A grade for Strength.

To get the Greatsword, you will need to head to Dragonbarrow on Caelid’s map. Just slightly northwest to the Caelem Ruins Site of Grace, you will be able to spot a caravan. Raiding it will allow you to get the Greatsword. But do be careful as there will be enemies guarding it.

The weapon comes with its skill, Stamp. It is good against larger enemies and is good for absorbing a single hit from enemies. Using the Stamp and the Greatsword, you get the true tank-like feeling.

With that, we have some of the best swords that you can use with the Elden Ring Vagabond build. You may have noticed that they are Strength-focused blades. That is because we are truly trying to become a berserker-like warrior with the Vagabond build.

Vagabond Build Talisman & Armor

As for the Elden Ring Vagabond Talisman, we want to use those that can assist us in wielding strength-based swords.

Erdtree Favor

The Erdtree Favor works great with the Elden Ring Vagabond Build as due to the weapons, we’re rocking a heavy build. To help us maintain our agility in battle, the Talisman will provide us with additional endurance, health, and equip load. The increased equipment load will give us the slight edge needed to remain in the medium roll category.

To get the Erdtree Favor, you need to head to the starting area of the game. And that is where you will find the Fringefolk Hero’s Grave. You will need two stoneword keys to get past the imp statues. You could try getting this Talisman early on in the game if you picked the stonesword keys as your keepsake.

But it might be difficult to deal with all the threats inside, so it’s best to come back later. You will find the Talisman on an altar beyond a fire trap inside the dungeon.

Claw Talisman

The Claw Talisman will help with the Vagabond play style. Essentially it boosts your jump attacks, allowing you to deal more damage. As we will be using the jump attacks quite often to rain down on enemies, having this Talisman will be favorable.

You will need to head towards Stormveil Castle to find the Claw Talisman. Once you fast travel to the Rampart Tower Site of Grace, try to head to the destroyed pillar after jumping onto the rooftop. Following the path will eventually lead you to a watchtower-like structure.

Climbing the ladder will take you to a corpse from which you can loot the Talisman. The Claw Talisman will give +15% damage to all jumping attacks, making it a must-have item for Vagabond build in Elden Ring.

Radagon’s Scarseal

If you want even more endurance and Strength initially, then you can consider using the Radagon’s Scarseal. It raises your Vigor, Endurance, Strength, and Dexterity by +3. However, there is a caveat. You will take 10% more damage as a side effect.

Early on, this might be a significant number, but as you progress, it might become worth it. Especially if you upgrade all your flasks using golden seeds and sacred tears, then the slight damage might not be too significant as you’ll be better equipped to deal with it.

You can get the Radagon’s Scarseal by fighting the Weeping Evergaol in the Weeping Peninsula. For this purpose, you will also need stonesword keys.

Raptor’s Black Feathers

Let’s first review the stats of Raptor’s Black Feathers:

Damage Negation:

Resistance:

As for armor, we mostly want to work with something that will keep us in the medium-roll range. But the one suggestion for the Elden Ring Vagabond Build is the Raptor’s Black Feathers. It is essentially a cloak-like chest armor, part of the Raptor’s Armor set. It is a light-medium armor and strengthens your jump attacks by +10% damage.

This, combined with the Claw Talisman, could give you a total of 25% increase. The armor can be found in the Sage’s Cave behind an illusory wall in a chest behind. 

Vagabond Build Stats

Here’s a look at ideal stats, though they might take you some time to get:

As for the stats, it can depend on which weapons you are using with your Vagabond Build. If you are opting for the colossal swords, then you will definitely need a higher strength. Otherwise, you can go on the lower end of Strength and remain near the 18 range.

Again, it depends on which weapons you are using and their requirements. But for the very safe side, assuming you want to go all out, we will say that a 40 strength is the best out there for the Vagabond Build.

As for dexterity, we only need to reach the base requirement for most of our weapons, and that’s usually around 13-15, so a 15 in Dex is fine.

Once you have all these stats, you need to pump your points into Vigor and Endurance. The Vagabond build is very aggressive, so you need to have the health needed to trade blows. Furthermore, if you are wielding all the heavy greatswords or colossal swords, then you certainly need endurance to maintain your medium roll. Although 20 is ideal for both, going as high as possible after you have your strength requirements would be your best call.

Faith, Arcane, and Intelligence do not have any role in the Vagabond build; therefore, you can leave them at their default.

Vagabond Build Playstyle

As for the Vagabond playstyle, it’s quite obvious that you need to be aggressive. Your main source of inflicting damage is through your weapons and nothing else. We did not opt for any spells like an intelligence build, nor did we go for any ranged weapon like a samurai build. So, we need to get in there up close and personal, exactly like a typical melee build.

Luckily, we have a great opening move that you need to utilize with the Elden Ring Vagabond. And that is the jump attack. The jump attack, when used correctly, can even help you end fights before they’ve even begun. But don’t just let it be a move that you use to initiate fights.

When you feel necessary or are getting cornered, take a step back and come raining back in with a jump attack.

Your main source of defense will be dodging, so make sure you get your timings down properly. Furthermore, you can actually make use of your Horse, to fight enemies on horseback. In fact, it is a great way of dealing with the lack of dexterity in the Vagabond Build.

Tips

With that, we have the Elden Ring Vagabond build. We discussed all appropriate options for weapons that suit the strength-heavy build. Additionally, there are some Talismans that you can use to aid you in the appropriate playstyle.

The one thing to remember is that the jump attack is your friend with the Vagabond Build. For your stats, Strength is the number one priority until we meet our requirements.

From there onwards, it’s just about increasing your endurance and Vigor to give you the edge in battle, especially in terms of defense.

At the end of the day, a build depends more on the player’s preferences, and it can be customized to their needs. If you are looking for another build to dive into, consider this: Elden Ring Rivers of Blood Build guide.