People seem to want to gatekeep their PvP builds, so I guess it’s time to start trying to understand what needs to go into building for PvP.

I understand it’s about balancing survival with damage, but I don’t know how to pick the combination of heavy/medium/light, what sets would be best for my class/subclass/play style, what kind of weapons to use, what abilities are best for damage in a PvP environment… it all feels so intimidating. Any help understanding would be appreciated.

I’ve always wanted to try a great shield build, using a decent sword or spear to attack from relative safety, but I can never seem to get it right.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for which stats I need to prioritise (I’m guessing endurance), and what else I need to consider to make this a good build that will work well?

My character is level 250 and going through the DLC, so plenty of stat points to play with if I should lean into other areas like faith.

Any recommendations for weapons are welcome too. I was potentially looking at the Erdtree Shield and Guardian Swordspear, but this may not be optimal.

Hi this is my build completely made around "Multilayered Ring of Light". Every item and stat breakpoint is chosen just to improve this one spell.

https://preview.redd.it/b00fn99r4bdd1.jpg?width=2069&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=081303db258f6319b20697898b316aacd4831591

Gear

So first off we need 2x "Dryleaf Seal" these increase the damage of our one spell by 15% each which stacks multiplicatively ending up at 32.25%. On top of these we also have "Circlet of Light" as the helm which increases our spell by an additional 10% adding up to 45.475% increase in damage just from these 3 items.

Talismans

"Godfrey Icon" increases our damage by an additional 15%, because the only spell the build uses counts as a charge spell.

"Flock's Canvas Talisman" is another damage increase giving an addional 8%.

After these 2 talismans it comes down more to personal preferance, as you will need to decide between damage or utility.

Optional Talismans

For damage you would want the "Sacred Scorpion Charm" which increases holy damage by 12%, but it also increases your physical damage taken by 10%.

Also for more damage you could round out with "Faithful's Canvas Talisman" which increases our damage by 4%

For utility "Radagon Icon" gives 30 virtual dexterity toward casting speed. I personally run this as I feel like the long casting time makes to hard to punish at times.

Also for utility I like to run "Two-Headed Turtle Talisman" which increases stamina regeneration by 22.5%, I feel like it makes a big difference in dodging attacks in the DLC especially.

Stats

Starting class Prophet. Here are the stats at different levels. If the space is blank it means no points where put toward the skill at all.

https://preview.redd.it/5fsfmv6s8bdd1.png?width=538&format=png&auto=webp&s=719d7cf4be2eba5b7f471e51b860207b7cf27725

Just as a disclamer always think about the FP breakpoint when putting points toward mind. You get a new cast at 15,19,24,28,32 and 36. I wouldn't recommend going above 36 as a +12 flask can only fill up to that breakpoint.

Points toward endurance and dexterity are more of a preference than actually needed. I only have 10 endurance to equip specific items, you could leave it at 8 or go up to 25 if you want. As for dexterity getting 40 gives you the fastest casting speed possible while wearing "Radagon Icon" which is why I put points toward it later on. The casting speed difference isn't huge so you can allocate them elsewhere if you want.

Crystal Tear

"Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear" increases our damage by another 20% for 3 minutes.

"Bloodsucking Cracked Tear" increases our damage by once again 20%, but it also drains your health for 3 minute duration.

"Opaline Hardtear" reduces damage taken by 15% for 3 minutes.

"Faith-knot Crystal Tear" increases faith by 10 for 3 minutes. This is more of a early game one when faith scaling is still more than the percentile based buffs.

"Winged Crystal Tear" increases maximum equip load by 450% for 3 minutes. Our build already has very high damage so most if not all bosses will die in the 3 minute window this is active. If you like wearing heavier armour it might be worth running this instead of putting a ton of points toward endurance.

"Opaline Bubbletear" reduces damage taken by 90% for 3 minutes or UNTIL HIT. This is a good way to prevent dying in a single attack if you happen to be low on scadutree fragments for example.

I feel like"Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear" is the only must-have tear upgrade everything else is preferance. I personally run "Opaline Hardtear" in the second slot.

Buffs

I'm quite lazy about buffing so I rarely use them, but here is a list of useful ones that are easy to run if you want to. Buffs from the same category don't stack with each other which is why I list what type of buffs they are in parenthesis.

"Golden Vow" 15% damage and 10% damage negation. (Aura)

"Boiled Crab" 20% physical damage negation. (Body) This is a consumable, but very easy to get.

"Howl of Shabriri" 25% damage 30% damage TAKEN. (Body) Great damage buff with "Sacred Scorpion Charm", but beware you might die in one hit a lot.

"Black Falme's Protection", "Barrier of Gold", "Flame, Protect Me", "Golden Lightning Fortification", "Lord's Divine Fortification" and "Protection of the Erdtreee". (Body) These are all different types of damage reductions. If a fight has a ton of fire damage for example running "Flame, Protect Me" would help a lot.

Thanks

Thanks for reading about my build, hope you give it a try! I usually don't play faith builds, but I feel in love with the animation of "Multilayered Ring of Light" and wanted to make a build around it. Even without running most of the damage buffs this build does A LOT of damage, it also deals a suprising amount of poise damage. I've managed to stagger a lot of bosses with "Multilayered Ring of Light" that I never did while using melee.

PS: Use something else for NPC fights.

View Poll

I did a faith build for my first play through so going into new game plus I want to have something you guys consider fun. I was leaning towards a frost build but havent set my heart on anything yet and am just looking for suggestions right now. What builds are you guys loving? Ill take any suggestions, thank you!

So I’ve cleared the game twice now but haven’t braved NG+ yet, but I know enemy placements and drops and even new spells and such come into play once you go into NG+. My issue is that I’m having a hard time figuring out what a good build for NG+ could be for my play style and was wondering what were some of the community’s favorite high soul level builds are? For PvE, I prefer making builds sound that so I’m more curious there.

For info on my experience and play style, I finished the game with a lightning claymore into Drakeblood Greatsword, then with greatsword into fume ultra Greatsword. I’ve been doing my current run with a spear and some magic and buffing, and recently switched to try out power stance hammers.

Generally I like weapons with good length and poise damage, and while I liked the ultra sword run I usually prefer more medium weight/speed weapons, especially with the brutal stamina management in this game.

For equipment I’m a big fan of the Flynn ring but I see the down sides especially in harder areas and with weaker armor. I also love the old iron crown so I can have buffs and heals on demand, especially since I eventually almost always get 30/30 int/fth for repair and heals and some hexes.

I know almost anything is viable and could work but I do like seeing good damage and am curious what everyone else has run with and enjoyed! :)

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice for pvp builds that are balanced 50/50 between survivability and damage?