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Elden Ring has a rich and varied world that is more than willing to bop you on the bonce and send you back to Grace. Under the hood, however, is the dark, dank world of PVP. A place where players go to test their mettle, troll those in need, and harvest Rune Arcs like no tomorrow.

Related: Elden Ring Build Guide: Strength

As of writing, there is no dedicated PVP area or zone in Elden Ring, but that hasn’t stopped people from setting up fight clubs and cordoning off large areas of Elden Ring’s world for duels. If honorable combat is not your thing, then you could always Invade some and get a taste of the dark side.

What Is An Elden RIng PVP Build

Elden rIng PVP Mecha Powers

A PVP build in Elden Ring is a build designed to kill another player as quickly and efficiently as possible. They use the best weapons, armors, spells, and talismans. Not only that but their stats are tuned to perfection to balance kill potential and survivability.

PVP in Elden Ring, despite being quite rudimentary on the surface, is a game in and of itself. Dabbling in PVP risks falling into hundreds of hours of intense battling, theory crafting, and number crunching.

Do be aware that Elden Ring, like any online game, receives regular patches and balance updates, so what was good one day, could be less good the next.

How To Access PVP In Elden Ring

Elden Ring PVP Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear

There are two ways players can access the PVP in Elden Ring - Invasion and Duelling.

Invasion

Invasion is the hardest form of PVP a PVPer can partake in. You will be summoned to another player's world - often a world with one or more allied Phantoms - and are tasked with killing the host. Winning a 3v1 encounter is not exactly easy, but the reward for succeeding is great. Runes and Rune Arcs await skilled Invaders.

Oh, and sometimes more Phantoms will be summoned automatically called Hunters. Invasions can very quickly descend into chaos.

Dueling

Dueling is for the civilized PVP crowd. It is a 1v1 encounter between a Red Phantom and a Host. You will find Duel Summon Symbols in any area of Elden Ring that has a large, open, and varied landscape. You can also find them in large circular areas that act as de facto fight rings. Dueling doesn’t offer great rewards, but the act of dueling is intoxicating.

A key thing to remember is that this is an honorable confrontation. You will be expected to bow and let your opponent apply any buffs.

Rivers Of Blood Build - Buckets Of Blood

Elden Ring Rivers Of Blood with Erdtree

This build uses the shockingly powerful Rivers Of Blood to destroy everything from single targets to Invasion parties.

Stats

  • Primary: Arcane & Vigor
  • Secondary: Dexterity & Endurance
  • Optional: Faith (If using Swarm Of Flies. Max investment 11)

You will want to focus on Arcane to maximize your weapon damage and Bleed build-up whilst ensuring your Vigor is high enough to tank hits. Rivers Of Blood Scales its raw damage with Dexterity, so be sure to invest some points into this stat so your basic attacks still deal decent damage. Endurance will increase your Equip Load and Stamina - both of which are important.

Finally, Faith. If you are going to dabble in Incantations, such as Swarm Of Flies, then put as many points into Faith as is required to use your desired Incantation. Swarm Of Flies has a minimum requirement of 11.

Equipment

  • Weapon: Rivers Of Blood
  • Armor: White Mask
  • Seal: Dragon Communion Seal (Optional)

Bringing the Rivers Of Blood in a Rivers Of Blood build is a must. This katana is brutally effective at killing just about anything. Its Weapon Art, Corpse Piler, is as beautifully effective as it sounds, dealing massive amounts of damage, at a long-range, whilst rapidly filling your opponent's Bleed gauge.

To boost your damage, the White Mask is a must-take helmet. Every time anything Bleeds near you, you will receive an Attack buff that stacks with other similar buffs. This is especially handy in Invasions as you can Bleed an opponent, and then kill all of his friends easier thanks to the Attack boost.

If you are running any Incantations, then the Dragon Communion Seal is the best Seal to use. It has an S scaling in Arcane, which is ideal.

Talismans

  • Shard Of Alexander
  • Lord Of Blood’s Exultation

You have four Talisman slots, but two of them will be filled with the Shard Of Alexander and Lord Of Blood’s Exultation. The Shard Of Alexander will increase the damage of Corpse Piler, whilst the Lord Of Blood’s Exultation will give you an Attack boost whenever something Bleeds. These two Talismans are simply too good to pass up.

Spells

  • Swarm Of Flies

If you are going to run Incantations, the one to focus on is Swarm Of Flies. This Incantation is cheap, it homes in on enemies, and it rapidly inflicts Bleed. You can use this to cover your advance or to activate your Bleed buffs. A fantastic addition that doesn’t require much investment to use.

Related: Elden Ring Build Guide: Dexterity

Moonveil Katana Build - Truly Transient

The Tarnished slashes using Moonveil in Elden Ring.

Another katana build, only this time focusing on the devilishly fast Moonveil Katana.

Stats

  • Primary: Intelligence & Vigor
  • Secondary: Dexterity & Endurance

The Moonveil Katana scales with Intelligence and Dexterity, however, you want to pump most of your points into Intelligence to maximize the damage of your Weapon Art. Don’t neglect your Vigor or Endurance, however. You still want to have enough HP to take a hit, and enough Endurance to equip some of the better armors.

Equipment

  • Weapon: Moonveil Katana
  • Staff: Lusat’s Glintstone Staff

The Moonveil Katana is one of, if not THE best, weapons for Intelligence builds. It has a fantastic moveset, it deals incredible amounts of damage, and its Weapon Art is one of the best in the game. It’s not uncommon to kill enemies in two or three hits. Heck, if your opponent hasn’t invested enough into Vigor, they could die in a single strike.

For staves, anything will do, but Lusat’s will provide the highest spell damage. The trade-off for this power is a 50 percent increase in FP cost, but this isn’t an issue since you won’t be focusing too heavily on magic.

Talismans

  • Shard Of Alexander
  • Magic Scorpion Charm

The only two Talismans that are REQUIRED for this build are the Shard Of Alexander and Magic Scorpion Charm. The Shard Of Alexander will make your Moonveil Katana’s Weapon Art more powerful, whilst the Magic Scorpion Charm will increase all of your Magic damage - including weapons and Weapon Arts.

Your two remaining slots can be filled with whatever you fancy, but consider the Dragoncrest Greatshield to increase your Physical resistance. You could also slot in Radagon’s Icon to increase your spell casting speed.

Spells

  • Swift Glintstone Pebble
  • Comet
  • Carian Phalanx

For spells, Swift Glintstone Pebble will be your go-to. This spell, as the name implies, comes out fast and travels fast. You will use this to chip damage the enemy as they approach, or if they are retreating to flask. Heck, you can even use it to interrupt enemy spell casting. It doesn’t do great damage, but it has buckets of utility.

Comet is your main damage spell, but you won't be using it straight. In Elden Ring, many spells can be chained to save on casting time. A lesser-known interaction is chaining, which allows you to combo-cast spells. Cast Swift Glintstone Pebble, then mid-cast, swap to Comet, and cast again. The comet will come out much quicker, and the unusual timing can catch players off guard, leading to easy damage. This is especially effective if you condition enemies to dodge your Swift Glintstone Pebble casts.

Carian Phalanx is here to mess with people. Most builds want to get in your face, and when you have a halo of swords ready to fire at any enemy foolish enough to get close, you have quite the advantage. Enemies will nearly always dodge the Phalanx, but you can use this knowledge to catch their roll with an attack or spell.

With Carian Phalanx, if you are facing away from the enemy, the Swords will not fire. You can walk with your back towards your enemy and then quickly spin around to instantly fire the swords. This is very likely to catch enemies off guard as they will have very little time to react to your sudden spin.

Related: Elden Ring Build Guide: Intelligence

Stars Of Ruin Build - Dodge This

Casting a Magic Incantation in Elden Ring

This build is very much focused on spells and not weapons. If you want to be a wizard, this is the way to go.

Stats

  • Primary: Intelligence & Vigor
  • Secondary: Mind & Endurance
  • Optional: Dexterity

Spells scale off of Intelligence, so making this your main stat is pretty darn important. You won’t be using weapons often, so a secondary damage stat is not required. If you were to use a weapon for a backup, then having a few points in Dexterity to use something like the Wing Of Astel is well worth the investment.

Equipment

  • Staff: Carian Regal Scepter
  • Weapon: Wing Of Astel (Optional)

The Carian Regal Scepter is one of the best staves in Elden Ring. It is out-damaged by Lusat’s Glintstone Staff, but only barely. It also isn’t going to increase the FP cost of your spells, which will limit your downtime.

The Carian Regal Scepter also has a deceptively fantastic Weapon Art, Spinning Weapon. This attack is fantastic for catching enemies rolling towards you and will stagger most opponents due to its multi-hitting nature. Not only that, it deals up to 1000 damage if you land the full attack, which can straight up win a fight.

If you want a backup weapon, then the Wing Of Astel is a great choice. It’s faster than a katana, deals about the same damage, has a great Weapon Art to catch rolling enemies, and its R2 is a ranged projectile. A wonderful weapon.

Talismans

  • Magic Scorpion Charm
  • Godfrey’s Icon
  • Graven Mass Talisman
  • Radagons’s Icon

For Talismans, you want to have as much Magic damage as possible. This means Magic Scorpion Charm and Graven Mass are a must-have. Radagon’s Icon will make all your spells cast faster, whilst Godfrey’s Icon will make any charged spell or ability stronger. It may be counterintuitive to bring both Icons, however, we make use of fast casting and charge spells in this build.

Spells

  • Stars Of Ruin
  • Swift Glintstone Pebble
  • Carian Phalanx

The best spell in our lineup is Stars Of Ruin. This spell is hilariously powerful, launching 12 fast-moving projectiles at enemies. If the entire cast hits, you can deal upwards of 1000 damage - although this is unlikely. The reason you take this spell is that it's almost impossible to dodge the full attack. Even if enemies dodge, they will likely take a couple of hundred damage. You can quick cast, or charge this spell to change up your timings and mess up enemy dodges.

Once enemies start getting closer, use this cloud of projectiles to mask a charged R2 from the Wing Of Astel of a Spinning Weapon from the Carian Regal Scepter. This is very likely to catch enemies who are rolling towards you.

Swift Glintstone Pebble is your flask catcher and spell interrupter. You can use Swift Glintstone Pebble to change up your casting timings too. It’s not uncommon to end a duel with a sneaky Swift Glintstone Pebble - especially if you keep its existence secret.

Carian Phalanx is another layer of defense. Whilst you are throwing out Stars Of Ruin and sneaking in Spinning Weapons etc. Carian Phalanx will mess up dodge timings even further. It’s incredibly difficult to avoid the Wing Of Astel, Stars Of Ruin, and Carian Phalanx all at the same time.

Next: Elden Ring: Complete Guide And Walkthrough