Elden Ring is jam-packed with unique weapons that allow you to experiment with just about any play style imaginable. Even status ailments like Scarlet Rot can be turned into lethal builds capable of killing everything from basic enemies to late-game bosses.
Scarlet Rot builds by themselves are deadly enough, but thankfully, there are plenty of ways of building them to cover all manner of situations. It’s time to awaken your inner Malenia.
Updated August 18th, 2023 by Andrew Scariati: There are very few play styles that rival the power of a Scarlet Rot build in Elden Ring.
Some balance changes have come for this build, namely the Rot Breath incantation. This once-dominant Dragon Communion Incantation had its Rot buildup reduced from 110 to 65 per tick.
Despite the nerfs, there's plenty to enjoy about this build guide, including some helpful Talisman updates.
What Is A Scarlet Rot Build?
Scarlet Rot builds are all about infecting enemies with the potent damage over time debuff, Scarlet Rot.
Scarlet Rot is like Poison but on steroids.
It will rapidly burn through an enemy's health pool, and providing you don’t die before it burns them away, you should be able to tackle the vast majority of Elden Ring’s challenges.
Stats To Aim For
|
Stats |
Value |
|---|---|
|
Vigor |
60 |
|
Mind |
20 |
|
Endurance |
25 |
|
Strength |
12 |
|
Dexterity |
20 |
|
Intelligence |
9 |
|
Faith |
15 |
|
Arcane |
63 |
Because you are trying to kill enemies with damage over time, you need plenty of HP to soak up damage while you wait for them to die. This is all fine and dandy since you can just pump your Vigor to 60 and wait out the timer.
The core of this build is Arcane, which should be pumped to 60ish. This will make everything from Bleed to Scarlet Rot more effective.
It will also make your Arcane scaling weapons and spells much more effective.
While not as important as Arcane, Faith will be required to make this build click.
Push Faith to 15 to give you access to Rot Breath, among other things. This is one of the strongest Incantations in the game, and it primarily scales on Arcane but requires a small investment in Faith to actually cast.
Finally, Mind and Endurance are pushed as high as you can to give you plenty of FP and Stamina.
The high Endurance will also allow you to wear heavier armor, keeping you alive longer when you are waiting for enemies to die to Scarlet Rot.
Scarlet Rot Build – Slow Burner
Overview
This build focuses on inflicting Scarlet Rot to do consistent damage - even when you are not attacking.
It is the focus of the build, but it is not the only way you will deal damage. This build is incredibly malleable and can deal plenty of raw damage to end fights without simply running away.
Weapons
- Antspur Rapier
Given how essential it is to inflicting Scarlet Rot, you can call this the Antspur Rapier build as well. There are many weapons in Elden Ring that inflict Scarlet Rot, but few are as effective as this rapier.
Not only does it share the moveset with a standard rapier, but it also builds Scarlet Rot faster than anything else by virtue of being a rapid attacker.
The Antspur Rapier is one of the few Scarlet Rot weapons that can be customized with Ashes Of War, allowing you to change its scalings giving you far more utility than you would expect from such a narrowly focused build.
With all of this considered, you will want to make your Antspur Rapier Occult to maximize your Arcane Scaling - pushing it to a B.
This will tank your other scalings to E and D, but that isn’t an issue for this build.
For weapon arts, anything goes.
Bloodhound Step can get you away from trouble, Repeating Thrust can inflict a lot of damage and Rot very quickly.
The key thing to remember is that this weapon is versatile. Put what you need on it for any given situation, then swap it out when needed.
To top this all off, you can apply grease and weapon buffs to the Antspur Rapier, and this is something you will be using often to really take full advantage of your build.
While Occult Scaling will boost Bleed build-up, it will not add Bleed to your weapon if it doesn’t already have it. Pick Occult for the scaling and to make your Scarlet Rot build-up more effective.
Incantations
- Rot Breath
- Bloodflame Blade
- Poison Armament
Points should be invested into Faith, so you can access Rot Breath, Bloodflame Blade, and Poison Armament.
All three of these Incantations are effective for this build, and using all three at different times can drastically increase your damage output.
Firstly, Rot Breath. This Incantation deals hundreds of damage when cast and is key to a Scarlet Rot build. It is incredibly useful when dealing with large groups of enemies since your Rapier is much more of a single-target weapon.
Bloodflame and Poison Armament are going to require some micromanagement, but the combination is brutal.
Firstly, apply Poison Armament to your Antspur Rapier. This will let you stack both Poison and Scarlet Rot at the same time, increasing your damage over time.
Once Poison has been applied, unequip and then equip your Antspur Rapier and then apply Bloodflame. This buff will cause short-lasting damage over time and burn effect on every hit, increasing your damage over time sources to three for maximum effect.
You will want to use the Dragon Communion Seal for all of your Incantations as it has an S Scaling in Arcane.
Talismans
|
Talisman |
Effect |
|---|---|
|
Kindred Of Rot’s Exultation |
Raises attack power by 20 percent for 20 seconds when Poisoning or Rot occurs in the vicinity. |
|
Erdtree’s Favor |
Raises HP, Stamina, and Equip Load by a maximum of four, ten, and eight percent, respectively (using Erdtree's Favor +2). |
|
Dragoncrest Greatshield |
Enormously reduced Physical Damage taken by 20 percent (five percent in PvP). |
|
Pearldrake |
Reduces Elemental Damage taken by a maximum of nine percent (using Pearldrake Talisman +2). |
|
Green Turtle |
Raises Stamina recovery speed by 8 per second (17.7 percent). |
|
Winged Sword Insignia |
Raises your attack power with each consecutive attack (three percent, five percent, ten percent). |
Not many Talismans synergize with Scarlet Rot, but any that do are must-haves.
The Kindred Of Rot’s Exultation will trigger every time something near you is afflicted with Scarlet Rot or Poison, giving you an attack boost. Because you are triggering Scarlet Rot so often, this is a near-permanent buff to your stats.
Everything else is more for utility.
Erdtree’s Favor grants you increased HP, FP, Stamina, and Equip Load.
Dragoncrest and Pearldrake increase your defenses significantly - ideal for a slow burner build like this. Green Turtle will increase your Stamina Regeneration.
Winged Sword Insignia will boost your attack when using successive attacks, which is entirely possible thanks to the rapid moveset of the Antspur Rapier.
Excellent weapon damage is the perfect complement to any Scarlet Rot build.
Armor
- Mushroom Crown
Similar to Talismans, there are very few armor pieces that synergize with Scarlet Rot.
Thankfully, there is one that is too good to pass up - the Mushroom Crown.
Similar to the Kindred Of Rot’s Exultation, the Mushroom Crown increases your attack stats when something near you is suffering from Scarlet Rot or Poison.
The effects stack, which allows you to double-dip on the buff.
Your other armor slots should be used to stack as much defense and Poise as possible whilst maintaining a Medium Roll. You want to stay alive long enough for your DOTs to do their thing, so having plenty of armor is a must.
Flask Of Wondrous Physick
- Leaden Hard Tear
- Arcane-Knot Hard Tear
The Leaden Hard Tear increases your Poise, giving you more opportunities to tank hits and land your own.
The Arcane Knot will increase your Arcane stat by ten for three minutes, noticeably increasing all of your damage.