Carian Knight Set with Dark Moon Greatsword
Screenshot by Prima Games

Best Spellsword Build in Elden Ring

It's Moonlight time!

Elden Ring has an incredible amount of build diversity, and there are plenty of archetypes you can play as. One of the most popular ways to play a magic character is by employing both physical and magic damage, otherwise known as the Spellsword. Here is our best Spellsword in Elden Ring to unlock the weapon’s full potential.

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For the Spellsword build, we will be using the iconic Dark Moon Greatsword, which despite some nerfs, is still an excellent weapon that scales well with INT.

It also has an amazing skill called the Moonlight Greatsword which buffs the weapon increasing its magic damage, adding frost build up to attacks, and heavy attacks send out moonlight blasts that deal a fair bit of damage.

You can obtain the Dark Moon Greatsword by completing Ranni’s questline in the base game.

The Carian Regal Scepter is our choice for the staff here for obvious reasons. With its low FP cost, high cast speed, and considering our stats, it’s an excellent choice overall.

Our focus is to maximize INT and since the fully upgraded Dark Moon Greatsword has a B scaling with INT, we want to bring up INT to around 80. The following stats are for level 150, and you can add more to Vigor as you see fit. The Moonlight Greatsword skill doesn’t take much FP, so we have Mind at 30.

AttributePoints
Vigor50
Mind30
Endurance25
Strength16
Dexterity12
Intelligence80
Faith7
Arcane9
Total Points150

We recommend that you equip the following spells that pair best with this build.

  • Greatblade Phalanx
  • Ranni’s Dark Moon
  • Carian Slicer
  • Adula’s Moonblade
  • Terra Magica

The first two spells are incredibly useful and are more than enough to go with this build.

The following Talismans pair best with this build.

  • Magic Scorpion Charm: Boosts magic damage, which helps with our build considerably
  • Shard of Alexander: One of the best Talismans in the entire game, which boosts the damage of skills
  • Godfrey Icon: Raises attack power of charged Spells and Skills. Great for our spells and the heavy attacks of the Moonlight Greatsword.
  • Ritual Sword Talisman: This raises attack power when your HP is at max

That’s all there is to our Spellsword Build for Elden Ring that’s viable in both the base title and Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. You can use whatever gear you want, but there are certain sets and set pieces that boost magic damage. However, we recommend going with what looks best because fashion triumphs utility any day of the week.

If magic isn’t your thing, check out the best build for Zweihander, and Eleonora’s Poleblade. For more on Elden Ring and its expansion, make sure to check out our dedicated section.


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About the Author

Ali Hashmi

Ali has been writing about video games for the past six years and is always on the lookout for the next indie game to obsess over and recommend to everyone in sight. When he isn't spending an unhealthy amount of time in Slay the Spire, he's probably trying out yet another retro-shooter or playing Dark Souls for the 50th time.