The best Starscourge Greatsword build in Elden Ring

Elden Ring presents players with several unique weapons to slay their enemies. Most weapons in the game focus on a primary stat that allows it to scale throughout the game. However, the weapon being discussed here will require a multitude of stats: The Starscourge Greatsword.

Elden Ring: How to get the Starscourge Greatsword

The Starscourge Greatsword in Elden Ring is named after the legendary General Radahn. As such, to get his legendary Greatsword, you must defeat Starscourge Radahn in the scarlet-rotten wastes of Caelid. Defeating him is no easy feat, so prepare for a fight. You can summon the nearby NPCs that have attended the Radahn festival to make the fight easier.

After defeating Radahn, you will be rewarded with the Remembrance of the Starscourged, a unique consumable item you will need to craft the weapon. Take the Remembrance to Finger Reader Enia in Roundtable Hold and exchange it for the Starscourge Greatsword, one of the best mid-endgame weapons.

The Starscourge Greatsword scales primarily with Strength and Dexterity, with a secondary scaling through Intelligence. Even though it is a Greatsword, the weapon can be dual-wielded and it is recommended to do so, especially when you’re using its weapon art, Starcaller Cry.

The skill allows you to pull all enemies to you using Gravity magic, before slamming down with both weapons, dealing heavy damage.

The best Starscourge Greatsword build in Elden Ring

The best build utilizing a Starscourge Greatsword revolves around stacking Strength and Dexterity, with excess points going into Vigor for survival and Endurance for more equip load. Endurance is especially important because you will need considerable stamina to wield the weapon along with heavier armor for extra poise so that you don’t get interrupted mid-attack.

Apart from Starcaller Cry, you won’t be using any extra spells for this build. As such, if you want to spam the skill, having the Sacrificial Axe on your offhand will help you with FP costs. If you choose not to equip this weapon, you can run a Carian Filigreed Crest to help you with reduced FP usage per cast.

Caelid can be quite challenging for newer players, so we recommend venturing through this area once you reach level 80 at least. Ideally, get your character to level 100 and defeat Radahn before you respec your character into this endgame build.

Stat and Skill breakdown

As discussed earlier, the main stats for this build are Strength and Dexterity. Get your Vigor up to sustainable levels (about 30) before investing points into Strength and Dexterity. Getting both the primary stats up to level 40 equally is ideal. There is no need to invest too many points into Intelligence because the scaling off this stat is quite mediocre.

Investing a few points into Mind goes a long way in terms of Cerulean Flask allotment. Put all of your leftover points into Endurance and maintain a level where you can equip the heavy armor set and still be able to medium roll. The final build should look like this.

• Vigor: 50
• Mind: 20
• Endurance: 40
• Strength: 50
• Dexterity: 40
• Intelligence: 20
• Faith: Base level
• Arcane: Base level

This build can start as early as level 100 and finally maxes out at around level 175-200. By the time you get to level 150, you should be able to farm just about any area in no time at all, allowing you to soar through the rest of the levels easily.

Weapon breakdown

The main weapon of this build, the Starscourge Greatsword, has a base D-tier scaling on Strength and Dexterity with a base E-tier scaling on Intelligence. Being a unique weapon, upgrading it will require Somber Smithing Stones. Its Ash of War, Starcaller Cry, is a great farming skill, bringing all enemies together before launching a massive follow-up Gravity AOE finishing smash attack.

You will need a base Strength of 38 to even wield the Starscourge Greatsword, so we recommend investing in Strength early on.

The Sacrificial Axe is an optional weapon for this build, but a very welcome one. Since Starcaller Cry is quite an expensive skill to cast constantly, Sacrificial Axe’s ability to gain four FP per kill will help you manage without needing too many flasks. Combine this with a certain Talisman to get the most out of your FP management.

Armor breakdown

In most builds, finding the right armor set is usually the least important part. However, in this build, you will require heavier armor to be able to stand your ground while you spam Starcaller Cry. An ideal choice for an armor set would be the General Radahn Set: Radahn’s Redmane Helm, Radahn’s Lion Armor, Radahn’s Gauntlets, and Radahn’s Greaves.

The set also provides a bonus to Robustness, granting resistance to Hemorrhage and Frostbite. Apart from that, if you want to cosplay Radahn himself, this is the perfect armor set.

The other armor set of choice is the Bull-Goat Set made of the Bull-Goat Helm, Bull-Goat Armor, Bull-Goat Gauntlets, and Bull-Goat Greaves. This set offers much greater poise but is also one of the heaviest armor sets in the game, necessitating more points invested into Endurance. Choose the right armor set based on your preference and playstyle.

Just make sure to maintain medium equip load so you can medium roll out of sticky situations.

Talisman breakdown

The final part of this build involves finding the four best Talismans to use. There are several options to choose from, but for the sake of this build, these Talismans work the best.

The Ancestral Spirit Horn goes along great with the Sacrificial Axe because it allows you to restore FP every time you defeat an enemy. The three FP regained through this Talisman fully stacks with the four FP you regain with the Sacrificial Axe, making it very worthwhile.

The Bull-Goat Talisman offers even greater poise, allowing you to stand your ground as you cast Starcaller Cry. This Talisman in combination with the Bull-Goat Set will ensure very few enemies, if any, will be able to interrupt your chain attacks.

The Great-Jar’s Arsenal is ideal for any build that uses heavy armor. This Talisman increases your maximum equip load by 19 percent, allowing you to maintain that sweet spot of medium equip load for longer before you eventually need to invest more points into Endurance.

The Shard of Alexander is the ultimate damage-boosting Talisman for any skill-based build. It boosts the damage of all Ashes of War by 15 percent, empowering your Starcaller Cry even further. However, you gain this Talisman quite late into the game, so you can use a replacement Talisman like the Carian Filigreed Crest until you acquire it.