Best Quality build in Elden Ring

Of all builds in the Soulslike genre, none are as ubiquitous as the quality build. By splitting attention between multiple stats, Elden Ring players can get the best of both worlds, though often at the cost of optimal damage.

The term Quality refers to a build that focuses on both Strength and Dexterity in Elden Ring. These builds have a specific Affinity called “Quality,” as well as several weapons that serve a role as a middle ground between the physical stats. However, these builds can very rarely invest in casting stats, making them entirely combat-oriented.

Best stats for a Quality build in Elden Ring

The following is built for a level 120 character in Elden Ring—around where the expected PvP threshold is. We started as a Vagabond, but any of the high physical, low mental characters can return similar results.

• Vigor: 40
• Mind: 10
• Endurance: 24
• Strength: 50
• Dexterity: 50
• Intelligence: Nine
• Faith: Nine
• Arcane: Seven

At 50 in both physical stats, you’re reaching good scaling for both of them. Since the best Quality weapons gain B-level scaling in these stats, you want a good, even baseline for both of them. You’re not quite hitting the soft cap yet, but you can reach there by level 140 without much issue.

Then for the secondary stats. While 40 is technically not a cap for Vigor, it is around the point where you start getting about half the value from each level. 40 Vigor is enough to tank most big boss hits and live, so it should be a good baseline to reach early. Endurance is the only other stat to put points into for more Stamina and Weight limit.

We don’t invest at all into any mental stat. If you’re interested in casting and buffing weapons, dropping around 10 points from Strength and Dexterity to reach 29 Faith can get you access to a handful of solid buff spells, like Bestial Vitality or Bloodflame Blade.

Best weapons and gear for a Quality build in Elden Ring

The strongest weapon for a Quality build in Elden Ring is a quality weapon, surprisingly enough. The Winged Greathorn is the best Remembrance weapon in this category, sporting extremely good Strength and Dexterity scaling as well as an interesting Weapon Skill. However, our weapon of choice ended up being a Quality Sacrificial Axe, for its fast swing speed and solid damage.

The Winged Greathorn sports a high base weapon value and the B-level scaling that a Quality build can look forward to. It’s the reward for giving the Remembrance of the Regal Ancestor—the secret boss near Nokron—to Enia. While most of its move set is standard for a Greataxe, its Weapon Skill, Soul Stifler, produces an aura around you that reduces defense. This is great for a physical build, as you can quickly and effectively chew through health bars during its 10 seconds of life.

Its slow swing speed can be problematic for fast bosses like Malenia, but that’s when you can break out a secondary weapon. The Sacrificial Axe, when made Quality, scales to B in both stats and grants some FP on kill, allowing you to spam an Art of War with it. We recommend a buffing Art of War, like Flaming Strike or Chilling Mist, to make good use of your weapon’s lack of non-physical damage.

You should also bring a ranged weapon, like a crossbow or the Pulley Bow, to aggro enemies from afar or chip away at the last bit of a health bar. Without magic to do that job for you, annoying arrows will make do. If you do choose to build into Faith, the best seal is the Frenzied Flame Seal, which scales with all Physical stats.

Best armor for a Quality build in Elden Ring

There are two directions you can go for a Quality build in Elden Ring. We prefer a safer direction, where you use your reasonable Endurance to wear Medium Armor, like Gelmir Knight Armor. However, if you want to make use of the Blue Dancer Charm, it is better to wear next to no armor to ensure your Equip Load is very light.

Our Endurance is moderately high for both Stamina and Equip Load. As a result, making use of that with the various medium-weight equipment in the game is ideal. You can even wear some of the Strength- or Dexterity-boosting helms, like the Okina Mask, to help your stats.

Alternatively, you can go for very little or no armor to make good use of one of the few pure Attack buffs in Elden Ring—the Blue Dancer Charm. We’ll talk more about that soon but know this is a very high-risk, high-reward setup.

Best Talismans for a Quality build in Elden Ring

The Talismans you want for a Quality build is a mixture of good defensive options and the few offensive options weapon users have in Elden Ring. Quality builds like the more generic damage-ups over conditional ones since they tend to have little Status damage or casting utility. So, the following are good choices:

• Erdtree’s Favor +2: Health and Stamina are all you really need. Found down a long pathway from the Ashen Capital.
• Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman: A further 20 percent reduction in physical damage is great for a build with middling armor. Find this near the base of the Haligtree, in a church before Malenia.
• Ritual Sword Talisman: A 10 percent boost to damage, but only when your health is capped. Find this in the Lux Ruins, near the start of the Atlus Plateau.
• Millicent’s Prosthesis: Gives you a small bump to Dexterity and some bonuses for landing iterative attacks. Great for reaching a higher Dexterity cap, if you want to get some Faith. Get it by choosing to attack Millicent at the end of her questline.

This Talisman is a great alternative to the Ritual Sword Talisman but requires you to build around it.

• Blue Dancer Charm: If you equip this, try to keep your gear under around eight weight to max out your damage. That’s because this Charm’s soft caps are at eight, 16, and 20 Weight. At eight, you’re getting 13 percent damage, which is pretty good. But that means you’re likely using Fist Weapons, Daggers, or Claws—all of them are acceptable as long as they have the Quality affinity.