Elden Ring: Mastering the Spell Shield Build

Welcome, Tarnished! Today, we're diving deep into a unique and powerful build I've discovered in Elden Ring: the Spell Shield build. You've likely heard of battle mages, but what about battle mages who wield shields as their primary weapon? Get ready to enhance your gameplay with this versatile build that emphasizes both offense and defense, all while efficiently utilizing Elden Ring Runes to bolster your character's effectiveness and survivability in the face of tough opponents!

Build Overview

As you might guess from the name, the Spell Shield build focuses on utilizing a shield not just for defense but as a key component in your melee attacks. Our primary weapon is the Karan Thrusting Shield, which combines the utility of a shield with the ability to dish out damage. Alongside this, we’ll equip the Melanous Great Rune to help recover health lost from chip damage.

Key Weapon: Karan Thrusting Shield

The Karan Thrusting Shield is our go-to shield for this build. It offers a balanced approach between offense and defense. Key mechanics include:

· Blocking Frames: After every light attack, you gain blocking frames, allowing you to effectively time your blocks against incoming enemy attacks.

· Heavy Attacks: These have blocking frames during their charge-up, so you can unleash powerful strikes while maintaining a defensive posture.

· Attack While Blocking: You can attack while blocking, particularly useful against enemies with long combos, letting you heal while you deal damage.

Strategy

To maximize this build’s potential, manage your stamina wisely. The system rewards precise timing and attacks, but poor stamina management can lead to guard breaks and disastrous consequences.

Overcoming Chip Damage

Chip damage will be a challenge since thrusting shields do not provide full physical damage negation. Here’s how to mitigate it:

1. Deflecting Heart Tier: This tier will allow you to negate most physical and elemental damage when timed correctly.

2. Scolar Shield: This spell offers additional physical and magic damage negation while reducing stamina consumption.

3. Melanous Great Rune: Engaging enemies lets us recover health, and since most chip damage can be healed with just one or two successful attacks, this pairing is powerful.

Talismans

For talismans, we’ll focus on those that amplify the build's strengths:

· Consecutive Attack Talisman: Since we often chain attacks together, this will provide a great damage boost.

· Blade of Mercy: This grants a 20% damage boost after a repost, perfect for cunning players who can time their counters well.

· Vidian Amber Medallion +3: Stamina management is crucial; this helps ensure you remain in the fight longer.

Buffs and Foods

To further enhance our build, consider these buffs:

· Boiled Crab: For physical damage reduction.

· Exalted Flesh: Boosts physical damage by 20%.

· Blood Boil Aromatic: Increases physical damage but makes you take more damage, use sparingly.

· Pickled Turtleneck: Great for stamina recovery without cutting into body buffs.

Spells and Weapon Arts

For spells, leverage those that complement our melee-oriented style:

· Magic Land Blade: Provides good stance damage and can flow smoothly into melee attacks.

· Night Comet: For ranged engagements, it helps in maintaining stance pressure.

· Glen Blade Filings: Fits perfectly with our theme, allowing us to utilize the shield for casting, along with a powerful follow-up melee attack.

Additional Builds

While we’ve focused on the Spell Shield build, I also want to touch upon two related builds: the Vagabond Build and the Karan Fencer Build.

Vagabond Build: This build relies on physical prowess and crafting for buffs. Using the heavy broadsword as a main weapon, it maximizes strength scaling, focusing on sheer damage output.

Karan Fencer Build: This build is all about dual-wielding fast weapons, combining melee attacks with potent spells. Using the Karan Sorcery Sword and Mangos Dagger, it emphasizes consecutive attacks and spell combo synergy.

Conclusion

The Spell Shield build is an exciting way to experience Elden Ring by blending melee combat and spellcasting. This versatility opens up a host of strategic options that allow you to adapt to various encounters, making every fight more dynamic. To further enhance your character and gain an edge in battle, consider checking out the best site to buy elden ring items, as it can provide you with valuable resources and gear to complement your build. Happy gaming, Tarnished!