The Best PvP Builds for Duel Mode

With the release of the new free Colosseum DLC in the latest update for Elden Ring, a variety of PvP modes have been added to the game to the game in the form of 3 arenas that players can find throughout the Lands Between. Access to these arenas depends on physically finding and entering their location on the world map, with each Colosseum having different formats and fighting arrangements.

The arena in the southwest of the Altus Plateau, the Royal Mausoleum, is the arena players who want an honorable duel with each other should head to. In this specific Colosseum, players will fight against each other one-on-one without respawning. The first player to kill the other is declared the victor. Access to healing flasks is also disabled, and FP flasks are strictly limited in number to ensure the fairest competition of skill and build against each other. While any player could come out on top with enough perfect dodge rolls and parries in a game like Elden Ring, a well-balanced build suited for duels can help a lot.

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Elden Ring’s Best Bleed Build

Bleed builds continue to dominate the meta space in Elden Ring, being popular since its release. While FromSoftware has attempted to balance bleed over the course of the game’s lifespan, it still dominates in both the campaign and especially in PvP settings. A good bleed build can decimate an opponent by getting a bleed stack in one combo – dealing max health percentage damage, meaning it doesn’t matter how heavy an opponent’s armor is or how much they’ve invested into vigor.

Bleed builds all rely on leveling the Arcane stat as the primary stat since bleed items in Elden Ring generally require it, with plenty of bleed-related spells being essential for the build. Tarnished will also need high enough vigor to tank through damage while building bleed stacks and to mitigate the self-damage bleed builds are bound to take with some of the bleed spells and items. Finally, endurance should also be fairly high as a secondary stat to ensure the ability to keep up the pressure on an opponent with successive attacks to trigger blood loss. While this requires a fairly high skill level to use to its highest efficacy, it can be absolutely devastating in PvP since players have fairly low bleed resistance, even when prepared.

In terms of gear, keep it light. Tarnished running a bleed build will need to make liberal use of their stamina and be dodging a lot, so the more efficient the use of stamina is in this build, the better. The only specific gear to remember is the “White Mask” that Elden Ring’s least favorite NPC Varre wears. This is an extremely powerful headgear for bleed builds that boosts attack by 10% for 20 seconds following a ‘blood loss’ proc on any nearby entity. With all the bleed this build will be dealing, this stackable effect can cause some serious damage increases. The mask can be found in the Mogwhyn Dynasty Mausoleum in Siofra River, where it is dropped by one of the ‘White Mask’ invader NPCs that attack before the fight Mohg, Lord of Blood.

In terms of Elden Ring’s talismans, the ‘Lord of Blood’s Exultation’ increases attack by 20% following a ‘blood loss’ proc, great for stacking with the White Mask, and can be found in Leyndell, the Royal Capital. The ‘Shard of Alexander’ is a bit trickier to get, but it is well worth it since it boosts the attack of all skills by 15%. Tarnished will need to finish Alexander’s quest line in Elden Ring (which can be commenced in Stormhill) and end it with him at the Church of Dragon Communion, defeating him in fair combat. ‘Godfrey’s Icon’ can be found in Altus Plateau, outside the Capital, and is another excellent talisman choice for this build. It boosts any spell or skill that has been charged up. Finally, ‘Marika’s Soreseal’ can be found with a Stonesword Key at Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree in the Consecrated Snowfields. It increases the damage Tarnished takes when equipped, but the benefit of having a massive stat boost to Arcane, Faith, Mind, and Intelligence makes it well worth it.

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There are a lot of great bleed weapons to choose from in Elden Ring, which is part of what makes this build so great. One that Tarnished should always keep equipped is Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear. This can be acquired by obtaining Elden Ring’s Remembrance of Mohg, Lord of Blood, and trading it to Enia at Roundtable Hold. The spear is fairly good, with high fire damage, but its real power comes with its unique skill, Bloodboon Ritual, a chargeable weapon skill that creates up to three blood explosions in an AOE around the player and coats the weapon in bloodflame.

The Rivers of Blood katana is another near-essential weapon for this build. It is dropped by Bloody Finger Okina, who can be found in the Church of Repose on the Mountaintops of the Giants. Besides being a great weapon in terms of its physical damage and extraordinarily hire fire damage, its unique skill, Corpse Piler has the potential to kill an opponent in one combo.

It’s also worth keeping a medium shield equipped for parrying, as well as a Seal (the Elden Ring‘s Dragon Communion Seal is best since it scales off Arcane) for using any Bleed spells or other incantations. Specifically, it’s always worth keeping the Golden Vow incantation equipped and using it at any opportunity since the physical buff it gives is so powerful.

One-Shot Mage Build For Elden Ring PvP

Another great build a Tarnished might opt for is a pure mage build that revolves around massive damage spells that one-shot an opponent before they can engage in melee. There are plenty of ways to build an excellent damage spell build, but among the most important factors is making sure to level Mind and Intelligence as high as possible. The second-highest stats should (less obviously) be vigor and endurance. Mage builds in Elden Ring will be wearing very light, poor protection armor and will have to bide their time until they can get the opportunity to get a spell off.

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The Snow Witch set is a good armor choice for this build, with the robe giving incredible resistance to magic, holy, and fire, while the hat gives all cold sorceries a 10% damage bonus. This set can be found in a chest in Renna’s Rise after progressing Ranni the Witch’s quest line to a certain point. Another option is the Raya Lucarian Sorcerer set, which is especially good for its resistances. Any of the Glintstone Crown headpieces are good for increasing Intelligence, but the best headgear for this build is Lusat’s Glintstone Crown, which can be obtained by returning to Lusat’s location in the Sellia Hideaway after completing Sorceress Sellen’s quest line. This headwear has fairly bad resistances and raises the FP cost of all spells by 15%, but it is well worth it for the 15% damage increase on Lusat’s spells. Lusat’s Glintstone staff, obtained at Sellia, Town of Sorcery, is a great catalyst to go with this. While it has no skill, it has incredibly high sorcery damage scaling with Strength and Intelligence, which make it the catalyst with the highest damage potential in Elden Ring.

As for spells, the best big damage spell to use to one-shot an opponent in Duel mode is the Comet Azur, an incredibly high damage spell that calls a torrent of AOE comets. It can be obtained from the Primeval Sorcerer Azur as part of Sellen’s questline in Elden Ring’s endgame are Altus Plateau, near Mt. Gelmir. Unseen Form is also often used with this build to make the user difficult to target by an opponent, though how useful this will prove in the arena is down to the individual player and their opponent. Regardless, it can be looted in the Altus Plateau near the Minor Erdtree.

The Graven School talisman is the first one Tarnished sorcerers will want to pick up for this build, located in Raya Lucaria Academy. It boosts the potency of all sorceries by 4%. Next should be the Cerulean Amber Medallion, which boosts maximum FP by 7, 9, or 11%, depending on which version is equipped. The normal medallion can be found in southern Raya Lucaria after Elden Ring‘s Bloodhound Knight, while the +1 variant is at the Mountaintops of the Giants at Castle Sol. Finally, the +2 version is also at Raya Lucaria, at the Lunar Estate Ruins, accessed late in the game. It requires a Stonesword Key and is well hidden. Finally, the Primal Glintstone Blade talisman will cause spells to use less FP at the cost of some maximum HP. It’s found in the Stargazer’s Ruins on the Mountaintops of the Giants.

These two builds are among the top in the meta for the PvP arena at the moment, but plenty of others are available. Bleed builds, in particular, have dominated Elden Ring for a long time, so a Tarnished following this guide will surely be kitted well for the new Colosseum DLC.

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