Elden Ring Faith Build Guide – Stats, Weapons, and Example Builds: Faith+Strength, Pure Faith, and Hybrid

So you want to create a Faith character in Elden Ring? You’ve come to the right place. I suggest what I think are the best stat and weapon options for a Faith build in Elden Ring, while leaving decisions open so you can experiment with many options and decide what you like best! A ton of research and testing went into the builds and information below.

What are the best stats for a Faith build in Elden Ring?

Elden Ring Stats ranked in order of priority and benefit for Faith builds:

1. Faith – Will increase the damage of your Faith scaling weapons and the effectiveness of your incantations (Faith spells.)
2. Vigor – Vigor for HP is very important for all melee builds.
3. Strength – A majority of Faith scaling weapons have a high Strength requirement and/or scale damage off Strength.
4. Endurance – If you plan to use a heavy weapon you will need extra endurance to carry the weight. Also allows more dodging, attacking, and blocking (stamina.)
5. Mind – Mind is useful for your “mana bar” to cast more Faith incantations (spells) or weapon skills. However you can also just rely on normal weapon attacks and not spend any points on Mind.
6. Dexterity  – Some Faith weapons scale a little on Dex, or have a small Dex requirement. 
7. Arcane – ARC stat will be wasted in a Faith build except in the case of some rare spells.
8. Intelligence – INT stat will be wasted in a Faith build except in the case of some rare hybrid spells/weapons.

Character Creation: Which character class should I choose for a Faith build?

Answer: Samurai is arguably the best, followed by Vagabond. Confessor and Prophet are also good options for a little more spell casting. Hero is a final alternative. All options are fairly close stat-wise, but Samurai will be a clear winner against early bosses thanks to it’s starting weapon’s Bleed effect.

Based on story and lore reasons, a Confessor or Prophet make the most sense and are decent choices for stats too. However if focusing strictly on stat efficiency, you’ll want a class that has low Intelligence and Arcane stats as these are wasted. That means Vagabond or Samurai are the most effective choices, followed by Confessor then Prophet.

Samurai is probably the overall best choice because it starts with the ultra-useful Uchigatana weapon, which applies bleed damage to bosses making early game go a little smoother. Hero is also an option if you’re sure the weapon you plan to use has no Dex requirement (such as a Coded Sword) but without at least 12-15 Dex, you’ll be locked out of trying a ton of weapon options in the game.  You’ll find a ranked list of the best Faith weapons further down this article. 

• Tip: The first few level-ups in Elden Ring are pretty quick, so don’t worry about each class’ starting level, or if one stat you need starts out low. Just focus on not having wasted stats/levels when you start.
• Tip: Below is a table of the starting stats for all the character classes in Elden Ring:

What are the Best Faith Weapons in Elden Ring?

The best weapons for Faith characters will depend on personal preference and how you place your stats. Below are the best overall options to choose from. You can also check out our other article that goes more into depth on these weapon options, coming soon at daydull.com

1. Coded Sword – a straight sword that glows like a lightsaber! Fast attacks. 100% holy damage.
2. Blasphemous Blade – greatsword with a powerful damage+heal skill. Available mid game.
3. Golden Halberd – for faith/strength builds. Available at start of the game!
4. Maliketh’s Black Blade – colossal sword, available near end game.
5. Cipher Pata – a fist weapon that looks like a glowing claw! Fast attack, high faith scaling. Available very early on!
6. Magma Wyrm’s Scalesword – heavy curved sword with fire damage and a lava based skill!
7. Gargoyle’s Black Halberd – good damage for faith/strength builds.
8. Uchigatana – a katana, applies bleed, which is amazing for boss fights. Apply a Faith scaling ash of war (available mid-game.)
9. Inseparable Sword – greatsword with alternate moveset. Mid/late game.
10. Godslayer’s Greatsword – greatsword, available midgame. Powerful blackflame weapon skill.
11. Winged Scythe – not a fan of it’s appearance, but the weapon skill is impressive
12. Treespear – can be great with a shield for poke, good range. Mid/late game weapon.
13. Normal heavy weapons with a Sacred Ash of War: Halberds, Greatswords, Colossal Swords
    • Apply a Faith scaling Ash of War using the Sanctified Whetblade (Sacred) or Red-Hot Whetblade (Flame Art.)
    • A few of my favorites: Claymore, Flamberge, Gargoyle’s Greatsword, Greatsword
    • Try out dual wielding two of the same weapon class!
14. Staff of the Avatar – Colossal Weapon (like a giant hammer) mid-game
15. Finger Seal – best general talisman for early/mid game, up to 66 Faith
16. Erdtree Seal – best general talisman used for Incantations at 67+ Faith.
17. Normal medium weapons with a Sacred Ash of War: straight swords, hammers
    • Generally heavier weapons synergize more with faith builds however.

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How to build a Faith Character in Elden Ring – Where to place stats early game and beyond:

Want to make a Faith character, but aren’t sure exactly what equipment to use? I think it’s a great idea to leave your options open, especially since you can respec / reset your levels several times in each playthrough of Elden Ring after mid game. On your first playthrough, I think it’s ideal to try out all sorts of weapons. Below are some tips on how to build a character in that manner, but with a focus on the Faith stat.

Tip: For most weapons, Faith stat investments won’t really increase your damage much until mid-game (your weapons need to be levelled up for better stat scaling.) Because of this, early game it’s best to focus on Vigor (HP) and meeting stat requirements for weapons and armor.

1. Get your Strength, and Dex up to meet the requirements of your intended weapon.
   • Something like 16-18 STR, 12-14 DEX is a good starting point that lets you use most weapons that drop early on.
   • For heavy weapons you’ll want more like 24-30 STR.
2. Get your Vigor up to a respectable early game level (20-30+)
3. Get your Endurance up to a respectable level (15-20 or so)
4. Focus on building your Faith up to the first softcap of 45-55
5. Finish building your Vigor up to 40-50
6. Finish building your secondary damage stat of Strength once your weapon of choice is near max level.
7. Finalize – Vigor up to 50-60, Endurance up to about 25-28 for heavy weapon builds with good armor (shoot for 61 poise)

Golden Halberd Faith / Strength Build Guide:

This is a great early weapon that continues being a great choice the whole game. This weapon is available just a few minutes into the game. Kill the mounted Tree Sentinel you see right after exiting The First Steps area to claim this. It may be a difficult fight that you’ll have to come back to after 10 or 20 levels however. It’s powerful enough to use it your whole playthrough, and that’s exactly what I did! The stat requirements also allow you to test out most other weapons in the game. Halberds are often overlooked in Elden Ring and previous Dark Souls games, but the long range and high damage are great in all situations.

Weapon Skill: Golden Vow, increases damage for you and nearby allies for a long time for boss fights. 

This is also a valid build for other halberds and other heavy weapons like greatswords. Match the STR/DEX requirement of the build to the weapon: Gargoyle’s Halberd (can use many Ashes of War with the Sacred Whetstone), Gargoyle’s Black Halberd. The spinning slash weapon skill on Halberds is great against bosses.

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Coded Sword Pure Faith Build Guide:

This is a fast, high damage weapon that has absolutely no stat requirements beyond faith. It can reach the maximum S level scaling on Faith for weapon damage and is one of only two weapons in the game that deals 100% holy damage. The Coded Sword is the perfect option for a pure faith build. You can basically just focus on stats in Faith and Vigor and you’re set! The sword is always glowing a radiant yellow like a lightsaber, which is unique in the game. It doesn’t get any better than this for pure faith builds!

Weapon Skill: Unblockable Blade – extends the blade and swipes at an angle, able to hit many targets in an arc. Does high damage and bypasses shields. Can stagger enemies also. This can be your sole “spell” if you don’t want to use a Talisman / miracles.

For long range spell damageon this build, consider the Lightning Spear incantation, available pretty early on by killing a knight patrolling in Liurnia. Enemies generally do not dodge this spell (unlike many others), it has a fairly cheap cost (18 FP), fast cast speed, and good range. Charge it up for a small AoE effect. On this build you’ll be maxing out faith quickly so the damage from this is impressive.

Hybrid Faith / Int Build – Sword of Night and Flame

The Sword of Night and Flame is the obvious choice for those doing a hybrid Faith and Intelligence Build, which allows for a ton of spell casting and damage. Your ideal weapon options for a hybrid Faith/INT build are somewhat more limited than other builds. Another option would be the Sacred Relic sword, but it is only available at the end of the game. At maximum level it has B scaling on both Faith and INT. You’ll also want to use the Golden Order Seal as your talisman, as it scales off both Faith and Intelligence as well. You’ll probably want a decent chunk of Mind if you want to be casting a lot.  For sorceries (generally using the INT stat), you’ll want to be using the Gelmir Glintstone Staff, then the Prince of Death staff after reaching 50 INT/50 FAI or higher.

Comments, Suggestions, Corrections?

That’s it for now, but more builds and Elden Ring articles are on the way. Be sure to check out our full list of the best faith weapons coming soon in another article. Have suggestions or disagree with anything? Drop a comment below!