Best Elden Ring Faith Weapons: A Complete Guide To Holy Damage Builds
Are you struggling to find the most effective faith weapons in Elden Ring? With so many weapon options available, building a powerful faith-based character can feel overwhelming. Whether you're a newcomer to the Lands Between or a seasoned Tarnished looking to optimize your holy damage output, this comprehensive guide will help you master the art of faith builds.
Faith weapons in Elden Ring offer unique gameplay mechanics centered around holy damage, powerful incantations, and status effects like bleed and frost. These weapons scale with your faith stat, making them essential for players who want to harness divine power against the game's many challenges. But which ones truly stand out?
What Makes Faith Weapons Special in Elden Ring?
Faith weapons are distinguished by their ability to scale with the faith stat, making them particularly effective when paired with incantations and other faith-based abilities. Unlike purely physical weapons, faith weapons often deal holy damage that can be especially effective against certain enemy types, particularly those vulnerable to divine power.
The beauty of faith weapons lies in their versatility. Many of them can be enhanced with affinities to further boost their damage output, and they often have unique weapon skills that complement faith builds. Some even cause bleed buildup, adding another layer of damage potential to your arsenal.
Top Elden Ring Faith Weapons Ranked
1. Godslayer's Greatsword
The Godslayer's Greatsword stands as one of the most powerful faith weapons in Elden Ring. This colossal sword scales primarily with strength and faith, making it an ideal choice for strength-faith hybrid builds. Its weapon skill, Shared Order, unleashes a devastating horizontal slash followed by a vertical slam that can stagger even the toughest enemies.
What makes this weapon exceptional is its ability to cause bleed buildup while dealing holy damage. This dual damage type makes it effective against a wide range of enemies, from undead to those resistant to physical attacks. The weapon requires 32 strength and 20 faith to wield, so be prepared to invest in these stats.
2. Coded Sword
For those who prefer a more elegant approach, the Coded Sword offers a unique blend of holy damage and defensive capabilities. This straight sword scales with strength, dexterity, and faith, making it versatile for various build types. Its weapon skill, Unblockable Blade, allows you to pierce through enemy shields, making it invaluable against shield-heavy opponents.
The Coded Sword deals purely holy damage, making it particularly effective against enemies weak to divine power. While it doesn't cause bleed like some other faith weapons, its consistent holy damage output and reliable blocking capabilities make it a solid choice for faith builds.
3. Golden Halberd
The Golden Halberd is a classic faith weapon that has appeared in various forms throughout the Souls series. In Elden Ring, it scales with strength, dexterity, and faith, offering a balanced approach to combat. Its weapon skill, Golden Vow, provides a temporary buff to both damage and defense, making it excellent for boss fights and challenging encounters.
This halberd's reach and holy damage make it effective for keeping enemies at bay while dealing consistent damage. The Golden Halberd is particularly useful for players who want a faith weapon that doesn't require extreme stat investment, as it performs well with moderate faith levels.
4. Erdtree Greatsword
The Erdtree Greatsword is arguably one of the most visually impressive faith weapons in Elden Ring. This colossal sword scales with strength and faith, and its weapon skill, Erudtree's Favor, not only deals damage but also provides temporary buffs to your maximum health, stamina, and equip load.
What sets this weapon apart is its unique ash of war that allows you to plant the sword in the ground, creating a protective barrier of golden light. This defensive capability, combined with its high holy damage output, makes it an excellent choice for faith builds focused on both offense and defense.
5. Blasphemous Blade
The Blasphemous Blade is a controversial yet powerful faith weapon that scales with strength, dexterity, and faith. Its weapon skill, Taker's Flames, unleashes a wave of fire that deals massive damage and heals you for a portion of the damage dealt. This self-healing mechanic makes it particularly valuable for challenging content.
While primarily a fire-based weapon, the Blasphemous Blade also deals holy damage and can cause bleed buildup when infused with the appropriate affinity. Its versatility and powerful weapon skill make it a top-tier choice for faith builds.
How to Optimize Your Faith Build
Building an effective faith character in Elden Ring requires more than just equipping the right weapons. Here are some key considerations for optimizing your faith build:
Stat Allocation: Focus on balancing faith with complementary stats like vigor for survivability, mind for additional FP (focus points) to cast incantations, and either strength or dexterity depending on your chosen weapons.
Incantations: Faith weapons work best when paired with powerful incantations. Consider investing in healing spells like Erdtree Heal, offensive incantations like Lightning Spear, or support spells like Golden Vow to enhance your damage output.
Talismans: Equip talismans that boost faith damage, such as the Godfrey Icon for increased charged attack damage, or the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman for improved damage negation.
Armor Selection: Choose armor that provides a good balance of defense and mobility. Some sets also offer faith-related bonuses or resistance to holy damage.
Faith Weapon Affinities and Upgrades
Understanding weapon affinities is crucial for maximizing your faith weapon's potential. Here are the most relevant affinities for faith builds:
Sacred: This affinity increases holy damage and faith scaling while reducing base damage and other scaling. It's ideal for weapons that already deal holy damage or for players who want to maximize their faith scaling.
Quality: This balanced affinity increases both strength and dexterity scaling while maintaining decent faith scaling. It's useful for hybrid builds that want to maintain versatility.
Lightning: While not directly faith-based, this affinity can be effective for lightning-based builds that complement faith incantations.
Blood: This affinity increases bleed buildup and arcane scaling while reducing base damage. It's excellent for weapons that can cause bleed, adding another damage vector to your attacks.
Advanced Faith Build Strategies
For players looking to take their faith builds to the next level, consider these advanced strategies:
Weapon Swapping: Keep multiple faith weapons with different damage types to adapt to various enemy resistances. For example, use a holy weapon against undead enemies and a lightning weapon against those weak to thunder.
Status Effect Combinations: Combine bleed buildup from certain weapons with frost or poison effects from incantations for devastating damage over time.
Buff Cycling: Learn to effectively cycle between weapon buffs, consumable items, and incantation buffs to maintain maximum damage output throughout long encounters.
Cooperative Play: Faith builds excel in cooperative play, where you can focus on dealing damage while your partner handles tanking or crowd control.
Conclusion
Faith weapons in Elden Ring offer a unique and powerful playstyle that combines holy damage, versatile combat options, and the ability to overcome various enemy types. From the devastating Godslayer's Greatsword to the elegant Coded Sword, there's a faith weapon to suit every playstyle.
The key to success with faith weapons lies in understanding their scaling, choosing the right affinities, and complementing them with appropriate incantations and equipment. Whether you prefer the raw power of colossal swords, the reach of halberds, or the versatility of straight swords, faith builds provide a rewarding and effective way to conquer the challenges of the Lands Between.
Remember that experimentation is part of the fun in Elden Ring. Don't be afraid to try different faith weapons and build combinations to find what works best for your playstyle. With the right approach and equipment, your faith build can become one of the most formidable forces in the game.
