Best Elden Ring Paladin build: stats, weapons, armour and talismans

How to play the Paladin build in Elden Ring

By keeping the characteristics of the classic paladin archetype, this build gives your character the stats and tools to withstand incoming damage and use incantations. This concept unfolds into a slow-paced play style that uses holy-damage attacks while blocking the enemy’s blows with powerful armour sets and shields. In other words, this build is about staying alive for as long as possible while also inflicting constant damage.

The endgame version of this build relies on spamming two endgame weapons, the Sacred Relic Sword skill Wave of Gold or the Blasphemous Blade skill Taker’s Flame – the latter when facing enemies resistant to holy damage. In the early levels, you'll want to infuse your sword with the Sacred Blade Ash of War, which you'll find by killing a Teardrop Scarab in the Third Church of Marika. And, instead of dodging enemy attacks, the shield will become your go-to option to avoid taking damage.

While combat-wise this build is pretty straightforward, some preparation is needed ahead of certain encounters and bosses. As a Paladin, you should always go through a short rotation of incantations to buff yourself before a fight. The most important incantations are the Golden Vow, Flame, Grant me Strength, and Blessing of the Erdtree. These not only increase damage output but survivability as well.

However, even though you'll have lots of defence and survivability with this build, this won't make you immortal. There are still a few bosses that'll cause you trouble, so there will be times when you'll need to use distance and dodging to your advantage.

The best stats for the Paladin build in Elden Ring

Paladin is a mixed build centred around Vigor, Strength, and Faith. While the first two determine how much health you'll have and the kind of equipment you can use, the Faith allows you to use powerful incantations and increase the holy damage.

Here’s the stats to aim for:

• Vigor: 50
• Mind: 25
• Endurance: 28
• Strength: 22
• Dexterity: 16
• Intelligence: 9
• Faith: 60
• Arcane: 9

To reach these figures, you'll want to pick Confessor as your starting class. For your initial levels, you'll want to prioritise Vigor and Strength up until meeting the prerequisites to use some of the initial equipment suggested (Royal Remains set, Longsworn's Straight Sword and Brass Shield) in this build. But don’t let Faith fall too far behind since Faith-based skills will become your main source of damage.

Due to how this build is designed, you won’t benefit much from raising the secondary stats beyond what has been indicated. In case you think the build is missing something, you can always respec your character.

The best weapons for the Paladin build in Elden Ring

As for the best weapons for the Paladin build, we have the Sacred Relic Sword and Blasphemous Blade. While the former is a strong weapon with a powerful AoE skill which scales with Faith, the latter works well as your secondary as it'll help you deal with enemies strong against holy damage. The Blasphemous Blade skill Taker’s Flame also scales based on Faith.

Between the two, Blasphemous Blade is the first you'll get your hands on. Once you're in the late portion of the game, go to Volcano Manor, where you can fight Rykard, God-Devouring Serpent to receive the Remembrance of the Blasphemous which you can then exchange for the Blasphemous Blade in Roundtable Hold by talking to Enia. This weapon is all you need to beat the final boss which rewards you with the Remembrance of the Elden Beast. With this in your inventory, you can finally get the Sacred Relic Sword.

But, before you can get your hands on either weapon since they are late to endgame swords, you need to look for a solid option to start your character. Among the options available in Limgrave, the initial area of the game, you'll find two good weapons, the Lordsworn’s Straight Sword and Knight’s Greatsword. The first drops from Godrick Soldiers, a common enemy found in the Gatefront Ruins. Now, to acquire the second option, you'll need to defeat Godrick Knights, who are found throughout the region.

Once you get one of these initial swords, upgrade them and be sure to infuse them with the Sacred Blade Ash of War. These weapons are all you need to explore the initial areas of the game and defeat the first bosses.

When you get to midgame, it’s time to look for an upgrade. The weapon that will carry you until the late game is the Great Stars, a great hammer that requires 22 Strength and 12 Dexterity. We've chosen this weapon because of its passive that heals you whenever an enemy is hit. It can also build up Bleed which is a plus.

You find a Great Stars in the back of a carriage in Altus Plateau along a path southwest of the site of grace called Road of Iniquity Side Path. There is another Great Stars in the game which you acquire by defeating Magnus the Beast Claw, an enemy that you might eventually face if you plan on completing the White Mask Varré quest. Going for a double-wielding stance with two Great Stars is an option if you want more raw damage.

Another piece of equipment that you must have as a Paladin is a seal to cast incantations. During the initial levels, as a Confessor you can just upgrade the one you start with - there isn't really a best seal in the early game for the build, so you can just use whatever you fancy. But, once you get to Volcano Manor, you can get the the Erdtree Seal, the best seal for Faith-based builds.

The best armor for the Paladin build in Elden Ring

When playing a paladin, you want to aim for high defence and poise. These two attributes are more common on heavy armour sets, but depending on the combination of pieces you make, it’s possible to reach good stats even with regular armour pieces.

In the early stages of the build, we suggest using the Royal Remains set, one of the best early armours in the game. This is an easy armour set to acquire that comes with a great passive that slowly replenishes HP if you’re low on health. In case you’re looking for something more thematically-accurate, then, the Godrick Knight set might be the best pick, although it’s not as good as the Royal Remains. The Godrick Knight set drops from the Godrick Knight who are patrolling Limgrave.

To upgrade your armour set after having reached the midgame and places like Altus Plateau, there are two solid sets to look for. The first is the Twinned set. It has good defence against physical and magic damage. You can earn it by completing the D, Hunter of the Dead quest. The other option is the Tree Sentinel set, an armour that you find in the Auriza Hero’s Grave dungeon. This is a heavy armour with lots of defence, making you more resistant to incoming damage.

By the end of the game, there are two perfect sets for this build. One is the Haligtree Knight set. You want this armour because of the bonus of Faith it provides you. To acquire it, you need to first reach the Haligtree and kill Haligtree Knights. While you can loot the helmet from a corpse in this area, you need to obtain the rest of the set by defeating these enemies. Your second option is the Crucible Tree set for physical and magical defence as well as an intimidating look. You find this set in the Deeproot Depths area.

When it comes to finding the best shield for this build, we don’t need to go beyond the Brass Shield. This medium shield offers a fantastic defence for such a low-weight shield. You'll likely be able to grab one just by defeating Godrick Soldiers.

The best talismans for the Paladin build in Elden Ring

This build benefits from specific talismans, with a few that are a must for a Paladin build. First, you must have the Great-Jar’s Arsenal, one of the best talismans in Elden Ring, because it increases the amount of weight you can carry. This makes your life easier when it comes to using heavy armour sets. To obtain this talisman, you need to complete the Great-Jar’s challenge in northern Caelid.

The second talisman you need is the Dragoncrest Greatshield. Although you can only find this talisman later in the game, in the Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree area, it is a crucial part of the build. This talisman reduces the physical damage taken by 20%, a great buff for a Paladin.

The last talisman that you can’t ignore and must have in your build is the Shard of Alexander. This talisman, which you earn by completing the Iron Fist Alexander’s quest, increases the attack power of skills. Considering you will be spamming the skills of your two weapons, this is a key talisman to have.

Now, if you’d like to boost your damage, you should consider running the Sacred Scorpion Charm. This talisman is great for this build because it increases holy damage. It has the secondary effect of increasing the physical damage you take, but this is not a major problem considering all the other defensive tools you have. You acquire this talisman after defeating Anastasia, Tarnished-Eater in the Smoldering Church area located in Caelid.

Have fun smashing enemies with this build in Elden Ring.

Next build: Elden Ring Arcane build

• Back to walkthrough: Elden Ring walkthrough
• Back to builds: Elden Ring builds