Elden Ring Best Melee Build [Our Top 5]

There are a lot of elements that go into building your perfect melee character build. These include the class, stats, weapons, and many more. However, what really matters is your choice of playstyle. For instance, some players would prefer overpowered build without focusing on health.

Best Melee Build Summary

Here is my Comparison table for the Melee Build;

No.	Name	Vigor	Mind	Endurance	Strength	Dexterity	Intelligence	Faith	Arcane
1	Bandit Bleed Melee Build	21	25	8	14	23	7	37	13
2	Prisoner Melee Build	22	19	12	12	23	37	6	9
3	Samurai Warrior -Defensive Melee	14	18	25	35	12	9	8	8
4	Confessor Melee Caster Build	10	13	10	12	12	9	14	9
5	Colossal Knight	25	9	25	32	12	7	8	11

At the same time, some would consider keeping their distance from the enemies and still deal heavy damage. The choice for the character build in Elden Ring is completely yours.

With the tons of items and game elements available to explore, there is much potential to build your character that suits your playthrough requirements. However, these are classified as an early game and endgame items. This means some items will be only available for early-level players. The only way to get the endgame items and get overpowered is to progress the storyline and level up the character. With that said, let’s look at the first entry in the top 5 melee builds in Elden Ring. 

Bandit Bleed Melee Build

Bandit Build

The Bandit melee build is a high-damage, fast-paced character that excels against large bosses and has good Area of Effect (AoE) capabilities. It’s suitable for both early and higher-level characters in Elden Ring.

After using the build for 30+ hours, here are my suggested key components of this build:

1. Ash of War Bloodhound Step: This gear is essential for dodging enemy attacks with precision. It’s a part of the Ashes of War system, allowing you to customize weapon skills. The Bloodhound Step provides the Bloodhound skill and Keen Affinity, crucial for close-range combat against powerful bosses. It enables you to evade boss attacks effectively.
2. Bloodhound Claws: These melee weapons are recommended for their high bleeding damage. The unique aspect is that they come with a Bloodhound Step, eliminating the need to acquire it separately. Early-level players can also consider using Hookclaws for accessibility or Raptor Talons with the Raptors Black Feather armor for an enhanced experience.
3. Armor: For your armor, you need something that offers decent defense without being too heavy. The Fire Prelate Set, considered a mid-game set, provides substantial Physical Damage Negation. You can wear it when you don’t need to rely on dodging. Alternatively, you can use the Raptor’s set along with Raptor Talons for more agility.

This Bandit Bleed Melee build is designed for fast-paced, close-quarters combat against large bosses. It combines precise dodging with high damage output and bleeding effects. These components make it effective for early and higher-level characters in Elden Ring.

Attribute	Values
Vigor	21
Mind	25
Endurance	8
Strength	14
Dexterity	23
Intelligence	7
Faith	37
Arcane	13

As you can see, my build centers around a huge focuse on Faith and Dexterity. The main reason behind it is that your character build will be using Bloodflame Blade incantations that require 12 Faith and 10 Arcane. Bloodflame Blade, upon execution, will apply a continuous bleeding effect on the enemies for a certain amount of time. However, this onset bleeding effect is quite short at the cost of 20 FP. But the amount of damage and tactical advantage this character will gain is off the charts. 

Prisoner Melee Build

Prisoner Melee Build

The Prisoner melee build in Elden Ring focuses on the Prisoner class, emphasizing Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity. This build combines melee weapons with sorceries to deal damage and maintain defenses.

Here are my recommended key components of this build:

1. Sorceries: Incorporating sorceries is crucial for dealing with heavy damage and staying safe in the Land Between. Utilizing Elden Ring spells can help you navigate threats and maintain distance during combat.
2. Weapons: This build offers several weapon options for versatility, including the Darkmoon Greatsword, Moonviel, Troll Knight’s Sword, and Crystal Sword. These mid-game swords provide a decent range of strikes, allowing you to maintain distance while dealing damage to enemies and bosses.
3. Armor: The recommended armor set for this build is the Battlemage Set, aligning with the Prisoner and sorcerer style of play. However, you have the flexibility to choose any armor that suits your character’s defensive needs.
4. Meteorite Staff: Obtaining the Meteorite Staff is beneficial for casting meteorites that deal substantial damage to enemies. This spell scales with your intelligence, ensuring massive damage output.

Attribute	Values
Vigor	22
Mind	19
Endurance	12
Strength	12
Dexterity	23
Intelligence	37
Faith	6
Arcane	9

These stats reveal that you will not have to invest points in the Strength (Read Strength Build). Instead, you will be giving these attributes points to Intelligence and Dexterity. 

Samurai Warrior – Defensive Melee

Elden Ring Samurai Warrior

The Samurai Warrior melee build in Elden Ring prioritizes defense and safe-distance combat. This build is ideal for beginner players and focuses on the Samurai class, emphasizing Strength and defensive qualities.

After using this build for 10+ hours, here are its Key components in my opinion:

1. Katana: The primary weapon used in this build is the Katana, providing a fair-range combat option. The higher Strength and Endurance stats allow for effective damage dealing and agile combat, enabling you to dodge enemy strikes.
2. Manor Towershield: To bolster your defense, consider equipping the Manor Towershield. This shield helps protect against heavy boss attacks, making it particularly valuable for early-level players who may struggle with both defense and combat simultaneously. The combination of Strength and Endurance attributes unlocks various shields with unique effects, complementing stronger melee weapons.
3. Armor: The recommended armor set for this build is the Twinned Armor set, which is easily obtainable for early-level players. Its medium-weight won’t hinder the performance of this fast-paced build.

Here are the key attribute points to focus on for the Samurai Warrior melee build:

• Strength: Prioritize this attribute for improved damage output and unlocking better shields and melee weapons.
• Endurance: Invest in Endurance to enhance stamina and equipment load, allowing you to dodge attacks effectively and maintain your defense.

Also Read: Elden Ring Strength Weapons

Attribute	Values
Vigor	14
Mind	18
Endurance	25
Strength	35
Dexterity	12
Intelligence	9
Faith	8
Arcane	8

With these stats, your character will be extremely overpowered. However, you can add more points to other stats to gain maximum advantage over spells and incantations. 

Confessor Melee Caster Build

The Confessor is an all-rounder class for defense and heavy damage strikes on enemies. It allows your character to move quickly between the combats and easily make your way out of the boss fights. Even better is that you will be combining the melee weapons with casting spells to gain maximum advantage in your playthrough. 

You will be relying on sword and shield to utilize the parry effects and easily drop the bosses without farming for Runes to get the overpowered weapons. You might already know that the Confessor starts with the Faith, thus allowing it to cast different spells. Meanwhile, Strength and Mind also play a crucial role in the early-level gameplay. 

As for the weapons, you will be using Broadsword along with Blue Crest Heater Shield. Moreover, before diving into the gameplay, you might want to meet a Knight to purchase some skill that will significantly enhance the character’s speed. You will be heading to Warmaster’s Shack, on the north side from where you spawn at the beginning of the game. 

Here you will see Knight Bernahl purchase different Skills. First things first, get the Ash of War: No Skill to use your Shield along with the armaments. Next, you might also need Ahs of War: Quickstep to equip in on your sword. These are the starting attribute points for the Confessor melee build. 

Attribute	Values
Vigor	10
Mind	13
Endurance	10
Strength	12
Dexterity	12
Intelligence	9
Faith	14
Arcane	9

Although, these are the base stats for Confessor. But as you progress further and level up your character, you might want to invest more attribute values into Dexterity. It is recommended to get it all the way to 20 because it will allow you to cast numerous spells like Flame Sling. 

Colossal Knight

Elden Ring Colossal Knight

The Colossal Knight is an overpowered melee build in Elden Ring that maximizes Strength for unparalleled damage output. This build revolves around the Ash of War: War Cry skill, allowing your character to charge through enemies and follow up with powerful swings. It’s recommended to choose the Hero class to further enhance Strength and embrace a barbarian warrior style of play.

Because I have favored 15+ hours of using this build, here are the key aspects I found best for this build:

1. Weapons: The primary weapon for the Colossal Knight is the biggest sword in the game, such as the Greatsword. Combining it with the War Cry skill enables you to instantly eliminate small enemies and deal significant damage to bosses. Additionally, consider equipping the Axe Talisman for optimal charge attack damage, and the Roar Medallion Talisman to increase War Cry damage by 25%.
2. Attributes: This build focuses heavily on the Strength stat. Allocate most of your attribute points into Strength to maximize your damage potential.
3. Level Progression: As you progress through the game and reach at least level 50, target specific attribute point values to become an overpowered Colossal Knight.

Attribute	Values
Vigor	25
Mind	9
Endurance	25
Strength	32
Dexterity	12
Intelligence	7
Faith	8
Arcane	11

Just because you are pushing points into the Strength does not mean every other attribute is not important. For Colossal Knight, you might also want to increase the Endurance to 25. This attribute will affect the character’s robustness and equipped load, allowing it to move faster even with the heavy Colossal Sword. 

Final Words

There are infinite possibilities for melee build in Elden Ring. Thanks to the variety of content and unique storylines that you can complete, the game holds great importance for pursuing different character builds to get a unique experience every time. All you need to do is experiment with each item and attribute that game offers to grasp the mechanic easily and then build your ideal melee build character.

That is about it for my Elden Ring melee build. Do you find my guide helpful for some of the best builds in Elden Ring? What is your go-to build for melee-based characters? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section down below.