Best Blade of Mercy build in Elden Ring

A new critical hit build.

Jagged Peak in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Screenshot by Dot Esports

Shadow of the Erdtree introduces several new weapons and spells never seen before in the base game. With so many flashy options to choose from, the new talismans sometimes go unnoticed. One of the new options introduced is the Blade of Mercy.

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How to get the Blade of Mercy in Elden Ring

The Blade of Mercy is a new talisman introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree. You can find this extremely early in the DLC. Make your way to the Scorched Ruins, north of the first Site of Grace you stop at. Once you reach the ruins, climb to the top and enter the main door to find a chest. Open this chest to find the Blade of Mercy talisman.

With this equipped, you gain a 20 percent damage boost every time you land a critical hit. This damage bonus resets every 20 seconds, and you will need to land another backstab or riposte on a staggered enemy to regain the bonus. This talisman is great in combination with other talismans in Elden Ring which also boosts your critical damage.

Now that you know how to acquire the talisman, we need to work it into a viable build.

The best Blade of Mercy build in Elden Ring

Player character holding a twinblade with a shadowy tree nestled in the background of a night sky
The weapon for the job. Screenshot by Dot Esports

The Blade of Mercy build of our choice will require some adjustments. If you are currently using a pre-made build, we recommend using a Larval Tear to respec your character into this endgame build.

Build parametersRequirements
Recommended level150+
Primary statsStrength, Dexterity
Secondary statsVigor, Endurance
WeaponsQuality Twinblade
ArmorRaptor’s Black Feathers
Any other armor (maintain medium load)
TalismansBlade of Mercy
Dagger Talisman
Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger
Claw Talisman
Weapon skillsStorm Assault
Additional spellsN/A

The next part of this build showcases an ideal stat distribution to make it work.

Stat distribution

The Blade of Mercy build is a Quality build. As such, it has two main stats: Strength and Dexterity. This means you will need to get both of the main stats to at least 40 each. After that, pump out some Vigor to boost your survivability and Endurance to improve your equip load capacity while gaining more stamina for your offense.

This is what your endgame stats should look like.

  • Vigor: 50
  • Mind: Base level
  • Endurance: 35
  • Strength: 45
  • Dexterity: 45
  • Intelligence: Base level
  • Faith: Base level
  • Arcane: Base level

This build should cap out at around level 175. Any excess points left over from the reallocation and subsequent levels can either be invested into Str/Dex for more damage or Vigor for additional survivability.

Gear breakdown

Showcase page of the Twinblade weapon in Elden Ring
The weapon’s stats. Screenshot by Dot Esports

The weapon is the centerpiece of this build. Our choice is the Twinblade with the Quality affinity. This weapon allows you to slash and break enemy poise with a flurry of attacks fairly quickly. Having the Quality affinity allows it to scale up to a B-tier through Strength and Dexterity. Additionally, you can improve the damage of your weapon with the grease of your choice.

You can also imbue the Twinblade with Ashes of War, our choice is the Storm Assault Ash of War. This skill allows you to leap into the air and slam down with the power of the storm, knocking every enemy aside. It is also a powerful tool to help you break enemy poise, which creates a great opening to land a critical hit.

In terms of armor, you will want the Raptor’s Black Feathers to boost your jumping damage. Most of your attacks will come through jump attacks and Storm Assault, making this piece worth it. The rest of your armor is up to your preference as long as you maintain a medium equipment load.

Talisman breakdown

Showcase page of the Blade of Mercy talisman in Elden Ring
The accessories you need. Screenshot by Dot Esports

The Blade of Mercy is the main talisman for this build. As mentioned earlier, your overall damage increases by 20 percent for 20 seconds every time you land a critical hit. You can achieve this through a backstab or a riposte after you break an enemy’s poise and stagger them.

The Dagger Talisman increases your critical hit damage by 17 percent. Since you aim to stagger enemies as much as possible (or backstab them), having a flat boost to your follow-up critical hit is ideal. The damage boost will help you take down bosses faster.

The Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger restores 15 FP every time you land a critical hit. With enough critical hits, this talisman should keep you topped up on FP every time you decide to spam Storm Assault to attack groups of enemies.

The Claw Talisman increases your jump attack damage by 15 percent. When you combine this with the Raptor’s Black Feathers, your jump attack damage increases by 25 percent instead. Additionally, these attacks also deal heavy poise damage.

Author
Image of Anish Nair
Anish Nair
Freelance gaming writer for Dot Esports. An avid gamer of 25 years with a soft spot for RPGs and strategy games. Esports writer for 2 years and a watcher for 12 years. Aspiring author. Dad to a host of animals. Usually found trying to climb ranks in Dota 2, plundering the seas in Sea of Thieves, hunting large monsters in Monster Hunter World, or mining rare minerals in Deep Rock Galactic.