With so many new weapons and spells to choose from in Shadow of the Erdtree, picking a new build for the DLC can be difficult. Sometimes, it’s best to stick with what you know, and going for a powerful Bloodflame Blade build might come in handy in the Land of Shadows.
Elden Ring: How to get Bloodflame Blade?
Bloodflame Blade is an Incantation found in the base game of Elden Ring. It can be found when you enter the second major area: Liurnia. Head to the Rose Church and move northwest to find a Teardrop Scarab in the marsh. Kill it to acquire the Bloodflame Blade Incantation. Even though new overpowered options exist in Shadow of the Erdtree, this spell still holds its own.
With a prerequisite of 12 Faith and 10 Arcane, Bloodflame Blade can be cast on your weapon of choice to set it alight. These flames deal Fire damage with a bonus bleed buildup. The more you slash with the weapon, coupled with a high Arcane stat, the faster you will proc blood loss and bleed out most enemies.
Now that you know how to acquire the Incantation, we need to work it into a viable build.
The best Bloodflame Blade build in Elden Ring
The Bloodflame Blade build has to meet a few prerequisites before it becomes usable in battle. If your current stat distribution does not work, use a Larval Tear and respec your character into this endgame build.
| Build parameters | Requirements |
| Recommended level | 150+ |
| Primary stats | Faith, Arcane |
| Secondary stats | Dexterity, Mind |
| Weapons | Nagakiba, Dragon Communion Seal |
| Armor | Any armor set (maintain medium load) |
| Talismans | Rotten Winged Sword Insignia Flock’s Canvas Talisman Lord of Blood’s Exultation Kindred of Rot’s Exultation |
| Weapon skills | Double Slash/Sword Dance |
| Additional spells | Bloodflame Blade Swarm of Flies Rotten Breath |
Now that you know what you’ll need for this build, having the proper stats is key. The optimal stat distribution for the Bloodflame Blade build is quite simple to follow.
Stat distribution
This build has two main stats: Faith and Arcane. The first order of business is allocating most of your points into these two stats until both hit 50. Having your Vigor up to 40 eventually will help with how hard enemies hit in the DLC. Finally, keep your Dexterity at a minimum of 30 so that your weapon can scale fairly well even without Bloodflame Blade.
This is what your endgame stats should look like.
- Vigor: 40
- Mind: 20
- Endurance: 30
- Strength: 18 (minimum for Nagakiba)
- Dexterity: 30
- Intelligence: Base level
- Faith: 40
- Arcane: 40
This build should cap out at around level 165-175. Any excess points left over from the reallocation and subsequent levels can either be invested into Dexterity for more damage or Vigor for additional survivability.
Gear breakdown
The weapon for this build is quite flexible. Our choice is the Nagakiba for its high damage, long reach, inherent bleed buildup, and quick attacks. Buffing the weapon with Bloodflame Blade only improves its damage further by adding Fire damage and quicker blood loss procs. Infuse the weapon with either Double Slash or Sword Dance Ash of War to rapidly proc blood loss.
On your other hand, you should equip the Dragon Communion Seal for its Faith/Arcane scaling. This Sacred Seal also boosts the power of Dragon Communion Incantations, so pick one to take advantage of this fact. Our choice is Rotten Breath so that you can chip away at enemies even faster with Scarlet Rot and Hemorrhage. Throw in Swarm of Flies for even more blood loss.
Armor is generally the least important part of any endgame build. Ideally, you would want to have as much protection as possible with the least equip load. As long as you maintain a medium equip load, feel free to experiment with the multiple new armor sets in the DLC.
Talisman breakdown
These are the best talismans for a Bloodflame Blade build.
The Rotten Winged Sword Insignia is an ideal choice for builds that use quick attacks Your overall attack power is greatly increased with successive hits, making both Sword Dance and Double Slash extremely effective with this talisman.
The Flock’s Canvas Talisman is the one you want for any Faith build. It improves the potency of all of your Incantations, making them even more powerful as you cast them repeatedly.
The Lord of Blood’s Exultation increases your attack power whenever you proc blood loss. Since Bloodflame Blade and Swarm of Flies will be causing Hemorrhage often enough, your Nagakiba’s damage will keep increasing, especially with the last talisman.
The Kindred of Rot’s Exultation increases your attack power even further since you will be applying Scarlet Rot to enemies via Rotten Breath. Having both of these talismans active and ready will greatly boost your damage output through different status effects.
