Elden Ring allows players to use a variety of weapons to demolish their foes. One of the hardest-hitting, heaviest weapons in the game is the Giant-Crusher, a monster of a weapon that can make short work of enemies. This is how you can build around it.
The best Giant-Crusher build in Elden Ring
The Giant-Crusher is a Colossal Weapon in Elden Ring. It is one of the heaviest weapons in the game with a pure Strength scaling, making it a perfect weapon for anyone running a Strength build. Upgrading this weapon with a Heavy affinity improves its Strength scaling to S-tier, making it truly deadly with high Strength values.
Combine this weapon with Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker to output heavy damage with a devastating AOE stagger. This build also uses a new addition from the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. If you’re currently running a different build, we recommend a character respec before starting.
| Build parameters | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Recommended level | 150 or more |
| Primary stats | Strength |
| Secondary stats | Vigor, Endurance |
| Weapons | Giant-Crusher Sacrificial Axe |
| Armor | Bull-Goat Set |
| Talismans | Two-handed Sword Talisman Two-headed Turtle Talisman Shard of Alexander Rotten Winged Sword Insignia |
| Weapon skills | Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker |
| Additional spells | N/A |
Stat distribution
For your stats, dump all of your starting points into Strength until it hits 60. This is the minimum requirement to equip your Giant-Crusher. After this, invest 50 points into Vigor to tank damage and up to 35 points in Endurance to sustain your heavy gear. Invest some points into Mind for more FP to use Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker, then move back to Strength.
This is what your endgame stats should look like:
- Vigor: 50
- Mind: 15
- Endurance: 35
- Strength: 80
- Dexterity: 10
- Intelligence: Base level
- Faith: Base level
- Arcane: Base level
You will need 10 Dexterity to equip the Sacrificial Axe, so leave it at that level. Beyond this point, we recommend investing more points into Strength, even going up to the 80 soft cap. If your health pool is good enough to survive the DLC, get your Strength up to the 99 hard cap to really go ham with your Unga Bunga prowess.
Crystal Tear concoction
You can’t go wrong with the Bloodsucking Cracked Tear as your main Crystal Tear. Your outgoing damage will be buffed by 20 percent, including your regular attacks and the damage of Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker. However, your health will drain every second this buff is active, so make sure you have enough regeneration to offset the health drain.
The other Crystal Tear for this build is the Strength-Knot Crystal Tear. Since your entire damage output thrives on Strength, buffing it even further with this Crystal Tear makes the most sense. The damage buff from this Tear is also further amplified by the Bloodsucking Cracked Tear and some of the talismans listed in this build.
Gear breakdown
The main weapon for this build is the titular Giant-Crusher. This heavy Colossal Weapon is made even more potent with the Heavy affinity while imbuing it with Ash of War: Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker. This Ash of War triggers its damage through multiple stance-breaking instances followed by up to two staggering ground smash attacks.
The other weapon for this build is the Sacrificial Axe. This weapon is made to be carried on your back since its passive will always trigger regardless of whether you’re using it actively or not. Whenever an enemy dies in your vicinity, the Sacrificial Axe will restore four FP.
Since Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker takes a while to cast, you will need a lot of poise. This is where the Bull-Goat Set comes into play. Your poise will increase drastically but so will your equip load. If your rolls are affected by the weight of this set, you can change into a lighter armor set temporarily until you invest more points into Endurance to sustain a medium equip load.
Talisman breakdown
Four talismans work perfectly for this build:
- The Two-handed Sword Talisman is a new talisman that boosts your weapon damage by 15 percent as long as you’re wielding it with both hands. Since you won’t be using your Sacrificial Axe in your active hand, this buff will remain in effect with your Giant-Crusher.
- The Two-headed Turtle Talisman is another new DLC talisman. Having this equipped increases your stamina regeneration by 22 percent, allowing you to quickly recover and roll out of harm’s way after depleting your stamina with heavy attacks.
- The Shard of Alexander boosts your skill damage, directly increasing the damage output of Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker by 15 percent, fully stacking with other damage buffs.
- The Rotten Winged Sword Insignia might seem like an odd choice for this build, but Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker procs its damage several times in a row before the impact. This effect triggers the talisman’s damage buff, increasing the power of your subsequent attacks.
