Wouldn't be Rakshasa Armor Set be good for overall +2% damage boost per piece and some funky resistancee modifiers that gives like 12% fire damage increase etc.? I mean... fire + holy in this build with that armor. :grin:
This video is so reassuring because I played with two scythes (winged scythe and miquella’s light scythe) for my entire play through, and last night decided to switch it up and go for almost this EXACT build on a whim. It hits so hard, i’m loving it. Great minds think alike
Crazy that I did the EXACT same thing, same scythes dex/faith, and when I got the hammer switched to str/faith all the way down to flame strike aow. Great minds indeed...
sorry if this is a dumb question but why do i not have the option for flame art affinity when applying flmaing strike? only have fire affinity edit: i figured it out if anyone else has this issue, you need the red hot whetstone in redmanes castle
From what I’ve determined, if you were in offline mode (Console) on patch 1.12 you’ll get the Shield. If you were in Online mode under patch 1.12.1 you’ll get the Hammer. Yet to confirm but players are suggesting it can drop of the Black Knight in Castle Ensis. If not, you’re screwed unless FromSoft patches so the Black Knight at Church of Consolation can respawn.
I had more trouble with the Black Gaol Knight than I did with the Dancing Lion, or Rellana. As it turned out, I just needed to use my claymore. Trusty claymore.
I got a direct upgrade with the greatsword of Solitude. Can't be buffed but I'm using Fire grant me strenth incantation instead. I'm a simple man, miss my Stamp uppercut for trades though.
Amazing video mate, thanks! Just a quick tip for everyone, you don't have to block at the last second to activate the guard counter ability; just have your shield blocking all the way and then press R2 👍🏻
Where in the video does he talk about the affinity for the Messmer fight? He said he’d talk about it later at 1:56 but I can’t seem to find it. I’m about to fight Messmer with this build
Another weapon that smacks with a build like this is the rot fiend arm I think it's called. Collosal weapon as well but you pump arcane and put it on occult and it procs bleed in 1 charged heavy attack. Also has crazy high damage and very good poise damage.
This Hammer is carrying me through the DLC with Savage Lion's Claw, also has excellent Arcane scaling! I use the Haligtree Greatshield for Guard Counters
@@glenmcl not really. Use any shield with high guard boost and then a spear with bleed. Block and poke. Kill them without barely taking any damage, a bit cheesy haha.
tip to improve this build. Either go sacred infusion with sacred blade to take advantage of inherent holy damage to get past armor breakpoints or go Heavy infusion with 80 strength and 30ish faith for buffs. 13 int for orders blade which will add on top of inherent damage. Enemy defense has a % reduction and a flat subtraction so having a small amount of holy dmg will be wasted if not buffed. Splitting to physical/flame/holy will have 3 flat subtractions.
I use prayerful strike with a sacred infusion and 80 faith and 128 poise. So I power through the attack while charging the weapon art, trade with the enemy doing so, then prayerful strike heal me and any allies I have (including summons). It's a very Unga bunga build lol
@@danielade6279 Flame art is good but it's not using the inherent holy damage on this weapon. Heavy allow enchanting with orders blade stacking on top of holy and physical or sacred blade if you have more faith to stack holy on holy, buffed by holy cracked tear in flask. Flame art adds a small amount of fire and leaves the small amount of faith to both be subtracted out. For each element you add, you need to subtract 100-200 dmg depending on the enemy armor. So against a boss, the fire and holy will add no damage. But if you buff the holy it will be over and above what is subtracted out.
@@TheButcherGorr spilt damage is unfortunately horrible in all souls games. Focus on 1 element best as possible. So for Black Steel Hammer go Holy or Phys only otherwise you got 3 damage checks that multiplicitively lessen.
The stonebarbed cracked tear effect only lasts for 30 seconds. I use it, but I typically save it for phase 2 of boss fights when I really need that stagger.
I fell bass ackwards into this build after failing and retrying the first hippo boss a bunch haha. So happy its getting air time - so effective, and makes the DLC actually manageble.
Been saying it from day 1. Black steel great hammer made things a lot easier. I just happened to wander down there as soon as I entered the DLC and it was the first item I got.
FINALLY A STR/FAI build that actually bumps a respectable amount into Faith. I've been getting really tired of all these "STR/FAI" that basically just end up being a Strength build with a bit of Faith sprinkled in for buffs and stuff. Legit saw one build the other day actually have the audacity to call itself a STR/FAI build, and it only had *15 FAITH!!* What the heck, man?! I'm sorry, but you don't get to call yourself a Faith build just because you raised Faith over the minimum for your starting class XD Ranting aside, AWESOME build vid, dude! I've been running a STR/FAI build since the beginning, and found the Black Steel Greathammer pretty much immediately when I started the DLC. It instantly became one of my favorite weapons in the entire game!! I tend to swap a lot between playing with a shield, two-handing, and powerstancing, but as someone who's been playing as a tanky, heavily armored "paladin" style build, and loving the new Guard Counter mechanic, this weapon was MADE for me!!
I love the black Knight chest armor. Before, Altered Ronin chest was my favorite looking one but the BK looks awesome and has better stats. Looks amazing with Malicat gauntlets and I'm wearing Moore legs because i like the look better that Lionel for heavier armor (but BK, Malicat or even Night Cavalry work as well) because I'm wearing either thief mask or headband on my female character because they look great but don't offer any defense. I wish i knew the shield was a guaranteed drop from a certain enemy (after a while i kinda figured it's like the hammer was) instead of spending 40 minutes farming one to never get it.
That hammer is so brutal. I'm using it on my lv 135 quality/faith build (without a shield though). It hits like a truck and the damage can be buffed to even more obscene levels, despite me having just 53 fth.
Killed the knight that drops the hammer on an early DLC build when he still dropped the shield, now I am unable to get the hammer at all on a character that focused on Greatshields, Holy Damage and Counter Attacks. Thanks Fromsoft!
I theory crafted almost the same thing 2 nights ago, and was blown away when i shit on all 5 bosses i had found but couldnt beat woth my katana build. The old meta is back in a new way, praise the shield! 😂🎉
Sacred Blade is a great AoW choice as well as it gives you some range AND there's an additional Holy Boost to the weapon that lingers for about 30 seconds. It's significant.
Neat build setup! I have the stats to try this out, I'll give it a spin once I actually have time to play and can farm the runes to upgrade a shield and hammer. One note: you mentioned that you wouldn't use this particular set up against Messer and that you'd mention it later in the video. Did I miss you mentioning it? Anyway, fun build video. I appreciate people making actually viable fun builds that don't just include adding every buff to "OP 1 shot boss". Looking forward to exploring more of the dlc with this load out.
For a real tank black hammer build slow and methodical and like the black knight, go for the new tear to boost the spontaneous guard, damage resist tear,or health regen, two headed turtle, talisman that gives defence when overweight, shield talisman, third can be guard counter one or the one that gives better defence when at full health and final slot can be exchanged for whatever defence talisman is needed for the situation makes the game easy mode, full fat gear go as heavy as you like put on multiple weapons multiple shields for every situation and have fun
Ok so I really like this weapon and I play mostly as a paladin so it was made for me!!! I was thinking of using prayerful strike though as the ash of war to get some healing back while I’m beating on people. Will that work fairly well?? I don’t totally understand all the ash of war and dmg types if I’m honest.
Literally my first build in the DLC. As soon as I got that hammer, I went straight for a greatshield and started bonking. Only difference is I used sacred instead of flame art
Aside from that hideous Fingerprint shield, what is the next best shield in the game? I'm mainly referring to guard boost potential, but look-wise, too.
@@jayviktor6130 That really depends on how much Str/End you have. Also, looks are fairly subjective so that will depend entirely on you. The Verdigris shield actually has more stability but is both heavy as fuck and takes a metric ton of strength to use. I'm fond of the Eclipse Greatshield and the Distinguished Greatshield as both are on the lighter side for the category and I like how they look.
Hey great build ! Just a quick question though, is it also useful to upgrade the shield to +10 or +25 or not really ? Also I think more Endurance would be required because after respec (I didn't check my bad...), my overall load is "Heavy Load" now :/ (PS : I followed exactly the recommendations from the video)
Yes upgrade the shield, it’s increases your guard boost every few levels, which decreases stamina used when blocking. And yea I had to use some extra endurance and use either erdtree favor +2 for equip load or jar arsenal, hope this helps
Looks fun. I do have one critique. The Frenzy Seal works fine, but until you invest in all 4 offensive stats to 60, it's outperformed by the Erdtree, Godslayer, and Finger Seals, because it also allows the use of healing spell at full power and will have a higher Incantation scaling. Heals and weapon buffs only function with the faith portion of any seals' scaling.
I've been running a block/counter build since day one. I use iron greatsword and sometimes blasphemous blade. Glad to know this hammer is that good, I'll definitely try it thx
You need to do a series called, explain this to me as if I'm 5. I'm so stupid when it comes to following build guides. But thanks for these videos I'm been flowing for a number of years.
The flame strike requires to you use your art(L2) and then follow up with a heavy (r2) I’m pretty sure it’s just visuals, because even when I didn’t r2 I still did fire damage. Hope this helps.
Still working on the DLC, I was away from home when it dropped so I’m getting in later than everyone else. Lvl 225 60 vigor 25 mind 45 endurance 75 str/dex (quality builds get to test more weapons after all) Fingerprint shield Buckler Bloodhound Fang Great Stars Knight Rider Glaive Scaled Armor Whatever consumables make sense in any given fight. My physical damage is pretty solid, so the consumables just give me an additional edge. Took out all field/gaol bosses in the first area, running the first legacy dungeon tonight.
Will watch most your vids eventually but basically doing the blind run still. This DLC is so big. Hardest boss so far is the verticality of the maps. I’m lost and constantly saying “how the f do I get to that place??” Took hrs but finally found my way to the Glaive wielding Rot boss. That area was such a maze for me and all I wanted was that map piece you don’t even acquire there, lol. Love this game.
If you want to utilize more of a guard counter build with this set up, you can easily do it with Braggart's Roar AoW- affixed to your choosing of affinity, the extra dmg, stamina recovery and dmg negation helps out a lot
That hammer is the first thing that dropped for me on Friday. Already have a Faith build. No wonder my sacred relic sword is carrying me. Wave of gold’n motherfuckers everywhere
I have a question. Why isnt my hammer in flames like yours? I cant even do the hammers flame art without unequipping my shield. What gives? I added the ash of war and flame art. Please help
You need to remove the ash of war from your shield, just select no skill in the menu and then you can cast flaming strike while holding the shield, to set the hammer alight, cast flaming strike then hit R2/heavy attack immediately after.
Stating from the first grace is the dlc you’re gonna go to the right and follow the road down. You’ll eventually run into a small encampment on the right side and a broken down church to the left. The knight is in the church. Can’t miss it
I missed your videos! So happy that Elden Ring DLC finally dropped- looking forward to seeing and hearing your thoughts. Probably gonna take a few ideas from your build here. :) Thanks for bein' rad!
I’m so happy to have seen this video because I’ve been wanting to find a way to make this hammer work. I had no clue about the guard counter mechanic for it. So I am going to try to incorporate this into my Pyromancer to make it a pyro battle mage
The only thing I recommend to add to this build is Pest Threads against big bosses. This thing is Dragon Shredder. Really helped me to do 4k damage per cast unbuffed to Bayle
How do you use the hammer’s ash of war if you also have the black steel greatshield equipped? Doesn’t the shield have its own ash? Sorry for the rookie question.
I've been rocking a very similar build ever since finding the hammer. I already liked using guard counters, so the hammer was a natural choice for me. Add in the physick tear, and i was a happy gamer. But I'm using Prayerful Strike for my AoW and sacred affinity. The holy damage on the hammer skyrockets with sacred affinity, and Prayerful Strike deals a good chunk of damage and heals. It's a great follow-up after getting a crit against most enemies
same here. i saw the hammer's holy afinity and saw it gets boosted when using holy with it, i was like, ok, this is it, also , since u are blocking all, use the Raksasa armor it makes u deal more dmg PER piece, and take more dmg per piece. , use the counterattack talisman, with holy scorpion talisman, and the talisman that increases skill dmg , and ur golden. (litteraly) , and as last talisman i took the better shielding talisman, ofc the fingerprint stone shield since its still the best
Quick question for ya homies. I saw the special guard counter but akso it says it does extra damage when infused with holy. Does this mean i need to change the infusion to holy? Or can i use like a incantation to buff my weapon with holy damage? Thsnks for the help in advance:)
@iianmitchelldub if you want the bonus damage, then yes, you'll have to use Sacred infusion. At +25, it increases the base Holy damage of the weapon from 102 with standard infusion to 330. That's more damage than a single incantation buff gives. If you don't want to use the Sacred infusion, you definitely can use other Holy buffs, but they will only give their normal amount of extra damage. It won't be amplified
A good alternative for black knight greatshield could be the Erdtree greatshield dropped from the duo tree sentinels in altus plateau. It has 84 holy negation aswell.
Saw many comments about the weapon: Since I did NOT kill that knight yet and went on today (as of 26-Feb) and killed him for the first time. Weapon did drop. (V. 1.2.1 or 1.2.2) Hope it helps others wondering if they can / should play the build :)
Awesome vid, and cool build! Exactly what i needed going into the dlc! Looks like with the spells, there is enough options for mixups in pvp as well, as my brothers and i like to explore with taunters tongue on! Definitely a jack of all trades build!
For those on console having trouble getting the hammer. My first play through of the dlc I was offline and got the shield. The next play through I was online and got the hammer to drop.
This is an amazing build. I did a very similar build but included the Crucible Armor and some of the new Aspect spells. I have done some testing, and I am not convinced that Faith as the main stat is better than Str and heavy infusion with ~40 faith is not a better route. Using heavy and then Holy Tear + Holy weapon buff gets pretty good damage. But really depends on your spell vs melee usage.
awesome build! This is actually the first weapons I got from the DLC, being a str/int build though it's just been gathering dust in my chest ^^; this one and the greathammer you get from that first forge got me sooo tempted to switch to str/faith lol PS the hardtear talisman works wonders on two hand weapons too! Giant crusher absorbs all damage if you hit the perfect block
I seem to be getting much better damage with holy affinity prayerful strike instead of fire slash. Coupling the heals from prayerful strike with ritual shield taslasim is also nice 👍
Is it Flame affinity or Flame Art? I can into the DLC Faith/STR just because that is what my current playthrough was so may have lucked out. This build seems oddly perfect as I am far poorer at using incantations than I ever was spells so just end up bonking the baddies with a big-ass sword and shield combo. I have been using the Blasphemous Blade (of course!) along with the halo scythe which has still be great for 3 or 4 shotting a lot of enemies with its Ash of War.
Black knight builds are very strong STR or DEX they both hit hard and provide good defense with alot of variety. Also med. Shields below 100 have uses, alberichs set with staff and shield of the guilty, both are fall backs for when enemies get too close with respectable blood loss build up when paired with thorn sorcery,
@@glenmcl colossal/great/heavy weapons are fantastic against bosses just depends on the playstyle, they can do all their damage in a single jumping heavy, and black steel hammer can be buffed to hunt weaknesses and stagger large enemies
I would make a build like that, but at the moment. I'm making a thrusting shield build, a sword caster build with the new thrusting sword you can cast spells with and a miquella build with a new twinblades with a amazing ash of war only unique to that weapon.
![Top Things You Missed In Gravesite Plain - West [probably] - Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree Guide](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/f5ODuhSCNX8/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out my latest build guide to help you get through the DLC: th-cam.com/video/TEQ1prGC8GY/w-d-xo.html 🤩
Wouldn't be Rakshasa Armor Set be good for overall +2% damage boost per piece and some funky resistancee modifiers that gives like 12% fire damage increase etc.? I mean... fire + holy in this build with that armor. :grin:
I love when someone says that they had no idea about something, and then actually shows us a cool hidden thing. Cheers!
This video is so reassuring because I played with two scythes (winged scythe and miquella’s light scythe) for my entire play through, and last night decided to switch it up and go for almost this EXACT build on a whim. It hits so hard, i’m loving it. Great minds think alike
Crazy that I did the EXACT same thing, same scythes dex/faith, and when I got the hammer switched to str/faith all the way down to flame strike aow. Great minds indeed...
sorry if this is a dumb question but why do i not have the option for flame art affinity when applying flmaing strike? only have fire affinity
edit: i figured it out if anyone else has this issue, you need the red hot whetstone in redmanes castle
Thank you I was searching the comments for this problem!
Thanks
I‘ve got the same problem🤔
@@mr.t7236 you need the red hot whetstone in Redmanes castle
Guard counter in general is great for the DLC, I've been playing that since the beginning, now I even upgraded to the new Verdigris Greatshield.
This hammer has been my best friend since the moment it dropped for me an hour into the dlc.
Some people aren't getting the greathammer from the black knight at the Church Of Consolation they're getting the black steel greatshield instead.
Yea I got a great shield and was pissed cuz I got one to drop off earlier
I got the Shield too.
From what I’ve determined, if you were in offline mode (Console) on patch 1.12 you’ll get the Shield. If you were in Online mode under patch 1.12.1 you’ll get the Hammer. Yet to confirm but players are suggesting it can drop of the Black Knight in Castle Ensis. If not, you’re screwed unless FromSoft patches so the Black Knight at Church of Consolation can respawn.
any black knight can drop the hammer or shield, after castle ensis there are plenty
@@joseluisrodriguezramirez9071 I hope you’re correct.
I had more trouble with the Black Gaol Knight than I did with the Dancing Lion, or Rellana. As it turned out, I just needed to use my claymore. Trusty claymore.
What's your favourite DLC weapon so far? 😁
sword of night katana
Easily the Euphoria Twinblade It's so fun to shred enemies with it
I'm not that far in yet (waiting on your videos), but I'm really enjoying Milady right now, but the Dryleaf Arts are my favorite so far.
the sunflower, euphoria or the sword of light
I got a direct upgrade with the greatsword of Solitude. Can't be buffed but I'm using Fire grant me strenth incantation instead. I'm a simple man, miss my Stamp uppercut for trades though.
Amazing video mate, thanks!
Just a quick tip for everyone, you don't have to block at the last second to activate the guard counter ability; just have your shield blocking all the way and then press R2 👍🏻
Where in the video does he talk about the affinity for the Messmer fight? He said he’d talk about it later at 1:56 but I can’t seem to find it. I’m about to fight Messmer with this build
I got that knights weapon at the very beginning in that church and been rocking it all dlc
Another weapon that smacks with a build like this is the rot fiend arm I think it's called. Collosal weapon as well but you pump arcane and put it on occult and it procs bleed in 1 charged heavy attack. Also has crazy high damage and very good poise damage.
Blood fiends are the worst lol
This Hammer is carrying me through the DLC with Savage Lion's Claw, also has excellent Arcane scaling! I use the Haligtree Greatshield for Guard Counters
RIP at 2 bosses I won't spoil for you. They start with M and R
@@glenmcl Those bosses are RIP with any type of build, quitting those cheese tactics
@@glenmcli will spoil it for ya M for maliketh R for Rennela
Reported @@muqsit.99
@@glenmcl not really. Use any shield with high guard boost and then a spear with bleed. Block and poke.
Kill them without barely taking any damage, a bit cheesy haha.
tip to improve this build. Either go sacred infusion with sacred blade to take advantage of inherent holy damage to get past armor breakpoints or go Heavy infusion with 80 strength and 30ish faith for buffs. 13 int for orders blade which will add on top of inherent damage. Enemy defense has a % reduction and a flat subtraction so having a small amount of holy dmg will be wasted if not buffed. Splitting to physical/flame/holy will have 3 flat subtractions.
I use prayerful strike with a sacred infusion and 80 faith and 128 poise. So I power through the attack while charging the weapon art, trade with the enemy doing so, then prayerful strike heal me and any allies I have (including summons). It's a very Unga bunga build lol
is heavy really better than flame art ? i am trying to get this build working rn so im trying to make it as strong as possible
@@danielade6279yes, like OP said splitting 3 damage types isn’t worth it
@@danielade6279 Flame art is good but it's not using the inherent holy damage on this weapon. Heavy allow enchanting with orders blade stacking on top of holy and physical or sacred blade if you have more faith to stack holy on holy, buffed by holy cracked tear in flask. Flame art adds a small amount of fire and leaves the small amount of faith to both be subtracted out. For each element you add, you need to subtract 100-200 dmg depending on the enemy armor. So against a boss, the fire and holy will add no damage. But if you buff the holy it will be over and above what is subtracted out.
Prayerful strike is also a good ash of war to throw on. Sacred or heavy both work great
So, add Flaming Strike ash of war with Flame art affinity, and no skill on the shield ... Correct?
Wrong hammer for flame arts but thats the jist it seems. This is a bad video with bad ideas dont listen to this guy lmao
@@bronysaiyan5236why?
@@TheButcherGorr spilt damage is unfortunately horrible in all souls games. Focus on 1 element best as possible. So for Black Steel Hammer go Holy or Phys only otherwise you got 3 damage checks that multiplicitively lessen.
@@bronysaiyan5236 this build slaps bro, try it out. 1400 AP in one hand and I don't even have all the scad frags
The stonebarbed cracked tear effect only lasts for 30 seconds. I use it, but I typically save it for phase 2 of boss fights when I really need that stagger.
I fell bass ackwards into this build after failing and retrying the first hippo boss a bunch haha. So happy its getting air time - so effective, and makes the DLC actually manageble.
Been saying it from day 1. Black steel great hammer made things a lot easier. I just happened to wander down there as soon as I entered the DLC and it was the first item I got.
Same
was looking for a guard counter builds, didnt knew this weapon had a special move ty!
Use Moore NPC shield 🛡️ with 90 guard boost called veridis shield
There's also the black mirror shield that has a special powerful counter attack
FINALLY A STR/FAI build that actually bumps a respectable amount into Faith. I've been getting really tired of all these "STR/FAI" that basically just end up being a Strength build with a bit of Faith sprinkled in for buffs and stuff. Legit saw one build the other day actually have the audacity to call itself a STR/FAI build, and it only had *15 FAITH!!* What the heck, man?! I'm sorry, but you don't get to call yourself a Faith build just because you raised Faith over the minimum for your starting class XD
Ranting aside, AWESOME build vid, dude! I've been running a STR/FAI build since the beginning, and found the Black Steel Greathammer pretty much immediately when I started the DLC. It instantly became one of my favorite weapons in the entire game!! I tend to swap a lot between playing with a shield, two-handing, and powerstancing, but as someone who's been playing as a tanky, heavily armored "paladin" style build, and loving the new Guard Counter mechanic, this weapon was MADE for me!!
How did you upgrade the shield? What weapon art did you use for it?
That hammer smacks. I been using that and the fingerprint shield from the beginning of the DLC.
I love the black Knight chest armor. Before, Altered Ronin chest was my favorite looking one but the BK looks awesome and has better stats. Looks amazing with Malicat gauntlets and I'm wearing Moore legs because i like the look better that Lionel for heavier armor (but BK, Malicat or even Night Cavalry work as well) because I'm wearing either thief mask or headband on my female character because they look great but don't offer any defense.
I wish i knew the shield was a guaranteed drop from a certain enemy (after a while i kinda figured it's like the hammer was) instead of spending 40 minutes farming one to never get it.
I’ve been rocking the night amour set that you get from the Bonny gaol. It’s a light set but looks badass
Hype, been using it myself and stoked to see how you configured this build
That hammer is so brutal. I'm using it on my lv 135 quality/faith build (without a shield though). It hits like a truck and the damage can be buffed to even more obscene levels, despite me having just 53 fth.
I've been using this build and freaking love it!!! I'm so glad you're giving it a spotlight.
Killed the knight that drops the hammer on an early DLC build when he still dropped the shield, now I am unable to get the hammer at all on a character that focused on Greatshields, Holy Damage and Counter Attacks. Thanks Fromsoft!
You must have been playing offline with your game not updated. Not From's problem.
I theory crafted almost the same thing 2 nights ago, and was blown away when i shit on all 5 bosses i had found but couldnt beat woth my katana build. The old meta is back in a new way, praise the shield! 😂🎉
Sacred Blade is a great AoW choice as well as it gives you some range AND there's an additional Holy Boost to the weapon that lingers for about 30 seconds. It's significant.
Neat build setup! I have the stats to try this out, I'll give it a spin once I actually have time to play and can farm the runes to upgrade a shield and hammer.
One note: you mentioned that you wouldn't use this particular set up against Messer and that you'd mention it later in the video. Did I miss you mentioning it?
Anyway, fun build video. I appreciate people making actually viable fun builds that don't just include adding every buff to "OP 1 shot boss". Looking forward to exploring more of the dlc with this load out.
How are you putting the fire onto the hammer itself
L2 then r1. It's a followup attack from the ash of war. Hope that helps.
It's L2 then R2.
I’m using this exact build, but instead of flame art I’m using sacred and using Golden Land. The AoE is insane and the hurts bosses pretty bad too.
For a real tank black hammer build slow and methodical and like the black knight, go for the new tear to boost the spontaneous guard, damage resist tear,or health regen, two headed turtle, talisman that gives defence when overweight, shield talisman, third can be guard counter one or the one that gives better defence when at full health and final slot can be exchanged for whatever defence talisman is needed for the situation makes the game easy mode, full fat gear go as heavy as you like put on multiple weapons multiple shields for every situation and have fun
Didn't the shield talisman get nerfed the better the shield is?
Ok so I really like this weapon and I play mostly as a paladin so it was made for me!!! I was thinking of using prayerful strike though as the ash of war to get some healing back while I’m beating on people. Will that work fairly well?? I don’t totally understand all the ash of war and dmg types if I’m honest.
Yeah man Prayerful strike is always good!
This just made the game fun for me again. Thank you for this
Hiding behind a Greatshield and swinging a heavy hammer is fun for you ?
Great video! I just wanted say that you’ll need at least 23 Mind to summon Black Knife Tiche
Thank you for the info! 😁
Really enjoying this build, thanks for the video Dom
Do you guys keep high armor and just fat roll or do you go for medium load?
How do you use flaming strike with shield equipped?
Use the No ash of war that you can buy from bernalh
Incredibly detailed, concise and helpful video. Subbed for life.
Literally my first build in the DLC. As soon as I got that hammer, I went straight for a greatshield and started bonking. Only difference is I used sacred instead of flame art
Aside from that hideous Fingerprint shield, what is the next best shield in the game? I'm mainly referring to guard boost potential, but look-wise, too.
@@jayviktor6130 That really depends on how much Str/End you have. Also, looks are fairly subjective so that will depend entirely on you. The Verdigris shield actually has more stability but is both heavy as fuck and takes a metric ton of strength to use. I'm fond of the Eclipse Greatshield and the Distinguished Greatshield as both are on the lighter side for the category and I like how they look.
Hey great build ! Just a quick question though, is it also useful to upgrade the shield to +10 or +25 or not really ? Also I think more Endurance would be required because after respec (I didn't check my bad...), my overall load is "Heavy Load" now :/ (PS : I followed exactly the recommendations from the video)
Yes upgrade the shield, it’s increases your guard boost every few levels, which decreases stamina used when blocking. And yea I had to use some extra endurance and use either erdtree favor +2 for equip load or jar arsenal, hope this helps
Looks fun. I do have one critique. The Frenzy Seal works fine, but until you invest in all 4 offensive stats to 60, it's outperformed by the Erdtree, Godslayer, and Finger Seals, because it also allows the use of healing spell at full power and will have a higher Incantation scaling. Heals and weapon buffs only function with the faith portion of any seals' scaling.
I've been running a block/counter build since day one. I use iron greatsword and sometimes blasphemous blade. Glad to know this hammer is that good, I'll definitely try it thx
You need to do a series called, explain this to me as if I'm 5. I'm so stupid when it comes to following build guides. But thanks for these videos I'm been flowing for a number of years.
Question... how do I make the hammer with the fire on it? It has flame art, so am I missing something? Please help. I'm new to this.
The flame strike requires to you use your art(L2) and then follow up with a heavy (r2) I’m pretty sure it’s just visuals, because even when I didn’t r2 I still did fire damage. Hope this helps.
Still working on the DLC, I was away from home when it dropped so I’m getting in later than everyone else.
Lvl 225
60 vigor
25 mind
45 endurance
75 str/dex (quality builds get to test more weapons after all)
Fingerprint shield
Buckler
Bloodhound Fang
Great Stars
Knight Rider Glaive
Scaled Armor
Whatever consumables make sense in any given fight. My physical damage is pretty solid, so the consumables just give me an additional edge. Took out all field/gaol bosses in the first area, running the first legacy dungeon tonight.
Great Video , Thanks Dom 😄 im loving this build
how do u get that little flame on the hammer? And what does it do?
It appears after using the fire ash of war he has on it
Will watch most your vids eventually but basically doing the blind run still.
This DLC is so big. Hardest boss so far is the verticality of the maps. I’m lost and constantly saying “how the f do I get to that place??” Took hrs but finally found my way to the Glaive wielding Rot boss. That area was such a maze for me and all I wanted was that map piece you don’t even acquire there, lol. Love this game.
First of all i'm mimicking this even it's been 2 months
and I barely started the video.. thanks this is for my 2nd character
Thanks for the awesome build "
New to dlc..
And looking for a new build,
If you want to utilize more of a guard counter build with this set up, you can easily do it with Braggart's Roar AoW- affixed to your choosing of affinity, the extra dmg, stamina recovery and dmg negation helps out a lot
That hammer is the first thing that dropped for me on Friday. Already have a Faith build. No wonder my sacred relic sword is carrying me. Wave of gold’n motherfuckers everywhere
I have a question. Why isnt my hammer in flames like yours? I cant even do the hammers flame art without unequipping my shield. What gives? I added the ash of war and flame art. Please help
Yeah tell us how
i think you need to equip the "no skill" ash of war on the shield. google it to find location
You need to remove the ash of war from your shield, just select no skill in the menu and then you can cast flaming strike while holding the shield, to set the hammer alight, cast flaming strike then hit R2/heavy attack immediately after.
@@Drumphil82 🔥
Where are you at the beginning when talking about the weapon?
Stating from the first grace is the dlc you’re gonna go to the right and follow the road down. You’ll eventually run into a small encampment on the right side and a broken down church to the left. The knight is in the church. Can’t miss it
@@SlumericanXX thanks that helped
Dom, your videos are so good. Informative, fun to watch, and I love your voice. Great per usual.
Hi and sorry but you're wrong he avoids many details to allow himself to do more videos, to force the viewer to make other research.
This video was so helpful ive been wanting a blacksteel greathammer build since i got it
I missed your videos! So happy that Elden Ring DLC finally dropped- looking forward to seeing and hearing your thoughts. Probably gonna take a few ideas from your build here. :)
Thanks for bein' rad!
I’m so happy to have seen this video because I’ve been wanting to find a way to make this hammer work. I had no clue about the guard counter mechanic for it. So I am going to try to incorporate this into my Pyromancer to make it a pyro battle mage
Thanks for the guide man! I beat Renalla on the 3rd try with this.
The only thing I recommend to add to this build is Pest Threads against big bosses. This thing is Dragon Shredder. Really helped me to do 4k damage per cast unbuffed to Bayle
Is the new pest thread spear incant any good?
@@jakeryan2805 From my testing its just a straight up upgrade. maybe even more cost efficient
Thanks will try it with Senessax, this fucker is kicking my ass so badly I kinda want to go back to my Arcane rot/bleed build and just nuke him :)
How do you use the hammer’s ash of war if you also have the black steel greatshield equipped? Doesn’t the shield have its own ash? Sorry for the rookie question.
I've been rocking a very similar build ever since finding the hammer. I already liked using guard counters, so the hammer was a natural choice for me. Add in the physick tear, and i was a happy gamer.
But I'm using Prayerful Strike for my AoW and sacred affinity. The holy damage on the hammer skyrockets with sacred affinity, and Prayerful Strike deals a good chunk of damage and heals. It's a great follow-up after getting a crit against most enemies
same here. i saw the hammer's holy afinity and saw it gets boosted when using holy with it, i was like, ok, this is it, also , since u are blocking all, use the Raksasa armor it makes u deal more dmg PER piece, and take more dmg per piece. , use the counterattack talisman, with holy scorpion talisman, and the talisman that increases skill dmg , and ur golden. (litteraly) , and as last talisman i took the better shielding talisman, ofc the fingerprint stone shield since its still the best
Quick question for ya homies. I saw the special guard counter but akso it says it does extra damage when infused with holy. Does this mean i need to change the infusion to holy? Or can i use like a incantation to buff my weapon with holy damage? Thsnks for the help in advance:)
@iianmitchelldub if you want the bonus damage, then yes, you'll have to use Sacred infusion. At +25, it increases the base Holy damage of the weapon from 102 with standard infusion to 330. That's more damage than a single incantation buff gives.
If you don't want to use the Sacred infusion, you definitely can use other Holy buffs, but they will only give their normal amount of extra damage. It won't be amplified
So Holy is the way to go or fire is stronger ?
You can also go heavy prayerful strike it has worked well for me.
A good alternative for black knight greatshield could be the Erdtree greatshield dropped from the duo tree sentinels in altus plateau. It has 84 holy negation aswell.
That weapon and shield are made to be used with maliketh armour set
They go amazing together
This the first thing I picked up and I’m still in love
Saw many comments about the weapon: Since I did NOT kill that knight yet and went on today (as of 26-Feb) and killed him for the first time. Weapon did drop. (V. 1.2.1 or 1.2.2) Hope it helps others wondering if they can / should play the build :)
Great video, but is anyone else a little disappointed we did not get the crucible aspect tongue as a spell?
Awesome vid, and cool build! Exactly what i needed going into the dlc! Looks like with the spells, there is enough options for mixups in pvp as well, as my brothers and i like to explore with taunters tongue on! Definitely a jack of all trades build!
Which Flaming strike do I use? The Fire or Flame Art?
Build is great but isn't working against Mesmer. Any suggestion on changes to tackle him?
It won't work against a lot of bosses.
For those on console having trouble getting the hammer. My first play through of the dlc I was offline and got the shield. The next play through I was online and got the hammer to drop.
This is an amazing build. I did a very similar build but included the Crucible Armor and some of the new Aspect spells. I have done some testing, and I am not convinced that Faith as the main stat is better than Str and heavy infusion with ~40 faith is not a better route. Using heavy and then Holy Tear + Holy weapon buff gets pretty good damage. But really depends on your spell vs melee usage.
awesome build! This is actually the first weapons I got from the DLC, being a str/int build though it's just been gathering dust in my chest ^^; this one and the greathammer you get from that first forge got me sooo tempted to switch to str/faith lol
PS the hardtear talisman works wonders on two hand weapons too! Giant crusher absorbs all damage if you hit the perfect block
What ash if war did you use for your shield?
What makes the hammer flame? Sometimes it appears to have a flame from it, other times not - how do you activate that?
I seem to be getting much better damage with holy affinity prayerful strike instead of fire slash. Coupling the heals from prayerful strike with ritual shield taslasim is also nice 👍
Amazing. Does Shard of Alexander buff this hammer’s guard counter? Thank you for the great build and explanation.
It does not
Just a slight correction, you need Mind 24 to use every spirit ash. Or 19 and godricks great rune ofc
Is it Flame affinity or Flame Art? I can into the DLC Faith/STR just because that is what my current playthrough was so may have lucked out. This build seems oddly perfect as I am far poorer at using incantations than I ever was spells so just end up bonking the baddies with a big-ass sword and shield combo. I have been using the Blasphemous Blade (of course!) along with the halo scythe which has still be great for 3 or 4 shotting a lot of enemies with its Ash of War.
What is that seal called that you use in your off hand to do faith spells?
What affinity did you go with the hammer?
Ayyyee I made it early. Beat the DLC yesterday and it is a damn masterpiece
Congratulations! 🤩
@DomsRoundtable Your videos are an amazing help for my item pickup run. Really well put together! Keep them coming! 😃
Black knight builds are very strong STR or DEX they both hit hard and provide good defense with alot of variety.
Also med. Shields below 100 have uses, alberichs set with staff and shield of the guilty, both are fall backs for when enemies get too close with respectable blood loss build up when paired with thorn sorcery,
Until bosses. Slow weapons are bad on bosses
@@glenmcl colossal/great/heavy weapons are fantastic against bosses just depends on the playstyle, they can do all their damage in a single jumping heavy, and black steel hammer can be buffed to hunt weaknesses and stagger large enemies
What would you recommend stat wise for a 150 build? I started with confessor and these stats would put me at 170
Did you mention what infusion to use for Messmer? I must have missed it
Wait how in goodness do you get to Altus without beating rellana? I did beat rellana btw just had no idea there was a shortcut
Down the cliffs to the east of ensis castle and just walk around it.
@@ImARealHumanPerson wow you were not kidding that was quite the journey 😳
This man saw how effective this build was on Asmon's run and said "Let's make this better!"
Good vid! I can hit a bit harder now! 😁👌
I actually didn't see Asmon using it but good to know! 😁
@@DomsRoundtable Goes to show how well you can create your own builds! Either way, I'm stealing this build for awhile...
I’m going to run this build but I’m level 200 any ideas on spread? Also I’m thinking about using Barricade ash of war on my shield. Is it a good idea?
What about whetblade or ashes of war? which are good?
I would make a build like that, but at the moment. I'm making a thrusting shield build, a sword caster build with the new thrusting sword you can cast spells with and a miquella build with a new twinblades with a amazing ash of war only unique to that weapon.
swap shield to haligtree crest greatshield and chestpiece to ledas armor if you want to look like an absolute fashion chad
So question...? Are all the enemies farmable for equipment like in the base game?
So flaming strike and what affinity?
What other weapons do you recommend for this build
Where do you get the ash of war? Didn’t see a location for it
How do you have flaming strike equiped when holding shield + weapon ? Mine is the shield's base ashe or war wich is a hit
Gotta put the No ash of war on the shield
My morning coffee hits so much harder with these everyday 😻