[Top 5] Elden Ring Best Barbarian Builds That Are Powerful

Battering your way through the Shadow Lands

Updated:

14 Sep 2024

Hit it With a Big Stick

We've all known the Barbarian archetype since Conan brought its namesake to comics in the 70's and our screens in the 80's. It's the big brawny fighter character, the giant weapon wielding warrior. Barbarians are a timeless classic in the high fantasy RPG genre and Elden Rings brings them to us in a fantastic way.

Souls games have always been iconic for making the character look like one of the smallest things in the world, even against your basic trash mob enemies. That makes all the weapons look extra large on us, but even more so when it comes to the colossal weapons. These massive beauties easily dwarf our player in size, and hit the enemy for insane amounts of damage.

Playing the Barbarian Class

So what makes a Barbarian fighter? First and foremost is the Strength stat. Barbarians are the primary class that focuses on the Strength stat, to make the most out of their weapons. This is because the majority of the weapons for the Barbarian class usually fall under the colossal weapon category or they end up scaling the best with Strength.

The next major part of the Barbarian is the weapon of choice. Barbarian warriors wield some of the heaviest weapons in the game, and work for any build that's either using a colossal version of a weapon or the oversized version of the weapons. Greatswords are usually on the lightest end of the weapons here, but we see everything from hammers, axes and clubs, to spears and swords.

Talismans are also a key part of this build, since most of the purpose of the build is to hit the opponent as hard as possible every time for that big damage chunk off an enemy's health bar. We see new boosts in the Two-handed wielding thanks to talismans and a whole variety of ways to mix and match them to fit into any build.

Of course, with every DLC comes new armor and these new armors were, I think, what a lot of players were waiting for. We see several themed sets in the game which are used to boost specific types of damage. The original barbarian builds were more built to spec with a balance of the strongest weapons that we could find and armor to make sure we didn't go over our weight balance. Even that is covered in the new talismans

Picking the Top 5

There are a ton of colossal weapons in Elden Ring, and we can even downsize to the Greatswords and some of the axes and still be in fine fighting form. This top 5 list is based on an overall look at the new DLC weapons and how upgrades have been added to key classics, as well as a look at the newest potential powerhouse builds that we get in DLC exclusive content.

5. Bloody Butcher

Next step, Bankai

What is a Bloody Butcher

Life gain builds are never a bad thing in the land of Elden Ring, and they got a new upgrade in Shadow of the Erdtree. When it comes to Barbarian builds, that hasn't changed since this build has now been given a new weapon in the Bonny Butchering Knife. This is a new version of an already existing weapon called the Butchering Knife which we got from an invader in the Caelid region in the early game. The original weapon can be enchanted with different ashes of war, but the new one goes for straight damage, and has a sharpening skill that hits hard and heals at the same time.

Playing the Bloody Butcher Pros and Cons

Life gain makes for one of the tankiest builds in the game, even without the Blasphemous Blade.
This can be either a dual wield, or a two handed build with two of the Butchering Knives thanks to the DLC.
The original Butchering Knife can be given affinities and ashes of war which makes it customizable with multi-hit special skills
Passive life-gain isn't enough to cancel high damage attacks from bosses and strong enemies. This build still can be taken out fast by enemies that can take out anything over 500 health in a hit.
This is a build that requires more stats in more areas than other barbarian builds. It can sometimes feel like a balance between which stats are needed with which affinities.

Weapon Loadout

1. Bonny Butchering Knife

Requirements: 16 Strength, 20 Dexterity

The Bonny Butchering Knife is the newest version of the original Butchering Knife that we see dropped in Caelid. It's the primary weapon of the local special enemies which all carry the same weapon, but it's also a special skill version of the weapon. The newest skill isn't as versatile as the original, but it hits hard, and it's capable of some serious damage.

2. Butchering Knife

Requirements: 16 Strength, 20 Dexterity

The Butchering Knife is one of the original must have pieces for this build and it only got better now that it's been given a second one, called the Bonny Butchering Knife with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Even though the Bonny Butchering Knife has better vampiric stats with the weapon, we run it in the offhand because it can't be enchanted with ashes of war which makes the Butchering Knife the better choice for this build.

Both of the Butchering Knives leech HP, but the original Butchering Knife leeched 1% of your HP per hit. That may not seem like much, especially with a Greataxe in hand. But the Butchering Knife can be given ashes of war which include special skills like Golden Land, Prelate's Charge, and Waves of Darkness. Golden Land is better for a Paladin build, but Prelate's Charge deals fire damage and is probably the most berserker in nature for this build. Waves of Darkness is great for destroying trash mobs, on the other hand, with an aggressive AOE effect that also keeps the player in the middle of the fight.

The thing is, that each of these techniques, including Waves of Darkness, hit the opponent multiple times per attack, which means that the build can leech a lot of HP for every use of the special ability. So when it comes to this build, the Butchering Knife is every bit as great for the vampiric player as the Blasphemous Blade. Keen affinity seems to be the best affinity for this weapon most of the time but it's also good for a few different types of special ability that may change this depending on how you play.

3. Erdtree Seal

Requirements: 40 Faith

The Erdtree Seal is just one of the better seals in the game and it works. It does mean a higher Faith stat for the build, but since this can easily be used to add some flavor to the build it works. If you're not going to mess around too much with the Faith in this build, I highly recommend just using the Dragon Communion Seal since it has very low requirements and also has no weight, which is great.

4. Main-Gauche

Requirements: 7 Strength, 15 Dexterity

The real reason for the Main-Gauche is that it can be enchanted with Seppuku, and it's an aesthetic choice for the build. It's not one that I might use very often, but it serves the purpose, and it has the ability to power stance with thrusting swords as a side note. Great for a musketeer build in the future, perhaps?

Gear Loadout

Helms

White Mask- Increases damage dealt when blood loss occurs in the area
Rakshasa Helm- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%
Royal Remains Helm- Slowly restores HP over time

Armor

Rakshasa Armor- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%
Royal Remains Armor- Slowly restores HP over time

Gauntlets

Rakshasa Gauntlets- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%
Royal Remains Gauntlets- Slowly restores HP over time

Greaves

Rakshasa Greaves- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%
Royal Remains Greaves- Slowly restores HP over time

Extra Essentials

Talismans

Two-Handed Sword Talisman- Increases damage 15% when two-hand wielding a weapon
Godskin Swaddling Cloth- restores HP on consecutive hits
Lord of Blood's Exultation- increases attack power when blood loss occurs in the area
Blessed Dew Talisman- Slowly replenishes health over time.
Great-Jar's Arsenal- vastly increases Equip Load
Bull-Goat Talisman- Increases poise by 33%
Talisman of Lord's Bestowal- Increases poise by 54% after drinking from a flask of tears

Spells

Blessing's Boon- Slowly heals health over a period of time
Beast's Vitality- restores health over a period of time
Bloodflame Blade- enchants the right hand armament with bloodflame
Swarm of Flies- Releases a swarm of flies that cause blood-loss in the vicinity
Golden Vow- Increases damage dealt by 15% and lowers damage received by 10%
Flame, Grant Me Strength- Increases physical and fire damage dealt by 20%

Stats

50 Vigor
25-65 Mind
30-40 Endurance
65-80 Strength
50-80 Dexterity
35-50 Intelligence
25-60 Faith
30-80 Arcane

4. Devonia Devastator

Hammer!

What is the Devonia Devastator

Crucible knights may be one of the more frustrating enemies in the games sometimes, but they're also some of my favorite enemies in terms of power and aesthetic. It's kind of like fighting an armor of cast down angels when they use their wings. With the Shadow of the Erdtree we got a brand new crucible knight build inspired by Devonia.

We once again see the return of some of the Aspect of the Crucible spells, as well as some new options from Shadow of the Erdtree such as the Thorns and Bloom incantations. We also see some range in the Land of Shadow incantation but for the most part, the Aspect of the Crucible is our bread and butter offensive.