Pure Intelligence builds have their place in Elden Ring, but that doesn’t mean we can’t dabble in some hybrid builds and have a good time. Intelligence/Dexterity Builds are some of the strongest builds in all of Elden Ring thanks to a staggering number of amazing weapons and spells that tie into it.

Related: Elden Ring Build Guide: Intelligence

Whether you want to run katanas, galaxy-destroying insect wings, or flails made from literal planets, there is something for everyone. Throw in a couple of spells for good measure and you can dominate the battlefield at any range, at any time, and look good whilst doing it.

What Is An Intelligence/Dexterity Build

Intelligence/Dexterity builds are hybrid builds that allow players to mess around with more of the Elden Ring toolbox, whilst remaining painfully effective in combat. Instead of pumping Intelligence to the max and then filling in the rest of your stats, you will be splitting your stats between Intelligence and Dexterity, maximizing your damage at all ranges.

Stats To Aim For

For this build, we will be running with an Intelligence/Dexterity split of 60/50. This puts us close to soft caps for both stats, which will maximize our damage output on any weapon with split scalings.

Because we are going so heavy into split stats, our other stats will take a hit to make up for it. Our Vigor is at 50, but could even be dropped to 45 if you wanted to invest those 5 points elsewhere. Mind is at 20, which is a tad low, but we can fix that later.

Finally, Endurance is at around 20 (based on starting class). Since we are using light weapons, our Stamina and Equip Load shouldn’t be impacted too much by this.

Moonveil Katana Build - Everything Dies

Overview

This build focuses on mixing the Moonveil Katana with some of the best spells in the game to make a build capable of downing even the mightiest enemy in close combat, or at a distance. This build is fast, deadly, and extremely fun.

Weapons

• Moonveil Katana
• Carian Regal Scepter

The core of his build is the wonderfully powerful Moonveil Katana. This thing deals incredible damage, has the katana moveset (which is amazing), and has one of the best Weapon Arts in the entire game. Not only that, but it has perfect stat scalings, landing on that sweet, sweet, B/B scaling.

These scalings allow us to push its Physical and Magic damage to ludicrous levels and are the reason we have tried to get our Intelligence and Dexterity to those soft caps. The only downside to going split is that our Weapon Art won’t be as powerful as a flat 80 Intelligence build.

For our spell casting, we are running the Carian Regal Scepter which is the best staff in the game, and the reason we have pushed our Intelligence slightly higher than our Dexterity. Alternatively, you could run Lusat’s Staff for slightly more damage, at the cost of a 50 percent boost in the cost of your spells.

Main Spells

• Glintstone Pebble
• Rock Throw
• Comet Azur
• Loretta’s Great Bow
• Terra Magica

Glintstone Pebble is our go-to cantrip and basic enemy killer. It has great damage, a low cost, and is endlessly spammable. You could swap this for something like Glintstone Icecrag, or Glintstone Cometshard if you wanted a bit more damage.

Rock Throw is our first utility spell and is one that will carry you through most large-enemy encounters. It deals great physical damage (not magic), it staggers just about everything, and when targeting large enemies and bosses, it will quickly open them up for a Critical Hit. Cheap and effective.

Comet Azur is our cheese spell. Many, many bosses in Elden Ring can be killed simply by casting Comet Azur and watching their health melt. It can stagger, it deals ludicrous damage, and with the right Flask, it can be cast for free. Very useful to have in your toolkit.

Loretta’s Greatbow is another utility spell. You won’t be using this in combat at all simply because it takes too long to cast. It’s also very inefficient in terms of FP consumption. All of that being said, it’s the longest ranged spell in all of Elden Ring, making it ideal for sniping enemies you don’t want to fight.

The final spell to consider would be Terra Magica, which is truly outstanding. It will increase all of your Magic damage (including weapons that deal Magic damage) by 35 percent providing you are standing on the glyph it conjures. You can start just about any fight by casting this and you’ll be golden.

Related: Elden Ring Build Guide: Dexterity

Talismans

• Graven Mass Talisman
• Magic Scorpion Charm
• Erdtree’s Favour
• Dragoncrest Greatshield/Peardrake

We have statted ourselves to take maximum advantage of the Moonveil Katana, but that doesn’t mean we can’t push ourselves even further equipping some powerful talismans. Firstly, the Graven Mass Talisman increases the damage of all spells, which is an almost auto-include.

Following on from that is the Magic Scorpion Charm which increases all Magic damage (including weapons!). This boost is very much welcome in all areas of combat.

Erdtree’s Favor will bump up our HP, FP, Stamina, and Equip Load, which makes up for our lower stat investments. If you are fine with your base resources, then you could swap this for Radagon’s/Marika’s Soreseal or the Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom.

The Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman and Pearldrake Talisman massively increase our Damage Reduction, and equipping one and then swapping out when needed can make this build very hard to kill.

Armor

• Queen’s Crescent Crown (Optional)
• Okina Mask (Optional)

As is always the case, you want to have as much Damage Reduction and Poise as you can, whilst still keeping to a Medium Roll. If you want to bump up your stats, then the Queen’s Crescent Crown or Okina Mask is the way to go.

Flask Of Wondrous Physick

• Cerulean Hidden
• Magic-Shrouding
• Dexterity-Knot

The three main Tears for this build are the Cerulean Hidden Tear, Magic-Shrouding Tear, and Dexterity-Knot Tear. You will want to swap out the Cerulean Hidden Tear for basic exploration and slot it in when you are fighting bosses that require Comet Azur.

Magic-Shrouding and Dexterity-Knot are here to boost the build’s damage. Dexterity Knot brings our Dexterity to 60 for three minutes, which is the soft cap. Magic-Shrouding increases all of our magic damage (including weapons) for three minutes. When combined with our Talismans and Terra Magica, our damage will skyrocket.

Next: Elden Ring: Complete Guide And Walkthrough