Offering everything from 6-player free-for-all to one-on-one duels, the Colosseums are the first Elden Ring DLC. In this guide, we’ll showcase three of the best PvP builds to take into battle.
What Are the Colosseums
The Colosseums offer a way for players to engage in PvP without using summoning signs or invading. There are three Colosseums: One in Limgrave, another in Caelid, and the third in Leyndell, Capital City. Beyond their unique aesthetics, each Colosseum hosts individual game modes. The Limgrave Colosseum hosts United Combat (3v3 team battles) and Combat Ordeal (free-for-all). The Leyndell Colosseum exclusively hosts 1v1 dueling. The Caelid Colosseum hosts all modes, with the exclusive ability to use Spirit Ashes.
If you need help finding and unlocking them, check out our guide on the Colosseums.
Lord of Blood Build
Have you ever wanted to serve the Formless Mother and become the next Lord of Blood? In that case, this is the build for you! This is a high Arcane/Mind build, so those stats will be prioritized. While this build works towards any level, we recommend leveling to at least 150 before entering the Colosseums.
Starting Class
The Lord of Blood build is based on the Vagabond starting class. So, for those playing other classes, keep in mind that certain stats cannot be reduced below their original number.
What this Build is for
This build aims to maximize blood loss buildup and maintain distance. It’s no surprise that bleed is still breaking Elden Ring in terms of damage numbers. With the Rivers of Blood Katana getting nerfed in the recent update, the Spear of Mohg seemed to be the perfect replacement.
Stat Priority
- Arcane
- Mind
- Vigor
- Faith
- Strength
- Intelligence
- Endurance
- Dexterity
Level 150 Stat Spread
- Arcane – 45
- Mind – 35
- Vigor – 60
- Faith – 31
- Strength – 24
- Intelligence – 9
- Endurance – 12
- Dexterity – 13
The Build
These are the weapons and items needed for this build:
Weapon + Seal
Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear
- This weapon is obtained after defeating Mohg and exchanging his spirit remembrance. A mighty arcane scaling spear, this weapon uses its ability Bloodboon Ritual to bleed enemies out from a distance.
Dragon Communion Seal
- This seal is powerful in arcane builds, allowing us to use the incantations needed for this build.
Incantations
Swarm of Flies, much like in our Bleed Build, will aid us even further in maintaining distance between opponents. Casting it will open up a window for you to use Bloodboon Ritual while the enemy is running away from the flies.
Talismans
Rotation + Strategy
- Start the fight by casting Swarm of Flies twice at a distance.
- Use Bloodboon Ritual and watch their hp melt.
- Keep your distance, you will be vulnerable to close-range attacks from weapons.
Holy Crucible Knight Build
This build is for those who always liked to be the Paladin of the party. Being a holy blade of fury, this build will prioritize Strength/Faith. This build will use a close-range weapon as well as faith-scaling Incantations. This build is tailored to level 150.
Starting Class
The Crucible Knight build is based off of the Confessor class.
What This Build is For
This build will be tailored towards a swordsman playstyle, getting in for close attacks and using incantations when needed. Playing with this build will maximize damage during 1v1 duels. The incantations used will be helpful in both 1v1 and free-for-all.
Stat Priority
- Strength
- Vigor
- Faith
- Endurance
- Mind
- Intelligence
- Dexterity
- Arcane
Level 150 Stat Spread
- Strength – 50
- Faith – 40
- Vigor – 60
- Endurance – 30
- Mind -20
- Intelligence – 9
- Dexterity – 13
- Arcane – 7
The Build
These are the weapons and items used for this build:
Weapon + Seal
Ordovis’s Greatsword
- Primarily scaling with strength, this sword is the bread and butter of this build. Ordovis’s Vortex is perfect for staggering damage.
Clawmark Seal
- This seal is perfect for this build, as it scales incantations with Strength and Faith.
- Be sure to get the full Crucible Axe set:
Incantations
Aspect of Crucible: Horns will be helpful to close the distance between you and your opponent; additionally, if in a free-for-all, few will see it coming from behind.
Aspect of Crucible: Breath is for when you want to get some extra damage in. This incantation is perfect if you want to keep an enemy at a distance.
Wrath of Gold acts as a panic button in case enemies get too close, or you’re in low health. It pushes enemies away and can briefly stagger them long enough for you to get in some extra hits.
Golden Vow pairs with one of our talismans. When paired, you will have a 50% damage reduction for a short time, making you a beast on the battlefield.
Talismans
Rotation + Strategy
- Start any fight by cast Golden Vow, better to start off with as much damage negation as possible.
- Cast Aspect of Crucible: Horns to close the gap between opponents.
- Use the Ordovis’s Vortex skill to start dealing physical and holy damage.
- Back away from the enemy, give them some false distance while using Aspect of Crucible: Breath to keep them from getting too close.
- As stated, use Wrath of Gold if the fight isn’t turning in your favor, and use the opening created to get in some extra damage.
Death Samurai Build
For those looking for an epic anime-style fight, this build is perfect. This build is meant to focus on mobility and quick damage over everything. This will primarily be a build scaling with Dexterity/Strength. This build is also tailored for level 150.
Starting Class
With this being called the Death Samurai, we based the class off of the Samurai.
What This Build is For
This build is for those trying to be the fastest hitter on the battlefield, able to control distance easily. The idea of this build is to utilize two Katanas in the right-hand slot with one seal in the left hand. This build will be using a few Ashes of War and an incantation.
Stat Priority
- Strength
- Dexterity
- Vigor
- Endurance
- Mind
- Faith
- Intelligence
- Arcane
Level 150 Stat Spread
- Strength – 50
- Dexterity – 42
- Vigor – 60
- Endurance – 21
- Mind – 21
- Faith – 18
- Intelligence – 9
- Arcane – 8
Weapons + Seal
Uchigatana
- This will be one of our Katanas in this build, paired with the Beast Step. This weapon scales with Dexterity and Strength, a heavy hitter in this build.
Nagakiba
- This is our second Katana; its reach is unbeatable, with substantial bleed build-up. This will serve as our backup katana to use any Dragon Cult ashes of war.
Gravel stone seal
- Our Incantation is of the Dragoncult type; this seal will help boost its potency.
Ashes of War + Incantation
Electrify Armament is an incantation that scales with Faith and Dexterity, so either Katana benefit from this incantation being used.
Talismans
Rotation + Strategy
- When the fight begins, cast Electrify Armaments on the Uchigatana with Bloodhound Step. Start teleporting around the area and begin toying with your opponent, strike, then move back and create distance.
- Regain some health and stamina after your attacks, then use Lightning Slash to surprise your enemy and utilize that extra reach.
- Keep using Bloodhound Step to step in, get in some strikes, and step out of the enemy’s range.
We hope this guide was helpful! Please feel free to comment or check out our other guides.
this build is dogshit, its very boring and bad?, why so much mind?, why no health, you will just get popped by someone who knows better.
to anyone reading this, dont follow this guide. you will not have fun lol. you will get 1 shot by people who actually know how to optimize a build
All this builds are horrible for arena PvP (or PvP in general). First, most PvP’ers will be at 125, advising people to go to 150 is a way to promote overleveling. Second, the stat allocation is pretty bad. Going for less than 60 vigor is a death wish, specially if your build isn’t very tanky in terms of defense + poise.
It’s obviously impossible to tell for certain, but from the discussions and polls on Reddit it’s seemed as though 150 has been more popular than 125, really since the game came out. There is plenty of activity at most levels, so it’s really a non-issue to “promote overleveling”.
As far as 60vig being required, frankly it’s silly how everyone acts like their way to play the game is the only way (it’s a problem in lots of online titles). Having 60 vigor is undeniably the safest way to play, but it isn’t always going to stop you from dying (I know the clip is old but the point is still relevant). Always having to hit the softcap in vigor also limits build variety — same thing with sticking to 125.
If you think you’ve got better builds, free to share them, and if we like them maybe we’ll add them to the guide!
Thanks for the feedback! We’re making tweaks at the moment to make the builds more viable.
I like how all the rude criticism amounts to “git gud” with no actual advice on how to improve these builds outside of “level vigor lol”.
For some actual advice on how to improve the builds:
Elephant in the room: vigor. Yes, you need high vigor in the arena. 60 is ideal, but you can go to 50 if you really have to. Vigor improves not just your health, but your overall resistances, especially to bleed, which is very prevalent in pvp.
Endurance looks fine, 30 is a good number.
For strength/dexterity — focus one (especially for the samurai). Your weapons really should be placed on heavy or keen — quality scaling isn’t the best at low levels, and you’ll get more AR out of going to 60 in dex and spreading those remaining levels into vigor or endurance.
For every build other than the Mohg one, I wouldn’t recommend over 20 Mind — you get a blue flask in arena duels, and, really, unless you’re a pure caster, you don’t need more than what 20 Mind gives you. Mohg I’d recommend dropping to 30 (I would also recommend reworking this build entirely, because Mohg’s spear has been nerfed and the aoe and hitstun of the weapon art is greatly reduced. Any pvper good at spacing will just stay out of range and poke you while you can’t move).
Now for specifics about each build:
Crucible Knight — good weapons, good armor, good spells (ditch wrath of gold though) and good talismans, but be careful with your description of the Dragoncrest Greatshield talisman. In PVE it reduces all PHYSICAL damage taken by 20% — in PVP it reduces all PHYSICAL damage taken by only 5%.
Lord of Blood — Again, probably best to rework this completely. Swarm of flies as your only spell isn’t great (look into some bloodflame spells!), and doesn’t really fit with the “Lord” of “Blood” theme — use some more! The ritual sword talisman is kinda… useless in pvp, since the moment you get hit once it’s useless, and you don’t get crimson flasks in the arena. Swap it for the Dragoncrest Greatshield talisman, or Erdtree’s favour.
Death Samurai — Not really a “death” samurai tbh, more like a “lightning” samurai — still a cool concept tho! Again, focus into dex, since it increases your lightning damage, and drop your str points into more vigor and endurance. Also, the Gravel Stone Seal does NOT improve Electrify Armament, even though it is a Dragon Cult Incantation! It’s weird I know! I also think you meant to put the Claw Talisman where the Ritual Shield Talisman is? Not a bad choice, but you could do with more resistances (ie. Dragoncrest Greatshield, Erdtree’s Favour, or any of the numerous defense-boosting talismans). Also, Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger is just not useful in any way for this build — you can’t stance-break players, so the only way to get a critical is either parrying (which this build cannot do) or backstabbing (rare in pvp situations). You’d be better off with any of the talismans I mentioned above.
I also have no idea what the other comments are talking about — 150 is the meta pvp level in everything but tournaments due to the way vigor works in Elden Ring. This isn’t Dark Souls 3 lol. Making on 125 level builds for pvp wouldn’t be such a bad idea though — you could label them as “Tournament-Ready” or something.
Anywho, thanks for reading my TED-talk, and I wish you luck developing future builds!
Actually, Vigor does not increase Frost and Bleed resistances, it actually increases Immunity instead, which is defense against poison and scarlet rot. To obtain higher robustness, you need to level endurance. Endurance is one of the most meta stats as of now, due to its ability to allow for higher poise gear, as well as reducing the ease of which you are staggered by frostbite and bleed.
Thanks for the guide. Death Samurai build looks awesome! I already like the appeal of running around with that stupid-large Nagakiba katana.