Sick of playing fair in Elden Ring? There are many strategies to wrecking bosses with completely overpowered builds, but most of them are complicated, confusing, and require very specific instructions. If you’re looking for a nice simple solution to making this game much easier on a second playthrough — or even your first if you’ve made it pretty far into the game — then we’ve got a simple strategy that can boost your damage output significantly. This is all about Strength. There are more powerful Dex or Int builds out there, but we’re aiming for an absolutely foolproof path to victory.
The trick? All you need are Colossal Swords and the right buffs. You’ll also need some incredible patience to build up your stats so you can dual-wield Colossal Swords. We’re not two-handed these giant swords, we’re dual-wielding which essentially doubles your attack power. With the right buffs, your jumping attacks can deal 2,000+ damage in a single hit. Even 3,000+. With the right buffs, you can defeat bosses like Malenia in 6 hits.
No weirdness required. Just straightforward damage-dealing superiority. Here’s how to make it work. The easy way.
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Dual-Wield Colossal Swords Strength Build
To begin your dual-wield Colossal Weapons build, you’ll want to focus on building up strength above all else. All these weapons require strength — just keep leveling up. You’ll be able to use Colossal Weapons even very early in the game. The trick is just leveling up high enough until you can wield two Colossal Swords at the same time.
To deal the most damage possible, there are the buffs you absolutely need.
- Buffs To Make Colossal Swords Insanely Strong
- Royal Knight’s Resolve: Absolutely required. Weapon Skill that gives your next attack +80% damage boost. Found in the Volcano Manor area. Reach the Temple of Eiglay site of grace — this appears in the Godskin Noble boss room. Go through the north door and follow the path around to reach the Stonesword Key gate that requires two keys. Go through and follow the cage path to a corpse.
- Flame Grant Me Strength: Boosts physical damage by +20%. Incantation that costs Stamina. Found between two flamethrowers behind Fort Gael in Caelid.
- Golden Vow: Weapon Skill that can be added to your second Colossal Sword. Grants +12% damage boost. Dropped by a mounted knight in Limgrave. Find the knight southwest of Deathtouched Catacombs near the cliff.
- Claw Talisman: Talisman that increases jump attack damage. Found off a corpse in a watchtower in Stormveil Castle. Take the narrow path from the destroyed pillar, just outside the Rampart Tower site of grace, to reach the tower and gain this talisman.
Combine these buffs in any order you want for a huge increase in damage. You’re basically getting +130% damage from jumping attacks — at least your first attack with the +80% buff. There are even more buffs you can apply if you find them, but these are the basics.
Now you just need two Colosssal Swords. Any of them are good and useful, so here’s a few quick locations you can track down.
- Watchdog’s Greatsword: Dropped by Watchdog enemies wielding the sword in the Mountaintop of the Giants region.
- Greatsword: Located on a caravan chest in Caelid, Dragonbarrow. Find the hearse northwest of Caelem Ruins.
- Zweihander: Sold by the Isolated Merchant in the Weeping Peninsula for 3500 runes. Found in the far west of the region.
If you’re playing NG+, two Ruins Greatswords or Grafted Greatswords are hilariously devastating. Until then, you can grab any two — especially ones you can customize the skills.
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