PvE Builds - Dark Souls 3

Str/Dex

Firelink Greatsword and Pyromancy Flame

Fun cosplay build focusing on the Pyromancy form of the Soul of Cinder. Level 90 allows for standard quality stat allocation. Self buff on the Firelink Greatsword is really great, coupled with Power Within you will be pushing 750 attack rating. Although you have a pyromancy flame, its more for show, as Int/Fth are not leveled up.

Unless you get a friend to drop you the armor and weapon, using a Claymore for the game is fine.

VIG: 30, ATT: 15, END: 14, VIT: 15, STR: 39, DEX: 39, INT: 10, FTH: 10, LCK:7

You can wear any rings, but I usually wear the Life ring, Ring of Favor, Chloranthy Ring, and the last slot I swap out for what I need, such as a Sun princess ring to offset Power Within's life leech, or a hornet ring if you want to use a Blessed caestus to parry.

Black Knight Great Axe

Black Knight Glaive

Black Knight Shield

Anri Straight Sword

&

Morian Blade

100+

_{Just equip the Anri's sword in main hand with Morion blade in off hand with red tearstone ring get to low health and get wrecked every boss and for stats just get to 60 luck (softcap for Anri's sword) then the rest of the lvls are up to you depending on what lvl you wanna be}

Black Blade 

&

Pyromancer's Parting Flame

1 2 5

Solomon Pendragon
Jack-Of-All-Trades

Strength | Dexterity | Intelligence | Faith

60 Intelligence/60 Faith... More info in my link!

237

Do You Want to Destroy?! Here is a link to my build:

 ?!

[30 Intelligence + 25 Faith]

Storyteller's Staff

White Hair Talisman

As soon as you can cast 2 essential spells [24] to core build [80+]

This is not a common mage build, it focus on stealth and status effect spells

Versus most enemies you wont trigger aggro, and vs bosses your damage over time will take them down effectively

So far the funniest build i've ever played, check this guide if you want to try something completely different!

[Faith + Quality]
[Sunlight Straight Sword + Lothric Knight Greatsword]
[Sunlight Spear + Soothing Sunlight]

End game build, will make you a God.
Relies both on heavy melee damage, heavy miracle damage, heals, buffs and Tears of Denial, which will render you immortal.

1) ALL STATS TO 40, EXCEPT: Intelligence at base, Luck at base, and Faith raised to 60, as it is our main DMG proc.

2) WEAPONS: Sunlight Straight Sword +5 => Quick swipes.
, Lothric Knight Greatsword +10 ( Blessed ) => Huge swing.
3) OFFHAND: Shield of Want +4; Yorshka's Chime+10 for attack or Saint's Talisman +10 for defence.
4) ARMOR: Catarina Full Set.
5) RINGS: Havel +3, Favor +3, Ring of the Sun's First Born, Morne's Ring.
6) MIRACLES: Sunlight Spear, Soothing Sunlight, Tears of Denial, Sacred Oath. ( 6 slots )
7) ESTUS ALLOCATION: 9 HP, 6 FP.

DYNAMICS: Beginning of anything you do, cast Tears of Denial and Sacred Oath, rest on the bonfire ( the buffs will remain ), and begin your quests.

Sunlight Spear = ~1200 damage.
Encumberment is 70% sharp.

If invaded, cast Sacred Oath, switch to Lothric Knight GS.
L2, R2 on proper timing is game over.

Dex&Luck///Anri's Straight Sword&The Great Scythe

luck and vitality + symbol of avarice & two crystal sage rapiers & rusted gold coins

Faith&Str&int&dex | Lorians greatsword + firelink set and crystal chime

 11 Str, 16 Dex, 20 Luck Fire Uchigatana

SL: 120

Vigor: 30, Endurance: 30, Vitality: 30, Strength: 40, Dexterity: 40

Vigor: 30
Endurance: 20 (NG - 27)

Vitality: 20 (NG - 30)

Strenght: 20

Dexterity: 40

First, you must up Vigor and Vitality to 20. You really can defeat all bosses with standart weapon and clothes. Just upgrade sword meanwhile and all will be good. For NG we need full Lothric set and Lothric Knight Sword. Its best Straight Sword. Upgrade this sword to +10. Set Lothric heavy, so you must up Endurance to 27. You can use any shield. I'm using Crest Shield. Dexterity we up for scale. Lothric sword have default 18 dextery. Vitality we up to 30 because with this 30, we can beat around 10 (!!!) times non-stop. Its really cool. Any enemies will die too fast. 

About rings: we need 3 rings before we go to NG (and for first play of course). Its Havel's Ring, Ring of Favor and Pontiff's Right Eye. Its three cool rings. Other 1 slot for ring you can choose itself. I'm prefer Chloranthy Ring.

For PVP this build works too. You can punish your enemy's with fast, non-stop attack. They do not expect that you can hit more than 4-5 times. 

Good Luck =)

Min 30 faith

40+attunement

25+dex

Max 24 strength

(not adding strength)

95

This would be a hybrid dex/attunement/faith build. The faith would enable the use of miracles to get weapon buffs/ magic shields. The attunement would allow for one to build a lot of focus along with enough slots for said blessings. The dex is to make sure you use curved swords along with the weapon arts most curved swords have, like chained dance/dancer’s grace/spin slash, etc.

Coming off bloodborne’s constantly moving combat, no blocking (especially if you used the blades of mercy) made me think of this build. So if your first from software game was bloodborne, then this build may be found interesting.

faith is for weapon buffs(darkmoon/lightning blade/blessed weapon), great magic barrier,(and maybe a healing spell because you should have more ash estus flasks than most)

attunement is needed for at least 6 slots for miracles, arts( and some other odd useful spells) and most importantly enough focus

dex for the use of curved swords on which this build is built on(my favorite weapon is the painting guardian's curved sword due to it’s weapon art and above average dex scaling.Problem is that you get this weapon after you are accustomed to another weapon)

I capped strength at 24 only because to get some of the boss soul exchange curved swords you a higher strength stat

40 Dex (with rings)

30 Faith (for bufs)

100

18 attunment is the minum required for spell slots and FP cost. 32 base Dex up to 40 with rings equiped, which I think it's a nice cap for a melee build.

If SL cap is increased improve Vigor and Endurance for more HP and Stamina.

60 Faith

Raw-/Lightning Infusions, Estoc preferred

125

With this build you will not feel powerless at any point of your playtrough. The raw weapon is great in the starting areas, and then you get the buffs needed to keep it up, all while pumping your survivability. Basically you get all the damage early on, but do not need to invest in a core stat (Str/Dex/Int/Fai) for the first quarter of the game. And in the endgame locations you will annihilate everything with the inherently fast Spear Miracles and the Lightning Weapon buff.
Works amazingly well in PvP as well as in PvE - just adjust the rings to your playstyle.

1. Starting with the Assassin is recommended, since the Estoc is a godlike weapon and the Spook Spell is of great use troughout the game.
2. Infuse your Estoc with a Raw Gem as soon as possible. Before that you can have a fire infusion, but switching to raw is mandatory for the weaponbuffs.
3. Get the Magic Weapon buff from Yoel, free the pyromancy trainer and get the Saint's Talisman. (Undead Settlement) (That talisman is for faithlevels 42+)
4. Level your Vigor to ~25 and Endurance to ~20. This will easily be enough until about level 50. Upgrade the Estoc as much and as soon as possible.
5. Start pumping points in Faith until you hit 30, and get the Carthus Flame Arc pyromancy-buff.  (Carthus Catacombs)
6. Earn yourself Sunlight Medals along the way. (help kill bosses or invade/duel as a Sunbro)
7. Get the Lightning Blade miracle-buff. (Irithyl-Dungeon) This will be your main buff, at least as long as the boss is not Lightning resistant. In such cases, switch to the Carthus Flame Arc.
8. Level your stats at your leisure in the direction of the liked build.
9. Exchange 30 Sunlight Medals for Sacred Oath (Amazing Buff) and the Great Lightning Spear. Use the Spear, but try to do so in melee range. Equip Morne's Ring, Ring of Sun's Firstborn and (optional) the Lightning Clutch Ring as well al Lloyd's Sword Ring for devastating damage results.
10. (optional) Buy another Estoc/Rapier and infuse it with Lightning once your faith is above 40, for those bosses where you feel uncomfortable with buffing and those people who de-buff you with duel charms in PvP.
11. Slaughter everything and everybody as you go and get the Sunlight Spear Miracle.
12. Get to level 120 and then get the free five levels from Yoel in NG+ to hit the 125 PvP cap.
13. Devastate all living beings with speedy yet extraordinary painful Estoc attacks, bully bosses with Sunlight Spears in their faces or land a Sunlight Spear after a Parry (Sage Ring recommended for this one). For Sunlight Spear damge, check the link below the build-link.

At level ~100+ your rings will determine a lot about your playstyle. You will be able to go full out lightning mage with  Morne's Ring + Ring of Sun's Firstborn + Lightning Clutch + Ring of Dusk/Lloyd's Sword Ring,
or you can keep the melee approach with something like Chloranthy Ring, Hornet Ring, Leo Ring, Ring of Favor and Protection, Lloyd's Sword Ring, Flynn's Ring etc.

Build:
NG+ Lothric Knight at the Lothric Castle Bonfire getting "enlightened":

 40 STR 20 DEX 30 FTH

Sunlight Straight Sword

 106-110

 Pairs some great armors together to form a solid defense as well as a stylish look. Remind Bosses and enemies alike the power of Solaire. Using the Sunlight Straight Sword's buff along with Lightning Weapon brings your AR to 650 and higher

Can also increase attunement to allow for usage of Lightning/Greater Lightning/ Sunlight Spear.

37 STR 34 DEX 30 FTH

Dark Sword

120

Capitalizes on Mundane DPS and has a spell for the elemental advantage in every situation.

Backup weapon is entirely user preference.

Jolly

Cooperator/

Coopinvasion

Build

23 VIG, 14 ATN, 9 END, 16 VIT, 12 STR, 11 DEX, 8 INT, 15 FTH, 11 LUCK

Morning Star, Light Crossbow, Wargod Wooden Shield, Priest's Chime

30

This is strictly a low-level coop and/or invasion build.

You have 15 FTH for the Tears of Denial miracle. However, if that is not working out for you (like against poison), replace it with one or two miracles (Replenishment and Blessed Weapon are safe choices). I don't prefer the Heal spells since your allies either get themselves killed too quickly (usually by rushing or prematurely using Estus), or they simply know how and when to dodge and attack properly.

After you help Greirat from his cell, you can buy the Mace from him as your substitute for the Morning Star until you get the Paladin's Ashes. Don't forget your Light Crossbow from his store, too.

All weapons will be +2, no more... no less. You will infuse a Raw Gem on your Morning Star, and a Simple Gem on your shield. Why?

Because you are not relying on stats for scaling... heck, you're not relying on scaling at all, which is why an infusement like this will benefit you more... and you don't lose the Bleed bonus on your weapon. Also, it's weapon art is too good... if you time it right, you can basically tank through any hit or two with no flinching, and damage is also reduced! This is especially great against R1 spammers or gankers (oh and you can put a Resin on your weapon... like more bleed, perhaps?). Take that, spray & pray mentality!

The shield is made Simple because it gets a slight boost to Magic Defense (which it lacks prior), and it helps regen your FP by 1 point every 5 seconds. That may sound redundant, but you can use a weapon art (both the Morning Star and the Chime) with only 1 FP... although I fear this may get patched at some point. If that happens, infuse your shield with a Blessed Gem instead.

You will be able to help (or intude on) people from the very beginning all the way to the end of the Catacombs area. Have fun, and don't go hollow. No seriously, don't go hollow, that's for another build I may just make.

EDIT: Oh yes, Rings! You will have Ring of Favor (of course), Havel's Ring, Prisoner's Chain, and Sun Princess Ring.

With all this ready to go, you would have to be a complete imbecile to not be helpful to your allies... or a complete and successful nuisence to your enemies.

How to become a Lothric Knight

Strength + Vitality

Broadsword

28

In this guide shows how you become a Lothric Knight in the early game. After the second area you will have a great armor, a strong sword which scales well with strength and dexterity for late, a long-range weapon and a 100%-blocking shield. It's a strong start and you can play with this without any struggle through the first half of DS3. 

Sweeping Spear

Base stats:

Vigour: 12       Attunement: 14 Endurance: 9   Vitality: 12     Strength: 14 Dexterity: 12 Intelligence: 12 Faith: 13   Luck:11

Weapons:

-Partizan (2 handed)           -Pyromancy Flame

20+

An extremely simple concept of progressing damage increase. Use the Partizan with both hands and the extremely long range as well as the varied attacks (thrusting and sweeping) makes it a force to be reckoned with. For particularly difficult enemies that can be stun-locked use the Pyromancy 'Carthus Beacon' to deal progressing damage with each consecutive hit. After the initial build has been reached it is easily tailored to suit your playstyle, wear armour that fits you and level up where you want from there.

Essential stats:

Vigor: 18+
Vitality: 25+
Strength: 25+
Intelligence: 25+

Rings:

Chloranthy Ring, Witch's Ring, Deep Ring, Fire Clutch Ring

55+

This build is easy to create and ideal for close and medium-range combat with enemies, making excellent use of both strength and pyromancy while softcapping.

1. Starting early in the game, many enemies have extensive health and deal extensive damage simultaneously. I recommend killing Leonhard to get a decent set of armor as soon as possible. His set will be available via the Shrine Handmaid. Compared to most sets, it has fairly high defense in all areas, and very high defense in both magic and fire.

2. Pick up the Chloranthy Ring and Grass Crest Shield. These items are essential so you do not have to put any points into endurance. Make sure to acquire the Pyromancy Flame from Cornyx as well, but I do not suggest investing much into intelligence until you can get the Great Chaos Fire Orb (see #4).

3. Use the Butcher Knife you acquire from killing the NPC in the Road of Sacrifices. This weapon scales with an A in strength immediately, has a healing buff, and doesn't require any additional points being put into skill.

4. Get the Izalith Pyromancy Tome in the Smouldering Lake. This unlocks, in my opinion, the best pyromancy in the game: Great Chaos Fire Orb. Many late-game enemies can be killed in 2-4 hits with it depending on how much you invest into intelligence. You need the Deep Ring because this pyromancy requires 2 slots. The Witch's Ring and Fire Clutch Ring will increase your fire attack greatly, but beware your fire defense will be reduced to an average amount while using Eygon of Carim's armor (see #6). I also suggest allotting your Estus Flasks so you have a fair amount of Ashen Flasks to compensate for your default amount of FP.

5. By Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, you should have enough Large Titanite Shards to get your Butcher Knife and Pyromancy Flame to +6 (assuming you also browsed a bit through the Smouldering Lake).

6. Ideally, you want Egyon of Carim's armor, which you can get by killing him once you have invested a bit into strength and vigor. This set is heavy and definitely requires 25+ vitality. I do not recommend using the headpiece because it is so ***** heavy and doesn't provide much extra defense compared to other head attire.

7.  I recommend focusing on investing in vitality and strength, then spending extra souls on attunement and intelligence later in the game, as well as endurance or vigor if you feel it is necessary. If you invest a bit into attunement, you do not need the Deep Ring and therefore can use a ring of your preference.

Overall weaknesses:

Moderate melee range, moderate fire resistance, weak to dark damage, not much FP

pure faith build SL 120

Great self- and party support

MercwithMouth82

45 vigor

60 Faith

Straight Swords, Mace

120

Pure Faith Build focusing on self- and party-healing as well as

self- and party-buffing

Infusions for relaxed playstyle or weapon buffs for max dmg

standard pyromancer / dark build SL 120

MercwithMouth82

40 vigor

40 int/fth

Straight Swords, Mace

120

Standard 120 Pyromancer / Dark build

Infusions for relaxed playstyle or weapon buffs on raw

low-level pure faith build SL 25

Great self- and party support

30 Faith

Straight Swords, Mace

 25

weapons +2/+1 twink. & scale

 Pure low-level faith build for co-op support

self- and party-buffing

Infusions for relaxed playstyle or weapon buffs on raw

low-level pyromancer / dark build SL 25

20 int/fth

Straight Swords, Mace

25

weapons +2/+1 twink. & scale

Pure low level pyromancer for co-op support

Infusions for relaxed playstyle or weapon buffs on raw

 Paladin of the Light

Main stats: Faith, Attunement with decent Dexterity and Endurance

 190

The Fume Buld

Strength/Dex/

Ultra Greatsword

100+

Start as the knight class to get boosted Vitality and endurance, progress through game while leveling up strength, vitality, Dex, and endurance equally( Be sure to get the 5 free levels from Yoel as well). Once you get to the carthus dungeons cut the bridge leading to the High lord Wolnir boss and descend into smoldering lake. Once in smoldering lake head to the demon ruins (to the right of the demon boss fog gate) and progress until you see a lava lake in the very bottom point of the demon ruins to find knight slayer tsorig. He utilized a greatshield and the weapon you need so he will be fairly tought however he is slow, so use backstabs. Once he is defeated he will drop the Fume Ultra Greatsword, it takes twinkling titanite to upgrade but is well worth it. When upgraded fully it has an S in stregnth scaling and a C in Dex. Comibined if you have 70 in stregnth and 50 in Dex you will push 950 damage per strike two handed. I utilize this build well into my Ng+7 playthrough to easily destroy enemies in PVE and invader from PVP. For this build it is recomonded to just use this sword and no shield because the Fume sword is extremely heavy, so you might need to learn to roll effectively. Be sure to use medium or light armour so you do not become overencumbered.

Lightning Rod of Lothric

Lothric Knight Greatsword

125+

Scales really well up to 40 faith and 60 str/dex. The best defense is a strong counter offensive. For details click the link.  <----

Yuria of Londor Build

Darkdrift +5

89+

DEX Cosplay/fast-offensive build good for PvP and PvE

Windalf The Mage

Int 40+

Sage's Crystal Staff + Crystal Sage's Rapier + extras on build

120+

Versatile int build between ranged and melee combat.

Rashtor The Aged Knight (Finished)

Quality Build 

Refined Claymore

Court sorcerer

 Court sorcerer staff +10 and flame of pyromancy +10.

Luck/Str Build

Hollowed Barbed Straight Sword +10 / Carthus Rouge

My first attempt at a luck build that wrecks most of the enemies in the game and it's great also for pvp

Ultimate NG Playthrough Pure Builds (Co-Op, Invasion, and Duels)

See Builds to the right

20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 for each Pure build

(Hybrid builds will only be at Level 60 and above, see below)

These are a list of builds decidated to anything and everything but end-game Duels (aka SL120 "meta"). So, go ahead and choose what build you want, but note that you do not need to follow them to the letter, and you may make adjustments if you don't like the results. These are merely guidelines or starting points for you to go on, then you can either keep them or experiment with different ideas in the same build.

Note: You must stay at the required levels mentioned (Soul level and Weapon level) due to the recent patch (Regulation 1.33 App 1.13).

P.S. Each build section has various levels for access to all areas of the game (for example, SL20 is for High Wall of Lothric to Undead Settlement, while SL100 is basically for the DLC areas).

P.P.S. I am going to assume that you are capable of beating the entire game (with or without help from others) at any Soul Level. After all, this is a Souls' game... how can you call yourself the ultimate jolly cooperator, invader, or duelist... if you can't meet the challenges required for any level?

Strength Builds

Dexterity Builds

Intelligence Builds

Faith Builds

Luck Builds

Ultimate NG Playthrough Hybrid Builds (Co-Op, Invasion, and Duels)

See Builds to the right

Level 60, 80, and 100

See Pure builds above

This is a continuation from the list of builds above. Unlike the "pure" builds you see above, these builds focus on using two stats instead of one, and won't be reaching hardcaps. Don't forget that you do not need to copy off the builds, but merely see them as guidelines to start off of, and then make adjustments if you want. The whole point of my builds (both Pure and Hybrid) are to show what is possible, not what is mandatory. Get creative if my versions aren't enough!

STR + DEX Builds

STR + INT Builds

STR + FTH Builds

STR + Luck Builds

DEX + INT Builds

DEX + FTH Builds

DEX + Luck Builds

INT + FTH Builds

INT + Luck Builds

FTH + Luck Builds

The flamesword dude

STRENGTH+heavy exile greatsword

120

Hey you there... yes you. do you like using greatswords? do you enjoy burning your foes alive? then boy do i have a build for you. this build is mostly, as you can guess, for hitting things hard with a flaming sword. black fire orb on the side.

Glass Cannon of the Church

Strength/Faith

120

Sir Daniel Fortesque (MediEvil Cosplay)

Vitality + Strength / Strength + Dexterity 

Broadsword / Lothric Knight's Sword
Smough's Great hammer / Follower Javelin

84 (Minimum)

The Hero of Gallowmere returns once again to face the horde of the undead. (Play as a spooky skeleton knight! Will be updated later.)

Vigor + Endurance  + Vitality  and Strength.

140 (Maximum meta range)

It is theorised that a dragonslaying executioner was the son of an infamous deserter from Mirrah was long forgotten that he rose from his grave to kill Pontiff Sulyvahn and his faithful knights and to kill any of their allies. This dragonslaying executioner also sought out the serpent men of Archdragon Peak. He tried to find his father, but was too late as a Blade of the Darkmoon had killed him. Father is theorised and most commonly Creighton the Wanderer.

Vitalityand Strength

140 (Maximum meta range)

A cosplay of the Dark Souls 2 Giant Lord.

Strength (And a bit of Faith for fun if you wish)

120 (89 without the Faith)

An Efficient Strength build using rings such as the Prisoner's Chain to gain some virtual levels and I added in Faith components near the end for some fun and to allow a buff for our +10 Heavy Greatsword.

Combo people with a Greatsword and parry them while admiring your 20 free virtual levels.

(Without the Faith parts you will reach level 89 and can spend these extra points to 120 on stats like Strength, Endurance, and Vigor or whatever you want)

Faith and Intelligence; Mace or any that requires 12 Strength or less and Crystal Chime.

117

A caster build that focuses on using Sorceries and Miracles thanks to the use of the Crystal Chime. It occasionally uses pyromancy against certain enemies and bosses.

Faith, Attunement

&

2 Simple Daggers

102

A pure healing build, not at all designed for solo fighting.

However, be amazed at the amount of healing.

Quite flexible in terms of soul level, follows simple formula.

Click on build name for more info.

Strength

Harald Curved Greatsword

108

Easy to use build in both PvE/PvP. High Health/Strenth=hard hitting tank. It takes a Noob to Slay a Noob!

Broadsword
Round Shield
Lloyd's Rings

1

This is a level one build. It concentrates on maximum damage and survival ability for a level one character.

Anri’s sword 

Caitha's Chime

Ancient Dragon Greatshield

Priestess ring

Sun princess ring

Sage ring+2 

Lingering Dragon Crest ring+2

100+

This build is based for fighting everything  but bosses so if you are low on health you can “Run and heal” without using any Estus the level and stats are the bare minimum they can go higher the higher the more heal the better the build

Weapons (only one at a time unless you decide to level vitality)

• Friede's Great Scythe
• Greatsword of Judgement
• Crystal Astora Greatsword

Stats

18 STR, 34 DEX, 34 INT, should fit all weapons in list. Past SL100 I would reccomend only levelling DEX and INT.

100+

Versatile build for weapons that scale with Intelligence. Friede's Great Scythe is an immensely fun weapon to use and with these stats and rings (you can check all equipment in the link at the bottom), all of these weapons do fantastic split damage.

• Freide's Great Scythe - 626AR
• Greatsword of Judgement - 639AR when buffed
• Crystal Astora Greatsword - 615AR

Every weapon here has it's own use but mainly I stick to the Scythe because of the unique moveset. Because of the Intelligence stat also, you could add a staff and make this build a spellcaster as well. I hope this helps any of you!

Versatile Build mainly focusing on STR 

Lothric Knight Greatsword

125

Easy high AR Build For Beginners

Simple Lothric Knight Sword

100+

Cosplay build

200+