Ultimate Elden Ring Spiked Caestus Build Guide

The Spiked Caestus in Elden Ring excels at generating passive blood loss buildup. By utilizing this weapon, you can craft an aggressive setup that prioritizes high sustained damage, resulting in devastating attacks. Begin with the Vagabond class and concentrate on your Dexterity, Arcane, and Vigor stats, complementing the Caestus with the Beast Crest Heater Shield.

Next, make use of the Bloodflame Blade and Flame, Grant Me Strength Incantations to optimize this build’s potential. Finally, don the Black Knife Set and opt for a Mimic Tear as your Spirit Summon to complete your setup in Elden Ring.

Overview of the Spiked Caestus Build in Elden Ring

The build outlined here is a bleed-centric configuration that leverages the inherent blood loss abilities of the Spiked Caestus. This setup provides enhanced defense, given the close-quarters combat style:

• Starting Class: Vagabond
• Flask Distribution: 3 parts HP to 1 part FP
• Core Stats: Dexterity, Arcane, and Vigor (primary), with Endurance, Mind, and Faith (secondary)
• Weapon: Spiked Caestus
• Shield: Beast Crest Heater Shield
• Ash of War: Bloodhound’s Step
• Incantations: Bloodflame Blade and Flame, Grant Me Strength
• Spirit Summons: Dung Eater Puppet or Mimic Tear
• Armor: Black Knife Set with White Mask
• Flask of Wondrous Physick: Opaline Hardtear and Crimsonspill Crystal Tear
• Talisman: Lord of Blood’s Exultation, Green Turtle Talisman, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, and Millicent’s Prosthesis.

Spiked Caestus Stat Requirements

Top Weapon Choice

The Spiked Caestus is a fist weapon in Elden Ring that excels in damage output and generating passive blood loss. Its effectiveness scales greatly with Dexterity and Arcane, making it an excellent candidate for this bleed-focused build.

You can obtain this weapon from the Isolated Merchant located in Dragonbarrow for 4,000 Runes.

Optimal Shield Selection

For this setup, you’ll want a lightweight shield that allows for agile movements. The Beast Crest Heater Shield fits this requirement perfectly. You can find it in a chest located within a camp to the west of the Saintsbridge site of grace, east of Stormhill.

Recommended Ashes of War

We advise using the Bloodhound’s Step Ash of War with the Spiked Caestus. This skill dramatically enhances your evasiveness and allows for rapid repositioning. Given that this build is centered around close combat, it provides a significant advantage in many encounters.

Essential Incantations for Spiked Caestus Build

To enhance the Spiked Caestus’ ability to inflict blood loss and to boost your fire damage, we recommend utilizing the following two incantations:

1. Bloodflame Blade: This incantation enhances your Caestus with Bloodflame, elevating the likelihood of blood loss applies and increasing overall damage.
2. Flame, Grant Me Strength: This incantation amplifies physical damage as well as fire damage, further enhancing the effects already provided by Bloodflame Blade.

Optimal Spirit Summon Choices

For this build, you can either take an aggressive approach with the Mimic Tear or summoning a partner to distract foes using the Dung Eater Puppet. Here’s a brief overview of both options:

1. Dung Eater Puppet: The Dung Eater Puppet is a resilient summon that targets enemies with bleed damage while boasting a substantial health pool, making it invaluable in battle.
2. Mimic Tear: This summon creates a duplicate of your character, effectively doubling your damage output while fighting alongside you.

Best Armor for the Spiked Caestus Build in Elden Ring

The ideal armor set for this build is the Black Knife Set, located beneath an arch in Ordina, Liturgical Town within the Consecrated Snowfield region. It’s recommended to equip the Black Knife Set along with the White Mask instead of the usual headpiece, as it enhances damage dealt by 10% for 20 seconds after either you or an enemy suffers blood loss. This headpiece can be obtained by defeating the Nameless White Mask NPCs in the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum.

Best Flask of Wondrous Physick

The Flask of Wondrous Physick allows you to activate two temporary buffs with one use. For the Spiked Caestus build, given the proximity to enemies, we suggest the following:

1. Opaline Hardtear: This Tear increases your damage negation by +15%
2. Crimsonspill Crystal Tear: This Tear boosts your maximum HP by +10%

Top Talismans for the Spiked Caestus Build

Talismans provide various enhancements for your builds. There are four slots available for talismans, and for the Spiked Caestus build, these are ideal:

1. Lord of Blood’s Exultation: This talisman boosts your attack power by +20% whenever blood loss occurs within the vicinity.
2. Green Turtle Talisman: This talisman accelerates your stamina regeneration rate.
3. Rotten Winged Sword Insignia: This talisman increases attack power following each successful hit.
4. Millicent’s Prosthesis: This talisman grants extra Dexterity and enhances your damage after consecutive attacks, complementing the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia effectively.