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PvE Builds
PvP Builds
Dark Souls 3 features a variety of classes and builds that players can choose from, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This makes the game more entertaining and accessible to players with different playstyles. Faith Builds are quite popular due to their serious damage output and how amusing the spells look to the players.
Related: Dark Souls 3: Best Dexterity Weapons
Additionally, many weapons in the game scale well with Faith, meaning that the more Faith a player has, the more damage they can deal with these weapons. Overall, Faith builds in Dark Souls 3 offer a diverse range of offensive and defensive options that can make them effective in both PvE and PvP scenarios.
PvE Builds
PvE Faith Builds are much more straightforward because you know every boss's weakness and can strategize beforehand. Most bosses in the game are not resistant to Lightning, so that will be your bread and butter. You can switch to Bleed and Fire for some of the fights.
Bleed Caster
The Bleed Faith build is popular mainly because it is effective against enemies with a high health pool. The way Bleed damage works is that it inflicts a percentage of the target's maximum health as damage over time. So the more Faith you have, the more damage you will deal with a full Bleed Buildup on an enemy. Starting with the Cleric Class, your main goal will be to increase your Faith to 60 and Luck to around 40. Increasing your Luck will also up your Bleed Buildup on your Weapons and Miracles.
The only Miracle you will be using is Dorhy's Gnawing. This Miracle applies Dark damage as well as Bleed Buildup on the enemy. The Sage Ring and Ring of Sun's First Born are two of the best Ring options for this build. They increase your casting speed and Miracle damage.
Ring of Sun's First Born will only increase the dark damage you deal from Dorhy's Gnawing and will not increase the Bleed Buildup.
For the weapon of choice, you can go with the Warden Twinblades. You can acquire the weapon early on from Cathedral Grave Wardens in Cathedral of the Deep and Untended Graves. This weapon can also be infused with Blood Gem decreasing base damage but increasing Bleed Buildup and damage.
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Paladin
The Paladin Build in Dark Souls 3 focuses on using Miracles and heavy armor to protect oneself while dealing damage with a melee weapon. Your starting class should be Herald as this class includes Talisman and a few Miracles from the start and is tankier than a Cleric. You should put 40 points into Faith and Strength and the rest you have into Vigor and Endurance.
The Miracles you will use are primarily to buff or heal yourself. Your primary source of damage will come from your buffed weapon. Sacred Oath, Deep Protection, and Tears of Denial are necessary as they increase your physical damage, damage reduction, and potentially save you from death.
You will also need Lightning Blade to reinforce your weapon, and you can also bring Lightning Arrow if you feel there is a particular need for it.
Rings such as Ring of Sun's First Bornand Lingering Dragoncrest Ring will increase your Miracle damage and extend the duration of your spells, making buffs very powerful. The remaining slots for Rings can be filled with any Rings that provide you with physical or magic damage reduction depending on the boss fight. As most bosses are not Resistant to Lightning, this build will shine.
Finally, the weapon you will be using is the Sunlight Straight Sword. This weapon has a skill similar to Sacred Oath and has good scaling with Strength, Dexterity, and Faith, making it the perfect for the Paladin build. Try to buff yourself before going through the fog gate and let the Straight Sword do its thing.
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God Of Thunder
The God of Thunder build revolves around the player being able to use Lightning Spells to dish out severe damage and feel powerful while doing it. Cleric is the best option for this build, as you will need all the Faith you can get. Start by upgrading your Faith to 60 and Strength to 40. It would be best to upgrade your Endurance and Attunement to increase max Stamina and FP.
The Miracles you will be using are Sunlight Spear, Lightning Stake, and Lightning Arrow. All these are spells you will use from afar to deal severe Lightning Damage. Lightning Arrow will be the main Miracle that you use as it can deal good damage in quick successions. Your armor should focus on mobility so you can move around and dodge attacks effectively.
You will use the Sage Ring and Ring of Sun's First Born for the Rings to reduce casting time and increase Miracle damage. Lightning Clutch Ring is also valuable as it increases your weapon's and Miracles' lightning damage. You can use the Sunlight Straight Sword, which scales well with Faith and gives you a decent option in close combat situations.
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Darkness Itself
This build takes the most out of all the Dark items and buffs the game offers you. You can start with the Herald class, as you will need Faith as well as Vigor and Strength. Upgrade your Faith and Strength to 40 and put the remaining upgrades in Endurance and Vigor.
You will need only Dark Blade and Dorhy's Gnawing for the Miracles. Always have Dark Blade on your right-hand weapon to keep doing Dark Damage to the enemies. Dorhy's Gnawing is your ranged option, which deals a lot of Dark damage if you build around it and it also applies Bleed Buildup.
Blindfold Mask is a great armor piece for this build, but you can only get it in The Ringed City DLC. It increases your Dark Miracle and weapon damage. For Rings, the best options are the Dark Clutch Ring, Ring of Sun's First Born, and Sage Ring (if you use Dorhy's Gnawing a lot).
For the choice of weapon, you can go with the Crucifix of the Mad King. The weapon has decent scaling with Strength and Faith and is one of the few weapons with base Dark Damage and can be buffed further with the Dark Blade.
You can also use some of the Dark Pyromancies if you want to play at range. Black Fire Orb and Black Serpent are great options for this.
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PvP Builds
Faith Builds in PvP can be very challenging to play. This is because many of the spells affiliated with Faith have a slower casting time than others in the game. This makes them more difficult to land in fast-paced combat situations. Despite this, some builds make the most out of Faith and can make you a force to be reckoned with.
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Healer
The Healer Build in PvP plays quite an essential part in keeping your allies alive for a more extended period. There is an abundance of healing miracles and spells that can buff you and your allies. However, that does not mean you will not get in on the action. Your starting class will be Cleric, and you will be upgrading your Faith to 60 and Attunement to 30. You do not need to put a lot of points into Vigor or Vitality, as both of the stats are not beneficial to this build.
The Miracles in your Slots will be Sacred Oath, Soothing Sunlight, and Lightning Arrow. The first two spells are mainly for healing and buffing your allies so they take less damage from enemy attacks and deal more themselves. Lightning Arrow will be your primary damage ability. As you will be the farthest away from the enemy players, you must deal damage from afar.
After the enemy players see you constantly healing and buffing your allies, they will divert their attention to you and rush toward you. Your allies will protect you, but it is good to have backups available. In this case, the Miracle Wrath of the Gods can be helpful. It creates a shockwave to damage enemies around you. This spell can help you if enemies get too close.
You can use the Sunlight Straight Sword as a melee weapon if you want another defensive option.
For Rings, you will need to Lingering Dragoncrest Ring, Sage Ring, and Dusk Crown Ring. These rings will increase your spell duration and decrease casting time and FP consumption. This allows you to use buffs and healing Miracles more often.
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Fire Mage
The Fire Mage or the Pyromancer build is self-explanatory. You shoot fire at the enemies, and they burn and die. However, how one can optimize and deal the most fire damage is where this build comes into play. You will start with the Pyromancer Class and make use of the Pyromancy Flame and the 14 points in Faith. You need to upgrade your Faith, Intelligence, and Vigor to 40 and can put the remaining points in Attunement and Endurance.
Spell Optimization is going to be key for your Fire Mage build in PvP. As most of the players you will face are going to be experienced, they will most likely try to dodge most of your spells.
For the first few seconds of the fight, you will be able to analyze how the opponent is. Once you determine whether the enemy is aggressive or not, you can act accordingly.
You can lock on to the enemy and try hitting your spells, but a better way to remove the lock on and cast spells where you think the enemy will go. This does require more skill, but once you get used to it, you will be unstoppable.
You will need to cast specific spells depending on the position of your enemy. Fire Surge will be your main tool for damage from range. You can use this constantly and see how the enemy reacts. If the player gives you enough space, you can start spamming Floating Chaos. This is another great spell for ranged combat. The enemy will have to dodge constantly if they want to avoid all the fire spits giving you time to cast Chaos Bed Vestiges. If you can space well enough, then having Toxic Mist is also a good option, as you can harass enemies not to come close to you.
For Rings, you will already have Great Swamp Ring as a starting item for Pyromancer. The other Rings you need are Witch's Ring, Sage Ring, and Fire Clutch Ring. Keep in mind the buffs from Great Swamp Ring and Witch's Ring do stack, giving you a high buff in Fire Damage. For weapons, you can use the Onyx Blade which is a very good Greatsword and has a skill that gives serious dark damage.
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Lightning Caster
The Lightning Caster build for PvP is similar to the God of Thunder build, but as you will be facing highly skilled online players, a few more defensive options need to be added to the build to make it work. You will be starting out with the Cleric and focusing on upgrading your Faith to 60 and either Dexterity or Strength to 40.
For the Miracles, Sunlight Spear, Lightning Storm, Lightning Stake, and Lightning Arrow will be the same, but you will also need to bring Tears of Denial and Deep Protection. As you invade an enemy, your goal will be to instantly buff yourself with Tears of Denial and Deep Protection, protecting you from death once and also increasing damage reduction and stamina boost. Lightning Stake can sometimes catch players off guard while rolling toward you. It deals a decent amount of damage and allows you to follow up with Lightning Arrow or rush in and use your melee weapon.
Lighting Clutch Ring, Sage Ring, and Ring of Sun's First Born are all required for this build. You will need to be careful if the enemy tries to come close to you as you can deal serious damage from afar but at close range, you are not that strong.
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Next: Dark Souls 3: All DLC Boss Fights, Ranked By Difficulty
