Using melee builds in Elden Ring may sound one-dimensional, but the game has more diversity when it comes to melee than you’d think. If you want your Strength, Dexterity, or any other melee build strong, use the proper talismans.
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Best Talismans for Any Melee Build
The following talismans are highly effective with any melee builds. Whether you’re using a Strength build that sends enemies flying with the Greatsword, or a Dexterity build that dual-wields katanas, any of these will prove beneficial for you.
Green Turtle Talisman
The Green Turtle Talisman raises your stamina recovery speed by 17.7%. Consistently slashing at an enemy while maintaining enough stamina to dodge away can be challenging in this game. Equipping this talisman will help you manage that challenge easier.
You can find this talisman in the underground room found in Summonwater Village. The entrance to the underground is located on the eastern side of the village. You’ll know you’re close when you start to see turtles in the area. Prepare one Stonesword Key to unlock the seal that’s barring the entrance.
Radagon’s Soreseal
The Radagon’s Soreseal is a legendary talisman that raises your Vigor, Endurance, Strength, and Dexterity stats by 5. Basically, this talisman raises every stat that elevates melee combat. Its caveat is that it also increases the damage you receive by 15%.
You can find this talisman in Fort Faroth.
Make your way to the roof of the fort and use the furthest opening on the ground to get down to the wooden floor below. Head northeast and look to the right where the wooden wall ends to see an area you can jump onto.
Proceed to jump there and continue forward. Drop down and continue onwards until you find the talisman.
Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman
The Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman raises your physical damage reduction by 20%. If you’re confident in your dodging, parry, or blocking skills, you can reserve your talisman slot for another. However, equipping this can be very beneficial considering you’ll always be in close proximity with enemies.
This talisman can be picked up from a chest in Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. From the Drainage Channel Site of Grace, take the eastern exit and continue onward to the structure to the north.
Use the branches and the beams to get to the roof of the structure. You’ll then find holes on the roof to fall into. Look carefully and you’ll spot wooden beams to land on.
Look over to the west and you’ll find a couple of Kindred of Rot enemies guarding a chest. Make your way here. You’ll find the talisman in this chest.
Carian Filigreed Crest
The Carian Filigreed Crest is a talisman that lowers the FP cost of skills by 25%. Utilizing the various Ashes of War in the game can really elevate your melee build. This talisman can reduce their FP cost, which is helpful because you won’t be too focused on leveling your Mind stat as a melee user.
You can purchase this talisman from Iji, but only if you help Blaidd defeat Darriwil at the Forlorn Hound Evergaol.
Dagger Talisman
The Dagger Talisman increases your Critical Damage by 17%. This is the damage you do when you stab an enemy after a parry, staggering them, dismounting them from a horse, or when you put them to sleep.
You can find this talisman in the Volcano Manor. Across the entrance to the balcony that has the waygate to Rykard’s boss room, you’ll find a door that’s barred by a fog gate. Use two Stonesword Keys on the Imp Statue to unlock it.
Upon entering the open area, turn to your right and jump down onto the platform below. Enter the room here and proceed onwards. You’ll find the talisman on a corpse that’s dangling by a ledge.
Axe Talisman
Charged attacks are a great way of dealing a huge amount of damage to an enemy, as long as you can time it right. It’s an attack that’s a high risk but also brings a high reward. Why not make the reward more worthwhile by making your charged attacks stronger?
The Axe Talisman increases the damage of your charged attacks by 10%. You can find this in the underground room found in the Mistwood Ruins. Be careful, though, as its entrance is guarded by a Runebear.
Claw Talisman
One of the best ways to deal massive damage at once, or to stagger an enemy in Elden Ring is jump attacks. By equipping the Claw Talisman, you make your jump attacks much stronger.
This is found on the roofs of Stormveil Castle. Start from the Rampart Tower Site of Grace and take the northern exit. As soon as you step outside, head to the right and look over the ledge and you’ll find the roof of a building across.
Jump onto the roof. If you fail, don’t worry. The Site of Grace is close, after all.
Once you finally make it, jump onto the fallen pillar and use it to jump onto the ledge to the right. Move forward from here and you’ll find a place with a ladder, three enemies on the left, and a sleeping one on the right. Deal with the enemies first as they’ll shoot at you when you climb without defeating them.
Once dealt with, ascend the ladder and you’ll find the Claw Talisman on a corpse.
Shard of Alexander
The Shard of Alexander is a talisman that raises the damage of your skills by 15%. You receive this talisman by completing Iron Fist Alexander’s questline.
Taker’s Cameo
The Taker’s Cameo talisman is one of the best talismans in the game for melee builds who stick to PvE, or players who just play the game without fighting others online. With this talisman, you gain 3% + 30 of your total HP each time you defeat an enemy.
You obtain this by completing Tanith’s three assassination contracts.
Best Talismans For Strength Builds
Strength builds are those who prefer to use the game’s heaviest and most hard-hitting weapons. Their wind-ups are slow, but once enemies get caught up in their attacks, it’s basically game over.
These are the best talismans strength builds can use.
Great-Jar’s Arsenal
Strength builds have a tendency of having a heavier load. The Great-Jar’s Arsenal talisman can help mediate that.
This talisman increases your equipment load by 19%. You earn this as a reward for completing The Great Jar’s challenge of defeating three duelists in a row.
The Great Jar can be found in the area marked below. You can get here by taking the elevator in the northern section of Siofra River.
Erdtree’s Favor +2
The Erdtree’s Favor talisman increases your HP, stamina, and equipment load. Its +2 variation increases HP by 4%, stamina by 9.6%, and equipment load by 8%.
You can find this in Leyndell, Ashen Capital. This is the state of Leyndell once you’re close to reaching the ending.
Start from the Forbidden Lands Site of Grace and make your way back to Leyndell. Once you arrive at the wide courtyard before the gate to Leyndell, you’ll find the Erdtree’s Favor +2 atop a branch that’s jutting from the ground at the far end of the courtyard.
Be mindful of the Lesser Ulcerated Tree Spirits that are roaming this area.
Starscourge Heirloom
The Starscourge Heirloom talisman increases your Strength stat by 5%. This is a perfect talisman if there’s a weapon you want to equip but you’re at least 5 points shy of reaching the Strength requirement. Otherwise, it’s just a great talisman to wear if you want to increase your damage output.
This is found in the upper section of Fort Gael in Caelid, under a tent.
Bull-Goat’s Talisman
The Bull-Goat’s talisman raises your overall poise by 33%. Your poise rating affects how easily you get staggered or knocked down by attacks. The higher your poise rating is, the more resilient you are.
Considering how Strength builds need to deal with slow wind-ups to land their attacks, having a high poise can help you absorb an attack or two without flinching.
This talisman is located in Dragonbarrow Cave in Caelid. When you enter this cave, you’ll immediately find a lone Runebear pacing back and forth. To the left of where the Runebear patrols is a passageway that leads to a corpse that holds this talisman.
Best Talismans For Dexterity Builds
Dexterity builds rely on speed to defeat their enemies. Their weapons may not deal much damage compared to those of Strength builds, but their speed makes their attack damage output add up, making them very dangerous and effective.
These talismans will make any Dexterity build players deal more damage and more effective in combat.
Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom
The Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom talisman raises your Dexterity by 5. Like the Starscourge Heirloom for Strength builds, this talisman is great for those who want to equip a weapon but lack the Dexterity requirement.
You obtain this by doing Millicent’s quest and giving her the Unalloyed Gold Needle.
Blue Dancer Charm
If you’re keeping your equipment load to a bare minimum for more mobility and invincibility frames when dodging, equip the Blue Dancer Charm and you’ll increase your damage as well.
The Blue Dancer Charm raises your attack power when your equip load is low. The lower your equipment load is, the higher the boost is to your physical damage. The boost stops when you exceed an equipment load of 30.
You get this by defeating the boss at the end of the Highroad Cave in Limgrave.
Rotten Winged Sword Insignia
Dexterity builds rely on speed to be as effective as possible when fighting enemies. The more attacks they land in a span of time, the better. Equipping the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia makes you more powerful when you succeed at this.
With this talisman, your attack power will increase with successive attacks. The talisman activates after you swiftly land three consecutive hits. You gain an attack power boost of 6% after the first three hits. Land more hits and you’ll raise the boost to 8%, and then to 13%.
You receive this talisman by completing Millicent’s questline and assisting her as she fights her four sisters.
Millicent’s Prosthesis
Millicent’s Prosthesis has two effects. It raises your Dexterity by 5 and it gives you an attack boost when you land attacks successively, similar to the previous talisman. Although, the attack boost it provides is lower by 2% at each tier.
This is the talisman you’ll get if you complete Millicent’s questline but you choose to side with her sisters instead.
Godskin Swaddling Cloth
The Godskin Swaddling Cloth provides another benefit to consecutively attacking enemies at a rapid rate. When equipped, you restore 3% + 30 HP of your total health when you successively attack enemies.
You obtain this by defeating the Spirit-Caller Snail boss at the end of the Spiritcaller’s Cave in the Mountaintops of the Giants.
Best Talismans For Bleed Builds
Bleed builds are some of the most powerful and dangerous builds in Elden Ring. Due to the abundance of weapons in the game that inflicts blood loss, and how effective this status effect is, you’ll be a powerhouse if you’re able to utilize the build properly.
Most bleed builds lean more towards the Dexterity stat, but Strength builds can also employ bleed to their arsenal by giving their weapons a Blood affinity.
There’s one talisman in Elden Ring that will make bleed builds even more dangerous than they already are, and this one is more than enough.
Lord of Blood’s Exultation
The Lord of Blood’s Exultation raises your damage by 20% for 20 seconds whenever a blood loss happens in the area. You don’t need to be the one dealing the blood loss status for this talisman to activate. The blood loss can even be inflicted on you.
You get this talisman by defeating Esgar, Priest of Blood in Leyndell Catacombs. You can get here by heading to the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds and going to the open section where you navigate on top of sewer pipes. Make your way to the ground level from here and you’ll find an opening to the right of a giant lobster. Descend from here and you’ll arrive at the Leyndell Catacombs.
Best Talismans For Poison/Rot Builds
Poison/Rot builds are few and far between, but those who know how to use them properly are very effective in PvE. A lot of the bosses in the game can be put down faster and easier with poison or scarlet rot. Even some of the game’s hardest bosses are susceptible to this status.
This may not be effective in PvP, though, given the availability of items that mitigate these effects.
If you want to try out this build, be sure to equip this talisman:
Kindred of Rot’s Exultation
The Kindred of Rot’s Exultation has the same effects as the Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman, but for poison or rot.
You acquire this talisman by defeating the Kindred of Rot boss at the end of the Seethewater Cave in Mt. Gelmir.
Best Talismans For Elemental Builds
A lot of melee players also utilize a bit of Faith or Intelligence in their builds. This is made more effective once they add elemental affinities to their weapons.
These talismans will give your elemental affinities a damage boost.
Magic Scorpion Charm
The Magic Scorpion Charm increases your magic damage by 12%. This also applies to weapons that inflict frostbite. However, it also reduces your physical damage resistance by 10%.
You can get this talisman by doing Seluvis’ questline and giving him the Amber Starlight.
Fire Scorpion Charm
The Fire Scorpion Charm talisman has the same effects as the previous one, but for fire damage. Those who wish to give their weapons a fire affinity, or are using fire-based weapons can benefit from this.
You can pick this up at Fort Laiedd in Mt. Gelmir. It’s found on a wooden platform on the upper section of the fort, next to a kneeling ghost.
Lightning Scorpion Charm
This talisman is still similar to the previous talismans, but it improves lightning damage.
You can pick this up at Wyndham Catacombs in Altus Plateau. It’s in the room that’s blocked by a fog gate. Be sure to bring a Stonesword Key to enter the room.
Sacred Scorpion Charm
The Sacred Scorpion Charm has the same effects as the previous talismans, but for holy damage.
This talisman is dropped by Anastasia, Tarnished-Eater when she invades you at the Smoldering Church in Caelid.
Best Talismans For Shield Users
The easiest and safest melee build to employ in Elden Ring is to incorporate a shield into your arsenal. Blocking certain attacks instead of dodging them is always a safer bet.
The game also has a guard counter mechanic which has you hit back with a powerful strike whenever you successfully block an attack. Aside from dealing massive damage, a guard counter also has a high chance of staggering enemies.
If you’re skilled enough, you can even use your shield to parry enemies, which guarantees a deadly critical attack to smaller enemies and other players online.
These are the talismans you should use if you want to use this build.
Curved Sword Talisman
The Curved Sword Talisman gives your guard counters a 20% damage increase. As a shield-bearer, you’ll want to use guard counters as often as possible. This talisman makes that attack even more powerful.
You can find this talisman in Stormveil Castle. It is in a chest found in the same dark room where you find the Rusty Key.
Greatshield Talisman
The Greatshield Talisman reduces the amount of stamina you lose with each block by 10%. Equipping this talisman is a must if you want to be able to block more attacks.
You can loot this from a carriage in a camp located southeast of the Erdtree-Gazing Hill Site of Grace.
