You’ll be using a ton of boss weapons in both the base game of Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree, but one of the most popular is Poleblade of the Bud. This special Halberd first appeared in the hands of Saint of the Bud Romina, and when you have it, it relies heavily on your Arcane Stat to deal a lot of damage.

So how can you maximize its usefulness in the game? Of course, choosing a suitable build for it! Because Poleblade of the Bud differs from other Arcane weapons in some ways, this guide will give you a detailed description of what items you should use to make the best build for it.

General Overview Of Weapons

Poleblade of the Bud is a Halberd that scales based on your Strength, Dexterity, and Arcane. Arcane will need to be higher level, as this will provide it with most of the weapon’s damage.

In addition, Poleblade of the Bud will cause Scarlet Rot build-up to the target it hits, and it will always be at level 55 regardless of your stats or weapon upgrades. This is very similar to Scarlet Rot build-up caused by Antspur Rapier, but Poleblade does not move as fast, so Poleblade of the Bud accumulates it more slowly.

When choosing a build-up, you need to pay attention to direct damage first, and then Scarlet Rot build-up. In addition, Poleblade of the Bud has a unique weapon skill, Romina’s Purification, which allows you to have Scarlet Rot Butterflies on the blade of the halberd before using two sweep attacks. This allows you to leave the ground and deal a lot of damage when using this weapon.

The butterflies left behind will also explode, causing a small explosion damage to the remaining enemies. This will accumulate Scarlet Rot faster than Poleblade’s normal attacks, and will also allow you to keep a certain safe distance during the battle. It is also safer to pick up Elden Ring Runes after battle.

So you need to practice how to choose the right time and improve your aim before you start fighting with Poleblade of the Bud, so that you will be very relaxed in the battle. In addition, Iron Jar Aromatics can help you alleviate the low balance and super armor of this attack, and the attributes in the skill will also alleviate the low mobility brought by Iron Jar Aromatics.

Recommended Stats (Wretch Starting Class: Level 150)

Because the key attribute that increases the damage of Poleblade is Arcane, we can directly pull it to the upper limit of 60. In addition, some areas in the DLC may be a bit dangerous, so we will also increase Vigor to 60. For the armor, amulets, weapons, etc. that will be introduced later, you will also need 20 Endurance.

If you use Poleblade of the Bud with one hand, you will also need 14 Strength and 22 Dexterity, which are the minimums for these attributes. If you’re two-handed, you don’t have to worry about this, but you’ll still need to get Faith to 28, so you have some Dragon Communion Incantations and a useful Golden Vow.

Stats Assignment

• Vigor: 60
• Mind: 15
• Endurance: 20
• Strength: 14
• Dexterity: 22
• Intelligence: 10
• Faith: 28
• Arcane: 60

Armor And Compatible Weapons

For this build, you can use Rakshasa Armor, which you can obtain by defeating the boss of the same name in Eastern Nameless Mausoleum. Rakshasa Armor gives a 2% damage bonus per piece of armor to all damage types, but it’s not as good as armor of similar weight in helping you mitigate damage taken. If you want both, you might want to consider Maliketh’s Armor.

If you want to use Poleblade of the Bud one-handed, it’s also important to choose a weapon that goes well with it. You can use Dragon Communion Seal in your left hand, and it can still do a lot of damage when you don’t want to use spells.

Talismans

When choosing Talismans, you can focus directly on increasing direct damage, and secondarily on increasing the power of your spells. So, when you two-hand Poleblade of the Bud, you can use the Two-Handed Sword Talisman to give you a 15% damage bonus.

In addition, Two-Handed Sword Talisman can be used in conjunction with the aforementioned Rakshasa Armor to give this Poleblade even more bonus damage. If you want to be even more powerful, you can use Kindred of Rot’s Exultation, which will give you a 20% damage bonus when you trigger Scarlet Rot for 20 seconds.

If you use Poison Flower Blooms Twice, this bonus will be triggered more frequently, so you can stay active for most of the battle while still dealing with a lot of bursts damage. You can also increase the damage of Dragon Communion Incantations, such as Ghostflame Breath and Ekzykes’s Decay, by 15% by using Roar Medallion. While these are not required, they can help you defend yourself against some of the more powerful enemies.

For the fourth Talisman Slot, you can choose a defensive Talisman, such as Golden Braid or Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, to mitigate the threat of fatal damage.

Incantations

There are quite a few incantations available for this build. For example, Dragonclaw and Dragonmaw can provide you with powerful physical attacks, which can keep you safe from bosses when facing larger enemies. Ghostflame Breath and Ekzykes’s Decaycan can also allow you to deal Frostbite and Scarlet Rot damage to enemies at a distance.

You can also use Golden Vow to give you a good boost to your attack and defense. Combining it with Flame and Grant me Strength, your Poleblade swings will also be greatly improved. Barrier of Gold and the various other defensive Incantations can be very useful against some enemies in Land of Shadows.

If you get a certain amount of Elden Ring Runes in Land of Shadows, you can increase your Faith to 35, so you can get Black Flame’s Protection and Scarlet Aeonia.

The above is the build you can choose around Poleblade of the Bud. I hope you can have an easier time in subsequent battles after using this build! I wish you a happy exploration in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree!