Elden Ring Best Dark Moon Greatsword Build 1.09 (PvP/PvE) | Elden Ring Most Powerful Greatsword Build 2023

Now we set up the most powerful Elden Ring Moonlight Greatsword build in the 1.09 patch with Dark Moon Greatsword, covering the stats, gear, talismans, spells, flasks, and gameplay tips. 

Best Elden Ring Dark Moon Greatsword Build 2023 (PvP & PvE)

The Darkmoon Greatsword has gotten a lot of Buffs since the original release of Elden ring and in the latest 1.09 patch it was buffed again with improved speed and range of various attacks as well as recovery time to allow it to combo, all the consecutive Buffs that it has received makes it one of the most buffed weapons in the entire game, this has spiraled the weapon out of control. It went from being a powerful weapon to a contender for the absolute strongest weapon in the entire game. Whether in PVE or PVP, Darkmoon Greatsword Build is absolutely dominant!

Dark Moon Greatsword Pros & Gameplay Features

Dark Moon Greatsword is going to be one of the arranged options for players who want a well-around build for both PvE and PvP. Here are various arguments on why this sword might very well be the strongest weapon in the game:

Extremely Efficient

First of all, it is free of damage and very FB efficient. How the sword works are that you cast The Ash of War Moonlight Greatsword and in turn, your Dark Moon Greatsword gets imbued with the light of the Dark Moon. Functionally speaking this means that it Buffs your sword giving it an extra 65 magic damage and 15 extra frostbite build-up to the already innate frostbite build-up that the sword has, but most importantly it gives you a new extremely destructive skill. 

Insane Damage

Your charged attacks with the sword can now fire off these magical Moonlight projectiles that deal a lot of damage if they hit your opponents, and since this is a ranged attack, with a good range it has the benefit of you just destroying your enemies from a distance without having to worry about anything. 

Insane Poise Damage

Because these Moonlight blasts have amazing voice damage, so after shooting a few projectiles that he can chain very easily by the way it is quite spammable, it will in fact stance break whatever you're fighting and every time you stance break anything in any fight it means the end of that fight. Because whether you go for the critical hit or just shoot more of your Moonlight, the damage output you have in a very short time span of where your enemy is stance broken and recovering from it is absolutely insane and means your enemy's HP bar just completely depletes.

Stancebreaking From A Distance

Projectiles are a very safe way to get the damage in terms of maximizing your damage output, however, you want to hit your opponents in melee range. Hitting them in melee range means not only do you hit them with the projectile itself but you also hit them with this swing of the sword that shoots off the projectile and that part in itself also deals damage. It's now a great way to get extra damage in versus your enemies but you have to weigh in the benefits of both aspects obviously where you want to go for the ranged blasts of moonlight or the melee Blast Of Moonlight obviously, depends on the scenario that you're. 

Melee & Ranged Options (More Damage vs. More Reliable)

It is basically a question of do you want the option that gives you the more safe reliable damage but a little bit lower in terms of damage output or do you want more damage but with more risk associated obviously and then with risk - things like getting interrupted yourself which is something you're much more exposed to obviously when you're right next to your opponent. This is something that he will usually determine in the moment of the Heat and you will see for yourself which option makes the most sense to go for. The sword has amazing damage and amazing voice damage in both melee and ranged variations.

Elden Raing Best Dark Moon Greatsword for PvE/PvP

Dark Moon Greatword is great in both PvE and PvP because you can tap it to send out a quick wave or hold it to send out a bigger slower one, meaning you can faint or trick people causing them to roll at the wrong time and punishing them really well. As a weapon that deals the most damage in one single hit, you can get 5-6K hits on the powered-up heavy attack. There are also many ways to improve the damage of this weapon, here we show the most all-around dark moon greatsword build setup for both PvE and PvP!

Stats

The Darkmoon Greatsword works best in a pure intelligent setup, it has all of its scaling with intelligence and we would definitely not bother putting any points in strength or dexterity in any capped setup, except to get the requirements obviously to wield the sword. Go all the way and get 80 intelligence.

Level 125 Stats

The stats you then want to run for a level 125 build are 80 intelligence to maximize our damage output and a fully soft cap on intelligence, 16 strength, and 11 dexterity to meet the requirements and then 50 Vigor for great survivability, you really don't need any mind with this build as the Moonlight Greatsword Ash of War and the associated buff lasts for 60 seconds for only a bit of FB and in 60 seconds any fight will usually already be over. A few more points in endurance is nice as well just so you don't tire out as quickly.

• Vigor: 50

• Mind: 15

• Endurance: 15

• Strength: 16

• Dexterity: 12

• Intelligence: 80

• Faith: 7

• Arcane: 9

Level 150 Stats

If you want to level more and go to say level 150 then put 10 more points in Vigor to fully soft cap on that and maximize your survivability and, then split the remaining 15 points in either endurance or mind or a mix depending really on your personal needs.

• Vigor: 60

• Mind: 22

• Endurance: 23

• Strength: 16

• Dexterity: 12

• Intelligence: 80

• Faith: 7

• Arcane: 9

Weapons

• Right Hand: Dark Moon Greatsword +10

• Left Hand: Jellyfish Shield, Lusat's Glintstone Staff, or Carian Regal Scepter

In order to optimize their damage output, gamers should consider equipping themselves with the Jellyfish Shield in addition to the greatsword. This shield offers a valuable 20% damage boost through its Contagious Fury special skill. Additionally, while not mandatory, it may be advantageous for players to also incorporate staff into their build to access Ranni's Dark Moon Spell. With its ranged skill attack, this spell can help to further maximize damage potential.

Armor

• Spellbalde's Armor Set

For armor, if you want the maximum damage output that is possible you would run the entire Spellblade set for 2 bonus damage per piece so 8 extra damage in total.

Talismans

• Magic Scorpion Charm - A staple with its 12 extra damage to everything in our hit 

• Godfrey Icon - Boosting our Moonlight blasts (15% to Moonlight Greatsword)

• Shard of Alexander- Boosting our Ash of War's damage output significantly 

• Ritual Sword Talisman - Gives us a 10% damage boost when we are at full HP

For talismans, the Darkmoon Greatsword has amazing Synergy with a lot of stuff which is another bonus, we're going to go as offensive as possible with this build as we do have good Vigor and a lot of stance-breaking capability.

Since we have great reach with the Darkmoon Greatsword, we can definitely in a lot of scenarios just be as full HP and really utilize the ritual sword talisman and do amazing damage 

Flasks

• Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear - Boosting 15% damage to everything in our kit from our Ash of War to the actual damage of the sword itself to any sorcery you would like to run additionally

• Cerulean Hidden Tear - Allowing us to cast anything for 15 seconds without costing any FB 

Spells & Sorceries

• Ranni's Dark Moon

Because we have 80 intelligence, we can also use any sorcery in the game with our staff in our off-hand even though it's really not needed, but to stick to the team there are one spell feet tied to the Dark Moon and that is Ranni's Dark Moon. Now, this sorcery combo is very well with the Darkmoon greatsword since Randy's Dark Moon has an amazing range that goes well beyond the range of the Dark Moon's Greatsword Moonlight last, can hit any boss that is all the way across the arena, so that basically means immediately while you start any boss fight you can maximize your damage output by already starting to engage in combat with spamming Ranni's Dark Moon and these nuclear bombs on themselves can already just destroy bosses completely from across the arena if that's something you're interested in. 

Early Game Substitute Build - Spellblade Build

The Dark Moon Greatsword is a weapon locked behind Randy's Quest chain so he can't get it right at the start of the game but you can make sure to make it a priority and start the quest chain relatively early on if you want a build that transitions very well into this build. However, then there's definitely one build out there that does so perfectly and it is the Spellblade build. This build also uses a very unique combination of on one hand the Moonveil which also has that shooting of moonlight projectile elements, so similar vibes to the Darkmoon greatsword but it also makes use of getting sorceries and most fittingly the Carian Grandeur Ash of War infused on an Uchigatana making it this unique Samurai Spellblade type of build.