In this Elden Ring Crescent Moon Axe Guide, I’ll be showing you my Blazing Executioner build. This is an NG+ build that focuses on using the Cresent Moon Axe and the Flaming Strike Ash of War. This build can be used much earlier in the game and almost all the way through a regular playthrough.
Elden Ring Crescent Moon Axe Build Guide – Blazing Executioner
A Strength Build that focuses on the use of the Crescent Moon Axe and the Flaming Strike Ash of War.
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Elden Ring Blazing Executioner Build – Equipment
Crescent Moon Axe can be obtained as a drop from Exile Soldiers wielding an axe in Stormveil Castle. It’s not too hard to farm, but it may take you a little while to get this if you want to get it early on in the game. Since you can get the Crescent Moon Axe rather early in the game, you can start with this build pretty quickly.
What I really like about the Crescent Moon Axe is its moveset. Its R2 attack is a sweeping horizontal slash that you can follow-up with another horizontal slash. It can hit multiple enemies, which means that this is a good source of AoE damage. The running R2 swings the axe by 180°, which can also hit multiple enemies. This weapon’s moveset has a pretty decent reach and damage, and it also doesn’t require a lot in terms of attributes. This only requires 25 Strength and 15 Dexterity, which isn’t a lot of attribute points. You can use other weapons for this build, but this is a weapon that I really like. The Crescent Moon Axe reminds me of an executioner’s axe, Ironically, there’s a Greataxe in this game called Executioner’s Greataxe, which can also be used as an alternative for this build.
The Ash of War I decided to go with for this build is Flaming Strike. You can obtain this as a drop from a Teardrop Scarab in the graveyard area of Redmane Castle. It’s not the fastest thing you can get in the game, but it’s also not that far off in terms of progress. You could probably run in there and grab it immediately. Obtaining this Ash of War allows you to put this build together fairly quick, and there are a couple of reasons for that.
In patch 1.08, Flame of the Redmanes was nerfed, as its Poise damage has been reduced. You can still use it with this build if you want, but the nerf just made me want to use Flaming Strike. This is an Ash of War that I haven’t used in other builds very much. The only build I can think of when I used this is in my Dragonscale Daimyo build. Other than that, I think I haven’t used it in any other build.
Flaming Strike was buffed in 1.07. Its fire damage, duration, even its cast time. However, the duration of the flames was nerfed in 1.08, so it doesn’t last as long now. Flaming Strike deals a decent amount of damage for a cheap cost of 4 FP for the fire part, and another 10 FP for the follow-up, which is hardly any FP at all if you just use the fire part on trash mobs. It has a decent AoE spread and getting that extra damage buff on your weapon for a longer duration is really nice.
A lot of people have been commenting that a lot of my builds have a lot of buffs in them. It’s annoying to constantly trying to buff your character, but it just makes your build better. I agree that it’s annoying, so I tried to create a build that didn’t revolve around buffing as much. I understand that Flaming Strike buffs your weapon, but that’s really all you need to do. You’re also using it more as an attack rather than a buff, so you’re getting a buff while you’re attacking. It’s not really the same, in my opinion, and you don’t have to do any other buffs with this build. If you do want to min-max, you could add Flame, Grant Me Strength to get more damage, but you absolutely don’t need to do it.
The armor you want to use for this build isn’t particularly important as long as you hit at least 51 Poise so you can tank through a regular hit from most enemies while attacking. I am using the Raging Wolf Set with a couple of other pieces to hit 51 Poise. I like the style of this armor set, but you can use whatever you want as long as you have 51 Poise.
For the chest piece, Raptor’s Black Feathers isn’t a bad choice. With this build, you’re going to do a lot of jump attacks. Getting that extra jump attack damage is nice, but you might have to make up for some of the lack of Poise that this comes with. It’s really up to you to decide if you want to min-max this build, which the Raptor’s Black Feathers is for.
Elden Ring Blazing Executioner Build – Talismans
For the talismans, I have the Axe Talisman to increase our charged R2 attack. I really like the charged R2 attack with this weapon because of its sweeping motion. This takes a long time to win-up, which is another reason we need Poise. This will further boost your damage while doing that. We also have the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman to give us more protection. We have pretty decent protection with this build, but this will give you even more, allowing you to tank through hits while doing the charged R2 attack or Flaming Strike. Shard of Alexander will increase the damage of Flaming Strike. You’ll also be using Claw Talisman to increase your jump attack damage by 15%. You do all these charged R2, jump attacks, and Flaming Strike, so you won’t be relying on just one attack.
Elden Ring Blazing Executioner Build – Gameplay
When it comes to how this build plays out, I will usually use the fire part of Flaming Strikes while exploring the landscape. I will get rid of the trash mobs quickly or do a jump attack if it’s a single enemy, and that usually wipes them out really quickly. For difficult enemies or bosses, I will buff my weapon. If I need AoE damage, I’ll keep swinging by pressing R2 on the follow-up of Flaming Strike to buff it and get that extra damage. Generally, you don’t need to buff with this weapon at all except for difficult enemies and boss fights.
When you go into a boss fight, you want to wait for an opening. I don’t like leading with Flame Strikes unless I know I can absolutely land it. I will bait a boss into an attack, dodge roll it, then pop out with an L2 then R2 in order to buff my weapon and get that damage. I’ll try to follow up with some charged R2 attacks when I have another opening, hopefully staggering the boss, then getting a critical strike on them.
We don’t have any spells for this build. If you were to add one, I would say Flame, Grant Me Strength is a great choice here. It has a very low requirement at 15 Faith, and it increases your physical and fire damage by 20%. I think our attack rating will be at around 1,000 with Flame, Grant Me Strength and our flask, so that’s going to give you +200 when you’re buffed.
We have the Fire infusion set on the Crescent Moon Axe, but you could put it to Heavy as well if you’re fighting a boss that’s resistant to fire. This will get you more physical damage and reduce some of the fire damage that might get mitigated.
Elden Ring Blazing Executioner Build – Attributes
When it comes to attributes for this build, we have: 60 Vigor, 26 Mind, 30 Endurance, 66 Strength, 15 Dexterity, 16 Intelligence, 7 Faith, and 9 Arcane. We don’t need Intelligence, Faith, or Arcane in this build. I started out as an Astrologer, so disregard the number of these attributes that I have. Again, if you want to use Flame, Grant me Strength, you can put a few points in Faith.
We have 60 Vigor here because we don’t need a lot of other points for this build. I increased it in order to give you a lot more health, so you can take more hits. You have good protection, so you’re just going to tank through hits and trade damage. This is very useful in situations where you trade damage, because you aren’t going to die.
I have 26 Mind here to give me more FP, but this actually might be too high. Flaming Strike is very cost-efficient. You don’t need much FP, and you hardly need any flasks set to FP. You could probably drop some points in Mind and put it somewhere else.
We have 30 Endurance in order to allow us to wear heavier armor, have better Poise, wield a heavy weapon, and still be able to medium roll. You could increase this to use better armor, which isn’t a bad idea. I like the fashion of this armor, which is one of the reasons I kept it that way. If you don’t care about that, you could use another armor here.
We have 66 Strength here because we’re two-handing the Crescent Moon Axe. We’ll get more damage out of this by increasing it throughout NG+, and you get decent damage all the way up to 80 Strength. It starts to fall off after that, but you can keep increasing it as you don’t need points in other attributes anyway.
15 Dexterity is there to meet the requirement for Crescent Moon Axe. We’re using the Fire infusion on our weapon, and if you decide to use the Heavy infusion, you won’t get anything out of Dexterity. After you max out your Strength, you can increase Dexterity to get all the damage you can get, even if it’s small.
Elden Ring Blazing Executioner Build – Final Tips
If you’re using the Flask of Wondrous Physick, you want to use the Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear in order to increase your fire damage. You do about 50-60% fire damage, and we’re casting Flaming Strike. You can also use Spiked Cracked Tear to increase your charged R2 attack if you want, if you find yourself using the charged R2 attack often. Another option for you is the Greenburst Crystal Tear to increase your stamina recovery. You will use up a lot of stamina with this build, so it isn’t a bad choice.
As for Great Runes, I recommend using Rykard’s Great Rune or Morgott’s Great Rune. Rykard’s Great Rune is going to give you HP when you defeat enemies. Since you tend to trade a lot of damage with this build, this is a good way to replenish your health without using flasks. Morgott’s Great Rune increases your maximum health, which is what we need for this build.
Early on in this build, you can rush getting Crescent Moon Axe and Flaming Strike pretty quickly. You can use Flame of the Redmanes until you get Flaming Strike, which is even easier to get. You should be able to get these in the first third of the game, maybe even sooner than that if you know where to find them.
That’s it for our Blazing Executioner Build Guide! As always, let us know if you have questions or other tips in the comments below. We have a ton more builds coming for Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree so stay tuned for those. If you need help finding items, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check the Elden Ring Map. Happy building!
