In this Elden Ring Highland Axe Guide, I’ll be showing you my Gladiator build. You can use this build from the very beginning of the game all the way to NG+. A lot of people have been asking me to make an Axe build, but it’s not really one of the stronger weapon groups. In my testing, I found an Ash of War that I really like with the Highland Axe, which I’ll explain in the guide here.
Elden Ring Highland Axe Build Guide – Gladiator
Gladiator is a strength build that utilizes a cold-infused Highland Axe and a Redmane Shield. Primarily scales with strength and heavily relies on Stamp (Upward Cut) to shell out damage and takes advantage of the hyper armor that it provides that can brace incoming damage. Leading to stance breaks and critical strikes.
- Class: Any
- Flask Spread: Mostly HP, some FP
- Weapon: Highland Axe
- Shield: Redmane Greatshield
- Armor: Rotten Duelist Helm, Rotten Gravekeeper Cloak, Bull-Goats Gaunlets, Rotten Duelist Greaves
- Talismans: Shard of Alexander, Dagger Talisman, Bull-Goat’s Talisman, Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger, Millicent’s Prosthesis, and more suggested talismans in the video
- Primary Stats: Vigor, Strength & Dexterity
- Secondary Stats: Endurance, Mind & Mind
- Skills: Stamp (Upward Cut)
- Spells: None
We have over 110 Elden Ring Builds now, for all classes and playstyles. This Build is recommended for all levels.
Elden Ring Highland Axe Build – Equipment
The Highland Axe is one of the longer axes you can use in the game. Axes themselves have very short reach, so using the Highland Axe somehow mitigates that disadvantage. It’s also in the top 3 in highest damage out of all the axes that can be infused. It also has the highest critical rating out of all axes, which means you’ll get a benefit out of it if you usually do a block counter, backstab, or parry. Highland Axe also gives an increase to Roar damage, but we don’t use it with this build. You can use any axe for this build, but you should use this as this can be obtained early on in the game in Stormveil Castle.
The Ash of War I’m using for this build is Stamp (Upward Cut). Stamp (Upward Cut) does 30 stance damage to an enemy when it connects. However, the damage of Stamp (Upward Cut) is dictated by the attack rating of the weapon that you’re using. If you were to min-max this build, you should probably replace the axe with a Greataxe or a Colossal Weapon. You don’t necessarily have to use the Highland Axe for this weapon, as I’m just using this for the sake of making an axe build.
If you’re using a sword of this build, you could use Ash of War: Square Off. This does even more stance damage at 40 damage. However, the main advantage of using Stamp (Upward Cut) is that when you go in for that lunge, you gain hyper armor which causes you to Poise through attacks. You’ll also gain a 50% damage reduction when you do this, so you take far less damage and you’re not going to be interrupted. You can connect 90% of the time with the uppercut, but if you use Square Off, you won’t gain these effects. It is an option if you do want to use it, however.
When it comes to the shield, we’ll be using the Redmane Greatshield. I feel like it fits the style of the armor that I’m using for this build, so I’m using it. It doesn’t matter which Greatshield you’re using for this build. We have a lot of Strength for this build, so it just makes sense to use a Greatshield if we’re doing a block counter set-up or a one-handed axe set-up. We don’t really need to dual wield axes as they don’t have the greatest moveset in the world, and we’re leaning towards using Stamp (Upward Cut) anyway.
I am using Cold infusion on my axe as it’s about the same damage as Heavy. It also allows us to build up that Frostbite status effect which helps us to increase the damage that enemies take. You could really use any infusion you want as long as you there’s some Strength in there in order to use a Greatshield.
For the armor, I’m using a Rotten Duelist Set along with the Bull-Goat Gaunlets. I altered the body armor in order to remove the cape so you can see the helmet, as I really like the way this looks. This makes the Poise a bit lower, so you have to use heavy gauntlets in order to reach that 51 Poise breakpoint. It isn’t necessary for this build because we’re using Stamp (Upward Cut) to power through the enemies’ attacks, but it’s helpful for regular attacks. It’s up if you want to reach that 51 Poise breakpoint or not, or if you want to wear different armor.
Elden Ring Highland Axe Build – Talismans
For the talismans, I’ll be using Shard of Alexander to further increase the damage of Stamp (Upward Cut). I also have the Dagger Talisman to increase our critical damage. We already have higher critical damage than other axes with this, so when you do a block counter and stagger an enemy, you’re going to deal even more damage to them. You can dela almost 2,000 damage when you do a critical attack with a single axe, which is impressive in my opinion. I also have the Bull-Goat’s Talisman to help me get to that 51 Poise breakpoint. We won’t be able to reach that with the armor we’re using.
For the fourth talisman slot, which is kind of a flex slot, I’ll be using Millicent’s Prosthesis here in order to give us an increase in attack power while using the R1 attacks, which are quite fast. It’ll also give us a +5 in Dexterity for some extra damage. The Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger could also be used because when you do a Stamp (Upward Cut), then a critical strike, you’ll refund the cost of the ability while adding a couple more points. It’s not useful in boss fights, so you can replace it with Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, which’ll give you more protection. You’re also not getting a lot of critical attacks in boss fights anyway, so you should be replacing it.
Elden Ring Highland Axe Build – Gameplay
We don’t have any spells or buffs with this Elden Ring Highland Axe build. This is just a straight-up Axe and Shield build that leans into its weapon skill and block counters. You’ll be doing regular attacks, R1s, and running R2 attacks. There’s no spectacular hybriding with this build. I’ve been making a lot of builds that use buffs, so if you appreciate a build that doesn’t have one, this is a really good build to use.
Elden Ring Highland Axe Build – Attributes
Taking a look at the attributes of this Highland Axe build here, we have: 50 Vigor, 18 Mind, 30 Endurance, 50 Strength, 45 Dexterity, 25 Intelligence, 7 Faith, and 9 Arcane.
We have 25 Intelligence here simply because of the Cold infusion we’re using for the axe to further boost some of my magic damage. Once you get to about 50 Strength and Dexterity, you don’t really get much out of these two attributes, so Intelligence scales better in this situation. If you want to use a different infusion, you probably won’t have any points towards Intelligence.
Early on in the game, you should prioritize increasing Strength and picking Heavy or Fire infusion. You won’t have to worry about increasing your Dexterity and Intelligence with these, so that you could use a Greatshield as soon as you can. If you want to switch to something else after, that’s not a bad plan.
Vigor is a bit lower than we want at this point. We want to take it up to 60 in NG+ as you have to trade damage with this Highland Axe build. It’s a very aggressive, but you mitigate a lot of damage with Stamp (Upward Cut) with its 50% damage reduction. Having a huge HP will allow you to lunge through attacks and repeatedly knocking enemies into the air, or stagger them, without having to use a health flask immediately.
18 Mind is there because this is not an FP-hungry build, particularly if you’re using Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger for your talisman. We don’t really need a lot of FP, especially since we’re not using any buffs with this build.
We have 30 Endurance here so that we’ll be able to use the equipment we’re using while still medium rolling. You don’t need exactly 30, as you can get away with 27 or 28 here and still be able to do a medium roll. Endurance is very good for this build because Stamp (Upward Cut) uses a lot of stamina. If you want to wear heavier armor, you should increase your Endurance.
You don’t need any Arcane or Faith for this build. If you’re using a different infusion such as Heavy, Bleeding, or Poison, or even Quality, maybe it’s a good idea to get 15 Faith for Flame, Grant Me Strength. This might not be a bad choice for boss fights.
Elden Ring Highland Axe Build – Final Tips
For Great Runes, we’re going to use Godrick’s Great Rune. It’s not a bad choice, especially if you’re going for Cold infusion. You have six attributes you need to increase. If you use it, you’ll only need a few points to use Flame, Grant Me Strength, so this isn’t bad to use early on in the game. Radahn’s Great Rune can also be used here to increase your maximum health, FP, and stamina.
When it comes to Flask of Wondrous Physick, I like using Greenburst Crystal Tear to increase my stamina recovery. This is a staple for most of my builds, as we usually need all the stamina we can get. I also like using Stonebarb Cracked Tear to increase our stance damage, which we do a lot in boss fights. Getting a +30 to your stance damage for 30 seconds might not seem a lot, but it can power you through boss fights pretty quickly. Bosses have higher Poise in NG+, so it’s not a bad idea to use this.
That’s it for our Gladiator 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!
