Best Elden Ring Scarlet Rot Build Guide

How to Play a Scarlot Rot Build in Elden Ring

Welcome to our Elden Ring Scarlet Rot build guide. Here we will discuss the best way to utilize this very unique way of playing the game using the Scarlet Rot debuff.

We will be using the Antspur Rapier for this playthrough but I do list some alternatives below that you can use!

It is a more aggressive playstyle due to wanting to apply the debuff as soon as possible on enemies and bosses as soon as you start fighting.

Pros

• Very good damage vs High Health enemies with the build we will be using
• Works great on both NG and NG+ cycles
• Very aggressive playstyle rewarding a quick application of Scarlet Rot
• It never falls off in damage.

Cons

• It takes time to come online due to no comparable weapons being accessible early in the game.
• If you cannot get Scarlet Rot on the enemy, the damage will often plummet.
• Easy to greed for Scarlet Rot, causing excessive deaths.

Attribute Leveling

A big misconception about Scarlet Rot is that the build-up does NOT increase with Arcane leveling. It’s the only debuff that does not scale with Arcane.

With that in mind our build path will be a bit different. We will be starting as the Vagabond since most of our damage will come from Dexterity.

	Starting Stats	Level 25	Level 50	Level 100	Level 150
Vigor	11	20	30	40	40
Endurance	11	15	15	30	30
Strength	10	10	15	20	20
Dexterity	16	20	30	50	80
Mind	12	12	12	12	20
Intelligence	10	10	10	10	22
Faith	8	8	8	8	8
Arcane	9	9	9	9	9

We don’t need to invest in a ton of stats to get this build working, so to begin, we will try getting Vigor to 20 for extra survivability, Dexterity to 20 to wield both weapons of choice this run, and Endurance a bit more to 15 so we have more stamina to work with.

After the early game, we will increase our Strength a little bit to wield the Frozen Needle around this point and get Dexterity up as normal while getting Vigor to 30 so we can fight off most bosses here.

At level 100, we aim to get some essential checkmarks. Those are 40 Vigor and 30 Endurance, so we can cap them. We keep increasing Dexterity to 80 to get the most out of this stat since it’s our main damage stat.

Around level 150, we complete our build having maxed out Dexterity. We also upgrade Mind and Intelligence here. Arcane does not influence our Debuffs, but Intelligence does influence Frostbite, which means it’s the best way to increase our damage further.

Weapon And Pathing

Even though limited, there are a couple of good options for an Elden Ring Scarlet Rot build.

The first is the Scorpion’s Stinger, an excellent dagger with a decent Ash of War for applying Scarlet Rot fast. However, it is found in the Lake of Rot and can only be accessed later in the game.

The second is the Rotter Crystal Sword. It has the fantastic Straight Sword moveset, which gives this weapon an edge, it does have a shit Ash of War which cannot be changed. It is also found in Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree, which is one of the last areas in the game, which makes it not very friendly if you want to do an entire run with this weapon.

Last and the weapon we will be using is the Antspur Rapier. It is accessed in the midgame on the Altus Plateau, which makes it not the hardest to acquire. It has the Thrusting Sword moveset, which is already impressive, a good Ash of War, which can be changed, and a good Scarlet Rot Buildup. It is dropped by an Invader around the Shaded Castle. This weapon becomes even better when powerstanced with another Thrusting Sword which we will do.

You can either run this with the Cleanrot Knight Sword, the Noble’s Estoc, or the Frozen Needle. Remember that you cannot infuse the Frozen Needle with Scarlet Rot, but the combination of Frostbite and Scarlet Rot works very well regardless.

Path Through the Game

Our weapon of choice, the Antspur Rapier is pretty far away, for now, being on the Altus Plateau. This means for the time being, we will have to use another weapon until it becomes available, sadly. Our second weapon of choice, the Frozen Needle, which we will wield in our offhand, became available a lot earlier in Liurnia.

To begin with, I recommend you buy the Rapier from the Twinhusk Maiden in the Roundtable Hold. To get there as early as possible, we ride towards Caelid; this can be done in 2 ways: teleporting through the Dragon-burnt Ruins in Agheel Lake or by riding there on horse.

I recommend the latter because teleporting drops you into an annoying dungeon. Once you go there, Melina will speak to you and teleport you to the Roundtable Hold, where you can purchase your weapon for 1000 runes.

After this, I recommend the standard Early progression of Limgrave.

First, we enter the Limgrave Tunnels, mainly for the upgrade materials we need. We then head into the Morne Tunnel for the same reason.

After doing these, I also recommend doing the Giant Dungeon of Castle Morne. After this, you should be around levels 25-30, which is perfect for going back to Stormveil Castle and completing that dungeon.

Castle Morne is found in the South of the Weeping Peninsula.

While in Limgrave, I also recommend doing the questline of Iron Fist Alexander, which is located south of the Deathtouched Catacombs, for his Talisman later in the game.

In Liurnia, there aren’t as many requirements since there isn’t anything useful for our build. I would still recommend visiting the mines in Liurnia for the upgrade materials.

You should still go into dungeons and level up since I recommend visiting Raya Lucaria around levels 45-50 to make it much earlier.

You could challenge the Royal Revenant before this as well but he can be very aggressive and annoying to deal with. He is found in the North of Liurnia

Killing him will drop the Frozen Needle, which is the first of 2 weapons we will use. Sadly, only one Antspur Rapier can be gotten per playthrough, so you would need to go to NG+ to dual-wield them.

Once we have done both the Royal Revenant and the Raya Lucaria Academy, we can move on to getting our weapon of choice for this playthrough!

First, we need to head into the Ruin-Strewn Precipice this is so we don’t need to get the Dectus Medalions for the Dectus Lift.

After getting to Altus Plateau, we instantly will head north to the Shaded Castle.

The red dot is where the invader will be found. Upon death, he will drop the Antspur Rapier.

Now wield the Antspur Rapier in your main hand and the Frozen Needle in your off-hand. Running Charged Attack works excellently with these weapons.

Armor

There are sadly no armor sets with buffs towards Scarlet Rot. So instead we recommend some armor sets with great Immunity and Robustness while not being too heavy.

Cleanrot Set

• Location: Dropped from Cleanrot Knights.

Scaled Set

• Location: Reward for killing Old Knight Istvan as a request for Volcano Manor.

Banished Knight Set

• Location: Chance to be dropped by Banished Knights.

Blaidd’s Set

• Location: Found after defeating Blaidd, completing Ranni’s quest, and returning to Renna’s Rise.

Best Talismans

Kindred of Rot’s Exultation

Buffs: Increases attack power by 20% when Poison or Rot gets applied in its vicinity.

• Location: Altus Plateau, Dropped by the Kindred of Rot in the Seethewater Cave.

Erdtree’s Favor

Buffs: Increases HP, Stamina, and equip load.

• Location base: Found guarded by Grafted Scions in Fingefolk Hero’s Grave.
• Location +1: Found in a chest in the Subterranean Shunning Grounds after killing Mogh.
• Location +2: Found in Leyndell Ashen Captial guarded by lesser Ulcerated Tree Spirits.

Shard of Alexander

Buffs: Increases weapon skill damage by 15%.

• Location: Drops upon completing Iron Fist Alexander’s questline.

Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman

Buffs: Increases Physical Resistance by 20%.

• Location: Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree, found in a chest after the Drainage Channel Grace.

Radagon’s Soreseal

Buffs: Greatly raises attributes at the cost of increased damage taken.

• Location: Found on a corpse in Fort Faroth.

Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom

Buffs: Increases your Dexterity by 5.

• Location: After finishing the sidequest given by Cowry in Caelid, return to Millicent to receive the Talisman.

Rotten Winged Sword Insignia

Buffs: Increases damage with successive attacks up to 13%.

• Location: Given to you by Millicent after helping her defeat her sisters.

Flask Distribution

Recommended is running 13 healing flasks and 2 FP flasks. Mainly because you will be using your Ash of War on these weapons, this Elden Ring Scarlet Rot build, however, is not required, and you can play while running 15 healing flasks if it’s more to your comfort.

Best Elden Ring Scarlet Rot build Summons

Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff

Kristoff is a defensive powerhouse who can tank the boss for a long time while dishing out some decent damage. He falls in the same category as Lhutel, as listed below. Both have good upsides so it’s up to your preference which you prefer.

• Location: Dropped by Ancient Hero of Zamor inside the Sainted Hero’s Grave west of Leyndell.

Black Knife Tiche

He is unique in that he has the Deatflame weapon art. This max HP scaling burn also lowers the enemy’s HP. Next, he is very aggressive with a decent amount of HP. He is considered the best summon in the game.

• Location: Dropped from Alecto, Black Knife Ringleader, upon defeating him inside the Ringleader Evergaol. This can only be accessed upon completing Ranni’s quest in the south of Liurnia.

Mimic Tear

Even though Mimic Tear has been nerfed into the floor, its viability with bleed and Debuff builds is still a massive plus. It copies your weapons and all gear, making it great for getting Rot to build up on an enemy.

• Location: Locked behind an Imp Stattue requiring a Stonesword Key in the Night’s Sacred Ground in Nokron, Eternal City.

Perfumer Tricia

Though Tricia is not very strong as a frontline, she has excellent buffs she will apply to you. In addition, she does have amazing zoning, making it harder for you to be attacked.

• Location: Rewarded for defeating Perfumer Tricia and Misbegotten Warrior in Unsightly Catacombs on the Altus Plateau.