Elden Ring Best PvE Build for New Players 2024: Guide

Elden Ring, the critically acclaimed action RPG from FromSoftware, offers a vast and challenging world to explore. For new players, the sheer number of choices can be overwhelming. Choosing the right build is crucial, not just for survival, but for enjoying the journey through the Lands Between. A good PvE (Player vs. Environment) build for beginners should prioritize durability, manageable damage output, and versatility to handle the game's diverse threats without requiring expert-level mechanical skill.

After countless hours of gameplay and community analysis, one build consistently stands out as the most forgiving and powerful for newcomers in 2024: the Shield and Spear Paladin. This build focuses on strong defense, safe offense, and potent support incantations, making it an ideal choice for learning the game's mechanics.

Why the Shield and Spear Paladin is Perfect for Beginners

The core philosophy of this build is simple: block attacks instead of dodging them, and strike back from the safety of your guard. This "turtle" style of play drastically reduces the difficulty of many enemy encounters, especially against standard mobs and aggressive bosses.

Safety First: A greatshield provides near-total physical damage negation, allowing you to weather combos that would otherwise kill you. This gives you more time to observe enemy patterns.
Sustained Damage: Using a spear, you can attack while your shield is still raised. This means you can deal damage without ever dropping your guard, poking enemies to death safely.
Versatility with Incantations: Incorporating Faith into the build gives you access to powerful healing buffs and ranged options, enhancing your survivability and utility.
Stance-Breaking Potential: Many spears and greatshields are excellent at breaking an enemy's posture, leading to critical hits for massive damage.

Step-by-Step: Building the Shield and Spear Paladin

This guide will take you from the early game to becoming an end-game juggernaut.

1. Starting Class: Vagabond The Vagabond is the optimal choice. It starts with a solid shield, a good strength-based weapon (the Longsword), and has the highest starting Vigor, which is your most important early-game stat. Its stat distribution is perfectly efficient for this build.

2. Key Stats: Leveling Priority Your stat priority should be:

Vigor (40-60): Your #1 priority. More health means more mistakes are forgiven. Aim for 40 by mid-game and 60 by the end.
Endurance (30-40): Directly increases your Stamina (for blocking and attacking) and Equip Load (for wearing heavy armor and a greatshield without "fat-rolling").
Strength (30-54): Required to wield the best greatshields and strengthens your spear attacks. Stop at 54 if you plan to two-hand your weapon (which gives a 1.5x Strength bonus), or go to 80 for one-handed power.
Faith (25-30): A secondary stat. Level this after you have a comfortable amount of Vigor and Endurance. 25 gives access to crucial buffs like Golden Vow and Blessing's Boon.

Mind, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Arcane can be ignored for this build.

3. Essential Equipment

Weapon: Cross-Naginata or Lance
- The Cross-Naginata (found in Gael Tunnel, Caelid) is arguably the best spear in the game. It has innate bleed buildup, excellent range, and a fantastic moveset.
- The Lance (purchased from the Isolated Merchant in Weeping Peninsula) offers incredible range and high damage, perfect for safe poking.
- Ash of War: Use No Skill on your shield and equip a useful Ash on your spear. Ice Spear is a phenomenal choice for ranged damage and frost buildup, or Square Off for high stance damage.
Shield: Brass Shield (Early) -> Golden Greatshield (Mid) -> Fingerprint Stone Shield (Late)
- The Brass Shield, dropped by Godrick soldiers in Limgrave, is one of the best medium shields and will carry you for hours.
- Upgrade to the Golden Greatshield (dropped by Leyndell knights in Altus Plateau) as soon as you can. It has high guard boost, meaning less stamina is drained per block.
- The end-game goal is the Fingerprint Stone Shield, the strongest greatshield in the game. It requires 48 Strength but offers immense stability, making you nearly immovable when guarding.
Armor: Wear the heaviest armor you can without exceeding your Equip Load. Use the Great-Jar's Arsenal talisman to increase your maximum load. Prioritize Poise (to avoid being staggered by small hits) and physical damage negation. The Vagabond Knight set you start with is excellent. Later, look for sets like Lionel's Set or Tree Sentinel Armor.
Sacred Seals: The Finger Seal is fine to start. Later, the Godslayer's Seal or Erdtree Seal will be your best options for incantation scaling.
Talismans:
- Great-Jar's Arsenal: Drastically increases equip load for better armor.
- Green Turtle Talisman: Boosts stamina recovery speed, essential for a blocking-focused build.
- Dragoncrest Shield Talisman (especially the Greatshield version): Massively boosts physical damage negation.
- Ritual Shield Talisman: Reduces damage when your health is full, a great defensive buffer.

4. Must-Have Incantations

Blessing's Boon: A slow, constant HP regeneration that is fantastic for overworld exploration.
Golden Vow: The best overall buff in the game. It gives a 15% damage increase and 10% damage negation for 80 seconds. An absolute must before any major fight.
Flame, Cleanse Me: Cures poison and scarlet rot. Invaluable for navigating certain swampy areas.
Heal: Sometimes your Flask is not enough. A quick emergency heal can save your life.

Playstyle: How to Dominate PvE

Your combat loop is simple and effective:

Approach: Keep your shield raised as you move towards enemies.
Block: Let the enemy's attack bounce off your shield. Watch your stamina bar—if it gets low, create distance to let it recover.
Poke: While still holding L1 to block, press R1 to perform a safe shield-poke attack with your spear.
Reposte: After blocking several attacks or landing charged heavies, you will break the enemy's stance. Press R1 for a massive critical hit.
Buff: Before boss fights, always cast Golden Vow and Blessing's Boon to give yourself a significant edge.

For ranged threats or aggressive foes, use the Ice Spear Ash of War to deal damage from a distance or apply frost.

Early Game Progression Tips

Start as a Vagabond.
Immediately explore Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula. Upgrade your Vigor to 20-25.
Farm Godrick soldiers for a Brass Shield.
Head to Gael Tunnel to acquire the Cross-Naginata (you can run past the boss to get it).
Focus on upgrading your weapon with Smithing Stones. A high-upgrade weapon is more important than high stats in the early game.
As you enter Liurnia and Altus Plateau, focus on acquiring the Golden Greatshield and leveling your Faith to 25 for key incantations.

The Shield and Spear Paladin build is a testament to the idea that the best offense is a good defense. It allows new players to methodically learn boss patterns without the constant fear of instant death, all while dealing consistent and significant damage. It’s a reliable, powerful, and rewarding path that will guide you to becoming the Elden Lord.