In this Shadow of the Erdtree Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build, I'll be showcasing my Meteoric Marauder build. This build utilizes the Ancient Meteoric Ore Sword, which you can quickly obtain in the DLC at the Ruined Forge Starfall Past. There’s no boss in this area, so you can simply run in and grab the weapon. This is the first Colossal Sword weapon I’m highlighting in Shadow of the Erdtree, so I was eager to present this build.

Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build for DLC

Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build - Meteoric Marauder

In this Elden Ring Build Guide, I’ll be showing you my Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword build. This is a Shadow of the Erdtree build that takes place after level 150. If you’ve been looking for a colossal sword build that deals great stance damage while having a great weapon skill White Light Charge, then you might want to check this build-out.

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Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build - Meteoric Marauder: Equipment

This is a Strength-Arcane build because the Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword scales predominantly with Strength, and Arcane has a very high attack rating. It does mostly physical damage with a bit of magic damage as well. Few weapons in Elden Ring combine physical and magic damage that scale with Arcane and other stats, with the other notable ones generally being the Eochaid weapons. So, this is a unique weapon for scaling.

The Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword scales primarily with Strength, Dexterity and Arcane and is a good Weapon for Arcane players that want to use a humongous weapon.

The first thing you'll notice about this weapon, besides its badass look, is its weight. It weighs 22, making it one of the heaviest weapons in the game. Managing your equip load is crucial to avoid fat rolling.

Secondly, this weapon has excellent guard boost when maxed out at 60. This allows you to block counter, dealing significant damage while blocking in a pinch, whether you're exploring the landscape or in boss fights. So, don't hesitate to block with this weapon.

The last feature is the weapon skill, White Light Charge. For 10 FP, this skill charges you forward in a line, thrusting into the target for modest damage. Although the initial damage isn't high, it can be followed up with a detonation that causes significant damage in a small AoE. This weapon skill has several advantages.

Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build Meteoric Marauder (Shadow of The Erdtree Guide)

Firstly, it’s an excellent gap closer. It's perfect for closing the distance on bosses, especially those that move around a lot. If a boss flies past you, activating this skill will 180 you and slide right up to them, saving you time. Secondly, the stance damage from the initial hit and follow-up is substantial, allowing you to stance break bosses while dealing heavy damage. The explosion also knocks down regular and elite enemies, making it easy to chain attacks and eliminate threats.

However, the explosion's AoE radius is smaller than expected and seems to hit more behind and around you rather than directly in front. If you barely scratch an enemy with the initial charge, the explosion might miss. But if you fly past an enemy or hit them directly, you’ll always connect with the AoE. This is especially effective against aggressive bosses like Rellana, who tend to jump behind you, as the detonation will hit behind you where she is.

You have a bit of time to press the follow-up after the slide, so if an enemy is approaching, you can wait a split second before detonating for maximum effect. For regular and elite enemies, you can slide into them and follow up with an R1 press to conserve FP. This is helpful since the skill is quite expensive—10 FP for the initial charge and 25 FP for the follow-up, totaling 35 FP. Sliding and using an R1 can be enough to dispatch regular enemies, given the weapon’s high attack rating.

While I don't use anything in my offhand, you could equip something like the Sacrificial Axe for more FP on kills, aiding in FP management. However, keep in mind that this will add to your equip load, which is already heavy with this weapon and the associated armor, so you’d need to manage that carefully.

Black Knight Set is an Armor Set in Elden Ring
Greathelm is not part of the any Armor Set, and is a Heavyweight helmet that provides considerable damage negation

Armor-wise, I use three pieces of the Black Knight Set and the Greathelm mainly for the look. I love its style and wish there were an option to change its color to black or gold to match some of the darker or more ornate armor sets. Of course, you can use any armor you want with this build, but you will want significant poise.

Even though the regular attacks of this weapon have some hyper armor, if you get far enough into their animation, you'll still need good poise for the weapon skill to avoid getting staggered easily.

Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build - Meteoric Marauder: Talismans

Shard of Alexander greatly boosts the attack power of Skills by 15%

For talismans, I use Shard of Alexander to boost White Light Charge, increasing the damage of both the slide and the follow-up.

Spear Talisman increases thrusting weapon counterattack damage by 15%

I also use the Spear Talisman, which increases thrust damage. Despite this weapon dealing some magic damage, the vast majority is physical, so it benefits significantly from the Spear Talisman, which boosts thrust counter damage.

Crusade Insignia raises attack power after defeating an enemy.

You can replace this with Crusade Insignia for more attack power while exploring, as sometimes you might not get counter damage with this weapon.

Two-Handed Sword Talisman enhances attacks with two-handed weapons.

Another important talisman for this build is the Two-Handed Talisman. Since we are two-handing this weapon, it provides extra damage for jump attacks, charged heavy attacks, running attacks, and any attacks that aren't the weapon skill. This talisman is excellent for maximizing damage output.

Carian Filigreed Crest lowers FP cost of Skills by 25%

Finally, I use the Carian Filigreed Crest, which reduces the cost of our weapon skill. It lowers the initial cost from 10 to 8 FP and the follow-up from 25 to 19 FP. With 33 Mind on this build, you get seven uses of the slide and follow-up without needing a flask.

Blessed Blue Dew Talisman slowly restores FP

Another good talisman recommendation for this build is the Blessed Blue Dew Talisman, which recovers FP as you explore dungeons and the landscape. You can replace the Spear Talisman or Carian Filigreed Crest with this one. It’s useful in large areas with many enemies, as it replenishes FP over time, though it’s less effective in boss fights due to its slower replenishment rate.

For this build at level 164, the stats are: 50 Vigor, 33 Mind, 35 Endurance, 55 Strength, 12 Dexterity, 16 Intelligence, 7 Faith, and 35 Arcane. Intelligence and faith aren't needed, and only 10 dexterity is required, but I have a bit more due to starting as an astrologer. If you take this build into New Game Plus, you might eventually increase faith to use spells like Flame, Grant Me Strength and Golden Vow to boost your damage further.

Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build Meteoric Marauder (Shadow of The Erdtree Guide)

The weapon scales well with strength and arcane, with strength being the primary stat. Arcane also increases both physical and magic damage, so it's useful. Going forward, you could aim to take strength up to 80 and arcane up to 50, eventually even up to 80. This allows for significant growth in damage output.

With 33 Mind, I calculated that you can perform seven full weapon skill combos (slide and follow-up) without needing a flask in boss fights. If you use just the slide without the follow-up, this number becomes less critical. Having a significant amount of mind is crucial since the weapon skill costs a lot of FP, and a low mind stat would require frequent flasking, which can be challenging in aggressive boss fights. Increasing mind further would make this easier.

For endurance, I have 35, which lets me medium roll with the equipment I'm using. This weapon is very heavy, so you'll need to invest more in endurance compared to other builds to maintain a medium roll, especially if you want decent armor protection. This number might vary depending on your armor set, but a good endurance investment is necessary.

Lastly, I have vigor at 50, which is standard. I'll probably take it up to 55 or 60 for more health, as this build is aggressive and you often trade damage. More health will help you survive those trades.

Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build - Meteoric Marauder: Final Tips

For the Flask of Wondrous Physick, I'm using the Opaline Hardtear for extra protection in boss fights. Sometimes, I also use the Stonebarb Cracked Tear to increase stance damage early in the fight. As I mentioned, this weapon skill deals decent stance damage, allowing for easy stance breaks early on, which can pressure a boss. Depending on the boss, this might not be super useful, so you might want to swap it out. I also really like the Greenburst Crystal Tear, as this build uses a lot of stamina. Even with 35 Endurance, you might run out, so stamina recovery is also a good option.

Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build Meteoric Marauder (Shadow of The Erdtree Guide)
Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build Meteoric Marauder (Shadow of The Erdtree Guide)
Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build Meteoric Marauder (Shadow of The Erdtree Guide)

When it comes to Great Runes, Radahn's is easily the best choice. It gives you more health, allowing you to survive hits and trade hits more easily. It also provides more FP, so you can use White Light Charge more often, and more stamina, which helps with any stamina issues. While I typically don't have major stamina problems, it's still great to have extra stamina.

Elden Ring Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword Build Meteoric Marauder (Shadow of The Erdtree Guide)

That wraps up my Meteoric Marauder build. I hope you enjoyed this one. This is an absolutely fantastic weapon—I love the block counters, sliding, and R1 attacks. Jump attacks are really good, too. You can easily throw on the Claw Talisman if you like jump attacking instead of the Spear Talisman for more jump attack damage. You could also use a chest piece that boosts jump attack damage if you prefer that style. I considered doing that in this build, but I found it unnecessary and preferred this style. However, it's absolutely doable, and you could consider doing that as well.

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 the spells, items, or equipment in this build, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check the Elden Ring Map.