In the Shadow of the Erdtree Death Knight's Twin Axes Build, I'm going to show you my Death Knight 2.0 build. I say 2.0 because we had a previous build in the base game called Death Knight as well, which focused on the Sword of Night and Flame and Death Sorceries. However, in this build, we're focusing on the Death Knight's Twin Axes, which can be found in Shadow of the Erdtree, and using the Death Knight Armor. This armor boosts the damage of the weapon skill on this weapon, which is Blink Bolt Twin Axe. This is an absolutely phenomenal build, and I can't wait to talk about it.

Knight's Twin Axe Build Shadow of the Erdtree

Elden Ring Death Knight's Twin Axe Build - Death Knight 2.0

In this Elden Ring Build Guide, I’ll be showing you my Death Knight's Twin Axes build. This is a Shadow of the Erdtree build that takes place after level 150. If you’ve been looking for an Axe build that deals great damage with its weapon skill Blinkbolt: Twinaxe, then you might want to check this build-out.

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Elden Ring Death Knight's Twin Axe Build - Death Knight 2.0: Equipment

This build revolves around the Death Knight's Twin Axes, a dual-paired weapon. You can equip one of these and use the paired moveset, which, while not as good as some other paired weapons in terms of movesets, is still effective. This weapon deals primarily physical damage but also includes some lightning damage. It has moderate requirements of 14 Strength, 12 Dexterity, and 16 Faith, scaling with Strength, Dexterity, and Faith. We've cranked Strength here since it offers the best scaling and raised Faith to 25 to use a couple of Incantations, while also investing points in Dexterity. This weapon continues to grow in power as you level up to 200 or 250, making it very viable for the DLC and New Game+.

Death Knight's Twin Axes elden ring

Death Knight’s Twin Axes

One advantage of using a paired weapon is the ability to easily equip something in your offhand. I have a Seal for buffing with Golden Vow. You could also use Flame, Grant Me Strength. While it won't buff all the damage of this weapon, it will enhance about 60-65% of it, which is useful for boss fights. You could also equip something like the Sacrificial Axe for better FP management. Note that when using the weapon skill Blinkbolt: Twinaxe, it utilizes both axes of the paired moveset, not the axe in the offhand. Therefore, pairing it with a bleed axe or similar won't add bleed damage during the spin attack.

golden_vow_incantation_elden_ring and flame_grant_me-strength

Blink Bolt Twin Axe is an advanced weapon skill that requires practice to master. It has a long wind-up, and you need to anticipate enemy attacks to use it effectively. If you panic and press it when an attack is imminent, you'll likely get hit. However, if you recognize enemy attack patterns, you can avoid damage and phase through attacks using this skill. It also deals a bit of lightning damage, but this is secondary to its dodging capability. Following up with a strong attack after the initial use of this skill results in a twirl that hits multiple times rapidly. This triggers buffs from Winged Sword Insignia, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Millicent's Prosthesis, and Thorny Cracked Tear, significantly boosting your attack power and allowing you to melt bosses.

Understanding the distance you can travel with both parts of this skill is crucial. In boss fights, particularly against those that pause occasionally, you can be aggressive by spacing your attacks correctly. This ensures that the enemy hasn't started attacking when you use the second part of the skill, giving you a better chance to dodge their counter-attack. Learning to use this weapon skill effectively against specific bosses, recognizing their attack patterns, and using the beginning portion of the skill to close gaps on enemies, then following up with a dual-wield combo chain, is essential. This helps conserve FP as the skill costs 18 FP per use, which is relatively high if it takes two uses to kill an enemy compared to one use of another skill.

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Erdtree Seal

The seal I'm using here is the Erdtree Seal. The only reason I'm using it is because it weighs nothing. I don't even meet the requirements for it. I'm just using it for Golden Vow. If you had Flame, Grant Me Strength, it would be the same deal. It's not going to matter with these, so just use something that weighs zero. We're really only using that for these buffs.

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Death Knight Set

When it comes to the Death Knight Set, each piece of the set will increase the damage of the weapon skill. It is not a substantial amount of damage; it seems like the total set increases damage by about 5% in my testing. It is not a lot. One of the problems with this set is that its poise, when you're wearing all four pieces, is like 47. So you're just under that 51 poise breakpoint, and it kind of sucks to use one Talisman slot for 4 poise. What I've done here is I've swapped out the legs for a different piece, one that looks similar, in order to keep the fashion but get over that 51 poise breakpoint. This way, you don't get staggered out of attacks, and when you're doing Blinkbolt: Twinaxe, you don't get interrupted as much.

Elden Ring Death Knight's Twin Axe Build - Death Knight 2.0: Talismans

Millicent's Prosthesis and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia

In terms of Talismans, we obviously have Millicent's Prosthesis and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia.

Winged Sword Insignia elden ring fix

If you don't have both, you can use the Winged Sword Insignia instead. The Blinkbolt Twinaxe builds up your attack power super rapidly when you have both of these equipped, allowing you to reliably trigger them and easily buff your damage in fights.

shard of alexander elden ring

Shard of Alexander is a no-brainer here as well because it boosts the damage of Blinkbolt Twinaxe, and you want that to hit as hard as possible. One really good thing about this weapon skill, which I forgot to mention earlier, is that it does a decent amount of stance damage. It's not the most stance damage out of any weapon skill I've ever used, but it still does a decent amount, allowing you to get stance breaks now and then.

Blessed Blue Dew Talisman

Another talisman I want to mention is the Blessed Blue Dew Talisman. It's also not bad when you're out on the landscape, as it allows you to replenish FP as you're using this skill. It's a good way to open up an area with a lot of enemies, buff your attack power before engaging several other enemies.

Crimson Amber Medallion elden ring

Alternatively, you could use the Crimson Amber Medallion to buff your damage with each enemy kill. That's another good way to get more damage out of the skill, but both of those will most likely be used out on the landscape rather than in a boss fight, as it doesn't make much sense there in my opinion.

So attribute-wise for this build I have 55 Vigor, 30 Mind, 25 Endurance, 50 Strength, 25 Dexterity, 16 Intelligence, 25 Faith, and 9 Arcane.

You don't need any Intelligence or Arcane; my 16 Intelligence is because of the Astrologer starting class. If you start with a different class, your stat spread might be a bit better at this level.

Vigor is at 55 because this is a very aggressive build. While you can play defensively using Blink Bolt Twin Axe, the focus is on playing offensively to build up attack power and deal substantial damage to bosses.

Endurance is at 25, though this should be higher. As you level up, aim to increase Endurance to 35 or even 40 because you use a lot of stamina with this build. Blink Bolt Twin Axe and attacking aggressively drain stamina quickly, so the Green Turtle Talisman is a good option for stamina management.

For damage attributes, we have 50 Strength, 25 Dexterity, and 25 Faith. Strength scales the best for this build, giving the most damage. Dexterity is also good but behind Strength, and Faith is similar to Dexterity. I have 25 Faith to use Golden Vow and Flame Grant Me Strength if needed.

Moving forward, you'll likely increase Dexterity and Faith up to 50 and then continue to increase Strength up to 80. This allows for a lot of room to grow, making this weapon viable for New Game Plus or continuing in Shadow of the Erdtree if you level up to 200 or 250.

Elden Ring Death Knight's Twin Axe Build - Death Knight 2.0: Final Tips

For the Flask of Wondrous Physick, I recommend using the Thorny Cracked Tear to increase damage as you attack rapidly, which is a no-brainer for this build. Stamina recovery is also good here as you typically have stamina management issues in boss fights, so getting that extra stamina recovery is beneficial. If you have the Green Turtle Talisman, you might not need it, but if you don't, it's definitely good to have. You can also use the Lightning-Shrouded Cracked Tear to increase your lightning damage. This weapon does about one-third of its damage as lightning, so while it's not as much of a boost as if it were full, it is still a way to increase damage.

Cracked Tears

For Great Runes, Radahn's Great Rune is the obvious choice here because you need more FP for this build since you use a lot. You need more stamina because it's stamina-hungry, and more health is good for trading damage since you're playing aggressively. So I highly recommend using that one if you are playing this build.

Radahn's Great Rune elden ring

So that wraps up our Death Knight 2.0 Build. I wanted to make a build that showcases buffing Dragon Cult skills. If you're not familiar, Dragon Cult skills typically deal lightning damage, such as Lightning Slash or Thunderbolt. The Death Knight set boosts the damage of these skills, allowing you to play around with various lightning-based attacks. This new Ash of War slaps really hard, and the Death Knight set boosts Dragon Cult incantation damage 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.