Elden Ring Sword of Night Build - Void Knight Guide (Shadow of the Erdtree Build) (2024)

In this Elden Ring Sword of Night Build, I’m going to be showing you my Void Knight Guide. This is a build that not only uses the Armor of Night, but also incorporates the Sword of Night and the Shield of Night. You can find these items in our Shadow of the Erdtree Walkthrough.

Elden Ring Sword of Night Build – Void Knight Guide

In this Elden Ring Build Guide, I’ll be showing you my Sword of Night and Shield of Night build. This is a Shadow of the Erdtree build that takes place after level 150. If you’ve been looking for a katana build for Shadow of the Erdtree that quickly slashes through your enemies then you might want to check this build-out.

• Class:Any
• Flask Spread: Equal Charges
• Main Weapon:Sword of Night
• Shield:Shield of Night
• Armor:Helm of Night,Armor of Night,Black Knight Gauntlets,Black Knight Greaves
• Talismans:Crusade Insignia,Shard of Alexander,Blessed Blue Dew Talisman,Godfrey Icon
• Alternate Talismans:Millicent’s ProsthesisorRotten Winged Sword Insignia,Bull-Goat’s Talisman
• Primary Stats:Dexterity,Vigor
• Secondary Stats:Endurance,Mind
• Skills:Witching Hour Slash,Revenge of the Night
• Spells: N/A
• Crystal Tear:Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear,Opaline Hardtear
• Alternate Crystal Tear:Thorny Cracked Tear
• Great Runes:Malenia’s Great RuneorRadahn’s Great Rune

We have over 120 Elden Ring builds. Each one is meticulously crafted to offer unique playstyles, strategies, and experiences, ensuring there’s something for every adventurer in the Lands Between. Whether you seek the raw power of heavy weapons, the finesse of spellcasting, or the versatility of hybrid builds, our collection has you covered. Explore the depths of the game’s mechanics and unleash your full potential with our diverse array of builds.

Elden Ring Sword of Night Build – Void Knight: Equipment

You can find the Sword of Night by completing Count Ymir‘s quest line and progressing it to its end or near the end. The Armor of Night and Shield of Night are located in Bonny Gaol, which is accessible early in the game. After passing through the Moorth Ruins, you can find this dungeon by running a bit further to obtain these items quickly.

Let’s start with the Sword of Night. This Katana features Bloodloss buildup and Dex scaling. As a unique Katana, it cannot be infused, but it offers substantial physical and magic damage, with most of the damage being physical. Its standout feature is the unique weapon skill, Witching Hour Slash.

Witching Hour Slash involves holding the Katana to the side and executing a quick three-hit slash that advances the character forward, extending the attack range beyond the Katana itself, similar to the Rivers of Blood. You can charge this skill for increased range and damage, which is particularly useful if you can predict an opening, such as when staggering a boss or anticipating an enemy’s approach. A notable advantage is that if you need to release the charge prematurely due to an enemy’s attack, the skill will still execute, allowing some flexibility in timing.

See Also

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There are some drawbacks to this weapon. First, its reach is quite short compared to other Katanas like the Nagakiba or Great Katana, necessitating closer proximity to enemies. Additionally, the FP cost of 21 per use is high for a weapon skill, making FP management crucial, especially since this skill effectively kills regular enemies. Lastly, once the skill is activated, you are locked into the animation, which can be a disadvantage against aggressive bosses and enemies. This necessitates learning enemy attack patterns to use the skill effectively. Blindly using the skill in unfamiliar boss fights can lead to significant damage taken.

Next, let’s take a look at the Shield of Night. This is an interesting shield because it weighs almost nothing. It has attack power, physical and magic, but offers terrible defenses except for magic and has a poor guard boost. It scales with dexterity and has a unique skill called Revenge of the Night. Pressing L2 with this skill shoots out a projectile that deals modest damage at a modest range, costing only 5 FP. While the damage isn’t significant, it provides a ranged option for melee characters, dealing 100% magic damage, which can be easily boosted. The damage of this skill scales with dexterity, so the more dexterity you have, the more magic damage the skill will do.

The primary intention of Revenge of the Night is to catch magical or ranged projectiles and then quickly press L2 afterward to fire a powered-up projectile back at the attacker. This is similar to a block counter for regular melee attacks but using L2 instead of R2. This powered-up projectile deals significantly more damage, often four times the normal amount, and can one-shot enemies trying to range you down. While this skill is very situational, it is highly effective in certain boss fights that involve projectiles or when dealing with ranged enemies.

However, the guard boost and physical protection of the Shield of Night are not sufficient for it to function as a traditional block counter shield. Using it to block melee attacks will drain a lot of stamina and result in taking significant damage. Instead, you might consider the Messmer Soldier Shield if you want a shield that matches the set and allows for regular block counters. This shield offers better protection and functionality for traditional blocking.

In practice, you can swap between two-handing your Sword of Night and using a shield depending on the situation. During boss fights, you might switch back and forth based on the boss’s attacks. This strategy works best when you are familiar with the boss’s attack patterns, making it more challenging when fighting a boss for the first time.

For armor, I’m using the Armor of Night and Helm of Night, combined with the Black Knight Greaves and Gauntlets. The reason for this mix is the low poise of the Armor of Night Set, which is around 26 or 29 in total. By wearing the Black Knight Gauntlets and Black Knight Greaves and adding the Bull-Goat’s Talisman, I can surpass the crucial 51 poise threshold. This is essential because if you get hit and knocked out of the animation while using the katana‘s weapon skill, it can be a major setback. Achieving 51 poise helps prevent that.

This setup allows me to maintain the distinctive look of the Armor of Knight with the recognizable helmet and chest plate, while the differing legs and gloves are less noticeable.

Elden Ring Sword of Night Build – Void Knight: Talismans

For talismans, here are some options I find effective for this build:

Crusade Insignia is great for exploration and dungeons because it boosts the damage of your attacks, weapon skills, and shield skills (including the projectile). It’s versatile and beneficial when you regularly kill enemies.

Shard of Alexander enhances the damage of both Witching Hour Slash and Revenge of the Night, making it a solid choice for this build.

Blessed Blue Dew Talisman is useful for exploration as it slowly regenerates FP over time, allowing you to use your weapon skills more frequently and offsetting the high FP cost of Witching Hour Slash. However, during boss fights, it doesn’t regenerate FP quickly enough, so you’ll still need to flask.

Godfrey Icon is excellent for increasing the damage of charged Witching Hour Slash. If you find yourself using the charged version often, this is a must-have.

Millicent’s Prosthesis or Rotten Winged Sword Insignia are also viable options. During boss fights, they are more effective than in exploration since the damage boost is short-lived.

Additionally, I found that the Curved Sword Talisman does not improve the damage of Revenge of the Night‘s block counter animation, so it’s not worth using if you’re focusing on maximizing its damage.

When I first built this, I tried to maximize Revenge of the Night‘s damage, but due to its poor mitigations, it’s best used for catching projectiles and countering them effectively. Regular use of its uncharged version is negligible, so focus on using it for its intended purpose: catching projectiles and returning fire.

Elden Ring Sword of Night Build – Void Knight: Recommended Attributes Distribution

For attributes in this build, I have allocated as follows:

• 55 Vigor: This is quite standard for the DLC, ensuring enough health to survive tough encounters, especially considering the hyper-aggressive playstyle.
• 25 Mind: This allows substantial use of Witching Hour Slash and Revenge of the Night before needing to flask. If you level beyond 150, consider putting an additional 10 points into Mind for smoother gameplay.
• 27 Endurance: This is sufficient for maintaining a medium equip load and providing enough stamina. More stamina is always beneficial, so increasing to 30-35 would be ideal.
• 11 Strength: This meets the minimum requirement for wielding the weapon one-handed. If you primarily two-hand the weapon, you might not need this much, but 11 is a good baseline.
• 80 Dexterity: This is crucial for maximizing damage from both the Sword of Night and Shield of Night, as the weapon scales exclusively with Dexterity.
• 16 Intelligence, 7 Faith, 9 Arcane: These are irrelevant for this build. My Intelligence is a leftover from starting as an Astrologer, but since the weapon no longer scales with Intelligence post-patch, you can ignore these stats.

Prioritize Dexterity for damage, Vigor for survivability, and Mind and Endurance for sustainability. Strength is just enough to meet the weapon’s requirement, and the other stats can be ignored unless your starting class has unavoidable points in them.

Elden Ring Sword of Night Build – Void Knight: Final Tips

For the Flask of Wondrous Physick, there are a couple of effective setups you can use. The Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear is fantastic if you plan to use Revenge of the Night regularly. It significantly boosts the damage, making it ideal for areas with many ranged enemies or boss fights involving lots of projectiles. The Thorny Cracked Tear is great for increasing damage on repeated attacks, which is beneficial for both Witching Hour Slash and regular katana attacks. The Opaline Hardtear provides increased protection, which is always useful.

For Great Runes, you have two solid options. Malenia’s Great Rune is excellent for gaining health back when attacking after taking damage. Given the aggressive playstyle of this build, this can be very beneficial. Radahn’s Great Rune provides more health, FP, and stamina, addressing the build’s slightly lower FP and stamina.

This wraps up the Void Knight build. The Armor of Night, Sword of Night, and Shield of Night not only look cool but are also highly effective when used properly. Enjoy the build and don’t believe the haters—this weapon is really good if you use it correctly. 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 andShadow of the Erdtreeso 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 theElden Ring Map.