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Elden Ring gives you plenty of tools to help your short hobo zombie ascend into godhood no matter what it takes. Among those tools are the status effects, and they have proven to be more interesting avenues of gameplay. That very well means you shouldn’t confine yourself to the old “unga this, bunga that” caveman tactics. We have other options. To help you choose better, I present to thee all the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree status effects and which among them is the best.
[Updated on July 18, 2024 – Revised the guide into a ranking with considerations for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC]
7. Death Blight
| Effect |
| Instantly kills the victim upon maximum accumulation. |
Death Blight is that dark instant-death bar that is scarier than most horror games these days. So you probably thought it’s cool if you get your hands on it. Sadly, Death Blight is useless in anything outside of PvP.
It only works on Tarnished and has no effect on any NPC or boss enemy. That’s quite understandable since being able to kill enemies instantly is reserved for broken builds with a million buffs and not for a single status effect.
6. Madness
| Effect |
| Stuns victims and deals flat 100 HP damage along with 15% of the target’s max HP. Also deals flat 30 FP damage and an additional 10% of the victim’s max FP. |
On paper, Madness looks imposing, especially with all the literal Madness-inducing Incantations and weapons you have for Faith builds. However, it only works on humans and human-sized enemies.
Most bosses are larger than humans or aren’t humans at all. That means Madness is only a PvP tool unless you enjoy torturing Fia’s simps champions or Gideon Ofnir before his speech finishes. This Elden Ring status effect is mostly of no use to you in PvE.
5. Poison
| Effect |
| Victim slowly suffers damage over time. The overall damage varies depending on the source. |
Poison at least works in both PvP and PvE, but if you’re looking for a dedicated damage-over-time build, then you’re better off with other options. Poison, regardless of the source, doesn’t deal enough damage or doesn’t do it fast enough to matter.
It might put pressure on your PvP opponent or let you relax during boss fights, but again, there are faster and more devastating options. In fact, if it weren’t for that other option (more on that later), then Poison wouldn’t have been outclassed as a damage-over-time source.
4. Sleep
| Effect |
| The victim falls asleep and becomes immobile upon maximum accumulation. They wake up when attacked. |
Sleep doesn’t do damage, but it’s more interesting than Poison since it’s a free and useful “stun” that either lets you heal or burst down an enemy. It works in both PvP and PvE, too, and surprisingly, a good number of bosses are susceptible to sleep.
Some of the more obvious bosses and enemies like dragons, Erdtree creatures, undead, or constructs are immune. But most other humanoid enemies can be put to sleep. The tactic is about as effective as Poison, but it can help you deal with annoying bosses like Godskin Duo.
3. Scarlet Rot
| Effect |
| Deals damage over time, considerably higher overall damage than Poison. |
Scarlet Rot all but makes Poison obsolete, but the silver lining of Poison is that you can use it simultaneously. That means you can turn your targets into pharmacies with how much poison and disease you can inflict on them. It’s just that Scarlet Rot is still the superior damage-over-time option.
It deals faster damage ticks and is more reliable for whittling down the final slivers of an enemy’s HP before they can heal (if in PvP). Moreover, some of the toughest bosses in the game are vulnerable to Scarlet Rot, like the DLC’s final boss.
2. Frostbite
| Effect |
| On trigger, deals 30 HP damage along with 10% of the victim’s max HP. Target’s damage negation also gets a 20% debuff and they also suffer slower Stamina recovery for 30 seconds. |
Moving on to the amazing Elden Ring status effects, Frostbite is easily the second-best given how practical it is against most enemies. There are a lot of effects here, from making enemies dodge less to giving them a debuff. Do note that despite the visual effect, Frostbite doesn’t exactly slow down movement.
So the Stamina debuff is only really useful in PvP. However, you’re enemies will be getting an effective 20 percent more damage from you (if you manage to land hits). The rule of thumb for susceptibility is that if you’re mainly fighting enemies with flesh, then Frostbite works to its full extent.
1. Blood Loss
| Effect |
| On trigger, deals 100-200 HP damage along with 15% of the victim’s max HP. |
Unsurprisingly, Bleed or Hemorrhage or Blood Loss is at the top. It simply is the most satisfying Elden Ring status effect to trigger and it scales better than most other status effects due to the high percentage-based damage.
That’s why it’s the top choice for enemies with huge HP pools. Moreover, if you want to see your PvP enemies panic like never before, you can thank the Bleed status effect for that. For PvE, there are only a few bosses in-game that don’t bleed, making this Elden Ring status effect the overall community favorite.
