Elden Ring: The Best Dark Moon Greatsword Build to Impress Ranni

The Moonlight Greatsword is a staple in the Souls series, and it’s such an iconic weapon that it even has its own iteration in Elden Ring, called the Dark Moon Greatsword. Likewise, it’s a great weapon; in fact, its most glaring flaw is that you don’t acquire it soon enough to savor it in a longer honeymoon phase. Once you obtain it, however, you will want the best Dark Moon Greatsword build, so that a humble Tarnished like you would prove to be worthy of the sword and its previous owner’s attention along with all her four arms– for hugging.

[Updated on June 20, 2024 – Revised the build guide and added more details]

Elden Ring Dark Moon Greatsword Stats & Mechanics

Damage Type at +10	Physical – 200 Magic – 240
Scaling at +10	Strength – D Dexterity – D Intelligence – B
Stat Requirements	Strength – 16 Dexterity – 11 Intelligence – 38
Weapon Skill	Moonlight Greatsword (32 FP)
Status Effect	Frostbite (55)
Weight	10

It goes without saying, you should upgrade the Dark Moon Greatsword right away to +10. It uses Somber Smithing Stones, meaning you can’t change its Weapon Skill to other Ashes of War.

The Dark Moon Greatsword’s Weapon Skill, Moonlight Greatsword, is special and unique to the weapon. It functions like a Resin or weapon buff, which lasts 60 seconds. Upon activation, Moonlight Greatsword will coat the weapon with a magical glow and add the following stats:

• +65 Magic Damage
• +15 Frostbite buildup

Additionally, Moonlight Greatsword will turn the Dark Moon Greatsword into a projectile weapon where you can shoot frost arcs at a short-medium distance via Heavy Attacks. It’s not very effective in PvP since the projectile is slow, but quite powerful in PvE.

Thus, building your character around that Weapon Skill and the Dark Moon Greatsword’s Scaling is a great idea.

Best Character Stats for the Dark Moon Greatsword Build

As expected, this will be an Intelligence and mage build with a battlemage or spellsword twist. It’s not such a bad thing, especially considering the plethora of Sorceries you have access to.

To get the most out of the gear, you first need to have the following stats:

Vigor	50 or 60
Mind	30 or 40
Endurance	Enough to keep Medium Equip Load
Strength	Enough to meet the Dark Moon Greatsword’s requirements
Dexterity	Dump all the remaining points here
Intelligence	80
Faith	Doesn’t matter
Arcane	Doesn’t matter

Vigor should be your priority here, and you need it at least at 50 for late-game content. Intelligence is a given, as it’s your main damage stat; if you can’t bring it to 80 right away, bring it to at least 40 or 60. Mind depends on how comfortable you want to be when spamming spells.

Dexterity is an interesting stat for Sorcery or spellcaster builds since it actually affects casting speed. That’s why once you’ve hit the stat threshold for your main stats (Vigor, Intelligence, Mind), you should then build up your Dexterity.

Best Gear for the Elden Ring Dark Moon Greatsword Build

Here’s the full grocery list of the gear you need to collect for this build, from armor to Talismans and even spells.

Dark Moon Greatsword is a given, so we’re not going to include that anymore.

Armor & Weapons

Armor Piece & Weapon	Effect	Location
Snow Witch Hat	+10% Cold Sorcery	Chest on the upper floor of Renna’s Rise in Caria Manor, Liurnia after completing Ranni’s questline.
Spellblade’s Traveling Attire	+2% Weapon Skill Magic damage	Drops from Sorcerer Rogier after he dies in Roundtable Hold
Spellblade’s Gloves	+2% Weapon Skill Magic damage	Drops from Sorcerer Rogier after he dies in Roundtable Hold
Spellblade’s Trousers	+2% Weapon Skill Magic damage	Drops from Sorcerer Rogier after he dies in Roundtable Hold
Carian Regal Scepter	Boosts Full Moon Sorcery	Enia in Roundtable Hold after defeating Rennala.

A good alternative to the helm would be the Spellblade’s Pointed Hat (which you’ll get anyway) or Seluvis’ Preceptor’s Big Hat (increases FP at the cost of Stamina).

Talismans

For Talismans, take these:

Talismans & Physick Flask	Effect	Location
Shard of Alexander	+15% Weapon Skill Attack Power	Drops from Iron Fist Alexander in Crumbling Farum Azula at the end of his questline.
Magic Scorpion Charm	+12% Magic damage +10% Physical damage taken	Reward from Preceptor Seluvis after you give him the Amber Starlight (Altus Plateau).
Radagon Icon	Increases Casting Speed	Chest in Raya Lucaria Academy, in the Courtyard buildings after the Debate Parlor Grace.
Godfrey Icon	+15% Attack Power for charged Spells & Skills	Drops from Godefroy the Grafted in Golden Lineage Eergaol, Altus Plateau.
Cerulean Hidden Tear	Eliminates FP consumption	Ulcerated Tree Spirit in Minor Erdtree, Mt. Gelmir
Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear	Boosts Magic attacks	Erdtree Avatar in Minor Erdtree, Liurnia (northeast)

These will help our playstyle, which I’ll explain later. For now, include these Sorceries.

Sorceries

Sorcery	Usage
Glintstone Icecrag	Frostbite buildup
Loretta’s Greatbow	Sniping
Loretta’s Mastery	Sniping
Greatblade Phalanx	Poise damage
Night Comet	Sorcery against fast bosses
Night Shard	Sorcery against fast bosses
Ranni’s Dark Moon	AoE spell
Adula’s Moonblade	Heavy Frost attack

These spells aren’t that importants so don’t fret if you don’t have them. However, I highly recommend Night Comet and Night Shard, especially against bosses like Malenia.

In addition to those two, Loretta’s spells are also great since Moonlight Greatsword’s range is rather short. You can do fine with just those four Sorceries.

Playstyle for the Elden Ring Dark Moon Greatsword Build

Since you’re a battlemage, the playstyle is simpler, and there’s no need for prebuffing or complicated mechanic abuse.

Follow these steps when entering combat for the Elden Ring Dark Moon Greatsword build:

1. Drink the Flask of Wondrous Physick (optional).
2. Cast Moonlight Greatsword (Dark Moon Greatsword Weapon Skill).
3. Use Heavy Attack projectiles against lightly armored enemies.
4. Use Charged Heavy Attack Projectiles against heavily armored enemies.
5. Once Moonlight Greatsword expires, cast it again. Alternatively, you can fall back to your faster and longer range Sorceries like Night Comet/Shard or Loretta’s Greatbow/Mastery.
6. Against fast bosses that like to evade like Malenia, use Night Comet/Shard.

Of course, don’t forget to roll or evade and replenish your FP with the Cerulean Flask.