Elden Ring- Lady of the Black Flame | Black Flame Blade Shamshir Build (NG+7)

Background: Black Flame Blade was one of my favorite incantations in the entire game and a incantation that I generally feel is underrated and a bit misunderstood among Elden Ring's player base. With this build, I wanted to showcase the potential of Black Flame Blade in the hands of someone who takes the time to learn to use it.

For this Build: This build is a Dexterity/Faith hybrid centered around the Black Flame Blade incantation and the Shamshir to apply the Black Flame Damage over Time (D.o.T) effect to melt enemy's health pool. The Shamshir was my chosen candidate for this build because of its unique light attack chain that swings very swiftly and my chosen weapon skill on the Shamshir is Sword Dance for its ability to close distance and land attacks very quickly. Due to successive hit buffs such as Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Millicent's Prosthesis and Thorny Cracked Tear, that allows my base damage to ramp up quickly and suits an aggressive playstyle, which suits the needs of how to use Black Flame Blade effectively. Now, a few things about Black Flame Blade because understanding how this incantation works is vital to making this build work. To begin, with Old Lord's Talisman, Black Flame Blade lasts for 9.5 seconds. During that time, your weapon is buffed with fire damage and will apply Black Flame D.o.T for 2 seconds after each attack that connects on an enemy. Now, it's important to not think of Black Flame as a status effect. Landing multiple hits in a small window doesn't make the Black Flame D.o.T stack nor does it make an enemy's health burn faster, BUT each attack landed with Black Flame Blade resets the timer on the 2 second Black Flame D.o.T. Additionally, Black Flame Blade casts extremely fast and can be cast out of a roll or sprint. It works best when cast immediately after a dodge and then closing in on an enemy. Because of it, this build requires knowing the timing of bosses very well and definitely isn't for everyone, but if mastered, can lead to a very powerful and satisfying combat style.

Despite only having a modest 55 Dexterity, a Keen Shamshir with this build can reach surprisingly high Attack Rating (AR)

"Power Levels" of a 55 Dexterity Keen Shamshir and a 257 Incant Scaling at 50 Faith using the Godslayer's Seal with this build.

Keen Shamshir (base): 485
Keen Shamshir (Ritual Sword): 533
Keen Shamshir (Ritual Sword, Golden Vow): 613
Keen Shamshir (Ritual Sword, Golden Vow, Flame, Grant Me Strength): 736

Keen Shamshir (Black Flame Blade): 652
Keen Shamshir (Black Flame Blade and Ritual Sword): 717
Keen Shamshir (Ritual Sword, Golden Vow, FMGS and Black Flame Blade): 990
Keen Shamshir (Ritual Sword, Golden Vow, FMGS, Black Flame Blade and Flame Shrouding Tear): 1041

Keep in mind, all of those numbers would increase even higher with the effects of Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Millicent's Prosthesis, and Thorny Cracked Tear.



Relevant Stats:
Vigor: 44
Mind: 25
Endurance: 30
Dexterity: 55 (+5 with Millicent's Prosthesis)
Faith: 50

Talismans:
1. Old Lord's Talisman: Extends the Duration of Spell Buffs
2 and 3. Rotten Winged Sword Insignia and Millicent's Prosthesis: Successive Hit buffs
4 (Flex). Ritual Sword Talisman: Increases attack power by 10% at full health.
Fire Scorpion Charm: Increases Fire Damage by 12%

Physick:
1. Thorny Cracked Tear: Successive Hit buff for 3 minutes.
2. Flame Shrouding Cracked Tear: Increases Fire Damage by 20% for 3 minutes

Drip: Fia's Hood, Fia's Robe, Godskin Bracers and Sanguine Noble Waistcloth

How to Improve this Build:
This build does have quite a bit of room for improvement if you're willing to go beyond RL150. An ideal set-up with this build would be one with 80 Dexterity and 80 Faith, for maximum base weapon damage with the Shamshir and a higher Incant Scaling with Black Flame Blade. An 80 Dexterity Keen Shamshir would have an AR of 544 before buffs; this is about a 11% increase in damage compared to my Keen Shamshir at 55 Dexterity before buffs. At 80 Faith, you would want to replace the Godslayer Seal with the Erdtree Seal, but you may want to consider having an off-hand Godslayer Seal to buff the power of Black Flame and Black Flame Ritual (does not buff Black Flame Blade) when you cast. Additionally, this build would benefit from a higher Mind pool so you don't need to manage FP as often. Better Vigor and armor would be helpful should it please you, but that goes without saying.

Chapters:
0:00 Margit
1:05 Godrick (No Damage)
2:19 Radahn
4:07 Draconic Tree Sentinel
5:12 Goldfrey (No Damage)
6:13 Morgott
7:56 Mohg
10:31 Niall (No Damage)
13:58 Loretta
16:50 Malenia
21:59 Fire Giant (No Damage)
24:34 Placidusax
27:53 Maliketh (No Damage)
30:14 Hoarah Loux (No Damage)
32:05 Radagon
33:08 Elden Beast