The Shadow Affliction Build: An Overpowered Toxic Assault for Elden Ring’s DLC
Elden Ring, FromSoftware's sprawling masterpiece, has continuously kept players on their toes with ever-evolving mechanics and strategies that push the boundaries of challenge. Whether you're delving into the vast, hostile open world or engaging in its brutal boss fights, the key to success often lies in finding the right build. The "Affliction Build" made waves in the community for its ability to melt enemies through poison, rot, and bleed effects, making quick work of even the Elden Ring Runes toughest bosses.

With the arrival of the DLC, the Shadow Affliction Build emerges as its more deadly and refined successor. This new build focuses on toxic rot, Scarlet rot, and bleed effects, ramping up the strategy and offering a glass cannon approach to gameplay. Fast, relentless, and devastating, this build introduces a new level of assault with the power of status effects that will cause enemies to wither away before your very eyes. If you're ready to embrace the chaos and ruin your enemies with the deadly trio of status effects, this build is for you.

The Heart of the Build: Dual Ansur Rapers and DLC Ashes of War
At the core of the Shadow Affliction Build lies the Ansur Rapier, a thrusting sword that has become synonymous with inflicting Scarlet rot and bleed simultaneously. This weapon, though not the most complex in its design, excels in applying powerful status effects while delivering swift, stabbing attacks. In this build, you'll wield two Ansurs Rapier (one with poison affinity and one with bleed affinity) to stack Scarlet rot, poison, and bleed on enemies.

Key Weapon Setup:
Main Hand - Poison Affinity Ansur Rapier: This sword comes with a passive Scarlet rot buildup of 55. You’ll enhance its potential further using the Poison Flower Blooms Twice DLC Ash of War. This new Ash of War is especially deadly, dealing significant Scarlet rot damage while boosting the damage even more if the enemy is already inflicted with rot or poison.

Off-hand - Bleed Affinity Ansur Rapier: This rapier will be empowered by Seppuku, an Ash of War that sacrifices some of your own health in exchange for blood loss buildup. This is the ideal complement to the poison-infused rapier, stacking multiple forms of status effects to utterly decimate your enemies. Not only will you be dealing incredible amounts of damage, but you’ll also gain a 30% boost to damage output as well as bleed buildup.

With these two weapons, you are creating a constant barrage of status effects that will melt through enemy defenses. Enemies who are already suffering from Scarlet rot or poison will find themselves even more vulnerable to the effects of bleed, leading to a fast and deadly combination of health drain and damage over time.

Maximizing Damage: Talismans, Armor, and Buffs
The key to making the Shadow Affliction Build so potent lies in stacking damage boosts from status effects and successive hits. Here's a breakdown of the best equipment and talismans for this build:

Armor Setup:
To make the most of the build's glass cannon nature, we focus on armor that enhances damage without significantly compromising survivability. Some armor pieces boost your attack power directly through status effects, while others offer specific advantages for thrusting weapons or jump attacks.

Mushroom Crown: This grotesque piece of headgear is key to boosting your attack power. The Mushroom Crown provides a 10% damage increase for 20 seconds when either you or your enemy is inflicted with Scarlet rot or poison. This will allow you to capitalize on the poison/rot effects you've already applied.

Grave Bird’s Black Quill Chest Armor: This armor increases the damage of your jump attacks by 10%, which is ideal for dealing high damage with thrusting weapons. Jumping attacks, especially with the Ansurs Rapier, allow you to quickly land multiple hits in a short amount of time, further stacking your status effects.

Rakshasa Armor: This set gives a 2% attack boost, but at the cost of taking 2% more damage. While it may seem like a risky tradeoff, the extra damage output is well worth it when you're dealing with bosses whose health can be rapidly depleted by your bleed and rot effects.

Gauntlets of Solitude: Providing over 50 poise, these gauntlets will help you tank hits during your fast and furious assault, allowing you to land more hits before being staggered. They can be obtained after defeating the Black Jail Knight in Nameless Melum.

Talismans:
Talismans are where you truly make this build shine, stacking damage boosts that interact with the various status effects and helping you inflict fatal status effects quickly. Here's a list of the essential talismans:

Millicent's Prosthesis: This talisman increases your dexterity and enhances your attack power with successive hits. With this, you'll be hitting harder and faster, especially when paired with your rapiers' fast thrusting attacks.

Rotten Winged Sword Insignia: Similar to Millicent's Prosthesis, this talisman boosts your attack power for successive hits, making it a perfect companion for the Ansurs Rapier’s thrusting attacks.

Lord of Blood's Exaltation: This talisman boosts attack power when bleed procs, making it perfect for this build, which heavily relies on applying bleed effects through Seppuku and fast attacks.

Kindred of Rot's Exaltation: A talisman that raises your attack power by 20% for 20 seconds when poison or rot is present in the vicinity. This is a perfect fit for this build, as it capitalizes on the Scarlet rot and poison buildup you inflict on enemies.

Melania’s Great Rune: This is an essential talisman for sustainability. While you’re playing a glass cannon build, Melania's Great Rune ensures that you heal over time as you land attacks, allowing you to stay in the fight longer without worrying about your health too much.

Flask of Wondrous Physick:
For the Flask of Wondrous Physick, you’ll need to combine damage-boosting crack tiers that stack well with your talismans.

Vidiian Hidden Tier: This tier eliminates stamina consumption for 15 seconds, allowing you to unleash a relentless barrage of attacks without worrying about stamina. This is especially useful when you’re trying to stack as many status effects as possible in a short window of time.

Thorny Crack Tier: This tier boosts your attack power for successive hits and jump attacks, stacking well with your other talismans like the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia.

Combat Strategy: Applying Status Effects and Melting Boss Health Bars
The core of the Shadow Affliction Build is status effects—specifically, Scarlet rot, poison, and bleed. Your job as a player is to layer these effects rapidly and relentlessly on enemies to cause them to lose health steadily over time.

Start with Seppuku: Before engaging a boss, use Seppuku on your off-hand rapier. This will boost your bleed buildup significantly and provide an additional 30% damage boost. With your high Arcane stat, this effect scales very well, making your attacks even more devastating.

Inflict Scarlet Rot and Poison: Use the Poison Flower Blooms Twice Ash of War to spread Scarlet rot across enemies. This attack also increases in potency if the enemy is already suffering from Scarlet rot or poison, allowing you to deal even more damage with the DLC Ash of War.

Stack Damage: As you apply rot, poison, and bleed, take full advantage of your talismans that boost attack power when these status effects trigger. The Lord of Blood’s Exaltation will trigger when bleed procs, and the Kindred of Rot’s Exaltation will increase your attack power when you’re spreading rot or poison.

Use Jump Attacks: Your armor and talismans favor jump attacks, so use them frequently to land multiple hits in a single motion, allowing you to rack up status effects even faster.

Conclusion: Embrace the Affliction
The Shadow Affliction Build is a deadly and devastating DLC successor to the original Affliction Build. By combining the power of Scarlet rot, poison, and bleed, you will melt through enemies at an astounding pace, making quick work of even the toughest bosses. This build is highly offensive, and while it’s certainly a glass cannon, its ability to inflict fatal status effects and boost damage makes it incredibly satisfying to use. With the right combination of gear, talismans, and strategy, you'll soon find yourself watching enemy health bars plummet as you take on the Elden Ring Items challenge that is Elden Ring’s DLC.