"The Flame Cleaver" – Colossal Dominance for Shadow of the Erdtree

Hello everyone! Welcome to my Elden Ring DLC walkthrough. If you're looking to optimize this build quickly, buy Elden Ring Runes to level up faster and hit those stat breakpoints immediately. Today we'll delve into one of the most easily overlooked monsters in the Shadowlands: the Flame Knight Greatsword. This isn't your average giant weapon. This thing has teeth, and I'm going to teach you how to make it bite.

WHY THIS WEAPON?

The Fire Knight's Greatsword sits in a weird spot – people see "colossal" and assume it's slow garbage. Wrong. This beauty has one of the best colossal movesets in the game:

Light Attack Chain – Faster than standard colossals. You're not locked into those wind-up animations that get you killed against any competent player. The R1 chain comes out quick, which on a weapon hitting this hard is honestly kind of unfair.

Heavy Attack – Chef's kiss. That thrust has RANGE. Colossal swords are already kings of trading, but giving us a long-range poke turns this into a roll-catching machine. People think they're safe at mid-distance. They aren't.

Faith Scaling – Here's the secret sauce. Most colossals want strength. This one? Go faith, lean into fire damage, and watch those numbers climb into oblivion.

THE NUMBERS (Because We Like Big Damage)

1. Faith Build (Buffs Active):

· Flame Shrouding Cracked Tear

· Flame Grant Me Strength

· Uplifting Aromatic

· TOTAL AR: 1204

2. Strength Build (Buffs Active):

· Same buffs, different stat spread

· TOTAL AR: 1084

· The faith version hits harder. Period. But here's the thing – strength builds let you use greases, which gives you mix-up potential. Fire affinity locks you in, but physical affinity lets you slap on whatever the situation needs. I run both. Today we're focusing on faith.

THE LOADOUT

STATS (Faith Version – RL150 Meta)

· Vigor: 60 (non-negotiable)

· Mind: 25 (enough for buffs and AoW spam)

· Endurance: 35 (colossal weapons are heavy, friends)

· Strength: 22 (minimum requirements)

· Dexterity: 18 (minimum requirements)

· Faith: 60 (this is where the damage lives)

· Arcane: Base

· Strength version swap: 54 Str / 12 Fth

ARMOR

I'm rocking this fashion for a reason – poise defense. This setup puts me in tank territory. Your armor is YOUR choice, but remember: colossal weapons need you to trade. You cannot trade wearing cloth. Minimum poise target: 61. Higher is better.

TALISMANS (The Core Setup)

TWO-HANDED SWORD TALISMAN – Mandatory. 10% extra damage on a weapon hitting 1200 AR? That's not a buff, that's a war crime.

SHARD OF ALEXANDER – Only if you're running a damage-type Ash of War. If you're just raw-dogging with standard attacks, swap this for Crimson Amber +3.

ERGREE'S FAVOR +2 – Stamina, HP, equip load. Staple. Never comes off.

BULL-GO'S TALISMAN – More poise. More trades. More wins.

Situational swap: Dragoncrest Greatshield if you're getting blasted by magic

ASHES OF WAR

· Flame Spear – My personal favorite. Buffs your weapon, does damage, roll catches like a dream. Release it when THEY roll, not when you want to.

· Storm Stomp – Still disgusting. Trades through colossal swings. Reaction hyper-armor is real.

· Bloodhound Step / Quickstep – I've been experimenting. Quickstep feels better than BHS for this weapon, honestly.

INVASION BREAKDOWN: Putting It To Work

The Sainted Hero's Grave – Host: Alpha 9420

Classic setup. Host and his buddies are baiting the shadow chariot – risky play. I let them lure while I buff. "What in the lock-on is this?" Rivers of Blood. Of course. But here's the thing – this weapon hits like a truck. One R2 and the phantom is almost one-shot. These guys are running bleed katana and poison katana, spamming running attacks like it's 2022.

Pro tip: When someone only uses one move, they become predictable. The boulder trap kills one. The blue shows up. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh – blue dies. My favorite thing to see. Host tries to run home. Quits out. That's the Fire Knight's Greatsword fear factor.

Coastal Cave – Full Wizard Squad

Three mages. Moonlight Greatsword. Elenora's Poleblade. Nobody leveled vigor.

"Guys, please level the health bar. That's very important."

These invasions are about positioning. Wizards want distance. You want them in a phone booth. Use pillars. Use corridors. Make them come to you.

Colossal vs. colossal mirror match – this guy's running roar buffs. Fully charged heavies. Dangerous with a teammate, but alone? You can backstab that wind-up.

Watch your R1s. I kept pivot-canceling my own attacks. Tight corridors + colossal weapon = you WILL hit walls. Be deliberate.

The wizard ran. Chase the wizard. Always chase the wizard.

Crumbling Farum Azula – The 3v3

Now this is what we live for. Team fight. Both sides buffing. Colossal enjoyer on the other team – gotta respect it.

Heavy roll. Why am I heavy rolling? Check your equip load, kids. Fashion is great until you fat-roll into a combo.

This guy with the colossal just face-trades everything. Dangerous habit. Against bleed builds, trading will kill you. Against me? I hit harder.

The host dies to the enemy phantom. Host privileges, I guess.

Specimen Storehouse – Storm Stomp City

Tight corridors. Vertical space. This is Storm Stomp heaven.

"It's still crazy that you can tank through a colossal swing like that."

Storm Stomp hyper-armor is no joke. Even on this patch. Even after nerfs. You time it right, you trade through anything.

Backstabs in hallways are tricky. The geometry hates you. But when you land one? Chef's kiss.

I accidentally killed the friend. Was going for a backstab, got a murder. Sorry, friend. Not sorry.

Deeproot Depths – Latency Hell

"Hey Bob, how's it going?"

Bloodhound Fang. Bloodflame Blade. Classic setup. But the connection – oof. Latency so high you can't reaction roll. You have to predict.

This is where two-handed talisman shines. You're not hitting clean? Fine. Trade anyway. You'll win the DPS race against almost anything.

Host quits out when his friend dies. Expected, but still disappointing.

Lake of Rot – Dragonkin Invasion

Rare invasion type. Hosts are fighting the boss. Rain effect (nerfs fire damage, remember that). Scarlet Rot butt-blast everywhere.

"Not a fan of the fact that it's raining, but it is what it is."

We still hit for 1000 damage a swing. So does the boss. Fair trade.

Wizard tries to Comet spam. Flame Spear roll-catch. Wizard dies. Boss does the teabag-sit animation. Perfect ending.

FINAL BUILD SUMMARY

1. Weapon: Fire Knight's Greatsword – Flame Art Affinity

2. Off-hand: Whatever you want. Seal for incants, or another colossal for style points.

3. Incantations:

· Flame Grant Me Strength (mandatory)

· Golden Vow (if you have the slots)

· Flame, Cleanse Me (for rot lakes)

4. Physick:

· Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear

· Opaline Hardtear / Stonebarb Cracked Tear

5. Key Buff Sequence:

· Flame Grant Me Strength

· Uplifting Aromatic

· Physick

· Flame Spear (weapon buff)

· Delete the host

PLAYSTYLE TIPS

1. You're a trader. Not a runner. Not a roller. You stand your ground and make THEM respect YOU.

2. That R2 thrust is your best friend. Learn the range. It's longer than people expect.

3. Crouch attacks are real. R2 into crouch into R1 – true combo against panic rollers.

4. Water is your enemy. Fire damage gets nerfed. Rain too. Be aware.

5. Watch your R1s in tight spaces. You will hit walls. You will cancel your own combos. Practice pivoting.

6. If they run, chase. Especially wizards. They're not running because they're winning.

STRENGTH VS. FAITH – THE FINAL VERDICT

1. Faith Build: Higher AR, better with buffs, locked into fire damage. You know exactly what you're getting.

2. Strength Build: Slightly lower AR, but grease-able. Physical, magic, lightning, bleed – situationally better. More versatile.

3. I run both. You should too. And if you're looking to experiment with multiple setups without the grind, buy cheap Elden Ring Items from MMOEXP to stock up on smithing stones, greases, and consumables across all your characters.

The Fire Knight's Greatsword isn't just another colossal. It's a faith-scaling monster with a moveset that rewards aggression and positioning. It's tanky. It's fast. It hits like a freight train.