FromSoftware has been known to show love to Faith builds, showering players with dozens of powerful incantations to use, seals to experiment with, and weapons to equip. The trend continues in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, with a good number of the new weapons added to the game scaling primarily with Faith. The Black Steel Greathammer is a standout example.

Obtainable very early in the DLC from the Black Knight in the Church of Consolation in southeastern Gravesite Plains, the Black Steel Greathammer is an excellent choice for players looking for something new to use with their STR/FAI build.

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Pros and Cons of Black Steel Greathammer

using black steel greathammer against fire knight in Elden Ring

Pros

Cons

Fast Moveset

Low Range

Buffable and Infusable

Only obtainable very late in-game (Shadow of the Erdtree DLC)

Very good stance damage

The Black Steel Greathammer has an okay moveset with decent AR even when unbuffed. However, it really shines when infused with the Flame Art or Sacred infusion in a Faith-focused build. One of its biggest strengths is that its Ash of War can be changed, allowing players to mix and match infusions to adjust the scaling. Black Steel Greathammer also has a unique form of guard counter where it creates a circle of holy light on the ground after countering, which explodes after a short delay, dealing holy damage. This is the same move Black Knights use, and the damage it does scales only with Faith.

Best Stat Distribution for Black Steel Greathammer Build (Level 150)

using black steel greathammer guard counter against shadow militiamen in Elden Ring

Vigor

Mind

Endurance

Strength

Dexterity

Intelligence

Faith

Arcane

50

20

43

25

11

10

60

10

The Black Steel Greathammer is a versatile weapon that’s meant to be used with a STR/FAI build. It scales very nicely with Faith and decently with Strength, making prioritizing Faith over Strength the optimal stat distribution. There are multiple reasons for this. One, the direct damage scaling for FAI is better than STR, meaning it does roughly 5-8% more damage when having, for example, 60 Faith/25 Strength vs 25 Faith/60 Strength. This is without talking about any infusions.

Additionally, the guard counter holy damage scales only off of Faith, meaning if you want to increase that damage, leveling up Strength will not help. That being said, it will work perfectly fine in a Strength-focused build: the overall damage output will just be slightly less.

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Best Talismans with Black Steel Greathammer

Best talismans with Black Steel Greathammer in Elden Ring

Talisman

Effect

Curved Sword Talisman

Increases guard counter damage by 20%

Greatshield Talisman

Reduces stamina damage taken while blocking by 20%

Two-Headed Turtle Talisman

Raises stamina recovery speed by 22.5%

Crimson Seed Talisman +1

Boosts HP restoration from the Flask of Crimson Tears by 30%

The Curved Sword Talisman is the only hard requirement for this build, as its ability to increase the effectiveness and damage of guard counters is indispensable. The Greatshield Talisman works wonders to reduce the stamina consumption of blocking by increasing the guard boost of the equipped shield, making follow-ups easy to perform. The Two-Headed Turtle Talisman is a quality of life addition, regenerating lost stamina at an absurd rate. The Crimson Seed Talisman +1 increases the effectiveness of healing flasks by +30%, allowing players to conserve their healing items for truly dire situations.

Best Ash of War and Infusion for Black Steel Greathammer

sacred infused black steel greathammer in elden ring

Ash of War

Infusion

Description

Ash of War: Sacred Blade

Sacred

There are few options better than the Sacred Blade ash for a Faith build. The buff lasts roughly 40 seconds, and it is easy to identify when it fades away, making reapplication easy.

Ash of War: Golden Land

Sacred

Excellent against bosses with high poise. The attack deals 40 stance damage and has hyper armor, meaning players are unlikely to be interrupted while using it. All damage is holy and scales with Faith.

Ash of War: Savage Lion's Claw

Heavy/Flame Art

Works extremely well for closing in distance with hard to catch enemies, solving the one problem this weapon has: range.

Ash of War: Cragblade

Heavy/Flame Art

Capitalizing on the already excellent stance damage of the Black Steel Greathammer to make it even more effective. Works wonders against bosses.
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Best Shields with Black Steel Greathammer

Best shield with Black Steel Greathammer in Elden Ring

Black Steel Greathammer relies heavily on guard counters to make it work. To use guard counters, players have the choice of either dual-wielding the weapon or employing a shield. However, considering the physical damage negation on this is only 76, dual-wielding is not the best idea, but it can work in a pinch.

The choice of which shield to use depends entirely on how high your Endurance and maximum equipment load is. Heavier shields typically have much higher guard boosts, making them the overall better choice. However, their sheer weight makes them ill-suited for most builds unless players are happy with fat rolling or have invested heavily into Endurance. Medium Shields are a good balance between weight and guard boosts, making them more universally useful.

The best Medium Shields to use with the Black Steel Greathammer are:

If players have the Endurance necessary to wield a Greatshield, here are the best options:

The Black Steel Greatshield, while great for cosplaying as a Black Knight, is only an okay option for the Black Steel Greathammer.

Best Incantations with Black Steel Greathammer

Best incantations with Black Steel Greathammer in Elden Ring

Incantations

Effect

Golden Vow

Increases attack (+15%) and defense (+10%) for self and allies

Flame, Grant me Strength

Raises physical and fire-affinity attack power by +20%

As a Faith-focused build, players are free to use any incantation depending on the situation they’re in but only two mentioned above directly increase the effectiveness of the Black Steel Greathammer.

For additional options, Pest-Thread Spears is a boss killer, The Flame of Frenzy is an all-around excellent incantation, and the Knight's Lightning Spear is the perfect option for long-range single-target damage both in PvE and PvP.

Best Crystal Tears with Black Steel Greathammer

Best Crystal Tears with Black Steel Greathammer in Elden Ring

Crystal Tear

Effect

Duration

Deflecting Hardtear

Enhances spontaneous guard in mixed physick

5 minutes

Greenburst Crystal Tear

Temporarily boosts stamina recovery speed in mixed physick.

3 minutes

Considering Black Steel Greathammer’s reliance on guard counters to deal damage, not using the Deflecting Hardtear would be a disservice. With it, players receive a 5-minute long buff that increases the damage of guard counters by a large amount when performed like a timed block. Meaning instead of holding block waiting for an incoming attack to counter, press block just before an attack arrives and then guard counter. This mechanic is called a spontaneous block.

Greenburst Crystal Tear increases stamina regeneration for a duration, stacking with Two-Headed Turtle Talisman to give near-infinite stamina for the next 3 minutes.

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Elden Ring
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Released
February 25, 2022
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
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Developer(s)
From Software
Genre(s)
RPG, Action
The Erdtree in Elden Ring
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