Elden Ring: Moonveil Katana Build Guide

Elden Ring stands out from many modern RPGs by fully embracing player freedom. Its open world is dense, vast and inexplicable, giving players a real sense of adventure and progression as they learn the game's language. An aspect of player freedom Elden Ring excels at creating variety.

FromSoftware has always had a penchant for variety, with each of their games (with the exception of Sekiro) offering players a multitude of viable and completely unique playstyles to choose from. In Elden Ringno Intelligence/Dexterity hybrid is completely without Moonveil
probably the best Int based weapon in Elden Ring.

Updated on December 27, 2024 by Erik Petrovici: In Elden Ring, Moonveil Katana builds tend to focus on expanding players' ability to wield this fast and versatile weapon with spells and backup weapons to complement playstyle, as well as Charms and Armor to help boost your effectiveness . This guide to the best Moonveil build that Elden Ring players can prepare has been updated to provide more detail on these recommendations, including new information on weapon requirements and scaling, the most useful Enchantments, and more.

How to get Moonveil (and what it does)

Where to find Moonveil and Moonveil stats/requirements

Shining Stone Katana.

Masterpiece of a Sellian swordsmith.

Light envelops the blade when it is sheathed, explaining its name Moonveil.

Katana Moonveil can be found very early Elden Ring if you know where to go. From the third church in Marika, head north to the west entrance to the Caelid. Follow the road until you reach the telescope marked on the world map – from here, go straight west to reach the Gael Tunnel.

Alternatively, you can search the world map for an orange colored cave icon on the border between Limgrave and Caelid. Most caves in Elden Ring with lots of crafting materials are highlighted with this symbol on the map.

Once inside, reach the end of the tunnel to speak with Alexander and progress your quest. Next, fire up Lost Grace and enter the boss room to fight the Magma Wyrm. Upon defeat, this boss drops Moonveil.

Defeating the Magma Wyrm

It's an uphill battle, though Dark souls players will immediately recognize this boss's movement patterns as similar to that of the Gaping Dragon. His charge attack, where he walks across the room leaving lava in his wake, can be dodged just like this iconic Dark souls boss: don't roll, just sprint at a 90 degree angle out of his way as best you can.

It will struggle to get back quickly, but the hitbox on the leg and lava is surprisingly high, so it's important to react quickly, even if the charge itself is slow. Pick shots only when necessary, jump into his big attacks to take advantage of I-frames, and use those rare opportunities to land a hit or two.

It's a grueling battle – especially for Magic users – but far from impossible.

Moonveil Stats and Requirements

Moonveil has Transient Moonlight Ash of War, which allows its wearer to launch one of two special attacks after entering the stance. With the light attack button, after holding down the input for Ash of War, you will send a short-range magic beam horizontally. With the powerful attack, you will launch a vertical piece of magic forward quite a distance. Both special attacks do significant damage and are extremely useful against both groups of enemies and single-target bosses.

Moonveil also deals bleed damage on hit, though it doesn't scale with Arcane and can't be scaled. It scales with Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence (primarily Intelligence), and Ash of War will deal much more damage the more Intelligence your character has.

Recommended allocation of Moonveil stats

Emphasize dexterity and intelligence, with some arcane

The Moonveil Katana scales primarily with Dexterity and Intelligence, and rewards a playstyle that combines short-quarters swordplay with midrange spells. Ash of War that comes with Mooveil is Transient Moonlight, which allows players to launch a powerful (and cheap) magical arc that increases with the weapon's upgrade level. Equipping Moonveil requires at least 18 Dexterity, 12 Strength, and 23 Intelligence, which isn't much considering the scaling and high-level abilities that come with it.

Dexterity not only increases Dexterity-based weapon damage but also shortens casting times.

Having great vigor is essential to survive in Elden Ringso be sure to regularly put a point or two into this stat as you level up. Having a high Mind stat allows you to use more Ash of War from Moonveil before running out of FP, and a 40 difference in Dex and 45 in Int takes advantage of weapon scaling effectively.

Investing in Arcane is not recommended for this build as it will not increase your ability to deal with blood build up. Moonveil has a relatively low Bleed damage of 50 per hit, but does not scale with Arcane and cannot be infused to have Arcane scaling, so increasing this stat will not affect Moonveil's Bleed.

Wizards for Katana Moonveil construction

The best spells that can be paired with the Moonveil katana are the ones that fill in the gaps for things the katana can't do, or round out the moveset in some way. For example, Magic Glintblade can be useful to Moonveil users as they can time their entry into melee combat with the spell's activation.

Spells that deal AoE damage, such as Rotten Breath Enchantment or Meteorite Enchantment, are also useful for Moonveil users, though they require more careful stat planning. Rock Sling is a classic among Magic-Welders for its impressive ability to break the enemy's position with physical damage, not magic damage, which can provide a good opportunity for a series of attacks when you successfully stagger an enemy.

In general, Magic Glintblade and Rock Sling should be more than enough to make your Moonveil Katana build more effective. Magic Glintblade should be cast before entering combat or during a lull, while Rock Sling is great if an enemy can be wiped out easily or is resistant to Magic damage.

Secondary weapons for the Katana Moonveil build

The best side weapon to use with Moonveil is another katana to unlock the unique Powerstancing moveset for the weapon class. Powerstancing in Elden Ring allows players to trade defense for raw damage, basically dealing twice the normal damage.

Pair Moonveil with another Int-based katana like Meteorite Blade to take advantage of shared scaling, or use classics like Rivers of Blood or Hand of Malenia to complement Moonveil's Bleed build-up.

A side Uchigatana or Wakizashi will prove invaluable to the dual-wielding setup until these late-game Katanas become available. Be sure to equip Moonveil in your right hand to be able to use Transient Moonlight Ash of War.

The best talismans for Moonveil

Moonveil's build is primarily based on speed and quick attacks and regular use of Ash of War, so Charms that can take advantage of this playstyle shine. Winged Sword Insignia and Warrior's Tusk are essential for increasing regular and special damage output, while Carian Filigree Crest and Blood Lord's Exaltation reduce FP consumption and increase attack power when opponents are bleeding.

The Warrior Jar Shard (and Alexander's Shard) greatly increase the damage that weapon skills and Ashes of War can deal. The Godfrey icon also improves charged spells and abilities. These two combined can do a lot to increase Moonveil's damage output, but ultimately the increases to FP reduction and Bleed damage will prove more useful in more situations.

Complementary armor for Moonveil

Ultimately, the armor and appearance of your character when using the Moonveil is up to you, but it's a weapon that looks best when wielded by someone with light, fluid armor. The Preceptor's Dress (Altered) resembles a black Gi, although there's something to be said for the classic Land of Reeds armor as well.

You simply can't go wrong with traditional Japanese-inspired aesthetics and thoughtful character face customization, even role-playing as the One-Armed Wolf. Sekiro is not excluded.

One of the most iconic armor sets in the game and a great armor set for the Moonveil Katana build that doesn't rely on samurai-like gear is the Carian Knight set. You'll look like Moongrum, the named enemy standing guard outside Rennala's boss room, but instead of a short sword, you'll be wielding one of the best intelligence katanas in the game.