Elden Ring player discovers how to become a Sith Lord

An Elden Ring player and Star Wars fan has hit upon a character build worthy of a true Sith Lord. Combining specific weapons and incantations, they’ve created a character that effectively turns their Tarnished into Darth Sidious, complete with mock force lightning and a medieval lightsaber.

In a video shared on the Elden Ring subreddit, user Nomadianking shows off the build. They’re able to cast lightning bolts from their hands in an imitation of force lightning, propel their foe backward by channeling an invisible force, and imbue a red glow into their shortsword to give it a lightsaber-esque effect.

To top it off, they’ve decked out their character in a black cape, hood, and robes for that ultimate dark Jedi effect, and their face has been sculpted to look like Darth Sidious actor Ian McDiarmid. Plus, John Williams’ classic Duel of the Fates has been added to soundtrack the video alongside the odd Darth Sidious quote, just for that extra Star Wars crunch.

darth_sidious from r/Eldenring

As for how to actually build the character, Nomadianking appears to be using the Short Sword combined with Vyke's Dragonbolt, which makes your right-hand weapon glow red, and Lansseax's Glaive, which creates a glowing red polearm in mid-air to sweep down on enemies.

For the lightning attacks, it looks like they’re using Ancient Dragon's Lightning Spear and Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike. Both of those incantations produce red lightning attacks. If you want your Darth Sidious build to be more authentic, try the Frozen Lightning Spear that casts icy blue lightning that’s visually closer to Palpatine’s.

If Vyke’s Dragonbolt isn’t to hand, you can also use the Bloodflame Blade incantation to make your weapon glow a deep red. And if you don’t have access to the lightning attacks, the Honed Bolt spell is another appropriately Sith-like attack.

Although Nomadianking’s combination of spells and armor looks decidedly stylish, it’s unlikely to be much of a winner on the battlefield. The incantations they’ve used are slow to perform and can be easily dodged by most enemies. Try it if you’re besotted with the dark side of the force, but don’t expect to have an easy time of it. You’d be better off finding the best Elden Ring armor sets across the Lands Between.

You don’t have to look far across the Reddit comments to find users congratulating Nomadianking on the build, with many doing what all good Star Wars fans on the internet do best – recycling quotes and memes from the original films. Mentions of “unlimited power”, letting “the hate flow through you”, and admonishments that the video doesn’t, in fact, feature Darth Sidious but The Senate are not few and far between.

• Elden Ring classes: find the Tarnished right for you