Steelrising: Best Builds and Weapons Guide

Steelrising by Spiders is a unique soulslike where you control the clockwork automaton Aegis in a fantasy-inspired revolutionary France. It’s up to you to stop the march of murderous machines that kill anyone who gets in their way, soldier or otherwise. Enemies are relentless and hit hard in this alternate history soulslike, so you’ll want to know the best way to fight them off. There are three main archetypes in the game that maximize your effectiveness when focused on, and here we will tell you the best way to build each one. All of the builds listed here focus on maximizing their effectiveness from the beginning of the game, or as early as possible.

 

Power Build

Power is the easiest and most straightforward build in Steelrising. From the beginning, you are able to build out into Power-type weapons in order to make quick work of your enemies. Either one of the heavy weapons you can pick at the beginning of the game will be useful, but the one given from the “Soldier” background, the Gribeauval Halberd, offers the best coverage. This weapon will serve you well, even late into the game, when backed up with the Charleville 1789 Shield Musket you get as your first secondary weapon before you leave Saint Cloud. This is a combination that will easily take you through most of the game as long you keep upgrading these two weapons.

For stats, you’ll want to focus on primarily Power, Vigour and Durability. High power will allow you to hit harder and knock enemies over easier with power attacks, while high Vigour gives you a high Endurance Energy bar that allows you to dodge attacks and launch them yourself. The best benefit a Power-based build gets from Durability is more raw health, which allows you to stay alive longer while you make huge swings with heavy weapons.

Conversely, any armor Aegis equips should be focused on improving the armor value for raw damage mitigation. With a power build, most other secondary stats shouldn’t matter as most enemies will end up getting crushed under your massive weapons with a few hits. Charged-up power attacks will knock down most enemies which leaves them open for powerful follow-ups, including grenades for big area damage if you end up knocking down multiple enemies. This makes damage mitigation important, especially when you have a giant HP bar.

You’ll want to focus your module slots on improvements to attack power, health and Anima you find. Anima helps you upgrade anything on Aegis, which will help you to keep your heavy weapons hitting hard with frequent upgrades while health and attack power are key stats for the Power build. To this end, modules such as Efficient Charging for enhanced charged attack power, Longevity for higher base HP, and Avarice for increased Anima gain are all ones you find in the first level, with upgrades found in the Boutiques of the various upgrade hubs of the world in the future.

Alternatives to the weapon loadouts that work just as well are the Flame Orb for added fire damage, the Wheel of Vengeance if you like to parry, and the Body of Work if you prefer a strong blocking option. Alternative modules include Endurance modules for a boost to your base Endurance meter, but Power builds are the best ones to take advantage of modules that boost Aegis’ stats when her health is low such as Fight or Flight modules. The buff to her damage while using a heavy weapon is incredibly significant, but will also require a lot of skill to use effectively.

 

Agility Build

Agility is a build that focuses on positioning, dodging, and combo attacks. The main method of destruction for Agility builds is the ability to briefly immobilize your enemy, then deliver a powerful blow while their defenses are down. While you’ll want to be chaining as many attacks as you can together, you don’t want to do so at the cost of being hit, especially when dodge attacks help immobilize the enemy. This means you’ll want to focus on Agility, Vigour, and Engineering. Agility gives you raw attack power while using Agility-based weapons and dodging is important for both defense and offense in this build, making Vigour important. Engineering will give you a little armor boost for more survivability, which can help you finish an opponent when your health gets low.

The best weapon to take from the beginning is the Armoured Fans from the “Dancer” starting option, but the weapons from the “Alchemist” option are just as good. Before leaving Saint Cloud, you’ll find the Nemesis Claws. While any one of these weapons will get you through the game if you upgrade them diligently, they each have unique secondary effects. For a pure Agility build, the best of these is the Nemesis Claws for their parrying ability. This is because parrying not only leaves the enemy open, but also adds to their immobilization meter, as depicted by the diamond displayed on locked-on enemies. The light attack combo also has the best ender, as it delivers 3 quick hits in rapid succession. Your best secondary weapon is also the Charleville 1789 l Shield Musket found on Saint Cloud, but the Glass Batons from the Alchemist starting path are perhaps the best compliment to a successful parry from the Nemesis Claws.

Armor Aegis equips should block elemental status effects. When using Agility as your primary build, you don’t want to be Burned or Frozen and take massive damage and you don’t want to be packing resistance vials of every flavor just in case you run into a tough enemy. To this end, check any armour that makes your elemental resistance better and use it. This will allow you to free up your inventory for every kind of grenade and Endurance vials that allow you to maximize the effectiveness of the build by granting unlimited Endurance meter for a short time.

Modules to look out for are ones that enhance your Endurance, Immobilisation and give you a larger window for ventilation when you run out Endurance meter. Endurance modules will allow you to extend your combos and dodge more with a higher base Endurance meter, while Immobilisation modules make it easier to stun enemies for big hits. Modules such as Efficient Ventilation are also important for Agility builds, since you will be constantly dodging and attacking, you’ll need to be able to replenish your Endurance meter to be sure you can make a maneuver whenever you need to. Efficient Ventilation modules allow you to regain lost meter instantly for a bit of Ice damage in exchange, a blow which is softened from armor built to defend against Elemental attacks.

Good alternatives for your weapon choices are the Nemesis Fans if you like the fan flavor of combat but want access to a Counter, the Franklin Claws for a more offensive style with a Lightning element edge, and the Frost Fans for an icy twist on Fan-based combat. Other modules to consider are Longevity modules if you find yourself taking too many hits, and Lasting Affliction modules, since Alchemy and Agility weapons have the most amount of cross-over. These modules allow you to use these elementally-infused weapons much more reliably.

 

Alchemy Build

Alchemy is the path between Power and Agility, uniting them with elemental afflictions to destroy anything that gets in your way. This is the most difficult build to play, as most of your weapons will require you to use an attack to charge their elemental powers before the weapons deals elemental damage. While the Glass Batons in the “Alchemy” starter option shows off this principle the best, the best build actually utilizes the Gribeauval Halberd of the “Soldier” starting path. While it may seem bizarre, it is easily the best weapon to dispatch enemies quickly after obtaining the Charleville 1789 Shield Musket in Saint Cloud since it can easily knock down enemies to open them up for quick blasts from your guns and grenades.

Stats this build focuses on are Power, Engineering and Elemental Alchemy. This is because the Alchemy build focuses on using Aegis’ ammunition, the Alchemical Capsule, used for her gun and various other weapon special attacks in conjunction with grenades. Since the Gribeauval Halberd is one of the best weapons to use for Alchemy builds, the Power stat works well to give it the punch it needs to sweep enemies off their feet or deliver devastating blows to frozen enemies. Engineering gives not only an armor enhancement, but a loot multiplier increase which is pivotal for keeping yourself stocked up on Alchemical Capsules and the various grenade types by making them more commonly dropped from enemies. Finally, Elemental Alchemy will both enhance your own elemental attacks and boost your resistance to them.

You’ll very seldom want to swap from the Gribeauval Halberd and Charleville 1789 Shield Musket combo in this build. These two weapons combined give you an insane amount of coverage during the fight, as both weapons have attacks that act as shotgun blasts for a big cone of damage right in front of them, with the one on the Shield Musket being chargeable. The shield on the musket itself can offer a great defensive option in a pinch against normal-sized enemies, making the combo all the more valuable. Though the Fire Chain is a good substitute for the Gribeauval Halberd, the ease of which the Halberds swing and shotgun blast knock enemies down is hard to ignore when it gives you a chance to bombard your foes with grenades and icy gunfire.

Your armor choices should focus on the armor stat and HP enhancements whenever possible. Survivability is low for this build, as is your Endurance meter, so you’ll want to make sure you can live to deliver the one key blow you need to in order to start your offense using your gun. The one exception is your trousers, the Muscadin Culottes, which are found in Les Invalides. The trousers are found when you first enter from Saint Cloud by taking the leftmost path when you find the first Vestal, in an area with 3 robots and a huge bonfire. One of them will start shooting a cannon at you when it sees you, but behind him is a pile of junk that you can jump on. Use these to get to a balcony with an open door and go in to find these trousers locked up in a chest. These pants randomly produce Alchemical Capsules for you, which is useful throughout the entire game in spite of their middling stat bonuses. You are also able to find them at Boutique after defeating the 3rd boss. This helps cut back on Anima you spend at the boutique on them while not solely relying on drops from enemies, making this a build-defining piece of gear.

Modules this build focuses on are modules that help fuel the elemental onslaught. Modules such as Lasting Affliction to enhance debuff duration, Avarice to increase Anima from enemies to buy Capsules and Grenades, Longevity for more HP and Efficient Ventilation to keep yourself moving and attacking. These are the modules you’ll obtain within the first level after Saint-Cloud and you will be able to purchase upgraded versions of them from the Boutique as the game goes on.

As previously stated, there aren’t many weapon combos you’ll want to be using other than the Gribeauval Halberd and the Charleville Shield Musket. The same can be said for the module choice, with perhaps Longevity being able to be swapped for a more decisive Alchemical module such as an Ice Catalyst. These combinations are deadly as one knockdown will allow you to launch an all-out assault to freeze the enemy with your gun, then move in with a big combo or grenades. Grenades and other Alchemy-based weapons will allow you to place long-lasting debuffs on the enemy, while the Gribeauval Halberd can be used to push back or knock down enemies in a pinch and take command of your offense by delivering devastating blows against frozen enemies. For these reasons, you’ll want to stick to what we’ve laid out for you here if you want to make the absolute most out of your Alchemy build.

Steelrising is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X & S.

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