The Ring of Fire: Moonveil Katana Build Guide

Fire Ring stands out from many modern RPGs for its total embrace of player freedom. Its open world is dense, vast and inexplicable, giving players a real sense of adventure and progression as they learn the language of the game. An aspect of player freedom Fire Ring excels at building variety.

FromSoftware has always had a penchant for variety, with each of their games (except Sekiro) offering players a plethora of viable and completely unique playstyles to choose from. IN Fire Ringno Intelligence/Dexterity hybrid is complete without it Moon veil
arguably the best Int based weapon in Fire Ring.

Updated December 27, 2024 by Erik Petrovich: In Elden Ring, Moonveil Katana builds tend to focus on expanding the players ability to use this fast and versatile weapon with backup spells and weapons to complement the playstyle, as well as Talismans and Armor to increase your effectiveness. This guide to the best Moonveil build for Elden Ring players to put together has been updated to provide more information on these recommendations, including new information on weapon requirements and scaling, the most useful Sorceries, and more.

How to get Moonveil (and what it does)

Where to find Moonveil & Moonveil stats/requirements

Katana forged from mica.

Masterpiece of a Sellian swordsmith.

Light envelops the blade as it is sheathed, which explains its Moonveil name.

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

Alternatively, look on the world map for an orange cave icon on the border between Limgrave and Caelid. Most caves in Fire Ring with lots of crafting materials are marked with this symbol on the map.

Once inside, make your way to the end of the tunnel to talk to Alexander and proceed with his quest. Then light the lost grace and head into the boss room to fight the Magma Wyrm. Upon defeat, this boss drops Moonveil.

Beat the Magma Wyrm

It's a tough fight, though Dark souls players will instantly recognize the movement patterns of this boss as similar to that of the gaping dragon. Its charge attack, where it stomps across the room and leaves lava in its wake, can be dodged in the same way as this iconic Dark souls boss: don't roll, just sprint at a 90-degree angle out of its path as best you can.

It will struggle to turn quickly, but the hitbox on its stomps and lava is surprisingly large, so it's important to react quickly even if the charge itself is slow. Only go for hits when needed, roll into its sweep attacks to take advantage of I-frames, and use those rare opportunities to land a hit or two.

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

Moonveil stats and requirements

Moonveil has the Transient Moonlight Ash of War, which allows its wielder to cast one of two special attacks after taking a stance. With the light attack button, after holding down your input for Ash of War, you will send out a short range of magic horizontally. With the heavy attack follow-up, you will shoot a vertical piece of magic forward a good distance. Both of these special attacks deal significant damage and are extremely useful against both groups of enemies and single-target bosses.

Moonveil also deals Bleed damage on hit, although it does not scale with Arcane and cannot be increased. It scales with Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence (primarily Intelligence), and its Ash of War will deal significantly more damage the more Intelligence your character has.

Recommended Moonveil Stat Allocation

Emphasize skill and intelligence, with something elusive

Moonveil Katana primarily scales with dexterity and intelligence, rewarding a playstyle that mixes close range swordplay with mid-range spellcasting. Ash of War that comes with the Mooveil is Transient Moonlight, which allows players to launch a powerful (and cheap) arc of magic that scales with the weapon's upgrade level. Equipping the Moonveil requires at least 18 Dexterity, 12 Strength, and 23 Intelligence, which isn't much considering the high scaling and skill that comes with it.

Dexterity not only increases the damage of skill-based weapons, it also shortens the spell time.

Having high Vigor is important for survival in Fire Ringso be sure to regularly add a point or two to this stat as you level up. Having a high Mind stat allows you to use Moonveil's Ash of War more before FP runs out, and a shared 40 in Dex and 45 in Int takes advantage of the weapon's scaling effectively.

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

Spells for the Moonveil Katana build

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

Spells that deal AoE damage, such as Rotten Breath Incantation or Meteorite Sorcery, are also useful for Moonveil users, although they require more careful stat planning. Rock Sling is a classic among Magic practitioners for its impressive ability to break an enemy's stance with physical damage, not magic damage, which can provide a good opportunity for a series of attacks when you manage to stack an enemy.

Generally speaking, 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 lull, while Rock Sling is good if an enemy can be easily displaced or is resistant to Magic damage.

Side weapon for the Moonveil Katana build

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

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

An Uchigatana or side Wakizashi will prove invaluable to the dual wheel setup until these endgame Katanas are available. Just make sure to equip Moonveil in your right hand to use Transient Moonlight Ash of War.

Best Talismans for Moonveil

The Moonveil build relies primarily on speed and quick attacks and regular use of Ash of War, so talismans that can take advantage of this playstyle excel. The Winged Sword Insignia and Warrior Shard are essential for increasing regular and special damage, while the Carian Filigree Crest and Lord of Blood's Exultation reduce FP consumption and increase attack power when opponents are bleeding.

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

Complementary armor for Moonveil

Ultimately, your character's armor and appearance when using the Moonveil is up to you, but it's a weapon that only looks better when wielded by someone with light, fluid armor. The Preceptor's Gown (Altered) resembles a black Gi, although there is 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 with some careful face customization, even roleplay as the one-armed wolf in 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-style gear, is the Carian Knight set. You'll look like Moongrum, the eponymous enemy standing guard outside Rennala's boss room, but instead of a puny short sword, you'll be wielding one of the best Intelligence katanas in the game.