Dark Souls 3 Guts Build: The Best Black Swordsman Build

Berserk was one of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s most significant influences when it came to creating the Dark souls series. Miyazaki was a big fan of Kentaro Miura’s magnum opus, which explains the many Berserk references throughout the Dark Souls series. One of these references happens to be the ability to create builds that looks almost exactly like Guts, the protagonist of Berserk. Here I cover the Dark Souls 3 Guts build. I hope you find this guide useful. For other Dark Souls 3 guides, check out Dark Souls 3 Best Faith Weapons and Dark Souls 3 Fire Keeper Soul.

Comparison table for Guts Build;

Best Dark Souls 3 Guts Build 

The build focuses primarily on Strength with a little Dexterity requirement and can be classified as a Strength build. I will be covering every arc of the manga.

The Golden Age Arc

The golden age of Berserk covered the 3rd to 14th volumes of the manga and gave the classic guts look. In order to look like Guts from Berserk’s golden age arc, you will need the Nameless Knight Helm, Sellsword armor, Sellsword gauntlets, Sellsword leggings, Astora greatsword, and the light Crossbow. I recommend a strength level of 40 and a dexterity level of 20.

Nameless Knight Helmet

Armor Type	Helms
Physical Resistance	3.8
Bleed Resistance	26
Strike Defence	3.1
Poison Resistance	15
Slash Defence	4.2
Frost Resistance	14
Thrust Defence	3.6
Curse Resistance	10
Magic Defence	2.1
Poise	2.3
Fire Defence	3.4
Lightning Defence	2.4
Durability	350
Dark Defence	2.1
Weight	3.8

Here’s how you acquire this helmet: go to the old wolf of Farron bonfire in Farron keep, go down the ladder and proceed to follow the campfires in front of you. You should come across a rock; in the left corner, you will find the Nameless knight helmet. It resembles the helmet Guts wore during his early days with griffin.

More From Dark Souls 3 Guides: How To Parry In Dark Souls 3

Sellword Armour Set

Physical Resistance	21.4
Bleed Resistance	129
Strike Defence	22
Poison Resistance	83
Slash Defence	20.8
Frost Resistance	81
Thrust Defence	22.4
Curse Resistance	55
Magic Defence	16.1
Poise	18.4
Fire Defence	16.3
Lightning Defence	13.1
Durability	-
Dark Defence	16.1
Weight	18.9

Beginning the game as a mercenary is one way you can get this Dark SOuls 3 Guts armor. Alternatively, you can find the set in the crucifixion woods. You can find this set on a corpse lying by the stairs which are defended by a Black Knight. The set resembles the armour Guts wore during his time with Griffin’s band during the earlier chapters of Berserk.

Astora Greatsword

	Physical	Magical	Fire	Light	Dark
Attack	132	-	-	-	-
Defence	50.0	40.0	35.0	35.0	-
Critical	100
Weight	8.0
Icon Weight	40.0
Stability	40
Durability	75
	Icon Strength	Icon Dexterity	Icon intelligence	Icon Faith
Scaling	D	D	-	-
Requires	16	18	-	-
Weapon Type	Ultra Greatsword
Skill	Charge
Attack Type	Standard/Thrust
Focus Cost	13(-/13)

You can find the Astora greatsword in the cathedral of the deep. You can find it in a corpse lying in the graveyard close to the cleansing chapel in the cathedral of the deep. It looks identical to the sword Guts wields during his early days with the band of the falcons.

Light Crossbow

	Physical	Magical	Fire	Light	Dark
Attack	64	-	-	-	-
Guard	-	-	-	-	-
	Strength	Dexterity	Intelligence	Faith
Scaling	-	-	-	-
Requires	10	8	0	0
Skill	Tackle
Stability	-
Durability	45
Weapon Type	Crossbow
Wgt.	-
Attack type	None
Focus Cost	7(-/-)

You can buy the light Crossbow from Greirat or pick it up from the Crossbow wielding enemy types in the game’s earlier levels. Guts always had a crossbow on him during the Golden age.

Conviction Arc

The conviction arc is the third arc of Berserk and follows the golden age arc. It covers volumes 14 through 21 of the manga. For the conviction arc Guts, you will require the Undead Legion armor, the Sellsword gauntlets, Alva Leggings, and the Greatsword. I recommend a strength level of 50 and a dexterity level of 12 for this build.

Undead Legion Armour

Physical Resistance	22.1
Bleed Resistance	101
Strike Defence	22.3
Poison Resistance	130
Slash Defence	12.8
Frost Resistance	161
Thrust Defence	19.3
Curse Resistance	109
Magic Defence	27.1
Poise	10.6
Fire Defense	27.9
Lightning Defence	28.3
Dark Defence	22.5
Icon Weight	18.6

The undead legion armor set can be acquired once you have defeated the abyss watchers. It can be bought from the handmaiden sitting at the firelink shrine for 31000 souls. This armour looks identical to the one Guts wore during the Aonviction Arc.

Alva Leggings

Physical Resistance	7.1
Bleed Resistance	36
Strike Defence	5.8
Poison Resistance	21
Slash Defence	7.1
Frost Resistance	22
Thrust Defence	6.5
Curse Resistance	12
Magic Defence	5.4
Poise	6.7
Fire Defence	6.5
Lightning Defence	5.4
Durability	360
Dark Defence	6.2
Icon Weight	5.5

Alva leggings can only be obtained after you have been invaded by and defeated the dark spirit Alva (she invades you on the staircase that takes you to the Irithyll dungeon bonfire). You should not have defeated Yhorm, if you do, Alva does not invade. The Alva leggings can be found by a corpse in the Irithyll dungeon. These leggings, coupled with the Undead Legion armour give us a set that looks near identical to what Guts wore during the conviction era Arc. You might also want to check out the Best Talisman of Dark Souls 3 as well.

Greatsword

	Physical	Magical	Fire	Light	Dark	Critical
Attack	159	0	0	0	0	100
Guard	65.0	50.0	45.0	45.0	-	-
	Strength	Dexterity	Intelligence	Faith
Scaling	D	D	-	-
Requires	28	10	0	0
Skill	Stomp
Stability	45
Durability	100
Weapon Type	Ultra Greatsword
Wgt.	8.0
Attack type	Standard
Focus Cost	10

The Greatsword can be found in Farron Keep. In Farron Keep, not far from the first bonfire, there is a broken bridge, on that bridge is a corpse that carries the Greatsword. It is identical to the sword that Guts Build carries in Berserk and also happens to be one of the greatest greatswords in the game. This sword is also probably a reference to the Dark Fantasy series due to its striking resemblance with guts’ own sword.

Fantasia Arc

The Fantasia arc is the fifth and current arc of Berserk. It begins from chapter 4, but Miura’s unfortunate passing has cast uncertainty over its conclusion. For the Fantasia Arc Guts look, you will require Iron Dragonslayer armour along with the black knight gauntlets and leggings and the Greatsword.

Iron Dragonslayer Set

Physical Resistance	35
Bleed Resistance	188
Strike Defence	25.8
Poison Resistance	125
Slash Defence	36.7
Frost Resistance	138
Thrust Defence	38.3
Curse Resistance	64
Magic Defence	22.1
Poise	44.4
Fire Defence	25.8
Lightning Defence	30.7
Durability	450
Dark Defence	29.3
Icon Weight	35.7

You can acquire the Ieon Dragonslayer set by defeating the Dragonslayer armour in the ringed city (you need the ringed city DLC for this). Alternatively, you can use the dragonslayer set acquired after defeating the nameless king and walking straight from his bonfire, though the iron dragonslayer set resembles the Fantasia Arc Guts’ armor a lot more.

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Black Knight Gauntlets/Leggings

Physical Resistance	30.2
Bleed Resistance	141
Strike Defence	24.0
Poison Resistance	100
Slash Defence	28.3
Frost Resistance	95
Thrust Defence	26.8
Curse Resistance	95
Magic Defence	21.9
Poise	29.9
Fire Defence	27.6
Lightning Defence	20.8
Dark Defence	23.7
Icon Durability	-
Icon Weight	30.9

You can pick up the Black Knight Leggings or Gauntlets by beating the Black Knights found in the game. A good farming area would be the area after the Champion Gundyr bonfire for a lot of Black Knights can be found there. These gauntlets and leggings complement the Iron Dragonslayer armor, looking like dark souls 3 guts build armour from the Fantasia era arc.

On top of all this, I would recommend using the havel’s ring, and the ring of favor for they help with carrying capacity and guts builds are a little towards the heavier side. While you are here, also check out Dark Souls 3 Katana Build, and Luck Build.