Best Heavy Armor Warrior Build in No Rest for the Wicked

No Rest for the Wicked features familiar gameplay for fans of Souls-like games, including powerful, slow-swinging two-handed weapons. While these weapons can feel awkward initially, the right character build and combat skills will let you easily overcome challenges. Here’s a build guide for players who enjoy using large weapons.

Best Two-Handed Warrior Build in No Rest for the Wicked

Okay, so to make things easy for everyone, I’m going to focus on the Claymore in No Rest for the Wicked. It’s one of the weapons you can get right at the start – you can either buy it from Filmore or just find it as random loot while you’re playing.

Claymores are powerful weapons that prioritize wide, sweeping attacks and long reach over quickness. Despite their size, they’re surprisingly agile and can rapidly inflict elemental effects with the correct sequence of attacks. Here are two key moves to master when using a Claymore:

Dodge and Sprint attacks chain into a two-hit combo, but if you time another attack input just when the sword touches the ground, you can follow up with a strong finisher move.
The first Charged Attack swing lunges you forward, letting you hit enemies near the edge of the screen.

To make the most of this character build, focus on learning these attacks. Once you have a Claymore, use these specific moves against all enemies. Save your standard attack combo for finishing off opponents who are nearly defeated.

Stat Allocation

Health: 20–30
Stamina: 20-25
Strength: As high as you can
Dex/Int/Faith: 10
Focus: ~20
Equip Load: Any, as long as you’re Heavy and not Encumbered

Okay, so if I’m running a Claymore and rocking heavy armor, these are the stats I’m shooting for. Honestly, how I get there is up to me – I can build my character however I like! And the best part is, if I end up not liking my build, I can always head to the Crucible Atrium and completely reset everything. It’s super flexible, which is awesome.

Armor

This build will use heavy armor for two reasons:

High Armor and Poise stats allows us to trade blows with enemies while taking minimal damage
Shoulder Barge

This build aims for a classic warrior feel, and heavy armor really enhances that. It’ll protect you from weaker enemies, and the Shoulder Barge ability – which lets you knock down most foes – only works when you’re wearing heavy armor. Choose the armor with the best defense, but ensure your Weight Class is set to ‘Heavy’ rather than ‘Encumbered’.

What About Fat Rolling?

If you’re new to the game, ‘Fat Rolling’ refers to dodging while playing as a Heavy character. It’s slower to recover from than a regular or Light dodge, which most players find undesirable.

Using heavy armor can feel a bit clunky initially, but it doesn’t ruin the game. It’s a worthwhile trade-off for being able to use the powerful Shoulder Barge attack.

What Even is Shoulder Barge?

In No Rest for the Wicked, the Shoulder Barge is a powerful tackle that can knock down even large enemies. You perform it by pressing ‘V’ on your keyboard, or LB/L1 and RB/R1 on a controller. You must be playing as a Heavy character to use this ability.

Using Shoulder Barge can easily win most of your one-on-one battles. Run into your opponent, knock them to the ground, and then quickly follow up with a powerful Charged Attack, which could instantly freeze them. If they’re frozen, you can either attack again or pause to regain your stamina.

As a gamer, I’ve found Shoulder Barge is a total game-changer because it seriously boosts my Poise. Basically, it stops enemies from interrupting what I’m doing, which is awesome. Even if an enemy does hit me while I’m using it, they still get knocked back. It’s super effective, but I try to avoid using it when someone’s winding up for a really powerful attack – it doesn’t always work then.

Weapon Infusions and Enchantments

It’s best to have a Claymore with at least a Cold Damage infusion. This allows you to freeze enemies, creating an opening to recover Stamina or deal extra damage while they’re frozen. The Claymore is actually quite effective at freezing, and it even works on bosses!

We suggest adding a Sapphire Gem to your Claymore, then taking it to Eleanor’s for enchanting. While you won’t be able to add any more gems after that, you’ll receive several other beneficial upgrades to your weapon. Here are some helpful upgrades you might get:

Bonus Damage after Charged Attacks
Stamina Recovery based on Durability
Healing Increased based on Durability
Attack increased based on Durability

While you can always purchase a fully upgraded Claymore later on, a magically enhanced one will be perfectly sufficient for most of the game.

If you want to shatter frozen enemies, you’ll need to use a weapon that isn’t infused with Cold.

Armor Infusions and Enchantments

As for your armor, try to get ones with the following Infusions/Enchantments:

Experience Gain Increased (via Diamonds)
Max Stamina Increased (via Emeralds)
Regainable Health Increased (via Bloodstones)
Focus Gain Increased (via Topazes)
Stamina Cost Decreased (via Tiny Fangs)
Stamina Recovery Increased
Elemental Resistances
Poise Defense (Chest Armor)
Gain Stamina on Parry (Gloves)

Focus on increasing your ability to stay alive, as well as managing your Stamina and Focus effectively. Runes are key to how this build works, so make sure to add Focus-boosting upgrades to your equipment.

Runes

Juggle Strike
Ice Ram

Claymores have a move called Juggle Strike – a powerful uppercut that launches enemies into the air. Usually, enemies would dodge this attack, but with a sword that freezes them, we can immobilize them first, making the Juggle Strike guaranteed to connect.

The Ice Ram Rune is a fantastic addition to this build. It speeds up the process of freezing enemies and also lets you strike back at attackers. You can dodge an enemy’s attack and immediately follow up with a freezing stab using this Rune. To get it, upgrade Filmore’s Blacksmith to level 3, purchase the halberd he sells, and then extract the Ice Ram Rune at Eleanor’s shop.

2026-01-23 13:05