Summary
Elden Ringhas three stats that put a major focus on spell casting in the game:Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane. While Arcane is the most niche of the three, players will need to invest heavily in Intelligence for Sorceries, and heavily inFaith for Incantations.
Not all Faith builds play the same way. Some will buff players up before they go into battle, some will provide a range of different spells to engage enemies with, and some will make full use of a weapon skill via the damage scaling of the weapon the player is wielding. Players may want to play around with various styles, and then use a Larva Tear once they are ready to commit to a specific one.
Updated on February 25th, 2025 by Chad Thesen:Elden Ring is one of the biggest RPG hits since Skyrim. Players are constantly exploring new build possibilities in the game, and the catalogue of options got even larger with the release of its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. This has led to 3 new entries being added to this list. The first is Euporia, a weapon that will scale with Faith with a primary focus on dealing Holy damage. The Sacred Relic Sword will allow players to decimate mobs of enemies and be able to farm plenty of runes with ease. This makes it a great option while exploring and obtaining new sites of grace. Lastly, there is a build for the Black Knife designed to drop tanky bosses while staying as nimble and defensive as possible.
9Flame Faith Build
Burn Enemies To A Crisp With Ease
There are various types of enemies in the game, and a large number will be more vulnerable to Fire Damage than others. To deal as much Fire Damage as possible, players will want to take theFire Knight’s Greatsword, and give it the Flame Affinity using an Ash of War such asAsh of War: Flame Spear. Working towardsthe best Fire Knight buildcan be an enjoyable goal while playing throughShadow of the Erdtree.
Players will also be using theFire Knight’s Sealalong with the associated incantations. All the pieces of gear and Talismans are designed to stack up damage to blaze through enemies and bosses alike. Only the helm and Armor pieces are important, so other armor should give as much defense as possible without affecting the player’s dodge roll.
8Lightning Faith Build
Alternative Option For Casters
Just like there are enemies that are best dealt with using Fire Damage, there will also be some that players should hit with Lightning Damage instead — such as those heavily clad in armor and Silver Tears. In order for players to dish out as much Lightning Damage as they can, they will need to get some ofthe best lightning spellsavailabe in the game. For enemies that are resistant to Lightning Damage, such as those made of stone, theFrozen Lightning Spearis an excellent option.
Players will want theBlessed Blue Dew Talismanwhen not facing a boss, so that their FP is always being topped up. However, they should switch this forShard of Alexanderwhen it comes time to topple a mighty foe. MaintainingGolden Vowup time will allow for even more damage output.
Haligtree Knight Helm
Talismans
Lightning Scorpion Charm,Ritual Sword Talisman,Flock’s Canvas Talisman,Blessed Blue Dew Talisman,Shard of Alexander
7Blasphemous Herald Build
Incredibly Tanky From Healing Weapon Skill
Getting a Blasphemous Blade buildup and running can make players feel like they have far more health than they should have, due to theTaker’s Flames Skill. Every time they use this, the player will recover over 10% of their maximum health — meaning both Faith and Vigor should be the player’s primary focus. While exploring, players should useBlessed Blue Dew Talismanto recover 1 FP every 2 seconds, but should switch this Talisman toCarian Filigreed Crestwhen fighting bosses.
Players can alternate between heavy-hitting jump attacks and a health recovery weapon skill, all buffed by Flame. Jump attacks will be even stronger thanks toRaptor’s Black FeathersandClaw Talisman, withTwo-Headed Turtle Talismanallowing players to have plenty of Stamina recovery. While bothRaptor’s Black FeathersandClaw Talismanare part of the original game, theBlessed Blue Dew Talismanwill only be available in theShadow of the ErdtreeDLC.
Raptor’s Black Feathers,Haligtree Knight Helm
Shard of Alexander,Claw Talisman,Carian Filigreed Crest,Blessed Blue Dew Talisman,Two-Headed Turtle Talisman
6True Full Caster Build
Access Almost Every Spell In The Game
The total number of spells featured in the game has surpassed 200 withShadow of the Erdtree. Players willwant to get the Golden Order Sealfor Incantations, and thePrince of Death’s Stafffor Sorceries. These will both provide damage scaling at A for both Faith and Intelligence. Players will want to raise both these stats to 72 to be able to play the ultimate caster, prepared for any and every situation. It is worth noting that there are two spells that will most likely be out of the player’s reach with this build, since they cost 53 and 49 points in Arcane.
While FuriousFurious Blade of Ansbachis an achievable goal, it will cause the build to suffer, and Arcane should be kept no higher than 18 to addGreat Oracular Bubbleto the player’s spell arsenal. The game providesmany amazing Spirit Ashes for players, and this build encourages using them to take the attention off the player due to all the HP reduction. Having a good tank to attract all the aggro means players can decimate their foes from a safe distance.
5Frenzied Flame Build
Balancing Faith and Arcane
While the full caster build above gives access to both Spells and Incantations, this one leans dominantly into Faith. As such, players will want theFrenzied Flame Sealfor casting these thematic spells due to it raising their damage by 20%. If a player has theFrenzied Flame Sealin both of their hands, this damage buff will stack. Players can have other seals they can swap between to gain bonuses when castingnon-Frenzied Flame incantationsagainst smaller enemies that are weaker to elements such as lightning.
Frenzied Burstis a long-range spell that can trivialize some routes of the game, thanks to how effectively it can one-shot enemies at long range. TheThe Flame of Frenzyis a more costly, but stronger, version ofUnendurable Frenzy. This incantation will be perfect for punishing enemies once they provide a window of opportunity. This build is potent, but it is not the best for exploring, as it can run out of FP rather fast — so investing some points in Mind is a good call. This build is best used for linear progression, and once players have found the next Site of Grace, they can venture off to see what lies at the end of the next path before returning.
4Holy Vortex Faith Build
Successive Holy Damage Powerhouse
While Arcane build players can find some great mileage from Elenora’s Poleblade, there are several options of twinblades that exist for Faith build players. This includes the Gargoyle’s Black Blades and the Black Steel Twinblade, but there is also a third option that is by far the best of the lot, Euphoria. Not only does this twinblade have the highest scaling of the three, its dominant damage type is Holy. This makes it a great option for Faith build players to bust out whenever they are up against an enemy that is lacking in Holy resistance.
Since this is a faith build, there are 2 staple incantations to keep in mind. Namely, Golden Vow and Flame, Grant me Strength.The Two-Handed Sword Talismanis also a must have with this build as twinblades are wielded with 2 hands, as will the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia for its boost to successive attacks. Players will be making use of this weapons skill a lot, so the Shard of Alexander is another valuable Talisman to have equipped to maximise this build’s damage output.
3Mob Clearing Faith Build
Decimate Entire Groups At Once
The Sacred Relic Sword has one of the most useful weapon skills for players looking to farm runes. Players can release a wave across the ground that deals damage to every enemy it touches. When this damage output is high enough, they can send this wave into a group of enemies and watch them all perish in an instant. There is actually an ideal location to use this ability next tothe Mohgwyn Palace bird farm. From the site of grace, turn to look down the hill filled with enemies, and let loose a wave that will strike them all down to give you a massive amount of runes.
To make matters even better, the projectile can pass under stationary objects and come out the other side. This can let players safely strike bosses that have objects in the room with them, or use the skill and staying mobile. Players are going to want to keep their FP high using Talismans like the Carian Filigreed Crest and the Cerulean Dagger.
2Anti-Tank Faith Build
A Build Made to Topple Tanky Bosses
The Black Knife weapon has something special as its weapon skill, Blade of Death. This weapon skill will reduce its target’s maximum HP and deal a percentage of damage to the target over. The skill can be used at range, allowing players to maneuver and reposition to their heart’s content and unleash strikes that cleave chunks of HP from bosses.
For a build that is all about burning through their FP and utilizing the weapon’s skill as its primary damage source, players will see the use of some familiar Talismans. In fact, this build can use three of the Talismans from the previous build, swapping out the Cerulean Dagger for the Draoncrest Greatshield for its damage reduction. This means players can swap between clearing mobs and getting ready for a boss fight by changing just 2 items.
1Beast Incantations Build
The Perfect Blend of Faith and Arcane
Another one of the thematic incantation sets that players will find will be the Beast incantations. This works well in a Strength/Faith build that lets the Tarnished use Guard Counter to wipe out weaker enemies, and make use of their Beast incantations to cover a wide range of situations. Players will use theClawmark Seal, which scales with both Strength and Faith.
This means that players will want a weapon that also scales with these stats to deal damage, to make the most of Guard Counters and to Stance Break enemies. Players will want to bring along all the Beast Incantations they can get fromgiving Deathroots to the Beast Clergyman. There are 9 Deathroots in total, but the player only needs 8 of them to get all the Incantations, with the final one beingGurranq’s Beast Claw.
