@@ThelordHayden34 If you have the means for a plus 18 Academy staff then yes it would be better against the septer even if you upped it to plus 7 but plus 8 onward is better for general use
A small tip for "Mad Pumpkin Head". Glintstone Arc can easily be free-aimed slightly downwards, and it'll hit him bellow the helmet. Makes him easy to kill from range, even from the front. Another tip is to get the Sacrifical Axe from the Deathbird at Weeping Penninsula after getting the Meteoric Staff. Even if you don't reach the requirement, if you keep the axe in your other hand (or even on your hip) you still get the FP per kill passive effect. I think it's around 3 to 4 FP per kill, so every Slicer OHK basically refunds itself.
I love being pure caster the pvp is so fun with it having 10 weapons to use and combo with is the most fun i had in any souls game Edit: sellen is hot indeed
One of the most fun and useful spells you can obtain very early is the Night Maiden's Mist. It deals a whopping 1500 damage per cast and covers a huge area when fully charged. It goes through walls and is great for blocking chokepoints in PvP or mass enemy destruction in PvE. It was the bread and butter of my mage playthrough all the way up to Leyndell. All you need to do to is kill the O'Neil boss in Aeonia Swamp and you'll unlock it for purchase from Gowry. The boss is very easy on horseback even at SL1 as none of his attacks can hit you.
If you have the equip load to spare, you can carry a sacrificial axe(dropped by the deathbird in weeping peninsula at the cube ruins past the wall near the night's cavalry location) on your back/offhand during exploration. It has a similar affect to the ancestral budding horn talisman acquired from the rememberance of moose, restoring some FP for every enemy killed. Useful if you want to have more fp before needing to refill at a grace!
They can be parried and backstabbed and their main attack combo is extremely telegraphed. Honestly after farming their armor set they are incredibly easy to predict now. Dodge the fireballs and parry the lunge, ezpz
thank you Scott, I have never even considered carrian piercer. You are a revolutionary. editing to specify that obviously this is a joke, fellas. no need to explain to me in the comments how amazing carian slicer and piercer are
Try doing an empty jump into carian piercer sometime as a mixup. People will instinctually roll away from the jump (which they assume is a jump attack) and then Piercer catches their roll.
I've been using the new Gravitational Missile spell from the DLC, and it is actually a great addition to this type of build, especially for PvP. It's just a short range orb that lingers and explodes 4 times. You can cast it as an opener and walk into it, making you dangerous to approach for several seconds and also somewhat masking your subsequent spells. If you cast it at the ground, it will do its final large explosion immediately instead, which means you can quickly aim your camera down if you just want an instant AoE in case you've been rushed down.
@@ScottJundIf you ever update this guide I recommend You add two side weapons for this Build "just in case" 1.- A Dagger with the Golden Bow Ash of War (This is for additional defense and attack in case of needed) or the Endure Ash of War(It works with Casting too, so You can Poise-cast some of your spells more easily). 2.- Glintstone Kris: You already are doing the Selene Questline so You already get it from free by the end of it too. - It is a Dagger so it's not heavy and has low requirements plus as a somber weapon is far more easy to upgrade. - The Ash of War is busted: basically the Comet spell but way more fast to cast and way less FP with this You can get rid of an occupied spellslot depending on your Build.
There are at least three spells I recommend from the DLC even for a pure caster. Glintblade Trio, Miriam's Vanishing, and Gravitational Missile. The first is just Magic Glintblade but x3 but doesnt have as long of a delay. However, it does do similar damage to the Magic Glintblade, Shard Spiral, and Collapsing Stars combo while being far faster and more FP efficient. Gravitational Missile is useful for several reasons. Firstly, standing inside of the aoe allows you to have a zone of safety, and it has a super cheap fp cost while also being a large amount of damage if it detonates or is cast directly into the ground for trading scenarios/damage through walls. It allows for combos during the pull, deals chip damage if someone is in the field, and isnt too slow to cast which allows you to have a large zoning tool. Something that is actually lacking for mages since they don't have access to things like Fire Serpent, Greyoll's, Placi, or any of the other dragon incants or Ancient Dragon's Lightning/Death Lightning/Burn o Flame type spells. Miriam's vanishing breaks lock and allows you to skip some startup frames on spells after the duration. This allows for both defense or aggression if using defensive spells or offensive spells respectively.
Thank you Scott 😭 I've abandoned my sorcerer playthrough cause I still ended up needing a sword half the time. Now I've gotten the spells you recommended and I'm having a blast.
I would actually also like to point out that what makes me use the Regal Scepter over the Lusats besides just the chepaer fp cost is the Regal Scepters unique weapon spin ash of war. Does AMAZING stagger and stunlock potential it basically adds an 11th spell to your lineup. Though I suppose if you're trying to run ONLY casting you arent rly casting a spell. But the ash should not be underestimated if you wanna break that rule a little bit.
Been meaning to do a caster only run. Currently the closest build I have is my Morgott Cosplay build, which is an Arcane focused build using the albinuric staff for carian slicer, piercer, and gavel of haima to simulate his summoned weapons! The high dex you need for the cursed blade compliments the casting speed of the already fast casting melee spells
That spear he summons is full on the treespear and it even comes with the holy buff weapon art to be gold. Honestly that weapon was goated with the charge attacks when I was doing my morgott run.
@@DTPandemonium I actually was using the tree spear in my build too! I was running Spectral Lance on it to replicate the yeet attack! I’m so looking forward to reaching the DLC in my run to get the smithscript dagger and spear, literally perfect to replicate his throwing attacks
8:46 another niche thing specifically for pve about magic glintblade is the fact its probably the easiest spell to use on torrent, since you don't need to bother with r1 or l1, you just do whatever one you like and not have to worry about awkward angles
About comet azur, while I was playing my INT build, it did actually come in handy on romina saint of the bud. half of her hp can be melted by comet azur as she takes very long to approach at first. not 100% cheese, but maybe worth a shot if any of my fellow mages are struggling out there!
skipping to phase 2 is a neat way to die faster if you haven't learned the boss, but if you have already learned phase 2, it is convenient in closing out your last attempt
One thing I'd add is that you'd want to have Magic Scorpion Charm on 100% of the time. It's a talisman from a questline and it is missable, so follow a guide to make sure you don't mess it up. It also makes you take 10% more damage though so watch out for that.
SCOOOOOOOTTTTT!!!!! I needed this, I spent the last 24 hours scouring for an updated full caster for Int. Separately can you cover int/faith caster hybrids for pve and pvp in the expansion? Thank you, sir!!!!!!
Playing with claw grip also opens you up to having easier access to the Y+Dpad shortcuts. Meaning you can have access to your flasks at all times so you can safely cycle through items without having to worry about it
this video is good but the way you ignorantly gloss over the faith counterpart is insane. you do not ‘cast catch flame for half of the game’ if you ran a faith only build. pure cast only, you get more shit in limgrave than you do for int.
If you can't comfortably claw grip, but still want to be efficient, consider getting back buttons for your controller. If you are modding the controller yourself, there are very solid, cheap options out there. This is something that has made my experience better in virtually every soulslike, since running is almost always attached to a face button.
I don't know if I should consider myself a pure caster because I use the wing of Aztel as second weapon on my right hand. But I use it just for the ability. I play as a "assassin mage" who kills without being noticed and that skill is really useful to kill mobs behind the walls or that sheep rolling non stop on the DLC!. Nice guide! I love it!
16:00 Lusat doesnt have significantly higher scaling than carian regal- its effectively around 5%- how multihit spells interact with defense makes it more/less. However its FIFTY PERCENT more FP. Yes more damage=less hits= more fp efficency but in most situations the 5% more damage doesnt actually change break points and you just waste 50% more fp, which i think is terrible for a build that cant attack without it
I agree. It's worth the FP cost for PvP because ER PvP is a DPS race, but unless you already know what you're doing the resource drain isn't worth the mana cost in PvE I've done a pure sorc run through the basegame, will be bringing it to DLC soon, and the extra FP feels super nice especially in long stretches between graces in a legacy dungeon where flasks don't come back.
While it's true almost all spells from the DLC are kinda useless, there are two which I found to be a bit situational but have been pretty good in those said situations: Glintstone Nails works well as annoyance since it hones in on targets and travels pretty far, think of it like an int Pest Threads. Gravitational Missile can work as a knockdown/keep away if aimed at your feet or cast at a wall a target is hiding behind. Never use it locked on. Another use for Swift Glintstone Shard is the ability to pull enemies away from groups. *Also Night Maiden's/Freezing Mist can work to drive out a gank camping a room and is often the cause of death due to its chipping damage. *Oh yeah and the Blessed Blue Dew Talisman is pretty good for exploration, not so much for a boss or pvp unless you find yourself on the run from a gank.
Idk if this works anymore but you used to be able to dual wield the staff of loss (the one that boosts night spells) and it gives double the boost. Actually broken damage
This is fantastic for PVP and boss fights, but I found PVE in caves, dungeons and catacombs problematic because casting in cramped spaces, being ambushed by nimble enemies and dodging near bottomless pits isn't fun. Adding a Carian Knight's Shield solved that problem. A magic infused Longsword is also a solid backup weapon if you run out of FP.
I am so glad you are fighting back against the propaganda that sorcery builds are just the "easy way to play". It took me like 3 hours to kill Rellana on my mage playthrough and like 10-15mins on my strength playthrough
Any plans to make a vid about Miriam’s Vanishing? You’ve posted two shorts where you’re enjoying it but you completely skipped it in this vid, presumably because this is a PVE vid and you see it as PVP only. It’s probably only useful in PVE for showing off and maybe for dodging specific things that have a lot of windup but are hard to dodge (prolonged/multiple/big hitboxes). Most of the time a normal roll into Carian Slicer is probably better. But Vanishing feels neat. Vanishing backwards into Carian Piercer is a really flashy punish on a Nameless Mausoleum (human-type) boss that’s running at you.
Incantation offensive casting is actually pretty rad. Yeah catch fire spam a but you’re advocating the same here with carian slicer. Plus Pest threads. The flame of frenzy spell for staggers, sniping with the eye beam, discuss throw for like 3fp is so wildly efficient and then you’ve got the big flame nukes and the black flame spells. So eh. Yeah.
Anyone who says a pure caster build is easy clearly has never done it. And also probably uses heavy armor, 60+ vigor, 50+ endurance, and a great shield. By the by, i would LOVE to hear how you handled the final boss as a pure caster with no summons. Or Gaius.
final boss was just literally 90 carian slicers. i dont think i had time to cast anything else. even in phase transition i have to run away from the explosion.
Haven't beaten the final boss yet, but I have beaten all the other bosses with a pure int/fai caster. All dlc bosses I beat using discus of light except for lion and the avatar which I beat using magma sorceries. Gaius was impossible until I equipped the crucible talisman that improves your dodge roll to avoid getting hit by the charge attack. Level 150 with 50/50 int/fai. Goldmask helmet to boost fundamentalist spell damage and all talismans are defensive. Crimson flask +1, dragon greatshield, and whatever drake talismans to reduce damage from the bosses. If I had a free slot I would throw on the two headed turtle talisman.
@@ScottJund As a melee build I had time to charge R2 a Two-Handed Great Axe between his attacks. Is there really no better spell than Carian Slicer? Dang
When ER first came out, I went into pure caster since there were so many cool spells. And it was, by far, the most difficult playthrough I did. Bleed/Strength/Faith/etc were all vastly easier. Outside of the comet setups, INT builds just die if they get breathed on and there are so many gap closers it's nuts. The DLC cranked it up even more.
@@Dylan-dh9gr Yes I watched the video. However in other builds at level 90/100/120 you typically have higher damage reduction through armor and/or talismans. Which you could still do I guess but then you're sacrificing damage. At 150+ then yeah it doesn't matter since you have so many points to do whatever you want but my playthrough I completed the game at level 85 with mainly mind/int stats so it was a bit different.
@@DCAMM720you are not sacrificing any damage when you are that low level, Vigor should always be neck and neck with your damage stat till you get to its first soft cap
@@alexnewsome24 You aren't sacrificing enough to be ineffective, but you are quite literally sacrificing some if you are prioritizing vigor over int/mind. I'm not saying you deal no damage as you clearly do but INT builds(which are my main PvP characters at levels 50/90/125/150) benefit far more at higher levels and are spread more thin at lower levels when it comes to damage reduction/survivability. A strength/vigor/endurance build at level 50(depending on some gear of course) will do comparable damage as a pure caster at 50 and be able to survive more than the caster will.
I had the opposite experience. Pure caster is the easiest way to fight the boss, and most of the melee range spells have the same misfalls of using an actual weapon, so spamming a boss down from range is just easier than being in danger, constantly. That being said, most casters forget that they need vigor as much as any other class. Which isn’t what any caster normally wants to devote their early levels. In the DLC, casting only is impossible. One playstyle will make some fights next to impossible and force you to be a battle caster and use different strategies to win and survive.
I know you mentioned that you wouldn't do faith due to how limited it is, but I would still love to see a guide on it regardless! I enjoy faith, but as you've said, it's quite limited, so I would like to see how you make it work!
Pure faith casting is far from spamming catch flame, there's a lot you can do with it. I also did int+fai pure caster and it can also be pretty fun, even if it's not good at meta levels.
My first build was magic then i played faith then strength now i am playing with a dex katana. So far the katana and strength is way easier depending on which boss one is a better option than the other. The stagger from the strength build makes things easy and the damage from katana makes fights so much shorter. Magic was only over powered early game and for the dlc i feel like i am only tickling the bosses but i cant wait to see how the other builds would perform. Faith mage is so bad i stopped using it before beating the game its possible but not as fun as magic.
Yes? It’s whatever your spell switch key is. Hold the key down. (idk what the default key is cuz I re-binded most of my keyboard binds because the defaults feel super clunky imo.)
I actually don't like Lusat's Staff at all. If it and the Carian Regal Scepter have max upgrades and you have 80 Int, Carian Regal Scepter has 373 Sorcery Scaling. Lusat's gets 413. If you do the math, Lusat's has 10.7% more Sorcery Scaling than the Carian Regal Scepter. So in exchange for just shy of 11% more Sorcery Scaling, you increase the FP cost of your spells by 50%. This is slightly more damage per hit at the cost of being able to cast only 2/3 as many spells. Your video makes it sound like the Sorcery Scaling is significantly better, justifying the increased FP cost, but that's simply not the case. Night Sorceries are actually pretty good, despite you saying they aren't worth it. Especially since you can dual wield them if you either go into NG+, or trade. That's a 60% damage bonus if they're additive, and a 69% damage bonus if they're multiplicative. I didn't know about the Hyper Armor on Gavel of Haima. Definitely good to know. Adula's Moonblade is great, but does have one major drawback: it does Frost damage, which is harder to boost than Magic damage. There's no Frost Scorpion Charm or Frozen Shroudung Crystal Tear.
Quick guide on best staffs: Demi-human or Carian Sorcery Sword at 40 INT Academy at 60 INT Carian Regal at 69+ INT (nice) Gelmir if running equal INT/FTH until you reach 50FTH and 50INT in which case Prince of Death becomes better. Bonus tip: Great glintstone shard is a good alternative to swift glintstone for mages that prefer to keep a distance, it's as fast as glintstone pebble and almost as FP efficient while doing about 50% more damage and reaching a bit further, Carian Phalanx is also a great spell on PVP because if you turn away from the enemy you can choose when to fire them, forcing rolls and making you harder to approach
Don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot use that cool spell. If you wanna superlaser that fucker over there, use comet azur. If you’re next to a staggered enemy and you wanna have some fun, use meteorite. The fun part about using sorceries when compared to incantations is that they’re over the top as fuck and sticking to the spells mentioned in this video honestly sounds like the most boring time imaginable to me😂 like yes it works it’s a strong build but not everything is about efficiency. Have fun, take risks, you’re playing a game and if you die you can always come back, grab your runes, and start spamming whatever low-cost spell you have to take care of the situation, but HAVE SOME FUN EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE
1:08 You can also spam Stone of Guranq, Madness Burst, and Lightning bolt instead if you want. Alternatively, a dragon arc/faith (mostly arc) pure spell build is the easiest build in the game, spamming dragonclaw/dragonmaw with the above faith spells for range cast off of communion seal's magadjust
True once you get a Dragon Communion Seal and some decent stats you can Dragonmaw shit to death but before that its pretty mind numbingly boring. Honestly, spamming Dragonmaw is also pretty boring, if not super chad.
70 Virtual Dexterity isn't the cap, 99 is. You get diminishing, but still real returns after 70. Don't sleep on Gravitational Missile, Cherishing Fingers, or Miriam's Vanishing. Use Spinning Weapon on your staff. It's no longer amazing but it's better than literally no weapons. If you absolutely need a weapon, use the Glintstone Kris.
What's the softcap we're using post DLC? I see a lot of guides working off the level 150 benchmark, but I've heard 175 and 200 for where we're stopping our leveling for pvp/pve Genuine question, it's been bugging me. I stopped at 175 and now I'm like 😅
I remember when you would put Lusat's Staff in the dumpster because of the FP cost, what changed? I'm not wrong when I say that spell casts don't always hit their target, it hurts to miss and costs even more because of Lusat's Staff and Azur's Staff. I get that there's many thresholds to meet but does the cost to damage ratio mean nothing to you? Casting a Comet costs 44FP with both Lusat and Azur that's 4FP away from being 2 Comet casts on my main character without any equipment changing the cost, not to mention that many other spells that I use cost the same as a Comet or more when I use both Lusat and Azur, maybe it's worth it for Azur's max casting speed without touching Dex if you intend to cast Carian Slicer 8000 times for your entire playthrough but I just can't understand where you're coming from with Lusat's Staff, you lose most of your FP bar when casting Ranni's Dark Moon once which is Perfumed Oil and 2FP more than just 2 Comet casts with both Lusat and Azur. You used to see it as I did but now you don't, you're telling people who want to do a pure spellcaster to use both staffs that both increase the cost of casting every spell making it nigh impossible to enjoy using spells that by default cost more than Perfumed Oil, taking full advantage of host flasks whilst you do it. Scott, no smart feelings.
Little late to the party but... Once you have decent cast speed, a fully charged Magic Glintblade immediately followed by a fully charged Loretta's Greatbow times out perfectly such that both projectiles will hit at the same time. With Terra Magica this is one of the most powerful openers until you get access to things like the Full Moon stuff. If you can manage the 18 Arcane, don't sleep on Great Oracular Bubble. Works as an opener but also has really good tracking. Probably the best FP-damage ratio of the hard hitter spells
Lusat's damage generally isn't worth it most of the time, Chrighht's video on Staff Dual-Wielding shows that Lusat's is situationally useful at best, and Carian Regal Scepter is by far the most generally useful Staff in the game: ua-cam.com/video/M79rYePCio4/v-deo.html It requires more Mind Investment for very little extra damage, you're better off with just 35-38 Mind and putting more points into other Stats, like Vigor, Intelligence, Endurance or maybe even a little bit of investment into Dexterity so you don't need to use either Azur's Staff or Radagon's Icon, just one or the other depending on your needs
I try to rely mostly on incantations, but I also stick to a theme, which is something like "barbaric sorcerer", which means I'm throwing Stone of Gurranq, Beast Claw, Greyoll's Roar, and Crucible spells out instead of the best spells in the game. It's a struggle. Stone of Gurranq is my best attack and I've loved it since I got it 2 years ago, but it's still slower than a Greatsword swing even with max cast speed. Melee builds have so many ways to put out insane damage. Anyone who says magic is "easy mode" is insane.
If you side with Sellen at the end of her questline, you get the Glintstone Kris, a dagger with an ash of war called Glintstone Dart. It is a short range version of the comet which hits just as hard, if not harder, and travels fast as f*ck. Sure it is a dagger but use it as another staff... Plus it won't hurt to have a backup melee weapon... Also, the Carian Regal Scepter also has an ash of war, spinny weapon. Does good damage so keep that in mind...
Regarding FTH purecasting, Yeah it's not as easy to pull off and factually there aren't really B&B spells to use that match what slicer does, leading to the catch flame conundrum. However, some new spells with the DLC add to the repertoire that are actually pretty good I think. Fire Serpent is really good, doesn't have super long range but is still a ranged, *chargeable* attack, and doesn't have you at point blank range like catch flame does. And let's not forget Messmer's orb which is a tactical nuke. And the Dragon Cult sect got the new lightning spear that does a metric crapton of damage and thus shelves its predecessor into a B&B role. It's still not as varied as sorceries by any stretch of the imagination, but it's at a better state now than it was before.
Pure spellcaster build using the spells: High damaging straight sword throwing knife Running heavy attack with huge range and poise damage Heavy attack with frost buildup Hammer ash of war
It really speaks to the fallibility of Fromsoft’s balancing that Comet Azur, a pretty terrible and objectively incredibly situational spell keeps getting indirectly and directly nerfed almost assuredly because of popular meme videos where it one shots a certain boss like Mohg It’s why I have absolutely no hope that anything overpowered now won’t be gutted into complete irrelevancy next patch, which is sad considering how cool things like bloodfiend’s arm and impenetrable thorns would be if they were balanced properly
Having a linear list of spells, rather than button-bound, is such a baffling design choice for fromsoft to stick with. They should take notes from Ghost Of Sushi and have a set of skills you can use while holding the staff attack button (L1 + x y a or b)
swapping between more than 2 spells makes my head hurt i'm going to keep jump attacking. Cool video though hope someone with more wrinkles on their brain gets inspired by it.
If you're struggling with the second phase of the fire giant that's when you use comic azure , drink your flask line it up and bury him. As soon as the phase kicks in.its in my profile vids. Got commander niall too
Wait, Azur's staff passive works in your off hand? I thought because it was listed differently from other passive effects on other staves that it wouldn't apply unless you used it as the primary casting tool? is it the same for Lusat's as well?
Maybe I'm doing something wrong all these casters only build and only seem to work if want to just run past all the trash mob and go boss to boss. All guides seem to use this same idea of over leveling cheesing some late game high-level boss for a mass amount of rune. Maybe just the game or something always bug me with these types of game, running passed every or kill the mob while the mob next to it goes wonder why Jimbo just die guess I stand here because just because blood corpse next to me doesn't mean that evil player picking us off.
It should be noted that picking up any bleed weapon, a gold pickled fowl foot, and killing the big dragon in caelid, then putting all those souls into vigor, should always be the first steps in every run.
I kinda love using the carian spellsword that lets you cast spells. It states it is an outdated method and it really isnt that effective, spell scaling on it at about max level is like 270 so kinda meh but i dunno, just makes me feel like a true old knight of caria and thats more important to me. Love me roleplays, simple as.
Unga bunga is the easiest way to play. Its fun as hell though. I love my bonk character, but its always funny to see the easiest and most braindead way to play, are played by the same people that cry 'Easy mode' for any other build they see. Dex builds would make most people stop playing imo
I use Turtle Pope for Faith based casters. The thing about Incantations is that Arcane is the way to go but I digress. Selen is hot and this is a great way to start another caster character. My main is a pure caster but it's too high level for PvP.
Bold of you to assume mages even remember they have a weapon in most situations... in fact a lot of them have a shield and a staff and thats it. When i made my mage character i decided i would try to delete as many bosses as i could before they could reach me and hobestly i dont remember a single boss giving me trouble, i cant wait to give the DLC bosses the payback for the hundreds of deaths on my first run hahahha
Loretta's Mastery is inferior to Loretta's Greatbow based on DPS to FP cost especially since you almost always lose at least one projectile in the process of firing the spell off
Love you Scott but the Lusat’s staff is so bad 😭 spending 50% more FP for 10% more damage is a poor trade off. Carian regal staff with offhand staff for a power boost or cast speed will always be better in every situation. If you intend to cooperate or invade lusats is just a nerf with the halfed flasks and now 50% higher cast cost. Otherwise this guide is perfect, I just hate to see people continue to fall for the Lusat’s trap.
You need all the damage you can get in invasions. With enough mind you don't need to worry about the penalty, you just can't spam high cost spells. Lusats is better in invasions and I will always stand by that
@@BigLadle99 massive disagree. You do not in any world need Lusats for invasions. Any invader could tell you that 💀 why would you want to run out of FP even faster to kill in the same number of hits? Carian regal scepter with the right talismans lets you one shot almost anyone using Terra magica and cannon of haima. If you’re dueling a Carian slicer into piercer combo will kill anyone who doesn’t meet the noob vigor check. Any competent opponent is going to require some timing and mind games to hit or whiff punish. You NEED FP for that. Not 11% extra damage.
@@IAmMyVeryOwnJust use both if you can and swap depending on the situation. Canon of Haima for example benefits a lot for potential one shots. If you are in an invasion that becomes a war of attrition Regal definitely becomes more useful.
@@IAmMyVeryOwn because it doesnt kill in the same amount of hits. the difference between 372 sorcery scaling and 413 when it comes to a Terra Magica'd cannon is a non one-shot and a one-shot. i usually don't have any FP problems whatseoever, and if i do run low, there are so many spells to give you breathing room. a gravitational missile in front of you will stop anyone from coming nearby for a second so you can pretty freely drink whenever you want.
This is not usually how it works out in practice. In theory, the tradeoff is extreme, but consider that: - Most pure caster builds will have plenty of FP to launch a bunch of spells regardless - The extra damage means more, sudden killing blows with fewer casts, highly important in a PvP ecosystem where survivors might get back up and one- or two- shot you Everyone can use whichever staff they want for their build, of course. For example, if you wanted to invest heavily in something at the expense of the mind stat, or you're just creating a lower-level build, then I could see needing to use a Carian staff instead. Personally, I went through most of the DLC exploring with the Regal Staff you mentioned, just so I didn't have to worry too much about being without spells half an hour into an exploring session. The staff is not a "trap", it's a good option in an arsenal, with legitimate roles in the game.
The real easy mode in elden ring right now is probably mimic tear and bloodfiends arm or something like that or the current shield love thats going around
Play with a claw grip, or you could just use an Xbox controller and not have to do that at all since that controller is actually designed correctly lol.
"we got a lot of spells, like:
Carian Slicer
ranged Carian Slicer
big Carian Slicer
frostbite Carian Slicer
Carian Slicer if it was a hammer"
Hell yeah
nothing wrong with casting Knife
@@meta8586 “man I really want to try a different playstyle, get away from the swords and colossal hammers”
“Perfect”
The power of the Glintstone lightsaber
In fact it looks like a usual weapon but u have to swap every hit 😂
The meteorite staff has the scaling of a +18 Academy glintstone staff for anyone wondering
Good info, appreciate it
just goes to show how good S int scaling is
So Is a +6 carina regal staff at 69 int better or worse?
@@ThelordHayden34 If you have the means for a plus 18 Academy staff then yes it would be better against the septer even if you upped it to plus 7 but plus 8 onward is better for general use
A small tip for "Mad Pumpkin Head". Glintstone Arc can easily be free-aimed slightly downwards, and it'll hit him bellow the helmet. Makes him easy to kill from range, even from the front. Another tip is to get the Sacrifical Axe from the Deathbird at Weeping Penninsula after getting the Meteoric Staff. Even if you don't reach the requirement, if you keep the axe in your other hand (or even on your hip) you still get the FP per kill passive effect. I think it's around 3 to 4 FP per kill, so every Slicer OHK basically refunds itself.
As a prisoner load up on magic glintblades and then run past him to turn him around and magically shishkabob his ass.
@@secrecy2744 can’t believe I never thought of this, having it with ancestral horn would let you even profit
@@GiggaGMikeE was going to say this but I never could've said it this well
you can make killing that deathbird stupid simple too by making a holy pot. will almost 1 shot it
you can also use Torrent in the Mad Pumpkin Head fight by Selen, makes the fight trivial
Miyazaki robbed me of the chance summon light weapons with incantations like Morgott and I'll forever cry about it
It would’ve been the easiest remembrance power. No one uses the omen bairn😭
How about installing some mods instead of crying about it?
@@peezieforestem5078 nah, cringe
@@Xarxes_ This shows that you don't really want it, what you actually want is to complain. Nothing new here, it's a typical human behavior.
@@peezieforestem5078 lmao, edgelord
I love "build" videos like this. Straight to the point and without unecessary bloat. Would love to see more thematic builds from you
I love being pure caster the pvp is so fun with it having 10 weapons to use and combo with is the most fun i had in any souls game
Edit: sellen is hot indeed
sellen is hot indeed
Sellen is hot indeed
i don’t mind fighting spellcasters in pvp as long as they aren’t spamming death rancor and stars of ruin
@@mushroomy9899 Now they spam pebble and running away instead.
@@mushroomy9899it’s worse now with that bullshit huge bomb spell they can free aim at the ground and hit 1/3 of the arena
One of the most fun and useful spells you can obtain very early is the Night Maiden's Mist. It deals a whopping 1500 damage per cast and covers a huge area when fully charged. It goes through walls and is great for blocking chokepoints in PvP or mass enemy destruction in PvE. It was the bread and butter of my mage playthrough all the way up to Leyndell. All you need to do to is kill the O'Neil boss in Aeonia Swamp and you'll unlock it for purchase from Gowry. The boss is very easy on horseback even at SL1 as none of his attacks can hit you.
Not sure about fun but yes it is good to cheese certain enemies.
If you have the equip load to spare, you can carry a sacrificial axe(dropped by the deathbird in weeping peninsula at the cube ruins past the wall near the night's cavalry location) on your back/offhand during exploration.
It has a similar affect to the ancestral budding horn talisman acquired from the rememberance of moose, restoring some FP for every enemy killed. Useful if you want to have more fp before needing to refill at a grace!
i like that you showed all the spells on the fire knights cause those guy are actual cancer
Hornsent warriors are worse. At least you can stunlock the fire knights lol
@@2HandHangerDunksOnly Their FTL shoulder charge is the bane of my existance personally.
They can be parried and backstabbed and their main attack combo is extremely telegraphed. Honestly after farming their armor set they are incredibly easy to predict now. Dodge the fireballs and parry the lunge, ezpz
thank you Scott, I have never even considered carrian piercer. You are a revolutionary.
editing to specify that obviously this is a joke, fellas. no need to explain to me in the comments how amazing carian slicer and piercer are
Carian piercer is the best spell I use in invasions. People get so cocky with a 3v1 but after 1 carian slicer they eat a 1k damage piercer and die
Everyone uses it bruh
Try doing an empty jump into carian piercer sometime as a mixup. People will instinctually roll away from the jump (which they assume is a jump attack) and then Piercer catches their roll.
Guys I was trolling
Carian piercer is extremely handy on so many enemies
I've been using the new Gravitational Missile spell from the DLC, and it is actually a great addition to this type of build, especially for PvP. It's just a short range orb that lingers and explodes 4 times. You can cast it as an opener and walk into it, making you dangerous to approach for several seconds and also somewhat masking your subsequent spells. If you cast it at the ground, it will do its final large explosion immediately instead, which means you can quickly aim your camera down if you just want an instant AoE in case you've been rushed down.
this is mostly a PVE guide. I agree gravitational missile is actually a good zoning tool for PVP
@@ScottJund Nice! Looking forward to new red-man clips and guides with all the new toys 👺
@@ScottJundIf you ever update this guide I recommend You add two side weapons for this Build "just in case"
1.- A Dagger with the Golden Bow Ash of War (This is for additional defense and attack in case of needed) or the Endure Ash of War(It works with Casting too, so You can Poise-cast some of your spells more easily).
2.- Glintstone Kris: You already are doing the Selene Questline so You already get it from free by the end of it too.
- It is a Dagger so it's not heavy and has low requirements plus as a somber weapon is far more easy to upgrade.
- The Ash of War is busted: basically the Comet spell but way more fast to cast and way less FP with this You can get rid of an occupied spellslot depending on your Build.
There are at least three spells I recommend from the DLC even for a pure caster.
Glintblade Trio, Miriam's Vanishing, and Gravitational Missile.
The first is just Magic Glintblade but x3 but doesnt have as long of a delay. However, it does do similar damage to the Magic Glintblade, Shard Spiral, and Collapsing Stars combo while being far faster and more FP efficient.
Gravitational Missile is useful for several reasons. Firstly, standing inside of the aoe allows you to have a zone of safety, and it has a super cheap fp cost while also being a large amount of damage if it detonates or is cast directly into the ground for trading scenarios/damage through walls. It allows for combos during the pull, deals chip damage if someone is in the field, and isnt too slow to cast which allows you to have a large zoning tool. Something that is actually lacking for mages since they don't have access to things like Fire Serpent, Greyoll's, Placi, or any of the other dragon incants or Ancient Dragon's Lightning/Death Lightning/Burn o Flame type spells.
Miriam's vanishing breaks lock and allows you to skip some startup frames on spells after the duration. This allows for both defense or aggression if using defensive spells or offensive spells respectively.
I love your constant search of proper spell builds since DS3. The dedication is duely noted
there are 3 rules in fromsoft games: parry is OP, greatshields are OP, and the giant beam spell is garbage.
Thank you Scott 😭 I've abandoned my sorcerer playthrough cause I still ended up needing a sword half the time. Now I've gotten the spells you recommended and I'm having a blast.
I would actually also like to point out that what makes me use the Regal Scepter over the Lusats besides just the chepaer fp cost is the Regal Scepters unique weapon spin ash of war. Does AMAZING stagger and stunlock potential it basically adds an 11th spell to your lineup. Though I suppose if you're trying to run ONLY casting you arent rly casting a spell. But the ash should not be underestimated if you wanna break that rule a little bit.
THAT STAFF SPINNING SEEMS AN AWFUL LOT LIKE HITTING SOMEONE WITH A WEAPON TO ME BUD
@ScottJund do you think anyone other than a spellcaster would use that? Fair play
@ScottJund listen i DID specify that it breaks the rule a lil bit okay but yes it's technically not a spell lol.
@@ScottJund IT GLOWS BLUE SO IT'S MAGIC
@ScottJund how does the staff spin
Been meaning to do a caster only run. Currently the closest build I have is my Morgott Cosplay build, which is an Arcane focused build using the albinuric staff for carian slicer, piercer, and gavel of haima to simulate his summoned weapons! The high dex you need for the cursed blade compliments the casting speed of the already fast casting melee spells
That spear he summons is full on the treespear and it even comes with the holy buff weapon art to be gold. Honestly that weapon was goated with the charge attacks when I was doing my morgott run.
@@DTPandemonium I actually was using the tree spear in my build too! I was running Spectral Lance on it to replicate the yeet attack!
I’m so looking forward to reaching the DLC in my run to get the smithscript dagger and spear, literally perfect to replicate his throwing attacks
scott please do more build videos like this. this is amazing
8:46 another niche thing specifically for pve about magic glintblade is the fact its probably the easiest spell to use on torrent, since you don't need to bother with r1 or l1, you just do whatever one you like and not have to worry about awkward angles
About comet azur, while I was playing my INT build, it did actually come in handy on romina saint of the bud. half of her hp can be melted by comet azur as she takes very long to approach at first. not 100% cheese, but maybe worth a shot if any of my fellow mages are struggling out there!
skipping to phase 2 is a neat way to die faster if you haven't learned the boss, but if you have already learned phase 2, it is convenient in closing out your last attempt
@@yungmythologist idk if phase 2 is that much of a problem, didn't take me too long personally
One thing I'd add is that you'd want to have Magic Scorpion Charm on 100% of the time. It's a talisman from a questline and it is missable, so follow a guide to make sure you don't mess it up. It also makes you take 10% more damage though so watch out for that.
SCOOOOOOOTTTTT!!!!! I needed this, I spent the last 24 hours scouring for an updated full caster for Int. Separately can you cover int/faith caster hybrids for pve and pvp in the expansion? Thank you, sir!!!!!!
Pure faith not viable? Sounds like the words of someone who has not been enlightened by stone of gurranq
it's makes me so sad they removed melee combos and instead gave it to spells, spells seriously don't need more help.
Playing with claw grip also opens you up to having easier access to the Y+Dpad shortcuts. Meaning you can have access to your flasks at all times so you can safely cycle through items without having to worry about it
Its a little complicated to do a mage only build but here's a step by step guide
1.) Use glintstone pebble
this video is good but the way you ignorantly gloss over the faith counterpart is insane. you do not ‘cast catch flame for half of the game’ if you ran a faith only build. pure cast only, you get more shit in limgrave than you do for int.
If you can't comfortably claw grip, but still want to be efficient, consider getting back buttons for your controller. If you are modding the controller yourself, there are very solid, cheap options out there. This is something that has made my experience better in virtually every soulslike, since running is almost always attached to a face button.
I don't know if I should consider myself a pure caster because I use the wing of Aztel as second weapon on my right hand. But I use it just for the ability. I play as a "assassin mage" who kills without being noticed and that skill is really useful to kill mobs behind the walls or that sheep rolling non stop on the DLC!. Nice guide! I love it!
16:00 Lusat doesnt have significantly higher scaling than carian regal- its effectively around 5%- how multihit spells interact with defense makes it more/less.
However its FIFTY PERCENT more FP. Yes more damage=less hits= more fp efficency but in most situations the 5% more damage doesnt actually change break points and you just waste 50% more fp, which i think is terrible for a build that cant attack without it
I agree. It's worth the FP cost for PvP because ER PvP is a DPS race, but unless you already know what you're doing the resource drain isn't worth the mana cost in PvE
I've done a pure sorc run through the basegame, will be bringing it to DLC soon, and the extra FP feels super nice especially in long stretches between graces in a legacy dungeon where flasks don't come back.
It’s ~11% more spellbuff at 80 int.
It's 413 vs 373 at 80 int. More than 10% and that is base scaling that gets exponentially amplified by talismans and other buffs.
This is just swinging a weapon but using FP xD
I have a dual sense edge controller which allows me to have my back button as my spell switching button which helps so much with spell combos
While it's true almost all spells from the DLC are kinda useless, there are two which I found to be a bit situational but have been pretty good in those said situations:
Glintstone Nails works well as annoyance since it hones in on targets and travels pretty far, think of it like an int Pest Threads.
Gravitational Missile can work as a knockdown/keep away if aimed at your feet or cast at a wall a target is hiding behind. Never use it locked on.
Another use for Swift Glintstone Shard is the ability to pull enemies away from groups.
*Also Night Maiden's/Freezing Mist can work to drive out a gank camping a room and is often the cause of death due to its chipping damage.
*Oh yeah and the Blessed Blue Dew Talisman is pretty good for exploration, not so much for a boss or pvp unless you find yourself on the run from a gank.
weaponless caster build
look inside
summons weapons
sorry you leveled vigor this isnt a true int build
Idk if this works anymore but you used to be able to dual wield the staff of loss (the one that boosts night spells) and it gives double the boost. Actually broken damage
This is fantastic for PVP and boss fights, but I found PVE in caves, dungeons and catacombs problematic because casting in cramped spaces, being ambushed by nimble enemies and dodging near bottomless pits isn't fun. Adding a Carian Knight's Shield solved that problem. A magic infused Longsword is also a solid backup weapon if you run out of FP.
I am so glad you are fighting back against the propaganda that sorcery builds are just the "easy way to play". It took me like 3 hours to kill Rellana on my mage playthrough and like 10-15mins on my strength playthrough
Any plans to make a vid about Miriam’s Vanishing? You’ve posted two shorts where you’re enjoying it but you completely skipped it in this vid, presumably because this is a PVE vid and you see it as PVP only. It’s probably only useful in PVE for showing off and maybe for dodging specific things that have a lot of windup but are hard to dodge (prolonged/multiple/big hitboxes). Most of the time a normal roll into Carian Slicer is probably better. But Vanishing feels neat. Vanishing backwards into Carian Piercer is a really flashy punish on a Nameless Mausoleum (human-type) boss that’s running at you.
All you need is a staff of loss in the offhand and Night Comet. That's all you need for pve.
Incantation offensive casting is actually pretty rad. Yeah catch fire spam a but you’re advocating the same here with carian slicer. Plus Pest threads. The flame of frenzy spell for staggers, sniping with the eye beam, discuss throw for like 3fp is so wildly efficient and then you’ve got the big flame nukes and the black flame spells. So eh. Yeah.
Get to the point
my point is you get none of that early game. leveling as pure incantation is pretty bad until mid to late game
@@ScottJundnot your point the Guy babbling up top
God I love me a Scott Jund souls video, always so high quality
Anyone who says a pure caster build is easy clearly has never done it.
And also probably uses heavy armor, 60+ vigor, 50+ endurance, and a great shield.
By the by, i would LOVE to hear how you handled the final boss as a pure caster with no summons. Or Gaius.
Gaius get shredded by Shard Spiral, the difficulty is finding times to cast a charged version
final boss was just literally 90 carian slicers. i dont think i had time to cast anything else. even in phase transition i have to run away from the explosion.
Haven't beaten the final boss yet, but I have beaten all the other bosses with a pure int/fai caster. All dlc bosses I beat using discus of light except for lion and the avatar which I beat using magma sorceries. Gaius was impossible until I equipped the crucible talisman that improves your dodge roll to avoid getting hit by the charge attack. Level 150 with 50/50 int/fai. Goldmask helmet to boost fundamentalist spell damage and all talismans are defensive. Crimson flask +1, dragon greatshield, and whatever drake talismans to reduce damage from the bosses. If I had a free slot I would throw on the two headed turtle talisman.
@@ScottJund As a melee build I had time to charge R2 a Two-Handed Great Axe between his attacks. Is there really no better spell than Carian Slicer? Dang
@@maudjito For dps slicer is best. So yea he does like 4 in that time you do one heavy
When ER first came out, I went into pure caster since there were so many cool spells. And it was, by far, the most difficult playthrough I did. Bleed/Strength/Faith/etc were all vastly easier. Outside of the comet setups, INT builds just die if they get breathed on and there are so many gap closers it's nuts. The DLC cranked it up even more.
17:00
@@Dylan-dh9gr Yes I watched the video. However in other builds at level 90/100/120 you typically have higher damage reduction through armor and/or talismans. Which you could still do I guess but then you're sacrificing damage. At 150+ then yeah it doesn't matter since you have so many points to do whatever you want but my playthrough I completed the game at level 85 with mainly mind/int stats so it was a bit different.
@@DCAMM720you are not sacrificing any damage when you are that low level, Vigor should always be neck and neck with your damage stat till you get to its first soft cap
@@alexnewsome24 You aren't sacrificing enough to be ineffective, but you are quite literally sacrificing some if you are prioritizing vigor over int/mind. I'm not saying you deal no damage as you clearly do but INT builds(which are my main PvP characters at levels 50/90/125/150) benefit far more at higher levels and are spread more thin at lower levels when it comes to damage reduction/survivability. A strength/vigor/endurance build at level 50(depending on some gear of course) will do comparable damage as a pure caster at 50 and be able to survive more than the caster will.
I had the opposite experience. Pure caster is the easiest way to fight the boss, and most of the melee range spells have the same misfalls of using an actual weapon, so spamming a boss down from range is just easier than being in danger, constantly.
That being said, most casters forget that they need vigor as much as any other class. Which isn’t what any caster normally wants to devote their early levels.
In the DLC, casting only is impossible. One playstyle will make some fights next to impossible and force you to be a battle caster and use different strategies to win and survive.
I know you mentioned that you wouldn't do faith due to how limited it is, but I would still love to see a guide on it regardless!
I enjoy faith, but as you've said, it's quite limited, so I would like to see how you make it work!
Pure faith casting is far from spamming catch flame, there's a lot you can do with it. I also did int+fai pure caster and it can also be pretty fun, even if it's not good at meta levels.
Oh I just mean for the start of the game, obviously at higher levels it starts becoming really fun
To add onto the Carian Piercer, as it's one of my favorites as well - it can stagger Crucible Knights, trivializing them as well.
My first build was magic then i played faith then strength now i am playing with a dex katana. So far the katana and strength is way easier depending on which boss one is a better option than the other. The stagger from the strength build makes things easy and the damage from katana makes fights so much shorter. Magic was only over powered early game and for the dlc i feel like i am only tickling the bosses but i cant wait to see how the other builds would perform. Faith mage is so bad i stopped using it before beating the game its possible but not as fun as magic.
3:41 is there a equivalent to this for keyboard?
Yes? It’s whatever your spell switch key is. Hold the key down. (idk what the default key is cuz I re-binded most of my keyboard binds because the defaults feel super clunky imo.)
We found the mage bois.
I actually don't like Lusat's Staff at all. If it and the Carian Regal Scepter have max upgrades and you have 80 Int, Carian Regal Scepter has 373 Sorcery Scaling. Lusat's gets 413. If you do the math, Lusat's has 10.7% more Sorcery Scaling than the Carian Regal Scepter. So in exchange for just shy of 11% more Sorcery Scaling, you increase the FP cost of your spells by 50%. This is slightly more damage per hit at the cost of being able to cast only 2/3 as many spells. Your video makes it sound like the Sorcery Scaling is significantly better, justifying the increased FP cost, but that's simply not the case.
Night Sorceries are actually pretty good, despite you saying they aren't worth it. Especially since you can dual wield them if you either go into NG+, or trade. That's a 60% damage bonus if they're additive, and a 69% damage bonus if they're multiplicative.
I didn't know about the Hyper Armor on Gavel of Haima. Definitely good to know.
Adula's Moonblade is great, but does have one major drawback: it does Frost damage, which is harder to boost than Magic damage. There's no Frost Scorpion Charm or Frozen Shroudung Crystal Tear.
Quick guide on best staffs:
Demi-human or Carian Sorcery Sword at 40 INT
Academy at 60 INT
Carian Regal at 69+ INT (nice)
Gelmir if running equal INT/FTH until you reach 50FTH and 50INT in which case Prince of Death becomes better.
Bonus tip: Great glintstone shard is a good alternative to swift glintstone for mages that prefer to keep a distance, it's as fast as glintstone pebble and almost as FP efficient while doing about 50% more damage and reaching a bit further, Carian Phalanx is also a great spell on PVP because if you turn away from the enemy you can choose when to fire them, forcing rolls and making you harder to approach
The dlc's Blue dew drop talisman has been my Fundamentalists BFF since drop
Don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot use that cool spell. If you wanna superlaser that fucker over there, use comet azur. If you’re next to a staggered enemy and you wanna have some fun, use meteorite. The fun part about using sorceries when compared to incantations is that they’re over the top as fuck and sticking to the spells mentioned in this video honestly sounds like the most boring time imaginable to me😂 like yes it works it’s a strong build but not everything is about efficiency. Have fun, take risks, you’re playing a game and if you die you can always come back, grab your runes, and start spamming whatever low-cost spell you have to take care of the situation, but HAVE SOME FUN EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE
1:08 You can also spam Stone of Guranq, Madness Burst, and Lightning bolt instead if you want. Alternatively, a dragon arc/faith (mostly arc) pure spell build is the easiest build in the game, spamming dragonclaw/dragonmaw with the above faith spells for range cast off of communion seal's magadjust
not for dlc, you will trade with bosses and normally they chunk you like 80% of your hp while you are casting long ass spells
True once you get a Dragon Communion Seal and some decent stats you can Dragonmaw shit to death but before that its pretty mind numbingly boring. Honestly, spamming Dragonmaw is also pretty boring, if not super chad.
@@lapusso3704 Maw can hurt most of em but this is true for faster or smaller bosses. Final boss made me give up on dragon lmao
70 Virtual Dexterity isn't the cap, 99 is. You get diminishing, but still real returns after 70.
Don't sleep on Gravitational Missile, Cherishing Fingers, or Miriam's Vanishing.
Use Spinning Weapon on your staff. It's no longer amazing but it's better than literally no weapons. If you absolutely need a weapon, use the Glintstone Kris.
What's the softcap we're using post DLC? I see a lot of guides working off the level 150 benchmark, but I've heard 175 and 200 for where we're stopping our leveling for pvp/pve
Genuine question, it's been bugging me. I stopped at 175 and now I'm like 😅
I remember when you would put Lusat's Staff in the dumpster because of the FP cost, what changed?
I'm not wrong when I say that spell casts don't always hit their target, it hurts to miss and costs even more because of Lusat's Staff and Azur's Staff.
I get that there's many thresholds to meet but does the cost to damage ratio mean nothing to you?
Casting a Comet costs 44FP with both Lusat and Azur that's 4FP away from being 2 Comet casts on my main character without any equipment changing the cost, not to mention that many other spells that I use cost the same as a Comet or more when I use both Lusat and Azur, maybe it's worth it for Azur's max casting speed without touching Dex if you intend to cast Carian Slicer 8000 times for your entire playthrough but I just can't understand where you're coming from with Lusat's Staff, you lose most of your FP bar when casting Ranni's Dark Moon once which is Perfumed Oil and 2FP more than just 2 Comet casts with both Lusat and Azur.
You used to see it as I did but now you don't, you're telling people who want to do a pure spellcaster to use both staffs that both increase the cost of casting every spell making it nigh impossible to enjoy using spells that by default cost more than Perfumed Oil, taking full advantage of host flasks whilst you do it.
Scott, no smart feelings.
Little late to the party but...
Once you have decent cast speed, a fully charged Magic Glintblade immediately followed by a fully charged Loretta's Greatbow times out perfectly such that both projectiles will hit at the same time.
With Terra Magica this is one of the most powerful openers until you get access to things like the Full Moon stuff.
If you can manage the 18 Arcane, don't sleep on Great Oracular Bubble. Works as an opener but also has really good tracking. Probably the best FP-damage ratio of the hard hitter spells
I beat the final boss of Elden ring using only carian slicer, lusat, and azur staff on ng+4. Magic users on top :)
Lusat's damage generally isn't worth it most of the time, Chrighht's video on Staff Dual-Wielding shows that Lusat's is situationally useful at best, and Carian Regal Scepter is by far the most generally useful Staff in the game: ua-cam.com/video/M79rYePCio4/v-deo.html
It requires more Mind Investment for very little extra damage, you're better off with just 35-38 Mind and putting more points into other Stats, like Vigor, Intelligence, Endurance or maybe even a little bit of investment into Dexterity so you don't need to use either Azur's Staff or Radagon's Icon, just one or the other depending on your needs
Metamage Jund!
sadly spellcasting is still crippled by From Software's archaic spell selection UI
I try to rely mostly on incantations, but I also stick to a theme, which is something like "barbaric sorcerer", which means I'm throwing Stone of Gurranq, Beast Claw, Greyoll's Roar, and Crucible spells out instead of the best spells in the game. It's a struggle. Stone of Gurranq is my best attack and I've loved it since I got it 2 years ago, but it's still slower than a Greatsword swing even with max cast speed. Melee builds have so many ways to put out insane damage. Anyone who says magic is "easy mode" is insane.
THOPS, MY MAN
BEST 10 RUNES I EVER SPENT
If you side with Sellen at the end of her questline, you get the Glintstone Kris, a dagger with an ash of war called Glintstone Dart. It is a short range version of the comet which hits just as hard, if not harder, and travels fast as f*ck.
Sure it is a dagger but use it as another staff... Plus it won't hurt to have a backup melee weapon...
Also, the Carian Regal Scepter also has an ash of war, spinny weapon. Does good damage so keep that in mind...
Regarding FTH purecasting,
Yeah it's not as easy to pull off and factually there aren't really B&B spells to use that match what slicer does, leading to the catch flame conundrum. However, some new spells with the DLC add to the repertoire that are actually pretty good I think. Fire Serpent is really good, doesn't have super long range but is still a ranged, *chargeable* attack, and doesn't have you at point blank range like catch flame does. And let's not forget Messmer's orb which is a tactical nuke. And the Dragon Cult sect got the new lightning spear that does a metric crapton of damage and thus shelves its predecessor into a B&B role. It's still not as varied as sorceries by any stretch of the imagination, but it's at a better state now than it was before.
Pure spellcaster build using the spells:
High damaging straight sword
throwing knife
Running heavy attack with huge range and poise damage
Heavy attack with frost buildup
Hammer ash of war
It really speaks to the fallibility of Fromsoft’s balancing that Comet Azur, a pretty terrible and objectively incredibly situational spell keeps getting indirectly and directly nerfed almost assuredly because of popular meme videos where it one shots a certain boss like Mohg
It’s why I have absolutely no hope that anything overpowered now won’t be gutted into complete irrelevancy next patch, which is sad considering how cool things like bloodfiend’s arm and impenetrable thorns would be if they were balanced properly
Comet azur in PvP.
It IS bad, awfully bad, but im just saying that if you kill someone with It It deals permanente psicological damage
Having a linear list of spells, rather than button-bound, is such a baffling design choice for fromsoft to stick with. They should take notes from Ghost Of Sushi and have a set of skills you can use while holding the staff attack button (L1 + x y a or b)
swapping between more than 2 spells makes my head hurt i'm going to keep jump attacking. Cool video though hope someone with more wrinkles on their brain gets inspired by it.
I agree, this sytem worked well in older games where even tho you could technically unlock 10 slots people rarely did have more than 3 spells.
If you're struggling with the second phase of the fire giant that's when you use comic azure , drink your flask line it up and bury him. As soon as the phase kicks in.its in my profile vids. Got commander niall too
Wait, Azur's staff passive works in your off hand? I thought because it was listed differently from other passive effects on other staves that it wouldn't apply unless you used it as the primary casting tool? is it the same for Lusat's as well?
is a pure int build better than a INT/FTH build? Was looking to make a build using staff of greater beyond but don't want to lose too much damage
Maybe I'm doing something wrong all these casters only build and only seem to work if want to just run past all the trash mob and go boss to boss. All guides seem to use this same idea of over leveling cheesing some late game high-level boss for a mass amount of rune. Maybe just the game or something always bug me with these types of game, running passed every or kill the mob while the mob next to it goes wonder why Jimbo just die guess I stand here because just because blood corpse next to me doesn't mean that evil player picking us off.
I'll never forgive From for getting rid of the spell combo-ing we had when the game launched. I miss Swift Glintstone Shard into Gavel so bad.
You should make a pure faith/incantation version of this vid, even if does just amount to catch flame spamming
It should be noted that picking up any bleed weapon, a gold pickled fowl foot, and killing the big dragon in caelid, then putting all those souls into vigor, should always be the first steps in every run.
"zero weapon spellcaster"
Look inside video
Focuses on spells that make weapons
Cool... cool...
I kinda love using the carian spellsword that lets you cast spells. It states it is an outdated method and it really isnt that effective, spell scaling on it at about max level is like 270 so kinda meh but i dunno, just makes me feel like a true old knight of caria and thats more important to me. Love me roleplays, simple as.
Great video but my Unga bunga brain is going to ignore this.
Unga bunga is the easiest way to play. Its fun as hell though. I love my bonk character, but its always funny to see the easiest and most braindead way to play, are played by the same people that cry 'Easy mode' for any other build they see. Dex builds would make most people stop playing imo
Im lvl 155 with 60 vig, 40 mind and only 78 int in the videos it show lvl 150 you would have 80 am im missing something?
"we're going to use Sellen because...she is hot."
Absolutely based king Scott Jund returns
Damnnohtml, i'm so glad to see you back playing that game!
I did pure sorcery only in my first ER run.
No weapons.
Didn't know how scalings on weapons and so on worked.
I use Turtle Pope for Faith based casters. The thing about Incantations is that Arcane is the way to go but I digress. Selen is hot and this is a great way to start another caster character. My main is a pure caster but it's too high level for PvP.
Bold of you to assume mages even remember they have a weapon in most situations... in fact a lot of them have a shield and a staff and thats it.
When i made my mage character i decided i would try to delete as many bosses as i could before they could reach me and hobestly i dont remember a single boss giving me trouble, i cant wait to give the DLC bosses the payback for the hundreds of deaths on my first run hahahha
Loretta's Mastery is inferior to Loretta's Greatbow based on DPS to FP cost especially since you almost always lose at least one projectile in the process of firing the spell off
One good things about playing a low level caster is that you only need to upgrade 1 or 2 catalysts to enjoy a wide range of attacks (spells).
imo loretta's bow > loretta's mastery
mastery cost's a shit ton more fp and does ~30% more damage, with the caveat that all projectiles rarely hit
Late game build: Prince of Death's staff with 80 int and 80 fth.
Will this help me complete a hitless run against Chucky on Eyrie of Crows?
FELLAS get used to holding backwards 🤭
What do you mean no dlc spells!!
Grav.missle is so fun though
Love you Scott but the Lusat’s staff is so bad 😭 spending 50% more FP for 10% more damage is a poor trade off. Carian regal staff with offhand staff for a power boost or cast speed will always be better in every situation. If you intend to cooperate or invade lusats is just a nerf with the halfed flasks and now 50% higher cast cost. Otherwise this guide is perfect, I just hate to see people continue to fall for the Lusat’s trap.
You need all the damage you can get in invasions. With enough mind you don't need to worry about the penalty, you just can't spam high cost spells. Lusats is better in invasions and I will always stand by that
@@BigLadle99 massive disagree. You do not in any world need Lusats for invasions. Any invader could tell you that 💀 why would you want to run out of FP even faster to kill in the same number of hits? Carian regal scepter with the right talismans lets you one shot almost anyone using Terra magica and cannon of haima. If you’re dueling a Carian slicer into piercer combo will kill anyone who doesn’t meet the noob vigor check. Any competent opponent is going to require some timing and mind games to hit or whiff punish. You NEED FP for that. Not 11% extra damage.
@@IAmMyVeryOwnJust use both if you can and swap depending on the situation. Canon of Haima for example benefits a lot for potential one shots. If you are in an invasion that becomes a war of attrition Regal definitely becomes more useful.
@@IAmMyVeryOwn because it doesnt kill in the same amount of hits. the difference between 372 sorcery scaling and 413 when it comes to a Terra Magica'd cannon is a non one-shot and a one-shot. i usually don't have any FP problems whatseoever, and if i do run low, there are so many spells to give you breathing room. a gravitational missile in front of you will stop anyone from coming nearby for a second so you can pretty freely drink whenever you want.
This is not usually how it works out in practice. In theory, the tradeoff is extreme, but consider that:
- Most pure caster builds will have plenty of FP to launch a bunch of spells regardless
- The extra damage means more, sudden killing blows with fewer casts, highly important in a PvP ecosystem where survivors might get back up and one- or two- shot you
Everyone can use whichever staff they want for their build, of course. For example, if you wanted to invest heavily in something at the expense of the mind stat, or you're just creating a lower-level build, then I could see needing to use a Carian staff instead. Personally, I went through most of the DLC exploring with the Regal Staff you mentioned, just so I didn't have to worry too much about being without spells half an hour into an exploring session. The staff is not a "trap", it's a good option in an arsenal, with legitimate roles in the game.
no gear recommendations? the new messmers fire knight's helm gives a nice +5% stam health etc buff for example.
Fashion is all that matters
The real easy mode in elden ring right now is probably mimic tear and bloodfiends arm or something like that or the current shield love thats going around
Play with a claw grip, or you could just use an Xbox controller and not have to do that at all since that controller is actually designed correctly lol.
Only reason mages are glass cannons is because people don't level vigor and build them that way