The Sword and the Staff

Elden Ring is a game of deep quests, arcane secrets, and mighty magic that the wielder can harness to take their place on the Elden Throne. In that quest for power, every player will come across the deep secrets of spellwork, and ultimately the power of the gods manifested.

So what makes a player a spellblade? Well it's safe to say that if the faithful have the paladins, then the occult have the spellblades. Spells in this game really break down into two parts,

 

The Fundamentals of Playing a Spellblade

Incantations and Sorceries are two sides of the same coin, so where paladins focus on the faith, spellblades put their stats mostly into intelligence. This scales sorcery casting the same exact way that faith scaling works for seals which makes it pretty easy to pick up, or even just transfer the stats over if you go to Queen Rennala for a stat adjustment. Intelligence is the big stat here for sorceries in general, but it also boosts magic damage that's done and cuts down on the casting times the higher it scales.

Mind is another big stat for this build, mostly because having FP never hurts. This is a build that uses a lot of FP to make the best use of their skills and without the FP stats being there, the player has to sink extra resources into cerulean flasks. Spellblades are also usually a lot lighter equipped than the paladins are and they don't have a ready access to the healing without putting an extra item in which can clog up the controls and make it hard to cycle through what you need when you're in the middle of battle. So Mind is a big stat for a lot of these just to keep the player ready to cast spells at the drop of a hat.

The remaining stats really depend on what you're trying to use. Arcane isn't that big a deal for most spellblades since they get their big power buff from intelligence. However, the weapons that a player chooses may be the big answer on whether or not the remaining stats are really needed in Strength or Dexterity. The final big stat for this is Endurance. Every spell doesn't just have an FP cost, it also has a stamina cost. You can use Green Turtle Talisman to fix that a bit, or if you need that extra talisman slot, then it's good to just pump up that Endurance to make sure you can handle the casting cost.

Sorceries are usually cast with a staff, so it's important to really focus on what you're trying to build since there are a lot of staffs in the game that power up different sorceries. Staffs like the Meteorite Staff can be great for scaling, but it also powers up gravity sorceries. The same is true for Staff of the Guilty which scales differently than other staffs but is vital for thorn sorceries which are big for bleed buildup. Some of the staffs just scale better than the others and do more damage, but when picking one, it's never a bad idea to see which one fits your spells and your stat spread the best .

The Second big part of a spellblade is picking the right weapon. By name, it implies a wizard with a sword almost. That being said, there are a bunch of weapons in the game and there's really no wrong way to pick one as long as you keep your playstyle in mind and figure out how to blend the spell slinging and the weapon play into the same build.

Now, there are about 6 spell slots for the player by the time they finish getting far enough in the story. In fact, with the Nokstella talisman the player can actually hold 8 or so. That being said, having a large list of spells that you can actually use in the battle can be overwhelming and slow you down if you don't have everything sequenced out right. That means there's a lot of time spent figuring out your spell order. What you're going to use first, what you're going to use the most, and how fast can you cycle between the two? For each of these builds, I went ahead and incorporated a list of the best spells for each style, but I usually find that I don't really want a full slot of 6 or more spells.

Paladins use a lot of buffs, and it's easier to figure out how to kind of line your spells up so that you can use them and then go about your day. From the times I played through, spellblades favor their spells more than even the paladins in their style. So with that in mind, I usually find I like to find the right weapon for the job, then to keep my spell slots down to no more than four spells to max out without realizing at a critical moment that I might not be ready to cast.

 

 

Ranking the Top 5

5. Haima Hoplite

What is a Haima Hoplite

Haima Hoplite is a name that came from one of the Fextralife builds but ends up being pretty much the best build for a good pure spellblade build. There are a lot of ways to play a Glintstone Sorcery build, including one of my all time favorites, the Glintstone Ranger. But the Hoplite gives us a unique and slightly more tank-like build for the spellblade. This build uses sorceries at range and uses a lot of help from Terra Magica to really boost those magic damage assaults. With a trusty enchanted spear and shield, the Haima Hoplite stands their ground, even if the enemy brings the fight to them.

 

Walking the Path of the Hoplite

This build is almost completely a pure magic build so it helps to start out by maxing out the intelligence stat. This build focuses heavily on dealing magic damage so this is a good start. This is also one of the major sword and board builds out there, and it gets the name from the fact that it uses a large shield and a spear as its primary weapons.

Most of the pure spellblade builds out there focus a lot on using mage sets, like the Spellblade armor set. Which is great and boosts magic damage a good 10%. But this build is a little bit more tank driven. Since Terra Magica is one of the staple spells in this build, it also means the player has to stand still in one place to get that 35% increase to magic damage. So with bosses and aggressive enemies that get in your face, that's not ideal. I fixed this for my own play style by blending the Glintstone Ranger and the Haima Hoplite together into a tank player that is still light on their feet but can take on even the strongest enemies from their magic circles.

The Clayman's Harpoon was the original weapon for this build because it deals magic damage on it's own, but it also can be enchanted which is different than the crystal spears or the lazuli weapons that have magic damage built into them but can't be enchanted with other ashes of war. That means that you can give it any magic powered ability and it's going to be good for the cause.

This is also one of the only builds that I really favor having to put a shield into the build. There's plenty like the Carian Knight's Shield which is a good medium shield but also has magic damage and great magic resistance. Or, the player can use the greatshield options. Shields do scale with strength so this is going to encourage some extra strength scaling too, but having the ability to go swap out is really useful.

 As it works, I end up keeping my staff and my spear in the same hand and running my shield in the other hand to block hard hits if I can't dodge out of the way in time. With the greatshield there's plenty of advantages and there's always the option of running a staff in both hands which helps for being able to swap at will and always have access to their sorceries.

 

Gear Loadout

Primary Weapon:

Clayman's Harpoon

• Requirements: 12 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 12 Intelligence

The Clayman's Harpoon is the primary weapon for this build and that's because it comes with built in magic damage and the ability to be given ashes of war and enchanted. It's not as strong in base physical damage as weapons like the Cross-Naginata, but it also doesn't have to be given a magic affinity either to make it stronger. This weapon doesn't scale as well with Dexterity as it does with Intelligence and Strength, so this is more of a STR/INT weapon, but that works out since this build also encourages the use of the shield.

 

Cross Naginata

• Requirements: 16 Strength, 20 Dexterity

This is one of the strongest spears for the normal spears and it has a unique and pretty fluid move set. On top of that it does bleed damage which is always a bonus, and it can be infused with any of the magic ashes of war including Loretta's Slash, which is the same skill as the reaper builds built using magic damage.

This weapon can also be used for skills like Carian Grandeur and just about any other magic enchantment. It doesn't have the built in magic damage of the Clayman's Harpoon, which isn't the best. But it does have a much stronger stat base and it can be given the magic affinity when you enchant it.

 

Loretta's War Sickle

• Requirements: 20 Strength, 15 Dexterity, 20 Intelligence

This weapon comes with the built in skill of Loretta's Slash and it has some pretty solid magic and general damage too. It's not the best weapon in the build, but it is a reliable one and serves as a good backup if the player doesn't want to waste a spot or an enchantment on the Loretta's Slash ability.

 

Marais Executioner's Sword

•  Requirements: 24 Strength, 14 Dexterity, 23 Arcane

This is more of a backup weapon, because it does force the player to put a lot of extra stats into arcane when it usually isn't needed for this build. But the Eochaid's Dancing Blade skill actually functions really well in this build when you're looking for an alternative to some pesky enemies. Since you already have a greatshield, you have a good heavy sword and board vibe and this weapon has scaling magic damage built in which fits with the Haima build.

 

Carian Knight's Sword

• Requirements: 10 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 18 Intelligence

This weapon comes with Carian Grandeur built in which makes it convenient for use in a build like this. It also does a good amount of extra poise damage which is great for dealing with enemies. Since this is a spellblade build, it makes it useful as a backup to the spear for a lighter player build whenever the player is focusing more on the use of the staff than the shield and spear.

Moonveil

•      Requirements: 12 Strength, 18 Dexterity, 23 Intelligence

            Moonveil is just a great backup weapon to a lot of the builds but that's because it's a semi long range weapon. What makes it even better is that it scales best with Intelligence stats which means it sees its best power in a build like this, even as a backup weapon.

            Not only that, the overhead strike version of Transient Moonlight can be spammed fast, and it does a lot of poise damage that is great for staggering unique foes and bosses. The fact that it leaves the opponent open for critical attacks makes it great here.

 

Staffs and Seals:

Academy Glintstone Staff

• Requirements: 6 Strength, 28 Intelligence

The Academy Glintstone Staff is a great starting weapon for this build, and it scales pretty well. I still prefer the Carian Regal Scepter but this is a good one to pick up that doesn't have to take forever to start using. 

 

Carian Regal Scepter

• Requirements: 8 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 60 Intelligence

This is probably the most powerful staff in the game you can get that scales with intelligence without increasing your FP cost in some way. It also boosts full moon sorceries which makes it great if you're using the moon sorceries to weaken your enemies before trying to hit them with maximized magic damage or deadly special abilities.

 

Spells:

• Scholar's Armament- Enchants the right hand weapon with magic damage
• Terra Magica- Increases all magic damage done from within the sigil for 30 seconds by 35%
• Loretta's Greatbow- Creates a massive magical greatbow which can charge up to release an enchanted shot
• Carian Phalanx- produces a large number of floating magic blades that attack the enemy when nearby
• Stars of Ruin- produces a volley of projectiles that deal magic damage that can track down most targets.
• Founding Rain of Stars- Produces a large downpour of magical projectiles.

 

Armor Loadout:

Helms:

• Spellblade's Pointed Hat- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Queen's Crescent Crown- grants +3 Intelligence
• Hoslow's Helm- a good armor that balances weight with poise and defense.
• Lusat's Glintstone Crown- Boosts primeval sorceries like Stars of Ruin by 15% while costing 15% more FP

Armor:

• Spellblade's Traveling Attire- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Hoslow Armor- a good armor that balances weight with poise and defense.

Gauntlets:

• Spellblade's Gloves- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Hoslow's Gauntlets- a good armor that strikes a balance between weight, defense, and poise

Boots:

• Spellblade's Trousers- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Hoslow's Greaves- A heavier armor set that has good poise and defense.

 

Extra Essentials

Alternate Gear- Shields and etc

• Carian Knight's Shield
• Cuckoo Knights Greatshield 

Talismans

• Rotten Winged Sword Insignia- Increases damage on successive strikes
• Magic Scorpion's Charm- increases magic damage by 12% but reduces damage negation
• Carian Filigreed Crest- reduces the casting cost of spells
• Shard of Alexander- increases the power of abilities by 15%
• Radagon Icon- reduces spell speed
• Godfrey Icon- Increases the damage of charged attacks and skills by 15%

Stats

• 60 Vigor
• 35-40 Mind
• 35-50 Endurance
• 50-65 Strength
• 12-40 Dexterity
• 80 Intelligence
• 14-30 Faith
• 24 Arcane

 

Build Credits:

Haima Hoplite by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-spear-and-shield-build-guide-haima-hoplite/

Glintstone Sorcerer by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-glintstone-kris-build-guide-spellthief/

Glintstone Ranger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRKNwKL9ZzU&t=66s

 

 

 

4. The Sword Sage/Death Mage

What is a Sword Sage

The name Sword Sage or Death Mage pretty much says it all. This is a build that focuses on the use of one of the most powerful swords in the game, and the use of the death sorceries. The death sorceries weren't all that powerful to begin with, but they received an upgrade in patch 1.07 that increased their damage and decreased their casting cost.

If this were strictly about Player vs Player, this build might actually rank just about number one on the list because death blight affects players the best. But once this build is leveled up, it makes for a heavy, staggering, and very strong critical damage dealing build in the NG+. While death sorceries may have their limitations, they're still incredibly powerful when paired with the Sword of Night and Flame.  

 

Walking the Path of the Sage

Even with the upgrade of the Death Blight sorcery stats in the 1.07 patch update, getting death blight to trigger isn't really that easy. This is definitely a build where intelligence needs to be maxed out to get the most out of the spells that you use.  The rest of the stats really fall under the choice of the gear that you choose. Some people will use helms like Twinsage Glintstone Crown to boost their stats the last little bit, or certain armor sets to boost damage.

I usually run with the spellblade set.for the boost to magic damage, but just about anything can be used for armor as long as you stay able to move around fairly easily. The real big part of this build is going to be the sword of Night and Flame, which is the star of most of the deathblade builds. It also uses the Staff of the Prince of Death, which requires some pretty high stats of its own to scale well.

Believe it or not, the two biggest stats in this build are going to be both faith and intelligence. Both are important for the scaling of the Staff of the Prince of death, and the Sword of Night and Flame. For my personal preferences I say go 80 for both, but that requires a lot of grinding in a game that maybe feels like it's a bit overkill. I still say put Intelligence at 80, but we can soft cap Faith at about 65 and get some of the perks of scaling it for the spells and seals.

 

Gear Loadout

Primary Weapon:

Sword of Night and Flame

•  Requirements: 12 Strength, 12 Dexterity, 24 intelligence, 24 Faith

The Sword of Night and Flame is the bread and butter of this build because it has such a wide range of attacks and powers. It is a Comet Azur on a stick, making a high cost spell accessible for the relatively cheap cost of an Ash of War. It also has access to great trash mob clearing skills with its fire attack which burns away most smaller enemies. Since this weapon scales well with both Faith and Intelligence, this weapon sees its best in this Death Mage build.

 

Eclipse Shotel

• Requirements: 10 Strength, 25 Dexterity, 30 Faith.

The Eclipse Shotel is a great alternate weapon to the sword of night and flame, and has a cheap death skill that does multiple forms of damage for a cheaper cost than the Sword of Night and Flame. This is also a fairly fast swinging sword, and it also has the benefit of ignoring 40% damage negation with the anti-block that it has. This weapon makes for a really aggressive player that capitalizes on that death sorcery damage and ashes of war.

 

Moonveil

• Requirements: 12 Strength, 18 Dexterity, 23 Intelligence

Moonveil is just a great backup weapon to a lot of the builds but that's because it's a semi long range weapon. What makes it even better is that it scales best with Intelligence stats which means it sees its best power in a build like this, even as a backup weapon.

Not only that, the overhead strike version of Transient Moonlight can be spammed fast, and it does a lot of poise damage that is great for staggering unique foes and bosses. The fact that it leaves the opponent open for critical attacks makes it great here.

 

 

Staffs and Seals:

Staff of the Prince of Death

• Requirements: 6 Strength, 18 Intelligence, 18 Faith

The staff of the Prince of death is hands down the best stat for this build because after the player passes level 60 in faith, and has the intelligence to equip staffs like the Carian Regal Scepter, it's actually better than higher staffs in the game for the most part. It also has no skill on it so even if you're holding it, it won't override the skill of the weapon in the opposite hand. That makes equipping it strategically, very useful.

This staff not only scales great with faith and sorcery both, it also boosts death sorceries by 10%/ That means that those cool looking ghost spells get that much stronger and do that much poise damage to enemies to hit with critical strikes. That being said, this staff does not buff up Rkyard's Rancor.

 

Erdtree Seal

• Requirements: 40 Faith

Normally I would run with the Dragon Communion Seal for a spellblade build as a seal, but this build requires a pretty high faith anyways to scale the Staff of the Prince of Death, so why not use the strongest seal with the build that has the stats for it? Erdtree Seal has S level Faith scaling so it sees a lot of great value from this build, and this build is prone to running incantations like Death's Lightning, Golden Vow, and Flame, Grant Me Strength.

 

Spells:

• Rancorcall- a spell that releases screaming death skulls that attack the enemy.
• Death Lightning- a spell that deals lightning damage and death build up.
• Ancient Death Rancor- a spell that functions as an advanced form of Rancorcall for heavier enemies
• Carian Phalanx- produces a large number of floating magic blades that do damage to the enemy
• Golden Vow- boosts all damage by 15% and damage negation by 10%
• Terra Magica- increases magic damage by 35% inside the magic circle
• Flame, Grant Me Strength- boosts physical and fire damage by 20% for 30 seconds
• Explosive Ghostflame- creates a large explosion of ghost flame that can also apply frostbite to the enemy

  

Armor Loadout:

Helms:

• Queen's Crescent Helm- grants +3 intelligence.
• Spellblade's Pointed Hat- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Twinsage Glintstone Crown- grants +6 intelligence but reduces hp and stamina

Armor:

• Spellblade's Traveling Attire- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Harlow's Armor- a good armor in terms of protection and poise.
• Royal Remains Armor-Armor that slowly regenerates health whenever the health bar isn't full. 

Gauntlets:

• Spellblade's Gloves- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Hoslow's Gauntlets- A good armor in terms of protection and poise.
• Royal Remains Gauntlets-Armor that slowly regenerates health whenever the health bar isn't full.

Boots:

• Spellblade's Trousers- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Hoslow's Greaves- a good armor in terms of protection and poise.
• Royal Remains Greaves- Armor that slowly regenerates health whenever the health bar isn't full.

 

Extra Essentials

Alternate Gear- Shields and etc

• Carian Knight's Shield- A magic shield that scales well and has the no skill ability which means it goes as a good offhand weapon.
• Mimic Tear Ashes- Creates a copy of the player wielding the same weapons that the player wielded at the time that it was summoned.

Talismans

•  Graven Mass Talisman- increases the damage of sorceries by 8%
•  Magic Scorpion Talisman- Increases magic damage by 12% but lowers damage negation
• Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman- reduces damage by 20%
• Fire Scorpion Charm- increases fire damage by 12% but lowers damage negation

Stats

• 55-60 Vigor
• 35-50 Mind
• 35 Endurance
• 18-25 Strength
• 30-45 Dexterity
• 80 Intelligence
• 65-80 Faith
• 9-18 Arcane

 

 

 

3. The Sanguine Spellblade

What is a Sanguine Spellblade

Bleed is one of the most handy, and the most aggressive builds out there. It charges in, does a lot of damage, and risks even running the health bar down to the wire to take down an enemy. That's what makes it so good, because it can wipe out an enemy's health bar fast. They say that to be good at something, you need to put your blood, sweat, and tears into it. Well with the Sanguine Spellblade, that's the way it works.

 

Walking the Path of Blood

Even though this is a spellblade build, the usual stats don't apply in this case, which is kind of another reason why bleed is such a funky, but fun build. You need to have your stats in Intelligence for spellcasting speed at the very least, and in any spellblade build I like to max out my intelligence at the cap since this is good for staff and spell speed scaling.

This build, however, features a heavy focus on three other unique stats. That is Arcane, Faith, and Vigor. You need the Arcane big time for the bleed in this build because it helps trigger it fast and often. Most bleed weapons have a lot of stats invested in arcane anyways, and maxing out the arcane can be good for any build that has a buildup to it, including frostbite.

Faith is also a big part of this build, because the best staff for bleed sorceries is the Staff of the Guilty and if scales with faith. Since this is also a build that ends up relying some on healing, and some on buffing up damage, it also uses faith for Flame, Grant me Strength and spells like Blessing's Boon which pairs with Royal Remains armor to keep healing you after you use your thorn sorceries.

 I also put a lot into Vigor for these builds just because it is prone to eating up your health bar, but it doesn't hurt to tally some extra points in mind if you're comfortable running Vigor somewhere between 30-45. Several of the big damage spells like Rykard's Rancor use up a good amount of mana and so do some of the better weapons for this build, so that FP never hurts.

If you're playing this build then you're playing a spellblade and that means there's a mix of magic and weaponry at play. Since Eleonora's Poleblade is my favorite weapon for this build, I set my defenses before the fight, then pumping up and going in for the bloodblade dance. Since there's plenty of time for the special attack animation, and you can charge it for longer attacks, you have plenty of time to flip your somewhat large spell list around to whatever offensive spells you're going to use, and then cast them at the end when the player jumps away from the enemy.

There's a lot of timing that goes into this build, and I honestly wouldn't recommend slotting both Rykard's Rancor and Explosive ghost flame. I just liked them because they both hit hard and have their benefits. Since there's so much mix between fire and ice builds because of triggering frostbite repeatedly, there are some fun ways to use attacks like Ranni's Dark Moon and Explosive Ghostflame to weaken the enemy and go for frostbite triggers then triggering bloodflame abilities to break the frostbite, then try and trigger it again. This all stacks on the bleed you're causing all the time with the Staff of the Guilty that has bleed damage built in, and your weapons which all have high bleed triggers that take big chunks out of the enemy health bars.

It may feel chaotic, but once you get your brand of blood and triggers lined up, this build can really take off and make short work of most enemies without much trouble.

 

Gear Loadout

Primary Weapon:

Eleonora's Poleblade

• Requirements: 12 Strength, 24 Dexterity, 19 Arcane

Eleanora's Poleblade is probably one of my favorite options for this build because it deals a great amount of bleed damage and it manages to create space between you and the enemy for some sorceries at the end of its very long attack sequence. What makes it even better is that the special attack sequence has a bunch of invincibility frames which make hitting you harder for your enemy but lets you do plenty of bleed damage. Since it also does fire too, it's pretty easy to use this move, then leap back for any of the thorn sorceries, Explosive Ghostflame, or Rykard's Rancor as a big followup to an already fire damaged opponent. Since this build uses Flame, Grant me Strength, that works out well for what it does.

 

Morgott's Cursed Sword

• Requirements: 14 Strength, 35 Dexterity. 17 Arcane

This is one of the stronger swords that deal bleed and fire damage in the game that don't fall into the katana or samurai categories. I love my samurai styles for sure, but they blur the line a bit too much between what build you're playing here. This sword releases a slash of bloodflame that deals an incredible amount of damage and also has a follow up explosion for even more damage. Add that you can spam it, and you have yourself a great all purpose sanguine weapon.

 

Bloody Helice

• Requirements: 16 Strength, 19 Dexterity, 17 Arcane

The Bloody Helice is a fencing weapon that deals a ton of bleed damage and repetitive hits fast to trigger the Hemorrhage effect. Not only that, but instead of clearing the way to make range for spells, this is more the weapon for the fencer or the more aggressive players that don't really want to drain all their FP on Morgott's Cursed Sword.

 

Staffs and Seals:

Staff of the Guilty

• Requirements: 8 Strength, 12 Faith

The Staff of the Guilty may not be the strongest staff in the game but it is hands down the best staff for thorn sorceries, which is what both of the Briar spells fall into the category of. It also scales well with Faith, which is a huge benefit to this build since most of the good spells and the good weapons get a little bit of a boost from faith  in this build.

 

Erdtree Seal

• Requirements: 40 Faith

This is pretty much my standard seal for any build that puts the Faith over 40 unless there is a specialized seal for an incantation. Since this would really only use Golden Vow, Flame Grant Me Strength, and Blessings Boon on a regular basis, I just like the seal for being an all around good seal.

 

Spells:

• Briars of Punishment- unleashes a trail of bloodthorns that attacks the enemy. 
• Briars of Sin- Produces a wall of bloody briars that surround the player and damages the enemy at close range.
• Flame, Grant Me Strength- Grant's a 20% boost to physical and fire damage for 30 seconds
• Blessing's Boon- Heals a portion of health over a period of time.
• Rykards Rancor- unleashes a fiery skull that deals explosive damage to an enemy.
• Explosive Ghostflame- Releases an explosion of ghostly flame that damages the enemy causing death blight and frostbite.

  

Armor Loadout:

Helms:

• White Mask- boosts damage whenever there is blood loss nearby.
• Spellblade's Pointed Hat- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Royal Remains Helm- Regenerates health at a slow rate whenever health is reduced
• Alberich's Pointed Hat- Increases damage done by Thorn Sorceries

Armor:

• Spellblade's Traveling Attire- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Royal Remains Armor- regenerates health at a slow rate whenever health is reduced
• Alberich's Robes- Boosts thorn sorceries
• Briar Armor- causes damage when rolling into an opponent and bleed buildup.

Gauntlets:

• Spellblade's Gloves- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Royal Remains Gauntlets- regenerates health at a slow rate whenever health is reduced
• Alberich's Bracers- Boosts thorn sorceries
• Briar Gauntlets- Causes damage when rolling into an opponent and bleed buildup.

Boots:

• Spellblade's Trousers- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Royal Remains Greaves- regenerates health whenever health is reduced
• Alberich's Trousers- Boosts thorn sorceries.
• Briar Greaves- damages an opponent when Rolling into them causing bleed buildup.

 

Extra Essentials

Talismans

• Lord of Blood's Exultation- increases damage whenever bleed occurs nearby
• Green Turtle's Talisman- Increases stamina regeneration
• Carian's Filigreed Crest- decreases fp cost of spells
• Radagon Icon- reduces spellcasting time
• Godfrey's Icon- Boosts Special abilities and charged attacks by 15%

Stats

• 50-65 Vigor
• 30-45 Mind
• 25-40 Endurance
• 35-40 Strength
• 35-50 Dexterity
• 65- 80 Intelligence
• 40-65 Faith
• 65-80 Arcane

 

Credits for this Build

Sanguine Spellblade by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-aberrant-sorceries-build-guide-sanguine-spellblade/

Bloody Ballerina by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-bloody-helice-build-guide-bloody-ballerina/

 

2. Gravity God

What is the Gravity God

The Gravity God is a build that focuses heavily on gravity spells. If the Paladins have the Lightning Lancers, then the Spellswords have the Gravity Gods, which only got stronger with the new sorceries from the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC release. Sure enough this build was given the name Gravity Mage or Gravity God because it controls the stars itself like Radahn and Ranni, and with it enemies fall to the skilled spellsword.

 

Walking the Path of Gravity

One of the great things about the gravity spells is that they all do a number on poise. If you're using Weapon Ashes like Gravitas can break just about any enemy's footing and give clear shots for several critical hits. Other spells literally rain down stars and hit the enemy with comet strikes of magic destructive force which lay the enemy low.

Stat's for gravity are going to start out with, you guessed it, Intelligence. For any spellblade or mage build I want to set my intelligence to the cap, and 80 is a good cap, although in the right builds you can probably make do with about 65 if you need the states somewhere else.

Your next big one in this build is actually going to be strength. There are a bunch of amazing Fextralife builds that focus on the use of gravity weapons and gravity spells, including their own gravity mage builds. Since I prefer to use the weapons like Alabastor Lord's Sword, or even Meteorite Blade for this build, I expect to run the risk of getting hit anyways. So for aesthetics and the great poise, I use the Radahn armor set. It's the only heavy duty spellblade that I've made, but I love the style that comes from an aggressive spellblade build that functions like a tank. Still, for the weapons that are big in this build, Strength is going to be a big factor for the melee weapons and the physical damage stats.

After you get strength and intelligence out of the way, you can expect to put a decent amount of stats into Mind and Endurance. Since this is a build that focuses on using a lot of tactics that draw in the enemy and use heavy armors as an option, you're going to be looking at more endurance for higher carry weight without wasting a slot for a talisman. You also put what you get into your FP bar and since this is a build that's got some expensive spells and abilities in there, it doesn't hurt to put enough into FP that you can afford to put more into your healing flasks to complete the tank vibe.

Gravity Spellblades are going to rely pretty heavily on a mix of their sorceries and their special weapons to deal a lot of damage to unbalanced enemies, or just hammer them with some of the most powerful offensive spells in the game. Not only that, but with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC we get even more added to our ability, attacking from below as well as above. This includes blades of stone which is basically a copy of some of the star beast moves, and Gravitational missile which drags enemies in before exploding to deal magic damage.

That's basically the name of the game for the gravity build. It pulls enemies left, right, and down before beating them with big magic missiles and AOE damage.

 

Gear Loadout

Primary Weapon:

Alabastor Lord's Sword

• Requirements: 16 Strength, 12 Dexterity, 18 Intelligence

The Alabastor Lords Sword is found in the Lake of Rot and it makes for a powerful weapon that takes Gravitas skills to the next level. Just about any weapon with gravitas added to it will do the trick, but Alabastor Lord's Pull does more damage, and has a wider range of effect, which is why we use this weapon. There are plenty of spell options for doing this prior to Shadow of the Erdtree, but now with the new Blades of Stone sorcery, you can drag them in then pummel them with mass AOE gravity stone blades. It makes for a fun combination, to be sure.

 

Bastard's Stars

• Requirements: 8 Strength, 22 Dexterity, 22 Intelligence

Both Bastard's Stars and Wing of Astel use the nebula ability. This basically throws out a range of stars that explode and do magic damage. It's a pretty handy attack, and it gives the player some range,  although the Bastard's Stars has a wider range swing than Nebula because it also lunges forward.

 

Wing of Astel

• Requirements: 7 Str, 17 Dexterity, 20 Intelligence

The Wings of Astel is a fantastic curved sword and it has the Nebula effect too. Depending on the way you want to build this playstyle, light or heavy, really can make the difference in weapon choice, and I really like this for a lighter build that does a good amount of dodging.

 

Staffs and Seals:

Meteorite Staff

• Requirements: 6 Strength, 18 Intelligence.

Honestly, if you're not double wielding staff, then this is the staff for you. Not only does it have S scaling on Intelligence, it gives gravity spells 30% more damage.

 

Spells:

• Terra Magica- Increases magic damage by 35% for 30 seconds
• Collapsing Stars- A spell that launches 9 orbs that effect foes in range and deal magical damage
• Meteorite- Calls down meteor damage that damages the foe with physical and magical damage and can be chain cast.
• Meteorite of Astel- A more powerful version of the Meteorite spell.
• Blades of Stone- A new Shadow of the Erdtree spell that summons gravity spikes from the floor in an AOE
• Rock Sling- A magic spell that throws magic rocks at an enemy and deals 100% physical damage. This spell can be boosted by several other spells and incantations.
• Golden Vow- boost damage by 15% and damage negation by 10%
• Flame, Grant Me Strength- Boosts Fire and Physical damage by 20%

 

Armor Loadout:

Helms:

• Spellblade's Pointed Hat- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Radahn's Redmane Helm- A heavy armor with great poise

Armor:

• Spellblade's Traveling Attire- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Radahn's Lion Armor- A heavy armor with great defense and poise

Gauntlets:

• Spellblade's Gloves- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Radahn's Gauntlets- A heavy armor with great defense and poise

Boots:

• Spellblade's Trousers- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Radahn's Greaves-  A heavy armor with great defense and poise

 

Extra Essentials

Alternate Gear- Shields and etc

• Jellyfish Shield- A greatshield with contagious fury. This spell boosts physical damage for a while and that boosts spells like Rock Sling and Meteorite

Talismans

• Radagon Icon- Reduces the casting time of spells
• Carian Filigreed Crest- Reduces FP cost of spells 
• Godfrey's Icon- Increases damage from skills and charged attacks by 15%, which includes spells like Collapsing stars and rock sling.
• Magic Scorpion Charm- increases magic damage but also decreases damage negation.
• Graven-Mass Talisman- increases damage done by all sorceries by 8%
• Great Arsenal Charm- Vastly increases equip load

Stats

• 50 Vigor
• 40-45 Mind
• 35- 50 Endurance
• 30-65 Strength
• 30-45 Dexterity
• 80 Intelligence
• 25-40 Faith
• 9-25 Arcane 

 

Credits for this Build

Meteor Mage by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-gravity-mage-intelligence-build-guide-meteor-mage/

 

 

1.The Rime Battlemage

What is a Rime Battlemage

            The mages of the north fight with a cold fervor, and they weaken their enemies to crush them like brittle frost. The Rime Battlemage is a spellblade that focuses on weakening the opponent and giving them frostbite. This ability takes a big chunk out of the health bar and then lowers the enemy's damage negation by a fair bit. Until the frost bar goes down, they're weaker to most attacks, and can easily score plenty of damage against.

 

Walking the Path of the Frozen

The frostbite build really should be called a build of fire and ice because the best way to play it is to trigger the frostbite, then do some damage, and light the opponent on fire. Once fire is used on a frostbite opponent, it removes the status effect and leaves it wide open to use that status effect again, and again, and again.

The first big, and the big for any spellblade, is going to be Intelligence. Just like every other build in this list, I suggest putting it at 80 just for the scaling; it gives your magic damage, your frost damage, and your staff scaling. Really, this is where the bulk of your best damage is going to come from and since this a level 200 and up build, I say put it to the cap.

The next big two are going to be Faith and Mind, because having that extra FP is going to be really useful for some of the more expensive spells. It's even more important if you're going to use Lusat's staff, which is the best one in the game. Faith is important to bolster some of those fire spells, because they all seem to have Faith requirements, but depending on the spells, or the weapons you use, may well depend on if you even need to put a spell slot towards fire.

Dexterity and Strength are both important in this build, but only so much as you need them for the weapons you're going to be using. There are a few ways to even play a spellblade berserker blend, so I tend to lean towards evenly splitting both based on the scaling that my primary weapon gets.

            

 

Gear Loadout

Primary Weapon:

Death's Poker

• Requirements: 15 Strength, 17 Dexterity, 11 Intelligence

 Death's Poker is a popular sword for any of the ghostflame builds which all do frostbite buildup. This is a two part special that ignites a ghost flame in the air and then explodes it, creating a trail of ghost flame at the target. It's not the best sword in the world for frostbite, but it has its own set of advantages.

 

Zamor Curved Sword

• Requirement: 16 Strength, 18 Dexterity

This is probably my favorite weapon for this build because it even builds up frost on some of the toughest bosses and it hits hard. Zamor Curved Sword can also be paired with other curved greatswords to make for a powerful berserker build that can quickly swap between the staff and the other sword on the left hand. This is also one of the least stamina consuming greatswords in the game and that is always a helpful thing.

 

Frozen Needle

• Requirement 11 Strength, 18 Dexterity

This sword is great just because of the fact that it uses skills that set frostbite quickly, and the heavy attack launches ice projectiles without burning up your FP. Fencing swords are one of the better sword groups for buildup weapons and that doesn't change here. It also pairs with long thrusting swords like an Enchanted Cleanrot Knights Sword to make for a powerful dual wield style that works like a faster fencing version of the berserker.

 

Helphen's Steeple

• Requirement: 19 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 22 Intelligence.

 This is a sword with a skill called Ruinous Ghostflame, which is like the Death's Poker. It generates a type of ghostflame blade and basically functions as a magic and frostbite buildup blade that can't be parried, has some extra attack power, and it does do a nice slash of magic and frost damage when it ignites. You have your ghostflame for anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds, so you can make a lot of use in that time with a skill like that.

 What Makes Helphen's Steeple so good is that it combines with Dark Moon Greatsword which is another greatsword and shifts into the Berserker build on the fly. A berserker play to this build can use spells like Ranni's Dark Moon to initially weaken opponents, then charge in and set frostbite with Ruinous Ghostflame and Dark Moon Greatsword or another ice enchanted greatsword. Since this maxes out magic damage at the same time, an opponent can crush an enemy fast using these weapons while using their staff for fire spells or extra offensive strategies.

 

Any Weapon enchanted with the Following Ash of War:

• Hoarfrost Stomp
• Ice Spear
• Chilling Mist

 

Staffs and Seals:

Gelmir Glintstone Staff

• Requirements: 6 Strength, 14 Intelligence, 14 Faith

The Gelmir Glintstone Staff boosts magma sorceries 15% which is great for spells like Rykard's Rancor which does great fire damage. It also scales well with both intelligence and faith which means the more that is in both the better it does.

 

Carian Regal Scepter

• Requirements: 8 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 60 Intelligence

This staff is great for its sorcery scaling and the fact that it boosts full moon sorceries by 10% which is even better for Ranni's Dark Moon. Academy Glintstone Staff scales better for intelligence at the higher levels but being able to boost Ranni's Dark Moon is a great way to get this build dealing extra damage much faster in the fight.

 

Spells:

• Ranni's Dark Moon- This spell sends a dark moon out that draws in other sorceries to cancel them out while dealing magic and frostbite damage to an enemy. This spell also can reduce enemy damage negation up to 32% if triggered correctly.
• Freezing Mist- Creates a cloud of mist before the caster that freezes the enemy
• Adula's Moonblade- produces a magical frost sword that deals magic and frost buildup.
• Rykard's Rancor- Launches a large flaming skull at the enemy that sears them then explodes
• Glintstone Icecrag- shoots a mass of cold projectiles at the enemy causing damage and frost buildup
• Magma Shot- fires a lump of magma that explodes on contact

 

Armor Loadout:

Helms:

• Spellblade's Pointed Hat- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Snow Witch Hat- Boosts full moon sorceries by 10%
• Hoslow's Helm- A good helm striking a balance between defense, weight, and poise

Armor:

• Spellblade's Traveling Attire- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Hoslow's Armor- Provides a good balance between defense, poise, and weight
• Zamor Armor- An armor from the frozen mountaintops that honors the frozen warrior

Gauntlets:

• Spellblade's Gloves- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Hoslow's Gauntlets- Provides a good balance between defense, poise, and weight

Boots:

• Spellblade's Trousers- Increases Magic and Frost damage by 2%
• Hoslow's Greaves- provides a good balance between defense, poise, and weight

 

Extra Essentials

Talismans

• Graven-Mass Talisman – increases all sorcery damage by 8%
• Carian Filigreed Crest- reduces fp cost of spells
• Green Turtle Talisman- increases stamina recovery speed
• Magic Scorpion Charm- increases magic damage by 12% but decreases damage negation
• Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman- Increases damage negation by 20%
• Godfrey Icon- Increases damage by special abilities and charged attacks

Stats

• 50-55 Vigor
• 35-40 Mind
• 35 Endurance
• 30-45 Strength
• 30-45 Dexterity
• 80 Intelligence
• 35 Faith
• 9-22 Arcane

 

Credits for this Build

Freezing Battlemage by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-cold-sorceries-build-guide-freezing-battlemage/

Frost Paladin by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-zamor-curved-sword-build-guide-frost-paladin/

Rime Ronin by Fextralife 

http://fextralife.com/elden-ring-frost-samurai-build-guide-rime-ronin/

 

 

 

Treading the Path of the Mystical Warrior

The Spellblade is probably one of my favorite classes to build just because it's so fun. I also love that comic online that shows a wizard running out of mana in a dungeon. The enemies think they're in the clear only for the wizard to shrug off their cloak and reveal they're a brawler underneath. When I think of the spellblade, that's the image that I conjure up. It's a fun style to play, and while sorceries are a little less versatile than their incantation counterparts at times, they buff themselves up, and deal damage to the enemy even more.

If you really think about it, there are spellblades out there that in the right hands can reduce an enemy by 20-30% in terms of their damage negation, then hit them with attacks that are buffed up 40-50%. The spellblade is one of the most fun builds to build for that reason, and it's a unique puzzle build too. Not only are you accountable for your talismans and your weapons, but everything down to the spell slots have to be carefully accounted for.

It is a wise wizard who knows themselves before they confront their enemy, but a brave hero can face any odds. When the way of the wizard and the sword intertwine, only the most powerful will take the throne.

 

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