Unlocking Divine Power: A Comprehensive Guide to Elden Ring Faith Spells

Elden Ring, the critically acclaimed action RPG developed by FromSoftware, offers players a vast and intricate world filled with challenges and opportunities for character customization. Among the many build options available, Faith builds stand out for their versatility, allowing players to wield powerful incantations that can heal allies, damage enemies, and buff their own abilities. This guide delves into the world of Elden Ring Faith Spells, providing a comprehensive overview of the best spells, how to acquire them, and how to optimize your Faith build for maximum effectiveness.

Understanding Faith in Elden Ring

Faith is one of the core attributes in Elden Ring, governing your ability to cast incantations. Incantations are essentially the Faith-based equivalent of Sorceries (Intelligence-based spells), offering a wide range of effects. Unlike Sorceries, which primarily focus on offensive magic, Elden Ring Faith Spells encompass healing, buffs, elemental damage (fire, lightning, holy), and even status effect infliction. To cast incantations, you’ll need a Sacred Seal, which acts as the catalyst for your Faith magic. Different seals scale differently with Faith and other attributes, influencing the potency of your spells.

Key Attributes for Faith Builds

Faith: The primary attribute for incantation scaling and requirements. Higher Faith unlocks more powerful spells and increases their effectiveness.
Mind: Determines your FP (Focus Points), which are consumed when casting spells. A larger FP pool allows you to cast more spells before needing to replenish.
Vigor: Essential for survivability. Increases your HP (Hit Points), allowing you to withstand more damage.
Endurance: Affects your stamina, which is used for attacking, dodging, and blocking. Also increases your equip load, allowing you to wear heavier armor without being encumbered.
Strength/Dexterity: Some weapons and Sacred Seals require a certain amount of Strength or Dexterity. Invest points as needed to meet these requirements.

Top-Tier Elden Ring Faith Spells

The effectiveness of Elden Ring Faith Spells depends on your playstyle and the challenges you face. However, some incantations consistently rank among the best due to their versatility and power.

Offensive Powerhouses

Lightning Spear: A classic Faith spell that launches a bolt of lightning at enemies. Deals significant damage and has good range. Early access makes this a great choice.
Black Flame: Hurls a ball of black flame that deals initial damage and inflicts a percentage-based health drain. Extremely effective against bosses with large health pools.
Frenzied Burst: Unleashes a rapid barrage of madness flames, dealing high poise damage and potentially inflicting Madness.
Giantsflame Take Thee: A powerful fire incantation that launches a massive ball of flame, dealing immense damage in a wide area.
Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike: Calls down lightning strikes in a large area, dealing massive damage to multiple enemies. Requires high Faith and Stamina.

Healing and Support

Heal: A basic healing spell that restores a moderate amount of HP. Essential for sustaining yourself and your allies.
Great Heal: Restores a significant amount of HP. More efficient than Heal in terms of FP cost per HP restored.
Erdtree Heal: Heals a massive amount of HP and also cures various status ailments. Requires high Faith.
Blessing’s Boon/Blessing of the Erdtree: Provides a passive HP regeneration buff to yourself and nearby allies. Blessing of the Erdtree is the more powerful version.

Buffs and Utility

Golden Vow: Increases attack power and defense for yourself and nearby allies. A must-have for any Faith build.
Flame, Grant Me Strength: Increases physical and fire damage. Excellent for hybrid builds that combine Faith with melee combat.
Black Flame’s Protection: Significantly increases physical damage negation at the cost of increased stamina consumption.
Bestial Constitution: Cures poison and bleed buildup quickly.
Law of Regression: Cures all status ailments and dispels certain magical effects. Useful for specific encounters.

Acquiring Elden Ring Faith Spells

Elden Ring Faith Spells can be acquired through various means, including:

Purchasing from NPCs: Many merchants and instructors throughout the Lands Between sell incantations. Key NPCs include Brother Corhyn, Miriel Pastor of Vows, and Gurranq Beast Clergyman.
Finding Spellbooks: Some spells are learned by giving specific Spellbooks to NPCs who can teach incantations. These Spellbooks are hidden throughout the world.
Obtaining as Loot: Certain spells are dropped by enemies or found in chests and other containers.
Completing Quests: Some NPCs will reward you with incantations for completing their quests.

Specific Spell Acquisition Examples

Lightning Spear: Purchased from Brother Corhyn after giving him the Dragon Cult Prayerbook.
Black Flame: Dropped by Godskin Apostle at the Divine Tower of Caelid.
Golden Vow: Found in a chest at the Corpse-Stench Shack in Mt. Gelmir.
Heal: Purchased from Brother Corhyn early in the game.

Optimizing Your Faith Build

To maximize the effectiveness of your Elden Ring Faith Spells, consider the following tips:

Choosing the Right Sacred Seal

Different Sacred Seals offer different scaling and passive effects. Some popular choices include:

Erdtree Seal: Scales primarily with Faith and provides a good balance of spell buffing.
Godslayer’s Seal: Buffs Black Flame incantations, making it ideal for damage-over-time builds.
Gravel Stone Seal: Enhances Dragon Cult incantations.
Clawmark Seal: Scales with both Strength and Faith, suitable for hybrid builds using Beast Incantations.
Frenzied Flame Seal: Scales with Faith, Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence, boosting Frenzied Flame incantations.

Utilizing Talismans

Talismans can provide significant boosts to your Faith build. Some useful talismans include:

Radagon Icon: Shortens spell casting time.
Marika’s Soreseal/Scarseal: Increases Mind, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane, but also increases damage taken.
Faithful’s Canvas Talisman: Increases incantation potency.
Sacred Scorpion Charm: Increases Holy damage.
Carian Filigreed Crest: Reduces FP consumption of skills (including incantations).

Stat Allocation

Prioritize leveling Faith to meet the requirements for your desired spells and to maximize their scaling. Also, invest in Mind to increase your FP pool and Vigor for survivability. Consider Endurance for equip load and Stamina. If you are using weapons that scale with Strength or Dexterity, invest points accordingly.

Weapon Choices

While Faith builds primarily rely on incantations, having a good weapon is essential for dealing with enemies resistant to magic or for conserving FP. Some weapons that synergize well with Faith builds include:

Blasphemous Blade: A powerful greatsword that heals you when you kill enemies and deals fire damage.
Sacred Relic Sword: A greatsword with a powerful weapon skill that deals holy damage.
Treespear: A spear that scales with Strength, Dexterity and Faith, dealing physical and holy damage.
Cipher Pata: A fist weapon that deals holy damage and cannot be parried.

Advanced Strategies for Elden Ring Faith Spells

Once you have a solid understanding of the basics, you can explore advanced strategies to further enhance your Faith build:

Combining Incantations

Experiment with different combinations of incantations to create powerful synergies. For example, using Golden Vow to buff your attack power before casting a high-damage spell like Giantsflame Take Thee can result in devastating damage output.

Using Status Effects

Many Elden Ring Faith Spells can inflict status effects such as Madness, Sleep, and Poison. These effects can significantly weaken enemies and make them easier to defeat. Frenzied Burst is a great option for Madness buildup.

Adapting to Different Enemies

Not all enemies are vulnerable to the same types of damage. Be prepared to switch between different incantations depending on the enemy you are facing. For example, Holy damage is effective against undead enemies, while fire damage is effective against beasts.

The Future of Faith Builds in Elden Ring

As Elden Ring continues to evolve with updates and DLC, the landscape of Faith builds will likely change. New spells, weapons, and equipment may be introduced, offering new possibilities for customization and optimization. Stay informed about the latest developments to keep your Faith build at the forefront of the meta.

Conclusion

Elden Ring Faith Spells offer a diverse and rewarding playstyle for those willing to invest the time and effort to master them. By understanding the fundamentals of Faith scaling, acquiring the right spells, and optimizing your build, you can become a formidable force in the Lands Between. Whether you prefer healing allies, unleashing devastating attacks, or buffing your own abilities, Faith builds provide a versatile and engaging experience. Embrace the power of the divine and carve your own legend in Elden Ring.

[See also: Elden Ring Strength Build Guide]

[See also: Best Elden Ring Weapons for Faith Builds]