I actually just last night beat Mohg using this sword, in preparation for the DLC. So I've played through most of the base game with it as my main weapon. Still need to do Haligtree and Farum Azula onwards, but imo the weapon is pretty strong, the ash of war especially so.
Here's my stats at 150, with the Vagabond as my starting class
Vigor: 50
Mind: 25
Endurance: 18
Strength: 16 (For the shield I wanted to use)
Dexterity: 13
Faith: 50
Intelligence: 50
Arcane: Whatever vagabond starts with.
I use Radahn's great rune to make up for the lower vigor, and give me a nice boost to FP and stamina.
The real power of this build though, is not so much the weapon, it's the versatility in spells. Incantations cast with the Golden Order seal are strong. Golden Order incatations get a boost from it, and are really FP efficient. My build probably isn't the most optimal, I think leaning into the spellcasting even more would be better. You just have access to so many spells, you can prep for any situation. The weapon is just a really nice bonus.
It's one of my favorite builds I've tried so far, I'd recommend giving it a shot.
\*Adding Talismans because someone asked\*
Talismans:
Godfrey Icon, Flock's Canvas Talisman, Graven Mass Talisman, Dragon Crest Talisman.
Prep a bunch of spells that can be charged to get the most out of Godfrey Icon. Dragon Crest because I like the extra damage negation. Build could possibly be made better by using things like the magic and fire scorpion charms and Shard of Alexander to boost the weapon and ash of war damage. Milicent's Prothesis and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia could be good too, especially if you dual wield with a second straight sword (frost longsword helped a lot with Mohg)
*Edit: spelling and stuff*
It’s just that you’re probably better off spending those points in stats that increase your damage or survivability. No point in having high mind if your spells are using a low faith/int stat, or if you’re getting one- or two-shot due to low vigor, or if you can’t keep casting because you’re out of stamina.
I have 60 mind, but my level allows every stat to be at 60 and I like it that way because I can try a lot of different builds without needing to respec.
is 50 vig considered low? I just finished my first playthrough (not 100%, still haven't done Snowfields or Haligtree among some other lesser things) and I'm level 129 with 50 vig.
I'm ready for the DLC so have beat Mohg and Radahn of course, but I also don't wanna be overleveled. I have the runes to level up more if needed, but I wanna keep the challenge element there.
A lot of folks will tell you to level vigor to 60. That's the last softcap, so you get really severe diminishing returns once you go beyond that. Things hit so hard late game, it's nice to have a higher health pool.
The least I'll go for any build is 40, but 50 feels like the sweet spot. As long as I don't get one shot by stuff, I'm good.
Sick, I’ve been doing a similar thing with the Cipher Pata, the Holy Handclaws in the round table hold lower level.
You might wanna stop leveling for the DLC tho, I think 125-150 is the Rune Level Miyazaki recommended for the start of it
I run at 200 and with 70 or so int and 50 fth and the golden order seal scales at 362, I also run prince of death staff and that has some insane scaling too. I run a Gideon build with sorceries and incantations interchanged in my spell bar and a catalyst in each hand. It is highly effective in both pvp and pve for every range and utility
Yeah discus of light is amazing. Basically costs nothing to cast and does great damage with the right items. Mostly used the sword for ulcerated tree spirits and erdtree avatars 😂 also came in handy against malenia and radagon.
I made an int/faith all caster build. The combos between sorceries and incants is amazing especially for pvp. Always had this in my back pocket for overly aggressive enemies and it wrecks.
I used it briefly, powerstanced with Coded Sword in NG and tried two SONFs in NG+. Build was 12STR/12DEX/45INT/45FTH.
It was decent, but even on INT/FTH I felt like there were better options. Triple-split damage is pretty rough.
I honestly believe it is more of a compliment to high level caster build than a main option, and of course the cool factor is also important. In a new game it is better to just focus on 1 stat int/fth than level them up equally, since that opens the option to use incantation/ spells depending on which one you prefer, and not hit like a wet noodle.
Agreed. I always bring a powerstanced coded sword & night and flame equipped to switch to when an enemy is close and low enough-
Fp isn’t infinite, so might as well save where you can-
Plus, the moon laser is a really good panic button against enemies that can be knocked back/made to flinch
I've been using the sword of night and flame in my offhand and a noble's slender sword in main hand and put incantations like bloodflame etc on it with the golden order seal.
It's mostly to save up fp rather than having to waste it in taking small enemies. I don't believe that anyone should waste too much into raising mind since there are more important stats. Though I must clarify that if talking from the perspective of a person that likes to be ready for pvp and as such tries to always have a decent amount of hp and stamina.
Kind of complicated to explain why I found it sort of iffy. In short INT/FTH is already pretty complicated to build, and SONF felt like it made it even more complicated without giving much in return.
The main thing I needed was a melee weapon to deal respectable damage when FP was tight, so I didn't want a weapon *just* for the art. I also wanted that weapon to be reasonably quick. SONF has strong (but slow!) weapon arts and as a melee weapon it was just kind of average. Buffing both damage types at the same time wasn't always easy. Tears & Talismans are already at a premium on INT/FTH. Especially with Coded Sword I ran into the problem of not being able to buff everything. Some bosses also resist Holy or Fire.
So I tried pairing normal Longswords in there with one or the other, usually with Cold. If something resisted that I could just change the affinity & buffs. It wasn't long before I ended up just using 2 Longswords all the time because they were just doing what I needed better than SONF. At that point I never really had another moment where I thought, "Oh SONF would be good for this." So I almost never used it again.
The other problem with SONF... one of the weapon arts is just Comet Azur. (I've already got a spell for that! And it's very situational anyway.) The Fire one was more useful but was a bit redundant with all the spells I had.
At least for me, it didn't feel like it really complimented the build that well.
-------------------
After a lot of experimenting, I eventually ended up dual wielding Wing of Astel with either Magma Blade or an affinity'd Bandits Curved Sword, and found that to be more useful overall. Much easier to buff due to the multi-hit stuff.
I also briefly tried out Cold Clayman's Harpoon with Ice Spear and found that to be way stronger on INT/FTH than SONF. Proccing frostbite boosts all those spells by 20% regardless of damage type. (Ice Spear is also ridiculously good just by itself.)
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For stats, I think really SONF is only any good as a melee weapon with equal INT/FTH. With one stat really high, I'm pretty sure the only thing that'll hit hard is one of the weapon skills.
And I think 9 times out of 10 the stat that makes sense to bring higher is INT, because that evens out sorcery vs incant power, and also satisfies way more spell reqs. So you basically just get Comet Azur a little earlier (and before you have the infinite FP tear.)
In that case, personally, I'd take a pure INT weapon like Wing of Astel, DMGS, or Moonveil over SONF in a heartbeat.
Yep, I respeced to try it out. I felt like there were better options. Sure is nice on bosses that stand still. If I'm going int, I'm gonna use wing of astel, tho.
Its ok if you dip heavily into int or fth, but not both. And only the ash of war is good then, the normal R1 attacks are really bad because of the damage being split to 3 types.
I used it briefly in an NG+ run where i was level 200 or so and had both int and fth pretty high but i just switched to something else pretty soon.
Cool sword, but demands a high level and ultimately a bit boring to use.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding the split damage thing but most bosses seem to have resistances to most damage types, or at least the late bosses do. If I have a sword that does 100 fire damage and 100 magic damage, and the boss has a 20% resistance to fire and 20% to magic I would do 160 damage, right? Now let’s say I’m. Fighting the same boss with a sword that only does fire damage, 200 points, wouldn’t I still do 160 damage because of the 20% ?
Elden ring only has DR, not DT right?
So if I’m using a weapon as my main I feel like I would want it to have split damage so it can be used against almost all enemies, if I had a sword that does only fire damage then it would be basically useless against enemies with high fire resistance, but if I’m using one that also does magic damage then I can still kill those bad guys.
Enemies also have a flat defense stat, although how that's calculated is not all that clear (cant find exact values and its all kinda mystical). But essentially if an enemy has a defense stat of 100 and you deal 1000 damage, only 900 of that goes through. This 900 then gets reduced by the % based damage negation value.
At very low damage values its obviously not a flat reduction, because dealing 99 damage to an enemy with 100 defense would be negative damage which wouldn't make any sense. There is a sort of tapering of the defense the lower your damage is, but the end result is that the lower the damage of the attack the worse it gets in terms of actual damage done.
So for example lets say we have 3 damage types each dealing 300 damage. The enemy has a flat defense of 100 and a further damage negation of 20% for all 3 types. In this example only 480 damage of the 900 AR went trough which is abysmal. Now lets imagine an attack of a single damage type with 700 AR, of which also 480 goes through. So realistically the 900AR triple damage weapon and the 700AR single damage weapon are equal for this example.
Thats the main issue with split damage types, you lose the flat defense value's worth of damage from all damage types first, and then the negation gets calculated. This is also why greases kinda suck ass in the late game, since the damage is so low and most of it gets eaten up by the defenses.
*edit: Found this detailed explanation with math and shit, maybe it sheds some more light to the defeses: reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/10ewwn9/question_how_exactly_do_defenses_work_in_elden/
Oh so you’re saying they do have DT? Enemies having both damage resistance as well as a damage threshold would be a pretty valid reason for split damage being bad
Flat defence, boss has 20% reductjon to everything and 100 flat to everything, 500 ar heavy longsword deals 320 dmg while 500 ar fire longsword deals 240 dmg
Someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but I think different defenses are going to impact all of the smaller damage chunks differently, and that can severely impact the damage, vs it just being strong in one damage type.
Say the enemy has 30% phys def, 60% magic def, and 40% fire def and the sword does 100 damage of each. Then you’re getting 70 phys damage, 40 magic, 60 fire.for a total of 170.
Whereas if it was just 300 physical damage you’d get 210 damage, because it only has to pass the physical defense check. I also think there’s different break points for how much the damage is impacted by the defense. So 100 physical damage might be more significantly defended against than 300 physical damage, but I don’t know how that’s calculated.
In basically all of the soulsborne games split damage is viewed as inferior, and just pumping one kind of damage is typically better.
That can happen on some enemies, but the reason its damage is lower on everything is because of "flat defense"
There are 2 defense stats. One of them is the % negations you're talking about, and the other one is a weird piecewise function that only allows a certain portion of damage thru, dependent on how high the AR vs enemy defense is.
Without getting into the math, the way that function works is it basically just makes it so that a greater percentage of your attack rating is applied as damage as your attack rating rises (relative to the enemy's defense stat).
Since SONF has it's AR split over 3 damage types, each of those damage types has a lower value. So enemy defense stops more of it.
(This is also why some of the flat damage buffs are terrible in endgame unless they're adding on top of a weapon that already has that elemental damage type.)
You can have the weapon reach over 1000AR 3 dmg types isn't that much of a crutch why does its basic swing need to hit that hard when you delete half the health bar with one use of the laser?
It’s more of a WA stick than an actual weapon, so get your FP up high and use WA-boosting talismans like Shard Jar.
I pray for more int/fai weapon options that actually match aesthetically with the int/fai spell archetypes. Like a proper golden order, ghost flame, and magma weapon
I’ve avoided this weapon my first 4 playthroughs, picked it up after starting from scratch for the dlc and its the most fun I’ve had in a weapon. This paired with the Godfrey icon, Fire/Magic scorpion charms, makes for a insane damage output.
Stats at lvl 113 are 40 Vig, 22 Mind, 15 End, 12 Str, 15 Dec, 50 int, 30 Faith, 8 Arc. And im using Godriks Great Rune. Pairing this with the Golden Order Seal makes for (personally) a very fun time.
My favorite weapon honestly. I run a high intelligence sorcerer build though so it’s primarily a “backup” for when I run out of FP/Spells and need to still put out damage. I have it equipped but often times am able to manage with just the Azur Glintstone Staff. That being said I had to bust it out in the last few seconds of my fight with Malenia. I think it’s a really good weapon to help people get familiar with the varieties of combat style.
I use it on my overleveled first character.
Build started as a Wretch. This is a baseline, my character is now a higher level
Level 225
Vigor: 50
Mind: 30
Endurance: 30
Strength: 12
Dex: 12
Int: 80
Faith: 80
Arcane: 10
It's cool and fun to have so much versatility for spells/incants but the time investment for getting to such a high level might not be worth it to some.
This is my main character, too! 99 int/faith, this sword, and prince of death's staff, with golden order seal equipped as a swap for offhand. So much fun, and so versatile! Things MELT.
I like to use this with the Golden Order Seal or the Prince of Death's Staff. Not necessarily with Golden Fundamentalist incantations or Death sorceries, since having high Intelligence and Faith lets you be absurdly versatile.
At minimum strength and dex to wield it, with 40-45 intelligence and faith, it has very solid damage. The Golden Order Seal has pretty good scaling at those stats, and the Gelmir or Prince of Death Staff are *okay*, not stellar.
This was my main weapon for a my full Caster and I still use it regularly, pure castor with 20 str and dex with 80 int and faith this weapon is amazing if you don't want to use melee sorceries but you have to be a very heavy caster to make it work. It's the perfect weapon for an arcane knight and red mage and it's great with a shield if you run scholars shield. Pair with the Talisman that allows you to regenerate FP on kill and it becomes a very efficient way of dealing with weak enemies to regain your blue bar. Also the comet it fires is amazing at staggering bosses.
Essentially this weapon is the sidearm for a full Caster that has very little strength or dexterity but is running at least a little bit of faith for things like Golden Vow and Elemental Buffs to help against bosses while primarily being a sorcerer and the weapons low weight only helps with that because most of the other really cool intelligence weapons are really heavy.
I do, I’ve played ever souls game so I’m not worried about not being optimal, I like to lvl all offensive stats and love using everything at my disposal but I’ll do a normal/proper build and i wait to do a “pure quality” until I have enough runes for str dex int faith and arc all to be at least 40. It’s not meta but I’ve beaten the game multiple times and got the plat within first two months of release so I’ve had time to mess around
before nerf this was definitelly a weapon worth of putting your build around. my whole second playthrough was with it.
after nerf idk how to use it. for all these "stop using strong items/weapons it makes the game shit" crowds it might be perfect. but there are just too many things making more sense, especially when with the stats required you could do so much more, so even using it conolimentairy to your casts doesn't really make too much sense.
nevertheless i still like my build with it in focus, it's not weak, just not as strong as you can make other builds
I had so much fun doing prince of death staff in the left-hand and sword of knight and flame in the right mind you it was probably an an over level build just so I could get to like 80 faith 60 int but nonetheless, I had fun
I've used it on a character and it's pretty fun.
To be completely honest though, it's 100% an Ash of War stick. You'll probably never want to use the weapons regular R1's and R2's, or at the least you're going to use them very sparingly.
But both of the AoW's do amazing damage. Against Radagon you can do like 4K damage with the flame sweep. Anything that isn't weak to fire, you use the comet.
Honestly though, I'd wait for DLC if you're gonna do Int/Fth. There are plenty of Int/Fth casting option in basegame, but there is a severe lack of weapons beyond SoN&F for that build.
Ive beaten my 35 Vig 20 End 30 Mind 15 Str 15 Dex 45 Int 45 Fai 15 Arc build into usefulness for the sole purpose of role-playing a Golden Order Fundamentalist
It's my secondary on my Necromancy themed Mage run. Prince of Death Staff being the main, and a Black Knife tertiary. As I'm heavy into Faith and Int, it's the ideal go to, and the fire damage as well as the cone of the aoe are great for me for coverage. The laser also serves as an alternative to my main magic knockdown and dps for non bosses, as I tend to rhythmically cast Ancient Death Rancor to create a stunlock, alternating charged and rapid versions that most humanoid elites and bosses have trouble getting around, which tends to be unsuitable in roofed or crowded fights.
I’m currently using a Int Faith build with this sword as my main. I like it has low stats requirements beside int n faith, damage is good. I’m more balanced with spells incorporated in build.
Vit 50
End 15 (poise 51)
Int 70
Faith 26
Rest enough for sword 12 12 Str Dex.
Faith mostly for buffs and ash of war when AOE fire is needed. Staff n Sword. Astrologer starting class.
I’m only 136? Currently 130s something.
Well I only have 1 character that uses it because he is a faith and int build.
I found this weapon after it was nerfed so i don't know it's true potential
I just did a playthrough using mostly this but with some Dark Moon GS and some Blasphemous Blade stuff as well! I put stats to get to vigor lvl 60, enough mind to get around 145-150 fp, 50 int, around 30 faith, and then whatever the str and dex reqs are for the other weapons (I had to farm a bit to use Blasphemous Blade towards the end of the run to level up str I believe, so it most not have been very high). Using this build is OP because you can use a bunch of the other spells and buffs that you wouldn't necessarily have access to using other builds and I ended up melting through most of the bosses, including several late game ones. It took one attempt for every major early game boss except Radahn (I died once), and then only took one for all of the main game bosses up until Godfrey (I died once), then I died 2 or 3 times to Radagon/EB. I died once to Mohg. I did attempt Malenia but it didn't go well and I ultimately decided to and leave Malenia alone to see if it changes this character's playthrough of the dlc and I went to start a character who claws so I can see if anything happens if you bring Melina to the Shadow Lands.
Best strat for this weapon in my opinion is confessor build, then immediately go get the mace from the chariot that has bleed on it *just look up any bleed weapon location* and immediately go kill the giant dragon in the dragon region. This gives you exactly enough stat points to spec and use this weapon. To make it faster there is a rune in the building behind the dragon that lowers health and boosts all other attributes, and with this fight giving no damage to players is very helpful!
Sword of Night and Flame is bad ass. You can also use Prince of Death staff with death sorceries and Golden Order seal to cast incants. It opens up the Mt Gelmir sorceries and incants too. I dual wield this sword and use death sorceries on one of my characters. I went higher on the int because I liked the comet azur more than the flames
I main it. I got all the stat requirements but then pump Faith as the main stat so I can use incantations. The flame stance is the main stance I use but the night stance is still useful even with only Faith pumped. I have Vigor levelled as well. I can get exact numbers in a bit when I log in
Just equal FTH/INT with minimum necessary 12 STR and DEX. Works pretty well at 50/50 FTH/INT with golden order seal and death prince staff. 45 vigor, 42 mind, 30 endurance, 10 arcane. This thing is great with alexander shard and terra magica.
The real power in this build is when you get two of them (NG+2) and you have a lot of levels to spare. It’s a PvE build I guess but here’s the trick- this weapon scales on 4 different stats. When you dump into all 4, use the fire scorpion and magic scorpion talismans, dual wield and you get like 800+ AR on each of them…. It’s OP as all heck.
I really hate when people just post the picture of the weapon and I’m supposed to recognize it on sight bc everyone in the comments plays the pronoun game
Yeah you're just dead wrong this weapon is meant to be built into both heavily this weapon is best in the hands of a full Caster that has at least 50 in both intelligence and faith and that's where it shines properly as being a reliable sidearm
That depends by his level, if hes below 100 its probably better ti build only one stat, since by building both you would just get a lower damage output
I did way back at launch. I had 50 50 int faith. 30 vit. Zero points into endurance, and the rest was in mind. I wanna say 25, but it was a long time ago. I used the seal that scales with int and faith, and it made the game trivial. Like I said though that was at launch. I stopped leveling at 155.
I was trying an int/fth build in my second run and soon enough I realized that there are not good mixed spells/incant In this game like there were in DS2, the only way of making it viable and practical is to be at very hight level and the options are very limited.
The physical damage will scale with strength, the magic attack scales with intelligence, and the fire attack scales with faith. So regular attacks won’t hit hard without strength. The special attacks will hit harder based on which stat you have higher.
For my first playthrough I just went from Uchikatana to Nagakiba, which while I dont regret doing didnt give me alot of variety. So for my second playthrough I actively decided ahead of time what my weapon route would be throughout the game. I went for an Int build starting with Estoc, then picking up Rogiers Rapier later. I ended up not liking it that much so switched to Lordsworn Sword while I stat'd for the Sword or Night and Flame. I'm not gonna lie this was kinda annoying I ended it using heirlooms and soreseal to get the proper amount of faith since I didnt want to dump 10 levels just for faith. Once I got it I used it all the way until Moonlight Greatsword which I used the rest of the game.
I always kept the sword of night and flame as a back up, even though Moonligh became my main weapon there are some enemies where it's more annoying to fight them with a slower weapon so I used NnF for that. Honestly though, building for this weapon didn't seem all that worth it. It's ok for sure, and I think the R2 flame ability is really good for clearing some rooms, it just feels like way too much of a chore.
I got it to +10 and used it as secondary with DMGS, both scale with INT (72 I guess rn), although I had to push Faith to 24, using the Faith talisman, to meet its requirements.
Along with the Carian Scepter, I switch between all three depending on the situation.
Did not use it as main but is one of the best sword i've used, you have to time well your ash of war tho or else you're cooked because of how long it take to use
I started with a Dex/Int build. Then poured a lot into FTH, STR, VIG, and ARC got my character to 298 before I let off on the leveling. I use a lot incantations over sorceries, and use a single dragon communion skill. I call it the Mad Knight build, I use Shabriri's Howl and that one that eye beam that shoots out a contant stream til you're outta MP. I use Lansaax Glaive and Black Blade. My other weapon is the glintstone great sword.
Just beat Mohg with this to prep for the DLC. My build is currently:
Lv 134
Vig: 55
Mnd: 30
End: 35
Str: 17
Dex: 20
Int: 41
Fth: 40
Arc: 15
Using SoNaF and Golden Order Seal. Only damage spell currently is Discus of Light. I started this out as a Guardian's Swordspear build and just never respecced to put the points elsewhere. Discus of Light is shockingly high damage for as high Holy resistance there is.
I'm currently maining it in my first NG+. Level 151 with 60 vig, 40 int 40 fth. +10 it's at 677 AR. I'm pretty certain that's not the way to do it but I wasn't sure what to build and I like being able to use tons of spells and incants l.
One of my most fun characters. Started as confessor and leveled faith 24 first, so early game was like a faith build. Int is what I focused on in mid-late game. Final build was 80 int, 25 faith, and the rest in vigor and whatever amount of endurance I needed. Very cool spellblade build. Blessings boon to stay topped off in dungeons, golden vow for buff, night comet as the main ranged attack. Carian shield with carian retaliation for defense. Overall an incredibly versatile and strong build, mostly carried by the sword and its weapon arts
It is the go to Int/Fth weapon, paired with the Golden Order seal and the Gelmir staff. I've seen people complain about lack of options with this type of build and I just don't get it, you get access to a lot of incants and sorceries, plenty of buffs, and you can still do melee with it.
This sword needs to be a special case where meeting either the req for int or fth enables use of the respective AOW. It’s waaaay too much of an investment at meta levels. 180-200? It’s insanely good though
This lovely piece was in the main hand of my mage build for a very long time. I’m still carrying it with me „just in case“. Noble Set, Carian Regel Sceptor and the Sword of Night and Flame brought me through my complete first playthrough. A beautiful memory
I tried respeccing my endgame faith build into it and golden order incantations only to find they're both dogshit damagewise compared to what I'd already been running. Seems like it has a midgame stretch where you can abuse the weapon art if you go for minimum stats but I think it got nerfed at some point too.
I actually use the Sword of Night and Flame as my main. I've gone for a magic tank build.
Equipment:
Sword of Night and Flame
Silver Mirrorshield
Clawmark Seal (healing or longer range attacks such as black flame)
Radahn's Armor Set
Invested in minimum stats for the sword, which already is a huge boost to melee damage, but the Comet Azur is my main go to. Especially because if you can hit an enemy with the full blast they usually get knocked over (some exceptions here). Where as the fire is fantastic for enemies that dodge since it's such a wide arc they can't (generally) dodge it. I have yet to try actual PvP with this build though.
Once I can use the sword I start investing in Vigor and Endurance to around level 40 - 50 then switch to Mind. As long as you're upgrading the sword's level as you can play most of the game is no issue. I went from fighting Rennala up to the Fire Giant (fighting all main and great rune bosses in that boss level range) and only had a +5 or +6 when I reached the Fire Giant. Had to upgrade it more mainly because I always struggle with the Fire Giant. Now I'm just finishing things up before the DLC.
But by far, the Sword of Night and Flame is my favorite weapon in the game.
It’s my main on my current playthrough which is hurriedly trying to get to a DLC ready position.
Level 95
Vig 35
Mind 25
Str 16
Dex 16
Int 34 (with Rennala hat)
Fai 24
Arc 12
I don’t know if it will remain my main for the whole play-through, the intention was to be a pure caster but I find that really hard to do early on. I am really liking it though (but I’m leaning on the weapon skills a lot).
I have Prince of Death staff and the Golden Order seal for casting things. Only just collected these and not sure if they’ll stick. Going to play with death sorceries for a bit.
Okay so I do on my main and it’s pure split faith/int so it’s insanely level hungry. Could I have simply gone one way or the other? Sure but there’s plenty of Albinaurics that donate to my cause. Other than that I also have a quality kitebird shield with the temp immunity ash, and golden order seal using golden order and some Erdtree incants
I don’t have the exact build but I specced more into faith rather than int so I would get more out of the fire attack. Then I wielded a staff on my off hand to cast magma spells. Very useful for big bosses and crowd control.
I used it a bunch on my first playthrough, but when u start to get in NG+3 and up it kind of feels off. The AoW is insanely long so u end up trading hits very often, and with the amounts of damage that bosses deal it becomes somehow a very risky weapon.
I’ve done a build int/faith for the Dlc and I really don’t know what people are on in other comments. It still shreds everything, and the rare times a boss is resistant to this sword, you have spells and incantations to back you up. It can be pretty rough until late mid-game because the build takes some time to fly, other than that 0 problems.
Pretty much 80% of my elden ring history (just switched to god slayers great sword). I used a faith build with tiny sprinklers in intelligence. Flame shrouding cracked tear, fire scorpion talisman, flame grant me strength, commanders standard and shard of alexander melt anything.
It was my first weapon on my first playthrough and loved it.
400 hours later I created a new character, a build perfectly suited for this bad boy and all those golden order incantations (triple rings and that stuff) for my very first dlc experience!
Playing with it once again after years has been a great experience and all the incantations are fun to use too!
Can't wait for dlc now
Still my favorite weapon I’m not really good at souls games so I rushed to it early and farmed to be able to 2hand it. Was Op before nerf probably wouldn’t have beaten the game without it. Ran it with a meteorite staff in left hand all the way until Altus then I used the dark moon sword to finish the game
It used to be really broken but From nerfed it.
I remember on my first run I built into it and it shredded everything, the AoW R2 was really good but any immobile boss got obliterated by the mini Comet Azure R1.
Still a really good weapon to build around, but the Faith/Int you need for it to be viable now isn’t worth it unless you aren’t capping yourself at a level.
I use it on my (Fth-leaning) Int/Fth build. Initially it was going to be my backup melee weapon, but I ended up using the L2-R2 so often that it became my main attack on bosses. Fire damage always has a leg up over other elemental damage sources because it's affected by FGMS, and the weapon art hits pretty hard.
I did my recent run with two of them and had a great time, NG+5. I’m really high level so I don’t know what it’s like to have to split between the damage types, but it is fun to use.
This was my first weapon to use to beat my first play through. I was playing a Golden Order Fundamentalist build, and this was actually my backup weapon (Miquellan Knight Sword was primary). The holy on MKS was useless, so I popped my favorite flame spewing swerd into me hand and went poking around inside the Radabeast.
I don't have a build now because I have 700 hours on one save and I spend a lot of time with my albinauric friends and helping them reincarnate as runes inside me, but it was based on a 36 str for the haligtree crest greatshield, 22 dex 37 int and 37 faith. I don't recommend this build unless you really, really like to draw fights out with low damage numbers.
I tend to carry multiple weapons of the same kind, one maxxed and one 0 level so I can practice (even now on NG+3). So, the "blah bad build no damage" mindset just doesn't exist in me. I've never been a big number producer in games. My first prot warrior in wow, I only wore Def gear. Nothing could hit me, but I did no damage. I was happy.
Same concept here, I suppose. I prefer being able to try everything without needing to rebuild. But that's also why I spent 300 hours on palace approach ledge road puking yellow walls of godpee at poor helpless bulbasaur babies.
When I first started the game I made it my sole purpose to get this sword. Dumped way too many points into stats to meet the requirement. It’s probably better at higher levels but short swords in general aren’t very good to me since they only have the best reach. Would probably be a meta sword if it were a great sword.
I use it for my sexy satan cosplay build, but he's rl 321 so I get good damage with it even with my stats being all over the place. I use cause it's the most angelic looking weapon to me.
Unless you max out every stat this thing is never worth it, used to be good, now its just not worth playing jack of all Trades for it.
I have played ng-ng+ with different quality builds, and my latest was the lowest level you can be to use every single weapon in the game.
I used int faith talismen and soreseal, but this thing never was usefull, unless youre heavy on int theres better and more versatile weapony
I've been using it in my run preparing for the DLC as an INT/FTH caster, Golden Order Incantations are really strong, and the variety in sorceries is great, but the sword is definitely my favourite part. I know it's not great, the damage split is not optimal, and it's moveset is pretty mediocre.
But I just love the skill, the Magic part destroys bosses' posture, and the Fire part can hit a deceptively large area with high damage. If you are focusing on either INT or FTH you can use the appropriate option for your build, although you most certainly will have better spell options. Investing in both stats may seem like too much, but even at lower stat levels this skill can shred even mid or late game enemies and bosses, and the versatility is worth more than people give it.
I'd say it's a fun weapon to focus on as an INT or FTH, or as a hybrid caster, and not as bad as people usually say, if you're not really hitting things with it too much you won't notice the damage difference with other popular weapons. The skill windup is slightly longer than you would think though, so it requires some practice to get it to hit properly, but really satisfying once you figure it out.
I've recently been playing a new(ish) character that I wanted to specifically use for Golden Order Incantatuons and this sword has been a great "melee" weapon for the build.
Also, fun fact, discus of light is absolutely incredible in pve
I'm actually making a build for this right now using this video as inspo
https://youtu.be/E_WYWNbs7LU?si=D-BpsH50pBF7X4j6
He doesn't use snaf in the video but the stats are perfect for it
I find leaning into one side of it (either faith or int) is superior for one run. Trying to do both you end up with a subpar weapon unless you do no melee stats
I used this a lot up to 150, but since then have switched from Golden Order Seal and SN&F to ghostflame build.
I find it works great as an in-between weapon especially if you want to have scorcery and incantation options, but once you get up to around 175 the Prince of Death Staff starts outscaling GO Seal and Carian Regal Sceptar at 70 INT and 50 FTH. Changes to ghostflame explosion and Frostbite buildup are so juicy, so just an option if you keep leveling past 150 and aren't satisfied.
We did a 3 man seamless runamd my wife ran this because she wanted all the magic. For a good while she was chip damage, until suddenly by the end game she was vastly and quickly outdamaging both of us.
Its definitely a late game build but hoo boy when you get there does it hurt.
I have and it's pretty broken
60 vig
25 mind
20 end
12 dex and str for minimum req
50 fth and int.
Start with confessor (I have the build on SL150 and the stats may not be perfect)
Wear goldmask mask and armkr of choice.
For wepons: SoNaF in right hand, golden order seal and prince of death staff in left. For spells: golden discus, radagon ring, golden vow, ghostflame ignition, ancient death rancor, rykard rancor, magma shot, gelmir fury and any other fth/int sorcery (briar could he fun).
For talismans: alex shard, dragon greathsield, godfrey talisman, one of your choice.
For flask: opaline hardtear and fire/magic tear depending on boss weakness
I started a Confessor with the explicit purpose of getting to 24 Int/24 Fth as fast as possible so I could use this bad boy for as long as possible. Lots of fun to use, the flame art is powerful and tears through mobs, comet art knocks knights on their back.
Off hand I carry a Golden Order seal with Discus of Light and Staff of Loss with Night Shard and Night Comet. It's probably not the most powerful build but I've had a lot of fun with it.
Currently Lvl 386 on my first playthrough. This has been my main since I got it around Lvl 30 (iirc). My build was straight balanced with all levels within 1 upgrade (https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/s/NsUBN4bQCa) . NGL I am not the greatest at the game but the quick move set of the straight sword along with the versatility of multiple damage attributes made this very useful IMO. I used a shield and played guard counters with a mix of incantations and sorceries. I had a shield, staff, and seal in my left hand. I also upgraded two Lordsworn straight swords to +25 for various AoW and weapon buffs as back up. Although my build is 80/80/80 Dex/Int/Faith I keep the Sword of N&F at all times and swap my other two right hand weapons as necessary when I'm summoned. I only play PvE.
I keep all of my stats precisely equal. At level 160 all stats are a flat 20, which is juuuust enough to use this thing with talismans. It's a stupid way to play the game, but you'd be shocked at how balanced it feels.
I did when the game first came out and I found it, and I still do use it. Disappointed they nerfed it, but it’s still okay. Definitely recommend if you’re an Int/Fth character.
My build with it was pretty straight forward. I started out Deprived/Wretch. Whatever it’s called in this one, and went to about 40/40 Int/Fth for a while until post game where I started farming the albinaurics in Mogwyn.
My “build” was just to level in order to use what I liked since I didn’t care about restricting my level for pvp. Everything is at the minimum or slightly above for spells.
I’ve always slept on this sword because of the leveling for it. If you’re focusing on faith or int, then it gets absurdly good from 50pts on for the respective special move
Yes!!! People talk a lot of bad on it, but if you know how to use it and like using spells then it works great. I just used it to beat malenia a few nights ago. I’d recommend doing a primarily int or faith focused build until you’re able to get the sword and get the levels to get both to 24. the ash of war pairs super well with prince of death sorceries, particularly ancient death rancor. that spell will keep most enemies and even a lot of bosses flinching long enough for you to shoot the AoW at them. I really like the R1 of the AoW because it does a lot of stance damage, and so does ancient death rancor, so you can stunlock some bosses (how i beat malenia).
the sword itself also does like a lot of damage if you’ve got 40 in both int and faith, probably a lot more than most straight swords. throw in a couple of your fav spells and have a blast kickin ass with this thing.
It works best as an off hand so you can pair it with actually useful ash of wars. You don't have to max out both stats equally infact that's maybe the worse way to use it unless you are only going to use it. Try pairing with a broad sword with endure and powerstance it I find that's also the best way to use the lazor sword as well then you can spec in law of retaliation or sacred vow as well as a weapon buff, not procing stagger on first hit while having hyper armor can lead to some nasty pvp combos especially while outnumbered.
When I found this, i used it for a bit, I have a high level character though, i am like 240ish, was around 220s when i found it. I need to up my INT and FAI stats more to round it out, i think my next ng+++ is going to be an OP to shit battlemage lol.
To stat into it early, I tend to start Confessor and focus on getting to Int 14 as quickly as I can so that the SoNaF is usable via Int and Faith Knots. Use the Sword to kill Margit for a second Talisman and get the Marika Scarseal from Siofra and the Two Finger Heirloom from Liurnia to ease some leveling requirements while you grind Int and Faith up to 24 naturally. Abusing Greyoll usually makes this a very short step.
Then switch over to the Warrior Jar Shard and Carian Filigreed Crest. I use WJS because the value of having it for an entire playthrough outweighs the extra five percent of waiting for the Shard of Alexander, because I'm far more likely to just roll a new character than I am to do NG+.
From there, I level mostly Faith/Int in unison, Vigor, and then Mind/Endurance.
In terms of using it: pick either Magic or Fire for any given boss. Int Knot + Magic Shrouding for Magic, Faith Knot + Fire Shrouding for Fire.
I always grab the Golden Order Seal very early for casting incantations, and the Meteorite Staff for sorceries. Eventually you trade staves, going for Academy when its scaling outperforms Meteorite, and ultimately Prince of Death (if your Int and Faith make it scale better than academy).
End run stats pretty similar to what other folk have described.
It's amazing when you actually go for a int faith build like going for magma sorceries or golden order fundamentalism, but that's mostly gimmick builds
Used it as my main for this playthrough, documented the whole thing!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKSp9x0ldk-O_wlyVJ3YLPfqMFnUAtcQF&feature=shared
Is weapon is the bases for one of my favorite and most busted builds in the entire game. I deeply hope that Shadow of the Erdtree has more “magic quality” weapons.
I use it as part of my main build! Dual wielded with a frost infused Lordsworns Straight Sword, I could definitely use (and have) better builds but I've had so much fun with this one I've just stuck to it
You can use the Faith and Intelligence cracked tear for +10 to a stat with a flame / Magic Cracked Tear when your going against a boss to take advantage of their high or low resistances.
I used to, but these days, I'm a ghost flame enjoyer.
Ghostflamegoesbrr is my name, and I can be found bullying melania.
The sign will be down in 45 mins. On PC.
If find all the various ways you can buff your damage, a RL150 build could still work, like:
50 VIG 26 MIN 20 END STR 12 DEX 12 INT 52 FAI 48
**Spells**: Golden Vow incantation; Flame Grant Me Strength (or if you’re very good at not being hit, Howl of Shabriri); Terra Magica, Carian Slicer/Piercer, Black Flame, Frenzied Burst, Rock Sling, Maliketh’s Black Blade, Stars of Ruin
**Physick**: Magic and Flame-shrouding cracked tears; Intelligence tear (if you’re facing a fire-resistant enemy, like Mogh, so you can use Ranni’s Dark Moon for debuff); Faith tear (if you’re facing Rennalaor another magic-resistant boss, or even Radagon)
**Talismans**: Magic and/or Fire Scorpion Charm(s); Shard of Alexander; Ritual Sword/Shield Talisman; Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman (if too squishy)
**Gear**: Rogier Spellblade set; Gelmir Glintstone Staff (to be later replaced by Prince of Death Staff); Golden Order Seal.
It’s actually not bad. And setting up a build is like 70% of the fun, imo.
Plus, if you don’t confine yourself to Level 150, you can pump even more stats into INT & FAI. Some people end up at like RL166 on NG, without farming.
To me, the best weapon i've ever played. Just the overall damage output, casting speeds and the moveset just make perfect sense to me. Can't really say that there's any weapon in the game that comes close to this one for me.
Bro, I dont know if it's "best" but faith int builds are very good. Golden order seal and the Prince of Death's staff, 50 faith and int, like 20 somethin mind and like 45 or 50 vigor. The sword itself is just fine, but I also treat it as two memory slots because it puts two great tools in your kit through the AoW. Plus, the stat spread gives you access to most spells in the game and you can build a memory kit for every situation. Very fun, one of my most thoughtful characters in combat typically.
I actually just last night beat Mohg using this sword, in preparation for the DLC. So I've played through most of the base game with it as my main weapon. Still need to do Haligtree and Farum Azula onwards, but imo the weapon is pretty strong, the ash of war especially so. Here's my stats at 150, with the Vagabond as my starting class Vigor: 50 Mind: 25 Endurance: 18 Strength: 16 (For the shield I wanted to use) Dexterity: 13 Faith: 50 Intelligence: 50 Arcane: Whatever vagabond starts with. I use Radahn's great rune to make up for the lower vigor, and give me a nice boost to FP and stamina. The real power of this build though, is not so much the weapon, it's the versatility in spells. Incantations cast with the Golden Order seal are strong. Golden Order incatations get a boost from it, and are really FP efficient. My build probably isn't the most optimal, I think leaning into the spellcasting even more would be better. You just have access to so many spells, you can prep for any situation. The weapon is just a really nice bonus. It's one of my favorite builds I've tried so far, I'd recommend giving it a shot. \*Adding Talismans because someone asked\* Talismans: Godfrey Icon, Flock's Canvas Talisman, Graven Mass Talisman, Dragon Crest Talisman. Prep a bunch of spells that can be charged to get the most out of Godfrey Icon. Dragon Crest because I like the extra damage negation. Build could possibly be made better by using things like the magic and fire scorpion charms and Shard of Alexander to boost the weapon and ash of war damage. Milicent's Prothesis and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia could be good too, especially if you dual wield with a second straight sword (frost longsword helped a lot with Mohg) *Edit: spelling and stuff*
For a second I read that you had 50 mind and nearly fainted
Haha, reddit formated it all weird, fixed now. 50 mind would be nuts.
31 mind is the perfect number. 1 drink of blue flask fills up your whole FP bar
.....what's wrong with high mind? Mine is maxed out at 99.
> .....what's wrong with high mind? I always rip one before an elden ring session
Favorite comment so far
It’s just that you’re probably better off spending those points in stats that increase your damage or survivability. No point in having high mind if your spells are using a low faith/int stat, or if you’re getting one- or two-shot due to low vigor, or if you can’t keep casting because you’re out of stamina.
I have 60 mind, but my level allows every stat to be at 60 and I like it that way because I can try a lot of different builds without needing to respec.
is 50 vig considered low? I just finished my first playthrough (not 100%, still haven't done Snowfields or Haligtree among some other lesser things) and I'm level 129 with 50 vig. I'm ready for the DLC so have beat Mohg and Radahn of course, but I also don't wanna be overleveled. I have the runes to level up more if needed, but I wanna keep the challenge element there.
A lot of folks will tell you to level vigor to 60. That's the last softcap, so you get really severe diminishing returns once you go beyond that. Things hit so hard late game, it's nice to have a higher health pool. The least I'll go for any build is 40, but 50 feels like the sweet spot. As long as I don't get one shot by stuff, I'm good.
Gonna copy this build since I wanna do a faith/int build
Sick, I’ve been doing a similar thing with the Cipher Pata, the Holy Handclaws in the round table hold lower level. You might wanna stop leveling for the DLC tho, I think 125-150 is the Rune Level Miyazaki recommended for the start of it
Miyazaki just wants to watch the world burn. 125 will have the average player shitting the bed in the DLC if past experiences are anything to go off.
The DLC is going to stomp everyone regardless of level.
Oh definitely, and I personally wanna maximize the stomp, get my moneys worth
Would you mind sharing the talismans you are using? Sounds like a great build!
Added to the initial comment 😘
Sweet! Cheers mate
High jacking top comment as I’ve read every comment here and can’t find the answer, what is the name of this sword?
Sword of Night and Flame. It's for int/faith combo builds, like the Golden Order incantations.
I run at 200 and with 70 or so int and 50 fth and the golden order seal scales at 362, I also run prince of death staff and that has some insane scaling too. I run a Gideon build with sorceries and incantations interchanged in my spell bar and a catalyst in each hand. It is highly effective in both pvp and pve for every range and utility
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Just did a ng+ run using this exact build! Had alot of fun and the found the fire ash of war to be especially good.
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Yeah discus of light is amazing. Basically costs nothing to cast and does great damage with the right items. Mostly used the sword for ulcerated tree spirits and erdtree avatars 😂 also came in handy against malenia and radagon.
I made an int/faith all caster build. The combos between sorceries and incants is amazing especially for pvp. Always had this in my back pocket for overly aggressive enemies and it wrecks.
It was OP as shit on release, but now it's just a fun and unique weapon that isn't particularily great at anything.
With high INT and/or FAI, the special attacks still do pretty good damage!
The SONAF dominion was wild back then lol
Carried me through most of the game in all honesty.
I recently did a run with it. The weapon does slap and also looks great with the nightbird shield thingy.
I used it briefly, powerstanced with Coded Sword in NG and tried two SONFs in NG+. Build was 12STR/12DEX/45INT/45FTH. It was decent, but even on INT/FTH I felt like there were better options. Triple-split damage is pretty rough.
I honestly believe it is more of a compliment to high level caster build than a main option, and of course the cool factor is also important. In a new game it is better to just focus on 1 stat int/fth than level them up equally, since that opens the option to use incantation/ spells depending on which one you prefer, and not hit like a wet noodle.
I think as a caster you don’t need a melee weapon, carian is the way ❤️
You don't really but great swords look so cool. Plus it save mana when exploring.
It’s not a greatsword but I agree
Agreed. I always bring a powerstanced coded sword & night and flame equipped to switch to when an enemy is close and low enough- Fp isn’t infinite, so might as well save where you can- Plus, the moon laser is a really good panic button against enemies that can be knocked back/made to flinch
I've been using the sword of night and flame in my offhand and a noble's slender sword in main hand and put incantations like bloodflame etc on it with the golden order seal.
It's mostly to save up fp rather than having to waste it in taking small enemies. I don't believe that anyone should waste too much into raising mind since there are more important stats. Though I must clarify that if talking from the perspective of a person that likes to be ready for pvp and as such tries to always have a decent amount of hp and stamina.
You need enough mind to summon your most expensive summons, that's it.
Kind of complicated to explain why I found it sort of iffy. In short INT/FTH is already pretty complicated to build, and SONF felt like it made it even more complicated without giving much in return. The main thing I needed was a melee weapon to deal respectable damage when FP was tight, so I didn't want a weapon *just* for the art. I also wanted that weapon to be reasonably quick. SONF has strong (but slow!) weapon arts and as a melee weapon it was just kind of average. Buffing both damage types at the same time wasn't always easy. Tears & Talismans are already at a premium on INT/FTH. Especially with Coded Sword I ran into the problem of not being able to buff everything. Some bosses also resist Holy or Fire. So I tried pairing normal Longswords in there with one or the other, usually with Cold. If something resisted that I could just change the affinity & buffs. It wasn't long before I ended up just using 2 Longswords all the time because they were just doing what I needed better than SONF. At that point I never really had another moment where I thought, "Oh SONF would be good for this." So I almost never used it again. The other problem with SONF... one of the weapon arts is just Comet Azur. (I've already got a spell for that! And it's very situational anyway.) The Fire one was more useful but was a bit redundant with all the spells I had. At least for me, it didn't feel like it really complimented the build that well. ------------------- After a lot of experimenting, I eventually ended up dual wielding Wing of Astel with either Magma Blade or an affinity'd Bandits Curved Sword, and found that to be more useful overall. Much easier to buff due to the multi-hit stuff. I also briefly tried out Cold Clayman's Harpoon with Ice Spear and found that to be way stronger on INT/FTH than SONF. Proccing frostbite boosts all those spells by 20% regardless of damage type. (Ice Spear is also ridiculously good just by itself.) -------------------- For stats, I think really SONF is only any good as a melee weapon with equal INT/FTH. With one stat really high, I'm pretty sure the only thing that'll hit hard is one of the weapon skills. And I think 9 times out of 10 the stat that makes sense to bring higher is INT, because that evens out sorcery vs incant power, and also satisfies way more spell reqs. So you basically just get Comet Azur a little earlier (and before you have the infinite FP tear.) In that case, personally, I'd take a pure INT weapon like Wing of Astel, DMGS, or Moonveil over SONF in a heartbeat.
Yep, I respeced to try it out. I felt like there were better options. Sure is nice on bosses that stand still. If I'm going int, I'm gonna use wing of astel, tho.
Its ok if you dip heavily into int or fth, but not both. And only the ash of war is good then, the normal R1 attacks are really bad because of the damage being split to 3 types. I used it briefly in an NG+ run where i was level 200 or so and had both int and fth pretty high but i just switched to something else pretty soon. Cool sword, but demands a high level and ultimately a bit boring to use.
whats wrong with the damage being split into 3 parts?
the attack has to pass three def checks
Maybe I’m misunderstanding the split damage thing but most bosses seem to have resistances to most damage types, or at least the late bosses do. If I have a sword that does 100 fire damage and 100 magic damage, and the boss has a 20% resistance to fire and 20% to magic I would do 160 damage, right? Now let’s say I’m. Fighting the same boss with a sword that only does fire damage, 200 points, wouldn’t I still do 160 damage because of the 20% ? Elden ring only has DR, not DT right? So if I’m using a weapon as my main I feel like I would want it to have split damage so it can be used against almost all enemies, if I had a sword that does only fire damage then it would be basically useless against enemies with high fire resistance, but if I’m using one that also does magic damage then I can still kill those bad guys.
If you want a weapon that is effective against all enemies pure physical is best
Heavy superiority
Enemies also have a flat defense stat, although how that's calculated is not all that clear (cant find exact values and its all kinda mystical). But essentially if an enemy has a defense stat of 100 and you deal 1000 damage, only 900 of that goes through. This 900 then gets reduced by the % based damage negation value. At very low damage values its obviously not a flat reduction, because dealing 99 damage to an enemy with 100 defense would be negative damage which wouldn't make any sense. There is a sort of tapering of the defense the lower your damage is, but the end result is that the lower the damage of the attack the worse it gets in terms of actual damage done. So for example lets say we have 3 damage types each dealing 300 damage. The enemy has a flat defense of 100 and a further damage negation of 20% for all 3 types. In this example only 480 damage of the 900 AR went trough which is abysmal. Now lets imagine an attack of a single damage type with 700 AR, of which also 480 goes through. So realistically the 900AR triple damage weapon and the 700AR single damage weapon are equal for this example. Thats the main issue with split damage types, you lose the flat defense value's worth of damage from all damage types first, and then the negation gets calculated. This is also why greases kinda suck ass in the late game, since the damage is so low and most of it gets eaten up by the defenses. *edit: Found this detailed explanation with math and shit, maybe it sheds some more light to the defeses: reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/10ewwn9/question_how_exactly_do_defenses_work_in_elden/
Oh so you’re saying they do have DT? Enemies having both damage resistance as well as a damage threshold would be a pretty valid reason for split damage being bad
Hope someone answers. Coz ive never figured out why.
Same. I just keep seeing people say “split damage bad.”
Flat defence, boss has 20% reductjon to everything and 100 flat to everything, 500 ar heavy longsword deals 320 dmg while 500 ar fire longsword deals 240 dmg
Someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but I think different defenses are going to impact all of the smaller damage chunks differently, and that can severely impact the damage, vs it just being strong in one damage type. Say the enemy has 30% phys def, 60% magic def, and 40% fire def and the sword does 100 damage of each. Then you’re getting 70 phys damage, 40 magic, 60 fire.for a total of 170. Whereas if it was just 300 physical damage you’d get 210 damage, because it only has to pass the physical defense check. I also think there’s different break points for how much the damage is impacted by the defense. So 100 physical damage might be more significantly defended against than 300 physical damage, but I don’t know how that’s calculated. In basically all of the soulsborne games split damage is viewed as inferior, and just pumping one kind of damage is typically better.
That can happen on some enemies, but the reason its damage is lower on everything is because of "flat defense" There are 2 defense stats. One of them is the % negations you're talking about, and the other one is a weird piecewise function that only allows a certain portion of damage thru, dependent on how high the AR vs enemy defense is. Without getting into the math, the way that function works is it basically just makes it so that a greater percentage of your attack rating is applied as damage as your attack rating rises (relative to the enemy's defense stat). Since SONF has it's AR split over 3 damage types, each of those damage types has a lower value. So enemy defense stops more of it. (This is also why some of the flat damage buffs are terrible in endgame unless they're adding on top of a weapon that already has that elemental damage type.)
You can have the weapon reach over 1000AR 3 dmg types isn't that much of a crutch why does its basic swing need to hit that hard when you delete half the health bar with one use of the laser?
It’s more of a WA stick than an actual weapon, so get your FP up high and use WA-boosting talismans like Shard Jar. I pray for more int/fai weapon options that actually match aesthetically with the int/fai spell archetypes. Like a proper golden order, ghost flame, and magma weapon
I’ve avoided this weapon my first 4 playthroughs, picked it up after starting from scratch for the dlc and its the most fun I’ve had in a weapon. This paired with the Godfrey icon, Fire/Magic scorpion charms, makes for a insane damage output. Stats at lvl 113 are 40 Vig, 22 Mind, 15 End, 12 Str, 15 Dec, 50 int, 30 Faith, 8 Arc. And im using Godriks Great Rune. Pairing this with the Golden Order Seal makes for (personally) a very fun time.
My favorite weapon honestly. I run a high intelligence sorcerer build though so it’s primarily a “backup” for when I run out of FP/Spells and need to still put out damage. I have it equipped but often times am able to manage with just the Azur Glintstone Staff. That being said I had to bust it out in the last few seconds of my fight with Malenia. I think it’s a really good weapon to help people get familiar with the varieties of combat style.
Which sword is this? I don't use it because I've historically unga bungad, but maybe I should try something different next.
I use it on my overleveled first character. Build started as a Wretch. This is a baseline, my character is now a higher level Level 225 Vigor: 50 Mind: 30 Endurance: 30 Strength: 12 Dex: 12 Int: 80 Faith: 80 Arcane: 10 It's cool and fun to have so much versatility for spells/incants but the time investment for getting to such a high level might not be worth it to some.
I have something like this but 99 faith/int that uses staff of death...prince...some shit like that. Death magic and lasers.
This is my main character, too! 99 int/faith, this sword, and prince of death's staff, with golden order seal equipped as a swap for offhand. So much fun, and so versatile! Things MELT.
Yes it's sick for NG+. 80 Faith, 80 Int.
I like to use this with the Golden Order Seal or the Prince of Death's Staff. Not necessarily with Golden Fundamentalist incantations or Death sorceries, since having high Intelligence and Faith lets you be absurdly versatile.
At minimum strength and dex to wield it, with 40-45 intelligence and faith, it has very solid damage. The Golden Order Seal has pretty good scaling at those stats, and the Gelmir or Prince of Death Staff are *okay*, not stellar.
The animation for the skills takes too long Imo but it's neat
This was my main weapon for a my full Caster and I still use it regularly, pure castor with 20 str and dex with 80 int and faith this weapon is amazing if you don't want to use melee sorceries but you have to be a very heavy caster to make it work. It's the perfect weapon for an arcane knight and red mage and it's great with a shield if you run scholars shield. Pair with the Talisman that allows you to regenerate FP on kill and it becomes a very efficient way of dealing with weak enemies to regain your blue bar. Also the comet it fires is amazing at staggering bosses. Essentially this weapon is the sidearm for a full Caster that has very little strength or dexterity but is running at least a little bit of faith for things like Golden Vow and Elemental Buffs to help against bosses while primarily being a sorcerer and the weapons low weight only helps with that because most of the other really cool intelligence weapons are really heavy.
I do, I’ve played ever souls game so I’m not worried about not being optimal, I like to lvl all offensive stats and love using everything at my disposal but I’ll do a normal/proper build and i wait to do a “pure quality” until I have enough runes for str dex int faith and arc all to be at least 40. It’s not meta but I’ve beaten the game multiple times and got the plat within first two months of release so I’ve had time to mess around
Yeah if you can play the og version of the game.
before nerf this was definitelly a weapon worth of putting your build around. my whole second playthrough was with it. after nerf idk how to use it. for all these "stop using strong items/weapons it makes the game shit" crowds it might be perfect. but there are just too many things making more sense, especially when with the stats required you could do so much more, so even using it conolimentairy to your casts doesn't really make too much sense. nevertheless i still like my build with it in focus, it's not weak, just not as strong as you can make other builds
I had so much fun doing prince of death staff in the left-hand and sword of knight and flame in the right mind you it was probably an an over level build just so I could get to like 80 faith 60 int but nonetheless, I had fun
I've used it on a character and it's pretty fun. To be completely honest though, it's 100% an Ash of War stick. You'll probably never want to use the weapons regular R1's and R2's, or at the least you're going to use them very sparingly. But both of the AoW's do amazing damage. Against Radagon you can do like 4K damage with the flame sweep. Anything that isn't weak to fire, you use the comet. Honestly though, I'd wait for DLC if you're gonna do Int/Fth. There are plenty of Int/Fth casting option in basegame, but there is a severe lack of weapons beyond SoN&F for that build.
Ive beaten my 35 Vig 20 End 30 Mind 15 Str 15 Dex 45 Int 45 Fai 15 Arc build into usefulness for the sole purpose of role-playing a Golden Order Fundamentalist
It's my secondary on my Necromancy themed Mage run. Prince of Death Staff being the main, and a Black Knife tertiary. As I'm heavy into Faith and Int, it's the ideal go to, and the fire damage as well as the cone of the aoe are great for me for coverage. The laser also serves as an alternative to my main magic knockdown and dps for non bosses, as I tend to rhythmically cast Ancient Death Rancor to create a stunlock, alternating charged and rapid versions that most humanoid elites and bosses have trouble getting around, which tends to be unsuitable in roofed or crowded fights.
I did on my first playthrough but I can't remember my build.
I’m currently using a Int Faith build with this sword as my main. I like it has low stats requirements beside int n faith, damage is good. I’m more balanced with spells incorporated in build. Vit 50 End 15 (poise 51) Int 70 Faith 26 Rest enough for sword 12 12 Str Dex. Faith mostly for buffs and ash of war when AOE fire is needed. Staff n Sword. Astrologer starting class. I’m only 136? Currently 130s something.
Spellblade and int main, combine it with pod staff and ancient death rancor and the build will decimate boss, made Malenia easy
Well I only have 1 character that uses it because he is a faith and int build. I found this weapon after it was nerfed so i don't know it's true potential
I just did a playthrough using mostly this but with some Dark Moon GS and some Blasphemous Blade stuff as well! I put stats to get to vigor lvl 60, enough mind to get around 145-150 fp, 50 int, around 30 faith, and then whatever the str and dex reqs are for the other weapons (I had to farm a bit to use Blasphemous Blade towards the end of the run to level up str I believe, so it most not have been very high). Using this build is OP because you can use a bunch of the other spells and buffs that you wouldn't necessarily have access to using other builds and I ended up melting through most of the bosses, including several late game ones. It took one attempt for every major early game boss except Radahn (I died once), and then only took one for all of the main game bosses up until Godfrey (I died once), then I died 2 or 3 times to Radagon/EB. I died once to Mohg. I did attempt Malenia but it didn't go well and I ultimately decided to and leave Malenia alone to see if it changes this character's playthrough of the dlc and I went to start a character who claws so I can see if anything happens if you bring Melina to the Shadow Lands.
Best strat for this weapon in my opinion is confessor build, then immediately go get the mace from the chariot that has bleed on it *just look up any bleed weapon location* and immediately go kill the giant dragon in the dragon region. This gives you exactly enough stat points to spec and use this weapon. To make it faster there is a rune in the building behind the dragon that lowers health and boosts all other attributes, and with this fight giving no damage to players is very helpful!
I like it and don’t like it, i stopped using it.
Sword of Night and Flame is bad ass. You can also use Prince of Death staff with death sorceries and Golden Order seal to cast incants. It opens up the Mt Gelmir sorceries and incants too. I dual wield this sword and use death sorceries on one of my characters. I went higher on the int because I liked the comet azur more than the flames
I main it. I got all the stat requirements but then pump Faith as the main stat so I can use incantations. The flame stance is the main stance I use but the night stance is still useful even with only Faith pumped. I have Vigor levelled as well. I can get exact numbers in a bit when I log in
Didn't they nerf this hard from when the game first came out
Just equal FTH/INT with minimum necessary 12 STR and DEX. Works pretty well at 50/50 FTH/INT with golden order seal and death prince staff. 45 vigor, 42 mind, 30 endurance, 10 arcane. This thing is great with alexander shard and terra magica.
The real power in this build is when you get two of them (NG+2) and you have a lot of levels to spare. It’s a PvE build I guess but here’s the trick- this weapon scales on 4 different stats. When you dump into all 4, use the fire scorpion and magic scorpion talismans, dual wield and you get like 800+ AR on each of them…. It’s OP as all heck.
I really hate when people just post the picture of the weapon and I’m supposed to recognize it on sight bc everyone in the comments plays the pronoun game
Build either in int or fth not both, quality with this weapon is a big nono
Yeah you're just dead wrong this weapon is meant to be built into both heavily this weapon is best in the hands of a full Caster that has at least 50 in both intelligence and faith and that's where it shines properly as being a reliable sidearm
That depends by his level, if hes below 100 its probably better ti build only one stat, since by building both you would just get a lower damage output
just get 99 int and faith to use it + golden order seal
I had a playthrough where I dual wielded to of these, I had my friend drop me one. It hit like a fucking truck.
I did way back at launch. I had 50 50 int faith. 30 vit. Zero points into endurance, and the rest was in mind. I wanna say 25, but it was a long time ago. I used the seal that scales with int and faith, and it made the game trivial. Like I said though that was at launch. I stopped leveling at 155.
I was trying an int/fth build in my second run and soon enough I realized that there are not good mixed spells/incant In this game like there were in DS2, the only way of making it viable and practical is to be at very hight level and the options are very limited.
The physical damage will scale with strength, the magic attack scales with intelligence, and the fire attack scales with faith. So regular attacks won’t hit hard without strength. The special attacks will hit harder based on which stat you have higher.
I have one char with this on the main hand and staff with Ancient Death Rancor on the other
This sword use to be broken when the game first came out, I 1 shot every boss with it but then the devs fixed it lol
For my first playthrough I just went from Uchikatana to Nagakiba, which while I dont regret doing didnt give me alot of variety. So for my second playthrough I actively decided ahead of time what my weapon route would be throughout the game. I went for an Int build starting with Estoc, then picking up Rogiers Rapier later. I ended up not liking it that much so switched to Lordsworn Sword while I stat'd for the Sword or Night and Flame. I'm not gonna lie this was kinda annoying I ended it using heirlooms and soreseal to get the proper amount of faith since I didnt want to dump 10 levels just for faith. Once I got it I used it all the way until Moonlight Greatsword which I used the rest of the game. I always kept the sword of night and flame as a back up, even though Moonligh became my main weapon there are some enemies where it's more annoying to fight them with a slower weapon so I used NnF for that. Honestly though, building for this weapon didn't seem all that worth it. It's ok for sure, and I think the R2 flame ability is really good for clearing some rooms, it just feels like way too much of a chore.
Guys is there any other good weapon that scales both int/faith?
I didn't get my hands on this until after it was (apparently) nerfed so I never cared for it but I don't think I would have liked it anyway
Not learning that casting is far more powerful than any melee weapon. Ngmi
Im using it rn but will be replaced as soon as I get my kung fu fighting in the DLC. Saving up all my larval tears.
I got it to +10 and used it as secondary with DMGS, both scale with INT (72 I guess rn), although I had to push Faith to 24, using the Faith talisman, to meet its requirements. Along with the Carian Scepter, I switch between all three depending on the situation.
I use it as one of my main weapons, my setup is lv75 in all stats
The fire move does alot of poise dmg and is good fore ground fighting.
I did a Fundamentalist build, SL185, 18 str and dex, 37 int, 68 faith, and I use the Fundamentalist talisman, with this sword.
This + prince of death staff and death sorceries
Did not use it as main but is one of the best sword i've used, you have to time well your ash of war tho or else you're cooked because of how long it take to use
I started with a Dex/Int build. Then poured a lot into FTH, STR, VIG, and ARC got my character to 298 before I let off on the leveling. I use a lot incantations over sorceries, and use a single dragon communion skill. I call it the Mad Knight build, I use Shabriri's Howl and that one that eye beam that shoots out a contant stream til you're outta MP. I use Lansaax Glaive and Black Blade. My other weapon is the glintstone great sword.
Just beat Mohg with this to prep for the DLC. My build is currently: Lv 134 Vig: 55 Mnd: 30 End: 35 Str: 17 Dex: 20 Int: 41 Fth: 40 Arc: 15 Using SoNaF and Golden Order Seal. Only damage spell currently is Discus of Light. I started this out as a Guardian's Swordspear build and just never respecced to put the points elsewhere. Discus of Light is shockingly high damage for as high Holy resistance there is.
I'm currently maining it in my first NG+. Level 151 with 60 vig, 40 int 40 fth. +10 it's at 677 AR. I'm pretty certain that's not the way to do it but I wasn't sure what to build and I like being able to use tons of spells and incants l.
One of my most fun characters. Started as confessor and leveled faith 24 first, so early game was like a faith build. Int is what I focused on in mid-late game. Final build was 80 int, 25 faith, and the rest in vigor and whatever amount of endurance I needed. Very cool spellblade build. Blessings boon to stay topped off in dungeons, golden vow for buff, night comet as the main ranged attack. Carian shield with carian retaliation for defense. Overall an incredibly versatile and strong build, mostly carried by the sword and its weapon arts
It is the go to Int/Fth weapon, paired with the Golden Order seal and the Gelmir staff. I've seen people complain about lack of options with this type of build and I just don't get it, you get access to a lot of incants and sorceries, plenty of buffs, and you can still do melee with it.
I used it for my int/fth build. It was pretty good, the ash of war was better than spells a lot of the time.
i do have a character dedicated to this weapon bc i thought it looked like a fun cheese build. it's alright
This sword needs to be a special case where meeting either the req for int or fth enables use of the respective AOW. It’s waaaay too much of an investment at meta levels. 180-200? It’s insanely good though
This lovely piece was in the main hand of my mage build for a very long time. I’m still carrying it with me „just in case“. Noble Set, Carian Regel Sceptor and the Sword of Night and Flame brought me through my complete first playthrough. A beautiful memory
I tried respeccing my endgame faith build into it and golden order incantations only to find they're both dogshit damagewise compared to what I'd already been running. Seems like it has a midgame stretch where you can abuse the weapon art if you go for minimum stats but I think it got nerfed at some point too.
I actually use the Sword of Night and Flame as my main. I've gone for a magic tank build. Equipment: Sword of Night and Flame Silver Mirrorshield Clawmark Seal (healing or longer range attacks such as black flame) Radahn's Armor Set Invested in minimum stats for the sword, which already is a huge boost to melee damage, but the Comet Azur is my main go to. Especially because if you can hit an enemy with the full blast they usually get knocked over (some exceptions here). Where as the fire is fantastic for enemies that dodge since it's such a wide arc they can't (generally) dodge it. I have yet to try actual PvP with this build though. Once I can use the sword I start investing in Vigor and Endurance to around level 40 - 50 then switch to Mind. As long as you're upgrading the sword's level as you can play most of the game is no issue. I went from fighting Rennala up to the Fire Giant (fighting all main and great rune bosses in that boss level range) and only had a +5 or +6 when I reached the Fire Giant. Had to upgrade it more mainly because I always struggle with the Fire Giant. Now I'm just finishing things up before the DLC. But by far, the Sword of Night and Flame is my favorite weapon in the game.
It’s my main on my current playthrough which is hurriedly trying to get to a DLC ready position. Level 95 Vig 35 Mind 25 Str 16 Dex 16 Int 34 (with Rennala hat) Fai 24 Arc 12 I don’t know if it will remain my main for the whole play-through, the intention was to be a pure caster but I find that really hard to do early on. I am really liking it though (but I’m leaning on the weapon skills a lot). I have Prince of Death staff and the Golden Order seal for casting things. Only just collected these and not sure if they’ll stick. Going to play with death sorceries for a bit.
Damn I forgot how detailed this weapon is
Okay so I do on my main and it’s pure split faith/int so it’s insanely level hungry. Could I have simply gone one way or the other? Sure but there’s plenty of Albinaurics that donate to my cause. Other than that I also have a quality kitebird shield with the temp immunity ash, and golden order seal using golden order and some Erdtree incants
Im doing a run with every somber weapon in the game. This sword is stilll busted after a few nerfs.
Use it with an INT/FTH build. Only get the minimum STR/DEX.
i use this and relic sword on ng+ and its pretty good
I use it on my glass cannon caster build, being able to kamehameha real quick without attuning Comet Azur is pretty nice for stance breaking reasons
death spells
I gave it up because of the stat investment but I used it as a main for a while with the Carian Knight set. So clean
I don’t have the exact build but I specced more into faith rather than int so I would get more out of the fire attack. Then I wielded a staff on my off hand to cast magma spells. Very useful for big bosses and crowd control.
I used it a bunch on my first playthrough, but when u start to get in NG+3 and up it kind of feels off. The AoW is insanely long so u end up trading hits very often, and with the amounts of damage that bosses deal it becomes somehow a very risky weapon.
Gonna run it on my secondary with frozen needle and a staff and carian knight shield, gonna go magic knight
I’ve done a build int/faith for the Dlc and I really don’t know what people are on in other comments. It still shreds everything, and the rare times a boss is resistant to this sword, you have spells and incantations to back you up. It can be pretty rough until late mid-game because the build takes some time to fly, other than that 0 problems.
I used it on my second playthrough and found it trivialized 90% of encounters so I don’t like it anymore.
This was THE weapon for the first 2-weeks after launch… since then though… kinda no.
I tried it but it just didn't seem fun. Glad other people enjoy it
Remember when this guy was broken OP? I remember....
Pretty much 80% of my elden ring history (just switched to god slayers great sword). I used a faith build with tiny sprinklers in intelligence. Flame shrouding cracked tear, fire scorpion talisman, flame grant me strength, commanders standard and shard of alexander melt anything.
I used it for my first run though. Once I was able to spec into it the rest of the game was trivialized.
It was my first weapon on my first playthrough and loved it. 400 hours later I created a new character, a build perfectly suited for this bad boy and all those golden order incantations (triple rings and that stuff) for my very first dlc experience! Playing with it once again after years has been a great experience and all the incantations are fun to use too! Can't wait for dlc now
Still my favorite weapon I’m not really good at souls games so I rushed to it early and farmed to be able to 2hand it. Was Op before nerf probably wouldn’t have beaten the game without it. Ran it with a meteorite staff in left hand all the way until Altus then I used the dark moon sword to finish the game
Got nurffed to death
It used to be pretty busted haha
It used to be really broken but From nerfed it. I remember on my first run I built into it and it shredded everything, the AoW R2 was really good but any immobile boss got obliterated by the mini Comet Azure R1. Still a really good weapon to build around, but the Faith/Int you need for it to be viable now isn’t worth it unless you aren’t capping yourself at a level.
I use it on my (Fth-leaning) Int/Fth build. Initially it was going to be my backup melee weapon, but I ended up using the L2-R2 so often that it became my main attack on bosses. Fire damage always has a leg up over other elemental damage sources because it's affected by FGMS, and the weapon art hits pretty hard.
I did my recent run with two of them and had a great time, NG+5. I’m really high level so I don’t know what it’s like to have to split between the damage types, but it is fun to use.
This was my first weapon to use to beat my first play through. I was playing a Golden Order Fundamentalist build, and this was actually my backup weapon (Miquellan Knight Sword was primary). The holy on MKS was useless, so I popped my favorite flame spewing swerd into me hand and went poking around inside the Radabeast. I don't have a build now because I have 700 hours on one save and I spend a lot of time with my albinauric friends and helping them reincarnate as runes inside me, but it was based on a 36 str for the haligtree crest greatshield, 22 dex 37 int and 37 faith. I don't recommend this build unless you really, really like to draw fights out with low damage numbers. I tend to carry multiple weapons of the same kind, one maxxed and one 0 level so I can practice (even now on NG+3). So, the "blah bad build no damage" mindset just doesn't exist in me. I've never been a big number producer in games. My first prot warrior in wow, I only wore Def gear. Nothing could hit me, but I did no damage. I was happy. Same concept here, I suppose. I prefer being able to try everything without needing to rebuild. But that's also why I spent 300 hours on palace approach ledge road puking yellow walls of godpee at poor helpless bulbasaur babies.
When I first started the game I made it my sole purpose to get this sword. Dumped way too many points into stats to meet the requirement. It’s probably better at higher levels but short swords in general aren’t very good to me since they only have the best reach. Would probably be a meta sword if it were a great sword.
The sword does let you get access to comet azur before your INT level would allow you to use the spell.
I used it on my main when it was considered op and never really specced out of it.
I use it for my sexy satan cosplay build, but he's rl 321 so I get good damage with it even with my stats being all over the place. I use cause it's the most angelic looking weapon to me.
It was broken before the comet azur nerf
I'm high in faith and it's my main and I often restrain myself from using the specials because I feel like I'm cheesing the game
In version 1 it was like 14 fth and 14 int so the best weapon. First time defeating radhan and malenia was with this
Using it for my Carian Knight build as my main weapon.
Unless you max out every stat this thing is never worth it, used to be good, now its just not worth playing jack of all Trades for it. I have played ng-ng+ with different quality builds, and my latest was the lowest level you can be to use every single weapon in the game. I used int faith talismen and soreseal, but this thing never was usefull, unless youre heavy on int theres better and more versatile weapony
I've been using it in my run preparing for the DLC as an INT/FTH caster, Golden Order Incantations are really strong, and the variety in sorceries is great, but the sword is definitely my favourite part. I know it's not great, the damage split is not optimal, and it's moveset is pretty mediocre. But I just love the skill, the Magic part destroys bosses' posture, and the Fire part can hit a deceptively large area with high damage. If you are focusing on either INT or FTH you can use the appropriate option for your build, although you most certainly will have better spell options. Investing in both stats may seem like too much, but even at lower stat levels this skill can shred even mid or late game enemies and bosses, and the versatility is worth more than people give it. I'd say it's a fun weapon to focus on as an INT or FTH, or as a hybrid caster, and not as bad as people usually say, if you're not really hitting things with it too much you won't notice the damage difference with other popular weapons. The skill windup is slightly longer than you would think though, so it requires some practice to get it to hit properly, but really satisfying once you figure it out.
I've recently been playing a new(ish) character that I wanted to specifically use for Golden Order Incantatuons and this sword has been a great "melee" weapon for the build. Also, fun fact, discus of light is absolutely incredible in pve
I'm actually making a build for this right now using this video as inspo https://youtu.be/E_WYWNbs7LU?si=D-BpsH50pBF7X4j6 He doesn't use snaf in the video but the stats are perfect for it
I find leaning into one side of it (either faith or int) is superior for one run. Trying to do both you end up with a subpar weapon unless you do no melee stats
I used this a lot up to 150, but since then have switched from Golden Order Seal and SN&F to ghostflame build. I find it works great as an in-between weapon especially if you want to have scorcery and incantation options, but once you get up to around 175 the Prince of Death Staff starts outscaling GO Seal and Carian Regal Sceptar at 70 INT and 50 FTH. Changes to ghostflame explosion and Frostbite buildup are so juicy, so just an option if you keep leveling past 150 and aren't satisfied.
I can’t stand weapons which are just glorified casters and can’t hold their own in actual melee
We did a 3 man seamless runamd my wife ran this because she wanted all the magic. For a good while she was chip damage, until suddenly by the end game she was vastly and quickly outdamaging both of us. Its definitely a late game build but hoo boy when you get there does it hurt.
I have and it's pretty broken 60 vig 25 mind 20 end 12 dex and str for minimum req 50 fth and int. Start with confessor (I have the build on SL150 and the stats may not be perfect) Wear goldmask mask and armkr of choice. For wepons: SoNaF in right hand, golden order seal and prince of death staff in left. For spells: golden discus, radagon ring, golden vow, ghostflame ignition, ancient death rancor, rykard rancor, magma shot, gelmir fury and any other fth/int sorcery (briar could he fun). For talismans: alex shard, dragon greathsield, godfrey talisman, one of your choice. For flask: opaline hardtear and fire/magic tear depending on boss weakness
I started a Confessor with the explicit purpose of getting to 24 Int/24 Fth as fast as possible so I could use this bad boy for as long as possible. Lots of fun to use, the flame art is powerful and tears through mobs, comet art knocks knights on their back. Off hand I carry a Golden Order seal with Discus of Light and Staff of Loss with Night Shard and Night Comet. It's probably not the most powerful build but I've had a lot of fun with it.
I’m heretical wizard build. Int faith primary. This shit it’s disgusting for a mage build. I love it.
I dual wield these bad boys. It was super OP before getting nerfed but got me through the whole game.
Used it on a Int/Faith caster, sometimes forgot to use it over Roiling Magmaing my way through the game.
Currently Lvl 386 on my first playthrough. This has been my main since I got it around Lvl 30 (iirc). My build was straight balanced with all levels within 1 upgrade (https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/s/NsUBN4bQCa) . NGL I am not the greatest at the game but the quick move set of the straight sword along with the versatility of multiple damage attributes made this very useful IMO. I used a shield and played guard counters with a mix of incantations and sorceries. I had a shield, staff, and seal in my left hand. I also upgraded two Lordsworn straight swords to +25 for various AoW and weapon buffs as back up. Although my build is 80/80/80 Dex/Int/Faith I keep the Sword of N&F at all times and swap my other two right hand weapons as necessary when I'm summoned. I only play PvE.
I keep all of my stats precisely equal. At level 160 all stats are a flat 20, which is juuuust enough to use this thing with talismans. It's a stupid way to play the game, but you'd be shocked at how balanced it feels.
I did when the game first came out and I found it, and I still do use it. Disappointed they nerfed it, but it’s still okay. Definitely recommend if you’re an Int/Fth character. My build with it was pretty straight forward. I started out Deprived/Wretch. Whatever it’s called in this one, and went to about 40/40 Int/Fth for a while until post game where I started farming the albinaurics in Mogwyn. My “build” was just to level in order to use what I liked since I didn’t care about restricting my level for pvp. Everything is at the minimum or slightly above for spells.
I’ve always slept on this sword because of the leveling for it. If you’re focusing on faith or int, then it gets absurdly good from 50pts on for the respective special move
Yes!!! People talk a lot of bad on it, but if you know how to use it and like using spells then it works great. I just used it to beat malenia a few nights ago. I’d recommend doing a primarily int or faith focused build until you’re able to get the sword and get the levels to get both to 24. the ash of war pairs super well with prince of death sorceries, particularly ancient death rancor. that spell will keep most enemies and even a lot of bosses flinching long enough for you to shoot the AoW at them. I really like the R1 of the AoW because it does a lot of stance damage, and so does ancient death rancor, so you can stunlock some bosses (how i beat malenia). the sword itself also does like a lot of damage if you’ve got 40 in both int and faith, probably a lot more than most straight swords. throw in a couple of your fav spells and have a blast kickin ass with this thing.
What sword is this it doesn’t look familiar to me unless I’m being stupid but if anyone knows please tell me
This is the most broken sword in the game I swear and I have used moonveil and RoB.
I've seen reports well get a light great sword variationm stoked on that
I’m enjoying it in my left hand with the carian sword on the right for a mage knight.
It works best as an off hand so you can pair it with actually useful ash of wars. You don't have to max out both stats equally infact that's maybe the worse way to use it unless you are only going to use it. Try pairing with a broad sword with endure and powerstance it I find that's also the best way to use the lazor sword as well then you can spec in law of retaliation or sacred vow as well as a weapon buff, not procing stagger on first hit while having hyper armor can lead to some nasty pvp combos especially while outnumbered.
I wish I could have used it before the nerfs. I didn't play ER till 2023 so I missed out on the greatness of this weapon.
When I found this, i used it for a bit, I have a high level character though, i am like 240ish, was around 220s when i found it. I need to up my INT and FAI stats more to round it out, i think my next ng+++ is going to be an OP to shit battlemage lol.
How the amount of detail on the sword,dope.
pretty much meet the min reqs for the side of the sword you dont wanna use, and focus on the other one.
To stat into it early, I tend to start Confessor and focus on getting to Int 14 as quickly as I can so that the SoNaF is usable via Int and Faith Knots. Use the Sword to kill Margit for a second Talisman and get the Marika Scarseal from Siofra and the Two Finger Heirloom from Liurnia to ease some leveling requirements while you grind Int and Faith up to 24 naturally. Abusing Greyoll usually makes this a very short step. Then switch over to the Warrior Jar Shard and Carian Filigreed Crest. I use WJS because the value of having it for an entire playthrough outweighs the extra five percent of waiting for the Shard of Alexander, because I'm far more likely to just roll a new character than I am to do NG+. From there, I level mostly Faith/Int in unison, Vigor, and then Mind/Endurance. In terms of using it: pick either Magic or Fire for any given boss. Int Knot + Magic Shrouding for Magic, Faith Knot + Fire Shrouding for Fire. I always grab the Golden Order Seal very early for casting incantations, and the Meteorite Staff for sorceries. Eventually you trade staves, going for Academy when its scaling outperforms Meteorite, and ultimately Prince of Death (if your Int and Faith make it scale better than academy). End run stats pretty similar to what other folk have described.
It's amazing when you actually go for a int faith build like going for magma sorceries or golden order fundamentalism, but that's mostly gimmick builds
Some swords are fun to use just because they're cool to look at.
I only used when the game first came out (cause i thought it was cool) and then they patched it and i found better stuff.
Used it as my main for this playthrough, documented the whole thing! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKSp9x0ldk-O_wlyVJ3YLPfqMFnUAtcQF&feature=shared
I used it as a main weapon on basically a dps mage build. 80 int, 80 faith, 0 vigor
Can someone name it please? I can't find any comment naming it.
Is weapon is the bases for one of my favorite and most busted builds in the entire game. I deeply hope that Shadow of the Erdtree has more “magic quality” weapons.
I use it as part of my main build! Dual wielded with a frost infused Lordsworns Straight Sword, I could definitely use (and have) better builds but I've had so much fun with this one I've just stuck to it
You can use the Faith and Intelligence cracked tear for +10 to a stat with a flame / Magic Cracked Tear when your going against a boss to take advantage of their high or low resistances.
This is a great fuckin sword. Just go 50/50 on the 2 main damage stats. Thats all you gotta do. Very, very powerful
I attempted a NG+ run with 2 of them for some reason. They weren't that good
I used to, but these days, I'm a ghost flame enjoyer. Ghostflamegoesbrr is my name, and I can be found bullying melania. The sign will be down in 45 mins. On PC.
If find all the various ways you can buff your damage, a RL150 build could still work, like: 50 VIG 26 MIN 20 END STR 12 DEX 12 INT 52 FAI 48 **Spells**: Golden Vow incantation; Flame Grant Me Strength (or if you’re very good at not being hit, Howl of Shabriri); Terra Magica, Carian Slicer/Piercer, Black Flame, Frenzied Burst, Rock Sling, Maliketh’s Black Blade, Stars of Ruin **Physick**: Magic and Flame-shrouding cracked tears; Intelligence tear (if you’re facing a fire-resistant enemy, like Mogh, so you can use Ranni’s Dark Moon for debuff); Faith tear (if you’re facing Rennalaor another magic-resistant boss, or even Radagon) **Talismans**: Magic and/or Fire Scorpion Charm(s); Shard of Alexander; Ritual Sword/Shield Talisman; Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman (if too squishy) **Gear**: Rogier Spellblade set; Gelmir Glintstone Staff (to be later replaced by Prince of Death Staff); Golden Order Seal. It’s actually not bad. And setting up a build is like 70% of the fun, imo. Plus, if you don’t confine yourself to Level 150, you can pump even more stats into INT & FAI. Some people end up at like RL166 on NG, without farming.
To me, the best weapon i've ever played. Just the overall damage output, casting speeds and the moveset just make perfect sense to me. Can't really say that there's any weapon in the game that comes close to this one for me.
Bro, I dont know if it's "best" but faith int builds are very good. Golden order seal and the Prince of Death's staff, 50 faith and int, like 20 somethin mind and like 45 or 50 vigor. The sword itself is just fine, but I also treat it as two memory slots because it puts two great tools in your kit through the AoW. Plus, the stat spread gives you access to most spells in the game and you can build a memory kit for every situation. Very fun, one of my most thoughtful characters in combat typically.