ELDEN RING Why Sorcery is Awesome

Intro

Many people use melee when starting Elden Ring. After all, 8 of the 10 orgins are based on some other ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that isn't the best thing in the game. There's like, at least 100 different melee weapons and shields that look "cool" and "have high damage" or whatever, but even with only 18 (20 in the DLC) staffs to cast spells with, sorcery STILL remains the absolute goat of weaponry. This guide seeks to explain why there is nothing better than a guy who holds a magic stick.

Section 1: Dodging

"I've spent at least 100 hours learning the attack patterns of this boss.. There's no way I can lose this!"

These are often the last words of many players utilizing the horrible mechanic known as "melee." These poor, misguided souls must go through endless trials of suffering and death, learning how to "dodge" and "when to attack." With the help of sorcery, however, you can literally just walk away from the boss and start spamming Loretta's Greatbow combined with Terra Magica, and maybe Greatblade Phalanx if your scared the boss might get close to you, and boom. The boss is practically already dead at this point, especially if you have spirit ashes. No spirit ashes and the boss is steadily approaching you? Simple; literally just run away (hold sprint) and then repeat the process. There is no need to spend endless hours learning dodging when you don't NEED to.

Section 2: Magical Drip

The clothes of sorcery are quite possibly the most fashionable yet functional attire in the entire game. People will gasp in aroused exasperation when they see the ungodly amount of fashion you subject the Lands Between to. Some examples include:

This is my current get-up. The preceptor hat gives THREE EXTRA MIND, at a small detriment to stamina, and looks ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome. People see this ♥♥♥♥ when I help them kill a bloody finger and they sit the ♥♥♥♥ down because they know i'm about to solo it. They don't call me Krosis the Mad for nothing, ♥♥♥♥♥. The meteorite staff was not supposed to be in this picture, I use Azur's staff.

This was my get-up for most of the game. Fancy as hell. The pumpkin helm really adds to it, I think, although it's a bit heavy. I had to get a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of endurance just to wear this with all my other stuff, but the defense and drip was worth it.

Very early-game build I quickly abandoned. Do NOT ask me how I got the Glintstone Scarab helmet and the Pillory Shield before I killed Godrick. Still, I think the scarab helmet looks nice with the eye on it, but it's hard to see in the rain at the Raya Academy.

We don't talk about this set. I stole this image from the other guide that ranks armor sets because I am NOT buying this ♥♥♥♥ using MY hard-earned runes.

Section 2.5: Horrible Melee Drip

Now that we've covered the absolute best drip ever conceived by humanity's greatest minds, now let me show you some armor examples that are from some melee chums and not of sorcerous orgin. These clothes are so horrendous im stealing them from that other guide (again) because I do not want to put my hands ANYWHERE near these.

WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥ IS THIS?!

PLEASE! SPARE ME!

IS THAT ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ PENIS ARMOR?! HELL NO! GET THAT ♥♥♥♥ OUT OF HERE!! WHY THE HELL YOU GOT A EAGLE ON YO HEAD??

Never again.

Section 3: Scarcity

Sorcery is overlooked by the game like it's a middle child, but it's still the best ♥♥♥♥ ever. Incantations, obviously, are the more beloved of the two spell types: sorcery spell types are limited and rare, despite having three gigantic areas dedicated to them (Academy of Raya Lucaria, Caria Manor, and the Town of Sorcery). This only serves to further their specialty, showing both rarity and power. The commoners who use swords and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like that are easily impressed by the absolute power of spells once they are unwillingly subjected to me ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nuking them with the Cannon of Haima. Like, literally, that spell is just a nuclear bomb. Have you SEEN that ♥♥♥♥? I don't know why more people don't use it, it's like Loretta's Greatbow but it does slightly less damage, charges faster, and has a MASSIVE AOE. Loretta's Greatbow is also wonderful for shooting people at distances, and I recommend you pair it with Terra Magic, but we are getting off the point.

Section 4: Ashes Of War Are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Why the ♥♥♥♥ would I need to waste my time "smithing" and "using ashes of war" on swords and shields when I can literally just shoot somebody? Don't bring a Golden Vow Sacred knife to a Loretta Greatbow + Terra Magica + Greatblade Phalanx gunfight, or else your ass is getting blown to smithereens.

(Also, side note: I KNOW this is going to sound hypocritical, but fellow sorcerers, do put a weapon in your right hand just in case a enemy has low enough health that using a simple glintstone spell is a waste of FP, because you need to save that ♥♥♥♥. I know it sounds like it'll never happen, but trust me, it happens a LOT. Also useful for killing bosses when they are resistant to magic or have like 20 phases. Personally, I use the Grafted Dragon from Godrick's fight. I know it's old, but it does fire damage AND has an okay charge attack so it usually finishes the job for me quite quickly. Also, I think it looks funny and kinda resembles that dragon puppeteer thing from Castle Crashers.)

(UPDATE: I've discovered that Astel's Wing is lightweight and pretty good, so I use that now. The grafted dragon was good, but it needed faith and a lot of strength which were NOT stats I was particularly skilled in as the best sorcerer ever. Also it fits my vibe really well and it has a cool charge attack. Still can't beat that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boss though, Astel, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥'s resistant to magic..)

Section 5: Incantations? More Like.. I-won't-tations

♥♥♥♥ YOU INCANTATIONS!! You think your SO much better than me, don't you?! You ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, using your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ "dragon-breath" and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ "erdtree special slam" or whatever the hell your spells are called. You pray to a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tree and think that it makes you special? NO! The one time I tried some fire incantation I bought from that priest guy at the Roundtable Hold (I spent most of my early-game savings on it) on a troll, it did less damage than a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ glintstone arc. A GLINTSTONE ARC! HOW?! HOW DO YOU DO SO LITTLE DAMAGE WITH SUCH A EXPENSIVE SPELL?!? Go back to your Erdcave and Erdkill yourself, you Erdligious Erd♥♥♥♥ers.

Special Bonus Sorcery Tips

If you've seen all of the pure information above, you've most definitely learned that sorcery is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome and have thrown out all your incantations and swords and become a real-life version of Gandalf. Thus, as the best sorcerer in the Lands Between, I simply must share my 10 tips of sorcery for all you scholars. Note: if I see your ass and I have to fight you and your using MY strategies and spells, I'm going to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kill you with a forked hatchet I got from some random Imp at the Stormfoot Catacombs.

1: DO NOT fight any other players if your not with somebody else to distract them. Your defense is ♥♥♥♥ and they can easily melee you if you don't run away like a little ♥♥♥♥♥, which is definitely the worst part of being a sorcerer. Trust me, it never ends well.

2: Some skill stuff you should know; arcane and faith actually don't do ♥♥♥♥ for your sorcery skills, which was highly detrimental to my first playthrough. Mind and Intelligence are obviously major traits in the lifespan of a sorcerer, but oddly, dexterity is also a good one to level as it affects how fast you cast spells.

3: Terra Magica and Loretta's Greatbow is a wonderful combo for sniping something from a distance. Use Greatblade Phalanx if you're worried the thing you shoot will live and run at you before you can shoot it a second time, the swords often stun them. Use the Cannon of Haima against large groups, and combine it with Terra Magica if you literally just want to nuke them. I'm not even talking about consumables here, but with consumables, you can do some CRAZY magic damage. I haven't seen any of those volcano spells yet, but I'm sure those are good too.

4: Useless peasant enemies such as wolves or nobles are not worth your FP. Just beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of them, or shoot a glintstone pebble at them if you need range.

5: More spell options are not always better. It takes time to scroll through spells, and could also result in your death. Leave some slots open if you don't really need some spells.

6: Combining the Glintstone Scarab helmet with Azur's Staff makes it so that spells only cost 5% more FP than usual instead of 20% more, at the cost that you take more damage, but with the benefit that you cast spells as if you had 20 ADDITIONAL DEXTERITY. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. If your a sorcerer, you always get one-shot anyways and thus this negative really doesn't do ♥♥♥♥.

7: Dodge. A lot. I know I said dodging was for losers earlier, but learning dodge PATTERNS is what's for losers. Press shift like your life depends on it when a boss comes at you, because your life DOES depend on it. Invincibility frames are where your miniscule health bar doesn't matter anymore.

8: Shields will save your life. Not the armament, no, the ♥♥♥♥ you can get from your Flask of Wondrous Physique with that one crystal tear. Making it so that your character can get hit twice instead of once before death is critical.

9: Keep your distance from enemies. Your not playing melee, are you? This is obvious.

10: I really don't have.. much else to say. What should I even put here? Like.. manage FP well? Yeah, no ♥♥♥♥. Uh.. I guess.. Don't be a bloody finger? Yeah. Look, invading worlds is fun, yes, but only when your NOT a sorcerer. These ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ always have two people and your just 1 guy. Three people, sometimes. Do you KNOW how hard it is to cast Loretta's Greatbow when there's two ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hitting you with swords? Sometimes they have a sorcerer on their side, too, and it's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ horrible. Sorcerer VS Sorcerer with a buddy who has a sword never ends well. There are only 2 times out of hundreds where I've won an invasion. The first, the guy I was invading was AFK. The second, the guy I was invading kept running from me and I had a fellow bloody finger who was also a sorcerer, and we were just chasing this guy for at least 10-20 minutes. Sorcerers together strong. Looked up his username on steam, to see what his profile was, and this dude had pornography EVERYWHERE on his profile page. I'm not gonna link it, but it was BAD. Cherry on top, he had a black and white Shrek profile picture. So, maybe, sorcerers can be a bit weird. Being in a wizard tower for years learning spells does that to a man. Also, when I was struggling with Radahn because of his ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bow attack, I kept seeing this co-op guy called Sir Prize. Basic knight armor, basic weaponry, whatever. This guy was REALLY good at the game. He basically solo'd Radahn, but the game bugged and Radahn never came down in his meteor. So we just sat at the edge of the map, staring into the stars. It was the best moment i've had playing this game. Then, we both jumped off, killing ourselves. Later, I saw Sir Prize again and summoned him a second time. I accidentally got shot by Radahn before Sir Prize could do his work, and I've never seen Sir Prize since. Sir Prize, if your reading this, I hope your doing the best in your life, and just know that you were the best person i've ever seen play this game. Anyways, I need to wrap up this tip because this is getting long.

BONUS TIP: The Greatshield spirit ashes are the best because they consistently distract enemies and you can just wail on the boss and they can't do ♥♥♥♥. I did the crucible knight + misbegotten warrior bossfight at Redmane castle first-try cause of that. Also, unrelated, but the Ambush Shard spell is REALLY good for shielded enemies or enemies who only take damage when hit on the back. You don't even need to aim for this spell. Like, you can hide behind a wall and just kill the enemy without putting yourself in danger. It is peak. It only does the same amount of damage as a glinstone pebble, though, but it's still really good.

Anyways, in conclusion, sorcery is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ AWESOME, incantations are horrible, and most bloody finger sorcerers are also porn addicts (for some reason). I hope this guide convinced you to use sorcery, and if your still playing the game by the time this guide comes out, then you might see me either helping you as a hunter or invading your ass. Watch out, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, Krosis the Mad is out for sorcerous blood. Make sure to liek and award my guide plz!!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3397558784

Why Sorcery is Awesome