Faith compared to Int

[BaLuX]

I haven't finished the game yet, but it looks like the game heavily favors int compared to faith. Is that true?

[Buurman]

i would agree yes. also most int spells are faster to cast

[Xenos]

Faith spells are mostly support in nature with some attacking spells.

Intelligence spells are mostly attacking spells with some support.

Faith is better paired with good melee stats to support it, while Intelligence stands better by itself.

[BaLuX]

Originally posted by de nekhijger:

i would agree yes. also most int spells are faster to cast

Also, until now I've seen a significantly greater variaty of int weapons and spells. As a faith user, that is a bummer.

[UmbreonMessiah]

*Laughs in Crucible and Dragon magic*

[Kyutaru]

Faith spells are defensive. More regen, more vitality, poison/rot curing, buff magic/fire resistance, and supports like increasing party attack. Faith is for tanky builds because it makes you better at close combat. The ranged faith nukes are more of a side piece for versatility and you will need them on certain enemies because it's dangerous to go in without good damage that can stagger or kill them.

Int wins at damage. It's the only thing it's good at and you're going to be wearing tissue paper armor and get one shot a lot and you prioritize MP over HP.

[Silus]

I'm running an int + str build and i do find that there seems to be way more faith based magics, that might just be my conformation bias though.
That being said there's some absolutely balls to the wall insanely powerful int spells.
Meteorite and Azure Comet for example.

[Buurman]

Originally posted by UmbreonMessiah:

*Laughs in Crucible and Dragon magic*

the dragon spells are rly cool tho true

[F.O.A.M]

have to say, i just beat the first boss that gave me hes soul for the weapons and i have found a good amount of faith stuff, magic and weapons alike. found barely anything for int

[Whirblewind]

Faith hasn't been "mostly supportive/defensive" in two games. It has *more* than Intellect, but is still mostly offensive. Its offensive tools are just different. Different timings, recoveries, ranges, areas.

Faith has more utility and Intellect has more offensive approach vectors, but as Faith's "gaps" in its offensive tools are so few, ultimately one should choose based on theme and aesthetic first, playstyle second.

Where Int lacks in support it makes up for in faster cast times at further ranges, ultimately balancing out their relative strengths. This was true of DS2 and DS3, as well. (At least, post-faith nerf; before that, faith was objectively better.)

The game doesn't "favor" one over the other, in so far as PvE. Too soon to say about PvP.

[Ouro]

int is better for pure combat but faith has utility (heals, cures, buffs, etc). I always chose faith for that reason.

[Quadsword]

Not gonna lie, dragon incantations just by themselves have me considering faith over int.

[Kyutaru]

Originally posted by Quadsword:

Not gonna lie, dragon incantations just by themselves have me considering faith over int.

Problem is the Dragon spells aren't really faith spells. They're incantations but they require and scale mainly off of Arcane if you're using the dragon communion seal to buff them. Similar to how Order spells are Int and Faith.