Are decent faith spells purposefully hard to get compared to sorcery?

[Zulu-1]

I started out with a sorcerer character, but after seeing that incantations offer more variety, I thought I'd give a faith build a go. When compared with the offensive spells the Astrologer starts with, I don't find the starting incantations very helpful. I ended up using melee while waiting to find some more capable spells (lightning spear, for example.) Eventually, I turned to the wiki to find any spells that would be readily obtainable, and found that almost all of them are locked behind some heavy hitting mob or boss. About the only one I could readily obtain was the Fire Monk's Prayerbook, and I found those spells equally weak.

I would note that my main character is a Paladin type, with some cure/heal spells. The longer I was forced to rely on melee with my faith character to try and get to a point where I could fight my way to some decent spells, the more I've felt like I was just making another paladin. I've since given up on the idea of a faith spellcaster as a flop. From what I can discern, the best way to make such a character is to do all of the work with any other class, and then respec into it.

[60mph gorilla]

I heard the red lightning spell that the dragon uses is rather decent but its random on the damage due to the spread of the lightning. Other than that most faith spells have been pretty crap since post nerf DS2 days.

From what I hear it sounds like going the dragon route is the best method.

[Banana King]

I havn't used any sorceries so can't compare to incantations.

However, I've been having a good time with the Godskin Apostle spells and the Godslayer Seal. If you are stacking Faith the dark flame buff/dot really starts kicking in.

[Zulu-1]

Originally posted by Zagreus:

gitgud

I think that misses the point, although that's sound advice for any player. What I'm seeing, though, is that the tools for an incantation caster are much harder to obtain than for other classes, and I'm wondering why that should be?

[Sir Latrine de Bretagne]

Yes. Most faith related ashes of war, incantations and weapons are late game while int user are getting showered with goodies very early. That said, you got a few good options : black flame, frenzied burst, the flame of frenzy, lightning spear, ...

[itssirtou]

Originally posted by Zulu-1:

Originally posted by Zagreus:

gitgud

I think that misses the point, although that's sound advice for any player. What I'm seeing, though, is that the tools for an incantation caster are much harder to obtain than for other classes, and I'm wondering why that should be?

This guy is a troll. He's responded to like 6 threads like this no context needed.

There are a few good ones available 'early' if you know where to look. The lightning book probably has the best value the earliest. The godslayer set. The beast stuff is pretty good, Bestial Regen (3rd deathroot) is a great spell all game long. If you aren't too proud to cheese the Elder Dragon, Greyolls Roar and Rot Breath are really good.

[StrayBullet]

Blue Lightning Spear is vastly superior to Fortisax's Dual Lightning Spear, generally, unless you're swarmed . . . but try making it through the retarded casting animation of Fortisax's when swarmed . . . what I do like about incantations is that you have some fun options like Arcane Bleed Faith builds and Paladin style Strength Faith builds. Faith alone is kinda weak, but still completely viable for a full play through. You can get upwards of 70% damage reduction in melee with Faith Builds, with a 95 phys and 95 magic damage reduction great shield and a Greater Blessing, you can literally block for days. Unfortunately best lightning spell is locked to a Dex based Spear?

[BeautifulFlowerField]

You can get good incantations from the Beast Cleric and the Dragon Communion Church early on as well. Frozen Lightning Spear is available early game too I think.

[815|Shouldabeen]

Originally posted by Sir Latrine de Bretagne:

Yes. Most faith related ashes of war, incantations and weapons are late game while int user are getting showered with goodies very early. That said, you got a few good options : black flame, frenzied burst, the flame of frenzy, lightning spear, ...

I'd like to agree with this. You get access to black flame and the godslayer's seal after beating just Margit. You also need one stone key. They are some pretty reasonable spells.
Not only that, but I find confessor to be really good at killing Margit. I was able to beat him at level 14 with ease.

Just upgrade broadsword to +3 with the smithing stones from these locations:

-3 purchased from under the bridge on the shore between dragon communion island and first step. 600 runes
-1 gained from church of elleh.
-3 gained from a corpse sitting in a chair near the stormveil shack (where Roderika is)
-5 gained from the statue near all the giants near warmaster's shack.

That's 12 in total, so it'll get you to +3 and you can do it really quickly.

Next, just level up some vigor so you can tank a hit or two from Margit. I did this at 14 but you can grind giants to a higher level if you want more.

Finally, fight Margit and use the Square Off strong attack against him, during his openings. You will get a lot of staggers against him with this weapon art.

After that it's just a trek into stormveil castle to collect your seal and book for godslayer incantations. There's a stone key at stormveil shack, so you should already have one. If you want to have a second one to get access to the whetblade, you can get one from dragonburnt ruins near first step.