Advice from experienced endgame players please...

[tommy]

I am, at best, a mediocre player but really enjoy the game.

I am an Astrologer Mage using the spells: Rock Sling/Glinstone Pebble/Comet Azur/Magic Glintblade/Loretta’s Greatbow/Terra Magica.
I use: Lusat’s Glinstone Staff (6) and Sword of St Trinia (6) supplemented with Radagons Soreseal and Godricks Great Rune
I am level 111 and have the following stats: V:40 M:30 End:21 ST:15 Dex:17 Int:71 Faith:7 Arcane: 9
I own the following armour sets: Spellblade/Azure/Lusat/Snow Witch.

Currently I am in a quandary and am seeking help from experienced end game players regarding the best armour set to use for my build above and also any advice where to continue placing my level up points.

Thank you.

[Gearwar]

well it depends on your lvl cap i guess. Most people tend to go for 125 (for pvp) or 150 (so you can still pvp, but its more sided for pve fun).... My advice is to put 10-20 points more into vigor. putting you at 121 or 131.

You run radagon seal so you already take more damage, might as well be equipped to deal with hits.

And as for the armor set: The one you like the most. Only cheese loser tryhards min max. Just choose whatever you like. All the items that give + int (the helmets) make you look like a ♥♥♥♥.

[Ulmace]

first off:
do you want to play multiplayer? if yes cap your lvl at 125 for tryhard pvp/co-op, 150 for more casual pvp/co-op, you can go higher level but this will just lower the amount of people you can be matched with, increasing wait times.
if you dont want to multiplay, just keep pumping levels whereever you like and see the difference.

as for armor sets, those light armors dont offer a lot of defense so might as well enjoy the one with the best looks.
You could also look at the type of defense they have, one may have more fire resistance and might save you from getting oneshot by a fire damage attack.
same for the physical resistance, thrust vs enemies that do thrust attacks for example.

soreseals are for a very specific use, if you dont need the stats it gives, there is no reason to go and take extra damage, in the latergame it will most likely result in you dieing much more.

[Toad]

My first piece of advice would be to drop Radagon's Soreseal. At your current rune level it's more a detriment to your absorption stats to be still running it. You'll find your survivability goes up a significant amount if you replace it with one of the Dragoncrest Shield talismans, or better yet the Dragoncrest Greatshield one.

In terms of stats, I would then look to replace those ones from Radagon's Soreseal at the very least, but going to 60 VGR will again add a lot more survivability for you entering the endgame. You can of course ignore this if you are very good with dodging, but if you're not trying to stick to a certain rune level, it's worth going higher for it.

In terms of armour, I personally prefer to play a tankier mage. I liked the Carian Knight set (minus helm) for a nice balance of mage and knight. Having a melee weapon with Glinstone Pebble Ash of War will dominate most enemies in a one on one fight due to the huge amount of stagger it does, as well as burst damage. I chose a scimitar for this for the low stat requirements and fast moveset.

[Ulmace]

Originally posted by Toad:

My first piece of advice would be to drop Radagon's Soreseal. At your current rune level it's more a detriment to your absorption stats to be still running it. You'll find your survivability goes up a significant amount if you replace it with one of the Dragoncrest Shield talismans, or better yet the Dragoncrest Greatshield one.

In terms of stats, I would then look to replace those ones from Radagon's Soreseal at the very least, but going to 60 VGR will again add a lot more survivability for you entering the endgame. You can of course ignore this if you are very good with dodging, but if you're not trying to stick to a certain rune level, it's worth going higher for it.

In terms of armour, I personally prefer to play a tankier mage. I liked the Carian Knight set (minus helm) for a nice balance of mage and knight. Having a melee weapon with Glinstone Pebble Ash of War will dominate most enemies in a one on one fight due to the huge amount of stagger it does, as well as burst damage. I chose a scimitar for this for the low stat requirements and fast moveset.

katana is also really good, very fast and lot of reach, and makes invaders cry on the forums if you wreck them with it

[tommy]

Thank you so much for your quick reply folks. I will act on the above.
I only play PvE and no multiplayer because really, I am not very good.

[Ulmace]

Originally posted by tommy:

Thank you so much for your quick reply folks. I will act on the above.
I only play PvE and no multiplayer because really, I am not very good.

not very good yet*
dont let that stop you from getting the full experience
(im also not very good, loose more then i win in pvp, but i have a lot of fun with it)

[Archdeacon Monseigneur]

it depends on the bonus(s) of the armor you have. some helms, like Azure and Lusat gives bonuses to particular spell schools, whereas others just flat out increase spell damage (or other stats) overall but at a much lower value.

however, if you are looking for survival you can equip heavy armor and use that with your caster build, assuming you have the endurance (or carry weight) to do it without falling into "heavy load"
alternatively you can go to the "god jar" in caelid and do his quest (you just have to beat 3 npc invaders right next to him, one at a time) and get a talisman that gives like 25 kilos of carry weight without having to invest (too much) in endurance.

[Superboniato]

Originally posted by Ulmace:

Originally posted by tommy:

Thank you so much for your quick reply folks. I will act on the above.
I only play PvE and no multiplayer because really, I am not very good.

not very good yet*
dont let that stop you from getting the full experience
(im also not very good, loose more then i win in pvp, but i have a lot of fun with it)

YES +1000 for your message.

Pvp can be VERY fun in this games (specially ds2 and 3), this one needs some balancing yet.

And in this game you can slowly learn without being recked in 3 seconds because you start automatically start 2vs1 so you can have advantage enough to learn a little bit the main stuff (spacing and that sh*t)
(im not encouraging you to gank, lol)

Once you learn, you will find the taunters tongue and invasions quite funny (even though i prefer Ds2 and ds3)

[Big Moustache]

Lose the Soreseal for the ancient spirit animal one, that restore fp on kills. You can aoe at fraction of the cost now

[impuretrash2878]

I play as a mage all the time and your setup looks almost just like mine. My int is at 75 and I always wear the stargazer talisman which gives +5 int. 80 is the soft cap. so just put 4 more points into int and stop there. 30 is plenty mind so no need to go any higher.

Add 1 more point to str so you can use the moonlight greatsword. Maybe level vigor to 60 if you want a bit more health. Then add everthing else to endurance so you can carry more weight.

As for armor, just wear whatever looks good.

[Shin Enzyme]

It doesn't have any sorcery specific bonuses, but I wore the Carian Knights Set in my sorcerer run when I needed to be more tanky. I supplemented it with the Jellyfish Shield if I wanted the extra 30 second buff alongside Terra Magica, though the shield is a bit heavy and needs 20 str.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/carian+knight+set
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/jellyfish+shield

Edit: This was in PvE, So i could afford a few more points into endurance, rather than a PvP build.

[medicinezombie]

Armor makes a huge, huge difference - if you are messing around with your build anyway and respeccing, try putting 5 or 10 more points into Endurance for equip load.

Or replace the Soreseal (and gain +15% damage reduction) for the Dragonshield Talisman (for another +15%) or Great' Jar's Arsenal (+19% equip load)

Edit: Or Erdtree's Favor talisman - gives HP, Stamina and Equip load, so similar to the Soreseal, but weaker and no debuff, so possibly better value at this rune level

Poise is also great, a lot of people seem to undervalue it, but if you have enough armor/health and poise to tank through attacks, more spells become viable in close combat. Or you can just ignore their hits while slicing them up with St. Trini's sword and knock them asleep. Or turtle up on top of the Terra Magicka for longer.

[Gearwar]

If you do not adhere to "fashion Souls" you might as well use spirit summons in your boss fights.

Go big or go home.

[medicinezombie]

Originally posted by Gearwar:

If you do not adhere to "fashion Souls" you might as well use spirit summons in your boss fights.

Go big or go home.

What's wrong with Spirit Summons? The developers intend you to use them, play as the developers intend, that's what people say right?

And "fashion souls" is also great, but it sounds like you don't know that all those numbers on armor, in the menu? That's armor damage resistances - the higher the number, the more damage is resisted.

If armor didn't matter, then no one would complain about coop phantoms with full Bull Goat/Veteran's armor being impossible to kill.

Use what the game gives you! It's fun! Don't let people make up silly rules like "real players don't use armor or spirit summons or coop or consumables or the environment or shields etc..."

[Gearwar]

Originally posted by medicinezombie:

Originally posted by Gearwar:

If you do not adhere to "fashion Souls" you might as well use spirit summons in your boss fights.

Go big or go home.

What's wrong with Spirit Summons? The developers intend you to use them, play as the developers intend, that's what people say right?

And "fashion souls" is also great, but it sounds like you don't know that all those numbers on armor, in the menu? That's armor damage resistances - the higher the number, the more damage is resisted.

If armor didn't matter, then no one would complain about coop phantoms with full Bull Goat/Veteran's armor being impossible to kill.

Use what the game gives you! It's fun! Don't let people make up silly rules like "real players don't use armor or spirit summons or coop or consumables or the environment or shields etc..."

Nothing wrong with it. Go play like it if you want to. Just be prepared to get murdered in other souls games if you need to rely on summoned NPCs taking aggro from you.

And while there is nothing wrong with, and everyone can play as they like, without trying to be toxic.. spirit summons in this game are a bit as like riding a bike with training wheels. Yea you are riding the bike, but you also need some training wheels to not fall down. Its perfectly okay to use it and its absolutely fine for this Bike (ER)... but should you ever go back to an older bike, or a more sophisticated bike (BB or Ds3) these training wheels won't fit anymore and suddenly you are sitting there wondering why you can not hold your balance.