My first int build after 1k hrs

[Father.Gwyn]

I decided to be a spell caster after a lot of time doing the way of unga bunga
It's fun, a lot of fun
I need a to know should i go pure int or int/str
And i want to know what are the best spell and what's the best staff to use thank you

[Polaris]

Depends on how you want to play.
Int final soft cap is 80.
Casting speed is embedded in Dex (cap @ 70; Radagon Icon = +30 "virtual dex").
Dex tends to be better than Str for casters, but you can technically beat the game with anything.

Best spells and best staff depend on each other. Spells can fall within certain categories that get boosted by various staves. The general answer though would be Carian Regal Scepter (Remembrance of the Full Moon Queen trade @ Enia in Roundtable Hold).

[hemorrhage911]

STR/INT can be really fun, and if you roleplay, you'll be turning your sorcerer into more melee with the glintblade sorceries. It's still surprisingly versatile.

[Fineous🔥]

Ancient death rancors. Chep, easy to chain 500 rancors Godfrey icon buffs them and nearlt with max range.

The bad? you need a Prince of death staff with means huge amount of INT/FAI.

[Silvergold]

int/str and use Radahn's swords for more unga bunga.

[Havok]

I started out this playthrough as a pure int spellcaster, running 2 magic based katanas but otherwise focused on spells and, I gotta say, it’s interesting in the early game but there comes a point when it has diminishing returns. I remember when comet azur used to melt a boss like mohg but I swapped my build, expecting his health to just evaporate and after 7 uses of comet azur, he still had over 70% health.

I would personally swap to a Dex Int or Str Int built. I am running a STR int setup atm, and it is far more enjoyable. But pvp encounters seem about the same. Problem with magic builds is that pvp, it can easily be evaded

[jhc24]

Best spells imo in no particular order:
1) Loretta's Greatbow - For sniping from very far away
2) Night Comet - For use against shielded or enemies that usually dodge spells
3) Rock Sling - My bread and butter spell. Does a ton of poise damage and is great for enemies with high magic resist and also great for enemies that usually dodge spells
4) Shard Spiral - Melts bosses with large hitboxes like Astel or Placidusax

Would recommend investing into faith/arcane a bit in order to be able to use some dragon communion incantations (like Dragonfire/Glintstone Breath) cause Sorceries don't have very good AOE spells.

In terms of staffs the Carian Regal Scepter is your best choice.

[Chwiztid]

I couldn't completely steer away from STR/END, so I started with a wretch for better starting stats.
Rosus Axe(rosus' summons hits big targets hard) and a cold spiked palisade shield do well with STR/INT builds. I put shield crash aow on it and used the shield spell or crafted shield grease for basically the entire new game once I got it. I also loved me a nice fire claymore with lions claw or giant hunt to reset frostbite on Malenia.
Demi queen staff is fine for a while, most people go straight for the meteorite staff to start.
Rock sling makes easy work of astels/malformed stars and the falling star beasts. Shard spiral is amazing for the virgin abductors, and anything that doesn't dodge it. I feel like there are way too many spells if you are a completionist type. Ritual sword talisman buffs spell damage.

[Citizen of Zozo]

I did an Int playthrough recently and I'm normally really more of a melee player. So it was an unusual experience. I just started PvPing with the build too. I have a lot of opinions on Int spells now.

Pure Int is perhaps the easiest playstyle apart from Bleed. It's kind of ridiculous. Aside from Rennala I don't think anything really resists Magic. So it's a surprisingly safe damage type to rely on.

Night Maiden's Mist is a superlative tool for dealing with crowds, enemies that are hiding behind walls, large mostly stationary enemies, and just in general cheesing.

The ol' double Staff of Loss Night Comet spam is the most EZ mode mindless pew pew way to go. You do excellent damage and nothing will dodge your attacks.

Comet Azure can basically insta-kill a lot of bosses if you have high Mind and a big FP bar.

It's funny that Int is supposed to be for 'smart people' because in fact it can be the most turn-brain-off PvE playstyle there is. Not that it isn't still fun.

Let's say you don't want to go for max efficiency though. Perhaps you want the wizard experience but don't care for the taste of a nice sharp cheese. I would say all the spells definitely have a niche. Sometimes that niche is SO niche though, that some just aren't really worth carrying.

Swift Glintstone Shard is an excellent 'runnin' around' skirmishing spell to chip low health enemies into death. Also good for dealing with fast annoying enemies.
The entire 'Stars' series of spells also fills this niche. Glintstone Stars, Star Shower, Stars of Ruin, and Collapsing Stars. They deal lower damage than other spells in their class, but their aggressive homing makes them excellent for killing nimble foes like hawks, dogs, etc. Their selling point is that you can rely on them. Fewer missed shots. Not even Maliketh can escape Collapsing Stars and he flips around like a meth addicted goblin.

For sniping, Loretta's Greatbow is an effective choice... although Rock Sling can also be shot 'from downtown' with the Arrows Reach Talisman (yes it's weirdly buffed by it.) You can also free-aim the Cannon of Haima from a respectable distance and with its AoE you can afford to not be super accurate.

Although Night Maiden's Mist performs admirably as an AoE option, there are several 'nukes' to consider for racking up huge damage on a boss or for dealing with a large group.
Meteorite and Meteorite of Astel are very effective against large enemies, but are extremely FP hungry and suffer from an element of RNG. They have a high chance to smite smaller targets with huge damage... but it's not entirely reliable.
Crystal Release has a slow cast time that jumps to almost instant if you crank up your cast speed with Azur's Staff and the Radagon Talisman. It fires so many projectiles that at close range, if the target is large, it can deal some impressive damage.
Zamor Ice Storm is chargable and does decent damage, especially since it inflicts Frostbite. It also gets an impressive 10% damage buff from the Snow Witch Hat. Combine that with the Graven Talismans and you could have yourself a grand ol' time. This is my pick for most effective AoE nuke. It's also dirt cheap FP-wise. Lots of bosses have windows where you can cast it, but not every boss will stand in it for very long.

Finally we get to melee spells! My favorites.
Carian Slicer was so strong they had to nerf it. It's still good. Maybe even still the best! You could beat the whole game with just this one spell, honestly. It's mostly for spamming, but you can use it on the run too.
Gavel of Haima is a poise crushing monster. Excellent for staggering enemies while remaining unstaggered yourself. What's not to love about a good bonk? Although it competes with a lot of different melee spells I think it definitely deserves a place in any melee mage's arsenal simply for its staggering/trading potential. If I could only have one I would pick it over any other melee spell, but that's just me.
Carian Greatsword/Adula's Moonblade are exactly the same thing except one has a Frostbite projectile and costs more FP. The wide horizontal sweep makes them effective for groups and they're arguably better at that function than any AoE spell. They're good, but not as good as...
Carian Piercer. Probably the best melee spell, despite my own opinions. It's a heavily damaging poke with a lot of reach that comes out of nowhere. It is the slayer of men.

[justfaded]

I've played every game in the series, never had an int build. Finally made one in elden ring but just ended up using the melee spells, which are admittedly very cool.

[Tetsuya_Kurogane]

Spell List

A swift one(glintshard or carian slicer), a wide hit one (glint arc, azula blade, crystal barrage), a max power glintcomet, a delayed spell (glintblade, downpour, spiralshard,)

Then Terra Magika to cast before anything else

[Faust Wither]

int dex is better in my opinion, since dex help to you to cast faster.

[mayhem523]

I've read the casting speed boost from dex is negligible... like not even worth it. Imo you want some points in dex and str anyway though to meet weapon requirements so you have options for different enemy types. Like Moonveil Katana requires 12 str 18 dex. Or Bastard's Stars for a strike weapon, 8 str 22 dex. Both scale really well from Int.

I have an Int alt and I usually use a melee weapon main hand so I have access to the weapon ability, and staff in off hand for casting. Best of both worlds. You can also run shield off hand and cast with main hand.

My favorite mage strategy is to use a spell that hangs in the air with a delay before firing on enemies that turtle behind their shield. Especially useful in Leyndell. Cast them and kite the knights, they will walk past the floaties and then get hit in the back and staggered.

[Citizen of Zozo]

Originally posted by mayhem523:

I've read the casting speed boost from dex is negligible... like not even worth it.

It really depends on the spell. For some there's barely any increase. For others it's like night and day. So its value depends heavily on which spells you intend to use.

[chriszewski]

Int/Str is just Str with different weapons. Go full Int and *no* weapon, save for staff attacks like carian slicer/piercer/grandeur.

[Emily Mewens]

I went pure Int/Faith with a side of dex, but only just enough to hold Astels Wing.
But if you want to use something like the big moonlight greatsword, youll want to go Int/Str.

But im suspecting you want to go full mage, and the answer is, absolutely viable. If you want to keep the challenge of the game, dont use Azure Comet on bosses.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2938024026

This is my current build, and im pretty satisfied with not leveling further. Its taken me to Mountain of Giants without too much hassle.
The most important thing to learn is that everyone that swears by one spell is just straight up wrong. Test out your spells and figure out their uses. Some of them are ♥♥♥♥, but some of them are good. But most of them are niche in their usefulness.

Some examples of this would be:
-Lorettas Bow is excellent at long range sniping, but youll get your face stomped if you try to use it in any other situation.
-Comet, (not Azures Comet) is a great spell at dealing massive damage, but itll use lots of FP, so youll probably want to use lower versions for standard enemies.
-Cannon of Haima is fantastic at doing massive poise/knockback damage in a large area, and has a really good chance at knocking over most enemies, so long as they arent blocking.. but its got a long windup, and can be clumsy since it has a heavy projectile arc.

This said, i strongly recommend snagging RockSling as soon as you can. its a spell that does phys damage and is based off INT iirc. Its a very good economic BNB spell.