Questions about Astrologer and Prophet

[Vaeker]

Hi. I literally bought the game yesterday and I started with Samurai. It's fun but now I want to try Astrologer since from what I read/heard it's classic mage class. I also thought about Prophet but from what I read Astrologer is more like a classic mage and Prophet, tbh idk what Prophet is, I mean, idk what is he based on cuz I watched a few gameplays of Prophet and he had a classic melee weapon and from time to time only used like a short range spell. If someone can explain this to me I'd be grateful.

Now, I have a few questions, I realized Elden Ring is not a game like a classic MMO RPG that you pick a class, you level up your spells etc.

Questions:

1. As Astrologer do I have this one spell that is from the start of the game (long range blue thing from the wand)?
2. Do i unlock like other spells throughout the game and how do I do that?
3. I've seen (idk if I'm right, please correct me if I'm not) that to unlock some spells/incantations (I don't really know what's the difference between them) you have to earn some things/weapons, is that correct?
4. How to max statistics as Astrologer? Cuz I heard that on every class you have to put some stats to Vigor first and then max your main stat (on Astrologer it would be Intelligence).

Sorry for such stupid questions but I'm really lost in the game cuz like I said this game is nothing close (at least for me) to classic MMO RPGs and I played almost every most popular game of this type.

Also, I know this information might be so easy to google but trust me, I'd tried, maybe I'm just stupid and I don't understand the descriptions I found.

[Vargas Erikson]

use intelligence

[ChubbNutt]

Starting class only decides starting stats and gear, they don't function differently.
You can buy/find more spells as you play the game.
If you want to do big magic damage then you should level intelligence.

[Vaeker]

Originally posted by ChubbNutt:

Starting class only decides starting stats and gear, they don't function differently.
You can buy/find more spells as you play the game.
If you want to do big magic damage then you should level intelligence.

So i can literally play Samurai and then transfer into mage with spells etc?

[itssomuchfun]

Yeah.
After clearing the second Legacy Dungeon (final boss of the country north of Limgrave) you will be able to completely redistribute all the stats you gained from leveled up. Effectively becoming a totally different character gameplay wise.

[Vaeker]

Originally posted by itssomuchfun:

Yeah.
After clearing the second Legacy Dungeon (final boss os the country north to Limgrave) you will be able to completely redistribute all the stats you gained from leveled up. Effectively becoming a totally different character gameplay wise.

Oh, got it but to be able to use spells I have to like find some wand or sth, right?

[Despiser]

Did you hear the one about two Corinthians walk into a bar and the bartender says to the first one… ah, I forget.

[Vaeker]

Originally posted by csand:

Originally posted by Vaeker:

Oh, got it but to be able to use spells I have to like find some wand or sth, right?

That's right! And in the game you get to a place where you can respec completely if you want to change builds at any time (you need an item to respec but there are a bunch of them)

Thanks a lot for this. One more question tho - will I just find new weapons throughout the game or do I have to look on the internet what weapons I want and find them?

[psheue]

Starting classes only matter if you're min-maxing and you shouldn't be doing that on your first run. You can get everything with every class and you'll get more than enough respecs per NG.

[Jouni]

Originally posted by Vaeker:

4. How to max statistics as Astrologer? Cuz I heard that on every class you have to put some stats to Vigor first and then max your main stat (on Astrologer it would be Intelligence).

It's not that simple. The damage of your spells comes from your spell catalyst's sorcery/incant scaling. Most staffs only scale with Intelligence and most sacred seals only scale with Faith but some casting tools scale with both or with other stats. Some spells also have casting requirements for two stats.
Maxing out your main damage stat asap is also probably not a good idea since spell tools have softcaps in their stat scaling. After a softcap is reached you start getting much less benefit than before. Raising a stat past the last softcap is never a good idea unless it's needed for casting requirements. Softcaps for spell tools that only scale with one stat are usually 25/60/80 and softcaps for tools that have multiple stats are usually 15/30/45 for each stats. But there are some notable exceptions.
You also need a resource called FP(Focus Points) to cast spells so you need to put at least some points to Mind too. At 38 Mind you have same amount of FP as a fully upgraded FP flask restores.

[Vaeker]

Originally posted by csand:

Originally posted by Vaeker:

Thanks a lot for this. One more question tho - will I just find new weapons throughout the game or do I have to look on the internet what weapons I want and find them?

You will find many new weapons throughout the game you won't know what to do with them all!

Thank you. I appreciate your answers. Can I add you on steam?

[cybercybercybercyber4]

Prisoner is the strongest starting class because it comes with magic glintblade which is good even in late game.

Its essentislly a choice between hero class or prisoner class, everything else is lackluster in comparison.