Faith Build

[Nauct]

I'm gonna play through NG+ with a faith build. I like blood and fire

What talismans do you guys use? Flock's Canvas, Fire/Lightning/Holy Scorpion, Radagon's Icon? Do you use Ashes of War that synergize with it?

Do you double down on a spell school and use one seal? What's your favorite incantation?

[Silyon]

Originally posted by Nauct:

Thanks for the ideas. I think I want to use Lansseax's Glaive, Black Blade, Furious Blade of Ansbach, Placidusax's Ruin/Bayle's Tyranny, Messmer's Orb, Land of Shadow. Kind of like Melee spells

That's a whole mess of element types, so the Scorpion charms wouldn't give enough consistent benefit to justify the increased damage. And with so many melee-range spells, you'll definitely want to focus more on not getting your casts interrupted, so I'd focus on high poise over cast speed.

I do see DLC spells, so DLC talismans might be worth looking at as well. The FP regen one for example. Not as familiar with them yet though, can't advise there.

[Nauct]

Originally posted by Silyon:

Originally posted by Nauct:

Thanks for the ideas. I think I want to use Lansseax's Glaive, Black Blade, Furious Blade of Ansbach, Placidusax's Ruin/Bayle's Tyranny, Messmer's Orb, Land of Shadow. Kind of like Melee spells

That's a whole mess of element types, so the Scorpion charms wouldn't give enough consistent benefit to justify the increased damage. And with so many melee-range spells, you'll definitely want to focus more on not getting your casts interrupted, so I'd focus on high poise over cast speed.

I do see DLC spells, so DLC talismans might be worth looking at as well. The FP regen one for example. Not as familiar with them yet though, can't advise there.

I'll have to figure out what works. I wonder if some spells have super armor. Like Lion's Claw frame 1 you can't be interupted, hopefully there's a spell like that.

[Eastersimulator]

if you wanna use the bleed incantations don't bother with damage boosting charms. The damage is bad, you use the spells to inflict bleed

[Nauct]

Originally posted by Eastersimulator:

if you wanna use the bleed incantations don't bother with damage boosting charms. The damage is bad, you use the spells to inflict bleed

Gotcha, useful advice

[Rando the Crit Clown]

Originally posted by Nauct:

Originally posted by Detective Costeau:

If you're in NG+, you probably have enough Faith for the Erdtree Seal, since that's the best incant scaling above 69 faith, unless you want to invest in Int for the Golden order stuff, in which case you'll want the golden order seal instead.
It has the added bonus of not being specialized at anything, so you can swap out incants as needed- if you insist on only using fire magic, for instance, then the Fire Giant and Mogh are going to be a bad time.
Versatility is one of the big advantages of a lategame Faith build IMO- you can get access to Fire, Lightning, and Physical damage, and with the new DLC stuff there's even a decent number of pure-faith holy spells if you don't want to spend points in Int.

I'm gonna do it on my big ♥♥♥♥ character, he's like 225 right now. I want to put a bunch of points into STR/DEX as well so I can use a greatsword or great katana. Would the Frenzied Flame Seal be better scaling with spread stats?

Probably. Upgrade it and see. Or look it up.

Originally posted by LuckyCheshire:

Originally posted by Nauct:

Would the Frenzied Flame Seal be better scaling with spread stats?

No! Don't be fooled! The Frenzied Flame Seal honestly sucks, badly.

That's not true. Why would you say that? The Frenzied Flame Seal is the best seal in a lot of cases. If someone is putting a bunch of points into STR & DEX while being overlevelled to hell and back the FFS would probably have the best scaling.

Originally posted by Nauct:

What talismans do you guys use?

+10% HP, +20% DEF, +8% miracle damage, FP regen. If you're doing a bestial build replace one of those with Flynn's Ring.

Originally posted by Nauct:

Do you double down on a spell school and use one seal?

I use whichever seal is the best, and if I want to get the school bonus for it I will have that seal in my other hand since it gives the bonus for being equipped instead of being casted from.

The best seals are:

Finger: If all your stats are low, at the start of the game.
Godslayer's: If you have a 27-68 FTH, and aren't super overlevelled.
Erdtree*: If your Faith is 69+ and you aren't super overlevelled.
Golden Order*: If you have a lot of FTH & INT, and aren't super overlevelled.
Clawmark: If you have low FTH, high STR, and aren't super overlevelled.
Frenzied Flame*: If you have low Faith, or are super overlevelled.
Dragon Communion*: If you have high ARC, or want to inflict statuses with miracles.

Seals marked with an asterisk are weightless, which could make them be chosen over a different more optimal seal (e.g. Erdtree Seal has slightly worse scaling than Godslayer's at 40-68 FTH but Godslayer's has 1.5 weight). The only seal that actually does something different if you cast from it is the Dragon Communion Seal, the only seal in the game which lets your status buildup scale with your ARC stat.

Originally posted by Nauct:

What's your favorite incantation?

Bestial Sling. Although that's more for PvP.