Is magic bad compared to melee or is it just me

[Lord Griswold]

I've tried, pure strength, pure dexterity, pure sorcery, pure incantation, strength/incantation, and strength/sorcery builds, and pure strength and pure dex come out on top by far.

Maybe it's just my playstyle, but strength and dexterity builds seem to require far less stat investment to be strong compared to magic, not to mention that the source of your damage isn't limited by a blue bar, you can heal faster than any healing spell thanks to crimson flasks, and you have access to weapon arts and status effects that seem more FP efficient than magic. And the only attributes you need to focus on are Vigor, Endurance, and Strength as a strength build, or Vigor, Endurance, and Dexterity as a dexterity build. At around level 80 or so for strength and dex builds, I felt pretty overpowered.

For pure sorcery and incantation builds, I found that I often ran out of FP even when allocating all of my flasks to be cerulean ones, the starter spells were much more FP efficient than any of my later spells, which was really disappointing, and my stat investment was all over the place since I was trying to up my Vigor enough to not get one shot by bosses, increase my endurance so I could actually cast a few spells and roll a few times without getting tired, get my mind up so I don't run out of magic, and getting my intelligence or faith up to increase spell damage. Not to mention switching between spells, trying to get far enough away to heal with magic, having to fill up my FP meter every 20 or so seconds because of how much magic I was using trying to kill everything. I'll admit I didn't make it past the altus plateau because I found being a pure mage so frustrating and just quit.

I'm not even going to comment much on hybrid builds because they seem to have all the problems of pure mage builds except your stats are spread even more thinly and you end up sucking at everything until you get to absurdly high levels.

I really must be missing something, because I hear people praise how easy and strong magic is. Should I just focus on getting my Mind stat to level 60 first and then worry about stuff like Vigor, Endurance, and Intelligence/Faith?

[Drax]

I mean, don't be using fancy spells all the time. Glintstone pebble and rock sling should be your bread and butter and don't consume much FP. I also like the carian slicer.

Some enemies are resistant to magic and so you should use non-magic damage spells. Like rock sling.

But in general though I REALLY don't know how you're running out of FP. Most bosses will die very quickly and the issue is just landing the attacks. If you're running out of FP in traversal just don't be using Rennalas full moon against random foot soldiers. If you're running out of FP versus bosses, just smith your staffs more, make sure you're using the right staff for your spells, and get some nice talismans. But really you shouldn't be having much issues.

[nfinite.recursion]

I tried to do a magic build run about a year ago. It's not bad at all. Just... boring. I did a spellblade build and had a lot more fun, but that was probably because I leaned heavily into the melee side of that build.

[MULTIPASS]

With a proper sorcery build, you can basically waltz through every dungeon 1-shotting everything before it even sees you. It makes 90% of the content nearly effortless. You don't need a lot of red flasks if you never have to risk your HP while clearing, and healing spells are far more efficient healing than flasks anyway.

There is a solid selection of inexpensive spells good for clearing weaker enemies, and you come to realize that your FP will take you really far. Especially since in ER there's another bonfire every 10 steps and one right outside of nearly every major boss door.

[Lord Griswold]

Are the starter catalysts really bad? I was using those the whole time both as a pure intelligence build and as a pure incantation build.

[Forblaze]

The dark souls formula is based around melee combat. As much as they expand the magic systems, they've yet to smooth over the jank around ranged (magic or otherwise) combat. So magic is either really good or really bad depending on how the situation specific jank shakes out.

[Zogtar]

Originally posted by Lord Griswold:

Are the starter catalysts really bad? I was using those the whole time both as a pure intelligence build and as a pure incantation build.

They're "okay", but once you specialized down to a certain type/school of spell you can focus and get some good damage out. Just pay attention to enemy resistances.

[WagonWheelWatusi]

You just don't know how to play a mage build my guy. Mage builds can breeze thru most of the game with out much worry beyond finding way to mitigate incoming damage due to using lighter armor.

[DragonSoundxSG]

You crazy. Sorcerer is the DPS class, along with bleed.

Gotta dual wield staves for the bonuses and use all manner of buffs and trickery.

[Dirak2012]

Just level vigor, intelligence, and a bit of mind. you will need some ash summons to draw the boss attention while you throw rocks at it.

[Lord Griswold]

I guess I'll try to be a mage again and do some more research on staffs and stuff lol. I went in blind because I didn't want to spoil anything, but maybe I shot myself in the foot by doing that

[DragonSoundxSG]

Originally posted by Lord Griswold:

I guess I'll try to be a mage again and do some more research on staffs and stuff lol. I went in blind because I didn't want to spoil anything, but maybe I shot myself in the foot by doing that

Many of the best spells and equipment are hidden behind longgggg NPC quests.

[impuretrash2878]

staff selection does not have to be complicated. just use the metorite staff. None of the others hold a candle to it until you get really, really high int.

[CourtesyFlush09]

It's just you. Magic classes have always been OP compared to their melee counterparts in these games. There's a reason why they're ridiculed by so many.

[Zogtar]

Originally posted by CourtesyFlush90:

It's just you. Magic classes have always been OP compared to their melee counterparts in these games. There's a reason why they're ridiculed by so many.

Meh, in Demon's Souls yes.

Dark Souls - giant dad is the best build.
DS2 - is balanced, but dark is better overall. Eleum Loyce hates mages.
DS3 - Quality is king.
Bloodborne - mid game to start casting, pimp cane still best weapon.
Elden Bing Bong - If you're Scott Jund, then sure. Otherwise, naw... I can unga bunga with the greatsword in pve so much more reliably, and win pvp gankfests.

[NineChameleon]

From what i've seen. Some people just dont get Sorcery/Incantations.

And I dont mean that as in dont understand them, I mean that as in they dont get the appeal or find it boring. There are certainly people who dont know how to build them too. There are streamers like Tulok who absolutely hate any kind of magic and think weapons are always better. And youtubers like Rusty who like them so much they dedicate a bunch of time to making a sorcery overhaul mod.

If you dont like it you dont like it. There's plenty other things to make builds of. No one is gonna flame you for it. (or I hope not... except its the internet and people do that).

For people who think its a bit samey tho, especially with Sorceries. It helps if you use ones that are less popular. I had great fun with a magma sorcery character. Had surprisingly good damage too.