With the Sword of Night and Flame getting nerfed in Update 1.03 and the Bleed meta running rampant, it seems like the art of unique builds has gone dormant. However, with the advent of spell-based buffs in the recent patch, there’s much more to Mage builds than meets the eye.
With that said though, there’s more to this build than what meets the eye. In fact, this build is destined to be the most broken / OP build in the game after the recent SNAF nerf.
Recommended Stats
For this build, we recommend starting off with Astrologer or Prisoner Class. As this is primarily a Late Game build, you might need to re-spec later on to accommodate the stats we’ve mentioned down below. In terms of scaling, while the build works well with earlier intelligence levels, we can’t guarantee its success.
| Attribute | End Game Stats |
| Level | 125 (PvP) |
| Vigor | 52 |
| Mind | 26 |
| Endurance | 18 |
| Strength | 10 |
| Dexterity | 17 |
| Intelligence | 65 |
| Faith | 7 |
| Arcane | 9 |
Weapon: Wing of Astel
While the Bleed meta has led to weapons like the Dancer’s Poleblade reigning supreme, Intelligence weapons can still not be ignored especially in the Early Game. While weapons like the Death’s Poker are great in terms of overall DPS, it remains a slow weapon and its attacks are unreliable to get off in the Late Game, especially against quicker bosses (which you’ll find a lot of in this stage).
Wing of Astel
You’ll need to complete Ranni’s questline to get the Wing of Astel. After doing so, here’s how you can get the weapon:
- Head to the river east of the Uhl Palace Ruins
- After you reach the Nokstella Site of Grace, head eastwards towards the waterfall
- Climb the lader towards your right, and drop down the ledges where you’ll meet a Malformed Star Enemy
- Keep moving towards the ledge till you see a small chest. Open it, and you’ll find the sword!
The Wing’s strong attacks, deal a Moonlight Greatsword-esque projectile but without the need to buff it. They aren’t that strong. But, still, a great attack to have as they provide you with some much-needed range.
However, the Wing is so great because of its imbued Ashe of War, Nebula. The skill lets you throw out ball-like projectiles that can hit multiple enemies simultaneously from a decent range. The animation is fast, flammable, and can have you get rid of most enemies without them even getting the time to react.
Alternate: Bastard’s Stars
The Bastard’s Star is also an Astel weapon. While it is worse than the Wing in a general sense, it is better in some situations. It is a flail weapon, has a similar Ashe of War (Nebula), but spurts out your projectiles all around you while also letting you dish some damage on the swing in.
Before we move on further, though, here’s why you should pick either the Bastard’s Stars or the Wing of Astel as your primary weapon:
| Wing of Astel | Bastard’s Stars |
| Deals Greater DPS / Posture Break | Can Deal Damage From Greater Range |
| Uni-directional Nebula | Omni-directional Nebula |
| Limited Forward Range | Allows You To Gain Some Distance + Cover Your Back |
| Can’t Be Interrupted Mid-Animation | Even If Interrupted, You Can Still Land Your Nukes |
As you can see from the table, both weapons are worth it. However, unlike our previous SNAF build, which doesn’t work great for anything other than the weapon in question, the choice of the Bastard’s Sword or the Wing allows for greater versatility.
For example, in a PvP setting, if your Nebulas are being dodged when wielding the Wing of Astel, you can hot-swap to the Bastard’s Stars and surprise your foe with a 360 Nebula. Besides that, you can also swap amongst the two when you need greater range compared to better DPS, and so on.
Scepter: Carian Regal
The Carian Regal Scepter is Rennala’s Boss Weapon. You can get the weapon after defeating her. She’s located in the Raya Lucaria Academy after taking the elevator. You can also re-spec after beating her. However, the Scepter requires a whopping 60 Intelligence to wield.
However, this is quite a minute price as this item is best in the slot and has no caveat whatsoever. FP is quite precious in Elden Ring, and having the ability to cast more spells, or Nebulas in your case, is of pivotal importance.
Armor
Regarding armor, we recommend sticking to the options we’ve laid down below. We’ll aim for a Medium Load build so you can dodge and weave around when needed.
| Item | How To Get It? | Why To Get It? |
| Queen’s Crescent Crown | You can purchase the Crown after beating Rennalla at the Roundtable Hold | +3 Intelligence |
| Veteran’s Armor | Purchasable at Castle Sol after beating Commander Niall | Increases Defense and Resistance |
| Spellblade’s Gloves | Found from the Rogier questline | Increases Weapon Skill Damage |
| Blaidd’s Greaves | Found from Ranni’s questline | Increases Defense and Resistance |
Poise
With this equipment, you’ll be getting 52 Poise. In Elden Ring, Poise works in both PvP and PvE. With 50+ Poise in PvP, you can ignore one hit every 30 seconds from lighter attacks. So, in essence, you can Hyperarmor once every other attack.
As mentioned earlier, this applies to PvE too. So, while you will still be getting hit by their damage, you can still cast your own spell while remaining uninterrupted, allowing you to dish out damage instead of getting stunned.
Talismans
Our Talismans will primarily try to increase our spell damage and HP. While you can settle for other Talisms too, here’s our recommended set:
| Item | How To Get It? | Why To Get It? |
| Erdtree’s Favor +2 | Head to the Forbidden Lands waypoint, move towards the Western Exit, take the second lift, and head to the branch near the Ulcerated Tree Spirit | Increases HP, Stamina and Equip Load |
| Shard of Alexander | Complete the complete Alexander questline | Increases your overall Spell power. |
| Radagon’s Soreseal | Head to Forth Faroth, climb up the ladder, jump down the second hole, head Northeast, go beyond the rats and head to the last ladder | Increases stats, but also boosts incoming damage taken |
| Ritual Sword Talisman | Found after defeating Queen Gilika in a nearby small chest in Lux Ruins | Increases Spell power and AP when your HP is full |
Spells
For Spells, we recommend going for Ranni’s Dark Moon, Adula’s Moonblade, and either Astel’s Meteor or Azur’s Comet.
Ranni’s Dark Moon
Your primary way to engage in fights is to use Dark Moon at the start of a fight. Once you lock onto the enemy, the spell will track them. This, in turn, will reduce the enemy’s magic defense by a whopping 10%. If Frostbitten, this scales up to 30%.
You can get the spell by following Ranni’s questline and heading to Chelona’s Rise after solving the puzzle of killing the three Ghost Beasts in the area.
Adula’s Moonblade
Adula’s Moonblade deals the highest amount of damage out of any spell in the game while also inflicting Frostbite and having a huge AoE. It is a pivotal part of our build due to the aforementioned reasons.
Physick Flask
For your Physick Mix, you should go for Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear and the Cerulean Hidden Tear. Cerulean can be used for infinite Azur Comet or Meteor. But it is also great for spamming Adula’s Moonblade if needed.
Magic-Shrouding increases your overall magic damage. This also affects your Nebula as it is a Magical attack. For a cheese option, the Leaden Hardtear is great for PvP, as it gives you infinite Hyperarmor for a few seconds. This allows you to chomp through most attacks as you get cast off.