Arcane in Elden Ring is similar to the Luck stat in the Dark Souls games, but it adds more. There are a lot of attributes in Elden Ring to worry about, but one majorly overlooked one is Arcane.
There are a ton of weapons and Incantations that use Arcane, and some need a lot. One major question that new players and even veterans ask is, is Arcane worth leveling in Elden Ring?
Yes, Arcane is worth leveling in Elden Ring, depending on if you want to use items that need it. Arcane increases many things: Item Discovery, Bleed Damage, Incantation Damage, and Defense for Holy Damage and Vitality. It does much more than the Luck stat did in Dark Souls 3.
Read this detailed guide to determine whether leveling the Arcane state is worth your time it in Elden Ring, its preferred uses, playstyles, and builds in the game.
1. Increases Item Discovery
Arcane increases your Discovery stat, which governs the likelihood of finding items on the corpses of defeated foes. Discovery can be quite beneficial when starting the game, as running into more useful items will make adventuring less frustrating.
Another major advantage of having higher discovery is when you want to farm a particular item. Having an increased discovery, a good bunch of enemies who have the chance of dropping the item you want, and a mighty weapon in your hand, you can get down to wrecking those fools and watch as the items roll in.
However, as a side note, there are many ways to increase Item Discovery. Using consumables like Silver-Pickled Fowl Foot that will temporarily boost Discovery or equipping gear like Silver Scarab Talisman also increases Discovery. But the best and permanent way to improve it is with the Arcane stat.
2. Increases Bleed Build Up
Bleed is a status effect that builds up through repeatedly hitting a target with a Bloodloss weapon. Once the Hemorrhage meter is filled, the effect is triggered, and the target takes damage equal to a percentage of their Max HP. It is an insane view where the enemy has this blood-explosion effect, and it loses a huge chunk of health.
You must know Bleed’s power if you are an early Elden Ring player. It was an almost broken mechanic back then, so players exploited bleed weapons like Rivers of Blood.
However, the status effect has been nerfed a lot since then. Although it is still a very devastating effect and having a build around it will surely be deadly.
Not only does Arcance increases Bleed build-up, but it also boosts Poison, Sleep, and Madness build-up. If your build is centered around these status effects, you must invest in Arcane. Each of these effects has its benefits.
3. Increases Incantation Damage
If you are aspiring to channel the dragon inside you especially looking at all those devastatingly alluring Dragon Communion spells, then Arcance should be the stat to go for.
These special spells do not scale with Arcane by themselves; however, the Dragon Communion Seal (the best seal to cast these incantations) scales with Arcane, and thus the combination of the two will push those damage numbers even further.
Some blood-themed incantations, like Swarm of Flies, also require Arcane to pull off. So if you are going for either a bleed-based caster or a dragon warrior build, having a good level in Arcane will make you a wrecking force.
4. Increases Holy Defense and Vitality
Having a higher Arcane level will give you more defense against Holy Damage. This means you can absorb more damage from this type, which would be useful when going up against enemies that wield Holy weapons.
On top of that, Arcane also increases Vitality. Vitality increases your resistance to instant death from Blight buildup. You are lucky if you haven’t already died of this status effect. As for us less fortunate tarnished out there, Blight is super annoying to succumb to. It instantly kills you regardless of your strong stature.
A higher vitality level will ensure ample time before the dreaded Blight meter fills up and kills you.
Why Arcane is Worth Leveling Up
The rewards of upgrading the Arcane stat are not evident as other stats like Strength; it is more of a complimentary stat and useful for very special builds. The only times this stat should be leveled up is for:
- If you want to farm certain items from certain enemies or just want items to rain from fallen foes.
- If you are going for Bleed-based builds.
- If you want to be a Dragon Incantation caster.
- If your build revolves around status, effects build up like blood loss or poison.
- If you want to play with the Serpent bow and take advantage of its poisoning effect or want to lob various status-effect arrows at enemies.
- Or you just hate Blight and do not want to die because of it quickly.
Many items/equipment in the game can boost Arcane for the time being to take advantage of this special stat, so you might not have to upgrade it past the base requirement of your build. If you want to know more about these items, check the Arcane Wiki.
Arcane can be considered a throw-away stat, but if you know what kind of build you are going for, especially a bleed one, upgrading Arcane can lead to some deadly results.
Many of Arcane’s tertiary effects can be triggered by the items we spoke of earlier, so there is no need to invest heavily in this stat for these effects.