Elden Ring is full of all types of builds, and even if you choose a specific class, you aren’t locked into it for the whole game. You can reallocate later on, but what if you want to get into Magic very early when you don’t have access to Rennala?
To use Magic as a Samurai, you will have to find a good Staff or Sacred Seal, as many Sorceries and Incantations as you can, increase Attributes needed for Magic, find armor that boosts Magic, and reallocate Attributes to best fit your build later on.
You aren’t locked into that specific class when you create a class. You do have to deal with it initially, but you can change your class to whatever you want later on. The downside is that the starting stats will stay the same no matter what, so you could get fewer points in the necessary Attribute slots.
1. Find yourself a good Staff or Sacred Seal
There are a ton of good Staffs and Sacred Seals to find in the game, and it is up to you which one you want to use. Early on, you probably want to use whatever you can, but it does matter once you start getting different Spells and Incantations. Some staff and Sacred Seals boost certain things, and it can be hard to say what is the best for each one fully.
If you find a good Magic weapon, check it out and read what it does. You should also check out what attributes you need and see what it boosts for Magic items. Everything you find can be useful in some way.
2. Find yourself as many Sorceries or Incantations
There are over 200 Sorceries and Incantations that you can find, and obviously, there are Staffs and Sacred Seals that boost certain ones. They are spread over the entire world, so it can be confusing where the good ones are, but there are many good ones to find. Rock Sling is our favorite spell, and it homes in on any target you are fighting.
If you do choose a specific Sorcery or Incantation, make sure that the weapon used to activate them boosts the specific ones you have equipped. Initially, it can be a little confusing, but once you figure out what to use, you can base your build around that. Just make sure you have the correct levels for it.
3. Increase the needed Attributes for Magic
There are 3 Attributes you need to upgrade Magic spells. There is Faith, Intelligence, and Arcane. Each one is important in its way, and the game will give you all the information needed to wield every single one in the game. If you don’t know about specific sorcery, look it up on a wiki to see exactly what to do with it.
Faith is usually for Incantations, Intelligence is usually for Sorceries, and Arcane is used a little for Sorceries and Incantations. Samurai doesn’t have many Attributes in those three, so determine what you want to use and upgrade accordingly.
- Faith – Attribute required to perform sacred Incantations. Also boosts the magic power of faith-scaling Incantations.
- Intelligence – Attribute required to perform Glintstone sorceries. Also boosts the magic power of intelligence-scaling Sorceries and improves Magic Resistance.
- Arcane – Attribute governing Discovery. Also affects Holy Defense, Vitality, and certain Sorceries and Incantations.
4. Find armor that boosts Magic
There are a ton of armor types that boost Magic damage. Certain armor sets will boost specific sorcery types, so you must read what each one does for you. There is some really weird-looking armor sets you can get later on that give you a ton of Magic boosts. Just ensure you take advantage of any buff you can get to maximize damage.
You don’t necessarily have to use armor sets to boost damage, but it does help. If you also have a mixed build with melee, it is probably not a good idea to have limited armor because you still need to get closer to your enemies.
5. Reallocate your attributes for more Magic damage
Once you get to Lurnia of the Lakes, you can go to the Academy. This place is full of Wizards that can easily defeat you, but if you can get through it and defeat Rennala, you can reallocate your attributes. You can do it once you get a Larval Tear and build an entirely new Magic build if you want to.
Remember that the starting stats for the Samurai will limit certain attributes because you start with a pretty high Dexterity stat. Just make sure to focus on the stats that the specific Magic weapons will use, and you won’t have a hard time at all. Up until you reallocate, you will probably need to use a mixed build, but you can change to a full Magic build later on if you know what you are doing.