All 6 DLC Spell Catalysts Ranked! Seal & Staff Guide. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Which Seal or Staff is best to use? Elden Ring sacred Seals, Staves tier list. PATCH 1.12 PVE.
DLC RANKINGS- • Shadow of the Erdtree
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LIVE EVERYDAY- / youwy_
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INTRO 0:00
6 CARIAN SORCERY SWORD 0:27
5 SPIRALTREE SEAL 2:16
4 FIRE KNIGHT'S SEAL 3:24
3 MATERNAL STAFF 4:35
2 STAFF OF THE GREAT BEYOND 7:33
1 DRYLEAF SEAL 9:16
NEXT VIDEO? 11:02

[@youwy]

UPDATE: Carian Sorcery Sword has been buffed! It ties for the best staff at 40 int with the demi human staff. However, at 60+ int it is not as good as most of the other staves in the game. It is a lot more viable of an option now.

[@Data-AnalystSera]

Also be prepped for the Impenetrable Thorns nerf, bleed on spells is explicitly not supposed to scale with the arcane of the catalyst, it was a nerf done way back in 1.03. It's a bug which is juicing the spell's performance into unreasonable territory

[@Paperbat]

@@Data-AnalystSera this is wrong, bleed on spells is supposed to scale with catalysts arcane. they just nerfed it slightly, but its still supposed to

[@woodchipdust]

Providing the chart at the beginning instead of at the end, Youwy da 🐐

[@JPJonesBSc]

Spitting in the face of the algorithm, what a hero

[@ac1dnet]

common youwy W

[@TwoSpiritPenguin]

R.E.S.P.E.C.T this channel just earned a sub

[@JB-xl2jc]

When a creator does stuff like this it inspires loyalty enough that even if I have all the info I need I let the video play on in the background without sound, to pump those viewership metrics

[@xxnightmarexx_pr6069]

I love the fact that you talk about the scaling at different levels instead of just ranking them, this is why this channel is amazing

[@sebashormaza]

Yeah I love that most people just say basic stuff he shows the numbers which is great for mid maxing

[@M.A.R.S.]

Agreed, putting thing under a rank simplifies every reason why it's that rank, defeating the purpose

[@jaydenwebster7510]

I was under the impression that Staff of the Great Beyond had terrible spell scaling. I'm pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong. I'm very excited to get my hands on it.

[@yadeel8281]

It’s really not that bad at all. I’m around 70 faith and int right now and I used it for about half the DLC (in Journey 2 btw). The damage isn’t the most optimal, but it’s still good enough, especially if you know what you’re doing. The only time I switched to individual staves and seals was during certain bosses, specifically the final boss

[@FurtiveCutless]

It's totally fine at the kind of level you'd be stopping for PvP. At high stats and compared to casting tools dedicated for a single spell type it's going to be weaker but that's a reasonable tradeoff for convenience. At 45/45, it's literally the strongest int/fth staff and by a decent margin as well.

[@ethanalspencer7294]

It’s fantastic. The versatility of being able to have one spell for every elemental damage type (including physical with gravity sorceries!) always ready to go means if you play smart and deduce what things are weak to you always have a good damage option. Plus it just promotes a really fun variety playstyle. Put it with rellana’s swords, SoNaF, or any of the smithsciprt weapons that get SDIF scalings and you feel like you’re getting a huge variety of options in a playthrough.

[@jakeryan2805]

@@yadeel8281 I keep seeing lots of people saying its thier second or third time through the dlc. Are you guys literally beating the game and going to ng +1,2,3 ect? Or are you cloud saving, and just restarting from and old save?

[@yadeel8281]

@@jakeryan2805 This isn’t my second time through the DLC. I played through the whole game once and played through it again on Journey 2 all before the DLC came out. I didn’t make a new character going into the DLC I just used the same save, so I’ve only beaten it once

[@Brokenfirealarm]

The sorcery sword is good only for using non-attack magic like Thops's Barrier or Scholar Shield so you don't have to switch between your weapon and staff.

[@franciscobarata2045]

Yeah, this sword definitely favors sorceries that don't rely on catalyst scaling - Scholar Shield, like you mentioned, would work well with this (especially because it's a thrusting sword, shield poke for days), Miriam's Vanishing. You could even go with Fia's Mist, since you only need to care about the minimum stats to cast the sorcery.

[@NorthernDruid]

it is also a way of having a weapon, shield AND staff at the same time without having to switch weapons.

[@knightgabriel1311]

Yeah it’s good for shield poking since it’s a thrusting sword and you can easily cast scholar’s shield

[@austinmccon2759]

Night maidens mist all day

[@KRIMZONMEKANISM]

I get that, but at the very least give it a passive buff to melee sorceries to give it some more versatility. As it stands it only favors low INT builds

[@Cazzacker]

This has become my info channel of choice for the new Elden ring content

[@seanconnors1613]

This channel and Chrightt

[@imbatmanlol]

@@seanconnors1613nah just youwy

[@backerthehacker3700]

Vaati for lore rusty for entertainment youwy for when you want to actually git gud

[@ToasterDsG]

​ @imbatmanlol Chrightt actually takes into account several factors that Youwy doesnt, like motion values, use cases, pvp viability, and weaknesses. He's also informed on the fact that split damage isn't actually shit anymore. For a guy that likes optimizing the fun outta a game, Youwy also gets a lot of shit wrong.

[@DronesOverTheMoon]

​@@ToasterDsG This. Youwy has lots of dubious takes when ranking his weapons

[@Homiloko2]

4:27 That's the first time I noticed Radagon's goddamn bakery down there

[@darthkarl99]

um what?

[@JR-vy4zp]

I love how straight to the point and concise these videos are, much appreciated content.

[@XochiCh]

Oof, and here I was, excited to actually play a Sword & Board Mage-Knight using the Carian Sorcery Sword instead of a regular staff…

[@DanielFerreira-ez8qd]

just wait for the inevitable buff. And I mean inevitable, the incant scaling on the sword still scales with intelligence instead of its best attribute (dex), so it's just a matter of making the spells scale with dex, or making it scale better with int, or a myriad of choices.

[@XochiCh]

@@DanielFerreira-ez8qd Well, that sounds nice, everything I’ve seen in this DLC is really amazing and opens up a lot of opportunities, but it’s underpowered compared to base game stuff, and I really, REALLY want them to at least be competitive with base game, I’m running “Cleanrot” build with Rot and Miracles, and the only thing I added since the DLC is the Crucible wings.

[@LeviGothymn]

I think even if it’s not fantastic doing builds that are themed are cooler than doing only what’s meta anyway

[@berzerk-_-fury5470]

Carian thrusting shield. Staff in right hand, use the thrusting shield for melee without swapping weapons, while still having a decent shield.

[@Ecliptor.]

@@DanielFerreira-ez8qd you shouldn't expect buffs, they always leave a lot of underpowered stuff without any change in these games. It's cool that they finally separated pvp from pve though, and it seems that they are more willing to make changes since that happened, but yeah I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[@karmascamera5275]

So...the *Carian Sorcery Sword* is a Carian sword that doubles as a catalyst...but doesn't boost Glintblade Sorceries... Excuse me, but what the actual f-?

[@PenultimatePenPen]

Absolutely fantastic choice showing the chart, I always forget which are better

[@invader703]

A video on your favorite weapons regardless of in game power could be cool. Or a general review of the DLC. Either way I started watching when you originally ranked the builds in elden ring and you've improved how I build my characters a shitload and I basically watch every video now. Thanks Youwy!

[@VANAOLLA]

Already made it for the base game Mentions his favourites in the best dlc weapons video

[@Chyguy]

Personally, I prefer comfortable play over optimized play, so when I get around to doing my int/fth build again I'll certainly be using the Great Beyond. So long as a dual stat casting tool can reach 320 or above at 60/60 it is worth using in my opinion.

[@jasonmendoza2044]

Yep things start to get too op at a certain point anyways

[@xAndrewWolf]

Right before the dlc I made a split build with blasphemous and moonlight it was so annoying having all my slots filled no diddy 😅I also used black knife

[@xAndrewWolf]

Great order and prince are good but it’s way easier not having to switch I was waiting for a dual cast tool

[@migraine9402]

​@@xAndrewWolf the new dual cast staff is goated on the right hand with a dueling shield on the left hand for viscerals

[@tylercurrey3456]

I personally have my int/fai at 46/46 currently and my incant scaling is 310

[@virtualsaturn89]

Man, when I first looted that sword and read the item description I screamed "blue flame is back!" internally and was sooo disappointed at the performance. Really hope the scaling gets fixed in a patch it doesn't need S scaling but as long as it gets spellbuff at least comparable to the weaker staffs it will still be fun.

[@pinnacleevolution1634]

Yeah I don't expect a sword to be the best staff in the game but at least I expected it to be better than the early game staff that can't even be upgraded.

[@YEY0806]

Dark Souls 2 really spoiled us with good weapon catalysts

[@Beanie-Babe]

yo man, respect the hell out of you. been watching the rankings over the past week or so, your info is always so accurate and you provide a great insight on all the reasons why you rank things the way you do. youre the goat man

[@Grenzgengar]

Yo Youwy i really liked how you talked about max level in this one. Would love if you could always do that in your videos if it fits. Really helps with my max level loadout. There are not many creators who talk about that in their videos (which is understandable)

[@WinstonWolfe21]

I love how much info Youwy shares in these vids. U should be proud of the quality of ur ER vids sir. 🙏

[@translucentsquirrelofdarkn7138]

it would be cool if the carian sorcery sword had a hitbox when casting melee sorceries, so like with carian slicer you'd hit with both the spell and the sword at once, giving it an edge.

[@sheriffjesus8]

I'm always excited when you post a new video, I know what I'm going to watch during my post work workout.

[@fishman432]

Goated video goated streamer day 10

[@lordtrinen2249]

I was praying they'd add something like Staff of the Great Beyond. Love spellcaster builds and hated having to switch catalysts with hybrid builds. I expected the versatility to come at the cost of a damage reduction but I'm fine with that. Also like the staff design.

[@Zetheek]

Had no idea we had a staff that could use both till I saw this comment, thanks gonna go get it

[@Affiiance]

Killing it with the videos dude!

[@PoisonJarl71501]

One of the most informative videos I’ve seen for Elden ring. Bravo brother. Exquisite detail

[@kurokaen1234]

Love the staff of the great beyond, i swear miyazaki reading my mind somewhere cuz i wanted an ability to sekiro deflect/lies of p perfect guard and a staff that can cast spells and incantations

[@liamstrand9295]

Thank you 🫡

[@Kylekashi]

The streak remains alive!

[@sshoefo]

its nice to see you growing so fast youwy deserve 100% of it man

[@faceface8802]

You’re killing these videos brotha.

[@user-zp8kj2cl9g]

HOLY CRAP almost 100k subscribers! And half of that in less than a year... Congratulations, man🎉🎉🎉

[@redajun2593]

Unbelievably good info in this video. Subbed

[@Ofs182]

Showing the chart at the beginning is a big W. Followed.

[@gamefreak7273]

That is an amazining video of explaining everything in details.thnx

[@danielpatterson1576]

I plan to use the Great Beyond because I like having a mix of incants and sorceries, but I’d rather have the convenience of not having to constantly manage the menu since there are other ways of boosting my spell damage beyond just base scaling. It is nice to know though that Dryleaf boosts all the Order incantations too, not just Multilayered. I use Discus a ton, so that’ll be convenient for the off hand passive as a replacement for the Golden Order seal.

[@jstar3382]

Maternal staff has the best arcane scaling so now that's the bleed staff

[@vexoarr]

Bro you've been gaining like 10k subs a day! 100k by tomorrow, I'm calling it! Keep up the good work!

[@SecretMarsupial]

8:00 the best way to mitogate the damage ossue os by using the appropriate talismans as both versions of the the incant and sorcery talismans that boost damage can be used together

[@Drthulhu]

My og character is a 50/50 split faith int build. I can’t wait to get into this dlc!

[@Ratt611]

Epic content lately, one of the best ER channels. ❤

[@trunkmonkey8792]

Nice video bro😄

[@requiem9167]

Just beat the dlc and now im watching all of your videos lol

[@programmer437]

Staff of the great beyond is great for a 60 int/faith build that wants to primarily use sorceries but also have access to things like golden vow, law of regression, and heals.

[@dethblak13]

Astounding that From went through all of the work putting so many new casting options in just to make them obsolete before the dlc came out.

[@Deadpooln2b]

am happy the int/faith staff is good, am using golden order seal with sword of night and flame, dlc gave me a lot of cool int/faith equipment, like relannas twin light greatswords and the scriptsmith weapons. also new faith sorceries. DLC SO FUCKING GOOD

[@jasonmendoza2044]

Yep I was glad I decided to go with my Fai/Str dude for my first play through 🦾

[@AlexanderForsman]

Dragon communion seal is better at lvl +150 as it laks a softcap after 30 for bothe Arcane anf Faith

[@Jakieboi]

Great video! No adds, no bs, straight to the point! Have my Sub!

[@mikeauditore881]

Bro is out here producing 10/10 vids, I'm loving the info! ❤

[@bud_kleric2771]

We need more catalysts that casted both and or a weapon to cast incantations

[@somersaultinggiraffe1901]

Dryleaf Arts with casting L1's would be peak

[@hellhound_4286]

one thing with the staff of the great beyond, it lets you have incants, sorceries, AND a weapon all at once. sure its not "optimal" as far as numbers go, but the utility is undeniable!

[@vicantirasumovski4375]

Stuff of Great Beyond is great to have all the utility and buff spell at your beck and call paired with weapons like Sword of Night and Flame and Rellana's Twin Blades that scales from Int and Faith.

[@kevinhadj9714]

Power stance the Carian Sword with the Frozen Needle main hand for some fun spamming frost bolt and night shards. The spell cast then replace the Ash of War button. *pew pew pew* :) I feel there is an easy way to make it more viable though, while not completly broken : just make the sorcery scale off of DEX in addition to INT (similar to Frenzied Seal).

[@Th3_Raven]

I'm hoping that the Carian Thrusting Sword is bugged given how bad its spell scaling seems to be. That and if Fromsoft were to actually display its casting value on the weapon info (below the critical multiplier like on staves) it would be a lot nicer.

[@SilverShadow1617]

So my Tarnished is Level 581 with 99 in Int and Faith. Unfortunately I was disappointed in the sense that none of these new catalysts actually improved my spell casting, but at least with the Staff of Great Beyond it gives me a 3rd catalyst to cycle to so I can use all my spells seamlessly and summon my mimic before switching back to the better staff and seal I have when I need my own spells to be just a little more potent.

[@hunterpalmer3183]

10:20 IT DOES WHAT!! I need to know more, my current build is a golden order build by using all the rings of light spells. I would really love a video on the dry leaf seal and other equipment to know how all of this interacts with each other, so far as i know no one is really talking about the seals and spells of the dlc.

[@Masterchiefs187]

I don’t think Youwy broke his upload streak. What a G

[@The.Nasty.]

I will say… after a little testing, the Carian Sorc Sword pairs EXCELLENTLY with the Carian Thrusting Shield and its Shield Strike skill… You get a block and a strike attack combo from the shield, and the spell casting and thrusting from the sword. I was surprised at how smooth mixing up the physical attacks were, it was a build that felt good once you played with it for a bit.

[@d1ode]

Never clicked on a video so fast

[@asdrewyeq]

Whats good youwy GANG! 🐐

[@manab787]

Staff of the great beyond is all that ive wanted for a pure caster. I can cast everything at max speed with azur in the offhand and have the convenience of not checking if it was a sorcery or incantation. Just experiment with all combinations!

[@jessehudson9566]

I’m still rocking the frenzied flame seal but I might have to try out that dry leaf seal for my troubles

[@blxby3376]

good shit

[@tylerherdman1755]

Was invading the other day and someone looking to duel was wielding the stave that casts incantations and spells, and he messed me up big time. In my almost 60 hours of invasions have never come across someone so untouchable.

[@King_of_Red_Lions]

To be fair on the Carian Sorcery Sword, it's more about the utility of it than the raw stats, being able to whip out sorcery on the fly without having to cycle through weapons or shields, it was never designed to be a powerhouse so much as giving you another playstyle option, in a way it's practically its own weapon class.

[@drurywalker]

I really appreciate the testing and time and speed of these videos, but I think it would be really funny if you ranked something that we only got like 2 of, just to see the thumbnail saying ALL 2 _____

[@juliancamacho3837]

Damn bro you even made a chart with complimenting level for the staffs and seals!? Damn bro you kick ass

[@gingerbread3686]

5:00 There are some int arc weapons. Both of the Echoaid weapons scale with these stats more or less directly. Especially their ash of war so paired with those that staff might not be the worst option to use.

[@alienated8113]

What I love about the staff of the great beyond and Metyr is the implication that sorceries and incantations share the same origins.

[@xXLunatikxXlul]

Same in Demons Souls iirc

[@DanielFerreira-ez8qd]

oh, it's no implication. The spiral incantations are actually sorceries, for example, but they're wielded to the player as an incantation. The whole lore of the spiral makes it pretty damn clear that incantations and sorceries are both cosmic in nature.

[@jimmusthegrimmace]

for the staff of teh great beyond, its great for niche builds that actually use the utility side of one of the spell schools and damage from the other. i play str/fth, i would love this staff as it lets me use one casting focus to apply both scholar shield to my fingerprint and my faith buffs/healing.

[@mannytprimeministerofthemanate]

4:19 youwy trying his hardest to make fire rain do something and failing is hilarious to me

[@willybiggs-rj6qt]

a catalyst that casts spells and incants my dream come tru (i called it check the receipts)

[@butterz9066]

The staff of the great beyond is the first time ive enjoyed playing a caster type. It was so annoying to constantly be tabbing though spells and seals and weapons i just would rather jump attach with a hammer. But having the all in 1 even if its not peak performance is super fun.

[@Ecliptor.]

Agreed on the weapon catalyst. I think it's definitely good to have cool/fun stuff in the game that isn't quite optimal, but it sucks when they're so bad.

[@DARCYXD]

Had no idea you could use that sword for spells lol Was disappointed when i found it but thats a dope feature

[@venn2001ad]

I can still see a niche for the Carian Sword catalyst. Utility spells like the shield buff don't need a high Sorcery rating. Greatsword Phalanx is more about stagger and poise damage. Ice spells can still procc Frostbite, even with weak damage. It's actually a very narrow scope, but I think there is still a niche.

[@avEn_12]

the 100k subs are sooo closeeee😊

[@DJIronChef]

I've seen the thorn sorcery spell nuke so much stuff it's crazy. Good data. Spirit ashes? Oh man I'm hype. How good is Taylew ACTUALLY like an FSW Pokémon video lmao 🎉🎉

[@deedatkhan5072]

At level 713, dragon communion has higher scaling than golden order for some reason

[@LunarValkyria]

I kinda want to try some spell combos between sorcery and incantations. I feel like going 80/80 is kinda ridiculous so the great beyond staff is good for me. The most I see myself going is 60/60. Gravatation Missile + Multilayered Ring of Light sounds like a fun combo.

[@lorddragoon001]

I would like to point out that from my testing every seal seems to have it's own hidden scaling on weapon buff spells and fireknight seal consistently gives the highest weapon damage buffs. feel free to test it yourself.

[@HiroThatDude]

I spent 70 hours in the DLC just beat it and I only found one seal

[@Crustacean-ht1ug]

Skill issue

[@monhi64]

Kinda how I feel as a mage with zero spells and zero staffs found in about 30 hours. I’m used to 99% of rewards being weapons I can never use without respeccing but this is a lil shitty. Definitely doesn’t help that I’ve heard even the already small number of new spells and staves are shit anyways

[@Crustacean-ht1ug]

@@monhi64 if you haven’t got most spells in thirty hours that’s a you problem

[@monhi64]

@@Crustacean-ht1ug lol you’re real miserable dawg ain’t ya. Like why are you here just leaving loads of hate comments

[@quise1933]

@@Crustacean-ht1ugbot acc 0 subs created your account 3 weeks ago 💀

[@MaeIsOkay]

I really really hope the Sorcery Sword gets buffed. Having a weapon catalyst is awesome, but it just sucks so bad. I loved the Demons Scar in 3 so i hope we can have a good magic version of it some day

[@gryphus878]

You provide the most objective opinions on stuff and also the best information out there, keep up the good work !

[@Chonus]

If you have 2 fire knight seals the messmer flame incants do a little more dmg at 80 faith than using the Erdtree Seal in your main hand, much like how dual wielding Giant's flame seals are still optimal for maximizing those spells, despite having significantly lower scaling than the Erdtree.

[@Heapfael]

Put a staff of the great beyond into the hands of a mimic tear with 68int/35 Faith and enjoy your artillery firing Rann's Dark Moon *and* Scarlet Aeonia. Killed Bayle accidentally first try with that setup.

[@Myname-xj8ws]

Bro REFUSES to miss an upload 😭

[@derekwedge09]

For the seals that boost a spell group is it better to have two or just one in the office hand? Thinking of fire Knight and the one that boosts spiral spells

[@ItachiUchiha-69]

Hey, test briars of sin with the staff of the guilty for me please? I found it strange you didn’t include it. Wouldn’t that be the most optimized option or is the staff you mentioned better?

[@BdrRm]

Hey Youwy, I know this isn't related to the video but I wanted to tell you in case you are interested (or if you are reporting bugs to fromsoftware). I fought the final boss with parrying and I noticed 2 wierd things: If you parry the blood slash (not the thrust) you get the parry but the fire trail will still come out and explode behind you, while in most cases of other parryable bosses, a parry will completely negate the attack's after effects. The second issue is that it seems the boss's parry counter resets on phase transition, so if you got 2 parries and the boss goes to p2, your parries are gone which is a BS that even Malenia didn't have.

[@cypherb5486]

The utility of the Staff of the Great beyond makes it the best catalyst

[@somerandom3048]

Carian sorcery sword was fixed so that now it does just a bit less damage than carian regal scepter (I think)

[@cosmicwire6356]

on the other hand, the sorcery sword definitely has the best light attack string out of any other catalyst

[@Jay_Z33]

thx. waiting for DLC unique ashes of war tier list ^^

[@Rannulfus]

they could make weapon catalysts better by making it so that the spells cast with them scale with dex and/or strength. Would make it niche to a hybrid build but a good niche to fill.

[@yacmoth770]

Maxing out Carian sorcery sword made it clear it isnt for damage lmao, its very utility made only to he used for support or protective spells

[@peterchestnut5297]

It’s a shame none of the new casting tools replace the old top tier ones at meta level. Buffing certain spells and incantations is nice, but people wanna build the new equipment

[@mayday2237]

I think that chart needs to account a bit for builds that have specific stat spreads and buffs for their particulars relevant to performance. Carian Glimtstone staff is specifically the best staff for a magic sword casting build because it's so good already that it's buff pushes it ahead for that use, and it's not one you offhand just for the boost. Because a retaliation shield or the new carian shield are your go to offhand. Similarly the dragon communion seal is unparalleled on any build that makes heavy use of Arcane, like bleed builds and ESPECIALLY dragon communion builds. and the clawmark seal is specifically good for alongside the misbegotten shortbow allowing strength builds to have range and utility. I think while some seals and staves fail at their job it's important to consider that not every one of them is meant to be used by a primary spellcaster.

[@jacksonwilliams5399]

I wish they had some more weapon catalyst. Not to say the Sorcery sword isn’t cool, but I wish there were some more in other weapons types. Like live me a spear staff, that would be sick as hell.

[@MetalthinkerYT]

The thing of the great beyond is the combos and that you can and should pair it with azur's.

[@_lalapop]

just found this channel after the dlc. it's no nonsense, all information from a likable source. keep up the excellent work

[@brucel6413]

Came from TikTok. Your vids are great🎉

[@darkphoenix2]

So much goofy balance in this game. I feel like things could be so much simpler so that optimizing damage didn't require constant experimenting with a stat as inscrutable as "incant scaling". Of course, damage doesn't matter that much if you can't even use half your spells on a boss because they're too slow for how little damage you get.