Buffs and Mono Scaling Spells (must watch for hybrid builds) Elden Ring

[@Chrightt]

Yep, realized I forgot to mention Clayman's Harpoon which is the only non-unique weapon with base magic secondary that can still be infused with an ash of war. It is especially good with scholar's armament for some bonus damage while already scaling to int! Thanks for pointing that out. The Erdsteel Dagger scales to faith (but the scaling is to physical rather than fire or sacred) so this one is another option for faith buff users. Treespear (is unique unlike the previous two) has faith scaling and holy damage but can still be buffed as well. Weapons like these are especially good for buffs. Regarding a post on buff MVs, it is NOT the case that if an attack has 2 hits the damage of the buff is split into 50 + 50 rather than 100. However, depending on the damage MV of the buff, it can be reduced to 90 + 90, 50 + 100, etc. instead of getting the full 100 + 100. As for some other buffs that aren't mono-scaling buffs: 1. Frozen Armament applies 48 frost buildup to your weapon. It is like Bloodflame Blade without the additional fire damage (same rules apply and lasts 60s). This one is ok, but slightly weaker if you consider bleed = frost. 2. AoW buffs like Sacred Blade kind of suck. Sacred Blade gives 85 holy damage and only lasts for 20 seconds. This is a fraction of damage at a fraction of the duration and takes up the weapon art slot which becomes a big waste.

[@TheModernDayPhiIosopher]

Chilling mist asho of war is better than frozen armament but i havent done any extensive testing

[@abyss6722]

Does sacred blade really only give flat damage? I was under the impression it was ~10% of your weapon damage added as holy based on wiki users.

[@ripsterhipster5948]

I came here hoping for claymans harpoon analysis lol. Im not upset. I love your videos. I just had this idea for a build that hides behind a shield and can use the order seal to buff litany of proper death into a useful roll catching tool. I was convinced the claymans harpoon was the missing piece i needed to kake it work. Lol

[@tommylee2288]

Sacred blade on skeleton = no revival, also it did 4k hit on them compared to 1k hit on normal mobs.

[@iamniss1155]

Troll's Hammer is my favorite buffable split scaling weapon. You can't infuse it so you'll want a str build, but you can throw a fire grease on its already massive AP and fully buff it with Flame, grant me strength.

[@holdengoodall8213]

The biggest advantage with weapon buffs is that you can actually see the effect on your weapon, making it look so much cooler.

[@maxdragonslayer]

Down side all incantations can be stopped by players using a spell negating all the incantations you used making them not as effective in pvp though builds like this struggle in today's pvp any way (I miss dark souls 3) and are looked down on for using incantations in a fight

[@ShinnyMetal]

I really hate that Vyke's Dragonbolt isn't good. I just looks so incredibly cool but always sad to know I could be doing better with electrify armament every time but I suffer it for looks sometimes

[@intothekey]

Now that light rolls are a lot better now I've used it before to be able to wear more armor and still lightroll.

[@BoxyBrown717]

This is one of the few things DS2 did well, damage scaling calculation for buffs. Buffs in DS2 scaled up on bigger weapons with higher base damage, meaning the heavy weapons like the greatclubs got more elemental damage from the buffs than say curved swords. Just giving a flat elemental damage boost based on the catalyst scaling usually leads to the old DS1 darkmoon Falchion R1 spam builds since faster weapons always benefitted more from the flat damage addition over scaling it by the base damage of the weapon.

[@qwormuli77]

The split damage calculation was also much better and you could buff weapons with elemental damage already. None of these made them op, so I can't fathom why later games didn't do this.

[@EmissaryOfSmeagol]

DS2 did so many things well.

[@henriklarssen1331]

@@EmissaryOfSmeagol Yeah DS2 did more right then wrong. Making casting speed not be bound to DEX but something any Mage would use anyways with ATT makes so much more sense. The best NG+ with new enemies and items. Great build variety, high replay value through the world design too and so on.

[@Bertoleyus]

@henriklarssen1331 Hold up.​ DS2 NG+ was ass. The "new enemies" were just red phantoms that would kill you in 2 hits and had 6k hp.

[@henriklarssen1331]

@@Bertoleyus Maybe in NG+7 but not in NG+1. The Phantoms were still something new you had to deal with. Together with the other new Enemies like the Falconers. Same goes with the Boss encounters like Freja and all the new items. Its still the only Souls Game that tried to spice up the NG+ and its baffling that they never trid to improve that feature or at least keep it.

[@HCG]

I stumbled onto this channel and my god man, what exquisite content. I've been looking for extremely in depth content on data, and you happen to be creating exactly what I was looking for. Great work--I know how long videos like this take, so thank you for putting in the time.

[@Chrightt]

Thanks! Welcome aboard.

[@nickcarter5569]

Dude right??! That makes 2 of us. You’re content Chrightt is seriously second to none in terms of depth and seemingly width given due time. Also, and this is gonna sound cheesy lol, you’re like the Elden Ring sensei dude, just with like the actual words of wisdom you fit into your videos and what not. There’s a book that was written by a real master samurai named Miyamoto Musashi around about 1645 called the book of five rings (this guy was basically the living sekiro lol). You may have heard of it. Some of the things you say though pertain not only to ER but to life in general. Reminds me of that book a lot. Truly such a cool and unique approach to teaching video game theory crafting dude lol. Your subs may just pick up something they didn’t expect. 😌☕️🙏 TY.

[@Chrightt]

@@nickcarter5569 I actually know a lot about Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. They had very interesting stories to read! I hope my methodology can carry over for people to learn about more than just Elden Ring but also how to think! So, thank you for writing this. 😊

[@TheValiantBob]

It is such a shame that mono-scaling spells is a thing. It makes me wonder if it is intentional or a bug, although at this point I feel like it is probably intentional. When I discovered the clawmark seal, I was so excited about the prospect of being able to use a heavy weapon with a weapon buff that was also increased by my strength as it would have been a really neat niche.

[@mes0gots0its]

These videos are super informative and incredibly underrated. I'd be interested in seeing a twinblade video among the next few weapon videos you do, since that's what I'm running right now and trying to figure out a good build for them.

[@plsdontbanmeagainyoulibtards]

I absolutely love twin blades. Whenever I see someone using them I pull out my buckler for the freest parries in the game ;}

[@jamesm783]

worth pointing out the Clayman's harpoon. It's an outlier, a weapon with built in magic damage that can be infused, and buffed. for an int build standard infusion + scholar's armament can do some chunky damage.

[@SAVAGENEDVED]

Interesting, never tried that weapon out

[@MadeOfMush]

The Erdsteel Dagger is a Faith analogue. However its innate Faith scaling goes into its physical damage rather than Holy/Fire.

[@nopenoperson9118]

@@MadeOfMush Faith-scaling physical damage? Visions of Blue Dancer Charm

[@austinteed3248]

Claymans Harpoon + scholars armament + spinning weapon

[@raikaru0]

@@MadeOfMush The Treespear is the actual faith version

[@Rhodare]

I have to say these have by far been the most informative and interesting videos on fromsoft buildcrafting I’ve seen. I can’t wait to learn more :)

[@generationxpvp]

Hey thanks for all the number crunching you do behind the scenes so you can explain these concepts in a way for my troglodyte brain to understand. You are a valuable asset to the ER community 🙏

[@opalescent4694]

Personally, and I know it's really easy to just swap infusions at every grace, but I like weapon buff spells because they give me versatility. It's also the fantasy of being able to throw a buff on before a fight and get some extra damage.

[@sebastiantirado3675]

Along with other comments, what about Claymans Harpoon? Natural dual scaling and can be buffed

[@Chrightt]

Forget to mention this exception.

[@colorgreen8728]

Claymans is great with frost scaling

[@tommylee2288]

Spell buff may do more damage on faster weapon but it dosen't mean much if you can't hit as much due to short reach. Also, nagakiba is awesome on the horseback.. fast swing with reach..i pull my hair out trying hit trarscrab with a spear on horseback.

[@bennyboi5953]

I'm using standard infused clayman's harpoon With 34str 19dex and 60int. One handed it does 571 damage. Buff with scholars armament using academy staff puts damage up to 799 1hand & 836 2hand. Use glintstone pebble, pop off the true combo and you have won the duel.

[@AlekTrev006]

I’ve ‘mained’ the Clayman’s ever since snagging Frozen Spear - one of the greatest weapon arts, IMHO - and usable through the entire game ! I know if I make it Magic instead of Cold (with Whetblade) I can then add Scholar’s Armament for a huge attack boost (at high levels of magic / staff scaling)… and you can still use Frozen Spear effect… but it just becomes “Magic Spear”, basically - and loses All of its Frost effect buildup 😒. I’m guessing at SOME point it makes sense to make this change, as you’ll probably get high enough Int / Scaling to make up in raw-damage what you lose from it not having Frost any longer ?

[@Toogzoog]

I love the building progression of knowledge in this series, and I'm eager to see it all through.

[@andrew6233]

One thing I’d be really curious about is if you could look at the greases in elden ring. I don’t understand how they work, or if any are really good, or if there’s any kind of scaling involved. Could be a cool video

[@BigHatLoganGaming]

greases add a flat amount of damage in most cases, but sleep, bleed and poison grease will scale to your arcane if put on a buffable arcane weapon (ripple crescent axe and halberd, and varres bouquet which also has innate bleed). frostbite and rot don't increase build-up dependant on any stat edit: drawstring grease applies faster and adds more buff, but lasts for less time.

[@joearnold6881]

Playing an Int/dex, my early game was using the bandits curved sword, with the night rider flail as backup whenever I needed Strike attacks. This was the whole time that my Int was still relatively low (below ~40-45) Magic buffing either of those always did a good chunk higher damage than magic infusion.

[@TrueComboKing]

I hope vykes dragonbolt gets a buff…it’s absolutely one of the best looking self buffs imo but taking 35% extra lightning dmg is way too much

[@philfedorowick]

I really think that vykes dragon bolt should increase your equip load by a pretty drastic amount, maybe even something as crazy as 75-80%, which means if you sit closer to 50% weight, you can get down to a light roll but you will still be mid rolling if you're running right up against that 70% barrier you're gonna have to lose a few pieces of armour

[@Lestat13TheVampire]

These videos are the best. The typical-case breakdowns like "what's the damage like if you have X-Y-Z stats" really help show off realistic usefulness.

[@brk1988]

thank you for the information. I may not understand it all at first, but I'm glad I have this to refer back to when I don't know something.

[@Makszi]

Another nice thing about Bloodflame Blade is that the fire sticks to the target and the status build up continues further after you strike the target and it ignites.

[@fiddlenn]

man, your videos unlock ideas in my braaaain. keep it up, mang

[@cursedvanity]

im sorry it took so damn long for me to sub; you words at the end were really inspiring and i hope the bigger pvp'ers in the community will utilize your data and help grow your channel. thanks for the hard work!

[@Chrightt]

Np! It's my job to be convincing enough for the sub :P Glad more people are on board.

[@Kazz963]

I'm on the end game currently at 50 faith on a hybrid buff build, with a normal sacred seal, no wonder why i felt that my build was to weak LMAO. And the fact that most of the final bosses are ALMOST inmune to holy damage make it much worse, i was dual weilding schytes that scale with faith and deals holy damage, and from soft decides to give the end game bosses 80% holy damage negation :(. I was forced to go for a buff build to use my faith points. this videos are being so much, thanks to you now i know that i need to go for the godslayer seal with my build, THIS VIDEOS ARE SO MUCH HELPFUL, KEEP ON, THANK YOU FOR SHARING WITH THE COMUNNITY :D

[@piedpiper1172]

Grave Scythe with Lightning Armament my friend. Grave Scythe is just an excellent reaper all around. Keen or heavy infuse as appropriate to your stats and then cast electrify.

[@IanImperial19]

Awesome content as always

[@Rizzolts]

Love the content, well presented and thorough guides into the game mechanics without over hyping, it’s refreshing

[@zacharybrown3010]

Another outstanding vid. No thoughts on Freezing Armament though? And how about those Ashes of war that add a buff, like Sacred Blade? Curious as always to hear your thoughts

[@Chrightt]

I tried to make this video about mono-scaling type buffs otherwise it would be even longer. But you're right. I should add a pinned comment. Frozen armament doesn't scale to intelligence and adds a flat 48 frost buildup to your weapon, so it isn't particularly strong. I would call it a weaker version of bloodflame blade because it also only lasts 60s but lacks the additional fire damage bonus. AoW buffs like sacred blade is far inferior because it adds a flat 85 holy damage for 20s. Not only is the buff many times shorter, it also lasts a fraction of the duration. AoW slot is a big part of Elden Ring, so I would not waste a slot on Sacred Blade.

[@krisv1038]

@@Chrightt thank you for actually pinning important information like this after responding to it in the comments, there's a lot of nuances in this game and channels like this help a lot.

[@shitaolin9439]

this channel is insane, this is information what I search for, with status and explanation objective, no “I think” no “ I guess”

[@listnode]

Absolutely in love with how well this community has compiled and archived the game's data. Doing some research for learning the mechanics of status as it pertains to fast weapons, and I remember being told that bloodflame blade is typically better than bleed or occult for fast weapons since you can get high ar from keen/heavy scaling as well as better bleed. Did some of my own math for 2h/paired hits on claws based on the status MV's and bf blades 40 per hit, and found this to be true, so I was confused seeing you say that venomous with blood is better bleed. Given how strong status is, I figured they might have nerfed it, so I checked the spreadsheet for an older version, which they have a bunch of archived, clicked the oldest one, and I was right. On 1.03.2 bleed status MV's for a paired claw hit was 90%+90%, now it is 60%+60%, which gives bloodflame blade a massive advantage thanks to its flat 40 bleed per hit. Anyways, great videos, theyve been pretty helpful in learning how this game works.

[@wittlest]

i'm insanely excited for some of your optimized builds. love the video!

[@edxlee]

Can't wait to watch this after work! Feels like taking classes again cept its fun to learn! 😂😂

[@Chrightt]

Have fun!😁

[@dvdivine1962]

What's the point of using buffs if infusions give more damage at the end of the day? Even just adding a little faith or intelligence just gives the weapon a higher ar.

[@Silv3rDragon]

Would love to see a video on "power stance" or dual wielding modifier difference vs one 2 handed of the same weapon in regards to poise, status and damage. I run 2 twin blades because it is fun and looks cool and feel like i do a lot more dps and status build up than if i just 2 hand one of them. Have also seen similar results when i use Starscourge vs a different colossal sword with even higher ar and then 2 handing for even more str bonus like Ruins greatsword.

[@Dopameme]

What about building int/dex or fai/dex and putting keen on your weapon, which would still let you use an armament buff?

[@anondev5679]

Love this analysis, imo go ahead and us with the math, its what we're here for! Your vids are great! Subbed and looking forward to your other videos.

[@falconyght7930]

Great video again!

[@Silveraxis18]

"the statistical analysis...its so beautiful!" -Raymond Holt (Brooklyn 9-9)

[@trekion5701]

Great video, here i present my vote for an upcoming video, heavy thrusting swords, there aren't many and I'd love to see your opinion on the godskin one!

[@thevikingofhardcheese4080]

Hey Chrightt, I’m currently in a brand new game (not new game +) of Elden Ring and I’m playing as Gandalf. I’m at level 115 and have my intelligence all the way up to 83 I believe, with the help of the intelligence knot tear and the twin sage crown. At this point it’s a pure int build and Im using deaths poker on maliketh but he’s infuriating! I still can’t quite get him with how agile he is. Would my int stats be more effective at around the 50s mark and those additional point put into faith for buffs? Lore wise I do think Gandalf would be a faith user seeing as he’s a maiar and can wield fire and lightning. I hope all is well. 🙂

[@DarthMunkyus]

Hey 👋🏻 I’m loving these videos. I’m still finding it hard to optimise my build, however these videos are extremely helpful. After watching your previous videos I switched my pure dex dual Katana build to a hybrid int/dex moonveil/ magic uchi. I love the unsheathe skill and all things considered switching just made sense. Going forward, I definitely need to think about further optimising my stats for my play style, so that I can increase my damage output. Adding cold infusion to the uchi could be helpful but i worried it won’t proc in pvp

[@OlyPhoenix86]

These videos are worth gold! Thank you!

[@username-ql8ox]

This makes me think that a pure faith build with a physical erdsteel dagger will be a fun build. I'll get to choose which buff to bring depending on the boss im facing while having access to quickstep/bloodhound step

[@Cheesedragon117]

I've been using Blackflame Blade on it to get the most out of the unique fully-charged R2s. That %-of-HP damage is just too much. For AoW oddly enough I stuck with Parry for bosses and Assassin's Gambit for exploration.

[@uvejota5451]

Useful info!

[@Chrightt]

Glad you think so!

[@ixiahj]

I was testing if scholar's weapon was better on Carian Thrusting Shield than just infusing it with magic because elemental infusions reduce its guarding capabilities. Its also like Clayman's Harpoon in which its buffable but with native magic damage. On the stat sheet, buffs give it 100 AR more for my 80 int character but for some reason, weapon arts deal more damage with infusions on instead of buffs by at least 300 points. My guess is buffs are calculated differently when used on weapons that cast piercing fang or impaling thrust. I kept mine infused because it beats having to buff the weapon when the buff wears off which is probably the biggest advantage of infusions over buffs.

[@Wayofwar]

I appreciate your content. I very rarely comment, so from me, this is huge praise. I have been working myself to discover the mechanics that govern the amazing world that is Elden Ring. I wish you all the best and hope you continue to create. From your perspective, it’s too bad that most people will be attracted by the “Best Weapon Ever” boisterous click bait that dominates my stream. I notice you using a number of spreadsheets in your videos. For example poise damage and AR calculators. Are there ones you would recommend? Where do you source your information? Thanks again

[@Chrightt]

I make some of the sheets (i.e. my staff video) or get sheets I can verify are correctly made. I have them compiled on my discord! discord.gg/h8Wxa2fbXG

[@attacheli9591]

Chrightt, could you make a greataxe guide next? Really wanna to do a cool viking build

[@Chrightt]

Will get there, but not for the next few :( Finishing up a few more vids already planned.

[@attacheli9591]

@@Chrightt Thats ok! Thanks

[@tonyogar6936]

Thanks Chrightt... Much appreciated.

[@TheG119YT]

I… Still like Black Flame Blade… Old Lord talisman really helps it out in terms of usability, add in Flames Grant Me Strength and Golden Vow with extra duration and it’s hitting a Fire buff comparable to Scholar’s armament. After FGMS it hits higher than Lighting on top of its Dot dmg. You can run towards an enemy, buff, dodge, dodge, dodge, and still get a quick Weapon Art off like Double Slash or Blade Dance. Needs Old Lord’s tho without it the time to buff and get hits in is all the more stressful. With talisman, it’s actually usable.

[@jazzyjeremy93]

Every time I see you post I’m mad at cuz I gotta stop what I’m doing and learn a bunch 😭

[@knusperkeks2748]

I've made a build that uses two Erdsteel Daggers with Flame/Sacred Infusion (depending on circumstances) and it's funny how you can use them with base stats from a lv 1 Thief, pump Faith to 80, then use your remaining levels on Vigor and Endurance, then equip heavy armor and become a tank whilst also dealing lots of damage. The main benefit here is that 80 Faith gives you crazy good healing incantations as well. There is often openings to heal against even tough opponents. Why use Colossal weapons that weigh a ton if you can instead use a dagger or a katana that scales it's damage through bleed, or in my case, the unique scaling with faith that Erdsteel Dagger has? A word about Faith: I think it's a no-brainer to get faith up to at least 15 for the nice QoL spells like Flame, Cleanse me and Bestial Vitality, and if you're willing to go up to 25, then Blessing's Boon and especially Golden Vow become available. Golden Vow is so crazy good, I find it hard to justify not picking it.

[@deterlukehart5681]

Starts video… pauses… grabs popcorn…

[@OtepRalloma]

This was a fun guide! Are you planning on making a build specifically for quality mixing with magic, or with infusions? I'm still divided on whether I want to go for a quality faith build (and how that would work), or if I want to just go faith focus and have enough str/dex to use the weapons I want to (mostly claymore, golden order GS, and blasphemous)

[@Chrightt]

Infusion tends to be better for lower level pvp while buffs work better when your char is over meta level (125/150). I will talk more about mixing in buffs for PVE builds in the future and how to make interesting hybrid builds.

[@OtepRalloma]

@@Chrightt Nice! I guess my main question would be, is a 25/25 Str/Dex with 50 Faith better with buffs or infusion? I'm not looking to be super optimal (I wanna use specific weapons) but I do want to at least do the best I can with the stats I have

[@hellion1193]

First of all, thank you for all the good information! I was wondering what would be the case if we could take advantage of infusion AND weapon buff. For example, I am currently playing around with a rapier and scholar's armament. At 30 dex 60 int, the keen infusion is superior to standard. Then by using scholar's armament on top, we could be surpassing magic infusion (haven't checked the exact numbers, but I think so). But then again, I didn't think about the opportunity cost that you mention. Also I guess we also need to consider that mixed damage has to go through more than one defense type...anyways, amazing content! I will be looking forward to your next videos! I am really interested in hybrid builds.

[@Chrightt]

As you can see from the video, the Nagakiba is already in keen infusion mode. I could invest in more dex instead of int, but that would mean I might just as well invest in pure dex and use a grease since we want the int in order to cast sorceries in the off-hand (hybridize basically).

[@hellion1193]

@@Chrightt I see, I didn't notice the keen infusion. Thank you very much for the reply!

[@soleil2947]

The best argument to make for this approach is with Clayman's Harpoon Keen infused, with Scholar's Armament on top. Or as mentioned in the video, weapons with low base physical damage and high dex scaling work great with Electrify Armament due to the lightning damage type penetrating defenses and scaling with dex

[@Friedslick6]

@Chrightt, the ALL-KNOWING! I recently made a LV100-restricted DEX/ARC build for a competition. I ended up with 22 STR, 32 DEX, 31 ARC and two twinblades, eleonora's twinblade and a cold godskin peeler. I was originally going to go for two godskin peelers, and give the second one a blood-infused Seppuku, but couldn't sacrifice the weight when I needed to account for high-defence armor and 56+ poise. My question is, would I have been better off with the blood godskin peeler for the extreme haemorrhage build-up? Or was I correct to stick with eleonora's twinblade for the bloodflame speeding up the frostbite proc cooldown? One factor that I can't account for, but did consider regardless, is a likely nerf to bleed build-up in future patches.

[@Chrightt]

Are you powerstancing twinblades? Buildup on 2-handed twinblades is faster than powerstance twinblades (the only superior move of powerstance twinblades is the jump attack). As for Eleonora's twinblade, it won't beat a bleed infused godskin with seppuku on your offhand. I would do a pure bleed build instead of using a cold godskin if you have no investment in int. Your loss in AR in the cold would outweigh the cold's usefulness.

[@LittleBlueJug]

A video request - Occult Infusion - what is it best used for? (if anything!) I'm thinking that you may want it with a powerful weapon that has innate bleed, like the grave scythe. For weaker weapons that attack faster, I feel like you would otherwise be always better with the blood infusion. For weapons without bleed, you would often be better just using standard/keen/heavy/quality infusions and buffing with an arcane scaling spellcasting focus.

[@-Comet.]

It's really useful for builds using a dragon communion seal, though more for pve than pvp. You can use Occult to use pretty much any weapon along with the seal without requiring much (if any) investment into intelligence, strength, or dexterity. This allows you to pump vigor, endurance, mind and arcane. *I mean a dragon communion seal build that is focused on using faith spells to attack, not one that's actually relies on melee.

[@Chrightt]

Occult infusions are good for an arcane/X hybrid build on a weapon that already has innate infusions. Bleed infusions overwrite the bleed at a cost of higher AR loss and poorer scaling on the arcane, so if your innate bleed is high (like claws) you're better off on occult especially if you have more arcane than other stat investment.

[@remythenerd7985]

Does this mean Godslayer seal is best if you're only using incants to buff?

[@BaBaNaNaBa]

one thing I want to point out is the buff duration. that's why I generally would say that flame grant me strength is pritty weak in pvp or fast paste boss battles. cause the buff lasts relatively short and you won't have time to reapply it. therefore I only chose buffs for pvp/ fast paste boss battles that at least last 60 seconds.

[@mateosalguero]

Hey Chrightt big fan here! Your videos helped me optimize my build :) Could you do a video about countering bleed builds? Everybody seems to run those builds at 150.

[@Chrightt]

I will be doing a video on debuffs (although I'm not sure how counterable it will make bleeds right now as they still apply even if you dodge 😂).

[@mateosalguero]

@@Chrightt I know -_- the only counter can be golden parry but it's too risky sometimes, I'll be looking forward to that video and thanks for your answer

[@juliofoolio2982]

Love the pep talk.. it’s cheesy and er.. nerdy, but I feel totally pumped about build about build optimization. Btw let’s say you have a pure strength build with 80 str is it worth putting 12 into wisdom for blood flame or better to just use a grease? How about for the bloody star fist weapon? Or a claymore? Thanks for the great content!

[@Chrightt]

Depends on how slow the weapon is. If it's a claymore I'd just go with grease. If it's a fist, I'd go with bloodflame.

[@juliofoolio2982]

Thanks man!

[@ThePigKnight]

I don’t use weapon buffs (I still use body and aura buffs) on my hybrid builds because of the opportunity cost of using the FP to cast spells or weapon arts and the time during a fight spent rebuffing vs attacking or healing. And if you wanted to weapon buff on a no caster build resins in this game are so easy to get that it’s better to use those than spend the points just for the buff.

[@Chrightt]

greases are relatively weak forms of buffs (i.e. fire grease = 85 fire damage) and only lasts for 60s. Even at lower levels, you easily outstrip that. The good part about weapon buffs is they last relatively long, so typically one buff before entering the boss room is all you need.

[@MrRobotdragon]

@@Chrightt I second that. The lowest possible spell buff is 100, which gives an additional 75 damage for most spells for 90 seconds, which is 1.5x longer than what greases give. And a spell buff of 130/150 is easy to reach, which gives about 120 additional damage using spells. I usually use fast weapons, so I level my int and fth only up to the requirements of buff spells, and use frontloaded catalysts.

[@GiggaGMikeE]

Black Flame Blade is surprisingly good with a weapon using something like Sword Dance or Double Slice or Repeating Thrust. Physical skills that allow you to attack quickly.

[@Chrightt]

Black Flame Blade's status effect does not stack, so attacking faster only ensures status downtime is slightly less. The only upside to blackflame blade is sometimes bosses are immune to bleed or you don't have enough incantation scaling. Blackflame isn't bad, but as I said, it is only marginally better for having to reapply it every time.

[@lids34]

One of the best Elden Ring content creators, bar none.

[@natedogmarik2554]

Just dropping this, it really depends on what you're doing and what you're going for in your build. For pvp I guarantee you fights last not even a minute with how high damage is in this game. So using electrify, golden vow, flame grant me, lightning scorpion, lightning physix, and keen/heavy infusing depending on the build will absolutely be more optimal than a lightning infusion in this case. The damage increase is almost +300 in my testing and thats what wins you fights when you get your hits in.

[@Chrightt]

Yeah, for sure, but it also depends on your PVP level, whether or not you have the time to do all those buffs, and whether or not you're the type to weapon swap or stick to the same weapon. Many factors really. All I'm saying is weigh the tradeoffs and see which is most worth it for you.

[@natedogmarik2554]

@@Chrightt totally agree with you. good pvp etiquette is to let the player buff, but if they don't then its like eh what are you going to do i guess

[@PerennialSash]

I would challenge people to examine whether or not a simple resin would give you more damage or status effect buildup than a buff.

[@Chrightt]

Already did. Blood Grease adds 30 bleed buildup.

[@PerennialSash]

I figure bloodflame is one of the better weapon buffs since it gives both damage and bleed buildup. You're quite correct there. What I'm getting at is that drawstring greases give something like 110 elemental damage to a weapon. You need to be sure you're actually getting value out of a buffing spell relative to the hassle of using it over a bundle - considered in addition to whether you're even able to buff your weapon when using a hybrid build. Sure if you've got 300 something spellbuff on a seal, then lightning armament is adding about 225 lightning damage, but is that really worthwhile?

[@natedogmarik2554]

@@PerennialSash well you can supplement it with buff incants like golden vow and flame grant me strength. This is what makes the difference between a pure dex or pure strength build using infusions. Havent tested it yet, but one could argue greases are better in terms of applying elemental damage vs using a buff like electrify. Not sure whats better yet

[@DrApylon]

From what I have been finding out (RL125 dueler here, so if you play at significantly higher levels, this doesn't really apply) is that you want to use weapon buff spells/incants at FTH/INT below about 30 FTH/INT, after that it is better to go for FTH/INT based infusions (for weapons that can be infused). A good deal of the hybrid weapon builds (STR/DEX+INT/FTH but dont cast for dmg) dont benefit alot from increasing their casting stats very high, but receive a large benefit from pumping DEX/STR (depending on scaling.The infusible weapons, for the most part, will not benefit from Flame Art/Sacred/Magic/Cold for raw damage (Cold can win in the Raw AR department but the loss of scaling and base damage isnt great, you also dont get to choose prioritization of one stat), but a Keen or Heavy Infusion will decrease base DMG by a small amount and greatly improve the AR (which wont suffer from split damage issues) from the additional scaling from the single stat. For Strength Builds, Electrify Armaments is fantastic as the Fire Infusion is already very strong (and the Lightning Infusion, very weak), Dex Builds should go for Bloodflame as Lightning is easy to come by, Holy and Magic is great for both. But as I've stated, if you have over 30INT/FTH it simply isn't worth going for a physical infusion you can buff when you have the INT/FTH scaling infusions, at that point those infusions are significantly stronger than what you would need to invest to have it be worth using a weapon buff for, as if your buff runs out, and your AR drops 270-300 points and your base AR is like 300-400, when your infused version was rocking 500-600AR already, you are not going to be having a good time.

[@Chrightt]

Hello, all numbers were optimized for the video. As you can see, if you're at RL 125, buffs aren't good for you because infusions win out. At that level, it is very difficult for cold to win out in AR while it is very certain fire/lightning/magic will. The question is, does the extra AR get negated by split scaling.

[@natedogmarik2554]

Players should be using weapon buffs vs infusions from my testing. A 90s buff with electrify, golden vow, flame grant me strength, lightning scorpion, physix with lightning, all this boost your AR further than what infusions ever can. Most pvp exchanges dont last a minute given how much damage you do between any exchange. For pve its another story. The question for me is, is it just worth to go little faith more towards str or dex and just use a grease. That needs testinf

[@DrApylon]

​@@natedogmarik2554 it depends, the AR added by a grease is 85, which means for any .75 incant/sorcery scaling buff (scholar's armament, electrify weapon, Order's weapon, black flame blade, Vyke's Dragonbolt) you need a minimum of 115 INT or FTH scaling to match, but the opportunity cost of those levels can be significant, depending on a weapon's scaling, and build choice. But the real problem comes with how split damage works, 85 AR for no build investment and some crafting materials is pretty good, because you're not really losing anything if it gets reduced to about 10 or so damage, but if you invest a significant amount of levels to gain a high enough Incant/sorcery scaling to say, double that AR (so about 227), is the additional 170 elemental AR worth it? especially if you fight someone who is resistant? Would you have higher consistent damage numbers by running a split infusion like magic or flame art? For the most part, I have found that most of the time, a weapon buff is worth about 1/3 to 1/2 of it's AR on most weapons, its a nice bonus but I wouldnt recommend a build leaning into it. The exceptions to this rule are, Treespear and Holy damage and Clayman's Harpoon and Magic Damage, they are the only buffable weapons with split damage out of the box, which allows you to overcome the split damage penalties with massive elemental AR and high base physical damage to boot.

[@BlackDT]

I’m currently in my first playthrough and I’m around level 90 with a keen nagakiba. I have 32 dex with both the prosthesis heirloom and radagons soreseal making it 42. I also have 27 faith to use the godslayers seal. My current build has me using bloodflame blade alongside either flame grant me strength and/or golden vow. But I think it’s a little much. I end up buffing a lot, but Golden vow costs too much fp, flame grant me strength is too short, and bloodflame isn’t as strong as I wish it was. I’m also using black flame and flame cleanse but the former isn’t strictly necessary and the latter has a low cost. I’ve been thinking of respeccing to an arcane build and using an occult infusion once I get the black whetblade, would that be better? If I got myself to around 30 arcane would the bleed buildup outdo blood flame blade? My sword already does good damage so I’m fine with being a little weaker against regular enemies. It’s mostly bosses I’m thinking about. I wanna stack bleed fast.

[@sebastiantirado3675]

Also, when it comes to weapon buffs…which is better? Twin blades or claws? As they both do a lot of multi hits?

[@Chrightt]

Both utilize it pretty well. At this point it would be a preference between weapons. An important note is claws can use bloodflame blade while twinblades are better off as bleed infusion if it's a bleed build you want to play.

[@AndrewBrownK]

Daggers and curved swords I explain this in more detail in a different comment, but buffs DO NOT work this way anymore If you have a 100 damage flat buff, then it will add 100 damage to a single-part motion value, but it will get evenly divided across multi-part motion values. Basically, this was From’s way to quietly nerf that meta-gaming strategy since at least Dark Souls 3

[@TheMaxCloud]

So, when it comes to hybrid builds. We may need to wait for From Soft to release in a DLC something similar to Chaos Infusion or Deep Infusion from DS3. (They gave INT and FTH Scaling to weapons)

[@corpus1]

Yeah, I tried going Int/Faith to test out the Death sorceries, but it doesn't seem worth it at all. Not only are the Death spells kind of lackluster for their mana cost and stat investment, you're also giving up a huge chunk of melee damage compared to straight Int or Faith builds. The only exception is the Sword of Night and Flame, but it's really lame to be forced to use this one specific weapon all the time.

[@TheMaxCloud]

@@corpus1 indeed Its really hard to go Hybrid Death right now. Im still going with it though, I dont do PvP anyways

[@RalorPenwat]

At 2:45 ish, when talking secondary damage type, are we assuming primary damage type is physical? I can only immediately think of cipher pata and coded sword, but it's worth asking if these would be able to be buffed or not I feel

[@Chrightt]

Yes, we are always assuming primary damage type is physical. Weapons like Cipher Pata/Coded Sword can't be buffed.

[@gilangignasraharjo6138]

This guy sounds like an actual NPC in the game with that closing statement whoaaa

[@binnomajumder8999]

hey, for your next video, can you do a deep dive into arcane? I've hear so many conflicting things about how it affects the scaling of certain statuses, and how they work on incantations and sorceries. some surces say arcane only affects bleed,, but others say it affects bleed, poison, rot, maddness, and sleep. I don't know how status scaling works on incnatations when using the arcane scaling dragon communion seal either. does this status scaling also have a soft/hardcap with arcane? any info would be appreciated!

[@Chrightt]

Alright, I'll be working a on debuff based video.

[@binnomajumder8999]

@@Chrightt thank you! Much appreciated

[@Galaka100]

I always think of seppaku as a weapon buff (despite the grisly animation!).

[@fullmetalathlete]

At the end of the day tho, I don't wanna keep rebuffing my weapon every 70-90 seconds...maybe for walking into a boss fight...but if I don't win in that initial time frame, I'm not likely to try and rebuff mid fight...so for me, I usually just take the infusion...and for the AOW buffs, I typically agree except I think that flaming strike and lightning slash can have additional benefits, as they both do decent damage on their own, and have decent poise damage as well....if I lightning slash on top of a lightning infused weapon, I usually annihilate the first enemy I hit with the AOW, and then proceed to wreck the mobs following behind and then I can just hit the aow again when it's about to be up...I know mathematically the electrify armament + standard scaling ends up with more damage at 80 faith...but hell if i wanna rebuff constantly while im exploring around...I'm already gonna do Golden Vow and Flame Grant Me Strength, now i gotta do the weapon too? It never ends lmao....

[@communisticus191]

I'm curious, so you know how the 3 base arcane scaling weapons scale some greases to insane levels? Do those weapons also add the extra bloodloss buildup to blood flame blade, or are non grease buffs just a complete waste of time on them

[@Lilybun]

I tested this with a friend, blood flame blade bleed doesnt scale with with the arcane of those weapons.

[@communisticus191]

@@Lilybun hmm, that's kinda what I figured, thanks for testing it. Think it's worth mentioning scaling greases in the video since just the only way to get scaling sleep buildup, as well as an extremely effective method for both poison and bleed buildup. Though I guess it makes sense if this video was specifically non-grease buffs and those weapons only have unique interactions with greases

[@leftovernoise]

Thanks!

[@Chrightt]

No problem!

[@philipfahy9658]

Might be worth doing a quick video to show people how to create backup saves. I learned it from another youtuber, and it's saving me because I already liked to change builds a lot. Now with your channel, I have to change my builds about twice as much. First I get an idea, then I watch a few of your videos and realize there's about 20 different ways I could have optimized it better.

[@jkdavisable]

Question about buffing claws and fists. Since buffing your claw/fist applies to the other when you two hand it, does the effect of the buff applied get doubled?

[@Chrightt]

It doesn't get "doubled" but when your left hand claw hits, it does get the buff too. A single move that hits twice will tend to get a buff MV drop off (check pinned comment). 90+90 MV instead of 100+100 or something like that.

[@XxMichaelRayxX]

So the tldr is basically don't buff your weapon if your a dex/int hybrid thats reasonably leveled for pvp? I seen at lower int its better to scholar buff but as u hit bout 50ish+ int it's better up until 80 int where the raw scaling overtakes the infused magic dmg again? Around 125 meta stick with an infusion if your a balanced mix of melee n magic not skewed in 1 way or another?

[@Chrightt]

Yeah. For pvp, it is better to use infusions. Bloodflame Blade is the notable exception that can be run with minimal investment, but the other buffs are more PVE things.

[@pataponman280]

But you know what I like more than my arcane scaling dual bleed swords? KNOWLEDGE

[@davidmcmillan384]

Dam, that outro tho🤔💣💥🔥

[@NightDemon115]

Is there an updated version somewhere since they fixed arcane scaling? I'm getting the most spell buff out of every seal with 69 faith 50 arcane on my Dragon Communion seal at 349 spell buff.?? Just wondering what seal I should be using to buff my weapons with

[@Chrightt]

Arcane still does not scale spell-buff (the fix was for melee weapons). If you swap to a godslayer you will get even more spell damage from the buff.

[@IntrusiveThot420]

Hey there! On the off chance you see this, one of the most fun dark souls 1 PvE builds was Ricard's Rapier with Darkmoon / Sunlight Blade. The R2 attack was a series of extremely rapid jabs, which each applied a separate instance of the buff, allowing you to eviscerate bosses even on NG+7. Which Ash of War is best for rapid-fire buff application on bosses in Elden Ring?

[@Chrightt]

spinning slash (at close range), repeating thrust, wild strikes, double slash are all pretty good multi-application AoWs.

[@IntrusiveThot420]

@@Chrightt thanks famalam!

[@AndrewBrownK]

I explain this in more detail in a different comment, but buffs DO NOT work this way anymore If you have a 100 damage flat buff, then it will add 100 damage to a single-part motion value, but it will get evenly divided across multi-part motion values. Basically, this was From’s way to quietly nerf that meta-gaming strategy since at least Dark Souls 3

[@-miromax-5349]

@@AndrewBrownK okay, but how are wa's like spinning slash or wild strikes calculated then? There aren't set amount of hits for them.

[@AndrewBrownK]

@@-miromax-5349 entering the realm of speculation instead of what I've actually tested, it is probably divided for each chunk of fp/stamina drained. Even DS3 had these types of moves like chain spin and Splitleaf GS

[@FriendlyKillbot]

One thing I find kind of dumb about faith builds is that you can go pure faith, or you could just go faith up to =

[@dannyf1168]

I did not understand this. Going hybrid faith/int is better than pure faith with dragon communion?

[@FriendlyKillbot]

@@dannyf1168 Dragon Communion Seal scales off faith and arcane. Because most of the deep faith spells were made by donkey brained individuals, they all suck. You stop at 36 faith so you can still cast "ruin," then put the rest of the points into arcane and use the dragon communion seal. This will give you about even spell scaling if not more, and 15% on dragon spells which are some of the best faith spells. Ergo going 36 faith and then 50 arcane is better then 80 faith, and it costs less points. It does slightly change what weapons you can use, but this really doesn't matter too much. You can still bloodflame blade flame grant me strength almost any weapon you want, and do mondo damage.

[@Corundrom]

@@dannyf1168 not int, arcane, the arcane scaling of the dragon communion seal gives you more spell scaling going arcane than any other seal going pure faith(up to a certain point)

[@The3dsstuff]

So for low level invading, due to spell buff, it makes scholars arament/holy blade etc etc far better then direct infusion? and scholars arament costs 12 fp? so with a high level spell buff and low int you can get a very good and high buff off on a weapon early. or in other words low level invasions.

[@theblackbaron4119]

If you cast black flame mid combo it is faster to cast. So hit cast hit

[@sydorovich2532]

It is good for rebuffing after 5/6 seconds than.

[@rickytickruss1800]

Loving your content. Do you have a discord community?

[@Chrightt]

Not yet. Maybe I'll start one, but managing a community is a lot of work/time too :\

[@rickytickruss1800]

@@Chrightt I understand!! Appreciate all the work you're putting in already! Hope this game serves as a launching pad for your channel!

[@VVVHHHSSS]

The video I needed

[@dannyf1168]

Id liove to know how this matters at low levels. From 1 to 50 and then 50 to 100. Does one win out over the other?

[@thekaz5225]

You're a godsend.

[@hobosorcerer]

Damn, here I thought you meant int/faith hybrids by the title. Still interesting, but idk how you can leave out clayman's harpoon.

[@bjarnivalur6330]

Dang, for some reason, I thought Vyke's Dragonbolt was the same as Electrify Armament + Dragonbolt Blessing. I somehow never noticed that the ailment bars didn't appear when I used it.

[@Angels-Haven]

so what would be better for my faith build using dual wielded estocs? should I go 80 faith? or cut some of that to boost my dex? and should I just infuse my weapons with lightning/fire or use a weapon buff? I would like to make the best build possible

[@Chrightt]

If you use the faith for something else, you can use sacred/flame, but if you don't it is still better to just boost dex up. The point is considering buffs when trying to hybrid, not forcing the buffs to make you stronger.

[@Angels-Haven]

@@Chrightt yeah I'm gonna be using spells along with my swords, stuff like golden vow and catch flame and some of those sick lightning spells

[@nickcarter5569]

Do a faith build please! Maybe one with a katana, id love to be able to do that and still be damn strong. Ty for the deep dives! 😌☕️🙏

[@arch_imedes7108]

Why must non-bleed arcane builds get shafted at every turn

[@davedude4947]

How good are the consumable buffs

[@SamuraiDreamer]

I wonder, it is better to infuse my Nagakiba with lightning or using the electrify armament? Which one is better? For now i have 34 in faith and 55 in dexterity, i know faith is very low, 'cause i decided late to build my build on lightning.

[@Chrightt]

Lightning infusion in your case.

[@SamuraiDreamer]

@@Chrightt thanks, i really like how you explain everything, even if it is a little bit hard, for me, to understand due to my poor english and very bad grades in math lol

[@GMurph2336]

When’s the talisman video!?

[@Chrightt]

T_T many things to worry about. I'm working on it. I promise.

[@glandur2634]

Magic Nagakiba might win over Scholar Armament Nagakiba BUT the former is not versatile at all. Unless you want to change the infusion before every major fight, which is something you can easily do, the latter wins in my opinion. You can Frozen Armament a Keen Nagakiba, proc frost and while the enemy is debuffed, Bloodflame Blade to reset the frost + proc bleed and start over. Also, Blackflame Blade is not weak at all if the enemy has 40k HP; looking at you Fire Giant...

[@PCgameandgamer]

Wait vyke makes you take MORE lightning damage??? I went out of my way to fight litch dragon with it! I thought it was the other way around

[@Chrightt]

Yep, lmao. You die quicker!

[@adamkorzon2972]

I realized that I needed a 713 lvl toon,when I found every level you have to pay up more and more,like a bad car loan.Nope nope nope.I do not mind grinding but sorry not forever.Most games by the end of the story you are leveled or almost there.I calculated the time,and I might not ever live that long.I can say for sure Prince of death staff and Golden order.More fun whipping out Lightning spells and Magic in one character.Godslayer Blasphemous and Sword of flame and magic,and throw in the rot axe with a bad ass ash of ice or poison.Or hey want to wield a crag blade?No problem got all the dex I need,for that and the Gransax bolt..Who cares you can utilize them all.Not sure what build is best with what talisman's?No problem find out for yourself.That way if you do play a toon online you want to keep 120-200 you do not have to have 10 toons to find out what you spent hours building kind of boring you.I have a legit 84 and 120 and a 713 and I found I rather play offline on the 713.More of a PVE.I played dark souls Fallen order and love the parries.I got used to seeing how much poise they had though.Helped when you had multiple enemies.And the timing feels different from both Jedi and souls.They draw a bit weird in this game.And that Horah lou stomp.Like common dude you really got to hang up your leg forever like that?The movements are less unnatural,That happens when you fight things larger.In real life with our body mass these fragging people would smash us into little pieces.Let alone could we even pick up one of those Weapons some are bigger than us.

[@sydorovich2532]

Blackflame is very good vs high hp non-bleedable opponents, especially in coop.

[@GMurph2336]

Yeah blackflame, the fireball is good. Blackflame blade however, is not because it doesn’t last long enough.

[@communisticus191]

@@GMurph2336 use it with deadly sin and it auto applies to the enemy when you are near, just melting everything