By GARRETT BABB
Staff Writer
Incantations are easily in my opinion the best part of Elden Ring as a whole, they provide the player with a vast amount of utility and damage types with varying effects and ranges. But because of the player’s limited amount of spell slots they can utilize in the game, many players wonder which incantations are the best to run in your faith build. Despite the fact that there are different types of faith builds that you can use and you can focus on one type of damage for more effectiveness, I’ll be ranking these spells not based on the builds they go with but instead on their overall individual usefulness in a general build.
5. Flame Cleanse Me
This spell would likely be considered lackluster or not as useful as many of the other damage-based spells on this list, but this spell is the only spell that alleviated the player from one of the most annoying things in the entire game: scarlet rot. Scarlet rot is something the player gets afflicted with quite often throughout the game and without the ability to fend off this brutal affliction the player can easily find themselves dying either directly or indirectly from Scarlet Rot. Many of the hardest bosses in the game also afflict the player with Scarlet Rot, and it is extremely detrimental to the player if they’re stuck in a boss fight while constantly losing their health. So because this spill simply lets you completely negate scarlet rot, I think it deserves a spot in the top five just because of its usefulness. Oh, and it also gets rid of poison (you’ll maybe get poisoned twice in the whole game it’s very non-consequential)
4. Flames of frenzy
This spell is really consistent and is easy to get early in the game. With a widespread and honestly massive damage output for what would seem to be a low tier spell, it can easily be used in the endgame as a crowd clearer as well as in PVP for its difficulty to dodge and massive DPS. It does fire damage which many enemies are weak to as well as stacking up the madness effect on enemies, which if an enemy is consumed by said madness then they will take even more damage. Although there isn’t anything crazy special about this spell, it is just all-around an extremely good pick and is always a consistent damage dealer and crowd clearer.
3. Golden Vow
Golden Vow is in my opinion an absolute MUST for anyone running a faith build in this game. It is incredibly simple, by using it you boost your attack and defense by a significant amount. It is very cheap and allows the player to have a constant solid buff on if used properly and is just overall insanely useful and is always worth taking up a slot. Although there isn’t really much else to say about it, I feel like anyone would take a spell that makes them just overall stronger whenever it’s used it’s just quite simply a no-brainer.
2. Ezykes Decay
Ezykes Decay has easily been one of the most useful and my favorite incantations to use on this entire list. This spell allows the player to shoot a wide range of dragon’s breath that can cause scarlet rot on its victims. Scarlet rot will slowly eat away at the target’s health for a certain amount of time, meaning that if used on bosses that are susceptible to Scarlet Rot the player can sit back and watch as the effect kicks in and drains their health bar without the player even moving their finger. Although it’s sometimes difficult to pull off if done well this spell can easily be the most devastating in your whole arsenal/
1. Lightning spear
The lightning spear takes the number one spot because of its consistency, it’s truly the workhorse for any faith build. It does solid damage with a great amount of range and allows players to charge it for a longer draw but higher damage output as opposed to the fast drawing but still moderate damage it would normally put out. Many enemies are weak to lightning damage, meaning the lightning bolt is massively effective against a multitude of different enemies. Also, it has no arc at all so you will always be throwing it in a straight line meaning that it’s very easy to hit fast-flying enemies that you would normally be unable to hit with spells. Because the spell has really no downsides and can single-handedly carry you through the game, I believe it deserves the number one spot.