Why You Should Try Magic In Elden Ring (And Dark Souls)
Engage with another side of the tried and true formula to feel the joy of unique progression again.
FromSoftware’s fantasy RPG titles have enraptured millions of people as they’ve developed their formula from King’s Field, to Demon’s Souls, to Dark Souls, and finally to the expansive epic that is Elden Ring. While the games are known for their (often caricaturized) difficulty, the true secret of these games, the sauce that defines the dish, has always been the combat loop and the rewarding progression built off of it. They come bound together inextricably; the game presents mechanics for the player to interact with the game world and the enemies within it, and then the game rewards the player twofold for engaging with those mechanics. The player character gains strength via new equipment and level-up stats, and the player themselves grow in mastery, skill, and confidence as they define their playstyle within the game’s framework.
This sense of progression is one of, if not the, defining feature that makes a video game engaging. It is basic design. FromSoftware has simply mastered a form of that progression by tying it to nominally fixed-difficulty games with a responsive toolkit. It’s why the Dark Souls games and Elden Ring have retained their staying power even up to a decade post-release. But the time-proven formula can lose its shine over time. The novelty of progression dulls to a checklist after a certain skill tier is met, and after your character’s build is “complete,” and that significantly undercuts the satisfaction of playing these games.
This is especially true when games like this release post- or end-game expansions and DLC. Adam Millard spoke on this briefly in a recent video discussing Tactical Breach Wizards, where he used Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC as an example of faded novelty diminishing what should be a valuable experience.
His experience of null or inconvenient progression/novelty differed from my own experience playing Shadow of the Erdtree, and this wasn’t the first time I’d noticed such a disparity — it happened with the base game as well. The difference? I put down the sword and shield, left my katana sheathed in the storage box, and let the soldiers keep their halberds and axes. I played Elden Ring first, and by far the most, as a magic-user — and after thinking back on the multiple levels of progression, and how that progression felt more dynamic and rewarded even in the DLC, I want to encourage other people to try doing the same.
The core of my argument is this:
In the context of Dark Souls (especially the third installment) or Elden Ring (not Bloodborne or Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice), playing a caster-style character provides an alternative layer of progression and an additional dimension of mechanical play that combines to creates a satisfying gameplay experience every bit the equal of traditional melee-style builds.
I know that, especially for a particularly insufferable subset of the FromSoftware community, this statement borders on blasphemy, so let’s quickly go over what I am not saying:
- I am not saying mage builds are “better” than melee builds. Quantifying that in a holistic way would be near-impossible and also entirely pointless.
- I am not saying melee characters and playstyles are boring, or bland, or lack diversity — that would be delusional. I spent nearly 100 hours playing a Luck/Hollow bleed build using a scythe in Dark Souls 3, melee is fun.
- I am not saying that there is a prescriptive, specific, “correct” way to play these games. The only “correct” way to play any video game is the way that you have fun with. I am here to encourage you to try something that you might find fun!
It’s important to also address why this argument is worth making, and that’s simple enough: the majority of the player base for these games uses melee-centric builds almost exclusively. It’s important to note that Elden Ring has been the most successful game for caster-type characters, but those builds are still a significant minority among the players. Many players pick up a small number of spells to buff themselves with, but doing so does not change the fact that their primary method of engaging with the game’s many challenges is melee combat.* Melee has been the default from the beginning — and that makes sense, as the stamina management system, combat positioning, weapon animation sets, parries/ripostes, and the sword-and-sorcery dark fantasy vibe of the games all serve that playstyle. It is the default, and is undeniably effective for doing so. There’s a reason we have yet to see a sorcerer, or a pyromancer, or a priest as the promotional model for these games. However, because melee is the assumed default, and because some in community have strange, ill-founded opinions on how magic works in these games, many players may put hundreds of hours in to Dark Souls or Elden Ring without ever dipping their toes into the latter side of “sword-and-sorcery,” and it offers an experience that is worth exploring.
*To those few brave souls that play as a dedicated, bow-only archer, you are stronger than I am, more skilled, and much more attractive. You are a class of your own. Keep inspiring us.
Also, as much as I love hybrid builds — Strength/Intelligence muscle mages will always be particularly satisfying — I want to set them aside for the sake of this conversation. They still, on average, lean far more into the default mode of play than their casting utility for a number of reasons, and thus don’t qualify as a casting-centric magic build in progression. That said, these are also great! Try some hybrid styles and see what works for you — there’s so much sandbox to explore, even two years post-release, and many people don’t bother digging.
So what makes magic so engaging and compelling in these games? What differences in progression, mechanics, and expression make playing a caster worth playing?
Sustained Novelty
In Adam Millard’s video, he discusses how the best games are able to take mechanics or concepts and maintain novelty not by constantly introducing new ones, but by iterating on existing ones and changing how they interact with the game world. If we look at the two broad archetypes of play in Elden Ring, the game manages this novelty in very different ways.
For simplicity’s sake, we’re going to ignore universal novelties — crafting consumables, new talismans, spirit ashes, things that are largely or majority build-agnostic—and focus on new weapons, Ashes of War, and spells, as these three things are what will shape a player’s experience as they define their build.
Weapons and Ashes of War, the unique skills that can be applied to weapons, are the two sources of sustained novelty for traditional melee characters in Elden Ring. With over 300 weapons scattered across over 30 weapon archetypes, there are a staggering amount of options for the melee playstyle to explore and experiment with. Combine that with over 100 unique Ashes of War and I would be hard pressed to come up with a melee character concept that couldn’t be served by the game’s offering. The default mode of play is exceedingly well-supported in this way, as the player will consistently be finding new weapons and Ashes to consider for their build. From the inevitable Guts cosplay character with high strength and a Greatsword, to the person that’s three patches behind the times and still dual-wielding twin Cross-Naginata on their dexterity/arcane bleed build in the arena, there’s something for everyone.
This novelty begins to break down the later into a playthrough the default character gets. As Millard experienced in Shadow of the Erdtree, after a certain point in the game, most players’ builds are “complete,” with their weapon of choice refined and upgraded. There are two problems with this: resources, and limited application. The latter is straightforward enough — you can only apply one Ash of War to a weapon at a time, and swapping them out can disrupt the flow of a session. The former is a little more involved.
While Elden Ring is more liberal than past entries when it comes to upgrade materials, there is a limit to how many weapons can be upgraded to their maximum level. That resource requirement is a barrier to new experimentation in the last third of any Elden Ring playthrough (unless you already know what’s coming and have planned ahead) and beyond — you have defined your build, you’ve made your choice and invested into it, so anything new is a burden to properly experiment with and enjoy. It’s not that the novelty is gone, but an effort-level barrier to experiencing that novelty has grown — and if you’re already having fun and killing bosses by slamming them with a two massive hammers, why bother risking a change on something you might not like as much? Why bother expending those resources? In many cases, players just don’t . . . until they see something online that “proves” a weapon is worth investing in, in which case the game isn’t providing the incentive to experiment, the community is.
How does this differ for casting-focused magic characters?
Most pure caster characters never engage with the Ashes of War in the game at all, and engage to a much lesser extent with new weaponry than melee characters in general as well. This is because for casters, whether Intelligence-based Sorcerers or Faith-based Cantors/Priests (or whatever unholy mix of spells Arcane casters use on a given day) the only weapon(s) used are the catalysts or seals needed to cast in the first place. Unlike in prior games, however, there are reasons to use and upgrade multiple casting implements due to the myriad passive effects boosting specific subtypes of spell, and the effects of dual-wielding catalysts. Elden Ring provides the resources necessary to fully upgrade every casting tool a relevant character might need to explore all of their options without threatening wasted resources. With the exception of the Carian Regal Scepter for sorcerers, which gets a unique version of Spinning Weapon as an Ash of War (which is pretty powerful, actually), casters’ progression via weapons and Ashes is significantly streamlined and cut down from the melee experience. This is neither better nor worse than the melee experience, in my eyes, as it trades breadth for wiggle room and less decision paralysis, but I can see it being a weakness for some.
So where does the sustained novelty come from?
The spells! The whole point of being a magic caster! There are over 200 spells in the game, split about 60/40 between divine incantations and sorceries. The variety and breadth of spells in the game are what makes up for the streamlined weapon experience and exclusion of Ashes of War from the pure caster play experience. Much like the array of weapons, Elden Ring’s magic comes varied with each spell coming with its own unique mixture of damage type, stagger damage, FP/Stamina cost, range, and animation. Like weapons, the spells you use will dictate how you navigate the world around you. Like weapons, you will continually discover new spells as you explore the game world and progress your character, growing more powerful as you level up.
Unlike weapons, you’re never faced with indecision or any sense of risk when you find a new spell on a “complete” build. The only barrier to entry is meeting the basic stat requirements of the new spell, which is a trait of basic leveling that underpins progression in the entire game, and having enough memory slots, which is something we’ll discuss later. If you find a new spell, you can immediately begin experimenting with it in combination with your existing spells, testing its merits in different combat situations, and enjoying the flashy visual effects. There is a situation where just about every spell is useful — even the spells that exist as stepping stones in an “evolutionary line” of magic, like Glintstone Pebble, Great Glintstone Shard, and Glintstone Cometshard. We’ll touch on that later in regards to progression.
Where spells may not have the populations that weapons do, the existence of pure utility spells gives magic caster characters unique moments of navigation and expression during gameplay. Spells like Unseen Form, Miriam’s Vanishing, Assassin’s Approach, and Law of Regression all give unique tools for navigating encounters and environments that aren’t available to default characters, or are much harder for those characters. There is sustained novelty not in the discovery of new toys, but in the ludic experience through clever use and expression. Creative applications of spells and combinations enable strategies that can completely revitalize the way Elden Ring is played, even for a veteran player.
Unique Progression
We briefly touched on progression before, but this is where I feel that caster builds do genuinely feel better to play, especially in Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3. I’m going to be talking about character progression, not player skill progression, because the latter occurs by default no matter what, and isn’t all that different between the two playstyles at the high level. The progression of the in-game character is my concern here.
Progressing a default, melee-centric character in Elden Ring takes the following necessary forms, generally speaking:
- Leveling Up
- Upgrading Healing/FP Flask
- Upgrading/Mixing Wondrous Physick
- Acquiring Equipment
- Acquiring Ashes of War
- Upgrading Equipment
Progressing a dedicated magic-casting character in Elden Ring looks instead like this:
- Leveling Up
- Upgrading Healing/FP Flask
- Upgrading/Mixing Wondrous Physick
- Acquiring Equipment
- Acquiring Spells
- Acquiring Memory Stones
- Upgrading Equipment
The majority of these forms of progression are shared, but I’ve bolded the forms that are unique to the character type for emphasis. The game has plenty of room for progression for any playstyle, but due to some quirks of the design of base Elden Ring, there are situations where the sense of progression for a magic casting build may feel smoother — that is, more consistently rewarded — than that of a melee character. This comes from two things: spell lines, and memory stones.
A genuine and valid critique of magic in Elden Ring and its predecessor Dark Souls games is that, especially for sorceries, there are lines or families of spells that are just progressively more powerful versions of themselves. There are a few examples of this in Elden Ring, including:
- Glintstone Pebble -> Great Glintstone Shard -> Glintstone Cometshard -> Comet
- Glintstone Stars -> Star Shower -> Stars of Ruin
- Gravity Well -> Collapsing Stars
- Rancorcall -> Ancient Death Rancor
- Heal -> Great Heal -> Lord’s Heal
While these kinds of chains can feel like they bloat the spell list a little, and they do (a little), they do serve a purpose not dissimilar from finding new and more powerful weapons on a melee character: they give you a generally metered sense of progression and growing power. With the potential exception of the ever-reliable Uchigatana*, the vast majority of Elden Ring players will replace their starting class’ weapon multiple times over the course of a normal playthrough until they find the one that makes the neurons fire and the happy chemicals flow. These spell families serve that same purpose of progression by providing staggered increases in power, but also manage to sidestep some of the problems of redundancy due to the variances in their FP cost. Comet might do astronomically more damage than Glintstone Pebble, but the FP efficiency of Glintstone Pebble or Great Glintstone Shard makes them potentially more valuable for diving though long dungeons or exploring the tracts of land between Sites of Grace in the open world. There are reasons to return to the “weaker” members of a spell family beyond their status as a stepping stone of progression, and that is a trait not shared by many weapons (and their upgrade costs).
*Seriously, why does the Samurai start with such a good weapon? Good damage, great move set, innate bleed, a strong Ash of War that staggers bosses quickly, it’s got everything!
Acquiring new spells can progress a caster character laterally, outside of the usual arc of power these games take. Being able to cast a spell that allows you to sneak past a miniboss or bait enemies into a trap provides power and value that cannot be quantified in terms of mere damage. The ability to develop your toolset in this way, while also being able to swap out your memorized spells at any Site of Grace, gives a caster character a freedom to experiment and explore that other builds struggle to match. Also, spell acquisition being a primary progression type for casters means that when DLCs are released casters can integrate new spells immediately without hesitation. The postgame can continue to be rewarding, expanding your pool of options instead of the game competing with itself to replace your melee weapon(s) of choice.
Open world titles are at their best when they’re rewarding exploration and puzzle-solving amidst their genre expectations. This is where Memory Stones, Elden Ring’s replacement for the Attunement stat of prior titles, comes into play. These discoverable items unlock additional memorization slots to equip spells into, and exist as rewards found out in the open world via puzzles and exploration. Mechanically and meaningfully rewarding casters for engaging with one of the goals of the game’s design is, itself, good design. It’s satisfying to get these increases in power from solving puzzles and overcoming challenges. That said, many may prefer getting memorization slots from Attunement as in the Dark Souls games, especially when the Mind stat still exists to grow your character’s FP pool via leveling up, just like Attunement did in Dark Souls 3. On this point, I admit that your mileage may vary.
Final Thoughts
I didn’t want to engage with community discourse about difficulty, or perceptions of player skill, or any of that nonsense in this article because I wanted to focus on the goal: encouraging players to try a different way of playing the game for the sake of fun and engagement with the art. I also didn’t want to spend time talking about the lore aspect of magic, or the visual flair many of the spells have, because those are (for most players) bonus points, not core traits to evaluate. That’s not to say those things aren’t also cool — you can breathe dragonfire via magic, that’s cool as fuck — but they’re less important to a player’s engagement in the playing of a game.
I also chose not to discuss invasions, duels, and the Arena because PvP in general is a complex side of these games that not every player is interested in engaging with, even though I love dueling in FromSoftware titles. I wanted to focus on the core, single-player experience of Elden Ring (and to a lesser extent the Dark Souls games) as a magic casting character. For those interested: magic in PvP is varied, fun, and skill-expressive, with myriad combos and strategies to approach duels and invasions alike. I highly recommend it.
Playing as a mage, a sorcerer, a priest, a dragon cultist, etc. is an extremely rewarding and engaging way to play Elden Ring, and I’d love to see more people give it a shot instead of defaulting to the old reliable Str/Dex mainstays. The first time you nuke someone with a free-aimed Cannon of Haima will change you as a person, I guarantee it. Give it a try.
