Unlike sorceries, incantations in Elden Ring reward Tarnished for their Faith. While sorcerers will stew in their colleges figuring out the best way to hit things with Glintstone, faith builds will use their incantations to heal allies, buff themselves into beefy threats in close-combat, and smite foes with lightning bolts.
To help you blast your way to the throne of the Elden Lord, we’ve listed the best incantations you should incorporate into your faith builds so you too can stride across the battlefield like the magical demi-god you were meant to be.
Starting a new game? Take a look at our list of the Best Starting Weapons to make you give yourself the best start possible.
1. Flame Cleanse Me
Effect: Cures you of Scarlet Rot and poison and deals 15 fire damage to yourself. This fire damage can negate frostbite.
Requirements:
- Faith: 12
- FP cost: 14
Where to find it: Inside of a fire monk camp southeast of the Church of Vows.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Eastern Tableland
One of the most valuable incantations in Elden Ring. Even if you’re not planning to use faith in your build, you should get 12 points of faith to use this spell.
The reason is Flame Cleanse Me, which will cure you of Scarlet Rot and Poison. Scarlet Rot becomes a large concern once you get into Caelid or the Haligtree. Almost everything, from Erdtree Avatars to basic soldiers, will inflict Scarlet Rot on you. If you’re planning to get through Ranni’s questline, there’s even an entire lake of Scarlet Rot that you have to traverse. Flame Cleanse Me makes all of those problems go from major concerns to easily navigable nuisances.
2. Golden Vow
Effect: Increases all damage dealt by 15% (7.5% in PvP) and reduces damage taken by 10% (5% in PvP). Effect lasts for 80 seconds (104 with Old Lord’s Talisman).
Requirements:
- Faith: 25
- FP Cost: 50
Where to find it: Corpse Stench Shack in Mt. Gelmir.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Bridge of Iniquity
The Golden Vow incantation is interchangeable with the Rallying Standard skill since they will override one another. While the Rallying Standard increases damage and damage reduction by 20%, it only lasts 30 seconds and requires you to use the Commander’s Standard weapon. In comparison, Golden Vow will buff slightly less but lasts for 80 seconds and isn’t tied to a weapon. This makes it more flexible and gives you more time to stack buffs.
This ability is especially fun during invasions since you can use it to buff nearby enemies to make the host’s life miserable. Alternatively, as the host, using this to buff your cooperators to hunt down an invader is also a solid option.
3. Frenzied Burst
Effect: Fire a blast at your enemies that can be charged and deals madness damage (90 madness uncharged/ 105 madness charged). Also inflicts madness on yourself (20 uncharged/ 30 charged).
Requirements:
- Faith: 22
- FP Cost: 24
- Stamina Cost: 33
Where to find it: Teardrop Scarab south of the Church of Inhibitions in Liurnia of the Lakes
- Nearest Site of Grace: Church of Inhibition
This incantation turns your Tarnished brain into a sniper rifle. The blast has an absurdly long range, and when fully charged it pierces through targets and carves out chunks from their health bar.
You can further power this up by equipping Godfrey’s Icon (increases charged spell damage by 15%), Flock’s Canvas Talisman (increases Incantation damage by 8%), Fire Scorpion Talisman (increase fire damage by 15%), and casting Flame Grant Me Strength with Golden Vow. The final product is a devastating charged blast that will incinerate anything your Tarnished glances at.
4. Bestial Sling
Effect: Fire off a cluster of rocks in a spread pattern.
Requirements:
- Faith: 10
- FP cost: 7
- Stamina cost: 19
Where to find it: Give Gurranq two Deathroots in the Bestial Sanctum.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Bestial Sanctum
Bestial Sling is the best short-range damage incantation. It’s extremely effective in both PvP and PvE, and casting it feels like you’re using an automatic shotgun to rip through foes. If you combine this with Clawmark Seal and Cinquedea (both of which buff bestial incantations by 10%) and you’ll be blending through enemies with little effort. The keys to its effectiveness are its breakneck casting speed, ridiculous amounts of poise damage, and how fast the spell can chain into itself.
In addition, if you rapidly cast Bestial Sling a few times then the next spell cast after Bestial Sling will have no cast time. This allows Bestial Sling to be a flexible tool to keep up sustained damage before swapping into another spell.
5. Rotten Breath
Effect: Summon a dragon head to spew Scarlet Rot at an enemy.
Requirements:
- Faith: 15
- Arcane: 12
- FP Cost: 36 (4 per second afterward)
- Stamina Cost: 48
Where to find it: Purchase at the Dragon Communion Altar for one Dragon Heart.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Cathedral of Dragon Communion
Rotten Breath is amazing because it has low requirements to use and most bosses are weak to Scarlet Rot. If you’re having trouble with an enemy, use Rotten Breath (or its bigger, more damaging version, Ezekyle’s Breath) to inflict Scarlet Rot and then run away until their insides melt.
Ezekyle’s Breath has the same effect as Rotten Breath, but deals more damage and is harder to obtain. If just want the effect with minimal investment, then go with Rotten Breath.
6. Lightning Spear
Effect: Throw a bolt of lightning at foes. Can be charged for more damage and an explosive radius.
Requirements:
- Faith: 17
- FP Cost: 18
- Stamina Cost: 28
Where to find it: Find the Dragon Cult prayerbook just south of the Artist’s Shack in Liurnia of the Lakes. Then give it to Brother Corhyn or Miriel, Pastor of Vows.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Artist’s Shack (Liurnia of the Lakes)
Lightning Spear is the incantation equivalent to Glintstone Pebble, meaning it’s cost-efficient and has a large effective range. In addition to that, the enemy AI will usually refuse to dodge the uncharged version of this incantation, making it a reliable source of ranged damage for any faith build.
The charged version still has its uses against slow bosses or enemies that aren’t aware of your presence. Combine this incantation with some of the talismans used to buff Frenzied Burst, and a full-charged Lightning Spear suddenly hits with the force of an angry deity that just discovered what “blasphemy” is.
Tired of dying? Get the edge on your enemies in Elden Ring with our list of the Best Talismans for Everyone and our Guide to Parry like a Pro.
