I look at how Rennala moves in phase 2 and cannot help but think "I wish I could move like that when I cast spells." Imagine how much more dynamic being a caster could be...
That's why I wish there were more dynamic spells. Ones like Catch Flame where you can do it out of roll and mid air. They don't have to be great, just more options would be nice. Also things with movement like Horn Charge. And make chaining spells more viable. Having a (some) big spells have their cast time decrease after doing several spells in a row would be neat. More spell diversity in fighting while also making so they are still predictable.
11:35 my brother in Marika, if I see you using the blasphemous blade with shard of alexander and godfrey icon, I am revoking your weapon art privileges
I feel like a lot of the time magic gets a bad wrap because it "makes the game too easy" and like, backing up and casting is obviously easier but getting the right timing for most spells/npc fights can be just as difficult as getting in their face. Especially since you're working on a limited amount of attacks
I think it's got a lower floor, but a higher ceiling. if you're a new player expecting to die 20-40 times to every boss, spell casting will get you there. But if you're used to winning more fights than you lose, having to pray for a little luck from the spell gods is not as satisfying
The thing is,in most of the games,casters has to trade off other things to achieve their long range power,like being frail or having to stand still or having long cast time and big mama cost,or bosses having enough hps to tank through the spells. Elden Ring casters has none of that weaknesses bcs of how this game balances (at least in Ng 0). Being frail?level up vigor and now the boss have to deal with not only and spell spam but also a brick wall. Long cast time and mama cost?Get carian slicer'd. Boss being tanky?The only boss that can be called tanky in this entire game is rykard and that thing is a gimmick boss.All the other bosses will not survive more than three flasks worth of magic with half decent build.(Yes and I mean even fire giant) Magic is by no mean makes game too easy but,it genuinely has an inherit advantage bcs of how this game works.
@@myatthu7165 I disagree with that. You're not wrong about the advantages casters get that you listed, but when you compare them to strength/dex builds, they all go away. All builds in this game have ranged and AoE attacks, it used to be exclusive to casters but now they're not. I think the game is extremely balanced in the end, everybody gets weapons of all sizes and speeds, everybody gets pews and kabooms and everybody gets to wear heavy armor. You could say casters need more mind and have less slots for talismans in exchange for higher variety of their casts, but honestly I don't think it's a fair trade. In my honest experience, strength is the easiest to beat the game with.
@@rafaelbordoni516 100%. My first few builds were different types of magic builds. Now I'm running on a pure strength build and can't believe how much easier it is. I stagger enemies so much more often, and they die so much faster, which means I take less damage. There is no easy mode in Elden Ring, but I'd say a strength build is efficient mode.
@@myatthu7165 So first of all you are forgetting that you need to level mind separately and your FP doesn't get restored automatically like in other games (so less healing). You have 10-30 less points in endurance/vigor on caster due to that. Other games also don't have ashes of war - which are often better spells in ER. Pure caster builds are relatively mediocre at least due to FP in ER. Int builds are on another hand borderline OP. You can run around with DGMS or wings of astel stunlocking everything faster than strength build with colossals. Poker/slicer gives you bleed level of DPS and kriss can oneshot 95% of flora and fauna for barely any FP. Add moonveil, and simply cold/magic weapons. And spells are cherry on the top. Imho for NG, without relying on respecs - intelligence (with just a little of spellcasting) and strength (with 15-25 faith) builds are the easiest
You most likely could have one-shot Radagon if you used the Bloodboil Aromatic since it would've boosted the Physical Damage of Meteorite of Astel by 30%, but I assume you probably didn't allow yourself to use any consumables like that since they're also just kind of a hassle to get in the first place and since you're already not using buffs like Golden Vow or Flame, Grant Me Strength. Anyway, looking forward to the Beast Incantations run.
I remember using rocksling in my sorcery-only run. It's pretty fun, but definitely not an endgame spell on its own. But It definitely helped me until I could get the "nuke them from orbit" spells.
@@hockeater Oh for sure. I used Rock Sling for Rennala and used the Meteors of Astel against Adulas to get Adulas Moonblade. It definitely has its uses, especially when dealing with Liurnia in general.
I love these challenges so much, they're super creative and really entertaining. This might be BOLD(er) of me to day, but this one in particular really ROCKED.
I also love the delay on rock sling. When the rocks come out of the ground that’s when most enemies try and dodge, and then the rocks fire and track to them after.
As a Spell Enjoyer, I actually love it when Tulok calls us trash. They always do it in such a way that I want to say "Thank you daddy, can I have another?" (I assume he is going to mock us. I haven't watched it)
5:50 Nah more like somehow getting outsped by SHUCKLE of all things. The pokemon with the LOWEST base speed stat (5) (Considering no trick room) And yes I'm the one pokemon nerd that get all your references lol
I came into the second stream right on time to witness the OVERPOWERED Meteorite of Astel that makes Radagon free GUARANTEED so to me this has to be the easiest run yet )
The best advice I can give for Rock Sling is begin casting at a 90° degree angle to your target without locking on then after the casting animation starts you lock on and the rocks will be lined up with each other in a parallel line to the enemy. I usually find it catches dodgy NPCs better.
As someone who played a 99 INT Mage for my first playthrough, rock sling is an incredible tool in the kit. It has some serious shortcomings which need to be picked up by fast pebble and moon magic, which is why this run was so up and down. Cool playthrough, though.
Rock Sling is great to break stance safely, the best stance breaker for an int-arcane build to get dagger crits with, especially when the build is squishy. The tracking also sometimes just goes off in the best way.
For an Int/arcane specifically I guess, but like... what a weird combo? Also, weapon. Just weapons to stance break. Why are you trying to crit with a caster?
If you turn yourself to the side while you cast rock sling it will summon the rocks in a straight line compared to the enemy. Think a 5 round rifle shot. It’s great for distance, but if an enemy is coming at you the stones can go towards you, not away, meaning they can adjust to intercept fast enemies. It’s weird trying to explain it, but mess with it some next time you have rock sling on a character.
@17:20 If you're using Spirit Ashes... well, on my first play through of Elden Ring, I used magic up until Malenia and I also _didn't level Vigor past 25 until the Haligtree_ (though I either got up to 40 or respec'd before Malenia, don't remember). It wasn't even really that bad. So like, I think you actually can get away without leveling vigor as a spell caster lol
Rock Sling plus greatshield soldier ashes will get you all the way to the Elden Beast, and Meteorite of Astel, another gravity spell, will take over from there. Night Comet is incredbly powerful but a gravity only run is perfectly feasible.
The Godfrey section reminded me of my D&D game set in the Lands Between. We’re in Raya Lucaria atm and the solution to combat mages is to hit them one time in the face really hard and then they’re no longer a problem. S tier analysis
4:57 Did fromsoft up the opacity on the fog or something? I've been replaying be recently and sometimes the erdtree just... Disappears. It's weird how much I use those suckers for navigation cos I can't be arsed opening the map
Gravity Well is mostly a combo tool tbf. It’s pull effects are fantastic for bringing enemies into lingering hitboxes, such as the ones the magma spells offer.
I always thought the Meteorite Staff should have had Strength scaling, like the Clawmark seal. The Gravity well spells would pair well with a melee build, the most iconic gravity themed character is a massive strong guy and all the gravity ashes of war come with the Heavy infusion.
The Meteorite Staff does have some strength scaling iirc but at the point it would become relevant against the S Int scaling there are better staffs anyway.
@@kiltysalter2966 According to Fextralife there’s a D scaling in strength which is, as I said, irrelevant. If it’s even there at all, Fextralife has been known to have some mistakes.
I say this as a dedicated spell caster: I have never noticed a difference in speed between using Radagon’s Icon, Azur’s Staff, both, and neither. Like seriously is it really that much of a difference? Also personally I prefer Carian Regal Scepter over Lusat’s but I respect using it all the same
I think there are a *couple* of spells where it's noticeable, like the bubble spells.... I think.... The difference is only super noticeable on spells with long windups. Otherwise you're probably only getting a few frames worth of difference, if anything
Honestly, I don't bother trying to improve casting speed. I accept that spells are slow and just put my vigor to the cap. At least the damage makes up for it when I can pull it off.
yeah basically when the game talks about "casting speed" what they're really talking about is "that weird, artificial-feeling delay where you're standing still and have the icon of your spell school floating in front of you". That's the only thing casting speed affects. At 70 dex, that artificial delay doesn't exist anymore. So it purely depends on how long that delay is on the spell you're casting; some spells don't even have it at all, like carian slicer.
In NG+X runs investing heavily in Dex as a caster is worth it but not really before. Hitting thresholds with the Radagon Icon can however be done without much investment. Even if it isn’t always apparent a few frames can make a difference in opening punish windows. Weird sentence. Anyway, a bit of Dex on an Int build isn’t too bad considering Moonveil exists. And Wing of Astel, Death Ritual Spear… Oh, and I guess spells that can be cast a tiny bit faster.
I did a purple “pew-pew” run as my NG +2. I enjoyed being a gravity mage as my first magic run. If the DLC doesn’t come out soon, I might do a blue “pew-pew” run, still considering. But l agree that weapons are generally better. Thanks for the video.
Blue pew pew is gonna be interesting because in my experience the cost efficient ones do almost no damage by the half way point in the game and the only ones that do good damage take a ridiculous amount of fp
14:50 That is my opinion on spells and incantations. Are they objectively good and better than weapons? Not really… a pure spellcaster build has a lot of problems so you’re better going for a hybrid build if you wanna use em at all, but god they are so fucking cool
Grav magic was my 1st and probably only int build i made, something about the spells and weapons that role with gravity just hit different, even if the other magic types are just better
A few things -holding a staff in your offhand still gives you the bonus so you can hold lusat's staff while still having the 30% bonus from your offhand -the gravity well spells are meant to be used while having a melee option, bringing the enemy to you before hitting them with your sword
- he did have the Meteorite Staff in his offhand. He was 2-handing the Lusat staff at times but you can clearly see the other staff in the other slot, he was definitely getting that bonus - theyre still bad
counterargument: Rock Slings and Meteorite of Astel are usefull in the cases where the enemy is REALLY resistent to magic damage, such as Rennala, and can spice up your casting build since sorceries are pretty much locked to magic damage and then the 2 fire/magma spells, having sorceries that deal physical damage is actually a real nice niche to have. Outside of that, i do agree with you that they are really underwhelming
I actually am curious since Rock Sling does physical damage does the blue dancer charm do more damage unlike glintstone sorcery or firepots and yes I know he said it works but I don’t know if it actually does the wiki thing has lied to me before repeatedly and I distrust all sources besides doing it myself at this point
I've found that the way to make spells fun is to use them alongside, rather than instead of, a weapon. If you tailor your spell choices to those that cover situations that your weapon doesn't (such as a ranged spell, an AoE, one or two buffs or heals, etc) then imo the game is way more fun than playing with a weapon on its own. It's true that just spamming one button at a boss from a distance isn't that fun... but being able to punish the enemy for moving away from *you* and making *them* have to close that distance rather than having to waste time and stamina running over to wherever the boss teleported/jumped/flew, then smoothly transitioning back to melee with your weapon of choice, feels great.
The Radahn Meteor idea slaps, honestly. Also, just checking my memory - there's no Onyx or Alabaster Lord Spirit Ash currently, right? Not counting any build-your-own-at-home mimic tear options
Meteorite of Astel is basically a 10x more powerful Comet Azur if used on a big target, so endgame should just be using those two spells and you'll dominate everything
I honestly am all about spells, but I'm really NOT all about that Pure Caster mindset. There are so many amazing faith and int weapons and people expect me to just... dual wield staffs and seals instead of holding a weapon in one hand and a catalyst in the other? It's like dual wielding shields. Wait, shield builds are a thing in elden ring too-
Hang a right outside of the Red wolf of Radagon boss fight, hop over the railing to the ladder, climb up, go through the window, and walk over to the chest!
I only carry rock throw to deal with enemies that have obscene magic resist. Typically those enemies are not fast so it is perfectly fine to chuck rocks at them. Gravity magic is a cool idea but they didn't develop it enough to make it something to specialize in. Which makes me sad. You can be a bad ass magic projectile thrower and an awesome magical knight, but the spells that might allow for other builds are pretty lacking. I would love to be able to crush my enemies by amplifying their own weight or throw things like my enemies or even myself through the air.
Definitely have low hopes for the Beast incants. As someone who loves playing caster, I will always tell you the best way to play caster... is to play melee. Which basically invalidates 90% of the few practical spells in the game. But the beast incantations are unique in that they are absolutely intended to be used as a component of a melee build, not as a main source of damage like other spell families.
If I were to suggest a rock spell for a new spell caster coming from strength builds I would recommend gravity for a new character or bestial incantations to add onto a pre existing character since they scale with str anyway
Rock Sling is great... when you have a summon or the high ground. Those Caelid/Dragonbarrow/Frenzy Village avatars are a joke because they all have high ground nearby. Lure them with an arrow into lock-on range if needed, yeet rocks, back up a bit when they start blasting.
So, I'm definitely on Team Spells, I love the fantasy of being a wizard. But yeah, a lot of times they're less efficient than a weapon is. And I feel that your observation about people forming opinions based on DS 1 is the reason for that. People have been bagging on sorcery as easy mode for so long From doesn't want to take chances and make it "too" good. Which is too bad. I really hope they change their mind on that for the DLC. Some cool and efficient spells would be really great.
You can cheese the rot dragon by standing on a hill where he can't reach you and the Caelid deathbird by standing on the skull near it, once you kill the pot throwing giant. Neither was able to damage me in any as I Rock Slung them to death.
I dunno, Rock Sling I feel is still pretty useful, I feel. Stance pressure is not common on spells, so it helps a lot in a bunch of situations, either opening you up for a crit if you're carrying a weapon too or something silly like Meteorite/Comet Azur, etc... It's also got SURPRISING range, which is boosted by the Arrow's Reach Talisman, making it real handy for sniping. I share your feeling on Gravity Well though, the IDEA of pulling enemies to their deaths is funny but I couldn't really find anywhere that was useful. If you struggled with these, tho, I'm already in commiseration for your Beast run. Basically the ONLY good beast spell is Stone of Gurranq. And it IS really good, better than Rock Sling in some aspects, even. But it has a bunch of problems, heck, just getting to it will be a nightmare all on its own, though if you allow yourself the Cinquedea, that dagger is also surprisingly decent early on.
It doesn't help that these are kinda challenge runs where he forces himself to only use these spells to deal damage, in real life most people using rock sling just press R1 or L2 when the enemy is close. The fact that gravity spells are all so situational is the perfect way to balance spells and weapons in my opinion, sadly very few are balanced in this way.
I never played a souls game before elden ring. I picked astrologer at random. Learned bow hard the game is ..lol but i beat it with rock sling and pebble. Literally all i used except i had moonveil in my offhand. My set up was totally awkward lol. But i did it. I haven't done an int run again. Bit if i can beat it with rocksling and pebble anyone can. If you dont have time for rocks, try 50 pebbles...lol
I love gravity spells in this game, played them so much. Unfortunately I think the best ones are all ashes of war, the real gravity build is just a strength build, maybe int hybrid if you wanna be thematic. Rock sling stance damage is also boosted by that cracked tear that boosts stance damage, it turns you into a stance breaking machine, especially if you're also using cragblade, pretty sure most dragons take like 3 casts to the head while they're doing their wake up roar and get stance broken, you start each dragon fight with them at half health. But yeah, not the strongest cheese in the game.
As a mage in my current Seamless Co-Op run with my spouse, I am a heavily armored (Radahan's Armor) mage. I keep trying other spells but honestly, there are only a couple spells that feel viable. There are a lot of cool spells but honestly most seem bad unfortunately. Also, armor feels so necessary as trading is a requirement.
NPCs rush in close: The Boulder feels conflicted
Get some distance from the enemy: The Boulder’s over his conflicted feelings
I just want them to leave me alone 😢
Close your eyes to see the world around you.
you know what would fix that? using a gravity ball that travels straight forward.
like gravity well.
If you're in charge of gravity there's no way you could POSSIBLY fail the swag jump to safety... I hope.
So true, we should make it no problem
Fun fact in case anybody wasn’t aware: arrow’s reach talisman actually increases the range and effectivity range of rock sling
also if you use your left hand to cast it gets more range
@@alflobitoskate I didn’t know about that
@@jujuplanet2866 Pretty sure they fixed the left hand thing, but the arrow talisman totally still works.
Still too slow. especially when npc and bosses still faster than you
@@Richard-t1s not really. Npc’s don’t know how to dodge rock sling properly
I look at how Rennala moves in phase 2 and cannot help but think "I wish I could move like that when I cast spells." Imagine how much more dynamic being a caster could be...
That's why I wish there were more dynamic spells. Ones like Catch Flame where you can do it out of roll and mid air. They don't have to be great, just more options would be nice.
Also things with movement like Horn Charge.
And make chaining spells more viable. Having a (some) big spells have their cast time decrease after doing several spells in a row would be neat. More spell diversity in fighting while also making so they are still predictable.
11:35 my brother in Marika, if I see you using the blasphemous blade with shard of alexander and godfrey icon, I am revoking your weapon art privileges
Godfrey doesn't work on Blasphemous blade.
@@MFD00MTR33 talisman of the dread it is then
Imagine my surprise that gravity spells fell off.
Cant wait for that beast spells video, Im sure that run went amazing!
Technically, it did worse, but I think it was more fun personally
I feel like a lot of the time magic gets a bad wrap because it "makes the game too easy" and like, backing up and casting is obviously easier but getting the right timing for most spells/npc fights can be just as difficult as getting in their face. Especially since you're working on a limited amount of attacks
I think it's got a lower floor, but a higher ceiling. if you're a new player expecting to die 20-40 times to every boss, spell casting will get you there. But if you're used to winning more fights than you lose, having to pray for a little luck from the spell gods is not as satisfying
The thing is,in most of the games,casters has to trade off other things to achieve their long range power,like being frail or having to stand still or having long cast time and big mama cost,or bosses having enough hps to tank through the spells.
Elden Ring casters has none of that weaknesses bcs of how this game balances (at least in Ng 0).
Being frail?level up vigor and now the boss have to deal with not only and spell spam but also a brick wall.
Long cast time and mama cost?Get carian slicer'd.
Boss being tanky?The only boss that can be called tanky in this entire game is rykard and that thing is a gimmick boss.All the other bosses will not survive more than three flasks worth of magic with half decent build.(Yes and I mean even fire giant)
Magic is by no mean makes game too easy but,it genuinely has an inherit advantage bcs of how this game works.
@@myatthu7165 I disagree with that. You're not wrong about the advantages casters get that you listed, but when you compare them to strength/dex builds, they all go away. All builds in this game have ranged and AoE attacks, it used to be exclusive to casters but now they're not. I think the game is extremely balanced in the end, everybody gets weapons of all sizes and speeds, everybody gets pews and kabooms and everybody gets to wear heavy armor. You could say casters need more mind and have less slots for talismans in exchange for higher variety of their casts, but honestly I don't think it's a fair trade. In my honest experience, strength is the easiest to beat the game with.
@@rafaelbordoni516 100%. My first few builds were different types of magic builds. Now I'm running on a pure strength build and can't believe how much easier it is. I stagger enemies so much more often, and they die so much faster, which means I take less damage. There is no easy mode in Elden Ring, but I'd say a strength build is efficient mode.
@@myatthu7165 So first of all you are forgetting that you need to level mind separately and your FP doesn't get restored automatically like in other games (so less healing). You have 10-30 less points in endurance/vigor on caster due to that. Other games also don't have ashes of war - which are often better spells in ER. Pure caster builds are relatively mediocre at least due to FP in ER.
Int builds are on another hand borderline OP. You can run around with DGMS or wings of astel stunlocking everything faster than strength build with colossals. Poker/slicer gives you bleed level of DPS and kriss can oneshot 95% of flora and fauna for barely any FP. Add moonveil, and simply cold/magic weapons. And spells are cherry on the top.
Imho for NG, without relying on respecs - intelligence (with just a little of spellcasting) and strength (with 15-25 faith) builds are the easiest
You most likely could have one-shot Radagon if you used the Bloodboil Aromatic since it would've boosted the Physical Damage of Meteorite of Astel by 30%, but I assume you probably didn't allow yourself to use any consumables like that since they're also just kind of a hassle to get in the first place and since you're already not using buffs like Golden Vow or Flame, Grant Me Strength.
Anyway, looking forward to the Beast Incantations run.
Yeah, I don't really like playing "DDR dance break buff time" before boss fights haha
@@tulokthebarbrarian2033 Look how powerful this build is!
*spends 5 minutes stacking buffs to deal 5000% more damage*
@@TheMoogleKing93 Plus the hours spent both farming for the materials and scavenger hunting for the items to make that even possible
@@TheMoogleKing93does the same damage as an ash of war
I remember using rocksling in my sorcery-only run. It's pretty fun, but definitely not an endgame spell on its own. But It definitely helped me until I could get the "nuke them from orbit" spells.
It IS still good when dealing with highly magic resistant shit. Hi Ranni quest dragon.
@@hockeater Oh for sure. I used Rock Sling for Rennala and used the Meteors of Astel against Adulas to get Adulas Moonblade. It definitely has its uses, especially when dealing with Liurnia in general.
I love these challenges so much, they're super creative and really entertaining. This might be BOLD(er) of me to day, but this one in particular really ROCKED.
I also love the delay on rock sling. When the rocks come out of the ground that’s when most enemies try and dodge, and then the rocks fire and track to them after.
Dude said, "its meteo-alright" when meteor-cre is right there.
I missed you during my lunch break yesterday. Good to see a video today!
We'll be on time next week!
As a Spell Enjoyer, I actually love it when Tulok calls us trash. They always do it in such a way that I want to say "Thank you daddy, can I have another?" (I assume he is going to mock us. I haven't watched it)
Crikey.
5:50 Nah more like somehow getting outsped by SHUCKLE of all things. The pokemon with the LOWEST base speed stat (5) (Considering no trick room)
And yes I'm the one pokemon nerd that get all your references lol
Good, we'll keep making them
Why use rock sling when you have night comet? Because the enemy in question is heavily magic resistant, or dies to stance pressure.
I came into the second stream right on time to witness the OVERPOWERED Meteorite of Astel that makes Radagon free GUARANTEED so to me this has to be the easiest run yet )
Rock Sling with the Meteor Staff is basically a cheat code to utterly destroy everything in front of you right into the end game.
The best advice I can give for Rock Sling is begin casting at a 90° degree angle to your target without locking on then after the casting animation starts you lock on and the rocks will be lined up with each other in a parallel line to the enemy. I usually find it catches dodgy NPCs better.
WOOOOO THE BONKS OF SPELLS (I'm actually just so excited i can comment first to my favorite channel)
We can pretend you were first
I've actually used Meteor of Astel against Placi, and with the right positioning, it just knocks him on his ass and kills him before he gets back up
Happy for you sounds consistent
It was not, i needed 6 tries and I havent tried again.
"This brick wall is no match for my skull" is something that I'll totally reference in the future. Relatable fr fr.
As someone who played a 99 INT Mage for my first playthrough, rock sling is an incredible tool in the kit. It has some serious shortcomings which need to be picked up by fast pebble and moon magic, which is why this run was so up and down. Cool playthrough, though.
Rock Sling is great to break stance safely, the best stance breaker for an int-arcane build to get dagger crits with, especially when the build is squishy. The tracking also sometimes just goes off in the best way.
For an Int/arcane specifically I guess, but like... what a weird combo? Also, weapon. Just weapons to stance break. Why are you trying to crit with a caster?
@@tulokthebarbrarian2033 if I’m gonna be honest I just find it really funny for some inexplicable reason that I can neither quantify or justify.
Funny about the start of the video but Beast Rocks (Rock Sling and Beast Claw specifically) are moreso like melee combat than Space Rocks
We just finished this run, and yeah, I kinda vibe with them
Mom look I'm in a Tulok & Mango video! :D (At the beginning and it made me happy lol. Also literally showed it to my Mom X3)
8:37 I’m pretty sure he’s fire dragon
If you turn yourself to the side while you cast rock sling it will summon the rocks in a straight line compared to the enemy. Think a 5 round rifle shot. It’s great for distance, but if an enemy is coming at you the stones can go towards you, not away, meaning they can adjust to intercept fast enemies.
It’s weird trying to explain it, but mess with it some next time you have rock sling on a character.
Thank you Phil, I didn't know we could kill Radagon comboing Meteorite of Astel + dmg
Its not sarcasm, I just frased it weird😂
Meteorite of Astel is capable of killing Placidusax in one cast, that alone kinda feels deserving of a Cast tbh
I'm glad cast or pass is continuing. Looking forward to the rest
I’m happy to be one of the first few to see your videos they are always awesome 💯🔥 one of if not my favorite elden ring creator keep it up please 🙏🏾
Happy to do it, notification team respect
@17:20 If you're using Spirit Ashes... well, on my first play through of Elden Ring, I used magic up until Malenia and I also _didn't level Vigor past 25 until the Haligtree_ (though I either got up to 40 or respec'd before Malenia, don't remember). It wasn't even really that bad. So like, I think you actually can get away without leveling vigor as a spell caster lol
Rock Sling plus greatshield soldier ashes will get you all the way to the Elden Beast, and Meteorite of Astel, another gravity spell, will take over from there. Night Comet is incredbly powerful but a gravity only run is perfectly feasible.
The Godfrey section reminded me of my D&D game set in the Lands Between. We’re in Raya Lucaria atm and the solution to combat mages is to hit them one time in the face really hard and then they’re no longer a problem. S tier analysis
"pray to RNJesus" is an academy award worthy line. Applause.
Oh, its a meme I've heard many other places, but thank you
I cannot possibly fathom how much I appreciate the Flight of the Conchords references. If nobody else understands the jokes, I do, and I love it
The gravity of this video had me glued to my seat.
8:10 what do you know! That’s the same town my dad would say my mum was from. Small world!
i LOVE Tulok & Mango video drops!!
Thank you! We try!
glad to see the "tulok bitches about spells for 20 or so minutes" show return
4:57 Did fromsoft up the opacity on the fog or something? I've been replaying be recently and sometimes the erdtree just... Disappears. It's weird how much I use those suckers for navigation cos I can't be arsed opening the map
I need a compilation of every fort haight joke, there’s like 30+.
Can you imagine?
Gravity Well is mostly a combo tool tbf. It’s pull effects are fantastic for bringing enemies into lingering hitboxes, such as the ones the magma spells offer.
I always thought the Meteorite Staff should have had Strength scaling, like the Clawmark seal. The Gravity well spells would pair well with a melee build, the most iconic gravity themed character is a massive strong guy and all the gravity ashes of war come with the Heavy infusion.
Yeah, I wish any staff had a physical scaling stat. It would just be interesting
The Meteorite Staff does have some strength scaling iirc but at the point it would become relevant against the S Int scaling there are better staffs anyway.
@@btarczy5067it does not scale with strength at all. It just has a strength requirement, like most weapons.
@@kiltysalter2966 According to Fextralife there’s a D scaling in strength which is, as I said, irrelevant. If it’s even there at all, Fextralife has been known to have some mistakes.
The strength scaling is for when you bonk stuff with the staff, just like any catalyst that has str scaling (except clawmark + frenzy seals)
Glad you referred to the were are so back/it's so over graph. Anxious awaiting the "f_ck it we ball".
I say this as a dedicated spell caster: I have never noticed a difference in speed between using Radagon’s Icon, Azur’s Staff, both, and neither. Like seriously is it really that much of a difference? Also personally I prefer Carian Regal Scepter over Lusat’s but I respect using it all the same
It's slightly better, and does make some windows better. But it's definitely not worth investing in Dex
I think there are a *couple* of spells where it's noticeable, like the bubble spells.... I think....
The difference is only super noticeable on spells with long windups. Otherwise you're probably only getting a few frames worth of difference, if anything
Honestly, I don't bother trying to improve casting speed. I accept that spells are slow and just put my vigor to the cap. At least the damage makes up for it when I can pull it off.
yeah basically when the game talks about "casting speed" what they're really talking about is "that weird, artificial-feeling delay where you're standing still and have the icon of your spell school floating in front of you". That's the only thing casting speed affects. At 70 dex, that artificial delay doesn't exist anymore. So it purely depends on how long that delay is on the spell you're casting; some spells don't even have it at all, like carian slicer.
In NG+X runs investing heavily in Dex as a caster is worth it but not really before. Hitting thresholds with the Radagon Icon can however be done without much investment. Even if it isn’t always apparent a few frames can make a difference in opening punish windows.
Weird sentence. Anyway, a bit of Dex on an Int build isn’t too bad considering Moonveil exists. And Wing of Astel, Death Ritual Spear… Oh, and I guess spells that can be cast a tiny bit faster.
The gravity sorceries are my favourate honestly. Recently did my own run focusing on them. Very fun.
I did a purple “pew-pew” run as my NG +2. I enjoyed being a gravity mage as my first magic run. If the DLC doesn’t come out soon, I might do a blue “pew-pew” run, still considering. But l agree that weapons are generally better. Thanks for the video.
Currently playing a melee mage since I only do unga bunga characters. Glintstone pebble is CRACKED as an endgame pew pew
I gotta try the fast blue boys, maybe they'll impress me
Blue pew pew is gonna be interesting because in my experience the cost efficient ones do almost no damage by the half way point in the game and the only ones that do good damage take a ridiculous amount of fp
14:50 That is my opinion on spells and incantations. Are they objectively good and better than weapons? Not really… a pure spellcaster build has a lot of problems so you’re better going for a hybrid build if you wanna use em at all, but god they are so fucking cool
Style over substance imho. They look cool, but they're not really giving you anything you can't do better with a weapon
I love the gravity sorceries, I'm using them while dressed as Radahn.
Just saw the short and wanted to watch again.
Grav magic was my 1st and probably only int build i made, something about the spells and weapons that role with gravity just hit different, even if the other magic types are just better
A few things
-holding a staff in your offhand still gives you the bonus so you can hold lusat's staff while still having the 30% bonus from your offhand
-the gravity well spells are meant to be used while having a melee option, bringing the enemy to you before hitting them with your sword
- he did have the Meteorite Staff in his offhand. He was 2-handing the Lusat staff at times but you can clearly see the other staff in the other slot, he was definitely getting that bonus
- theyre still bad
Never thought I’d see Uraraka build in Elden Ring but I’m all for it
3:13 meteorite of Astel does less damage than rock sling
counterargument:
Rock Slings and Meteorite of Astel are usefull in the cases where the enemy is REALLY resistent to magic damage, such as Rennala, and can spice up your casting build since sorceries are pretty much locked to magic damage and then the 2 fire/magma spells, having sorceries that deal physical damage is actually a real nice niche to have.
Outside of that, i do agree with you that they are really underwhelming
I usually don’t use health flasks and I don’t upgrade health until late game when I can utilize the healing incantations
I actually am curious since Rock Sling does physical damage does the blue dancer charm do more damage unlike glintstone sorcery or firepots and yes I know he said it works but I don’t know if it actually does the wiki thing has lied to me before repeatedly and I distrust all sources besides doing it myself at this point
Helping by watching this
Bless you
17:57 HEY, PHRASING!
WE ARE SO BACK
The only thing that's OVER? is the wait for the new video
Firstly, great elden ring content. secondly, based as hell. A rare combo for youtube
I've found that the way to make spells fun is to use them alongside, rather than instead of, a weapon. If you tailor your spell choices to those that cover situations that your weapon doesn't (such as a ranged spell, an AoE, one or two buffs or heals, etc) then imo the game is way more fun than playing with a weapon on its own. It's true that just spamming one button at a boss from a distance isn't that fun... but being able to punish the enemy for moving away from *you* and making *them* have to close that distance rather than having to waste time and stamina running over to wherever the boss teleported/jumped/flew, then smoothly transitioning back to melee with your weapon of choice, feels great.
The Radahn Meteor idea slaps, honestly.
Also, just checking my memory - there's no Onyx or Alabaster Lord Spirit Ash currently, right? Not counting any build-your-own-at-home mimic tear options
Rock sling and meteorite carried my first play on Xbox. Is OP
Meteorite of Astel is basically a 10x more powerful Comet Azur if used on a big target, so endgame should just be using those two spells and you'll dominate everything
I honestly am all about spells, but I'm really NOT all about that Pure Caster mindset.
There are so many amazing faith and int weapons and people expect me to just... dual wield staffs and seals instead of holding a weapon in one hand and a catalyst in the other? It's like dual wielding shields.
Wait, shield builds are a thing in elden ring too-
Man I have watched so many of your videos and I still have no idea how to get the radagon icon.
Hang a right outside of the Red wolf of Radagon boss fight, hop over the railing to the ladder, climb up, go through the window, and walk over to the chest!
@@tulokthebarbrarian2033 Thanks!
@@tulokthebarbrarian2033 Wow, I got on to find it and it was super easy. I'm surprised I never found that on my own. Thanks again!
This video really rocked me
I only carry rock throw to deal with enemies that have obscene magic resist. Typically those enemies are not fast so it is perfectly fine to chuck rocks at them. Gravity magic is a cool idea but they didn't develop it enough to make it something to specialize in. Which makes me sad. You can be a bad ass magic projectile thrower and an awesome magical knight, but the spells that might allow for other builds are pretty lacking. I would love to be able to crush my enemies by amplifying their own weight or throw things like my enemies or even myself through the air.
The rock sling spell used to be super broken back when I used it it had 30 stance damage so it basically demolished the bosses
16:56 it’s meters per second SQUARED, not just meters per second. ha.
I detect a missed opportunity for the gravity build to be cosplaying enrico pucci from jojos part 6
I don't like anime, that's why I did an MHA character
@@tulokthebarbrarian2033 😐😐😐
Definitely have low hopes for the Beast incants. As someone who loves playing caster, I will always tell you the best way to play caster... is to play melee. Which basically invalidates 90% of the few practical spells in the game. But the beast incantations are unique in that they are absolutely intended to be used as a component of a melee build, not as a main source of damage like other spell families.
12:04 You sound exactly like Kevin from The Office
We don't like watching you suffer, we enjoy watching your dedication and inginuity ❤
It is crazy how far you can get in a game where your main objective is to kill the demi gods, by just hurling rocks
If I were to suggest a rock spell for a new spell caster coming from strength builds I would recommend gravity for a new character or bestial incantations to add onto a pre existing character since they scale with str anyway
This channel rocks
Rock Sling is great... when you have a summon or the high ground. Those Caelid/Dragonbarrow/Frenzy Village avatars are a joke because they all have high ground nearby. Lure them with an arrow into lock-on range if needed, yeet rocks, back up a bit when they start blasting.
Why didn't TH-cam give me a notification? I have them on, oh well I got something to watch for lunch now :D
Enjoy that lunch and make sure you take as long of a break as you can
So, I'm definitely on Team Spells, I love the fantasy of being a wizard. But yeah, a lot of times they're less efficient than a weapon is. And I feel that your observation about people forming opinions based on DS 1 is the reason for that. People have been bagging on sorcery as easy mode for so long From doesn't want to take chances and make it "too" good. Which is too bad. I really hope they change their mind on that for the DLC. Some cool and efficient spells would be really great.
You can cheese the rot dragon by standing on a hill where he can't reach you and the Caelid deathbird by standing on the skull near it, once you kill the pot throwing giant. Neither was able to damage me in any as I Rock Slung them to death.
Actually using gravity well in a coop run on a melee int build, it's very good at drawing the aggro away from my squishy 10 vigor mage friend
Instant like for rock lobster reference
Notification squad lets gooooo
I dunno, Rock Sling I feel is still pretty useful, I feel.
Stance pressure is not common on spells, so it helps a lot in a bunch of situations, either opening you up for a crit if you're carrying a weapon too or something silly like Meteorite/Comet Azur, etc... It's also got SURPRISING range, which is boosted by the Arrow's Reach Talisman, making it real handy for sniping.
I share your feeling on Gravity Well though, the IDEA of pulling enemies to their deaths is funny but I couldn't really find anywhere that was useful.
If you struggled with these, tho, I'm already in commiseration for your Beast run. Basically the ONLY good beast spell is Stone of Gurranq. And it IS really good, better than Rock Sling in some aspects, even. But it has a bunch of problems, heck, just getting to it will be a nightmare all on its own, though if you allow yourself the Cinquedea, that dagger is also surprisingly decent early on.
It doesn't help that these are kinda challenge runs where he forces himself to only use these spells to deal damage, in real life most people using rock sling just press R1 or L2 when the enemy is close. The fact that gravity spells are all so situational is the perfect way to balance spells and weapons in my opinion, sadly very few are balanced in this way.
@@rafaelbordoni516I really feel that spells should have a move set. Ditch the awkward bonk animation and give me light and heavy variations.
If you throw Rock Sling at a fire, would we finally be able to smell what The Rock is cooking? 🤔
gravideez nuts
Wow, fell for the Tragedy of Bophades
@@tulokthebarbrarian2033 is that the one about Mico?
23:29 thought you could slip in some lil Nas X and get away with it
I never played a souls game before elden ring. I picked astrologer at random. Learned bow hard the game is ..lol but i beat it with rock sling and pebble. Literally all i used except i had moonveil in my offhand. My set up was totally awkward lol. But i did it. I haven't done an int run again. Bit if i can beat it with rocksling and pebble anyone can. If you dont have time for rocks, try 50 pebbles...lol
everybody should know at this point that gravity is the most lethal force in elden ring. oh you mean gravity spells. they are ok too i guess
"Ok" is a pretty great description for them
Clear case of the boss fight beatdown experience vs the boss when you unlock it as playable character.
I love gravity spells in this game, played them so much. Unfortunately I think the best ones are all ashes of war, the real gravity build is just a strength build, maybe int hybrid if you wanna be thematic. Rock sling stance damage is also boosted by that cracked tear that boosts stance damage, it turns you into a stance breaking machine, especially if you're also using cragblade, pretty sure most dragons take like 3 casts to the head while they're doing their wake up roar and get stance broken, you start each dragon fight with them at half health. But yeah, not the strongest cheese in the game.
Did you change the lighting settings or add a lighting mod? Everything looks very dark.
I have a great elden ring run suggestion. Every enemy is you and or just like the mimic tear fight so it copys what you have
Btw you can cheese greyll with gravity! At least last month you could, actually funny stuff to see him fall like that
All that's missing in this build is her simping for Deku and getting less and less screentime as it goes on.
Uraraka? More like... UraROBBEDka of story moments
It's almost like the writing of the series was questionable and have a thing to misuse it's characters potential and ideals, sadly.
@@tulokthebarbrarian2033 HaHA. Good one. Broke Gravity a bit, but worth it.
As a mage in my current Seamless Co-Op run with my spouse, I am a heavily armored (Radahan's Armor) mage. I keep trying other spells but honestly, there are only a couple spells that feel viable. There are a lot of cool spells but honestly most seem bad unfortunately. Also, armor feels so necessary as trading is a requirement.
Gravity Sorceries are my favorite intelligence spells with Carian Sorceries close second