I want spell suggestions that aren't just op one shot. I'm going into ng+ so any spell is welcome! The build will be int faith

Hey all, this is going to be a follow-up to my Incantations post which you can find here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/u7gmd8/postpatch_104_bestfavorite_incantations_tested/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Essentially, I'm at 520 hours of playtime, with the first 200ish spent as an INT pure caster and the following 320 spent as a Faith hybrid. By request I'll go back to the Sorceries post-buff and do a similar write up as I did for Incants, hopefully sharing an equal amount of info and giving everyone some guidance on what to use, especially after the recent buffs. In my Incantations guide I mostly focused on what is good (especially low-mid tier spells that have surprising/unique uses and aren't as popular as the other well known ones) and ignored what is still bad even after buffs. I'll take a slightly different approach at first here, and try to cover all the workhorse options since it will be your bread and butter spell for a long time, before I go back to the previous style of just covering the notable spells. Let's get it going!

INT offers a lot of options for the main workhorse spell you choose, and is a pretty subjective choice. I'll run through the pros and cons of the primary ones first, that you'll find yourself spamming so that you can pick for yourself. With Faith there's maybe 3-4 good options for your workhorse, whereas INT has at least 7 or 8 depending on what you want.

Glintstone Pebble - the classic. This is what I used for a majority of my time casting, because it has everything you want and minimal downsides. It is the INT equivalent to Catch Flame - a starter spell that remains incredible through the entire game. Tiny FP cost, highly spammable, surprisingly respectable damage, low cast time, minimal recovery and no animation lock (animation lock will be a recurring theme in this guide). The downside is that it doesn't do much damage per cast, but it is respectable and makes up for that with spammable casts that have solid range. Always a good choice.

Swift Glintstone Shard - in my opinion, a downgrade to another option I'll list later on. It's not bad, very spammable, but even less damage than Pebble and it does have a short animation lock while casting which hurts it as a workhorse. It comes out quick, travels fast, and thrives against low HP enemies or super agile ones, but outside that situation it's not ideal, so not the best workhorse choice in my experience.

Great Glintstone Shard - this one was buffed heavily in 1.03 and is a top tier option. I was using it to replace Pebble before the buff and it was good, now it is absolutely great. It has a higher FP cost than Pebble but with better range (pretty significantly, 20-30% more in my experience), ~40% more damage, but similar tracking, travel speed and cast time. Probably my personal favorite for a workhorse, although some great alternatives to it exist now as well.

Glintstone Cometshard - underrated pick. Passes straight through enemies (can hit multiple in a line), has very good range, solid cast speed, is chargeable, does even more damage than GGS even uncharged, and only costs 19 FP. That's a bit high for a workhorse spell (especially if you use Lusat's or Azur's Staff) but the damage to FP ratio is pretty good, especially so if you can hit multiple enemies per cast.

Comet - the 26 FP costs kinda eliminates this from workhorse viability. With 68 INT I am doing 1400 per charged cast to white Albinaurics which is very strong, but the FP cost hurts if you need to spam it. I would classify this one as situational, it's basically a direct power-up to Cometshard with the extra cost and slight cast time increase that comes along with that. Strong situational spell.

Glintstone Icecrag - think Great Glintstone Shard, with noticeably less range, higher damage and stacks Frostbite which is a huge, huge benefit. It is buffed by the Snow Witch Hat which many people like to use anyway. It's very strong at what it does but is limited by its range, although the 12 FP cost means you can spam it and afford to miss a couple. Extremely high FP to damage ratio and general DPS, especially with the Snow Witch buff, and the ability to spam these cheap and proc Frost for a further damage boost. Super, super strong if you're at close to mid range, but I'd suggest taking it in conjunction with a longer range spell like GGS or even Pebble and switching to it once enemies are in its range. It beats every other workhorse option for single target damage if you're able to land it.

Beyond these ones, we also have the Night spells. They're all good, and all worth trying. Let's check them out...

Night Shard - almost a direct upgrade to Swift Shard. It's considered an invisible projectile, so exceptionally good for Tarnished NPC invaders or super agile enemies that roll away from other spells. Good tracking for them too. By far the best option for dealing with NPCs that dodge a lot, despite the relatively low damage it deals, as it's spammable and only has a very short animation lock, feels even shorter than Swift Shard.

Night Comet - as is the theme with Night spells, they do less damage than their Glintstone counterparts, but have the benefit of enemies not even trying to dodge them unless they input read, and even when they do they will get caught 9/10 times regardless. This one is surprisingly strong and does over 1100 damage to white Albinaurics with a charged cast that comes out relatively quick. FP cost is somewhat high like the regular Comet but is still a solid option if you prefer that style to Shard for dealing with rollers.

Ambush Shard - I loved this one during my INT build time. It hits from behind (sometimes it still hits blocking enemies as if the spell was blocked, sometimes it doesn't - maybe was a bug?) so can often bypass a shielded enemy which is a huge, huge plus for INT builds who tend to lack options for dealing with them. Sometimes inconsistent results, but has the benefit of relatively quick casts and being able to hit through walls at decent range since it comes from behind the enemy. Great utility combat spell.

Night Maiden's Mist - almost exclusively a cheese spell. This one made farming Crystalians at Elphael a breeze for their Rotten Crystal weapon drops, because it doesn't wake them up and isn't affected by their poise armor. It would be better in other situations if it didn't damage you too, as a bonus damage source before a big fight maybe - unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on what you're looking for) as it stands it is mainly useful for getting off free guaranteed damage over time on mobs or high HP enemies. Sometimes it won't even alert unaware enemies and can just drain them to nothing. Using it on bosses from a safe spot is also a viable strategy that can turn otherwise tough encounters into trivial cheese. Give this one a try.

Alright - going back to the previous format where I just list the ones that stand out from the pack now. There's no particular order and this is almost entirely PvE focused since I rarely get into PvP, as with my Incant guide. Let's go!

Adula's Moonblade - I think everyone knows and loves this one. Big sword and Frost wave AoE, recently buffed disguised as a nerf. It does less single cast damage now but it feels much easier to land both hits. Also buffed to cast quicker at lower Dex which makes this viable in more situations. Great trade off.

Roiling Magma - big buff! I almost never hear this one talked about. Will absolutely annihilate enemies weak to fire. The cast time and time to explosion buff really, really helped this. Throw it at your feet while evading in tighter areas, or throw it in front of an enemy before you engage with another spell and fireworks will ensue. Super fun to play with, but it will only explode if it doesn't hit an enemy although direct impact damage is still pretty darn good. Give it a shot.

Magma Shot - this feels good too. I don't think it's even close to top tier but the charged cast + magma puddle is a lot of fun to play with. Nice spell to mix things up, it's definitely at least viable.

Gavel of Haima - BONK! So much fun with quicker casts and hyperarmor preventing interruptions. Can crank out 2k+ on a double bonk with a decent AoE. Good, and super fun. Absolutely worth using now. Cannon unfortunately still feels slow and wonky for the damage it puts out, although I will say it's at least viable for some situations.

Explosive Ghostflame - the comically long recovery time was finally buffed. It's still a bit high but the damage is good and the AoE is big + Ghostflame DoT it leaves behind is good for staggering and brief area denial. Was bad, now viable and actually somewhat good imo.

Ancient Death Rancor - admittedly I have a softspot for Ghostflame anything, but this is just genuinely good. Great tracking even if not locked on, higher tier damage, quick casts and very good range if the skulls don't collide with the environment. This should get more use from all mages in my opinion, it just feels great to use.

Rock Sling - absolutely necessary for everyone. Big damage, solid cast speed, and the most serious benefit of doing Phys damage. Very few options deal phys damage which makes fights like Rennala insanely hard, whereas this spell absolutely melts her. You can get it almost immediately after you start, conveniently located right next to the Meteorite Staff which boosts its damage and has a base S scaling in INT.

Carian spells - everyone knows Retaliation - post nerf, nothing particularly special but I haven't used it much and could be wrong. I don't usually play with defensive spells beyond self-buffs so open to input on this.

The big standout here is Carian Slicer. Absolutely, unbelievably efficient FP to damage ratio, super fast casts, acceptable range for an essential melee attack, no recovery time... Everything you want as a pure caster with no serious melee options until something like Moonveil is unlocked, it's absolutely incredible and should be tried by everyone even into late game. A decent opening against a big enemy will net you 4k+ damage, even with relatively low INT (below 70). For less than 30 FP. Crazy good.

Greatsword is similar to Adula's Moonblade but without Frost. It's not a bad option at all if you don't have Moonblade and great for wiping out close range mobs, but I believe is outclassed by Moonblade once you have it. Still, the cheaper, quicker casts and still powerful hits give this a nice niche.

Piercer, to me, just feels like an inferior Greatsword/Moonblade. It can't be repeatedly cast like the others and does similar damage. The extra range it has doesn't make up for the lack of spam potential imo and isn't a great option when the others do what it does, but better.

Crystal Torrent/Barrage - "we have Comet Azur at home" vibes, but not a bad alternative at all. Actually better in some cases (yes, really) and is super cool visually. Give it a shot for the same things you'd use Azur for and see how impressive it can be. Crystal Barrage is a cheaper and faster version of this which can accomplish similar things when charged, and I think most people will be surprised by it too, in certain situations of course. Only downside is that at least Barrage doesn't stagger or interrupt so can be hard to avoid punishment against a lot of enemies.

Zamor Ice Storm - underrated, and badass. When enemies are clustered or generally immobile, this will guaranteed wipe them out or at least proc Frostbite on the higher HP one. I used a single charged cast of this to wipe out a certain set of summoned sister enemies at the end of an NPC questline, and this is totally exceptional against Tarnished. Probably exceeds for area denial in PvP too, but I am not sure on that.

The Briars - Briars of Punishment is a good ranged spell that can be used as a workhorse in some situations. With boosted damage and Bleed build-up (?) from Staff of the Guilty, these are really good blood mage type skills that I personally used a lot because they're always viable and super badass looking. I wish there were more of them. Briars of Sin can be chained 3 times for larger AoE, but the recovery time is a little harsh if you do all 3 so often I'll do 2 and roll out for another cast.

Loretta's Greatbow + Mastery - super long range, super high damage sniping spells. Imo you need one or the other in your kit at all times for thinning out enemies from extreme range, and nothing does it better than a charged cast of one of these. Super powerful and fills a super important niche. Exceptional tracking as well it seems.

Founding Rain of Stars - my most appraised message is "Behold, sorcery! But didn't expect dung..." right where you collect this one. It's not good at all in 90% of situations, but if you are against a large and relatively immobile or totally immobile enemy, this thing will rain absolute hell on them while you're free to cast other spells. Can also control mobs with the large AoE, but lack of any tracking makes it unpredictable. Situationally very good, but I can't suggest it as a staple spell - especially since it takes 2 slots. Probably the prettiest spell in the game though, right next to the Bloodboon incant for me personally.

Shatter Earth/Rock Blaster - I would pick Shatter Earth 10/10 times. It casts much faster, uses less FP, and the drill effect on RB that immediately drains your FP bar isn't even particularly useful. Shatter Earth is quick and staggers the same way as RB on cast, then finishes with a good knockback and respectable damage. I can see this one saving your life against a mob of something like Imps or Knights and it's worth trying out to see if it fits with your style.

Shard Spiral - sleeper elite tier spell. It seems pretty unassuming at first, but it drills through larger enemies and hits them multiple times while doing so. Even smaller enemies will get hit a couple times by it and the damage really adds up. Slow travel time and not the best range or tracking prevent it from being more versatile, but it excels so strongly at what it does that I consider it elite anyway. Try it against long enemies like bears, golems, or many bosses that also tend to move minimally or in straight lines and just watch the numbers stack. Deadly ass spell.

Terra Magica - huge buff for you and any summons (definitely Tarnished, I believe Spirit Summons as well) standing in it. You can actually cast it outside a boss's fog door, and you'll still be standing on the edge of it when you enter - great for maximizing the Comet Azur type strat since you can cast it immediately and with a full FP bar to get every bit of damage out of it. This is how I killed the Veteran armor boss at a certain Castle who gave me a lot of hell previously.

Starlight - it's a light source that functions better than a Torch. If it lasted longer I would really like it. Not having to either give up a hand slot for a torch or rely on the puny lantern for light can actually make a good difference for you, but I found myself mostly using this while clearing the darker low level dungeons while already super overleveled. It's a cool toy but should last 3 minutes at least imo.

Glintstone Arc - horizontal wave, starter spell for Astrologer class, is good for mob clearing from the very first use right until the end of the game. You can't go wrong with this, it's simple but super effective and is what I used exclusively to kill Claymen in my first run through their areas.

Magic Glintblade - YOU NEED THIS. Can't believe it slipped my mind for so long while writing this out. It is so insanely good for so many things. It can be used as a surprise attack burst damage dealer, while retreating to get damage off as you run away, offensively to stack them up before switching to another spell, can charge it to delay the cast, can stagger enemies and eventually break stance, can deal with shields + dodging enemies + input reads (since they will dodge on cast, not on activation), and does really surprising damage from surprising range for only 12 FP per cast. Seriously, you need this at all times.

Meteorite + of Astel - more unpredictable large enemy melters. I didn't use either very much, but there are people who swear by them for big spread out mobs and large bosses. The damage is undeniable, but I favor consistent hits on cast personally... I know a lot of you will love these though. Meteorite is more predictable and therefore likely more generically practical as a whole - still not even close to being objectively predictable though lol.

Collapsing Stars - pulling enemies in can result in serious cheese. Yank them off a ledge, bring them in range of another spell, pull slow ones closer and then run away to the other side of the room for solid distance... More utility than damage I think, but the damage is respectable too.

The Moon spells - some people absolutely swear by these, but I personally never really got into them. They were just buffed (again?) and are probably the best they'll ever be, so worth trying them out and seeing if you like them enough to dedicate 2 slots to one or the other.

Stars of Ruin - I wanted to like this and ultimately ended up just not hating it. It works for a lot of things, but 38 FP is really steep when there's so many options that do similar damage with better range for significantly cheaper. Star Shower, its mid tier counterpart, can actually be viable if you use it in workhorse spell situations - but then why not just use said workhorse spell? I guess these do work and are fun to switch things up, but hard to give a serious recommendation.

Alright I think that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and please leave an upvote or share if this was at all helpful to you. Check out my post on Incantations too if you're interested, as well as the top 10 list I left in the comments there (and may do here if it's requested).

Stay magical yall 🌹

Edit: somehow forgot the Carian Phalanx/Greatblades. These are exceptionally useful for breaking stances, and I used them as my only spells for killing that b*tch Alecto. Took a 'few' tries, but eventually whittled her down and got me the W. I don't use them as much as some people do but they're almost always a great option due to the way they work.

This is my first Elden Ring run and I'm doing an intelligence build with the moonveil katana. I'm at 41 intelligence, I realised that I don't really have many good spells, i only really hage glintstone pebble and the carian greatsword spell. I just beat Morgot at leyendell, what are some good spells I can find. Also doing Rannis questline.

With the Nerf of Stars of Ruin, I am wondering if there is a latest tier list for must have sorceries for an INT build.

Sorry if this has been posted lately.

Been playing Elden Ring since it came out, but I've never done anything with sorceries and figured I'd try it out, but idk anything about what's good and what's bad and how much I should put into each stat, etc.

I’m doing a faith/int build and want to know what the best sorceries and incantations are.

Have a lot of time in the game with many playthroughs and all different kinds of builds. One thing I haven't really tried is sorcery. Not sure why but just never loved it. Love using incants but could never really get into sorcery. I respeced once and tried it but it was +7 in the DLC and just wasn't feeling it. Looking back probably wasn't the best time to try it for the first time. So im going to start from scratch and give it a try. Any tips about weapons, spells, and how to maximize damage would be greatly appreciated.

Hey I’m looking for good sorceries and any recommendations for my build. I’m looking for sorceries that can deal damage while flowing with the moonlight greatsword.