Sorry if the labels are a bit inconsistent earlier than later, I only started getting into it around incantations. Also it's incomplete for now, I'll be back in a while, sorry this is taking so long.
Sorcery/Incantation buffs and how I'm testing them:
TL;DR
For sorceries don't expect too many changes to mage gameplay except maybe Great Oracle bubble, Rykard's Rancor being more of a mainstay imo, Crystal Barrage for large enemies early-mid game, and more Gavel of Haima in PVP. Carian Greatsword may see more popularity due to it becoming better area control, but even with the Adula Moonblade nerf/buff it's still the better spell later in the game and Carian Slicer still vastly outdamages it against single targets even if it staggers slower. Personal favorite buff is both the bubble and magma spells, even if they're still not great it's nice to see them be more than a meme to the developers.
For Incantations, {WIP}
For mixed Int/Fai spells specifically, death sorceries are still just Rancorcall/Ancient Death Rancor as neither spell buffed really went anywhere, at best you're not screwing yourself as hard using them. Magma sorceries are alright, Magma Shot is more useable and Gelmir's Fury has more damage in the lava, so it might be a decent enough AoE to compete with Zamor's Ice Storm with higher cast speed. Faith sorceries are still a meme at best of course. Golden Order incantations, however, have been given quite the boost. Discus now far outpaces Damage/FP in an int/fai build, Triple Rings of Light looks promising, and Radagon's Ring of Light certainly can devastate an area if you can get it off charged.
Also @gaystoner the spell's called 'Litany of Proper Death', and that's a holy damage spell meant to be used against skeletons (and maybe putrid corpses, but certainly skeletons- might test that later). It doesn't do much against anything not dead and even then it's not amazing iirc. I'd stick with a holy damage weapon and just strike the glowing white thing as they get up.
Sorcery/Incantation buffs and how I'm testing them:
First of all, the build. Level 148, 20 dex, 70 int, 35 fth, and 16 arc at base. Armor is Omenkiller set with Lusat's Glintstone Crown for 13 poise. If int/fai is changed via helmet/trinket, it will be noted on the spell which made the change necessary. Damage numbers and speed tested at Gatefront against the unaware Godrick Soldier, so damage bonus on unaware enemies is included unless otherwise stated (eg: Gelmir's Fury has magma which requires the enemy step into it and not die/get damaged by the projectiles, thus the magma would only be tested without stealth, or Discus of Light against a troll to hit both parts of the spell). Most poise spells WILL NOT be tested unless otherwise specified.
Also note that numbers may be different if you try them due to counter hits dealing more damage than regular ones, so ymmv.
Catalysts: Carian Regal Scepter +10 with 330 sorcery scaling (Prince of Death is lower at current stats, 302), Golden Order Seal +10 at 335 incant scaling.
-Carian Regal Scepter is used as at high stat levels the bonus damage from the passive effects of staves are typically less than raw stat scaling.
-Golden Order Seal is used as Golden Order incantations are a subclass of incantations that require both intelligence and faith, so not only is the Golden Order Seal the best scaling for my character, it also provides a bonus for the Golden Order category, which leads into the next point:
-Passive boosting catalysts and scorpion charms WILL NOT be equipped if sorcery/incant can be boosted by them. For optimal damage/FP ratio, a second staff/finger seal will be equipped, as passive effects work for the other catalyst when equipped in the opposite hand. I do not, however, have every seal, staff, or scorpion charm and thus will not use this method of boosting damage due to inconsistency between tests.
Trinkets:
-Sorcery: Graven-School Talisman, Graven-Mass Talisman, Primal Glintstone Knife, Godfrey Icon/Ritual Sword Talisman
-Incantations: Faithful Canvas Talisman, Flock's Canvas Talisman, Primal Glintstone Knife, Godfrey Icon/Two Fingers Heirloom
Godfrey Icon will be swapped whenever charged spell is uncharged or calculating damage for an uncharged spell.
Key shorthand words or phrases: D/FP is Damage/FP, which itself is the ratio of damage per FP consumed. AotC is Aspect of the Crucible, DoL is Discus of Light.
Sorceries
-Crystal Barrage: Under 1 second cast time, recovery time is a third of a second at most.
-Gavel of Haima: About 1.5 seconds startup for one cast, under 2.5 seconds for second cast. About 2/3rds of one second for recovery give or take.
-Shatter Earth: Hyper armor starts when thrusting staff into the ground. Cast time is about one second from button press for ground thrust and an almost immediate thrust downward and aoe after.
-Rock Blaster: Poise can withstand a light spear poke of a Godrick Soldier, but not the shield bash or heavy strike. Time to cast from button press is a little under two seconds, with the aoe coming under half a second after releasing the button if held.
-Thop's Barrier: Appears to be bigger and maybe slightly lingers? Will soon test in Raya Lucaria the approximate distance for spells to be repelled and if there's a slightly lingering reflection effect.
-Rennala's Moon and Ranni's Dark Moon: Same spell, same speed. Two seconds of initial casting lag, a little over one second of recovery time. Definite improvement from my experience with this spell, especially recovery time.
-Carian Greatsword: Slightly under a second from cast to swing. Follow up swings are about the same or slightly faster.
-Magma Shot: 1 second to cast. ~1.5 seconds with charge. New FP is 16 with Primal Glintblade, 21 with. New Damage/FP is 67.3125 charged (Godfrey Icon), 54.375 uncharged (Ritual Sword Talisman)
-Roiling Magma: About one second cast time, about 1.5 seconds when charged. ~2.5 seconds for uncharged explosion from impact, ~3.5-4 seconds charged.
-Gelmir's Fury: Lava pool damage is 306. I never used this spell before so I cannot comment on the random projectile range. I guess it feels like it typically will hit most ranges? Maybe?
-Rykard's Rancor: THIS was a spell I never expected to get buffed, as it was my method of killing magic resistant dragons on the Moonlight Altar. 23 FP with Primal Glintstone Blade, 30 without.
-Oracle Bubbles: Slightly over half a second to cast, ~1.33 seconds to cast charged.
-Great Oracular Bubble: Silver Tear Mask equipped to reach minimum arcane requirements. ~2 seconds to cast uncharged, ~3 charged.
-Briars of Sin: Half a second recovery from end of first cast, slightly less from end of second cast, half a second from third cast. Timed from the start of the staff being pulled from body animation after spell is done casting. Don't feel like testing if bleed buildup is indeed greater.
-Briars of Punishment: Recovery is slightly over 2 seconds from button pressed, just under if not one second from when spell is fired.
-Explosive Ghostflame: Costs 32 FP with Primal Glintstone, 42 without. 3.5 seconds into roll from button press, two seconds from when spell is fired.
-Tibia's Summons: Slightly over 2 seconds from button press, damage of 410 from single hit. Assuming the hits from all skeleton projectiles are equally damaging, damage is 1230. New Damage/FP is 68.34 with Primal Glintstone Blade, 53.4783 without. Still the worst spell in this game IMO.
Incantations
-AotC Tail: New FP cost: 17/22. About 1 second start up uncharged, 1.5 seconds charged. New Damage/FP is calculated against the troll near the Secluded Cell site of grace, as the Godrick Knight dies in one hit from this potentially 2 hit spell. First hit is 820, second is 1067 when charged, or 111 D/FP. Uncharged damage is 846, or 49.76 D/FP.
-AotC Horn: Acquiring right now, will update when I have the spell after testing remaining spells.
-Elden Stars: Do not have, takes 50 faith and I only have 47 potential faith right now. Cannot test.
-Black Blade: Equipped Imp Head (Corpse), Two Fingers Heirloom, and used Faith Knot Crystal from Physick. Recovery is ~1 second after spell is finished.
NOTE: Spells from Discus of Light until Radagon's Rings of Light includes the Golden Order buff, thus damage will be boosted by 10% by the Golden Order Seal.
-Discus of Light: Tested against troll from AotC Tail testing due to projectile returning, meaning a larger target with larger health pool is necessary. Aimed at the torso and avoided head shots. New FP is 7/9 and startup is ~1.5 seconds from button press. Damage is 669 on first stealth strike, then 537 on return. In order of only stealth hits, one stealth hit and one aggo hit, and only aggro hits, the new Damage/FP is 191.1429/148.67(1338 ), 172.2857/134 (1206), and 153.4286/119.34(1074) respectively.
-Triple Rings of Light: Same test as DoL for same reasons. First hit is stealth, 696. Second in combat, 599. Both were from a single discus hit. Stealth only, stealth/aggro, and aggro only is 77.34/60.5217(1392), 71.945/56.3043(1295), and 66.56/52.0870(1198 ) per discus. I won't count all 3 on contact for the purpose of getting D/FP, but just multiply it by 3 for each if you want those numbers.
-Radagon's Rings of Light: Also tested against troll. Costs 19/25 FP, startup is ~2 seconds, and recovery is about 1 second after spell is fired. New Damage/FP is 107/81.32(2033) when charged and 75.0526/57.04(1426) uncharged.
NOTE: From Lightning Strike until Death Lightning, spells will have a damage boost during rain. As not every boss can be exposed to water or rain (Fromsoftware pls give water pot and have it be oil pot but for lightning) I will be doing tests without rain.
-Lightning Strike: TBD
-Honed Bolt: Cast speed is ~1.66 seconds from button press and slightly faster than 1 cast per second when repeatedly pressing the button. End lag from when bolt lands is ~0.33 seconds.
-Ancient Dragon's Lightning Spear: New FP is 23/30, cast time from button press is 2 seconds, and end lag is 0.66 seconds after spell fires. 1432/1193 damage on impact (stealthed/in combat) and 455 on ground projectile (in combat) means the D/FP is 62.2609/47.734 and 51.8696/39.767 with just the lightning spear stealthed/in combat respectively, 19.7826/15.167 ground projectile only, or 82.0435/62.9(1887) and 71.6522/54.934(1648 ) for both spear and ground projectile, stealthed and in combat.
-Ancient Dragon's Lightning Strike: Almost a second of recovery time uncharged and 2 seconds recovery time charged, both timed from when the spell is fired from the raised hand.
-Lansseax's Glaive: FP is now 21/28, cast time is about 2.5 seconds, and recovery time is over a second and a half after the spell fires. New D/FP is 64.8095/48.6071(1361) stealthed, 59.3810/44.5357(1247) in combat. Ground damage is 690 stealthed, 613 if in combat.
-Fortissax's Lightning Spear: Using Imp Head (Corpse) and faith knot crystal. FP is now 45 without, 34 with. Startup lag is about 2 seconds, end lag is about 0.66-1 second after second lightning spear is fired. D/FP is 47.2647/35.712(1607) per spear in stealth and 31/4706/23.78(~1070) in combat.
-Frozen Lightning Spear: Cast time is under 1 second from button press and ~2/3rds of a second in recovery time after spell is cast.
-Death Lightning: Imp Head (Corpse) and faith knot crystal. FP is now 24/32. New D/FP is 93.5834/70.1875(2246) and 78/58.5(1872) stealthed/in combat. Death clouds linger for 2-2.5 seconds.
NOTE: Rain decreases fire damage. As said above, rain will not be in testing because of how not every boss is subjected to weather rng.
-O, Flame!: Testing against troll. Damage/FP is now 150/112.5(1800) charged from stealth, 125/93.75(1500) charged in combat, 97.67/73.25(1172) uncharged from stealth, and 81.4167/61.0625(977) uncharged in combat.
-Giantsflame Take Thee: I don't do stamina.
Flame of the Fell God: Imp Head and Heirloom. Tested against troll. FP is now 32/42. New Damage/FP is 54.9688/41.8810(1759) from stealth, (~1380) in combat. Note: ground fire is not counted as faster enemies tend to escape it, but including full ground fire duration in combat gives us ~1860 damage.
-Whirl, O Flame!: Almost immediate recovery time when spell finishes. New damage is 416 per bullet in stealth charged.
I'm starting to lose my drive, gonna finish this up when I feel like it because by god this is painful.
Also note that numbers may be different if you try them due to counter hits dealing more damage than regular ones, so ymmv.
Catalysts: Carian Regal Scepter +10 with 330 sorcery scaling (Prince of Death is lower at current stats, 302), Golden Order Seal +10 at 335 incant scaling.
-Carian Regal Scepter is used as at high stat levels the bonus damage from the passive effects of staves are typically less than raw stat scaling.
-Golden Order Seal is used as Golden Order incantations are a subclass of incantations that require both intelligence and faith, so not only is the Golden Order Seal the best scaling for my character, it also provides a bonus for the Golden Order category, which leads into the next point:
-Passive boosting catalysts and scorpion charms WILL NOT be equipped if sorcery/incant can be boosted by them. For optimal damage/FP ratio, a second staff/finger seal will be equipped, as passive effects work for the other catalyst when equipped in the opposite hand. I do not, however, have every seal, staff, or scorpion charm and thus will not use this method of boosting damage due to inconsistency between tests.
Trinkets:
-Sorcery: Graven-School Talisman, Graven-Mass Talisman, Primal Glintstone Knife, Godfrey Icon/Ritual Sword Talisman
-Incantations: Faithful Canvas Talisman, Flock's Canvas Talisman, Primal Glintstone Knife, Godfrey Icon/Two Fingers Heirloom
Godfrey Icon will be swapped whenever charged spell is uncharged or calculating damage for an uncharged spell.
Key shorthand words or phrases: D/FP is Damage/FP, which itself is the ratio of damage per FP consumed. AotC is Aspect of the Crucible, DoL is Discus of Light.
Sorceries
-Crystal Barrage: Under 1 second cast time, recovery time is a third of a second at most.
-Gavel of Haima: About 1.5 seconds startup for one cast, under 2.5 seconds for second cast. About 2/3rds of one second for recovery give or take.
-Shatter Earth: Hyper armor starts when thrusting staff into the ground. Cast time is about one second from button press for ground thrust and an almost immediate thrust downward and aoe after.
-Rock Blaster: Poise can withstand a light spear poke of a Godrick Soldier, but not the shield bash or heavy strike. Time to cast from button press is a little under two seconds, with the aoe coming under half a second after releasing the button if held.
-Thop's Barrier: Appears to be bigger and maybe slightly lingers? Will soon test in Raya Lucaria the approximate distance for spells to be repelled and if there's a slightly lingering reflection effect.
-Rennala's Moon and Ranni's Dark Moon: Same spell, same speed. Two seconds of initial casting lag, a little over one second of recovery time. Definite improvement from my experience with this spell, especially recovery time.
-Carian Greatsword: Slightly under a second from cast to swing. Follow up swings are about the same or slightly faster.
-Magma Shot: 1 second to cast. ~1.5 seconds with charge. New FP is 16 with Primal Glintblade, 21 with. New Damage/FP is 67.3125 charged (Godfrey Icon), 54.375 uncharged (Ritual Sword Talisman)
-Roiling Magma: About one second cast time, about 1.5 seconds when charged. ~2.5 seconds for uncharged explosion from impact, ~3.5-4 seconds charged.
-Gelmir's Fury: Lava pool damage is 306. I never used this spell before so I cannot comment on the random projectile range. I guess it feels like it typically will hit most ranges? Maybe?
-Rykard's Rancor: THIS was a spell I never expected to get buffed, as it was my method of killing magic resistant dragons on the Moonlight Altar. 23 FP with Primal Glintstone Blade, 30 without.
-Oracle Bubbles: Slightly over half a second to cast, ~1.33 seconds to cast charged.
-Great Oracular Bubble: Silver Tear Mask equipped to reach minimum arcane requirements. ~2 seconds to cast uncharged, ~3 charged.
-Briars of Sin: Half a second recovery from end of first cast, slightly less from end of second cast, half a second from third cast. Timed from the start of the staff being pulled from body animation after spell is done casting. Don't feel like testing if bleed buildup is indeed greater.
-Briars of Punishment: Recovery is slightly over 2 seconds from button pressed, just under if not one second from when spell is fired.
-Explosive Ghostflame: Costs 32 FP with Primal Glintstone, 42 without. 3.5 seconds into roll from button press, two seconds from when spell is fired.
-Tibia's Summons: Slightly over 2 seconds from button press, damage of 410 from single hit. Assuming the hits from all skeleton projectiles are equally damaging, damage is 1230. New Damage/FP is 68.34 with Primal Glintstone Blade, 53.4783 without. Still the worst spell in this game IMO.
Incantations
-AotC Tail: New FP cost: 17/22. About 1 second start up uncharged, 1.5 seconds charged. New Damage/FP is calculated against the troll near the Secluded Cell site of grace, as the Godrick Knight dies in one hit from this potentially 2 hit spell. First hit is 820, second is 1067 when charged, or 111 D/FP. Uncharged damage is 846, or 49.76 D/FP.
-AotC Horn: Acquiring right now, will update when I have the spell after testing remaining spells.
-Elden Stars: Do not have, takes 50 faith and I only have 47 potential faith right now. Cannot test.
-Black Blade: Equipped Imp Head (Corpse), Two Fingers Heirloom, and used Faith Knot Crystal from Physick. Recovery is ~1 second after spell is finished.
NOTE: Spells from Discus of Light until Radagon's Rings of Light includes the Golden Order buff, thus damage will be boosted by 10% by the Golden Order Seal.
-Discus of Light: Tested against troll from AotC Tail testing due to projectile returning, meaning a larger target with larger health pool is necessary. Aimed at the torso and avoided head shots. New FP is 7/9 and startup is ~1.5 seconds from button press. Damage is 669 on first stealth strike, then 537 on return. In order of only stealth hits, one stealth hit and one aggo hit, and only aggro hits, the new Damage/FP is 191.1429/148.67(1338 ), 172.2857/134 (1206), and 153.4286/119.34(1074) respectively.
-Triple Rings of Light: Same test as DoL for same reasons. First hit is stealth, 696. Second in combat, 599. Both were from a single discus hit. Stealth only, stealth/aggro, and aggro only is 77.34/60.5217(1392), 71.945/56.3043(1295), and 66.56/52.0870(1198 ) per discus. I won't count all 3 on contact for the purpose of getting D/FP, but just multiply it by 3 for each if you want those numbers.
-Radagon's Rings of Light: Also tested against troll. Costs 19/25 FP, startup is ~2 seconds, and recovery is about 1 second after spell is fired. New Damage/FP is 107/81.32(2033) when charged and 75.0526/57.04(1426) uncharged.
NOTE: From Lightning Strike until Death Lightning, spells will have a damage boost during rain. As not every boss can be exposed to water or rain (Fromsoftware pls give water pot and have it be oil pot but for lightning) I will be doing tests without rain.
-Lightning Strike: TBD
-Honed Bolt: Cast speed is ~1.66 seconds from button press and slightly faster than 1 cast per second when repeatedly pressing the button. End lag from when bolt lands is ~0.33 seconds.
-Ancient Dragon's Lightning Spear: New FP is 23/30, cast time from button press is 2 seconds, and end lag is 0.66 seconds after spell fires. 1432/1193 damage on impact (stealthed/in combat) and 455 on ground projectile (in combat) means the D/FP is 62.2609/47.734 and 51.8696/39.767 with just the lightning spear stealthed/in combat respectively, 19.7826/15.167 ground projectile only, or 82.0435/62.9(1887) and 71.6522/54.934(1648 ) for both spear and ground projectile, stealthed and in combat.
-Ancient Dragon's Lightning Strike: Almost a second of recovery time uncharged and 2 seconds recovery time charged, both timed from when the spell is fired from the raised hand.
-Lansseax's Glaive: FP is now 21/28, cast time is about 2.5 seconds, and recovery time is over a second and a half after the spell fires. New D/FP is 64.8095/48.6071(1361) stealthed, 59.3810/44.5357(1247) in combat. Ground damage is 690 stealthed, 613 if in combat.
-Fortissax's Lightning Spear: Using Imp Head (Corpse) and faith knot crystal. FP is now 45 without, 34 with. Startup lag is about 2 seconds, end lag is about 0.66-1 second after second lightning spear is fired. D/FP is 47.2647/35.712(1607) per spear in stealth and 31/4706/23.78(~1070) in combat.
-Frozen Lightning Spear: Cast time is under 1 second from button press and ~2/3rds of a second in recovery time after spell is cast.
-Death Lightning: Imp Head (Corpse) and faith knot crystal. FP is now 24/32. New D/FP is 93.5834/70.1875(2246) and 78/58.5(1872) stealthed/in combat. Death clouds linger for 2-2.5 seconds.
NOTE: Rain decreases fire damage. As said above, rain will not be in testing because of how not every boss is subjected to weather rng.
-O, Flame!: Testing against troll. Damage/FP is now 150/112.5(1800) charged from stealth, 125/93.75(1500) charged in combat, 97.67/73.25(1172) uncharged from stealth, and 81.4167/61.0625(977) uncharged in combat.
-Giantsflame Take Thee: I don't do stamina.
Flame of the Fell God: Imp Head and Heirloom. Tested against troll. FP is now 32/42. New Damage/FP is 54.9688/41.8810(1759) from stealth, (~1380) in combat. Note: ground fire is not counted as faster enemies tend to escape it, but including full ground fire duration in combat gives us ~1860 damage.
-Whirl, O Flame!: Almost immediate recovery time when spell finishes. New damage is 416 per bullet in stealth charged.
I'm starting to lose my drive, gonna finish this up when I feel like it because by god this is painful.
For sorceries don't expect too many changes to mage gameplay except maybe Great Oracle bubble, Rykard's Rancor being more of a mainstay imo, Crystal Barrage for large enemies early-mid game, and more Gavel of Haima in PVP. Carian Greatsword may see more popularity due to it becoming better area control, but even with the Adula Moonblade nerf/buff it's still the better spell later in the game and Carian Slicer still vastly outdamages it against single targets even if it staggers slower. Personal favorite buff is both the bubble and magma spells, even if they're still not great it's nice to see them be more than a meme to the developers.
For Incantations, {WIP}
For mixed Int/Fai spells specifically, death sorceries are still just Rancorcall/Ancient Death Rancor as neither spell buffed really went anywhere, at best you're not screwing yourself as hard using them. Magma sorceries are alright, Magma Shot is more useable and Gelmir's Fury has more damage in the lava, so it might be a decent enough AoE to compete with Zamor's Ice Storm with higher cast speed. Faith sorceries are still a meme at best of course. Golden Order incantations, however, have been given quite the boost. Discus now far outpaces Damage/FP in an int/fai build, Triple Rings of Light looks promising, and Radagon's Ring of Light certainly can devastate an area if you can get it off charged.
Also @gaystoner the spell's called 'Litany of Proper Death', and that's a holy damage spell meant to be used against skeletons (and maybe putrid corpses, but certainly skeletons- might test that later). It doesn't do much against anything not dead and even then it's not amazing iirc. I'd stick with a holy damage weapon and just strike the glowing white thing as they get up.
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