Elden Ring Faith Build Guide — Best Incantations, Seals and Stat Order
Faith builds in Elden Ring are the most versatile in the game. You get access to healing, buffs, ranged damage, and the highest burst damage potential — all in one build. But the path to a functional RL 150 Faith build is littered with trap incantations, wrong seal choices, and wasted stat points.
This guide covers exactly what to level, when to level it, which seals outperform others at each stat threshold, and the incantations that actually deal damage (not the ones that look cool and hit for 200).
Why Faith Builds Dominate in Patch 1.16
Faith builds are currently one of the strongest archetypes in Elden Ring’s PvE meta. Here’s why:
- Holy damage is effective against most endgame bosses (except the final boss, which resists it — more on that below).
- Incantations have the highest single-hit damage in the game. Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike can one-shot Malenia’s phase 2 if set up correctly.
- Buff stacking is unique to Faith: Golden Vow + Flame Grant Me Strength + Howl of Shabriri stacks multiplicatively.
- Healing makes exploring the open world trivial — you can out-heal most environmental damage.
The catch: Faith builds are stat-hungry. You need Mind for FP, Endurance for stamina, and enough Vigor to survive trading hits while casting. This guide optimizes for RL 150 — the most active PvP and co-op level range.
Stat Priority: The Exact Order
Faith builds have a clear stat priority order. Deviating from this order significantly slows down your damage progression.
| Priority | Stat | Target (RL 150) | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vigor | 55-60 | Minimum for survivability in endgame (Mountaintops, Haligtree, DLC) |
| 2 | Faith | 60-80 | Primary damage stat — 80 is the final soft cap for most seals |
| 3 | Mind | 25-30 | Enough FP for 4-5 casts of your main damage incantation |
| 4 | Endurance | 20-25 | Allows wearing medium armor + casting without stamina exhaustion |
| 5 | Dexterity | 12-22 | Minimum for weapon requirements (14 for most, 22 for Sacred Relic Sword) |
| 6 | Strength | 12-16 | Minimum for weapon requirements (12 for Coded Sword, 16 for Blasphemous Blade) |
| 7 | Intelligence | Base | Faith builds do not invest in Intelligence |
| 8 | Arcane | Base | Unless running a Dragon Communion hybrid (covered below) |
Stat order during leveling (1-150):
- Vigor to 30 — early game survivability
- Faith to 25 — unlocks Golden Vow and Lightning Spear
- Mind to 20 — enough FP for 3-4 casts
- Vigor to 40 — mid-game survivability (Altus Plateau)
- Faith to 60 — primary damage scaling for the mid-game
- Endurance to 20 — stamina for casting + rolling
- Vigor to 55-60 — endgame survivability
- Faith to 80 — final damage soft cap
- Mind to 25-30 — FP for endgame boss fights
Best Seals: Which One to Use at Every Stage
Seals in Elden Ring scale differently. The “best” seal depends entirely on your Faith stat and whether you’re investing in Arcane.
Early Game (Level 1-60)
| Seal | Faith Required | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Finger Seal | 10 | Best early-game seal — scales decently up to 40 Faith |
| Godslayer’s Seal | 27 | Scales with Faith and boosts Black Flame incantations |
Recommendation: Use the Finger Seal until you reach 27 Faith, then switch to Godslayer’s Seal. The Black Flame incantations (Black Flame, Black Flame Blade) are excellent against early and mid-game bosses due to their percentage-based damage over time.
Mid Game (Level 60-120)
| Seal | Faith Required | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Godslayer’s Seal | 27 | Continues to scale well up to 50 Faith |
| Gravel Stone Seal | 40 | Boosts Dragon Cult incantations (Lightning Spear, Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike) |
| Clawmark Seal | 10 | If you’re investing in Strength — scales with both Strength and Faith |
Recommendation: Use the Gravel Stone Seal if you’re running a Lightning-focused build. Lightning Spear is your best ranged option through the mid-game, and the Gravel Stone Seal boosts its damage by 15%.
End Game (Level 120-150)
| Seal | Faith Required | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Erdtree Seal | 40 | Best pure Faith scaling seal — outperforms all others at 60+ Faith |
| Dragon Communion Seal | 10 | Best for Arcane/Faith hybrids — scales with Arcane primarily |
| Golden Order Seal | 17 | Best for Intelligence/Faith hybrids — not recommended for pure Faith |
Recommendation: At 60+ Faith, the Erdtree Seal is strictly the best seal for pure Faith builds. It has S-tier Faith scaling and no secondary stat requirements. At 80 Faith, it out-damages every other seal by a significant margin.
Hybrid option: If you’re running a Dragon Communion build (investing in Arcane), the Dragon Communion Seal scales primarily with Arcane and is the only seal that makes Dragon incantations viable at RL 150. More on this below.
Best Incantations: The Damage Dealers
Not all incantations are created equal. Here’s the list of incantations that actually deal damage — ranked by use case.
Ranged Damage
| Incantation | FP Cost | Damage Type | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning Spear | 18 | Lightning | Best all-rounder — fast, cheap, high damage |
| Frenzied Burst | 32 | Fire | Longest range incantation — can snipe enemies from afar |
| Black Flame | 28 | Fire | Percentage-based damage — excellent against high-HP bosses |
| Stone of Gurranq | 18 | Physical | Great for stagger damage — can stance-break most enemies in 3-4 hits |
Why Lightning Spear is the best: It’s fast (can be charged for more damage), costs only 18 FP, and has excellent tracking. It’s the incantation you’ll use 80% of the time.
Area-of-Effect (AoE) Damage
| Incantation | FP Cost | Damage Type | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike | 36 | Lightning | Highest burst damage in the game — can one-shot large bosses |
| Burn, O Flame! | 35 | Fire | Excellent AoE — hits multiple times on large enemies |
| Giant’s Flame Take Thee | 42 | Fire | Massive fireball with huge AoE — great for grouped enemies |
Set-up for Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike: This incantation deals damage based on the number of lightning strikes that hit the target. Against large bosses (Fire Giant, Elden Beast, Placidusax), all strikes connect — resulting in 5,000-8,000 damage per cast at 80 Faith with the Gravel Stone Seal.
Buffs (Always Have These)
| Incantation | FP Cost | Effect | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Vow | 47 | +15% damage, +10% damage negation | 80 seconds |
| Flame Grant Me Strength | 20 | +20% physical damage, +20% fire damage | 30 seconds |
| Howl of Shabriri | 28 | +25% damage (all types), +10% damage taken | 40 seconds |
Stacking order: Golden Vow → Flame Grant Me Strength → Howl of Shabriri. These buffs stack multiplicatively. At 80 Faith, a fully buffed Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike can deal over 10,000 damage to a single target.
Heals (Replace Your Crimson Flasks)
| Incantation | FP Cost | Healing Amount | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bestial Vitality | 18 | 5 HP/sec for 120 seconds | Sustained healing during exploration |
| Great Heal | 45 | ~1,200 HP | Mid-boss fight healing |
| Lord’s Heal | 60 | ~1,800 HP | Endgame boss fights |
Pro tip: Carry only 3-4 Crimson Flasks and allocate the rest to Cerulean Flasks. Your incantations heal more than flasks do, and you can cast them while moving.
Dragon Communion Hybrid (Arcane/Faith)
The Dragon Communion build is a completely different playstyle — and one of the most powerful in the game.
Stat targets (RL 150):
- Arcane: 60
- Faith: 30 (minimum for Dragon Communion incantations)
- Vigor: 50
- Mind: 25
- Endurance: 20
Why it works: The Dragon Communion Seal scales primarily with Arcane (S-tier scaling), not Faith. At 60 Arcane, you get the same incantation scaling as an 80 Faith build — but you also get access to Dragon incantations, which are the highest-damage spells in the game.
Best Dragon Communion incantations:
| Incantation | FP Cost | Damage Type | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dragonice | 40 | Magic (Frost) | Applies Frostbite — reduces enemy defense by 20% |
| Ekzykes’s Decay | 28 | Physical (Rot) | Applies Scarlet Rot — deals 30% of max HP over time |
| Smarag’s Glintstone Breath | 32 | Magic | Best raw damage Dragon incantation |
| Agheel’s Flame | 38 | Fire | Massive AoE fire damage |
Recommendation: Use Ekzykes’s Decay on any boss that can be rotted (most bosses except Malenia). It deals 30% of their max HP over 90 seconds — essentially 30% of the boss’s health bar for one cast.
Weapon Options for Faith Builds
Faith builds don’t just cast — you need a weapon for when enemies get close.
| Weapon | Stat Requirements | Best Infusion | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blasphemous Blade | Str 22, Dex 15, Fai 21 | Unique | Weapon art (Taker’s Flames) heals on hit — S-tier for Faith |
| Coded Sword | Fai 20 | Unique | Pure Holy damage — ignores physical defense |
| Sacred Relic Sword | Str 14, Dex 24, Fai 22 | Unique | Weapon art (Wave of Gold) is the best farming tool in the game |
| Any weapon with Sacred infusion | Varies | Sacred | Adds Faith scaling to any weapon — good for early/mid-game |
Recommendation: Blasphemous Blade is the best Faith weapon in the game. The weapon art deals massive fire damage and heals you for 10% of your max HP per enemy hit. It’s also available relatively early (Volcano Manor questline).
Build Template: RL 150 Pure Faith
Stats
- Vigor: 55
- Mind: 28
- Endurance: 22
- Strength: 12
- Dexterity: 12
- Intelligence: 7
- Faith: 80
- Arcane: 10
Gear
- Weapon: Blasphemous Blade (+10)
- Off-hand: Erdtree Seal (+10)
- Talismans: Flock’s Canvas Talisman, Godfrey Icon, Radagon Icon, Shard of Alexander
- Armor: Any medium armor set (Tree Sentinel, Hoslow’s, or Banished Knight)
Incantations
- Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike (boss damage)
- Lightning Spear (ranged spam)
- Black Flame (percentage-based boss damage)
- Golden Vow (buff)
- Flame Grant Me Strength (buff)
- Great Heal (healing)
- Pest Threads (niche — excellent against Elden Beast)
Flask of Wondrous Physick
- Cracked Tear: Faith-knot Crystal Tear (+10 Faith for 3 minutes)
- Cracked Tear: Opaline Bubbletear (one-hit protection)
When to Use the Elden Ring Tools
- Weapon Calculator: Use the Elden Ring Weapon Calculator to compare Blasphemous Blade’s AR at different Faith levels — 60 vs 80 Faith is a 15% damage difference.
- Health Bar Generator: Create a boss health bar for your next boss kill screenshot — perfect for Discord or social media.
- Elden Ring Font Generator: Style your character name or boss kill message with the Elden Ring Font Generator for thumbnails and overlays.
Key Takeaway Checklist
| Check | Correct Answer |
|---|---|
| Best seal at 80 Faith | Erdtree Seal (S-tier scaling) |
| Best early-game seal | Finger Seal until 27 Faith, then Godslayer’s Seal |
| Best ranged incantation | Lightning Spear (fast, cheap, high damage) |
| Highest burst damage incantation | Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike |
| Best Faith weapon | Blasphemous Blade (heals on hit) |
| Buff stacking order | Golden Vow → Flame Grant Me Strength → Howl of Shabriri |
| Dragon Communion hybrid stat | Arcane 60, Faith 30 minimum |
| Best Dragon incantation for bosses | Ekzykes’s Decay (30% max HP over time) |
| Mind target at RL 150 | 25-30 (enough for 4-5 casts) |
| Vigor target at RL 150 | 55-60 (endgame survivability) |
Written by Sharjeel — Lead Developer & Founder of Ghostern, Elden Ring player with 600+ hours across 8 characters, including three Faith builds tested from RL 1 to 150. Read my full story →
Disclaimer: This guide is based on Elden Ring patch 1.16 as of July 2026. Future patches may adjust incantation damage, seal scaling, or weapon stats. Always check the latest patch notes before committing to a build.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions About Elden Ring Faith Builds
What is the best seal for a Faith build?
At 60+ Faith, the Erdtree Seal is strictly the best for pure Faith builds. It has S-tier Faith scaling and out-damages every other seal at high Faith levels. For early game, use the Finger Seal until 27 Faith, then switch to Godslayer’s Seal.
What is the best incantation for boss damage?
Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike has the highest burst damage in the game. Against large bosses (Fire Giant, Elden Beast, Placidusax), all lightning strikes connect — resulting in 5,000-8,000 damage per cast at 80 Faith with the Gravel Stone Seal.
Is a Faith build good for beginners?
Yes and no. Faith builds have excellent healing and buffs, making exploration easier. However, they are stat-hungry and require careful stat allocation. If you’re new to Elden Ring, start with a Strength or Dexterity build and respec to Faith at level 80-100.
What is the Dragon Communion build?
The Dragon Communion build invests in Arcane (60) and Faith (30 minimum) and uses the Dragon Communion Seal. At 60 Arcane, you get the same incantation scaling as an 80 Faith build, plus access to Dragon incantations like Ekzykes’s Decay, which deals 30% of a boss’s max HP over time.
How much Faith should I have at level 150?
80 Faith is the final soft cap for most seals. You can stop at 60 Faith for a more balanced build, but the damage difference between 60 and 80 Faith is approximately 15-20% with the Erdtree Seal.
What weapon should I use with a Faith build?
Blasphemous Blade is the best Faith weapon in the game. The weapon art (Taker’s Flames) deals massive fire damage and heals you for 10% of your max HP per enemy hit. It’s available from the Volcano Manor questline.
How do I stack buffs correctly?
Apply buffs in this order: Golden Vow → Flame Grant Me Strength → Howl of Shabriri. These buffs stack multiplicatively. At 80 Faith, a fully buffed Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike can deal over 10,000 damage to a single target.
What talismans should I use?
Flock’s Canvas Talisman (+8% incantation damage), Godfrey Icon (+15% charged spell damage), Radagon Icon (faster casting), and Shard of Alexander (+15% weapon art damage for Blasphemous Blade).
Can I use Faith incantations in PvP?
Yes. Lightning Spear is excellent in PvP due to its speed and tracking. Honed Bolt and Wrath of Gold are also effective. However, avoid slow incantations like Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike — they’re too easy to dodge.
What is the best early-game Faith incantation?
Lightning Spear is available early (from the Leyndell Knight north of the Artist’s Shack in Liurnia) and is the best all-rounder incantation. It’s fast, costs only 18 FP, and has excellent tracking.
