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For the former, look out for the Crystal Sage’s Staff and any Crystal spells. You can either focus on a pure mage build, allocating most of your levels in intelligence and attunement, or you can run a hybrid build with strength or dexterity. When they do, mages can do nearly anything you would want. Pure mage characters take a long time to come “online”-capable of finishing the game comfortably. Rings: Sage Ring, Magic Clutch Ring, two rings of your choice.Spells: Homing Crystal Soulmass, Soul Greatsword, Crystal Soul Spear.Weapon: Moonlight Greatsword (if using melee weapons).Starting Class: Pyromancer (best stats) or Sorcerer (start with sorceries).It is worth the effort required, even if the build only starts to come together towards the end of a playthrough. Upgrade your faith and intelligence evenly, trying to hit at least 30 in each stat. It’s a very versatile school of magic that veteran players should try.
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Want to make an enemy instantly bleed? Using Dorhy’s Gnawing. Want to prevent a boss from using any special attacks? Use Vow of Silence.
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With that in mind, Hexes are still fantastic for players who want plenty of utility with their build. Hexes have seen a significant nerf in Dark Souls 3 compared to the second entry, distributing these unique spells throughout every school of magic instead of being a dedicated magic archetype.
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When done properly, you can stagger most bosses in the game and rapidly defeat tanky enemies. Luck also scales the strength of bleed in this build, so grab as many Luck and Hollowed stacks as possible. Rapid attacking weapons usually come with this effect intrinsically, so most bleed builds spec for some dexterity to use these rapid attacking weapons. For this build, that’s perfect as Hollowing increases your damage if your weapon is infused with a Hollow Gem.īleed is a status effect you can inflict on enemies and some bosses, dealing a percentage of damage to their health bar and staggering the target. In exchange, you gain a Dark Sigil, allowing you to become Hollow. If you talk to Yoel of Londor at the Foot of the High Wall Bonfire, he will return to Firelink Shrine and allow you to gain a free level. Rings: Ring of Favor, Prisoner’s Chain, two rings of your choiceīoth are included in the same entry because there is quite a bit of overlap between the two.Weapon: Warden Twinblades with Blood Infusion.
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