Elden Ring Mage Build Guide - How to Build a Crystal Mage (Level 100 Guide)

Elden Ring Mage Build Guide - How to Build a Crystal Mage (Level 100 Guide)
In this Elden Ring Build Guide I’ll be showing you my Crystal Staff Build. This is an advanced build that takes place at level 100 and is the evolved version of the Sorcerer build. If you’ve been looking to upgrade your Sorcerer build then you might want to check this build-out.

0:00 - Elden Ring Crystal Mage Guide
0:13 - How to make this build work
5:29 - Armor
5:56 - Talisman
6:54 - Crystal Mage Gameplay
10:51 - Crystal Mage Attributes
12:51 - Final Thoughts

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[TakeARideWithMe]

Hey, Fex

I just want to quickly say that your videos are the one and only reason I've stayed playing this game and gotten so far. I have 3 different characters now in their 90's, all thanks to you.

[gearzdesign]

Remember that you can offhand a second staff with a spell sorcery buff (e.g. staff of loss in offhand) and Lusats or whatever your primary casting staff in MH. For instance, Staff of loss gives 30% damage increase to night comet. So put that staff in the offhand and use your primary staff to cast the spell and you still get the 30% buff to damage.

[deivid.adam-]

Personally, I prefer having the Sacrificial Axe in my offhand as a mage. You don't need to meet its strength or dex requirements to get the FP regeneration and with those free stats, you can get higher int. As your int gets higher, you will want more FP rather than more damage, especially when going through areas like the royal capital.

[everts]

At this low vigor level radagons soreseal's extra hp will make up for the extra dmg taken and would make the jellyfish stat investment somewhat reasonable. Otherwise I think you would be better off using a school boosting staff in offhand and put all those str/dex points into vigor or int. Cool build! Will definitely steal some ideas ;)

[adamgaus]

I legitimately don’t think the ash of war ability on the jellyfish shield is worth the 10 levels of strength investment at this point. Those 10 levels could just be put into vitality or spread to intelligence to naturally increase damage. The carian shield blocks 100 percent physical and doesn’t require a strength investment.

[jessw]

Yes I also wanted to say thanks a lot for your guys' content and the different Elden Ring builds. First time playing this type of game, and your content just really makes the game more manageable and I am less lost in the game. Also the cover art for the video is so beautiful GOOD JOB

[jacquesbonhomme]

My build was close to this, but I don’t use the jelly shield, I use wings of astel for the R2 charge attack that doesn’t cost FP and the L2 explosion for staggering big bosses. Also gives you some options in melee in a pinch

[DanteYewToob]

Keep in mind that one of the big bonuses of Cometshard is that it punches through multiple enemies and the trail it leaves causes damage for a second or two as well..
In dungeons and castles with crowds, it saves on FP and casting when you can fire one shot and it kills or wounds multiple enemies.
Cometshard is the GS/basic spell aside from Arc that does this… having that penetration power makes a big difference!

His point was valid though, for individual enemies, it’s not really worth the cost… just charge up the other one a little instead.
I tend to keep one weaker pebble, one strong pebble, my purple rocks, Piercer and the slicer, then Phalanx and anything else for utility or that I use less often.

[tommoex]

I think extreme glass cannon is just something you have to go through in mage build until you hit later game, having the soreseals and scarseals but take extra damage is worth it and you learn to dodge or get one hit anyways.

But thanks for the testing and the end game builds will be good to see.

[Dsrgreyy]

You make all the builds look cool, I can’t decide

[cmcguire]

I definitely felt like the Int requirements for staffs are just really high for some reason compared to faith requirements for seals

[androssthered]

My build! Can't wait to check out what yours feels like.

[TheGamefreak]

I'd personally make a couple changes:
1) Definitely swap Magic Scorpion Charm for Radagon's Soreseal. Soreseal is easier to get, makes hitting the Strength/Dex requirements for the shield basically a non-issue, and gives points into Vigor and Endurance for better hit die and heavier armor. If you're going to be weakening your defenses, might as well use a Talisman that'll effectively negate its own demerit at these levels; plus, between Jellyfish Shield's buff, other Talisman(s), occasionally Terra Magica, and a good staff your spells will be doing plenty of damage.

2) Swap to Queen's Crescent Crown for the headpiece and get better defenses on your other armor pieces. Most mages are going to want a utility hat and the vast majority of them are very light, so doing this will make the transition to higher levels and heavier armors smoother. This also makes hitting Int targets 60/70/80 earlier easier, or frees up a point from Int if you already hit a satisfactory target with the Imp Head hat.
For example: My current Lv.100 mage is at 24 Endurance wearing Queen's Crescent Crown, Blackflame Monk Armor, Exile Gauntlets, and Bull-Goat Greaves; pretty good defenses especially with Golden Vow active (currently using the Ash of War, planning to spec for the Incant later), 51 poise, and still medium rolling equipping the same weapons shown in this video. I also stopped at 25 Mind rather than 35, hitting 12 Faith for Beastial Vitality and 20 Strength for the shield while still hitting 35 Vigor and 60 Int.

As an aside, while I don't think it's worth it at Lv.100 or lower, I absolutely recommend investing up to 25 Faith for Golden Vow once you're in the Lv.130~150 range.
By that point you can comfortably hit soft cap for your primary dmg stat, meet your gear requirements, and have decent Vigor/Mind while still investing in Faith, and it'll get you access to other Faith-based magic like Ancient Death Rancor and some good weapon buffs for playstyle variety. Not to mention that the standard Golden Vow is stronger in PvE than the Ash version (but not in PvP IIRC), and lasts twice as long for only 7 extra FP (40 vs. 47). Definitely worth it imo.

[haxorz]

Cool build. Bit of a different approach from what I'm doing with my caster. I am forgoing anything that has any strength or dex requirements beyond what Radagon's Soreseal provides in order to have all my points available for int, mind, and vigor. I invested 3 points in endurance as well to allow me to wear the Scaled Armor set (aside from the head). I'm currently running 80 int (soft cap), mind and vigor are in the high 30s, and as I said 3 extra points in endurance on top of what the Soreseal provides. I'm a few levels above 100 (can't recall exactly off the top of my head). I'm main-handing the Wing of Astel sword (currently +9) for the awesome Ash of War, which can do thousands of damage to large enemies as well as decimate tightly packed foes for a reasonable FP cost). The sword also has decent int scaling, so you can get some grits or just whack some weak enemies to save FP. I'm wielding a fully upgraded Carian Regal Sceptre in my left hand. Once I have the Lusat staff fully upgraded, I will likely switch it in for boss fights. My bread and butter sorceries are the Glintstone Icecrag and Adula's Moonblade (this spell is INSANE by the way), both of which are boosted by wearing the Snow Witch hat. Also packing Terra Magicus, Rock Sling, Loretta's Great Bow, and that Radhan gravity spell from the War-Dead Catacombs (name is eluding me). I also love Stars of Ruin at this point in the game, as its tracking makes it extremely useful against highly mobile enemies, which are plentiful in the mid to late game, and the damage is now pretty high with the massive scaling I have from soft-capped int and a +10 staff. I have the Cannon for AoE and Ranni's Dark moon for the awesome debuff. I would like to try out the crystal release spell, as it looks pretty nuts in your video, though I wonder if it will drop off a cliff at a certain point like Comet Azur did for me (I'm not using it at all any more, though I did get to one-shot Radhan with it). Talismans are Radagon's Soreseal, Graven School Talisman (to be upgraded to the Graven School Mass when I get it), Radagon Icon, and Godfrey Icon. Anyway, love to see all these different approaches to casters. I love magic builds in Elden Ring for the incredible versatility and power they provide.

[TheSunnySidewEvan]

Awesome build! About to go try it out myself! Can't wait and thanks again!

[Blackstylus]

You have finally provided me a way to deal with the final boss. I'm on journey 4. And I've been struggling with the second phase's resistances. It's not resistant to those physical spells you chose. Beautiful build. Sometimes it's the small things.

[alpacaofthemountain]

Great video! I’m running a mage right now and I’m starting to see the power… just killed the Godfrey shade by backing away and shooting him with Night Comet. Definitely going to use some of those talismans for more damage.

[Hutser]

If you want to turn one-shots into two-shots efficiently try the Ritual Shield Talisman; It gives massive damage reduction when you're at full health. I use it for all of my glass cannon builds, and as a fun fact, it gives you more benefit the lower your damage reduction is, so it becomes more effective when you have a Soreseal on or lighter armor, and it affects all damage types rather than just physical. I'm able to maintain light load on my mage and with the Ritual Shield talisman I'm hanging at about 40% reduction for all damage types with Marika's Soreseal on. I'd use it over the Dragoncrest Talisman in most situations, especially if you're trying to stay at full all the time anyway for the Ritual Sword talisman.

Also, Renalla's hat gives +3 Intelligence up from the +2 that imp head gives, and it's available for cheap after you kill her. It gives less protection than the Imp Head, but with Ritual Shield that doesn't really matter as long as you're not taking multiple hits in a row so you can squeeze another free level of Int in there.

[vennad]

You can certainly use the Carian Regal Staff at Lv 100... if you give up on the Jellyfish shield (or the Sacred Bow incantation).

My mage build at Lv 100 had 30 VIG, 30 MND, 15 END, 16 STR, 12 DEX (default), 60 INT, 7 FTH (default), and 9 ARC (default), using the Astrologer starting class. I was already using the Carian Regal Staff, skipping any other supposed "intermediate staves, " and saving those upgrade materials.

[Cookiemunster]

I prefer marikas scar seal over the ritual sword talisman I just don’t like how conditional that talisman is. It’s a little better for when you’re just clearing new areas of mobs where you can just pick them off but during a boss fight unless you’re amazing at dodging that’s just damage being taken off the table