Does Gravel Stone Seal Boost Lightning Incantations? A Deep Dive
Yes, the Gravel Stone Seal in Elden Ring absolutely boosts lightning incantations. It specifically enhances Dragon Cult Incantations by 15%, which includes most of the lightning-based spells in the game. This makes it an invaluable tool for any Faith build focused on dealing lightning damage, significantly increasing your offensive capabilities in both PvE and PvP scenarios. It’s a core component of what makes lightning builds viable in the Lands Between.
Understanding the Gravel Stone Seal
The Gravel Stone Seal is a Sacred Seal found in Elden Ring. It’s designed for players who have invested heavily in the Faith stat and want to maximize the damage output of their lightning incantations. Unlike some other seals that provide scaling for multiple stats, the Gravel Stone Seal is primarily focused on Faith, making it a straightforward choice for dedicated lightning casters.
What Makes the Gravel Stone Seal Special?
The key feature of the Gravel Stone Seal is its passive ability to boost Dragon Cult Incantations by 15%. This bonus damage is applied directly to spells like Lightning Spear, Honed Bolt, Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike, and Lannseax’s Glaive, transforming them into devastating offensive options. This makes the Gravel Stone Seal stand out from other Seals that don’t offer specific buffs to specific incantation types.
Acquiring the Gravel Stone Seal
The Gravel Stone Seal is found in Leyndell, Royal Capital, before it transforms into the Ashen Capital. It’s located on a corpse hanging from a collapsed building near the East Capital Rampart site of grace. It’s important to grab it before progressing too far into the story, as the area changes and becomes inaccessible later.
Maximizing Lightning Damage with the Gravel Stone Seal
While the Gravel Stone Seal is a fantastic starting point, there are several other ways to further amplify your lightning damage in Elden Ring. Combining the Seal with other items and strategies can result in an extremely powerful and effective build.
Key Stats and Build Considerations
- Faith: As mentioned, Faith is your primary stat. Increasing Faith will directly increase your incantation scaling, leading to higher damage output. Aim for at least 60 Faith, and potentially more, to truly unleash the Gravel Stone Seal’s potential.
- Mind: A high Mind stat is essential for increasing your FP (Focus Points), which allows you to cast more lightning incantations before needing to replenish.
- Endurance: Endurance will allow you to wear heavier armor to withstand physical attacks.
Talismans for Lightning Builds
Several Talismans synergize exceptionally well with a lightning-focused build:
- Lightning Scorpion Charm: This Talisman directly increases your lightning attack power by 12%, but it also increases the physical damage you take by 10%. Use it with caution, especially in PvP, but the damage boost is substantial.
- Flock’s Canvas Talisman: Greatly raises potency of incantations.
- Radagon Icon: Shortens the casting time of spells and incantations, allowing you to cast lightning incantations more quickly.
- Godfrey Icon: Boosts charged incantations. Some dragon Cult Incantations have a charged variant which this talisman boosts.
Incantations to Focus On
While the Gravel Stone Seal boosts all Dragon Cult Incantations, some are more effective than others:
- Lightning Spear: A reliable and versatile projectile that deals good damage and has decent range.
- Honed Bolt: This incantation is great for dealing damage at medium range as it has good tracking.
- Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike: A powerful area-of-effect incantation that calls down multiple lightning strikes.
- Lannseax’s Glaive: This creates a large lightning sword which you swing, dealing devastating damage to enemies in front of you.
Armor Choices
While armor doesn’t directly boost lightning damage, certain sets offer excellent protection against lightning attacks, which can be useful in certain situations:
- Malformed Dragon Set: Offers significant lightning resistance, making it a strong choice when facing lightning-based enemies.
Dual-Wielding Gravel Stone Seals
A unique trick you can utilize in New Game Plus (NG+) is dual-wielding two Gravel Stone Seals. This stacks the 15% bonus, resulting in a significant increase to your lightning incantation damage, close to 32%. However, this requires sacrificing the ability to use a shield or another weapon in your off-hand.
Gravel Stone Seal: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Is the Gravel Stone Seal a late-game item?
Yes, the Gravel Stone Seal is generally considered a mid-to-late-game item, as it’s found in Leyndell, Royal Capital, which is accessible after defeating several major bosses.
2. What specific incantations are boosted by the Gravel Stone Seal?
The Gravel Stone Seal boosts all Dragon Cult Incantations, including Lightning Spear, Honed Bolt, Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike, and Lannseax’s Glaive.
3. Does the Gravel Stone Seal boost all types of lightning damage?
No, the Gravel Stone Seal specifically boosts Dragon Cult Incantations. It does not affect lightning damage from weapons infused with lightning or other sources.
4. Can I stack the Gravel Stone Seal’s effect by dual-wielding?
Yes, in NG+, you can dual-wield two Gravel Stone Seals to stack the buff to Dragon Cult Incantations.
5. What is the Faith scaling on the Gravel Stone Seal?
The Gravel Stone Seal primarily scales with Faith. The higher your Faith stat, the better the incantation scaling, and the more damage your lightning spells will do.
6. Is the Gravel Stone Seal good for PvP?
Yes, the Gravel Stone Seal is effective in PvP, as the increased damage output of your lightning incantations can be devastating against other players.
7. Are there any drawbacks to using the Lightning Scorpion Charm?
Yes, the Lightning Scorpion Charm increases the physical damage you take by 10%, making you more vulnerable to melee attacks.
8. What’s the best seal overall for incantation damage?
While the Gravel Stone Seal boosts specific incantations, the Erdtree Seal is considered the best overall for incantation damage due to its high Faith scaling at later stages of the game.
9. Does Dexterity affect lightning incantation damage?
No, Dexterity does not directly affect the damage of lightning incantations. Lightning incantations scale primarily with Faith. Dexterity will increase casting speed, however.
10. What armor set offers the best lightning protection?
The Malformed Dragon Set offers excellent lightning resistance.
11. Does upgrading the Gravel Stone Seal increase the 15% boost to lightning incantations?
No, upgrading the Gravel Stone Seal increases its incantation scaling, which affects the base damage of your incantations. The 15% boost to Dragon Cult Incantations remains constant.
12. Where can I find the Dragon Cult Prayerbook?
The Dragon Cult Prayerbook is found in Liurnia of the Lakes. Giving this prayerbook to a Prayerbook vendor unlocks the Lightning Spear and Honed Bolt incantations.
13. Does the Radagon Icon affect the casting speed of all incantations?
Yes, the Radagon Icon shortens the casting time of all spells and incantations.
14. Does the Pearldrake Talisman protect against lightning damage?
The Pearldrake Talisman protects against all types of non-physical damage, including lightning, fire, magic, and holy damage.
15. Can you respec your stats in Elden Ring?
Yes, you can respec your stats in Elden Ring by using a Larval Tear at Raya Lucarian Academy after defeating Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. This allows you to reallocate your stats to optimize your build for the Gravel Stone Seal and lightning incantations.
The Gravel Stone Seal is a potent tool in Elden Ring, transforming Faith-based lightning builds into formidable forces. By understanding its strengths, and how it interacts with other items and stats, you can create a truly electrifying character.
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