What Does Black Flame Blade Scale With in Elden Ring? A Comprehensive Guide
The Black Flame Blade incantation in Elden Ring is a powerful tool for Faith-based builds, offering not only direct fire damage but also a significant damage-over-time (DoT) effect. Understanding how this incantation scales is crucial for optimizing your character’s effectiveness. In short, Black Flame Blade’s initial fire damage scales directly with your Faith stat, while the DoT effect does not scale with any stat. Let’s dive deeper into the specifics of how Black Flame Blade works and address some common questions.
How Black Flame Blade Scales: The Details
The primary function of Black Flame Blade is to imbue your weapon with fire damage, adding a temporary fire damage buff to your weapon. This buff scales with your Faith stat, meaning the higher your Faith, the more potent the initial fire damage will be. Using a Sacred Seal with high Incant Scaling is also crucial for maximizing the damage output, as the Incant Scaling stat directly impacts the effectiveness of your incantations.
The Damage Over Time Component
The second part of Black Flame Blade is its damage-over-time effect, which is applied with each hit while the buff is active. However, the critical point to understand is that this DoT effect does NOT scale with any stat, including Faith, Strength, Dexterity, Arcane, or Intelligence. It does a set amount of damage based on the target’s maximum HP. Specifically, it deals 20 damage, plus an additional 20 damage for every 1000 HP the enemy possesses. This translates to at least 2% of the target’s maximum HP, or more, as damage over time. This means the DoT portion of Black Flame Blade is effective against high health enemies, even at lower levels of Faith. The DoT does not stack, but it refreshes with each hit, which helps maintain its effectiveness during extended battles.
Black Flame Blade and Seals
The Incant Scaling of your Sacred Seal has a direct impact on the fire damage portion of Black Flame Blade. Therefore, using a seal with high Incant Scaling is essential. Some seals scale solely with Faith, making them ideal for pure Faith builds. Others might scale with a combination of stats. Seals that do NOT scale with Strength or Dexterity have their Incant Scaling directly affected by only Faith (and Intelligence for certain seals). To maximize your damage output, it is advisable to use a seal that best complements your stat investments.
Black Flame Blade’s Utility
While its DoT damage may not scale, Black Flame Blade serves as an excellent utility spell for almost any Faith build. Due to its percent-based damage, it’s useful for fighting a variety of enemies at any level and can often provide a significant boost in overall damage. This versatility is one of the primary reasons it is seen as one of the better faith-based weapon buffs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Black Flame Blade
Here are 15 frequently asked questions to further clarify how Black Flame Blade works and how to best use it in Elden Ring:
Q1: Does Black Flame Blade scale with Strength?
No, Black Flame Blade does not scale with Strength. Its fire damage portion scales with Faith, and its damage over time component does not scale at all. Strength does not contribute to the effectiveness of the incantation.
Q2: Does Black Flame Blade scale with Dexterity?
No, like Strength, Dexterity does not influence the scaling of the Black Flame Blade. The initial fire damage is influenced by Faith, and the DoT is static.
Q3: Does Black Flame Blade scale with Arcane?
No, Black Flame Blade does not scale with Arcane. Arcane does not affect either the fire damage or the damage over time.
Q4: Does Black Flame Blade scale with Intelligence?
No, Black Flame Blade does not scale with Intelligence. Faith is the only stat that increases its fire damage.
Q5: Is the Black Flame Blade’s damage over time effect affected by anything?
No, the damage over time (DoT) effect does not scale with any stats or equipment. It does a static percentage based on enemy max HP.
Q6: What is the best seal for Black Flame Blade?
The best seal depends on your build. For a pure Faith build, the Godslayer’s Seal is often recommended, due to its strong Faith scaling, though any seal with a good Incant Scaling stat will be useful. Consider the Golden Order Seal if you’re a hybrid caster who also utilizes intelligence-based spells.
Q7: Does Black Flame Blade stack?
No, the damage over time effect of Black Flame Blade does not stack. However, with each hit, you refresh the duration of the DoT effect which is essential in fights to keep applying damage.
Q8: Does the Fire Scorpion Charm increase Black Flame Blade’s damage?
Yes, the Fire Scorpion Charm does increase the fire damage portion of Black Flame Blade, as it is considered fire damage. Be mindful, it also slightly decreases your absorption.
Q9: Does the Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear increase Black Flame Blade’s damage?
Yes, the Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear will boost the fire damage of Black Flame Blade and should be used when you can to increase your damage.
Q10: Is Black Flame Blade good against high health enemies?
Yes, Black Flame Blade is particularly good against high health enemies. Even with low Faith, the flat damage and percentage based DoT ensures a consistent source of damage.
Q11: Can I use Black Flame Blade on any weapon?
Yes, you can use Black Flame Blade on most melee weapons. The exception being weapons that are already imbued with an elemental damage type or have unique effects that prevent buffs.
Q12: Is Black Flame Blade good in the late game?
Yes, Black Flame Blade remains effective in the late game, particularly because its DoT effect is based on a percentage of the enemy’s HP, allowing for it to remain potent even against end-game enemies.
Q13: Is Black Flame Blade better than Bloodflame Blade?
It depends on your build. Black Flame Blade is better for pure Faith builds due to its fire damage scaling and consistent DoT, while Bloodflame Blade is ideal for Faith/Arcane builds focused on bleed, as the bleed proc scales with Arcane.
Q14: Is Black Flame Blade good for PvP?
Yes, Black Flame Blade is effective in PvP due to its percentage based DoT and initial fire damage. It can be a good way to inflict consistent damage.
Q15: Can I use Black Flame Blade with other buffs?
Yes, Black Flame Blade is a weapon buff, and you can typically use other buffs that do not occupy the same buff slot. Just make sure the buffs you are trying to use are not an overlapping type.
By understanding how Black Flame Blade scales and how its DoT effect works, you can effectively utilize this powerful incantation in your Elden Ring adventures. Experiment with different seals and builds to optimize your character’s strengths and make the most of Black Flame Blade.