The Ultimate Guide to Sacred Seals in Elden Ring: Choosing the Best for All Incantations
So, you’re a Tarnished looking to maximize your incantation power in the Lands Between? The choice of your Sacred Seal is absolutely crucial. It’s not just about waving a fancy trinket; it’s about channeling your faith and arcane power into devastating spells. While there’s no single “best” seal for every situation, for a build that wants to make use of all incantations, the Erdtree Seal reigns supreme. This seal boasts the highest incantation scaling once fully upgraded, meaning it provides the biggest overall damage boost to your incantations.
Decoding the Sacred Seals
Elden Ring offers a diverse selection of Sacred Seals, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The Erdtree Seal stands out due to its raw incantation scaling, reaching impressive heights when fully upgraded. While some seals specialize in boosting specific incantation types (like the Gravel Stone Seal for lightning or the Dragon Communion Seal for dragon incantations), the Erdtree Seal provides a universally potent boost across the board. It scales primarily with Faith, making it ideal for builds focused on this attribute.
Why Choose the Erdtree Seal?
Here’s the breakdown:
- Highest Incantation Scaling: At max upgrade (+10), the Erdtree Seal delivers the highest overall scaling of any seal in the game. This translates to significantly more damage and healing from all your incantations.
- Versatility: Unlike specialized seals, the Erdtree Seal doesn’t restrict you to a particular school of incantations. You can freely mix and match spells from different categories without sacrificing power. This makes it perfect for a versatile faith build capable of handling any situation.
- Late-Game Powerhouse: While it might not be the best choice early on due to upgrade requirements, the Erdtree Seal truly shines in the late game when you have the resources to fully upgrade it. The payoff is well worth the investment.
Other Notable Sacred Seals
While the Erdtree Seal is the champion for overall incantation power, some other seals deserve recognition, especially for more specialized builds:
- Dragon Communion Seal: This seal is invaluable for builds centered around dragon incantations. It scales primarily with Arcane, making it a fantastic option for those incorporating dragon abilities into their playstyle.
- Gravel Stone Seal: Favored by those who wish to wield the power of lightning, this seal enhances the potency of all lightning incantations.
- Godslayer’s Seal: This seal boosts Godslayer Incantations, which deal fire damage and inflict percentage-based health loss on enemies.
- Golden Order Seal: This seal scales with both Faith and Intelligence, making it a good choice for hybrid builds that invest in both stats.
- Clawmark Seal: If you like a mix of melee combat and incantations, the Clawmark Seal will boost beast incantations, scaling with both Faith and Strength.
- Frenzied Flame Seal: A seal for the truly mad, this one will scale with Faith and Arcane, letting you embrace the chaos.
- Giant’s Seal: Bolsters the power of fire giant incantations, scaling with Faith.
Early-Game Options
If you’re just starting your journey, don’t worry about rushing straight for the Erdtree Seal. Some excellent early-game options include:
- Finger Seal: A readily available seal that can be upgraded to a decent level, providing a reliable base for your incantations. It doesn’t offer any specific incantation boosts, but its ease of access makes it a solid starting choice.
- Clawmark Seal: Drops from Gurranq Beast Clergyman after giving him the first deathroot. It boosts beast incantations.
- Prophet’s Seal: Sold by the Nomadic Merchant at Church of Elleh.
FAQs: Sacred Seals in Elden Ring
Here are some common questions about Sacred Seals and incantations in Elden Ring:
- Do seals make incantations stronger? Yes! Sacred Seals act as catalysts for incantations. Upgrading a seal increases its Incantation Scaling, which directly boosts the damage, healing, and effectiveness of your spells.
- What is the best seal for a blood build in Elden Ring? The Dragon Communion Seal is generally considered the best for a blood build due to its S scaling with Arcane at higher levels. Arcane is key for boosting bleed buildup.
- What seal boosts blood incantations? While no seal directly buffs all blood incantations, the Dragon Communion Seal‘s Arcane scaling greatly enhances their effectiveness. Additionally, the Bloodflame Blade incantation is boosted by the Bloodflame Seal, making it a worthwhile choice for specializing in that particular spell.
- Is there a talisman that greatly raises the potency of incantations? Yes, the Flock’s Canvas Talisman increases the potency and damage of incantations by approximately 8%.
- What talisman makes incantations faster? The Radagon Icon shortens the casting time of both sorceries and incantations. This is invaluable for faster spellcasting, allowing you to weave spells into combat more effectively.
- Where is the Godslayer’s Seal located? The Godslayer’s Seal can be found in Stormveil Castle. From the Liftside Chamber grace, head outside and across the courtyard into a room filled with rats. A Stonesword Key is required to unlock a door leading to a room containing the seal.
- What stat makes incantations stronger? Faith is the primary stat for increasing the power of faith-scaling incantations. For specific seals like the Dragon Communion Seal, Arcane plays a crucial role.
- Are incantations or sorceries better? Neither is inherently better. Incantations often offer more diverse utility (healing, buffs, elemental resistances), while sorceries tend to excel in raw offensive power and speed. The “better” choice depends entirely on your playstyle and build. For more information on building games with your skills you can look at the Games Learning Society at GamesLearningSociety.org.
- Does the Old Lord’s Talisman work on incantations? Yes, the Old Lord’s Talisman extends the duration of all spell effects by 30%, including healing over time spells, buffs, sorceries, and incantations.
- Which seal does the most damage? As previously stated, the Erdtree Seal delivers the highest overall damage output for incantations once fully upgraded due to its superior Incantation Scaling.
- What is the best dragon sacred seal? The Dragon Communion Seal is, without a doubt, the best option for dragon incantations. Its Arcane scaling significantly boosts their damage and bleed buildup.
- Does upgrading a finger seal make buffs stronger? Upgrading any seal, including the Finger Seal, increases its Incantation Scaling, thereby making buffs (like weapon buffs) stronger.
- What is the easiest Sacred Seal to get in Elden Ring? The Finger Seal is the easiest to acquire, as it can be purchased from Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold.
- What is the best seal for buffs? The Clawmark Seal is good for Strength builds that want to use beast buffs. The Erdtree Seal is a more powerful option for buffing if you are focusing on faith.
- What is the best seal for a faith build? The Erdtree Seal is usually considered to be the best option for a pure faith build, offering you increased damage and overall scaling for all Faith-based incantations.
Conclusion: Embrace the Power of Faith
Choosing the right Sacred Seal is a critical step in mastering incantations in Elden Ring. While specialized seals have their niche uses, the Erdtree Seal offers unparalleled versatility and raw power for builds focused on faith. Experiment with different seals to find what best suits your playstyle, and don’t be afraid to respec your stats to optimize your build. With the right seal in hand, you’ll be ready to unleash devastating incantations upon the foes of the Lands Between!