The Best Elden Ring Faith Build: Black Flame

Update: Elden Ring has had plenty of updates, so we've updated this Elden Ring Faith build with up to date stats and recommendations, including new talismans, gear, and weapons to consider when burning through enemies across The Lands Between. We've also added some links to our new guides on where to get specific items and gear, to aid you with finding everything you need for this build.

The best Elden Ring Faith build is one of the more offensive builds, and the best Black Flame build in Elden Ring, allowing you to deal huge damage over time to high-health enemies thanks to the particular traits of Black Flame damage. For those who like to stay up close and personal, burning away bosses with consistent damage, the Black Flame build is for you.

This build requires an early investment into faith, a few critical items, and some top-tier incantations to get rolling. However, once you’ve got your hands on the key pieces of kit, this build allows for a surprising amount of variety and personalization for each and every player.

Best Elden Ring Faith Starting Class and Stats

There are three stats that you should prioritise with a Faith build in Elden Ring, especially a Black Flame one. These are Mind, Faith, and Vigor.

Mind is crucial for this build due to the sheer amount of spells you’ll be casting. Your primary source of magical damage - black flame blade - is a short-duration weapon buff that’ll have to be quick-casted consistently in boss fights. As such, a high mind stat will provide the FP needed to stay up close and dealing damage, rather than backing out and chugging for a FP refill.

Faith is also crucial. To start using Black Flame Blade you’ll need at least 17 faith, while Black Flame requires 20 and the Godslayer’s Seal requires a whopping 27. Not only that, but all your Black Flame incantations scale with faith. What this all means is that faith will be your primary dump stat, a focus early on as you rush to reach those aforementioned milestones and where you’ll invest your level ups later on for more damage.

Finally, Vigor is hugely important. As you’re going to be up close and in melee range with this Black Flame Faith build, you’re going to want a healthy investment in vigor to save yourself from being oneshot in fights. Especially since Endurance isn’t a crucial stat here, you won’t be able to rely on heavy armor or greatshields.

Secondary stats to focus on include Endurance to open up more armor options, and Intelligence, as some Faith weapons and Incantations require INT as well. If you want to throw Dragon Incantations in the mix, plan on investing at least 10 points in Arcane.

It's also worth noting you'll eventually get diminishing returns from your stats. Faith and Intelligence start dropping off after level 50. For Mind, you'll get roughly 120 FP between levels 30 and 50, and a further 70 FP between 50 and 60. Don't bother leveling Mind after 60, as the drop in returns makes it a bit of a waste.

We recommend starting as a Prophet if you want to go for a Black Flame Faith build in Elden Ring. The reason being is the early allocation of points into faith that you’ll need later on, as well as the Catch Flame incantation being immediately available. This is a great filler incantation that can chew through enemies in the early game around Limgrave super easily.

By level 30, your stats should be close to the following (assuming Prophet start):

• Vigor: 18
• Mind: 20
• Endurance: 8
• Strength: 11
• Dexterity: 10
• Intelligence: 7
• Faith: 27
• Arcane: 10

From there, add Strength and Dex as you need it if you come across a weapon you want to use for the rest of the game. Buff up Vigor, Mind, and Faith as your primary options, and sail smoothly into the late game with a powerful build.

Best Elden Ring Faith Weapons

You can equip a number of strong weapons to a Black Flame Faith build in Elden Ring, but here are a few that stand out.

The main weapon you’ll want is the Godslayer’s Seal. This requires four points in Strength and 27 in Faith, and boosts all Godslayer incantations. These include all your Black Flame spells, and as such make this handy little seal a cornerstone for this build.

When it comes to primary melee weapons, there are two trains of thought. You can go all in on the Black Flame with weapons like the Godslayer’s Greatsword found by defeating the Godskin Apostle in the Caelid Divine Tower or the Godskin Peeler from the Godskin Noble boss in Volcano Manor. This provides more opportunity for you to deal big damage and apply the Black Flame debuff, and would lead to what many would call a 'true Black Flame build'.

That said, the Godslayer's Greatsword, which requires 20 Strength, 22 Dexterity, and 20 Faith to wield is the better weapon here. It has D scaling with Faith, and its skill, The Queen's Black Flame, can produce a sweeping slash of Black Flame damage that will reduce an target's HP. The Godskin Peeler, on the other hand, only needs 17 Strength and 22 Dexterity to wield, with no Faith scaling. It's definitely a great weapon for those pumping points into Dex, however.

Alternatively, you can lean towards a hybrid Black Flame / Bleed build. The reason for doing this is simple, both Bleed and Black Flame do percentage health damage. Since you’re already going to be attacking all the time to keep the Black Flame debuff on enemies, having a weapon like the Wakizashi dagger, Nagakiba or Bloodhound’s Fang with built in blood loss can provide an additional surge of damage.

That said, all three of the above Bleed weapons do scale with Dexterity, so ultimately pumping points into Dex or finding a suitable Faith weapon will be your priority when choosing a solid, strong weapon.

If you'd rather use Strength weapons with this build, the Nightrider Glaive requires 26 Strength and 10 Dexterity to use, while having C scaling with Strength (this changes to S scaling at +20). You can also infuse it with a Black Flame Ash of War where needed. There's also the Treespear, which requires 15 Strength, 22 Dexterity, and 18 Faith to use, which is ideal for Faith builds. It scales with all three of its stat requirements, and can inflict Holy Damage as well.

The Winged Scythe is another strong choice, requiring 16 Strength, 16 Dexterity, and 24 Faith to use. The highlight of this weapon is that it causes both Physical and Holy damage, while also inflicting Bleed build-up. Nice.

We recommend experimenting with as many of the weapons as you can to see what you prefer. Early game, secure the Godslayer’s Seal and Black Flame Blade incantation, then mess around with your weapon of choice. It's also worth bearing in mind that not all enemies actually can bleed in Elden Ring, so you’ll want to rely on Black Flame incantations either way.

Best Elden Ring Faith Talismans

As for talismans, the Green Turtle talisman is a brilliant option across many builds including this one. As you’ll be on the offensive, having a higher stamina regeneration rate is key when wanting to keep the pressure up.

You can also use talismans like the Ancestral Spirit’s Horn to recover some of that lost FP from enemies as you make your way through the game. In boss fights, swap this out for other universally great talismans like the Crimson Amber Medallion or other options that boost your HP or healing.

As an incantation-focused build, the Faithful's Canvas Talisman is a great pick. This simply boosts the effectiveness of your incantations by 4%, so will provide additional power to your Black Flame incantations. For a similar, but even better Talisman, use the Old Lord's Talisman, which extends the duration of spells (this includes incantations) by 30%, so you can deal further damage with your incantations over an extended period of time.

You may also want to consider the Crimson Seed Talisman, which boosts HP restoration from your Crimson Flasks. This is especially useful when using incantations such as Black Flame's Protection which will reduce how much you can be healed for.

Best Elden Ring Faith Incantations

This build uses a core set of two or three incantations that make up the core of the build’s playstyle, but you can obviously experiment however you want to find what works best for how you play Elden Ring. Some of these core incantations are, as mentioned above, the Black Flame Blade and Black Flame.

The Black Flame incantation requires 20 Faith to use, and simply put, will throw a ball of Black Flame at a target. The Black Flame Blade incantation, on the other hand, requires 17 Faith to use and will enchant your right-hand armament with Black Flame, increasing the damage that your chosen weapon will deal.

However, as you progress through the game you may come across other useful Black Flame incantations that can be used to great effect. Scouring Black Flame, which requires 28 Faith, is a brilliant incantation for clearing out packs of enemies or hitting multiple strong foes at once.

Noble Presence, acquired from defeating the Godskin Noble in Volcano Manor and requiring 26 Faith to use, is not the best of incantations, but it is relatively underrated. It’s a great PvP incantation that can catch enemies trying to sneak around you for backstabs or roll into your for quick damage, and once the timing of it is mastered, it's great to use solely for the fact that its a guaranteed knock to an enemy or PvP player.

Black Flame's Protection is an incantation that can be used to negate Physical damage in particularly tough fights, but it will simultaneously reduce any incoming healing by 20%. It's certainly worth using against enemies with high Physical damage outputs, but consider equipping a Talisman like the Crimson Seed Talisman mentioned above alongside it. You'll also need 30 Faith to use it.

Best Elden Ring Faith Armor

While the armor you use isn’t hugely important, there are a few pieces of strong armor that can make a slight difference for this Black Flame Faith build in Elden Ring.

The first is the Ruler’s Mask. You can find this by the Abandoned Coffin Site of Grace in the Atlas Plateau. Simply make your way up the hill, and you’ll find this mask resting on a corpse on the left side of the pile up of coffins carriages. It'll increase your Faith stat by 1.

Alternatively, if you feel confident in your ability to dodge attacks, the Incantation Scarab is a good option for a head piece. This is your reward from the Homing Instinct Painting puzzle, found in the Artist’s Shack in Limgrave. Once equipped, it is fantastic for negating a little bit of every damage-type.

Another piece of armor to consider is the Godskin Noble Robe, which can be acquired by beating the Godskin Noble near the Divine Tower or Liurnia. This robe will increase damage inflicted by the Noble Presence incantation by approximately 20%, making it a must-have if you're running that incantation.

What's the best Ash of War for a Faith Build in Elden Ring?

While not hugely important, your Ash of War can provide slight boosts that can mean the difference between a clutch boss kill or a crushing defeat. War Cry is a great option, as the boost to attack power is always handy.

There is, of course, the Black Flame Tornado Ash of War, which is a ranged skill that summons a vortex of flames on an enemy. The issue with Black Flame Tornado is that its effects do not stack with many of the Talisman recommendations provided, and it will remove the Black Flame Blade effect from armaments when used.

If you’re going for a hybrid Black Flame / bleed build, something with multiple hits like the Repeating Thrust is a good choice too, as it can build up the blood loss bar quickly. However, these are limited by your weapon choice, so be sure to look into what options your particular weapon has available.

That wraps up our Elden Ring Black Flame faith build! For more Elden Ring guides, check out our pieces on the best armor for mages and melee classes, as well as our guide on how to respec in case you want to shift into this Black Flame build right now!