The Carian Sorcery Sword is a complex weapon in Elden Ring. On the surface, it's fairly easy to figure out - it's just a sword that can be used to cast spells. But as you delve into what makes the weapon tick, you'll find a world of complex questions every spellcasting Tarnished should be asking themselves. For example, at what point is it better to just use a staff over the Carian Sorcery Sword? When is it better to just use a magic-damage thrusting sword instead?

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It's easy to equip this sword and use it as just a much weaker staff, and asking yourself when you're getting the best value from this sword is an important question to answer. This guide will give you an idea of how to make the most of this unique weapon.

Pros and Cons of Carian Sorcery Sword

Shadow of the Erdtree Carian Sorcery Sword Location Item Description

Pros

Cons

+ Replaces Ash of War with spellcasting

- Replaces Ash of War with spellcasting

+ Fast attacks with decent poise damage

- Worse spell boost than some staves

+ Provides flexibility for spellcasting and melee

- Weak physical and magical damage

+ Pairs well with other weapons

- Only scales with magic-damage spells

+ When paired with the right weapons and spells, it can create some tricky mixups in PvP

On paper, the Carian Sorcery Sword is riddled with drawbacks. Other Thrusting swords like a magic-infused Cleanrot Knight's Sword will deal more damage when it comes to regular attacks, and staves like Lusat's Glintstone Staff and Academy Glintstone Staff will outperform it on the spellcasting side. For spellcasting, this difference only gets worse when you start investing more than 60 points into intelligence, where staves with better Intelligence scaling will widen the damage gap.

So what's the benefit of this weapon if it gets outperformed by other tools?

The answer lies in the Carian Sorcery Sword's flexibility. Using the Sorcery Sword gives you access to your spells, offers a decent melee moveset to compliment your spellcasting, and you don't have to waste an equipment slot on a focus. This means you can use an additional weapon like a shield or a second Thrusting Sword to give you more options with your spellcasting. However, if you're only spellcasting with this sword then you're better off just using a staff, while if you do nothing but attack you'll be better off with a Magic-infused Rapier. Being able to use both halves of Carian Sorcery Sword with an off-hand weapon is what makes it a strong option.

You should always compare the Carian Sorcery Sword to just swapping to a staff with better Intelligence scaling. If you only use this sword to cast spells, you could have been better served if you just ran a staff.

Since your spellcasting damage will be weaker than a staff's, you'll want to build spells that are optimal for harassing enemies at long range, or spells that offer plenty of utility despite their low damage.

In PvP, the best kinds of spells to use with the Carian Sorcery Sword should be effective at long range or midrange, and track enemies extremely well. Ideally, these spells will force opponents to dodge toward you, which in turn forces them into melee range for the more damaging parts of your build to take over. Additionally, fast ranged spells allow you to punish any attempts at healing or running away if the opponent is low on HP.

Spells that accomplish these goals are the following:

In comparison, mixing in utility spells with your long range harassment will make you a far more deadly fighter.

Here are some useful utility options you should consider:

  • Scholar's Armament: Useful buff for your main weapon's attack damage, but can only be used if Carian Sorcery Sword is in your off-hand.
  • Scholar's Shield: Improves your shield's ability to block, but can only be used if the Carian Sorcery Sword is in your main hand.
  • Greatblade Phalanx: Best used for poise damage and to tack on a little bit more damage when you're blocking or approaching an opponent.
  • Miriam's Vanishing: gives a large amount of invulnerability, disrupts your opponent's lock-on in PvP, and you can attack just before you reappear. Best used with powerstance Thrusting Sword's moveset.
  • Eternal Darkness: Pulls in all nearby spells, giving you an easy way to counter enemy spellcasters.

Shields are great to pair with the Carian Sorcery Sword. Not only do Thrusting Swords have a special light attack when you're holding up a shield and a strong Guard Counter, but shields also provide amazing defensive options for your build like Carian Retaliation Skill for all your parrying needs. Additionally, they can be buffed with Scholar's Shield which can help against bosses that may hit your shield fairly often.

For shields, anything with 100 physical damage resistance, decent resistances against other elements, and a high guard boost will be the best options. Here are the best shields to use:

  • Brass Shield or Wolf Crest Shield: Best overall options since they have a good blend of stats and a good guard boost
  • Carian Thrusting Shield or Dueling Shield : it's a shield when you need more defense, and a powerful two-hand weapon when you need a harder hitting attack. Shield Strike is also a useful Ash of War here since it gives you an armored attack option to win trades with. In exchange, the Sorcery Sword provides these shields with buffs, ranged attacks, and faster attack options.

As far as weapons go, you'll either want to pair the Sorcery Sword with a weapon that benefits from a Thrusting Sword's fast off-hand attack speed, or a second thrusting sword so you can benefit off the power stance attacks. Here are some of the options to consider:

  • Colossal Weapons: Access to ranged spells and a fast moveset compliment the large, strong but slow attacks of colossal weapons. Colossal Weapons in the off-hand also offer armored attacks that can be followed up by the Sorcery Sword's light attack.
  • Main-gauche: Using this weapon in the off-hand allows you to powerstance the Carian Sorcery Sword while also allowing you to parry.

Best Stats for the Carian Sorcery Sword

Shadow of the Erdtree Carian Sorcery Sword Location Spell Casting Weapon Catalyst

The Carian Sorcery Sword shines best when you're at 60 intelligence and below. If your Tarnished is above 60 intelligence then other staves or Magic-imbued weapons will outperform it by a larger and larger margin. Instead of putting all your points into intelligence like a regular mage build would, you can instead put 40 - 60 points into intelligence, then put the remaining points toward another stat like Endurance, or Dexterity.

While it's a minor buff, Dexterity does also help you cast spells slightly faster. It's useful when you want to rattle off a bunch of spells then immediately attack afterward.

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Best Talismans for the Carian Sorcery Sword

Best talismans for the Carian Sorcery Sword in Elden Ring

The Carian Sorcery Sword works well with most talismans since it wants to do a little bit of everything. While choosing a talisman for this build will vary based on what weapon you choose to pair with the Carian Sorcery Sword, you'll still benefit from having talismans like the Two-Headed Turtle Talisman and Erdtree's Favor +2.

Magic Scorpion

Since the Carian Sorcery Sword deals magic damage in addition to physical damage, and most of the spells you'll be casting will also have a heavy lean into magic damage, the Magic Scorpion Charm is the perfect fit for this build if you plan on maximizing your damage output.

Radagon Icon

Radagon Icon practically adds 30 dexterity for the purposes of casting speed. For other magic builds, this doesn't result in a large increase in casting speed, but for Carian Sorcery Sword builds, quickly casting your spell means you can go into an attack much faster.

Greatshield Talisman

When the Greatshield Talisman is combined with Scholar's Shield on a decent medium shield (or a Greatshield), you'll become a nigh unstoppable tank. Even bosses like Commander Gaius who have powerful physical attacks will struggle to break through your defences.

Rotten Winged Icon

The Rotten Winged Sword Insignia adds more damage for each successive hit, which is perfect for builds that can strike fairly quickly. For the Carian Sorcery Sword, this is perfect because of how fast the thrusting sword moveset can attack. However, this talisman truly shines when the Carian Sorcery Sword is powerstanced with another thrusting sword or with the Main-gauche dagger.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Tag Page Cover Art

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
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Released
June 21, 2024
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
Base Game
Elden Ring
Developer(s)
FromSoftware
Multiplayer
Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
Engine
Proprietary
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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