Elden Ring Sword of Night and Flame Build Guide - Deathblade

Apr. 11, 2024

Elden Ring Sword of Night and Flame Build Guide – Deathblade

An Intelligence/Faith Build thas uses the Sword of Night and Flame to full effect, while also using both Sorceries and Incantations to dispatch enemies.

We have over 110Elden Ring Buildsnow, for all classes and playstyles. This Build is recommended for Level 100.

First of all, let me just say that theSword of Night and Flameis still very strong and it remains one of the best weapons in the game. If you liked playing with this weapon before, you’ll still like playing with it so there’s no need to worry there. One of the things I want to mention about this weapon is that everyone talks about the weapon arts and how good and strong they are that come with the weapon. However, the attack reading on this weapon is stupid. At +8 while unbuffed, I’m sitting at 658 attack rating, which is absurd. Fully buffed, I can get over a thousand damage at +8. That is at colossal weapon territory, and you’re wielding a straight sword. You have the attack speed of a straight sword, but you’re dealing colossal weapon damage which is absolutely insane. It’s so good that if you got a second one, and if you dual wield these things and do a jump attack, you can do over 2000 damage easily. After landing, you can do quick swings so you’d be doing 3000 or even 4000 damage in a matter of seconds, which is up there with some of the best weapons in the game.

Talking a bit how I play with this build, I lean into theNight Cometability with this weapon. I don’t really use the flame one as I find the cast to be too long. It’s very good in certain situations where you can creep up on a pack of enemies and just take them out in one swing. However, I’m leaning into the magic damage ability of this weapon so I focused on how to increase the damage of that the most, and that’s the weapon ability that most people will be using.

The Night Comet weapon skill scales with Intelligence, meaning every point of Intelligence you put into it increases the damage of it, while Faith increases the fire attack. They don’t cross over though, so if you increase Faith, you’re not going to get more damage on Night Comet, and vice versa. This is one of the reasons that my stat spread is skewed heavily towards Intelligence compared to Faith, as you need both 24 Intelligence and Faith to use this weapon. Ancient Death Rancor requires 34 Intelligence, so that’s also one reason.

Besides the Sword of Night and Flame, I’m also using thePrince of Death’s Staffhere because it scales with both Intelligence and Faith. It also boosts the damage ofDeath Sorceries, which Ancient Death Rancor is. Ancient Death Rancor doesn’t do a ton of damage anyway, so getting a little bit of extra damage on it is good. We don’t really use that spell for the damage, as we use it more for the stagger and for setting up Night Comet with the sword. Prince of Death’s Staff is probably not the best staff at this point in the game because you can get higher Sorcery scaling with others right now, but once you invest points in Faith and Intelligence, it will eventually outperform them. This staff will be your staff in the endgame, so it makes sense to just keep increasing it now as you’ll want to have it upgraded when you get there.

I also have theGolden Order Seal. This is the sacred seal that scales off of bothIntelligenceandFaith, so this performs very well in this build. It allows you to use incantations effectively as well, so you get a double whammy with this build. You can use both sorceries and incantations well, which is one of the benefits of this build. I don’t use a lot of incantations, but Black Flame benefits from this. If there are other incantations you like, like Lightning Spear, you can also add them to this build.

There are really a couple of ways you can go here. First of all, getting a headpiece that increases your Intelligence is just good in general. That’s going to increase your spell’s damage, Night Comet damage with your sword. I like theImp Head (Cat)for this because you need some protection with this build. It’s kind of heaver and has a little bit more protection and it doesn’t have any negative effects. It’s really good all around. Another option isOlivinus Glintstone Crownin order to get even more Intelligence, however this has a negative side effect of reducing your HP by a bit so I don’t necessarily recommend it. Additionally, you can use theSpellblade’s Pointed Hatto increase your Glintstone Sorcery skill damage, whichNight Cometis. This is the set that drops fromRogierin his quest line. In fact, every piece in this set will increase your Glintstone Sorcery skill damage by about 2% or so. If you were to equip the full set, you’re going to get even more damage with Night Comet. However, it’s very light so you won’t have as much protection as you need so I don’t recommend it.

Additionally, I like to use theRaptor’s Black Feathersfor this build because it boosts your jump attack damage by 10%. If you’re dual-wielding Sword of Night and Flame with an attack rating of 1000, you’re going to boost that by 10% which is a lot of damage. It’s a little heavier than the Spellblade set, so it gives you a little bit more protection which you’ll desperately need with this build.

For my gloves, I use theSpellblade’s Gloveswhich increases Night Comet’s damage by a little bit. I just then go with heavy legs for extra protection.

For my talismans, I use theDragoncrest Shield Talisman +1,Godfrey Icon,Magic Scorpion Charm, andFire Scorpion Charm.

Fire Scorpion CharmandMagic Scorpion Charmincrease your fire and magic damage by about 10% each, but they reduce the amount of resistance that you have to damage. That’s why we have the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman +1 to sort of make up for that. You’ll obviously want to swap that out for a better version of that when you can get one, but I don’t think you can get a better one earlier in the game than this. Night Comet is completely magic damage, so the Magic Scorpion Charm is going to boost that. It’s also going to boost the damage with your regular attacks because you also do magic damage with that as well. The Fire Scorpion Charm is essentially the same, but with fire damage. These two will also boost your spell damage.

Godfrey Iconis there because it increases the damage with charge spells and charge skills, although Night Comet and the flame attack do not benefit from this. Pretty much every spell I have in this build is chargeable, and it’ll increase the damage of these spells by about 10% when you charge them. You should be charging the spells when you cast them if you can.

There are other talismans you can use as well. For instance, theRitual Sword Talismanincreases your damage by about 10% from all sources while your HP is full. However, it’s definitely difficult to maintain that unless you slot something likeBlessing’s Boonto give you heal over time, or if you’re topping off with potions regularly. If you’re playing predominantly ranged and if you’re a cautious player, this is not a bad talisman to use. I tend to play a bit more aggressively, so I wouldn’t recommend this one if you play aggressively.

If you get another Sword of Night and Flame from another player and you’re dual wielding it, theWinged Sword Insigniais not a bad option. This will boost your attack power all the way up to 22% at max when you hit over and over with L1. This is really good, as I mentioned you already have crazy attack power with this sword. Getting another 22% would be insane, so that’s not a bad choice if you’re dual wielding them.

You can also use talismans likeGraven-School Talismanwhich increases your sorcery damage, or you can take things like Stargazer Heirloom that increases your Intelligence which boosts your weapon damage, Night Comet, sorceries, and incantations.

There are so many talismans that benefit this build, and I think it really depends on the playstyle that you’re going for. If you’re more of an aggressive melee type player, then there are definitely ones that will benefit you. If you’re more of a range-type player, there are other ones. You should just play around with these a little bit, or maybe you don’t have them all yet so you can use the ones that you do have until you find other ones you like more.

The spells I use for this build are:Golden Vow,Terra Magica,Loretta’s Greatbow,Magic Glintblade,Black Flame,Flame, Grant Me Strength, andAncient Death Rancor.

If you don’t know whatGolden Vowdoes by now, you probably haven’t been watching my videos. It increases your overall damage by 15%, as well as increasing your resistances which are lowered a bit by the two Scorpion Charms. You’re going to need all the resistance and damage you can get. This is a buff you want to keep up regularly as you’re fighting around the landscape and in boss fights.

Terra Magicais a new addition and it’s not one we’ve used in any other build yet. It will probably be present in the next iteration of the sorcerer build. What this does is it puts a rune on the ground that has a little bit of a radius, and it boosts any form of magic damage you do while standing inside of it for 30 seconds. That means if you use Night Comet while you’re standing inside it, its damage will be boosted by 35%. It’s not something you’ll use all the time, but it’s great if you’re in a co-op scenario while you can hang back and range things down.

Loretta’s Greatbowis there to give you a very long distanced ranged attack. It benefits from Terra Magica and Godfrey Icon, so this is really good synergy.

Magic Glintbladeis there to give you a staple ranged option, and it’s also chargeable, which means it’ll benefit from Godfrey Icon. It can also give you a nice delay, so if you charge in with double swords while having a Glintblade flying in on an enemy, it can work really well.

Black Flameis there to give you a fire ranged option for when magic is just not cutting it. It does incredible damage, and it does set a little bit of percentage-based DoT, which is good for co-op and for bosses with lots of health. It also benefits from the Fire Scorpion Charm and Flame, Grant Me Strength. You can charge it so that it benefits from Godfrey Icon.

Flame, Grant Me Strengthgives you 20% fire and physical damage for 30 seconds. This is good because the sword deals fire and physical damage, so you’re going to increase your overall attack power when you have this up. If you’re also flinging Black Flame, it’ll benefit from this. You don’t use it very often, but it will be noticeable on boss fights.

Lastly, we haveAncient Death Rancor. This spell deals an okay amount of damage at this point in the game. It’s not mana efficient, so you’re not going to use it constantly. It really shines in fights where enemies have a head you can lock-on to, because the stagger damage that it deals is incredible. The tracking of this spell is good, so it won’t miss highly-mobile enemies. It also tends to stagger enemies, which will give you an opening to use Night Comet safely. If you don’t stagger the enemy, you can use another one to give you that opening. It can be charged as well, so it’ll benefit from Godfrey Icon.

What I really like about this build is that it has a lot of tools. It has ranged, melee, and different damage types. It also has buffs and heals which you can apply on to yourself.

One thing I want to mention is that this build benefits greatly from usingGodrick’s Great Runeand popping aRune Arc. It boosts all your attributes by 5, and you need almost every attribute for this build. You gain damage from your spells and weapons withFaithandIntelligence. You getMindfrom that as well, which gives you more FP. Your weapon scales withStrengthandDexterityas well, and you also gain more health and equip load. If you get summoned for co-op, this remains active while you’re summoned. If you die in that fight, it will still remain active once you go back to your world.

Lastly, you can put yourMagic-Shrouding Cracked TearandFlame-Shrouding Cracked Tearinto yourFlask of Wondrous Physickto boost both of those damage types for 3 minutes. This is really great in a boss fight because you do both of these damage types with your weapons, so it allows you to use your magic spells effectively while you’re in the fight. Most boss fights don’t last that long if your build is set-up correctly.

That’s it for our Deathblade Guide! As always, let us know if you have questions or other tips in the comments below. We have a ton more builds coming for Elden Ring andShadow of the Erdtreeso stay tuned for those. If you need help finding items, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check theElden Ring Map. Happy building!

Castielle

Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.