But, like all aspects of the game, some options are better than others. And if you want to maximize your effectiveness to stand the best chances in this hostile world, you’re going to need some help. So today we’re going through our top sorcery choices, to help all you aspiring mages out there!
20. Magic Weapon
It may be baby’s first weapon buff for sorcerers, but magic weapon is the absolute go-to for all early-game invasion builds. It’s easy to get, infinite, and pretty good for minimal stat allocation! It also allows you to further increase the damage of your raw weapons to really slap your early-game targets. Obviously for later on in the game you’re best off switching to the better buffs, but magic weapon still sees tons of use thanks to this niche. How to get: Sold by Orbeck, Yoel or Yuria.
19. Great Soul Arrow
Great soul arrow excels at clearing out all the trash you come across without blowing your FP on the big guns. For the early-game sorcerer, it’ll likely be your most cast spell! It has low cost, low requirements, fast cast speed and will kill most easy enemies in two to three hits! How to get: Sold by Orbeck once in Firelink.
18. Homing Soulmass
Homing soulmass summons a number of floating orbs that’ll lock onto foes and dart right at them! It may have a low requirement of 20 intelligence, but the number of orbs you summon increases the more intelligence you have. This means that at the base requirement, you’ll only be summoning 3 orbs, and they deal pathetic damage – hitting all 3 will deal less damage than a single great soul arrow! It sees some very limited use in early-game PvP but it’s too fiddly to execute with far too small a payoff. How to get: Sold by Orbeck after giving him Logan’s scroll.
17. Great Farron Dart
The faster brother to the soul arrow sorceries, Farron dart deals marginally less damage in exchange for costing next to nothing and being extremely spammable! It’s a lot like a throwing knife in spell form, and it’s just as annoying as it sounds. It peppers away at foes with ease from far away, and its extremely quick cast time leaves your opponents unable to punish you! How to get: Sold by Orbeck after giving him the sage’s scroll.
16. Great Heavy Soul Arrow
On the subject of big bro’s, great heavy soul arrow is the direct upgrade to great soul arrow! It deals much more damage, but costs more FP and has a longer cast time. This is the one you’ll want to save for your early-game bosses – its large chunks of damage will make quick work of the tougher encounters. It can then easily be used as a trash mob clearer once your intelligence is high enough for some of the top-tier spell nukes! How to get: Sold by Orbeck as soon as he’s in Firelink.
15. Chameleon
Transforming into inconspicuous objects is always a blast for messing with other players – be it ambushing invasions or playing hide-and-seek with your potential murderer! Chameleon does just that – turns you into an unassuming barrel or tree to blend seamlessly into your surroundings! It’s not the most useful spell as white branches have the same effect, and are a consumable item saving you a spell slot, but for the really mischievous player, a never-ending supply is always nice. How to get: Dropped by the pilgrim who assassinates Anri – you can either kill them at the church of Yorshka or find their corpse at the top of the marriage chamber, once the ‘ceremony’ is over!
14. Affinity
Sadly, affinity is but a shadow of its former self, as it reigned supreme in the original Dark Souls instalment. Similar to homing soulmass, affinity summons a number of orbs that chase your foes! It may be higher damage, but it’s much slower-moving and (being a dark sorcery) requires investment in intelligence and faith. This hurts it considerably, and honestly the homing-orb class of magics as a whole is much weaker in DS3. 9 times out of 10, you’re far better off using a different spell. How to get: Sold by Karla once she’s freed.
13. White Dragon Breath
White dragon breath has you take a page out of Seath’s book – conjuring a powerful wave of crystal magic! With the highest intelligence requirement in the game, you’d think white dragon breath would be one of the top choices, but it’s actually a very niche spell. It has a slow cast time and the wave needs to travel – making it easy to side-step and leaves you extremely open for attack. Where it excels, however, is corridors and tight spaces! This makes the crystals extremely hard to dodge and they hit like a truck. It also travels up walls and can snipe people climbing ladders! How to get: Transposition with the soul of Oceiros.
12. Soul Stream
If you want flashy, look no further! Soul stream summons an incredible beam of souls that shreds through anything in its path! In exchange for this, it has the longest wind-up time in the entire game, so it’s pretty bad for PvP. However it can pierce walls, which makes it great for catching out a foe trying to flee and heal! It also makes mincemeat out of bosses (provided you get the opportunity to cast the full beam) as each tick deals a separate instance of damage! How to get: Found in the grand archive, behind the boreal knight.
11. Great Soul Dregs
This spell is likely the reason you’ll want to use dark sorceries. Great soul dregs summon a massive dark orb to slowly pursuit your foes! Its sheer size makes it nearly impossible to roll through, and it stays airborne for what feels like forever. With a hybrid caster build, it easily hits 1,000 damage per cast, and will completely annihilate foes – especially those weak to dark! How to get: In the dreg heap (ringed city DLC), through the secret doorway in the building to the right after leaving the banner knight church.
10. Homing Crystal Soulmass
Like I said, the homing-orb-style sorceries have taken a hit in DS3, with even the best of them all only taking our 10th slot. Homing crystal soulmass is the same as homing soulmass – it summons floating orbs that’ll fire at nearby foes! Requiring 30 intelligence this time, the damage is still absolutely laughable, and the setup it takes to land all 5 projectiles is so not worth the effort. That being said, crystal soulmass is still used quite a bit in PvP, as it can catch enemies out and cause them to roll right into your swings! How to get: Sold by Orbeck after giving him the crystal scroll.
9. Great Magic Shield
Who said shields are useless? Great magic shield is honestly one of my favorite spells just because it makes blocking actually useful for a change. Casting it enchants your off-hand shield, giving stability and absorption. So much of the stuff that it’ll even cause the weakest shields to have 100% block across the board! The stability buff is fantastic too, as it reduces the amount of stamina it takes to block – even allowing some shields to block infinitely! How to get: Dropped by a corpse-grub inside the Irithyll dungeon, just a drop to the left of the first bonfire.
8. Soul Greatsword
The first of the conjured weapons sorceries, soul greatsword swings a big ol’ blade in a wide arc to deal huge damage! It has a long wind-up but can roll-catch foes and be combo’ed into with faster weapons or other spells! It’s a great one for crowd control and PvP, and really compliments melee spellcasters. How to get: Buy from Yoel or Orbeck.
7. Farron Hail
Farron hail is an unassuming early-game spell that is actually one of the best for PvP. Casting it fires several huge volleys of darts that spread out similar to a shotgun – denying massive areas in front of you and dealing some really nice damage! It has a fast cast time and mixes great with other spells for some truly devastating and unpredictable attacks! How to get: Sold by Orbeck after giving him the sage’s scroll in Firelink.
6. Crystal Hail
Crystal hail is a very feast-or-famine spell – either paying massive returns or doing absolutely nothing. Casting it fires an orb into the sky that splits off into small shards which cascade downwards. The damage is pretty bad but it’s more about the stun-lock, as hitting an enemy with a crystal will stagger them and leave them open to attack! Similar to Farron hail, it’s extremely hard to read and excels at area denial – with most enemies simply running away until its gone, allowing you a window of setup! How to get: Transposition with the crystal sage soul.
5. Old Moonlight
Now old moonlight is as late-game as it gets, requiring you to defeat the hardest boss in the entire game to get your hands on it! It’s similar to soul greatsword, except it has a charge mechanic and a projectile – just like the moonlight greatsword. Fully charged, a point-blank cast of old moonlight will hit your enemy with both the blade and the projectile, and will completely destroy them! It combos nicely into other spells too, and even has some guaranteed hits when paired with certain weapons! How to get: Transposition with the soul of darkeater Midir.
4. Crystal Soul Spear
The much-coveted CSS is the most consistent and high-damaging projectile spell in the entire game! It has a surprisingly fast cast time, pierces enemies, and hits like the stuff of nightmares – either one-shotting you or leaving you with a sliver of HP. Like all projectiles, it’s pretty easy to dodge in PvP if your opponent is prepared, but this spell will destroy anything and everything you come across in general gameplay! How to get: Sold by Orbeck after giving him the crystal scroll.
3. Pestilent Mist
It might be surprising for some to see this spell so high on the list. While it is pretty good area denial in PvP, it’s in PvE this sorcery shines brightest! This is thanks to its max HP damage – the higher an enemy’s health pool, the more damage it deals, and it can be used to truly devastating effect against even the hardest of bosses such as Midir! It’s also infamous for its ability to cheese certain bosses, with videos on YouTube showing even Gael being completely exploited for an easy kill. It’ll take a bit of time to learn, but pestilent mist is extremely powerful and worth the investment. How to get: Sold by Orbeck after giving him any scroll.
2. Crystal Magic Weapon
Crystal magic weapon is simply the best sorcery weapon buff out there. It adds a ton of damage to your weapon on intelligence builds and lasts a full minute – during which you should endeavour to be in your foes face spamming like crazy! There’s really no reason not to use this spell on your mages – If you’re using a buffable weapon, you should have it equipped, end of. How to get: Sold by Orbeck after giving him the crystal scroll.
1. Farron Flashsword
Flashsword is our number 1 pick, and for good reason. Casting it turns your catalyst into a sword – a sword that swings as fast as a dagger, has the range of an ultra greatsword, interrupts enemies, is insanely spammable, obtainable early-game and deals nice damage. Pair this with a slower-swinging weapon such as a greatsword or hammer, and then spring it on your enemies to catch them off-guard – opening them up for a combo and either killing them or leaving them on their last legs! With this in hand, you’ll have all bases covered. And its ability to fit into any intelligence build makes it absolutely incredible. How to get: Sold by Orbeck as soon as he’s in Firelink.
