Best Elden Ring Spells and Sorceries for early and late game

Update: We've updated this page with some of our favourite Sorceries from Shadow of the Erdtree, alongside the locations you can expect to find them in. These are at the bottom of the page so you can avoid spoilers.

Finding the best Elden Ring spells across The Lands Between is surely at the top of every spellcaster’s list, especially given just how fun spell-slinging some of the games most powerful sorceries can be. While coming prepared with the perfect staff is important, the sorceries you use are critical when it comes to clearing difficult dungeons and late-game bosses.

With that in mind, we've compiled this list of the great early and late game spells in Elden Ring, alongside some of Shadow of the Erdtree's best spells, to help ease you through especially difficult parts of the game.

If you're going for a Faith build, check out our list of the best Incantations and Faith spells as well. On top of that, if you're going for the Legendary Sorceries and Incantations achievement, you'll want our guide on where to find all legendary spells in Elden Ring.

Please take note that the following may contain some late-game and DLC spoilers if you haven't made it that far yet!

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• Best Elden Ring spells for early game
• Best Elden Ring spells for late game
• Best Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree spells

Best Elden Ring spells for early game

Rock Sling

This Gravity spell - Rock Sling - is excellent in the early game, especially when paired with the Meteorite Staff which can be conveniently located nearby. This spell summons three orbs that track the targeted enemy, dealing huge damage without costing too much FP. It also only requires 18 Intelligence.

To find this spell, head to Caelid and travel to the Street of Sages ruins. This can be located north east of the Astray from Caelid Highway North site of grace. Once you’ve made it there, head into the underground section of the ruins and you’ll find the spell located in a solitary chest.

Rock Blaster

Rock Blaster is a hands-on Glintstone spell that blasts enemies into the ground, causing large AoE damage. Go to the Dragonburnt Ruins in the shallow lake just to the east of The First Step in Limgrave. Head down the steps in the middle, open the door, and then open the tempting treasure chest.

The chest will, in fact, be a teleport to the Sellia Crystal Tunnel. If you're in the early game, take care of high level enemies, and sprint past them to the end of the tunnels and up a ladder that takes you into a cavern on the left. If you find yourself stuck or lost, we've a step by step guide to traversing Sellia Crystal Tunnel and collecting all of its loot.

In the shacks here, there will be a chest that contains Rock Blaster, which only needs 21 Intelligence to use.

Glintstone Pebble

Astrologers rejoice! The starting Glintstone spell that the class receives - Glintstone Pebble - is a fantastic single target spell for the early game, able to quickly and easily take out regular enemies without spending too much FP or taking too long to cast. It also only requires 10 Intelligence!

If you’re not an Astrologer, you can buy this spell from either Sorceress Sellen in the Ruins Cellar in the east of Limgrave, north of the Bridge of Sacrifice. They’re sitting in their own personal study past the pumpkin head boss.

Alternatively, you can also buy this spell from Sorcerer Thops in the Church of Irith near Stormveil Castle.

Glintstone Arc

This Glintstone spell fires out a horizontal magic arc that will spread outward towards enemies. It costs 9FP, only needs 13 Intelligence, and can be cast multiple times while moving. This makes it a decent AoE spell for tackling small hordes of enemies.

The Glintstone Arc is a starting spell for the Astrologer, but can also be purchased from Sorceress Sellen (in Limgrave's Way Point Ruins) or Sorcere Thops (in Church of Irith) for 1,500 Runes. Failing that, you can also swap Thops' Bell Bearing for the spell at the Twin Maiden Husks in Roundtable Hold.

Carian Slicer

Carian Slicer is a brilliant Carian spell, where the caster swipes a magical sword that deals excellent damage without costing too much FP and only requiring 14 Intelligence. As such, it’s a great option when enemies get too close and you don’t have time to back up and cast a powerful spell.

To learn this spell, you must first give Sorcerer Sellen (found in the Ruins Cellar, north of the Bridge of Sacrifice) a Royal House Scroll.

To find the scroll, start off at the Agheel Lake South Site of Grace, then head directly east until you run into two large stone structures. Make your way to the eastmost structure, climb the rocks beside the building and jump onto the roof. There, you’ll see a knight standing next to a corpse. Kill this knight, and the scroll can be found on the body he was guarding.

Carian Greatsword and Magic Glintblade

The Carian Greatsword is similar to the Carian Slicer, but has a larger AoE with its increased swing, thus dealing more damage to surrounding enemies. This Carian sorcery requires 24 Intelligence.

On the other hand, the Magic Glintblade works by casting a sign into the air, which will then fire a blade at your targeted enemy. This Carian Sorcery only requires 14 Intelligence to use. We mention both here, because we recommend using the Glintblade until you're able to use the Greatsword instead.

To acquire either of these items, you must make it to the Church of Vows Site of Grace on top of the mountain east of Raya Lucaria and speak with Muriel, Pastor of Vows a few times. You can’t really miss him, because, well, he’s a huge tortoise with a hat.

When his dialogue is finished, you can then purchase the Magic Glintblade spell from him for 3000 Runes, and the Carian Greatsword spell for 10,000 Runes.

Loretta's Greatbow

Unlike some of the other best spells, Loretta's Greatbow is locked behind a boss fight. However, it has the power level to match. This spell takes the form of a bow that can be cast at long range, and can deal higher the damage the longer it is charged. Not bad for a spell that only needs 26 Intelligence.

Go to the Caria Manor in the north of Liurnia of the Lakes and make your way past the creepy crawly hands and spectral knights to the top. This area is also where you find one of Elden Ring's best weapons, and you will need to fight against the boss, Royal Knight Loretta, here.

When finally felled, Royal Knight Loretta will drop the Loretta’s Greatbow spell - the giant OP spellbolt they've been nailing you with throughout the fight. Enjoy ruining other people's day with it as much as they ruined yours.

Terra Magica

Terra Magica is one of the less-impressive spells on this list, given that it isn't used for damaging foes. Instead, this Glintstone Sorcery buffs the strength of our spells while stood within the sigil it casts on the ground, and only costs 20 FP. For this reason, you should be using it to power-up your best spells during the toughest of fights.

Only requiring 20 Intelligence to use, you can grab Terra Magica from the Academy Crystal Cave in Liurnia of the Lakes. After defeating the boss in this cave, you'll need to take the elevator behind them to enter the Academy, where you'll find a chest with Terra Magica inside.

Glintstone Icecrag

Glintstone Icecrag is a strong Cold sorcery, similar to a frosty version of Roiling Magma. It fires a huge chunk of ice at the target and tracks their movement. You can purchase Glintstone Icecrag from Seluvis at his tower in Three Sisters for 7,500 Runes, and it only requires 15 Intelligence.

Best Elden Ring spells for mid-late game

Comet Azur

There’s nothing cooler than a giant laser beam, and one of the best Primeval spells in Elden Ring has you shoot out a gigantic energy beam that can wipe out waves of enemies or deal incredible damage to bosses no problem. It does require a whopping 60 Intelligence to use, though.

This spell is fairly easy to obtain, although you do have to be far through the game to find it. The spell can be found directly next to the site of grace directly north of the Hermit's Village in the volcano north east of Atlus Plateau (we’ve not named the Site of Grace because it’s a giant spoiler). Once at this Site of Grace, there will be a friendly crystalised mage sitting nearby. Walk up to them and talk to your new buddy, and they’ll give you the spell. Here's a more detailed walkthrough on where to get Comet Azur.

While Comet Azur is great, it uses a lot of FP and isn't actually all that mind-blowing without a few extra steps. You'll want to acquire the Cerulean Hidden Tear and apply this to your Flask of Wondrous Physick to eliminate FP consumption for a period of time. This can be found by defeating the Ulcerated Tree Spirit at the Minor Erdtree by the Road of Iniquity Site of Grace.

Then, you'll also want to acquire the Terra Magica spell, which will create a zone that increases your magic damage while inside of it. We explain how to get your hands in this above, during our section on best early-game spells.

Your plan of action when using Comet Azur is to use Terra Magica, drink your Flask of Wondrous Physick, and then boom. However, you can strengthen Comet Azur by using Ranni's Dark Moon before drinking your flask; this lowers the magic resistance of your foe, but isn't always necessary.

Shard Spiral

Shard Spiral isn't just a fantastic Glintstone sorcery in terms of damage, but it looks rather cool, too. Using just 14 FP and requiring 27 Intelligence, this spell will fire two spiralling projectiles towards an enemy. Unlike most spells, these projectiles won't explode on impact with a foe; they'll instead continue to fly through a target, increasing their damage each time they fly through an opponent.

Because of this, the Shard Spiral is a must-have spell for taking on larger enemies such as Radahn or the Fire Giant. The larger the enemy, the more likely the Shard Spiral is to fly through them repeatedly, leading to a massive amount of damage being dealt.

To get this spell, you will need to complete Sellen's questline and side with her during it. Following that, you'll be able to purchase Shard Spiral from her for 8,000 Runes.

Greatblade Phalanx

A souls classic, the Greatblade Phalanx is a Carian sorcery that summons numerous swords around the caster, which shoot out and attack enemies when they come close. This deals decent damage, and allows magic users to either put up an automatic defensive counter attack, or a way of dealing additional damage when rushing in.

To get this spell, you need to kill Bols, Carian Knight. This boss can be found in the Cuckoo’s Evergaol, which you can reach by travelling directly south from the Foot of the Four Belfries site of grace in Liurnia. You'll also need 29 Intelligence to use it.

Roiling Magma

Roiling Magma fires off a ball of concentrated... well, magma, at your target. It deals high damage on its own, but also creates a pool of magma where it lands, which can damage enemies with low fire resistance. This one is on a corpse in the Hermit's Shack, southeast of the Magma Wyrm near Fort Laiedd. It also requires 12 Faith, as well as 21 Intelligence to use.

Adula's Moonblade

Adula's Moonblade is an excellent Cold sorcery and one you won't get your hands on until much later in the game. It's a drop from Glintstone Dragon Adula, and while you'll first encounter the beast in Three Sisters, near Ranni's Rise, the dragon relocates to the Cathedral of Mana Celes after taking some damage.

You can only access the Cathedral after progressing Ranni's quest and defeating Astel, so it'll take awhile.

Adula's Moonblade needs 32 Intelligence to use and creates a giant ice sword that slashes in a wide arc and unleashes a shock wave of ice in the process.

Best Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree spells

Impenetrable Thorns

Impenetrable Thorns is my favourite new spell in Elden Ring by far, and it only requires 24 Faith and 18 FP. Forget all about Aberrant sorceries, as this is the only thorn sorcery you need. It'll dish out three trails of thorns in front of the Tarnished, all of which have exceptional range, before dishing out Bleed on the enemy and with some luck, staggering them.

Honestly, it melts through mobs and bosses with such ease - even without equipment that buffs its power - that it feels very cheesy to use. I can't recommend this one enough, and check out our Impenetrable Thorns build to really get the most out of it.

To get your hands on the spell, you'll want to have visited Specimen Storehouse and used the lever to move the statues in the middle. After this, travel along the statues from the Seventh Floor Site of Grace and head outside. Now, carefully jump off the ledge directly in front of you and onto the one below, where a bat lurks. The spell is on a corpse here.

Blades of Stone

The Blades of Stone Sorcery requires a whopping 48 Intelligence to use, though this'll be no problem for Intelligence builds. You can acquire this one by trading Commander Gaius' Remembrance at Roundtable Hold.

Blades of Stone produces multiple rocky blades from the earth that can damage and stun foes in front of you, and it feels good to give other enemies a taste of what we had to endure while fighting the Wild Boar Rider.

Gravitational Missile

Dropped by the Fallingstar Beast in the Hinterlands, this particular spell is quite fun to use. It'll conjure up a huge gravitational orb that, stuns foes and locks them in place for the first two blasts, before exploding on its third and final blast.

The AoE isn't all that great, but it deals an exceptional amount of damage for just 18 FP if you can pull it off. I've found it good fun against mobs, but I'm yet to see how it fares against bosses. It'll also need 36 Intelligence.

Rellana's Twin Moons

Rellana's Twin Moons require a whopping 72 Intelligence, but it is nice to have another Moon Sorcery added to the mix. When casting, the Tarnished will morph into Rellana's Twin Moons before they both strike the ground, one after the other.

The spell does a decent amount of damage, but it has a smaller AoE than I'd like. You're also not entirely safe during its slow time to cast, though, the moons will still strike even if you're knocked out of casting. I'm not sure that's meant to happen, but I'll take it. You can get this spell by trading Rellana's Remembrance at Roundtable Hold.

Cherishing Fingers

The Cherishing Fingers Sorcery can be found in the graveyard of the Cathedral of Manus Metyr after completing Count Ymir's questline. Upon use, it'll summon a bunch of fingers around the Tarnished which defend you from certain attacks if cast at the exact right moment. It's a tricky one to pull off, but when you do, it can turn the tide of a fight. You'll also need 36 Intelligence to use it.

Glintstone Nails

This particular Finger sorcery is the same as Glintstone Nail (also found in Shadow of the Erdtree) but it instead sees you casting multiple magic nails at an opponent, with relatively decent tracking. It requires just 32 Intelligence too, meaning it could easily fit into most Glintstone Sorcerer builds.

You can get your hands on Glintstone Nails by purchasing it from Count Ymir.

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With Elden Ring being as large as it is, you might also be interested in our list of Legendary Sorceries and Incantations, which contains the most powerful spells and incantations in The Lands Between. There's also our guide on how to change your appearance in Elden Ring and our Elden Ring beginners guide if you're just starting out!