In the current version of Elden Ring, Glintstone Sorcery spells, a school of magic empowered by a character’s Intelligence, is primarily used for damaging enemies, in contrast to Faith-empowered Incantation magic and its complement of healing and protection spells. Future DLC for Elden Ring, which will likely be announced before the end of the year, holds the potential to expand the tool kit of Sorcerer characters by introducing more Glintstone Sorcery Spells with non-combat utility. Such changes, besides making Elden Ring more fun, would also bring the mechanical effects of Glintstone Sorcery more in line with its narrative presentation as an academic magic practiced by scholars and seekers of knowledge.
The distinction in Elden Ring between Intelligence and Faith magics dates all the way back to FromSoftware’s Soulslike sub-genre progenitor, the 2009 dark fantasy RPG Demon’s Souls. In this prototype title, destructive effects such as Soul Arrow and Fireball were exclusive to the Intelligence-boosted Magic Spells of sorcerers (inspired by wizards from D&D), while fortifying spells such as Heal or Antidote were unique to the Faith-boosted Miracles of saints (inspired by clerics from D&D). The only damage-dealing Miracle in Demon’s Souls was the shockwave-generating God’s Wrath spell. The games of the Dark Souls trilogy retained the same general division of magical arts, but gave Miracle-using characters access to lightning spells. Finally, Elden Ring and its origins of Incantations gave Faith-based spellcasters access to lightning, fire, poison, and other forms of elemental damage in addition to traditional “cleric spells” for healing injuries and warding off harmful status effects. This makes the “damage only” focus of Intelligence magic in FromSoftware games all the more glaring.
In the Lands Between setting of Elden Ring, the discipline of Glintstone Sorcery, iconic to the scholars of Raya Lucaria and the enchanted knights of Caria, is flavorful and fascinating. Glintstone, the mineral affixed to most sorcerer staves, is an extraterrestrial substance that fell from the heavens and grows in a life-like fashion in locations like Liurnia of the Lakes and Selia, Town of Sorcery. Most Glintstone Sorcery spells in Elden Ring thematically conjure up outer space phenomena such as shooting stars, distortions of light, storms of ice, crystal ores, and even surges of gravity, while sorcery-wielding creatures like the Crystalians, the Onyx/Alabaster Lords, and Fallingstar Beasts have an alien look. The lore of Elden Ring even talks about how the earliest Glintstone Sorcerers were star-gazing astrologers simply seeking to understand the mysteries of the cosmos, making it all the more tragic that most of the Glintstone Sorcery spells available to players of Elden Ring are focused exclusively around killing enemies. Future DLC, foreshadowed by the most recent 1.07 Patch, could change this state of affairs.
Non-Damaging Glintstone Sorceries In Base Elden Ring
There aren’t a lot of non-damage dealing Glintstone Sorcery spells in Elden Ring, but they do exist, and their effects illustrate the potential of Elden Ring‘s Glintstone magic and Staffs to have more non-offensive utility.
The humble NPC Thops, a self-described “Bluntstone” sorcerer players can encounter near Liurnia of the Lakes, may actually be the Glintstone Sorcerer closest in spirit to the non-militant astrologers or yore. He can sell players the Starlight spell, which conjures up a long-lasting ball of blue light, and at the end of his questline creates the Thop’s Barrier spell, a temporary shield capable of deflecting attacks from Elden Ring‘s final boss.
The school Night Sorceries, associated with the abandoned town of Selia, contains a niche defensive spell called Eternal Darkness (no relation to the Nintendo’s Eternal Darkness, a GameCube survival horror game), which summons a black hole that sucks in magic projectiles. Two other non-damaging Night Sorceries, Unseen Blade and Unseen Form, respectively let Tarnished player characters turn their weapons and bodies invisible.
Most Sorcerer character builds in Elden Ring will have memorized Terra Magica, a sigil-conjuring spell that boosts damage from any spells or magic weapons used within its stationary area of effect. In fact, most players with one-shot Sorcery character builds start by casting Terra Magica, drinking a Flask of Wonderous Physick with Crystal Tears that boost magic damage and briefly eliminate FP consumption, then cast a spell like Comet Azur or Meteorite of Astel to deal continuous damage until Elden Ring‘s Graced Tarnished player character runs out of FP. Fewer players make use of the niche Lucidity spell, a one-of-its kind Glintstone Sorcery that cleanses characters of the Sleep and Madness status effects. Finally, the humble Scholar’s Shield spell enchants a player character’s shield with a magical aura, buffing its ability to block damage to a character’s health and poise.
Non-Combat Sorceries Elden Ring’s DLC Could Introduce
The damage-free Sorcery spells listed above prove FromSoftware can add non-combat Glintstone Sorcery spells to Elden Ring‘s DLC without infringing on the healing and protection niche of Incantations. New Selian Night Sorceries (similar to the spells hidden behind Elden Ring‘s Mirage Rise Puzzle) could let players befuddle in both PvE and PvP (a group invisibility spell, a spell like the Shadow Bait Incantation that summons decoys, etc.) Alternately, Elden Ring developers could homage the astrological themes of Glintstone Sorcery by introducing spells that let players gather information (for instance, a spell that causes concealed enemies to light up in silhouette).
Additionally, certain schools of purely offensive Glintstone Sorcery have non-combat applications that could be fleshed out with future expansions to Elden Ring. For instance, the school of Gravity Magic, strongly associated with the Starscourge Radahn boss fight, has several spells and Ashes of War that can repel and pull in enemies. Future non-damaging Gravity Sorceries could let a player temporarily lower the weight of their equipment (similar to how Elden Ring‘s giant, misunderstood General Radahn uses gravity magic to ride his normal-sized horse, Leonard) or even raise the weight of an enemy’s equipment to slow their movement and cause them to “fat roll.” Finally, the extremely sparse school of Aberrant Sorcery, featuring only two spells themed around conjuring vines of coagulated blood, could be expanded in Elden Ring DLC to include spells designed to defend or support player characters – for instance, an Aberrant Sorcery that sacrifices health to produce a damage-reducing aura or eliminate every status effect but Hemorrhage.