Magic-based characters are some of the most interesting builds in Dark Souls 3. The ability to devastate foes with powerful sorceries while wielding arcane staves is a fun and unique way to play this difficult game.

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For those looking to tap into their arcane nature, it’s important to employ the right staves and to wield the proper spells. Here are the best staves in the game along with their ideal uses and the best sorceries for those looking to create the ultimate Sorcerer.

Updated on February 27th, 2022 by Geoffrey Martin: With the release of Elden Ring, many people are likely diving back into FromSoftware's previous games, specifically Dark Souls 3. Dark Souls 3 plays very similarly to Elden Ring in terms of combat speed, increased exploration spaces, and a heavy emphasis on magic builds. There is a good divide between melee-focused builds and magic-based builds, with players tending to favor one over the other. If you lean towards a character who focuses on magic, all centered around staves and sorceries, then these extra additions to this list should help you diversify your mage.

12 Sorcery: Magic Weapon

A player wielding the Murky Longstaff while wearing the Sunless Armor set in the Ringed City DLC in Dark Souls 3

Magic Weapon might just be one of the most simple sorceries but also one of the most useful for pure builds, or for those wishing to still use melee but with a magic tendency. Simply put, Magic Weapon imbues your right-handed weapon with magical properties to enhance and augment its damage output.

This sorcery lasts for 60 seconds and requires a moderate intelligence level to utilize properly. Plus, Magic Weapon can be upgraded to Great Magic Weapon or Crystal Magic Weapon.

Where To Find It

Magic Weapon can be purchased for 4,500 souls from either Yoel or Yuria of Londor. Likewise, it can be bought from Orbeck for 3,000 souls.

Statistics

  • Focus Cost – 25
  • Duration - 60 seconds
  • Requirements – 10 Intelligence

Unique Mechanics

Magic Weapon adds a 0.75 magic damage to whatever special weapon you have equipped to your character build.

11 Staff: Storyteller's Staff

Dark Souls 3 Cinders mod Sacred Chime Hammer from Dark Souls 2 using its weapon art to cast Pursuer Hex

The Storyteller's Staff is often an overlooked magic-based weapon, mostly because on the surface it doesn't sound all that powerful in comparison to other similar staves. However, the Storyteller's Staff is actually quite beneficial and can be the perfect fit for a magic-based character due to its decent damage output combined with the poison spores it emits.

While the staff itself can't be infused or buffed, it is reinforced with Titanite, making it durable and effective in equal measures. The poison skills attached to it make it perfect for slowly draining the lifeforce of Dark Souls 3's monstrosities.

Where To Find It

You can find the Storyteller's Staff from the Corvian Storytellers. They will drop this special item.

Statistics

  • Intelligence - 60
  • Spellbuff - 218
  • Magic Defense - 25
  • Fire Defense - 10
  • Lightning Defense - 10
  • Weight - 15
  • Critical - 100
  • Stability - 10
  • Durability - 45

Unique Mechanics

Its unique mechanics are tied directly to the staff's skill, namely, poison spores. The poison spores skill is much more effective than other similar poison-based attacks and skills.

10 Sorcery: Homing Crystal Soulmass

Dark Souls 3 Homing Crystal Soulmass

This is an excellent sorcery for both attack and PvP defense. When fired while targeting an opponent, these projectiles will travel a fair distance to strike their target. This is incredibly useful in PvE and has some utility in PvP, even if the average player can dodge the projectile.

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The reason for this is that you can cast the spell without a target locked. This will cause the projectile to hover around, waiting for a target to come in range. This can make enemy players hesitate to attack, buying valuable time for you to prepare for the fight. It’s also a good way to store attacks walking into a fight.

Where To Find It

Homing Crystal Soulmass can be purchased from Orbeck of Vinheim for 10,000 Souls after obtaining the Crystal Scroll. It can be found after defeating the Crystal Sage in the Grand Archives.

Statistics

  • Focus Cost – 43
  • Magic Damage – Spell Buff x 0.65
  • Requirements – 30 Intelligence

Unique Mechanics

Homing Crystal Soulmass also has a unique mechanic that can be exploited. It's possible to strike the incoming Soulmass with an Alluring Skull or cast Hidden Body to prevent the projectiles from flying towards you. It’s also interesting to note that having more than 30 Intelligence will increase the number of projectiles from four to five.

9 Staff: Murky Longstaff

Dark Souls 3 Murky Longstaff

For those wanting to utilize dark sorceries, the Murky Longstaff is arguably the best staff in the entire game for this niche purpose. It can augment dark damage to incredible heights, and it scales well with the Intelligence stat.

The reason it isn’t the absolute best is that it’s primarily designed for dark damage sorceries. If you want to use any other spell, there are better options, and the staff has a scaling cap at 45 Intelligence. Still, for dark magic users, this is undoubtedly the best staff.

Where To Find It

It can be found in the Dreg Heap in the Ringed City DLC. After dropping down into the Cathedral, head left and follow the path. In the corridor with two knights, head to the other wall to find an entrance to a building. A Hollow corpse inside has the staff on them.

Statistics

  • Physical Attack – 86
  • Dark Attack – 20
  • Critical – 100
  • Physical Defense – 30
  • Magic Defense – 20
  • Fire Defense – 10
  • Lightning Defense – 10
  • Dark Defense - 10
  • Durability – 55
  • Requirements – 6 Strength, 12 Intelligence

Unique Mechanics

Interestingly Murky Longstaff will experience a softcap at 45 Intelligence. Anything above 45 will have no effect on damage.

8 Sorcery: Great Soul Dregs

Dark Souls 3 Great Soul Dregs

Great Soul Dregs is an example of a powerful dark spell that should be in most sorcery-based arsenals. It’s a homing projectile with a massive radius that is guaranteed to strike all but the most agile opponents. It can also be fired from long distances softening up enemies well before they reach you.

In PvP, veterans will scramble out of the way, and rookies will get annihilated by this powerful dark spell. In PvE, it can shred units weak to dark damage like Black Knights and Demons.

Where To Find It

In the same room where the Murky Longstaff is located, hit the wall directly across from the corpse to reveal an illusory wall. Follow the path to the end to find this spell.

Statistics

  • Focus Cost – 30
  • Magic Damage – Spell Buff x 2.55
  • Requirements – 40 Intelligence

Unique Mechanics

With high Intelligence and Faith, this spell can achieve a whopping 2,000 points of dark damage per shot.

7 Staff: Izalith Staff

Dark Souls 3 Izalith Staff

If you are going to have an Intelligence-centric character that dabbles a bit in Faith-based dark sorceries, then this is a great weapon to have. Dark sorceries have a scale cap of 45 Intelligence with this weapon, and all other spells are capped at 60 Intelligence.

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Intelligence-only dark sorcery builds are better off with the Murky Longstaff, but even a little bit of faith will make this weapon superior. Again, it’s still a niche staff outclassed by others, but it’s not a bad choice in the early parts of the game.

Where To Find It

In the Smouldering Lake, there is an illusory wall that can be found in the corridor with a giant rat. It's on the far side of the wall. Once revealed, hit the wall behind that to reveal a corpse holding onto the Izalith Staff.

Statistics

  • Physical Attack – 120
  • Critical – 100
  • Physical Defense – 30
  • Magic Defense – 25
  • Firer Defense – 20
  • Lightning Defense – 20
  • Dark Defense – 20
  • Stability – 15
  • Durability – 55
  • Spell Buff - 130
  • Requirements – 12 Strength, 14 Intelligence, 10 Faith

Unique Mechanics

The description on this staff is misleading as Faith will only apply to dark sorceries and has no effect on magic damage. With the high physical damage, it also helps conserve Focus Points by dealing with weak enemies in melee.

6 Sorcery: White Dragon Breath

Dark Souls 3 White Dragon Breath

In a sorcery-based build, White Dragon Breath is far more useful than the Moonlight Greatsword, making it the clear choice when the time comes. This spell causes a line of crystals to shoot out from you and track down enemies in their path.

This is really useful in narrow corridors, and it can even go up and down walls and ladders. In larger spaces, the average player will dodge away, but, in close quarters, they’ll likely have to tank it which is a bad idea. In PvE, this can really disrupt any enemy foolish enough to stand around in a hallway.

Where To Find It

Use Oceiros, the Consumed King's soul to transpose this sorcery.

Statistics

  • Focus Cost - 25
  • Damage – Spell Buff x 2.65
  • Requirements – 50 Intelligence

Unique Mechanics

The trail from the spell has the interesting ability to travel up and down walls and ladders. This can help damage opponents that are hiding on ladders or hard-to-reach places.

5 Staff: Heretic’s Staff

Dark Souls 3 Heretic Staff

If your character has less than 40 Intelligence and no major interest in dark-based spells, then this is the most powerful staff in the game. This is due to how spell and Intelligence buff scaling works, making more powerful staves only useful at higher intelligence levels.

It has a great range for spells like Soul Greatsword and can really boost spells to deal impressive damage. Again, it's not the best staff in the game, but it is the best weapon for those below 40 Intelligence.

Where To Find It

The Heretic's Staff can be found in the Road of Sacrifices. It can be found on a corpse inside the castle ruins, located just before the stairs that lead to Orbeck of Vinheim.

Statistics

  • Physical Damage – 63
  • Critical – 100
  • Physical Defense – 30
  • Magic Defense – 25
  • Fire Defense – 10
  • Lightning Defense – 10
  • Dark Defense – 20
  • Stability – 55
  • Spell Buff – 113
  • Requirements – 8 Strength, 16 Intelligence

Unique Mechanics

This staff has an unusually high stamina cost compared to other staves so it’s better used strictly for spells.

4 Sorcery: Crystal Soul Spear

Dark Souls 3 Crystal Soul Spear

This is the bread and butter move of any Intelligence centric Sorcerer. Part of this is because it’s an incredibly straightforward spell to use; target the enemy, fire, and watch the spear explode against their bodies in a flash of blue.

It also deals an incredible amount of damage. Sure, the casting time is a bit slow, which makes using it in PvP a bit trickier, but you can’t ask for a better attack in PvE. It’s a reliable spell suited for most encounters.

Where To Find It

Crystal Soul Spear can be purchased from Orbeck of Vinheim for 10,000 Souls after obtaining the Crystal Scroll. It can be found after defeating the Crystal Sage in the Grand Archives.

Statistics

  • Focus Cost – 46
  • Damage – Spell Buff x 3.05
  • Requirements – 48 Intelligence

3 Staff: Sorcerer’s Staff

Dark Souls 3 Sorcerer's Staff

If your character is between 40 and 60 Intelligence, then this is the best staff in the game by far. It dramatically outpaces the Heretic’s Staff at these levels and really boosts damage. What’s surprising is that this is the default weapon of the Sorcerer and the Assassin.

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This means that you can obtain it for free by choosing Sorcerer and swapping it out for a superior staff at low levels like the Heretic’s Staff, Murky Longstaff, or another before switching back to it upon reaching 40 Intelligence.

Where To Find It

The Assassin and Sorcerer classes start with this staff. The Sorcerer's Staff also has a chance to drop from undead mages in the Road of Sacrifices.

Statistics

  • Physical Damage – 60
  • Critical – 100
  • Physical Defense – 25
  • Magic Defense – 20
  • Fire Defense – 10
  • Lightning Defense – 10
  • Dark Defense – 15
  • Stability – 10
  • Durability – 50
  • Spell Buff – 100
  • Requirements – 6 Strength, 10 Intelligence

2 Sorcery: Soul Stream

Dark Souls 3 Soul Stream

This sorcery spell is an absolute beast. It takes a bit to learn how to use properly, but, once mastered, it will annihilate opponents stuck in the beam for its duration. It can also be fired from incredible ranges, allowing you to get the drop on any opponent.

It takes forever to cast, but, once launched, it moves very quickly. It’s tricky to use in PvP, but you can melt bosses and less cautious or unaware opponents before they even knew what hit them.

Where To Find It

Soul Stream can be found in the Grand Archives behind an illusory wall. Just before you reach the exterior portion of the Grand Archives, turn around and run up the left set of stairs. Hit the wall in the northwest corner to reveal a new room. The sorcery can be found to the right of the Boreal Outrider Knight.

Statistics

  • Focus Cost – 55
  • Damage – Spell Buff x 0.8
  • Requirements – 45 Intelligence

Unique Mechanics

Due to multiple damage frames, it's easier to dodge and avoid some of the damage. To deal full damage the enemy must be in the beam throughout the duration of the spell. While it’s a lengthy windup the projectile is one of the fastest in the game.

1 Staff: Court Sorcerer’s Staff

Dark Souls 3 Court Sorcerer's Staff

For those looking to build their character to an Intelligence above 60, then the Court Sorcerer’s Staff is the best weapon in the game without question. It provides the largest spell buff thanks to its skill, Steady Chant, and scaling.

Granted, if you're going to focus more on dark sorceries, then the Izalith Staff is a far better choice, and this weapon is only worthwhile if you're at Intelligence 60 or above. But, for the true sorcerers looking to unleash arcane hellfire on their enemies, this is that staff they want.

Where To Find It

From the Profaned Capital bonfire, head down the long ladder and exit the building from the right side. After a short walk, a toxic swamp will reveal itself. Head to the church inside the swamp and climb up the ladder on its side. Enter the building from the second story, then push past the mutated hand creatures to find a Mimic chest. Kill the Mimic to obtain the Court Sorcerer's Staff.

Statistics

  • Physical Damage – 60
  • Critical – 100
  • Physical Defense – 25
  • Magic Defense – 20
  • Fire Defense – 10
  • Lightning Defense – 10
  • Dark Defense – 15
  • Stability – 10
  • Durability – 45
  • Spell Buff – 105
  • Requirements – 6 Strength, 14 Intelligence

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