Mage builds are among the most tricky in Elden Ring. While ranged builds are at times much easier to play than melee builds considering the aggressive nature of the game’s major bosses, mage builds in particular are normally squishier than their heavily armored counterparts. As such, effective implementation of talismans is critical to making a mage build work. Fewer of these focus on survivability, and as many mage talismans actually have negative effects against health and damage resistance, only confident players should take on a full mage build. Nevertheless, the talismans listed can provide an exceptional boost both to sustaining casting ability over an extended fight, as well as dealing out staggering amounts of magical damage.
10. Old Lord's Talisman
The Old Lord’s Talisman is a substantial improvement to the duration of spells, increasing their duration by 30%. While this does not apply to the duration of spells with AOE’s or extended animations, it does improve the duration of buffs such as Scholar’s Armament, Golden Vow, or Bestial Vitality. Notably, there are few buffs for intelligence builds other than Scholar’s Armament and Frozen Armament, so this talisman does fall towards the bottom of our list in terms of viability. Nevertheless, if you are using an ice build, or are dual speccing into a partial faith build for buffs, this is an excellent choice.
Choose this talisman if:
- Your build uses melee weapons with weapon buffs
- You dual spec into faith for stat buffs from incantations
- You need additional health regeneration in combat from Bestial Vitality
Talisman Stats:
- Old Lord's Talisman extends the duration of Spells by 30%.
9. Cerulean Amber Medallion
FP is the resource pool used to cast sorceries, incantations, and weapon skills. As such, expanding the pool allows for the casting of more spells during combat before running empty or using a cerulean flask for restoration. The Cerulean Amber Medallion simply increases the player’s FP pool by up to 11% (for the strongest variation of the medallion). This gives some decent padding for extending spell combat, particularly against bosses with more health, but it is best used in conjunction with other stat boosters and talismans. Likewise, there are stronger talismans for dealing with FP management, but this remains an excellent boost for any mage.
Choose this talisman if:
- You find yourself running low on FP often
- You would like to cast more between flask restorations
- You are getting into more extended fights requiring greater spellcasting endurance
Talisman stats:
- Increases maximum FP pool based on strength of talisman variation
- Base talisman increases by 7%
- +1 variation increases by 9%
- +2 variation increases by 11%
8. Moon of Nokstella
While FP governs the amount of spells a player can cast, memory slots determine how many spells a player can have equipped at a time. The Moon of Nokstella increases the number of slots by 2, effectively giving the player two additional spells to use in combat. This can be an exceptional boost for players with fewer memory slots, but as memory stones are quite easy to come by, and they roll over into NG+, this talisman is normally only useful for fleshing out a mage character in early game. Likewise, flipping through many spells can prove detrimental in combat, so many players may find it more productive to focus on a few specialized spells for each section of the game.
Choose this talisman if:
- You are struggling with finding memory stones
- Your build uses a lot of stat buffs, requiring many different spells
- You are dual speccing, and are using many spells of differing varieties
Talisman Stats:
- Moon of Nokstella increases Memory Slots by 2
7. Stargazer Heirloom
Intelligence is the main damage stat for mages and sorceries, and naturally, boosts to intelligence in general improve a mage build. The Stargazer Heirloom is a straightforward increase to intelligence, increasing the stat by 5 levels. For low to mid-level players, this is a substantial boost to sorcery damage. Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily viable at higher levels, as intelligence should be maxed out as soon as possible for mage builds. Once the soft cap at 50 intelligence is reached, the talisman slot is much better used for boosts to damage and FP management.
Choose this talisman if:
- You would like a boost to sorcery damage without investing levels
- You are struggling to meet the minimum requirements for an intelligence weapon
- You are a few points short of the soft or hard cap for intelligence
Talisman Stats:
- Raises intelligence by 5 levels
6. Graven-Mass Talisman
The Graven-Mass Talisman is a more straightforward boost than most, as it increases damage of all sorceries by 8%. This isn’t a very significant boost, but it does improve combat slightly, and it does not come with any of the negative stat changes that other mage talismans apply. Many players may find it more productive to focus on armor and weapons that improve spell damage instead, but if a mage has an extra slot available, this is a simple improvement to stats that is an excellent addition.
Choose this talisman if:
- You would like an additional boost to sorcery damage
- You have an extra slot available between other sorcery boosts
- You have additional damage boosts for sorcery from weapons and armor
Talisman Stats:
- Increases damage of all sorceries by 8%
5. Cerulean Seed Talisman
The Cerulean Seed Talisman is among the better alternatives to the Cerulean Amber Medallion. Rather than increasing the pool of FP available, this talisman increases the amount of FP recovered when using the Cerulean Flask by 20%. This may not seem as efficient as simply increasing the pool, but considering that the maximum amount of flasks available is a steep 14, many players find it easier to invest in a smaller FP pool and rely on a higher number of flasks to recover between spells. The Cerulean Seed then supports this gameplay style well, allowing players with decent planning to invest in a slightly larger pool of FP while relying on flasks for sustaining over a longer fight. Paired with the Cerulean Amber Medallion as well, this talisman is essential for any mage requiring support for sustaining spells in combat.
Choose this talisman if:
- You struggle refilling your FP pool completely between restorative flasks
- You rely on flasks more than an extended FP pool
- You have the Cerulean Amber Medallion and other FP improvements for higher sustaining
Talisman Stats:
- Increases the restorative property of Cerulean Flasks by 20%
4. Primal Glintstone Blade
In an additional improvement to FP management, the Primal Glintstone Blade reduces the FP cost of spells by a staggering 25%. While this boost seems extraordinary, it is also coupled with a 15% reduction to HP. This may seem a deterrent at first for many mages, but as mage builds are built for ranged combat, survivability falls far more on dodge ability than damage resistance. As such, the Primal Glintstone Blade is an excellent boost to FP for enduring long fights—as long as the player feels confident with their knowledge of boss mechanics and dodge timing.
Choose this Talisman if:
- You need further sustainment for FP during long fights
- You are using stronger spells that require higher FP consumption
- You are confident in your knowledge of boss mechanics
- You are confident in your ability to sustain battle through dodging rather than tanking damage
Talisman Stats:
Reduces the FP consumption of spells by 25%
Reduced HP by 15%
3. Magic Scorpion Charm
The Magic Scorpion Charm is similar to the previous talisman in that it provides a substantial 12% boost to magic damage, while increasing damage taken by 10%. As such, it is a similar improvement to combat, where a player will find themselves outputting significantly more damage, but will likewise undermine survivability. Even so, many players find this a critical addition to any mage build, as the main focus should be on keeping distance from enemies and dodging attacks, rather than tanking through damage. For any player looking to maximize the damage output of their Azure’s Comet, this talisman is a must.
Choose this talisman if:
- You are looking for a boost to magic damage
- You are pairing this talisman with other improvements to magic damage
- You are confident in your knowledge of boss mechanics
- You are confident in your ability to sustain battle through dodging rather than tanking damage
Talisman Stats:
- Increases magic damage by 12%, while increasing damage taken by 10%
2. Radagon Icon
The Radagon Icon is second on the list, but key for any PvE mage, and crucial for any player looking to perfect PvP. This talisman significantly increases the casting time of spells, which both allows for greater overall dps as well as allowing for quicker attacks for taking advantage of opportunities in combat. With bosses with shorter openings of opportunity, this lets a player attack with greater room for recovery. In PvP, this heavily improves a player’s ability to react quickly and play aggressively.
Choose this talisman if:
- You would like to improve overall dps
- You are facing quicker enemies with smaller openings of opportunities
- You are playing PvP and need to react quicker to player enemies
Talisman stats:
- Increases virtual dexterity by 30 toward spellcasting
1. Godfrey Icon
The best talisman for mage builds is the Godfrey Icon, which raises the damage of charged attacks by a full 15%. Many would debate whether this is the best improvement among those on the list, though each of the top 4 on this list are all but requirements for the best mage builds. The Godfrey Icon is listed first here because it provides the highest improvement to damage without debuffs like the Magic Scorpion Charm. While there is the caveat that it only applies to charge attacks, many of the game’s strongest spells, such as Loretta’s Greatbow or the Cannon of Haima, can be charged to deal exceptional damage, particularly against unaware enemies. When combining this with the other boosts to magic damage offered throughout the game, a player will experience a massive boost to magic damage that can rip HP off the strongest enemies.
Choose this Talisman if:
- You use charged spells for maximum damage
- You utilize heavy damage spells against unaware foes
- You are pairing this talisman with other boosts to magic damage
Talisman Stats:
- Increases damage of charged spells and skills by 15%
