Black Flame Blade: Scaling Faith's Dark Power

The Black Flame Blade is an incantation in Elden Ring that envelops your right-hand armament with black flame, increasing damage. It is a viable build, but it does require very specific itemization to make it work. The incantation can be cast without delay after performing another action, such as a roll or mid-air. The initial hit scales with faith and is followed by a damage over time (DoT) effect that does not stack or scale but is refreshed with each hit. The DoT can be applied using weapon skills. The Black Flame Blade has a short duration and high casting speed, and it is best used immediately before attacking or between attacks for a continued combo. It is most effective with quick weapons that allow for fast reapplication of the initial burst damage. The incantation benefits from items that increase fire damage, but not from those that increase incantations.

Black Flame Blade's viability

The Black Flame Blade is a viable option for players of Elden Ring, but it does come with some drawbacks. The incantation is restrictive in that it requires very specific itemisation to make it work effectively. It is best suited to quick weapons, typically those that require dexterity, and it cannot be synergised with percentage-based fire damage items or weapons with secondary elemental damage. It also cannot be used in conjunction with status effects like poison or bleed.

The Black Flame Blade is an incantation that temporarily coats your weapon in black flame, increasing the damage of your next attack. It is particularly effective against bosses with large health pools as it deals damage as a percentage of the target's health. It also has a very quick cast time, especially when used in conjunction with another action such as rolling.

The Black Flame Blade is best used with the Godslayer's Seal, which increases the damage of Godslayer incantations and has excellent faith scaling. It can be used with any armour that allows for a medium roll. For talismans, the Winged Sword Insignia, Radagon's Soreseal, Radagon Icon, and the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman are all good options.

The Black Flame Blade is an effective option for players, but it is not without its limitations. It is best used against bosses with large health pools and is less effective against regular enemies. It is also a very short-duration buff, so it can be frustrating to use.

Faith and Dexterity as primary stats

Faith and Dexterity are the primary stats for a Black Flame build in Elden Ring. This build is an offensive powerhouse, combining the best attributes of Faith and Dexterity.

The Black Flame build is particularly effective against high-health enemies, thanks to the unique traits of Black Flame damage. This type of damage deals huge damage over time, burning away bosses with consistent damage. It is a very versatile build, useful in a variety of situations.

To make the most of this build, you will need to invest in several key stats to collect critical items and top-tier incantations. Once you have the key pieces, this build allows for a lot of flexibility and personalisation.

Stats

Mind, Faith, and Vigor are the three most important stats for this build. Mind is crucial due to the high number of spells you will be casting, and the need to stay close to enemies to deal damage. Faith is also key, as it is your primary dump stat, and all your Black Flame incantations scale with Faith. Vigor is important as you will be in melee range a lot, so you will need enough Vigor to survive.

Strength and Dexterity are also critical to this build, as they are required to meet the demands of the various weapons you can use. Secondary stats to focus on are Endurance, to open up more armour options, and Intelligence, as some Faith weapons and Incantations require it. If you want to include Dragon Incantations, invest at least 10 points in Arcane.

Starting Class

The Prophet is a good starting class if you want to go straight for a Black Flame Faith build. This is because it has early allocation points in Faith, and the Catch Flame incantation is immediately available—a great filler incantation that can chew through enemies in the early game.

Alternatively, you could start as a Samurai. This class already has decent Strength and Dexterity, allowing you to get them both up to 16 quickly to wield the Winged Scythe—a great early Faith weapon.

Early Game Stats

If you start as a Samurai, the early-game stat spread should aim to get the Winged Scythe as soon as possible. Once you have the stat requirements to wield your Faith weapon, you can push more points into Vigor to feel less squishy. If this is your first playthrough, take a slower approach and level Vigor and Endurance to a comfortable level before piling everything into Faith.

Mid-Game Stats

Around this point in the game, you can transition to your main Black Flame weapon, the Godslayer's Greatsword. You will have enough Faith to wield the Godslayer's Seal and enough Strength to wield the greatsword one-handed, so both of those stats can stay where they are until your Dexterity reaches 60.

Late-Game Stats

With the Godslayer's Greatsword in hand, Dexterity has now overtaken Faith as your main offensive stat and should be where the majority of your focus goes. You can then increase Vigor to counter increasingly difficult enemies and Mind to make more use of your amazing Ash of War and Incantations.

Shadow of the Erdtree Stats

As you reach the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC areas, you need to have at least 50 Vigor and your main attacking stat at the soft cap of 60. This is because the DLC enemies hit very hard compared to the base game. If you feel you have too much Mind, you can drop this down and pump Faith for more damage.

Black Flame Blade's duration

The Black Flame Blade is an incantation in Elden Ring that envelops your right-hand armament with black flame, increasing damage. It is a black flame incantation of the Godskin Apostles. The incantation can be cast without delay after performing another action, such as dodging or sprinting, and should be used immediately before attacking or between attacks for a continued combo. The Black Flame Blade has a very short duration of 7 seconds (9 seconds with the Old Lord's Talisman).

The Black Flame Blade incantation is unlocked for purchase after giving a Godskin Prayerbook to Brother Corhyn or Miriel, Pastor of Vows. This item can be found in Stormveil Castle.

The Black Flame Blade has a very short duration but a fairly quick cast time. The incantation is best used immediately before attacking or between attacks for a continued combo. The burning effect can be applied using weapon skills and does not stack but is refreshed with each hit. The incantation is most effective with fast weapons that allow for multiple hits, such as the Shamshir, Nagakiba, or Stone Club.

The Black Flame Blade is best suited for a Dexterity/Faith build that uses Black Flame and Bleeding to destroy enemies. The build should focus on primary stats such as Faith and Dexterity, with secondary stats in Mind and Vigor. The Godslayer's Seal is recommended for this build as it boosts Godslayer Incantations, which include all Black Flame spells.

The Black Flame Blade is a powerful tool for dealing damage over time to high-health enemies. However, it requires quick casting and frequent reapplication due to its short duration.

Black Flame Blade's damage

The Black Flame Blade is an incantation in Elden Ring that envelops your right-hand armament with black flame, increasing damage. It is a black flame incantation of the Godskin Apostles. It can be cast without delay after performing another action.

The Black Flame Blade has a very short duration but a fairly quick cast time, especially between actions. It should be used immediately before attacking, or between attacks for a continued combo. It puts a 2-second damage-over-time effect on enemies struck while the buff is active, dealing 20 damage plus 20 more for every 1000 HP the enemy has. This results in at least 2% of Max HP or more damage over time. This burning effect does not stack but is refreshed with each hit.

The Black Flame Blade incantation is unlocked for purchase after giving a Godskin Prayer Book to Brother Corhyn or Miriel, Pastor of Vows. This can be found in Stormveil Castle.

The Black Flame Blade has a very short duration of around 5-7 seconds, but it is still a viable option for a Black Flame build. It is most effective when used with fast weapons that allow for multiple hits, as the damage-over-time effect does not stack but is refreshed with each hit.

The initial burst of flame damage scales with faith. Faith does not seem to impact the burn damage. The incantation also benefits from "increases fire damage" items like the Flame Scorpion Talisman.

For a Black Flame build, it is recommended to use the Godslayer's Seal as this works with black flame skills and has S-tier faith scaling. Quick one-handed weapons are ideal so you can reapply the initial burst damage as quickly as possible.

The Black Flame Blade is not very effective against normal enemies in the world, as it adds some burst damage but is less efficient than two-handing a weapon or casting spells with better AOE. It is more effective against bosses with long and delayed combos where you can roll, apply, roll, and swing. It is also effective against HP sponges, allowing you to hit those same numbers at two or three times the attack rate of a big two-hand build.

Black Flame Blade's cast speed

The Black Flame Blade is an incantation that can be used to buff your weapon. The Black Flame Blade has a very short duration but a quick cast time, especially between actions. It should be used immediately before attacking or between attacks for a continued combo. The Black Flame Blade can be cast without delay after performing another action, such as a roll, crouch, jump, sprint, or attack. The casting speed can be further reduced by casting while crouched.

The Black Flame Blade's short duration makes it a very situational spell, and it is often considered to be one of the worst incantations in the game when it comes to damage. However, when used correctly, it can be very powerful. The Black Flame Blade is particularly effective against bosses with long and delayed combos, as it allows you to roll, apply the buff, and then attack before the boss can hit you. It is also effective against enemies with a lot of HP, as it deals damage based on a percentage of the target's max HP.

The Black Flame Blade is best used with quick, one-handed weapons that allow you to reapply the buff as quickly as possible. Daggers, rapiers, curved swords, and similar weapons are ideal. The buff does not stack, but it can be refreshed with each hit.

The Black Flame Blade's cast speed can be increased by investing in Dexterity and equipping the Radagon Icon talisman.

Frequently asked questions