Mastering the Blue Flame - Powerstance Mage (2024)

Description

The Blue Flame… This is a complex weapon and I have no idea where to begin so I’m just going to rattle this off in bullet points so we are clear on some information.

- Stat requirements to Powerstance are 19 Strength and 22 Dex. I would check the Intelligence requirement but honestly for this build to work you want at least 40 Int.

- Works as a catalyst, spell damage increases with the magic damage portion on the weapon. This means a Magic Blue Flame while only having a total of around 23 AR will at least 200 more damage with your Soul Spear.

- Can be buffed to increase the damage further, also effects spell damage. This is an important point. When I was testing catalysts out at 50Int, first place is the Staff of Wisdom by a significant margin. I assumed the S-scaling staff of Amana with the human bonus would be second, but no. The second best sorcery impliment in the game is a +5 Magic Blue Flame buffed with Crystal Magic Weapon. Against the infinitely spawning zombies in the Undead Crypt (My default test subjects.) this combination only did about 50 damage less than the staff of Wisdom. Holy sh*t.

- You can buff both weapons at once and powerstance with them, and still cast with the Right Hand Strong Attack. A powerstance + CMW strong attack was dealing 764 damage versus the ditch zombies. That’s compared to the CMW buffed Moonlight Greatsword 2HR1 which does 804 damage. Really crazy close there, and the attack is much faster. I can not stress enough how amazing the damage output on this combination is. The best I have found in the game.

-Versatility. Quick light attacks, spell casting without switching impliments, rolling pokes, and devastating powerstance strong attacks and jumping attacks, not to mention the crazy switching you can do with spells, weaving in soul greatswords and guard breaks and parries. There is always a surprise with this style.

Gear:
Hexer’s Hood - Extra castings of your spells. You want that second CMW. You need 20 Int/Faith to get it, but you can farm up enough souls to make the jump from 5 faith to 20 then just burn a soul vessel and put it into more important things.
Clear Bluestone Ring +2 - More casting speed. NG+ Skeleton Lords. (Easy fight, use an ascetic.)
Southern Ritual Band +2 - More attunement slots. NG+ Skorpioness Najka. (Easy fight, use an ascetic.)
Third Dragon Ring - More stamina, more health, more equip weight, more awesome all around.
Binoculars - Spell Scope, available right in Majula. Mandatory for anyone that casts spells.
The rest of your gear is a matter of choice. I try to stay under 30% for the best roll possible, but you could easily go full tank. Your weapon slots total to a measely 6.3 units, so you can really back on the poise if you want to. The last ring slot I use for utility. Usually a serpent ring or the ever-important Ring of Life Protection.

My current build:
Starting Class - Sorcerer
SL - 150
VGR - 50
END - 20
VIT - 20
ATN - 20
STR - 19
DEX - 22
ADP - 8
INT - 40
FTH - 5

Look at that VGR! Staying alive is more important to me than a few more attunement slots and a pittance of spell damage. All your bases are covered and you get 2136(!) hp, making you a monster to kill in PVP. In case that isn’t your thing, you can drop the VGR and add back into Int and Atn. For PVE purposes I go with 20 VGR (~1400 health. Pretty decent, actually) and then 40 Attunement for slots and casting speed, and then 50 Intelligence for the Staff of Wisdom on those occasions I decide to use it, as well as the deep int spells without having to farm as much spice.

As for what I attune… You have seven slots to play with. For a good spread I would go with Crystal Magic Weapon, Homing Crystal Soul Mass, Soul Greatsword, Soul Vortex, Soul Bolt, Soul Spear, and Chameleon.

I personally use CMW, HCSM, SG, then as many Soul Spear slots as I can fit. You can get soul spear easily with an ascetic, and right now I have six scrolls of it just for laughs or longer PVE stints. What I like about using so many different slots for it is Amber Herbs restore a spell per slot, meaning if you run a total of five slots of it, you are getting five spears back. Super awesome stuff.

The only down side is farming the 30 Twinkling Titanite needed to upgrade both blades. I did it with ascetics in the Dragon Aerie, which is super trivial as a mage anyway. I usually get around 9 a pass.. Once for the dragons, and then a second time to make sure I killed all the crystal lizards. Not all that bad, actually.

As a side note, this is also a fully actualized Moonlight Greatsword Build. You just swap your weapons for that and a staff and the whole world is ready to rage. Especially with you 2.1k HP, but be warned, you will earn no friends by doing that.

Stats

Weapons

+5 Magic Blue Flame / +5 Magic Blue Flame

Equipment

Hexer's Hood, Third Dragon Ring, Clear Bluestone Ring +2, Southern Ritual Ring +2

Spells

Crystal Magic Weapon, any other Sorcery.

Tips

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