Frostbite is one of the most devastating status effects in Elden Ring, and few things can make better use of it than a Frost Mage. By wielding cold sorceries, you can make a very powerful build.
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Let’s give the Lands Between the cold shoulder. Here’s the best Frost Mage build in Elden Ring.
Best Frost Mage stats in Elden Ring
The best starting class for the Frost Mage build in Elden Ring is the Astrologer, though any starting class gets to this point eventually. This build is set for level 150, though more or less levels can get to this point without issue.
- Vigor: 60
- Mind: 40
- Endurance: Nine
- Strength: 10
- Dexterity: 14
- Intelligence: 80
- Faith: Seven
- Arcane: Nine
Cold Spells, a subschool of Sorcery, only use Intelligence as a prerequisite in Elden Ring. You can get away with just raising your Intelligence past the soft cap of 60 and get to the endgame of a Sorcerer—80 Intelligence—unless you want to invest a bunch of stats to get the Frost Dragon breaths. Cold Sorceries only need a minimum of 36 to cast them all, though, so if you want to mix this into a battle mage build, it’s not too hard.
The other stats you care about might not be surprising. Vigor to 60 is a soft cap and lets you take a hit or two unlike many other Mage builds. A Mind score of 40 grants a massive 235 FP, letting you cast a barrage of frost spells before sipping your flask. A Dexterity of 14 lets you cast spells faster and lets you use a handful of weapons—nice for Frozen Armament. 10 Strength is wanted for some Glintstone Staves since being too weak is a massive hindrance to casting Stamina.
Tip: Battle Frost?
If you want to wield more weapons for a battle mage playstyle, you can drop your Mind Score to boost physical stats. At around 12 Strength and 22 Dexterity, you can passably use most weapons that a Mage would want to.
Best weapons for a Frost Mage in Elden Ring
Staves are the bread and butter of a Frost Mage, and you’re going to be using the Carian Regal Scepter once you get to an INT of 70. Lusat’s Glintstone Staff are both useful for boss fights since they crank up your FP consumption in return for more damage or cast speed. In addition, you want to have a non-magic damage weapon and a Fire damage weapon if you want to cheese some bosses.
The Carian Regal Scepter replaces the Academy Glintstone Staff once you reach 70 INT. Only use Lusat’s Glintstone Staff during boss fights, since the 50 percent bonus FP consumption is a lot to handle during dungeons. You can ignore the extra cost through the Cerulean Hidden Tear, a Wondrous Physick Tear that eliminates FP cost altogether for a short time.
While you can skip out on having a weapon for Frost Armament, you should consider any Fire weapon as something to have in your off-hand. A Fire Dagger, if you land a hit with it, lets you remove the Frostbite’s 20 percent damage debuff and lets you reapply Frostbite. Against enemies weak to it, you can deal big chunks of a Boss’s health by freezing them and then doing a little flaming stab.
Best armor for a Frost Mage in Elden Ring
The only required armor piece for an Elden Ring Frost Mage is the Snow Witch Hat. This cap boosts the damage of Cold Sorceries by 10 percent, a massive improvement for an armor piece. All other armor is up to you, though the Snow Witch Set fits the look the best.
Theoretically, if you want to wield a weapon that deals magic damage, the rest of your armor could safely be the Spellblade Set. This set boosts the damage of magic weapon skills by two percent per piece, so up to six percent with the Snow Witch Hat.
Best spells for a Frost Mage in Elden Ring
Obviously, you should wield at least three of the five Cold Sorceries—specifically, Adula’s Moonblade, Glintstone Icecrag, and Freezing Mist.
Glintstone Icecrag is your standard spell, while Adula’s Moonblade is a big burst damage spell that serves its purpose best at close range. Freezing Mist isn’t the most powerful spell by any stretch of the imagination, but it lets you build up Frostbite against groups of slow-moving enemies and larger bosses. Combine it with a Fire Dagger and you’ve got a recipe to proc Frostbite consistently.
You want to bolster these frost spells with more generic and powerful magic. Frostbite’s debuff on enemies—making them take 20 percent extra damage—can be better spent on spells like Comet Azur or Rennala’s Full Moon. You can also use Glintstone Pebble to get a slightly faster and less costly projectile than Icecrag, though this is rarely a necessary replacement.
Best Talismans for a Frost Mage in Elden Ring
Frostbite doesn’t have any Talismans that buff it, unlike Bleed or Poison. As a result, you are better off using general Sorcery Talismans and defensive options to boost your damage.
- Graven-Mass Talisman: This simple eight percent damage buff to Sorceries serves as your most general buff to damage. You pick it up from eastern Consecrated Snowfield after you solve an imp-slaying puzzle.
- Magic Scorpion Charm: All Cold Sorceries deal Magic damage, making the Magic Scorpion Charm a way to deal 12 percent bonus damage. However, this is at the cost of 10 percent physical resistance. The trade-off is well worth it since that damage bonus is absurd. This charm is given to you once you clear enough of Preceptor Seluvis’s side quest.
- Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman: This shielding Talisman is designed to counter the Magic Scorpion Charm’s defense drop by providing a 20 percent boost to your physical defenses. It’s at the bottom of the Haligtree, ready to get scooped up by anyone able to get through the ceiling of the rotted Church.
- Ritual Sword Talisman: While you’re at capped health, this Talisman boosts damage by 10 percent. Considering the armor you’ll be wearing, if you’re not at full health, you might be close to death—this is going to be online quite often.
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