A new, player-created Elden Ring calculator allows you to easily figure out which seal or staff you should be using to sling magic, providing you with an optimum catalyst for your incantations and sorceries by simplifying one of the game’s most daunting math problems.
While sometimes Elden Ring’s perplexities add to the experience, such as when it comes to deciphering the game’s mysterious lore, at other times it can turn equipping your character into a nightmarish process of cycling through gear and comparing slightly different numbers. This is doubly true for Tarnished who use magic, as choosing the right seal or staff not only depends on your stats, but also what school of incantation or sorcery you employ.
Take me, for instance. I knew I mostly wanted to use incantations in Elden Ring, which function much like miracles in the Dark Souls series, and so I started out as a Prophet for its strong baseline Faith stat. The game inundated me with both magic spells and the requisite seals to cast them, but my riches quickly buried me beneath a mountain of indecision. I was never quite confident I was wielding the best catalyst for my build. And as it turns out, I wasn’t.
Using the Elden Ring Casting Tool Comparator, a website developed by Twitch streamer Jerp, I was able to compare every seal in the game without needing to spend resources bolstering them to the same level. After inputting my stats, I discovered I could squeeze a bit more damage overall out of my Faith-based Tarnished by using the Erdtree Seal, rather than the Godslayer’s Seal, my preferred catalyst for much of my Elden Ring playthrough.
Things got interesting when I adjusted the calculator to account for Lightning Spear, my main incantation (yes, I’m a basic bitch). Since Lightning Spear is a Dragon Cult incantation—something I could have learned myself if I paid more attention to the magic’s flavor text—it scales much better with the Gravel Stone Seal. I wasn’t missing out on a ton of damage, all things considered, but knowing these details ahead of time would have made some fights a little easier.
Of course, smarter Elden Ring players can probably do this work themselves using just the game and community wikis like Fextralife. But if you’re a little ditzy like me, check out Jerp’s tool. It’s made me much more excited to jump back into the game and try new magic builds.