Faith and Intelligence are Elden Ring's two magic stats, but they play very differently. Intelligence offers raw damage and utility. Faith offers healing, buffs, and elemental variety. Here's how they compare.
Recommended Builds
#1: Pure Sorcery (Intelligence)
Higher raw damage ceiling with Comet Azur combo. Better ranged options overall.
Why it works: Intelligence has the highest burst damage (Comet Azur), best tracking spell (Stars of Ruin), and most FP-efficient damage (Carian Slicer). For pure damage, Intelligence wins.
#2: Lightning Spear (Faith)
More versatile with healing, buffs, and multiple damage types (fire, lightning, holy).
Why it works: Faith gets healing incantations, damage buffs (Golden Vow, FGMS), and three different damage types. The versatility makes Faith better for self-sufficient gameplay.
#3: Moonveil Magic (Hybrid)
Hybrids prove you don't have to choose — Int weapons with incantation utility is possible.
Why it works: Some weapons scale with both. The game rewards hybrid approaches more than pure commitment in many cases.