Mages in Demon's Souls are powerful ranged attackers who start off very fragile. Their spells can deal massive amounts of damage, and there are a number of ways to play them. This guide gives you the rundown on the best magic builds available in Demon's Souls.
Early-Game Build
One of the best starting classes is Royalty because of the limited resources available to players in the beginning of the game. It starts with the Silver Catalyst, Silver Coronet, and Fragrant Ring—all of which help magic builds. It also starts off with Soul Arrow rather than Flame Toss, reducing the amount of MP used per spell.
For the early game, Intelligence and Magic are the main focus for upgrades, but Vitality and Endurance will help with surviving. Endurance allows you to dodge more since you have a higher Stamina reserve, and it allows you to wear better Armor. Vitality, likewise, will help you withstand more hits.
At 14 Intelligence, a second Magic Slot is unlocked, so Flame Toss can be bought and used on magic-resistant enemies or anything weak to fire. Magic will increase damage and should be upgraded whenever the player finds their damage lacking.
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Melee/Magic Hybrid
The Kris Blade increases Magic Damage dealt and received, making the player more of a glass cannon. The Kris Blade's buffs increase as it is upgraded, allowing for 30% more magic attack at +5.
Keeping the Catalyst in the left hand and the Kris Blade in the right keeps both ranged and close combat available. It also buffs the Catalyst even more when casting spells. Even if the player doesn't want to have a Catalyst up, using any Crescent weapon will work just as well.
Homing Soul Arrow is a good means of casting a spell while being able to get into melee range as it begins to attack. The player is then able to more reliably put points into Magic instead of Intelligence to increase damage rather than their MP since they don't have to rely on using ranged magic as much.
For no ranged attacks at all, players can opt to use the Epee Rapier in their right hand with the Kris Blade in their left. The weapon deals fire and physical damage, primarily scaling with Magic and Dexterity.
Pure Mage
Capping out Intelligence at 40 gives the player the maximum number of Magic Slots. With six slots to take advantage of, the player can use a bigger range of spells for any situation they find themselves in.
Protection and Warding are spells that reduce the amount of physical damage the caster takes. Warding provides a massive 70 percent reduction but costs over twice as much MP and takes two Magic Slots. Protection provides a 30 percent reduction for 20 MP and uses up only one Magic Slot. Both are worth using, but they don't stack so choose wisely between them.
Equipping Monks Head Collar increases Magic Power by 30 percent while also increasing Magic Damage taken. This, combined with Ring of Magical Sharpness, increase Magic Power by a total of 50 percent and increases their damage taken to around 70 percent. Adding the increase from the Kris Blade, these items effectively double the damage of spells.
Soul Ray is the preferred spam spell as it does much more damage than Soul Arrow and also pierces through enemies. This makes it so enemies in a line can all be damaged with a single cast. Of course, Soul Arrow can be used instead for players who don't want to consume as much MP. And large groups of enemies can be dealt with either one at a time or with the Firestorm spell.
Fire Spray is especially useful for enemies that dodge out of the way of Soul Ray and Soul Arrow. Continually holding down the casting button allows the caster to walk while damaging enemies with this spell. It's a useful alternative to Flame Toss, or both can be equipped for some variety.
The Magic Stat can be increased endlessly but gives diminishing returns in regards to damage per level. For players who don't care about increasing Vitality, Magic can be increased to as high as 99. It should be noted that the Silver Catalyst has less Magic Adjust than both the Wooden and Insanity Catalysts.
Related: Best Weapons in Demon’s Souls
Catalysts
Insanity Catalyst
Rather than using the Golden Demon Soul to get the Homing Soul Arrow in the first playthrough, players can instead use the soul to upgrade either a Silver or Wooden Catalyst into the Insanity Catalyst. While reducing maximum MP by 50 percent, it increases Magic Power by up to 230 when wielded.
Wooden Catalyst
This is the preferred Catalyst to use for players who chose to get the Homing Soul Arrow spell rather than change their Catalysts into the Insanity Catalyst. This only applies for players on New Game, as New Game Plus players will have the option to get both using the Golden Demon Soul. The Wooden Catalyst is a worthy adversary to the Silver Catalyst, however, as the higher damage potential outweighs the 20 percent MP increase. Regenerating MP through other means to make up for this may be a useful strategy.
Rings
Fragrant Ring
One of the starting pieces of equipment for the Royalty class in the game, this ring regenerates MP over time. The rate is about one MP every four seconds and is matched by the Phosphorescent Pole. The effects stack alongside Crescent weapons and are useful tools to save from using Spice to recover MP.
Ring of Magical Sharpness
This ring is a must-equip for any Magic build as it increases Magic Power by 20 percent. It does make the wearer's Magic Defense lower by 40 percent, but this is more than worth the trade-off.
Clever Rat's Ring
Although it isn't specifically for Magic, this ring can be used to great effect. The wearer's Attack Power is increased by 50 percent whenever their HP is lower than 30 percent. This effect applies to any of the wearer's attacks, regardless of what kind of damage they deal.
Armor
Armor doesn't matter much for these kinds of builds, however, there are two pieces of equipment that have useful effects.
Silver Coronet
One of the starting pieces of equipment for the Royalty class, this crown increases maximum MP by about 10 percent.
Monk Head Collar
Also called the Monk's Head Wrapping, this is rewarded to players who successfully kill the host while being summoned as the boss in the Ivory Tower. This increases the wearer's Magic Power by 30 percent while decreasing Magic Defense by 40 percent.
Between the number of Crescent weapons, selection of spells, and combination of Rings and Equipment, there are many ways to weild Magic in Demon's Souls. While some things can be min-maxed for maximum damage potential, no build is going to be perfect. Sacrificing damage for defense—or the other way around—players should feel free to implement these selections as they see fit to get through the game.
To read about better armor for a frail spellcaster, check out Best Armor in Demon’s Souls on Pro Game Guides.
Adam Aguilar has been playing a variety of genres since childhood but gravitates towards story driven RPGs like the Final Fantasy series or horror games like the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. He enjoys analyzing themes found within video games and has been writing about them for over 5 years now. As a Contributing Writer for PGG, Adam has been known to cover anything from Phasmophobia to Genshin Impact!