I've got a lot of Elden Ring characters. And while most of them at this point are either in the post-game (not going into New Game Plus until they can check out the DLC) or close to it (I have a Strength/Arcane character who I recently got to Ephael) I decided to play around with a low-level character, and took an existing Prophet character I'd started but kind of stalled out in one of the very first mini-dungeons (the first Catacombs you can reach in Limgrave).
Especially early on, the game had a reputation for really screwing Faith-based characters. While Sorcery was plenty powerful (my first character was a pure mage, though respecced to use the Darkmoon Greatsword for the very last leg of the game - I think after beating Melania - though he still has the Intelligence to cast every spell that doesn't require Faith or Arcane) those who tried to go in as Incantation-focused spellcasters had a lot of difficulty.
In truth, if you could get a weapon that scaled with Faith you were kind of ok. Indeed, the second-easiest time I had beating a bunch of high-level bosses was when I specced into a Strength/Faith build using dual greatswords (Blasphemous Blade being the main one.) (The most absurdly easy build I ever used was Fextralife's "Gravity God," which just has you spam the skill on the Fallenstar Beast Jaw and kill basically everything by stun-locking them. I believe I one-shot Melania with it, because I just kept her staggered the whole time, and being a ranged skill, on phase 2 I could start blasting her as she recovered from her Scarlet Aeonia attack).
The thing is, Sorcerers (Astrologers, I think technically) start with Glintstone Pebble, a really solid main ranged damage spell. While casters don't make the game trivially easy, it was certainly a more straightforward style of play.
Prophets start with only one damage Incantation, and it's the melee-range Catch Fire. It's plenty powerful when you can land it, but it has a very short reach and, well, if you're casting spells usually you try to keep your distance.
So, very quickly I decided to alter course and build more of a melee combatant character, going with a Block-Counter focus, which required a lot of farming (for one, just to get decent armor) for the Brass Shield, which is a rare drop off of the guards at the ruins by the third Site of Grace, though seems to drop much more frequently if you get to Ephael.
She's still using Faith as her main stat, though I upgraded her Strength and Dexterity to let her use some of the weapons I've found. Indeed, I'm actually pushing hard on leveling Endurance so that she can fully kit herself out in heavy armor, but thanks to the Golden Vow ash of war, she's got a sacred weapon (with a pretty powerful buff, too!) and now feels if not totally ready to progress into tougher areas, at least on the road there.
As usual, I try to clear just about everything, so I'm working my way through the Agheel Lake environs and eastern Limgrave (I cleared Fort Haight with ease and need to go fight the Tibia Mariner and do a couple of caves and catacombs.) Then it'll be off to the Weeping Penninsula, culminating in Castle Morne, and then clearing out Stormcliff before heading into Stormveil Castle.
I actually did a build somewhat like this before, which used the Treespear as its main weapon. I might revist that, but that's a ways off. I think what I intend to do here is keep this character a faith build (which should also cut down on respecs) but we'll see to what extent she focuses on melee combat versus spellcasting. I'd kind of like to make her more of a caster, but it'll be a little before she can get her hands on the really solid ranged damage spells (not super long - I think you get your basic "hurl a ball of flame" spell early on in Liurnia).
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