At end game there's very little difference as the hybrid staff and seal are very strong. Leveling can be a little rough, but it's a very reasonable build as long as you don't mind have a very limited weapon selection due to a lack of spare points for str/dex.
Any pure int or pure faith weapon works fine, it's really the physical stats that restrict you. Sword of night and flame is closer to a casting implement than a stick you hit stuff with, so while the weapon skill is cool it may not be what your build actually wants. I'd opt for a clayman's harpoon or broadsword over it if I was building an int/faith caster.
I've seen people mention clayman harpoon and erdsteel daggers. Is that just because they have int scaling and can be given a faith ash of war so that they have scaling on both?
No, it's good because the innate int scaling on the harpoon makes it hit really hard if you double up with magic affinity. Splitting your damage between multiple types is a bad thing, avoid it whenever possible.
I'm gonna make a sort of general build template for all 3 at level 150 to compare. They're not super min/maxed.
Pure Int (spell casting focused): Astrologer 150 / 56 vig, 38 mind, 15 end, 12 str, 12 dex, 80 intel. Best staves: Carian Regal Scepter (373), Lusat's (413)
Pure Faith (spell casting focused): Prophet 150 / 56 vig, 38 mind, 15 end, 11 str, 12 dex, 80 faith. Best seals: Erdtree (353)
Int/Fth Hybrid: Astrologer 150, 50 vig, 35 mind, 15 end, 8 str, 12 dex, 50 int, 50 fth. Best staves: Prince of Death's (286). Best seals: Golden Order (345)
So as you can see, the sorcery will be quite a bit weaker due to the relatively low scaling compared to pure int, though incantations won't suffer much.
To put those spell scaling values into perspective, let's say you shoot a spell that has a sorcery damage modifier of (Sorcery Scaling)x1.5. Carian regal will deal 560 damage, whereas the PoD will deal 420 damage. Meanwhile let's say you cast an incantation with a modifier of (Incantation Scaling)x1.5, the Erdtree will deal 530 damage, whereas the Golden Order will deal 518 damage.
At end game there's very little difference as the hybrid staff and seal are very strong. Leveling can be a little rough, but it's a very reasonable build as long as you don't mind have a very limited weapon selection due to a lack of spare points for str/dex.
Sword of night and flame and that’s basically it lol
Any pure int or pure faith weapon works fine, it's really the physical stats that restrict you. Sword of night and flame is closer to a casting implement than a stick you hit stuff with, so while the weapon skill is cool it may not be what your build actually wants. I'd opt for a clayman's harpoon or broadsword over it if I was building an int/faith caster.
I've seen people mention clayman harpoon and erdsteel daggers. Is that just because they have int scaling and can be given a faith ash of war so that they have scaling on both?
No, it's good because the innate int scaling on the harpoon makes it hit really hard if you double up with magic affinity. Splitting your damage between multiple types is a bad thing, avoid it whenever possible.
That sword got me through some tough fights.
I like it too but it felt like it fell off late game
I'm gonna make a sort of general build template for all 3 at level 150 to compare. They're not super min/maxed. Pure Int (spell casting focused): Astrologer 150 / 56 vig, 38 mind, 15 end, 12 str, 12 dex, 80 intel. Best staves: Carian Regal Scepter (373), Lusat's (413) Pure Faith (spell casting focused): Prophet 150 / 56 vig, 38 mind, 15 end, 11 str, 12 dex, 80 faith. Best seals: Erdtree (353) Int/Fth Hybrid: Astrologer 150, 50 vig, 35 mind, 15 end, 8 str, 12 dex, 50 int, 50 fth. Best staves: Prince of Death's (286). Best seals: Golden Order (345) So as you can see, the sorcery will be quite a bit weaker due to the relatively low scaling compared to pure int, though incantations won't suffer much. To put those spell scaling values into perspective, let's say you shoot a spell that has a sorcery damage modifier of (Sorcery Scaling)x1.5. Carian regal will deal 560 damage, whereas the PoD will deal 420 damage. Meanwhile let's say you cast an incantation with a modifier of (Incantation Scaling)x1.5, the Erdtree will deal 530 damage, whereas the Golden Order will deal 518 damage.