Been playing Dark Souls 2 as primarily a STR-based melee character, and loving it. I think I'm close to the end, and I'm already planning my next playthrough before doing NG+, which will be as a mage type character, especially since there seem to be cool spells galore in Dark Souls 2.

Could someone please give me a broad explanation of how magic works in Dark Souls 2, especially since I never played mage in Dark Souls 1? The catalysts, for example, what are the differences between them, and does upgrading them increase spell damage? And how do the stats affect all of the various magic types? (Magic, miracles, pyromancies, hexes?) Also, is a magic user better off specialising in a single magic type or are they generally free to use all of them? How viable is going through the game depending on magic considering the limited charges on spells? (Is it enough to kill bosses?)
Thanks in advance.

Get intelligence stats for damage, attunment for more spell slots, pick(attune) your spells at a camp fire, run around with your wand and shoot crap after locking on. It's not hard but then I played the crap out of the first two souls games. Most magic users pick a intel, dex build so they can zip around and have something to fall back on in early game when charges are limited.

Just finished NG+ with a pure mage class, and I definitely think it's the easier way to go overall. First, to cover each type in broad strokes: Miracles require the Faith stat to use, and are cast using chimes (weapon type). There are a number of healing/buff types of spells, with most of the damaging spells revolving around lighting. Sorceries build off of the Intelligence stat, and deal magic damage. They use staffs to cast. Pyromancy uses the special pyromancy gloves to cast, and they require no stat requirements to use. However, you will get bonus fire damage with your INT and Faith stats. Hexes deal dark magic damage, and also have a number of debuff spells. Many of them require both Faith and INT to use, and different spells will be cast with staffs, some of them chimes.

Casting weapons do more damage as you level them up, their scaling properties can be viewed on the bottom of the weapon stats screen, and be on the lookout for some unique ones as well. For instance, there is a staff in the game that allows you to cast both sorceries AND miracles out of the same weapon, making it very useful for a mage wanting to diversify or focus on hexes.

Specializing early is pretty useful, but it will all depend on how many points you want to spend in your non-magic stats (probably depending on what type of secondary weapon you want to use). I went full INT and ATN early on, with a few minor points in STR to be able to wield a suitable sword and shield, and after I had built it up enough that I could cast the higher level spells I wanted, I started adding to faith so that I could cast Hexes, and eventually use the lightning spears miracles. You'll also want to focus on attunement (ATN), and be on the lookout for armor/rings that grant you additional slots. Armor/rings that improve your casting speed are also valuable.

With a melee character, the game really revolves around your ability to manage stamina, and know when to strike. The timing aspect of it is still very much in tact as a mage, however the "stamina management" portion is sort of replaced by managing the number of casts you have (and what type to carry with you into different situations), and managing distance from the target. Also, as a general tip, successfully completing an online interaction will refill your casts without returning to a bonfire (as long as the interaction takes you to another's world. For instance, successfully invading as a Bell Keeper, or helping defeat a boss as a coop phantom will refill your slots. However, if you are defeated, the casts you used while in the other's world will not be returned to you). If you deplete your best magic just getting to a fog door, sometimes it's best just to throw down a summon sign and help someone else to get your casts back without having to visit a bonfire and respawn all the enemies.

@bushpusherr:

In terms of the casts available, does a vendor ever have unlimited stock of items that restore charges? Wasn't paying attention to those items during my playthrough. Thanks for the explanation.

I don't remember any that were unlimited, but then again I never bought any so I may have overlooked it. By the end of the game I still had plenty of those items, and really only had to use them when I was in a real pinch. There is a head piece of a particular armor set that gives you additional casts for your spells that I wore pretty much non-stop. Also, as you raise your Attunement stat, not only do you get more slots for spells, but the spells that you do slot will actually get more charges for every 10-levels of ATN.

The strategy involved with picking my optimal spells for what was coming ahead was something I actually really enjoyed about this particular build. Sometimes quantity is better than quality (for instance, for particular enemies the "Dark Orb" hex might do 15-20% less damage than say a "Great Heavy Soul Arrow" sorcery, but Dark Orb comes with 21 charges as opposed to 10). On the other hand, when you are making a run straight to a boss, you'll probably want to stock full of your highest damage, lowest charges spells such as Flame Swathe, Soul Geyser, or Sunlight Spear.

Later on: yes. You can also clear out an entire area of enemies by killing them 10 times, they despawn entirely from your game, so you can make a safe boss run with all your magic casts full.

I'm looking forward to making a pure mage class in the PC version now that I've had my fill with melee builds in the ps3 version. I like how they now reward you for dumping points into both faith and int with pyromancy and hexes.

Don't forget, you want a magic weapon if you're a sorcerer and a dark weapon if you're a hexer. You'll get good bonuses out of your stats with those and you can even stack a magic or dark spell buff on top for maximum damage.

A fire weapon is also great but you won't get the best damage out of buffs.

Here's a crash course.

- Intelligence increases casting speed/damage
- Attunement increases number of spell slots
- Some spells require 2 spell slots
- Staves can all cast the same Magic, but some Hexes use only Chimes (used for faith builds) and also Hexes need some level of faith
- Different staves have different levels of power or scale differently, and upgrading increase damage
- You have to look online and see what spells look good to you, if Hexes sound good then you have to invest in both Faith and Intelligence.
Otherwise intelligence is all you need, plus pyromancy scales with intelligence/faith and I believe intelligence increases your fire damage too.
- Given the power of spells and the frequency bonfires I'd say it's pretty viable to use them, and there are weapons that scale to magic to use as a back up for when you want to save your magic for boss fights.