Elden Ring Black Flame Build Guide - Black Flame Apostle

In this Elden Ring Black Flame Build Guide, I’m going to be showing you my Black Flame Apostle build. This is a level 50 build that’s a strength/dexterity build that focuses on the use of Black Flame. If you are using the Dragon Priest build that I made previously, you can make it into this build or you can respec into this if you don’t have the optimal stat spread.

Elden Ring Black Flame Build Guide – Black Flame Apostle

A Faith-Dex Build that focuses on the use of Black Flame to boost damage and give multiple options to every scenario.

Class: Prophet, Confessor or Samurai
Flask Spread: Split between HP and FP
Weapon: Any Weapon that has Bleed on it by default such as the Uchigatana, Nightrider Flail or Bloodhound’s Fang & Godslayer’s Seal
Shield: None
Armor: Any
Primary Stats: Faith & Mind
Secondary Stats: Vigor & Dexterity
Skills: Bloody Slash or Unsheathe work well, but you can use any you like
Spells: Black Flame, Black Flame Blade, Catch Flame and Bloodflame Blade

We have over 110 Elden Ring Builds now, for all classes and playstyles. This build is recommended for Level 50.

Beginner Builds	Level 50 Builds	Level 100 Builds	Level 150 Builds	Level 150-200 Builds
Dragon Priest	Black Flame Apostle Sword Sage	Dragon Knight Blackflame Spellblade Deathblade Blasphemous Beastmaster Frenzied Acolyte	Blackflame Bushido Dragon Warrior Magic Dragonknight Flame Dancer	Golden Sword Sage Black Blade Mad King Pyromancer Red Lightning Dragon Dancer

Essentials For Black Flame Build

The first thing you’re going to need is the Godslayer’s Seal, which is found in Stormveil Castle. This boosts Godslayer Incantations, which both Black Flame and Black Flame Blade are. Right next to this is a prayer book that you can turn in to either Miriel or Brother Corhyn. This will allow you to purchase Black Flame and Black Flame Blade. You’re also going to need Catch Flame, which you can get from Brother Corhyn if you don’t have it or didn’t begin the game as a prophet. You’ll also want Bloodflame Blade, which is found in the Liurnia of the Lakes. These are the four spells you’ll need for this build.

Other than that, you’re going to want to use some sort of weapon that has bleeding on it by default intrinsically, not something that you have to put on with Ash of War, like the Keen Uchigatana. You could also use Nightrider Flail or Bloodhound’s Fang, weapons that have bleeding by default. That way, you can still buff the weapon. If you use Bloody Slash to make a random weapon have bleeding on it, you won’t be able to buff that weapon with Black Flame Blade or Bloodflame Blade. Bleeding isn’t a must for this build, but it really helps as Bloodflame Blade takes advantage of that by increasing the bleeding. Also, it’s really good to have bleeding in this build, as using Black Flame will do damage over time on enemies while building up bleed.

Talismans I like to use with this build are the Blessed Dew Talisman, Green Turtle Talisman, and Faithful’s Canvas Talisman. The Blessed Dew Talisman gives you healing over time. If you’re using Bloody Slash on your weapon, which you can use with an Uchigatana, this will help regenerate health over time to offset that. The Green Turtle Talisman is there because you use a lot of stamina because you need to hack away since the Black Flame Blade buff is really short. You’re going to need stamina to recover quickly, so you can dodge after or get more attacks off. Faithful’s Canvas Talisman is used to boost incantation damage. It only adds a small amount of damage, but every little bit of boost helps.

As far as armor goes, you can use any armor you want as long as you can mid-roll. Make sure that you can mid-roll with this build, while wearing the heaviest protection you can get. There are some specific items that boost Faith, but it’s not a significant amount. You may want to seek them out if they’re not too difficult to find. There’s a list of those over on the wiki, under the equipment section. I don’t think it’s necessary for this build, but if you want to minmax, you want to be on the look out for those.

Black Flame Build – Gameplay and Tips

You have Catch Flame, which you’ve probably been using since the start of the game if you’ve been playing a Faith build since the beginning of the game. Catch Flame deals a very high amount of damage even from the very beginning of the game, while having a good FP consumption. It falls off mid-game in terms of damage, but it is good against enemies that are resistant to physical damage, so you’re going to want to have it in those types of situation.

Black Flame is there as an option for your ranged attack. It does more damage than Flame Sling, and it puts a small damage over time on the enemy. Its damage over time is based off the total health of the enemy, so it’ll deal more damage the more health the enemy has. It’s going to perform better against harder enemies than weaker enemies, as you might not need the DoT to kill the weaker enemies. You can charge up this spell if you hold R1, which will make you throw a more damaging fireball that has a smaller explosion radius.

Black Flame Blade is an interesting ability because it gives you a weapon buff for a short amount of time, around 6 or 7 seconds. It adds damage to your attacks while also putting a DoT on the enemy, just like Black Flame. Black Flame Blade is good for two situations: for co-op, and for enemies that are resistant to bleeding. In co-op, enemies will have more health, which makes Black Flame Blade deal more damage. For enemies that are resistant to bleeding, it gives a DoT to enemies, which Bloodflame Blade isn’t going to do. These are two scenarios in which you should be using it in, and saving Bloodflame Blade for other situations.

A lot of people get dissuaded about Black Flame Blade because it has very short of time that it lasts and it has to be re-casted constantly. However, it has a very fast cast time, which you can do after you dodge or roll. If you practice it for a few times, you’ll get into a rhythm. It’s not really that hard to use in combat.

The final spell we’ll be using is Bloodflame Blade. This boosts the damage you do per swing, while increasing the bleed buildup you do on enemies. It can put the bleeding effect on weapons that don’t have it, which is why you don’t necessarily need to have a bleed weapon. However, if you have a weapon that has the bleed effect, it will enhance the amount of build-up you’re gaining, making it more effective. This buff lasts much longer than Black Flame Blade. You’re going to use this against targets that can bleed. This’ll be your bread and butter as you move along levels, so you’re going to use this more often than Black Flame Blade.

As far as weapon skill goes, you can choose whatever you want. The main thing you want is avoiding a blood-scaling set-up. You can still use Bloody Slash, just make sure to set it to Keen if you’re pumping dexterity. You can put it on standard if that gives you more damage, as you don’t have a lot of dexterity yet. I really like Unsheathe skill on the Uchigatana, so I keep that when I play. Sometimes, Bloody Slash might be better for certain enemies, so you can swap that around as necessary.

Black Flame Build – Attributes

The main attributes you want for this build are Mind, Faith, and Vigor. You need a lot of Mind because a lot of your spells cost a lot of FP. For instance, Catch Flame costs 10 FP and Black Flame costs 11 FP. That’s quite a lot of FP, so having a lot Mind is going to allow you to cast these spells a lot of times before needing to drink a potion. You need at least 27 Faith in order to use Godslayer’s Seal, so that’s kind of the break point you’re aiming for. The higher your Faith is, the more beneficial it’s going to be towards your spells. For vigor, you’re going to need at least 20 because you’re going to be a melee character, which means you’ll get hit from time to time. Lastly, dexterity is there to meet the requirements of weapons and to improve the damage they deal. Your attribute spread for strength and dexterity is going to vary from build to build, depending on which weapon you choose. Moving forward, you’re going to put minimum points into Vigor in order to keep your health up. You’re going to keep increasing your Faith, Mind, and Dexterity. This will increase your damage throughout the course of the game.

Black Flame Build – Final Tips

The Godslayer’s Seal uses smithing stone shards to upgrade. If you’re using a weapon that uses that as an upgrade, you’re going to be in conflict with which to upgrade first. Personally, I would upgrade the weapon first in order to get maximum damage per swing. However, if you find yourself using Black Flame more often, you might want to upgrade Godslayer’s Seal first.

If you need some smithing stone (3), you can farm the enemies at the southern entrance of Raya Lucaria. The soldiers in that area drop these, as well as the wheelie thing that rolls around. These stones have a pretty low drop rate, so you might be there for a while. Theoretically, you might be able to upgrade both your weapon and the Godslayer’s Seal to +9 if you spend a good amount of time there.

Another thing I want to mention is if you’ve already upgraded your Finger Seal if you’re using it most of the way, you can go ahead and use that first. The Godslayer’s Seal isn’t going to give you that much of a damage difference, as you’re barely meeting the requirements to use it. Just keep in mind that eventually, you have to upgrade it.

Lastly, you can use other spells with this build. This is just a theme for this build, so you can switch up the spells I listed above. Feel free to use other spells as well, as these spells are more of general staple spells for this build.

That’s it for our Black Flame Apostle Build Guide! As always, let us know if you have questions or other tips in the comments below. We have a ton more builds coming for Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree so stay tuned for those. If you need help finding items, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check the Elden Ring Map. Happy building!