Arcane Stat Explained: What Does Arcane Do?

Arcane is a stat in Elden Ring that helps you proc status effects and increases your item drop chances. Read on to learn more about what Arcane does including its effects, soft and hard caps, as well as how to increase it.

What Does Arcane Do?

Arcane Stat Effects
Improves Poison and Blood Loss Build Up Raises Item Drop Rate Chances Improves Damage of Arcane-Scaling Weapons Raises Damage of Incantations and Sorceries Increases Holy DEF, Fire DEF, and Vitality

Improves Poison and Blood Loss Build Up

The Arcane stat increases the buildup of Blood Loss or Poison for Arcane-scaling weapons. It will not affect weapons with status buildup but no Arcane scaling (e.g., Blood Loss on the Uchigatana).

For Arcane to affect weapons like the Uchigatana, you will need to use the Black Whetblade to give them a Blood, Poison, or Occult Affinity. Ashes of War that grant these affinities will also work in a pinch. Once imprinted, the weapon will gain Arcane scaling.

All Arcane Weapons List

Increases Discovery Which Raises Drop Rate Chances

Silver Tear Mask increases our Arcane by 8 points which also increases our Discovery by 8 points.

Arcane directly affects Discovery, which influences the items that drop from enemies. Basically, the higher your Arcane, the better your chances of getting a rare item after defeating an enemy! This is a great stat to increase if you wish to farm a specific gear that can only be dropped by enemies.

Improves Damage of Arcane Weapons

Weapons that have Arcane scaling on their stat such as the Rivers of Blood or Reduvia will also have their total damage output increased. Gear that have their affinities changed to Blood, Poison, or Occult using the Black Whetblade will also have their damage scaling increased.

Raises Damage of Arcane Scaling Incantations and Sorceries

Equipping Arcane scaling staves or seals like the Dragon Communion Seal or the Albinauric Staff can also increase the damage of your Incantations or Sorceries respectively. These off-hands allow you to deal higher damage using spells by utilizing and raising your Arcane stat as opposed to other Staves and Seals that only scale with Intelligence and/or Faith.

Increases Holy Defense, Fire Defense, and Vitality

Another benefit of increasing your Arcane stat is the boost to Holy Defense as well as Fire Defense. Both stats provide damage reduction to their respective damage types.

In addition, you also get a boost to Vitality which increases your resistance to deathblight which is often encountered against enemies such as the Basilisk.

What Are Arcane's Stat Caps?

45 to 60 Arcane for Status Build Up

If you want to run an Arcane build that focuses on status procs for damage, go for 45 Arcane to start. 45 Arcane is the soft cap for these builds as you get the highest returns when it comes to increases in Status Buildup numbers for Arcane scaling weapons.

At 60 Arcane, you'll hit the hard cap for this build type as increases to Arcane after this won't affect your weapon's Status Buildup numbers significantly. Unless you plan use Arcane scaling weapon R1s for damage, it's best to leave it at 60 for status proc builds.

60 to 80 Arcane for Weapon Damage

The stat progression will differ for builds that plan to use Arcane weapons and Incantations for their main damage. If you plan to go a hybrid Faith-Arcane build in order to use weapons like Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear, then hitting the 60 Arcane soft cap will allow you to deal more damage than the previous, 45 Arcane.

To fully realize the damage potential of these build types, you can take it the extra mile and go 80 Arcane in order to hit the hard cap on damage increases. However, sometimes those extra 20 points are better spent on Faith in order to gain access to buffing Incantations at 25 Faith.

How to Increase Arcane

Increase Via Leveling Up

As one of the main stat categories in Elden Ring, you can increase Arcane the same way you increase all stats: by spending Runes at a Site of Grace.

Best Rune Farming Locations

Equip Gear That Increases Arcane

Marika's Scarseal	Increases Mind, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane by 3 points at the cost of increasing your damage taken.
Marika's Soreseal	Increases Mind, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane by 5 points at the cost of greatly increasing your damage taken.
Grafted Blade Greatsword	Increases all of your stats temporarily by 5 after using its skill Oath of Vengeance.
Silver Tear Mask	Increases Arcane by 8 at the cost of reducing your physical attack damage.
Albinauric Mask	Increases Arcane by 4 at the cost of reducing your recovery rate from your Flask of Crimson Tears.

An alternative way to increase your Arcane is by utilizing equipment that can bestow Arcane to your character. Some samples are Marika's Scarseal or Soreseal (albeit at the cost of increasing your damage taken) or the Albinauric Mask (at the cost of lowering the recovery you get from your flasks).

Increase Via Godrick's Great Rune

Godrick's Great Rune can be activated using Rune Arcs to increase your character's stats by 5. This includes Arcane which makes this rune a great choice if you wish to further increase your Arcane stat or provide more bonuses to your other stat points.

How to Get Godrick's Great Rune

Elden Ring Related Guides

Beginner's Guide: All Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks