Elden Ring: What Does Arcane Do?

Arcane is one of the eight main attributes in Elden Ring. It may be the most underutilized of all the main attributes given the lack of items that require it. However, the stat has a few more helpful effects.

When you level up the Arcane attribute, you’re also increasing other stats. These are the stats that are affected when you level up Arcane.

Table Of Contents

    Discovery

    The Tarnished defeating a couple of enemies in Altus Plateau.

    Discovery affects the items dropped by enemies. The higher your Discovery stat is, the more chances of enemies dropping rare loot.

    Holy Defense

    Radagon of the Golden Order from Elden Ring.

    This defensive stat dictates the damage you receive from holy attacks. Holy damage is mostly dealt with by faith weapons and incantations. Certain enemies and bosses in the Elden Ring also deal a lot of holy damage, such as Radagon of the Golden Order, the Death Rite Bird, and the Revenant.

    Vitality

    The Tarnished facing a Wormface in Elden Ring.

    Vitality is another defensive stat. This increases your resistance to the Death Blight status effect. Death Blight is the status effect inflicted by Wormfaces and Basilisks, among others.

    Status Effect Scaling

    The Tarnished wielding Eleonora's Poleblade in Elden Ring.

    Another effect of the Arcane attribute is that it raises the status effect build-up of weapons that scale with Arcane.

    These are the status effects that are increased if its weapon scales with Arcane and the attribute is leveled up:

    • Blood Loss
    • Sleep
    • Poison
    • Madness

    Not only will this work with weapons that already scale with Arcane, but it also works for infusions.

    For example, you can take an Uchigatana and infuse it with blood at a Site of Grace. This will make the weapon scale with Arcane. The higher your Arcane stat is, the easier it will be for you to inflict blood loss.

    The Tarnished wielding the Eleonora's Poleblade.

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