When considering weapon options for Recluse, your priorities are different compared to all other Nightfarers. Instead of damage, status ailments, and movesets, your main goal is to have access to attacks that deal elemental damage. That is Magic, Fire, Lightning, and Holy.
On each Recluse run you ideally want a reliable way to hit your foes with at least three of these elements. Luckily, Recluse’s attribute scaling makes her equally good at using sorceries and incantations. And thanks to her passive, you won’t need to worry about running out of FP. This gives you a lot of options for what to use.
Recluse Best Weapons
Weapon Archetype: Dual Wielding, Glintstone Staff, Sacred Seal, Bow with Holy or Lightning damage
Recluse’s gameplay revolves around applying affinity residues to enemies, then collecting them to create powerful spells through her Magic Cocktail skill. You can learn more about this in our How to Play Recluse guide. Since she has two hands, and staffs and seals have two spells each, there’s no reason not to dual-wield with Recluse. Holding a magic weapon in each hand gives you immediate access to 4 spells. Theoretically this can cover all the elements Recluse uses for her Cocktails.
In reality, it can be very hard to find the perfect spell combination. Especially since good Lightning and Holy spells seem very rare in Nightreign. Instead, you can dedicate one of your hands to a bow enchanted with Lightning or Holy damage. You generally find these in locations marked with the corresponding elemental icon. With how common Fire and Magic spells are, once you find a bow like that, you’ll wield three elements and have easy access to some of Recluse’s most powerful Magic Cocktails. Melee weapons can also have these elemental enchantments, but as Recluse isn’t made for melee combat, you really want a bow there.
With spellcasting implements, another wrinkle is that the spells they have are often randomized. They have their baseline spells you can see in the Training Grounds that give you a general idea of what to expect, but during an expedition, these spells are frequently reshuffled. This usually happens with the heavy attack spells, so at least the light ones are more deterministic.
Best Weapons
With all that in mind, here are some great weapons you can use as Recluse:
Rank
Icon
Name
Base Rarity
Base Affinity/Spells
Ideal Changes
S
Erdtree Bow
Epic
Holy
None
S
Any Holy or Lightning Bow
Any
Holy/Lightning
Upgrade to Rare/Epic*
A
Azur’s Glintstone Staff
Epic
Comet Azur Glintstone Arc
None
A
Staff of the Guilty
Rare
Briars of Punishment Glintstone Arc
Upgrade to Epic*
A
Godslayer’s Seal
Rare
Black Flame Catch Flame
Upgrade to Epic*
A
Gravel Stone Seal
Rare
Lightning Spear Catch Flame
Upgrade to Epic*
A
Golden Order Seal
Epic
Discuss of Light Catch Flame
None
B
Gelmir Glintstone Staff
Rare
Magma Shot Glintstone Arc
Upgrade to Epic*
*Rare upgrade requires Smithing Stone [1], Epic needs Smithing Stone [2]
As Recluse, you want to have access to a wide array of spells you can pick depending on the encounter, so don’t hesitate to fill your equipment slots out with staffs and seals. The more versatile your spell pool, the better.
Note: Gelmir Glintstone Staff is not particularly outstanding, but it gives you access to Fire and Magic attacks on the same weapon, making it a convenient option.
Best Equipment Spells
Black Flame
Lightning Spear
Discuss of Light
Briars of Punishment
Comet Azur
Spells that deal Magic damage are incredibly common, and in fact the basic Glintstone Pebble is a great spell that can output some impressive DPS for a low FP cost. You just might want to cast it with a better staff than your starting one. The other elements deserve some further explanation.
Black Flame
Your best Fire-element spell. It deals respectable base damage, has good range for a Fire spell, and leaves your target burning for a few seconds with damage based on its max HP.
Lightning Spear
A Souls classic. Good range, good damage, can be charged for even more damage. The staple of jolly cooperation.
Discuss of Light
A convenient way to apply Holy residue. Doesn’t cost a lot of FP, passes through targets and hits them twice.
Briars of Punishment
This spell is an outlier in that it doesn’t apply any affinity residues. However, it has a very strong Blood Loss effect, which is good against almost any enemy. Just be aware that this spell damages you as you cast it.
Comet Azur
One of the most impressive-looking spells in the game. A big beam that deals a lot of damage but continuously drains your FP. When playing as Recluse, you can cast her Magic/Holy Cocktail to create an area where spells don’t cost any FP. This will let you deliver some proper damage with Comet Azur.
Best Equipment Passives
Best:
Improved Spell Casting Speed
Less Likely to Be Targeted
Improved Dodging
Improved Sorceries
Improved Incantations
Secondary Options:
Improved Charged Sorceries
Improved Charged Incantations
Reduced Spell FP Cost
Reduced Spell & Incantation FP Cost
Damage Negation Up While Casting Spells
Improved Ranged Weapon Attacks – if using a bow
A lot of spells, and more importantly Magic Cocktails, have pretty long casting animations. As Recluse, you really want to have some breathing room to work your magic. Because of that, passives that increase your casting speed, make you less likely to be targeted and more evasive are at the top of our priority list. And then, you always want more damage, so that should be self-explanatory.
Passives that lower FP costs are merely nice to have because of Recluse’s passive ability that allows you to regain a decent chunk of FP when you use your active skill. And if you have a bow that deals elemental damage but doesn’t cost any FP to shoot, you essentially have infinite FP. Still, having lower costs can be nice for spells like Comet Azur.
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Val Hull
Resident role-playing RPG game expert. Knows where trolls and paladins come from. You must fight for your right to gather your party before venturing forth.
