Elden Ring comes with more than 100 talismans, but only a few of them are suited for a Mage build. After spending more than 160 hours playing as a Mage, I’ve compiled a list of what I’ve found to be the 14 essential talismans for Mages from the base game and the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.
Base game Talismans
1. Stargazer Heirloom
The Stargazer Heirloom talisman raises Intelligence by five points, boosting your sorcery strength and allowing you to access new staves or spells. You can use it through to the late game until you’ve levelled up your Intelligence to a decent level – 70 is the sweet spot to access some of the stronger spells and staves!
The talisman can be found on a body at the top of the Divine Tower of Liurnia. You must progress Ranni’s quest to acquire the Carian Inverted Statue and unlock the area.
2. Radagon Icon
The Radagon Icon is a legendary talisman that shortens spell casting time. It’s great for speeding up some of the stronger but slow-casting spells – handy when you’re fighting fast enemies.
It can be found inside a chest on the second floor of the Debate Parlour, accessed by leaving the room, taking a right, jumping over the fence, climbing the ladder, and jumping through a broken window towards the chest.
3. Graven-School Talisman
The Graven-School talisman raises the damage of your sorceries by 4%, allowing you to deal more damage. You can combine it with the Lusat’s Glintstone Staff that enhances the power of all sorceries to hit really hard.
The talisman can be found in Raya Lucaria Academy outside the Red Wolf of Radagon boss room. You’ll need to hit an empty bookshelf before going down the stairs to reveal an illusionary wall. After following the path, climbing a ladder, and jumping over a railing into a hole, the talisman can be found in the room with crystals and Living Jar enemies.
4. Cerulean Amber Medallion
The Cerulean Amber Medallion raises your maximum FP. Since you’ll depend on FP a lot as a mage, the talisman will help you perform more sorceries and can be useful if you’re spending time levelling over stats.
There are three versions of the talisman; the ordinary version that boosts FP by 7%, and the +1 and +2 variations that boost FP by 9% and 11%, respectively.
They can be found:
- Ordinary: Found in the Lakeside Crystal Cave after defeating Bloodhound Knight in Liurnia of the Lakes.
- +1: Found in Castle Sol in the Mountaintops of the Giants. Located on a corpse hanging from a wooden ledge in the southern part of the castle.
- +2: Found in the Lunar Estate Ruins on the Moonlight Altar plateau in southern Liurnia of the Lakes. The talisman is behind a fog gate requiring one Stonesword Key. You must progress Ranni’s quest to reach the plateau.
!! A +3 version of the talisman was added in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, scroll down to discover its location !!
5. Primal Glintstone Blade
The Primal Glinstone Blade reduces the FP consumption of sorceries by 25% but reduces your maximum health by 15%. Handy if you like using high FP-consuming spells or if you want to cancel out the caveat of the Azur’s Glintstone (Reduces spell casting time) and Lusat’s Glintstone (Increases your magic damage) staves, which both consume more FP.
The talisman can be found in a chest in an underground area in the centre of the Stargazer’s Ruins in the Mountaintops of the Giants.
6. Ancestral Spirit’s Horn
The Ancestral Spirit’s Horn restores a small percentage of FP whenever an enemy is killed. Although you don’t get a lot of FP for defeating enemies, it’s a nice way of boosting your FP without having to use your Flask, particularly since you’ll be defeating a LOT of enemies as you explore.
The Ancestral Spirit’s Horn can be purchased for 3,000 Runes by using the Remembrance of the Regal Ancestor with Enia at the Roundtable Hold.
7. Moon of Nokstella
The Moon of Nokstella is a legendary talisman that increases your spell memory slots by two. This is great if you haven’t found many Memory Stones and like to equip several spells or high slot-consuming sorceries. It’s helpful at the start but worth dropping towards the middle to late game, as you should have found plenty of Memory Stones for extra slots by then.
It can be found in a chest under the massive throne in Nokstella, Eternal City.
8. Cerulean Seed Talisman
The Cerulean Seed talisman boosts FP regeneration from the Flask of Cerulean Tears, but only if you’re using a corresponding seed for the flask. It can be found on a body in the Carian Study Hall at Liurnia of the Lakes. You must progress Ranni’s quest to acquire the Carian Inverted Statue and unlock the area.
!! A +1 version of the talisman was added in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, scroll down to discover its location !!
9. Green Turtle Talisman
The Green Turtle talisman raises stamina recovery speed, allowing you to recover stamina faster to cast sorceries. Items like Picked Turtle Neck – they can be found, bought and crafted – have the same effect, so you might want to use that over this talisman unless you’re super low on stamina.
If you can’t be bothered with crafting or don’t want to spend Runes, you can find the Green Turtle Talisman in an underground area in Summonwater Village in northern Limgrave.
Shadow of the Erdtree Mage Talismans
10. Blessed Blue Dew Talisman
The Blessed Blue Dew Talisman was added with the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, and it slowly restores FP at a rate of 0.5 FP per second. Much like the Ancestral Spirit’s Horn, this is a great way of earning back FP and saving on Cerulean Flasks.
The talisman can be found in the Church of Benediction on the cliffs southwest of Gravesite Plain.
11. Beloved Stardust
The Beloved Stardust talisman is similar to the Radagon Icon, helping to shorten the casting speed for sorcery and incantations. Its caveat is that the talisman reduces your damage absorption by around 30%, increasing the damage you take.
Beloved Stardurst can be found obtained by completing the first part of Count Ymir’s quest at the Finger Ruins of Rhia in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.
12. Cerulean Amber Medallion +3
The Cerulean Amber Medallion +3 boosts your FP by 12.5%, giving you the ability to cast more sorceries or perform skills. The +3 variation of the talisman can be found in the Scorpion River Catacombs in Rauh Ruins by defeating the Death Knight.
13. Cerulean Seed Talisman +1
The Cerulean Seed Talisman +1 greatly boosts FP restoration from the Flask of Cerulean Tears, so you get a larger recharge per flask use. This is great at completely or close to completely filling up your FP bar later in the game, and means you can get by drinking fewer flasks for more FP.
The +1 variation of the Cerulean Seed Talisman can be acquired by sounding the Hanging Bell at the Finger Ruins of Dheo – progress Count Ymir’s quest to do this.
14. Two-Headed Green Turtle Talisman
The Two-Headed Turtle Talisman greatly raises stamina recovery speed, which can be handy when fighting fast enemies (There are a lot in the DLC) and you’re a panic dodger or just want to shoot off some more magic in quick succession and haven’t spent Runes levelling up your Endurance.
The talisman can be found inside a cave behind a waterfall north east of the Rivermouth Cave dungeon.
Those are the best talismans for Mages in Elden Ring. Remember to constantly analyse the talismans you have and swap them out regularly to boost your build and depending on the situation.
