As an avid Souls gamer with over 400 hours across multiple Elden Ring playthroughs, I‘ve tested every talisman extensively to determine the definitive best options. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share my meta talisman rankings and detailed insights on how to utilize each one optimally.
What Are Talismans and How Do They Work?
Talismans are powerful accessories that provide major buffs and stat boosts. Equipping the right talismans can customize your build, shore up weaknesses, amplify strengths, and greatly improve your odds against even the toughest enemies.
Some key notes on talismans:
- Provide various bonuses like stat boosts, damage negation, stamina recovery, equipped load increases and more
- Up to 4 can be equipped simultaneously once additional talisman pouches are obtained
- Primary way to passively augment your character beyond leveling stats and equipment
- Crafting magic to enhance talismans requires Grave and Ghost Glovewort picked from the wilds
- Certain talismans synergize together based on their effects, creating dynamic combos
Now let‘s get into ranking and reviewing each incredible talisman along with exact locations on how to acquire them.
Elden Ring Best Talismans Ranked
Through extensive testing across quality, dexterity, intelligence and faith builds, I‘ve settled on definitive S and A-tier rankings for the game‘s most meta talismans:
S Tier
- Radagon‘s Soreseal
- Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman
- Green Turtle Talisman
- Bull-Goat‘s Talisman
- Erdtree‘s Favor +2
A Tier
- Great-Jar‘s Arsenal
- Crimson Amber Medallion +2
- Radagon Icon
- Carian Filigreed Crest
- Shard of Alexander
While other good talismans exist like Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom and Speckled Hardtear, these S and A options provide the most indispensable and build-defining effects in my experience.
Let‘s break down what each one does along with some pro tips.
Radagon‘s Soreseal – The #1 Talisman
Radagon‘s Soreseal is arguably Elden Ring‘s most powerful talisman – virtually every build wants this equipped. Here‘s what it does:
- +5 Vigor, Endurance, Strength and Dexterity
- Counterbalanced by taking 15% more damage from all sources
This gives an enormous well-rounded stat boost at the cost of increased incoming damage.
It empowers quality builds dramatically since both Strength and Dexterity govern physical attack power, while Vigor and Endurance raise crucial survival stats.
The damage penalty sounds scary, but with good armor the trade-off is heavily worthwhile. For example, I use this in my powerstanced colossal weapon build along with heavy Bull Goat armor. The defense and poise nullify the downside while I wreck everything with amplified Strength.
Pro Tip: When two-handing weapons, Radagon‘s Soreseal effectively gives 10 Strength and Dexterity instead of 5! This allows meeting earlier weapon wielding requirements.
I can‘t recommend this talisman enough – it‘s always equipped in my builds unless I‘m severely overleveled. That‘s how good it is.
How To Get Radagon‘s Soreseal
- Location: Fort Faroth in central Caelid
- Jump down holes in the fort rooftop into a basement area
- Grab the talisman off a corpse near a giant rat
Dragoncrest Greatshield – Best Damage Negation
If you‘re struggling with bosses and enemies demolishing you with crushing physical attacks, this is your salvation.
- Reduces incoming physical damage by a whopping 20%
That‘s an enormous cut to all physical damage taken from all sources. Surviving deadly enemy combos becomes much more consistent with this equipped.
It provides a key layer of defense so vitality focused and heavy armor builds can facetank enormous punishment.
This is particularly great against notoriously hard-hitting late game bosses like Malekith, Godfrey and Malenia. Their combos still hurt, but you endure significantly longer against the onslaught.
For any build vulnerable to high physical damage (which is most!), this earns an automatic slot. Surprise damage spikes become far less threatening.
How To Get Dragoncrest Greatshield
- Location: Elphael Inner Wall in Haligtree zone
- Reach a rooftop area by grappling tree branches
- Find the talisman inside the building
Green Turtle Talisman – Best Stamina Regen
Stamina governs everything in Elden Ring combat, from attacking to evading and blocking. Running out means you‘re helpless.
That‘s why the Green Turtle Talisman is so valuable – it regenerates stamina much quicker, giving you more uptime to act offensively.
- Boosts stamina recovery speed by 17.7%
Faster regen keeps your weapons swinging and feet dodging constantly. It enables highly aggressive attack patterns without as much downtime between barrages.
Colossal and greathammer weapons especially drain stamina fast. This accessory alleviates that limitation dramatically so you can smash relentlessly.
It also reduces reliance on stamina-boosting consumables like pickled turtle necks. If you want your melee character always on offensive, slot this in.
How To Get Green Turtle Talisman
- Location: Summonwater Village in Limgrave
- Find the underground sealed tunnel behind the Site of Grace
- Defeat the shield soldiers and grab the talisman
Bull-Goat Talisman – Massive Poise Boost
Trading blows with enemies requires sufficient "poise" which governs resistance to flinching and being staggered. Otherwise you get knocked down before landing hits.
Bull-Goat cranks up poise enormously:
- Boosts poise by a whopping 33%
Now you can plow through enemy combos and easily stagger them instead with hyper armor. The poise buff transforms lighter builds into virtual poise tanks.
I love this on my powerstance colossal weapon character – it enables infinitely more hyper armor trades against even the chunkiest foes. Bull Goat plus heavy armor means nothing interrupts my two-handed bonks.
This also works great on faster dexterity builds utilizing lighter armor. Bulking up poise makes fearlessly exchanging hits much safer.
If you‘re being staggered too easily, this will eliminate that weakness. You become an immovable object while unleashing nasty damage yourself.
How To Get Bull-Goat Talisman
- Location: Dragonbarrow Cave in Caelid
- Run past the Runbear mini-boss deeper inside
- Find the talisman on glowing rocks
Erdtree‘s Favor +2 – Essential Stats Buff
This legendary talisman provides a major three-pronged stat improvement that benefits literally any build:
- Raises HP, stamina, and equipped load
More health and endurance for surviving deadly combos, plus increased equip load for wearing heavier armor while fast rolling. What‘s not to love?
Stacking Erdtree‘s Favor +2 with other buffs like Crimson Amber Medallion and Great Rune bonuses can hit the health cap of 1999 HP at 60 Vigor!
When I play colossal weapon Strength builds demanding super heavy armor, this accessory is absolutely core for raising my equip capacity. 60 Poise Bull Goat set with Erdtree‘s for optimal mid rolling is strong.
I firmly believe every single build wants this equipped – the well-rounded improvements have no downsides and shore up every playstyle.
How To Get Erdtree‘s Favor +2
- Location: Leyndell, Royal Capital Ashen Capital
- Grab it from a Minor Erdtree in the field
- Survive the Erdtree Avatar enemies protecting it!
Great-Jar Arsenal – Equip Heavier Gear
If you love using devastating ultra weapons and the heaviest armor possible without fat rolling, Great-Jar‘s Arsenal is mandatory:
- Substantially raises max equip load by 19%
This effect stacks with other buffs like Erdtree‘s Favor to push your gear carrying capacity to extremes. You can wield the chunkiest weapons and heftiest armor imaginable while maintaining medium roll.
At 60+ Endurance and this equipped, I can wear the Bull Goat set, two colossal weapons and talismans while staying below 70% encumbrance. That‘s nearly 100 Poise and insane damage output with good mobility.
Great-Jar‘s empowers bonk builds dramatically. When I play super heavy Strength tanks meant to soak endless damage, this talisman always gets a permanent slot.
How To Get Great-Jar‘s Arsenal
- Location: Defeat the trio of Jar warriors at Siofra River
- Speak to the Great-Jar himself after winning
- Receive the talisman as a reward
Carian Filigreed Crest – Cheaper Weapon Skills
For builds focused around special weapon skills and Ashes of War for offense, this talisman is a godsend:
- Reduces FP consumed by weapon arts by 25%
Many powerful unique skills like Glintstone Pebble and Hoarfrost Stomp require substantial FP (focus points) per use, limiting how often they can be accessed. Especially in long dungeon runs.
Slapping on the Carian Crest alleviates that efficiently, cutting FP costs dramatically so you can spam potent attacks that melt enemies way more often.
Combining this with an FP reduction tear flask effect cuts weapon art costs by nearly 50%! I used this a ton while clearing areas with my intelligence battle mage character – it enabled constant skill spam for easy wins. Fantastic quality of life.
How To Get Carian Filigreed Crest
- Locate inside Raya Lucaria Academy
- Shoot down a chandelier over the courtyard to grab it off a corpse
Radagon Icon – Faster Spell Casting
Magic caster builds live and die by how quickly and efficiently spells can be unleashed. Cruise control that with Radagon Icon:
- Shortens casting times significantly for all sorceries and incantations
Instead of slow charging times leaving you vulnerable, Radagon Icon rockets magic speed to near-instantaneous levels. It‘s crazy fast and responsive now.
Augmented by casting buffs like Azur‘s Glintstone Staff weapon art, spell combos erupt rapidly without interruption. You morph into an untouchable artillery cannon pelting from range.
Even lowly enemies evaporate before closing distance as magic missiles blanket the battlefield. This accessory deserves a constant slot in all magic builds – flipping slow casts into lighting fast lasers is game changing.
How To Get Radagon Icon
- Raya Lucaria Academy parkour around Debate Hall roof
- Grab from a chest on the second floor rafters accessed through a window
Crimson Amber Medallion +2 – Essential Health Boost
There‘s no stat more crucial for survival than raw health. Crimson Amber Medallion is the definitive way to push Vigor‘s HP gains dramatically higher:
- Provides a 15% buff to total HP
Combined with Morgott‘s Great Rune also giving 25% more health when activated, this talisman enables astronomical life bars once Vigor hits 60. We‘re talking 1800+ HP.
Massive HP pools let heavy armor Strength builds absorb insane punishment and relentless aggression at low risk. Glass cannon mages also appreciate bigger buffers protecting their casting.
When I fight the hardest endgame bosses like Malenia with multiple health bar chunks, this keeps me alive just long enough to clutch victories. That 15% makes all the difference enduring devastating combos.
How To Get Crimson Amber Medallion +2
- Located on a corpse at Consecrated Snowfield before Ordina town
- Grab one of the most potent universal health amps
Shard of Alexander – Stronger Weapon Skills
Many builds center around charged heavy attacks with colossal weapons and overpowered weapon art skills. Juice their damage heavily with this:
- Boosts charged attacks, weapon skills and Ashes of War by 15%
That‘s an enormous buff making already devastating attacks even more astronomical. Giant ultra greatsword charged R2s now hit even harder.
I used Shard of Alexander a ton in my blasphemous blade build because the weapon art‘s fire tornado scales massively with this equipped. It melts health bars in seconds – the talisman makes a major difference.
And since attacks tend to drain tons of FP, combining this with Carian Crest makes amplified skills way more spammable. It‘s a match made in heaven.
How To Get Shard of Alexander
- Mt. Gelmir near first Site of Grace
- Interact with Alexander‘s remains after a dead giant
- Receive the talisman quest reward
Honorable Mentions
While they didn‘t quite make S or A tier, here are two more fantastic talismans to grab:
Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom: Consecutive attacks gain progressive damage boost stacking over 20%
Lord of Blood‘s Exultation: Further raises attack power after drawing blood loss
Talisman Crafting & Upgrade Materials
Once you collect special grave and ghost glovewort flowers from the open world, you can use them to enhance talismans further at crafting sites.
This applies additional buffs like raising attack power, physical damage negation etc based on the talisman‘s native effect. They‘re easy damage and defense amplifiers.
For example, I used grave and ghost glovewort to add even more HP raise to my Crimson Amber Medallion for 1999 health at 60 Vigor!
So don‘t forget to grab these crafting flowers on your journeys and squeeze extra juice out of your favorite talismans.
Conclusion
Elden Ring‘s wide selection of talismans provides dynamic ways to specialize your character. The tier list and recommendations in this guide aim to optimize different weapons, damage types, spells and playstyles.
I‘m confident these are the absolute most meta defining talismans available. Prioritizing the S-tier Radagon‘s Soreseal first is advised to amplify early game power dramatically.
Of course, customizing your equipped talismans to cover weaknesses and stack bonuses that work well together is part of the fun too!
Let me know which talismans have worked best to push your characters into godhood based on the strategies here! May you become Elden Lord.
