What it does and how to get it

Unlike other Affinities like Cold or Holy that speak for themselves, Occult in Elden Ring isn’t so clear. Here is what Occult is in Elden Ring and how to apply it to your weapons.

What is Occult in Elden Ring?

Like Poison, Blood, or Heavy, Occult is an Affinity you can select when applying an Ash of War to a weapon. Occult doesn’t give you extra status damage like Holy or Fire; all it does is let your weapon scale with Arcane. You’ll see a letter next to Arcane in the Attribute Scaling section and see your Physical damage increase in the Attack Power section depending on how many points you have in Arcane.

Related: How to start Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC

The only caveat to this is Occult, like the other status effect Affinities including Magic, Lightning, Sacred, Poison, Blood, and Cold, can only be applied on non-status effect Ashes of War. For example, you can’t put Occult on the Glintblade Phalanx or Bloody Slash Ashes of War, but you can put it on the Sword Dance or Determination Ashes of War.

How to use Occult Affinity in Elden Ring

The only way to be able to apply Occult to your Ashes of War in Elden Ring is to have the Black Whetblade. This is found by going to Siofra River, which is accessible via the hole the falling star creates in the forest of Limgrave after defeating Radahn.

Continue forward until you reach the Ancestral Woods Site of Grace. Use the rooftops to continue forward toward the cathedral on your left. After jumping into the Night’s Sacred Ground cathedral, you’ll find the Black Whetblade on a corpse in front of the large altar.

With the Black Whetblade acquired, you can now always apply the Occult Affinity to any Ash of War. If Arcane isn’t your thing or you want to do that and Faith, you need to know what the best Incant Scaling Seals are.