Black Flame's Protection

Black Flame's Protection is an incantation spell in Elden Ring. It is one of the Godslayer Incantations.

Description[]

A black flame incantation of the Godskin Apostles.
Summons black fire within, increasing physical damage negation. However, sacred flasks and other such forms of HP restoration are impaired.
The Apostles were all embraced by the Gloam-Eyed Queen, and the black flame was their armor within.

神肌の使徒たちの、黒炎の祈祷のひとつ

自らの内に黒炎をおこし、物理カット率を高める
ただし、あらゆるＨＰ回復量が少なくなる

使徒たちは皆、宵眼の女王に抱かれ
黒炎を内なる鎧とした

Acquisition[]

Purchase: Roundtable Hold

Acquired from Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing after selecting the "about the secret medallion" dialogue option. This option will only appear after the player has obtained both the Haligtree Secret Medallion (Right) and Haligtree Secret Medallion (Left).
Can be purchased from the Twin Maiden Husks for 2,500 Runes should the player not talk to Gideon about both medallions before unleashing the Rune of Death.

Effects[]

Grants a Body Buff that decreases Physical damage taken by 35% (15% in PvP) while also decreasing all healing received by 20% for 70 seconds.

Notes[]

Costs 30 FP per cast.
Costs 13 Stamina per cast.
Requires 1 Memory Slot to be equipped.
This spell reduces Physical damage taken rather than directly increasing damage negation. The total damage reduction can be expressed by the following formula, where PhysicalFortification represents the effect magnitude:
$TotalPhysicalReduction=100(1-(1-{PhysicalDamageNegation}\times 0.01)\times (1-{PhysicalFortification}))$ $TotalPhysicalReduction=100(1-(1-{PhysicalDamageNegation}\times 0.01)\times (1-{PhysicalFortification}))$
- For example, if physical damage negation is 25 at the time of casting, the total reduction against PvE enemies would be 51.25%:
  $PhysicalMagicReduction=100(1-(1-25\times 0.01)\times (1-0.35))=51.25\%$
- Against other players, the total reduction would be 36.25%:
  $TotalPhysicalReduction=100(1-(1-25\times 0.01)\times (1-0.15))=36.25\%$

Strategies[]

The reduction in healing effective lowers the effectiveness of this spell to only lowering Physical damage taken by 18.75% (and increasing the effective damage taken in PvP by 6.25%), assuming that healing will be used and not accounting for it helping the player survive hits that otherwise would have killed them.
- Effectively still has its full PvP strength of 15% in no-healing scenarios such as semi-formal duels in the open world or via a Duelist's Furled Finger, and the Duel Arena Combat mode available through the Royal Colosseum in Leyndell, Royal Capital or via Roundtable Hold.
The effectiveness of this spell diminishes as physical damage negation increases, offering less benefit when stacked with multiple physical negation sources.
This incantation is valuable whenever available since the vast majority of areas will have most of the damage inflicted by enemies as various types of Physical damage. The biggest exception is Liurnia of the Lakes, where Magic damage shares the spotlight.
Black Flame's Protection offers greater physical protection than Boiled Crab (35% vs. 20%) and has a slightly longer duration (70 vs. 60 seconds). This spell requires 30 Faith and 1 Memory Slot to be equipped and 30 FP to cast, while the Crab only requires 600 Runes per piece bought.
- The Boiled Crab is preferable for PvP encounters, as Black Flame's Protection's effect is reduced to 15%.
- Though Boiled Crab (and the slightly weaker Boiled Prawn) are potentially accessible much earlier, it's possible to not gain access to them should Blackguard Big Boggart be killed before any of either has been bought from him.
The reduction in healing for the Flask of Crimson Tears specifically can be countered with either the Crimson Seed Talisman or Crimson Seed Talisman +1, setting healing effectiveness to 96% and 104% respectively.
- Note that this only helps with the flask, as the Heal spells are not affected by either talisman but is affected by the healing reduction.