Elden Ring has seven core harmful status effects: Poison, Scarlet Rot, Blood Loss, Frostbite, Sleep, Madness and Death Blight. Each one fills a hidden meter as you get hit, and only triggers once that meter is full, so the trick is either to stop the buildup or to carry the right cure.
Every effect is resisted by one of four defensive values on your status screen (Immunity, Robustness, Focus and Vitality). Those values rise with your level and with one main attribute each, and armor adds more on top. The table below is the quick version; the sections underneath go into the exact numbers, how to dish each one out and how to keep it off you.
Status effects at a glance
| Effect | What it does | Resisted by | How to cure it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poison | Damage over time; strength and duration depend on the source | Immunity, raised by Vigor | Neutralizing Boluses, Cure Poison, Flame, Cleanse Me, Lord’s Aid |
| Scarlet Rot | Much heavier damage over time; varies by source | Immunity, raised by Vigor | Preserving Boluses, Flame, Cleanse Me |
| Blood Loss | Instant damage of 100 + 15% of max HP (200 + 15% from some sources) | Robustness, raised by Endurance | Nothing to cure once it pops; Stanching Boluses, Lord’s Aid or Bestial Constitution clear the buildup |
| Frostbite | 30 + 10% of max HP, then 20% less damage negation and slower stamina recovery for 30 seconds | Robustness, raised by Endurance | Thawfrost Boluses; taking fire damage also ends it early |
| Sleep | Puts the victim to sleep or knocks them off balance | Focus, raised by Mind | Stimulating Boluses, Lucidity, Lord’s Aid |
| Madness | A short stun plus 100 + 15% of max HP and 30 + 10% of max FP; mostly affects Tarnished | Focus, raised by Mind | Clarifying Boluses, Lucidity |
| Death Blight | Instant death when the meter fills | Vitality, raised by Arcane | Rejuvenating Boluses, Order Healing |
Two catch-all fixes are worth knowing. The Speckled Hardtear in your Flask of Wondrous Physick cures these ailments and gives a big boost to all four resistances for three minutes, and the Law of Regression incantation clears them as well. For general protection, the Mottled Necklace (or the stronger Mottled Necklace +1) raises Immunity, Robustness and Focus at once, and so does Dappled Cured Meat as a short buff.
How buildup and resistance work
Every hit from a status source adds to a hidden meter on the target. When the meter fills, the effect triggers; until then nothing happens apart from the bar creeping up under your health. The higher your matching resistance, the more punishment it takes before anything goes off.
| Resistance | Protects against | Gear that raises it |
|---|---|---|
| Immunity | Poison, Scarlet Rot | Immunizing Horn Charm, Perfumer’s Shield, Immunizing Cured Meat |
| Robustness | Blood Loss, Frostbite | Stalwart Horn Charm, Ice Crest Shield, Invigorating Cured Meat |
| Focus | Sleep, Madness | Clarifying Horn Charm, Rift Shield, Clarifying Cured Meat |
| Vitality | Death Blight | Prince of Death’s Pustule, Grave Scythe, Dragonbolt Blessing |
Two practical points follow from how buildup works. First, status is more effective against enemies that haven’t noticed you yet, so a sneak attack with a bleed or frost weapon gets you much closer to a proc. Second, because Blood Loss and Madness deal a flat amount plus a percentage of max HP, they hurt high-health targets more in absolute terms, which keeps them relevant even against tanky foes.
Poison
Poison ticks your health down until it wears off. It comes in a normal version and a deadly version: deadly poison hurts faster but runs out sooner, so its total damage is actually lower. How hard and how long it ticks always depends on what applied it. Any weapon given the Poison affinity gets the normal kind.
Inflicting it: Poison Grease and Poison Pots are the easy options, while Fetid Pots carry the deadly strain. Weapons such as the Venomous Fang and Serpentbone Blade have deadly poison built in. On the spell side there’s Poison Armament and Poison Mist, and Poisonous Mist and Poison Moth Flight are the Ashes of War for it. Poison Moth Flight is a fun one: hitting an already poisoned target triggers an extra burst of damage.
Protecting yourself: the Immunizing Horn Charm and its +1 version are the dedicated talismans. Immunizing Cured Meat gives a temporary boost, and shields like the Coil Shield, Perfumer’s Shield and Ant’s Skull Plate add Immunity just by being equipped. Poison swamps, like the ones around Limgrave‘s Fringefolk Hero’s Grave and the Shaded Castle, are where you’ll meet it most.
Scarlet Rot
Rot works like poison but far more brutal, and it’s the signature of Caelid, the Swamp of Aeonia and the Lake of Rot. As with poison, the exact damage and duration depend on the source. Rolling in rot sludge coats your character and keeps building rot even after you step out; rain, clean water or Soap wash it off.
Inflicting it: Rot Grease and Rot Pots, weapons like the Scorpion’s Stinger, Antspur Rapier and Rotten Crystal Sword, and the incantations Scarlet Aeonia and Rotten Breath. If you enjoy rot builds, the Kindred of Rot’s Exultation talisman and the Mushroom Crown boost your attack for 20 seconds whenever poison or rot goes off nearby.
Protecting yourself: the same Immunity gear as poison works here. If you have 12 Faith, Flame, Cleanse Me is the cheapest way through a rot lake, since Preserving Boluses are hard to stock up on. Malenia, Blade of Miquella uses rot in her second phase, so bring cures to that fight.
Blood Loss
Blood Loss (often called bleed or hemorrhage) is the burst effect: when the meter fills, the target instantly loses 100 HP plus 15% of their max HP, or 200 plus 15% from some sources, and smaller enemies are briefly staggered. Bosses take a smaller percentage, and Mohg, Lord of Blood takes the least of all.
Inflicting it: Blood Grease is the simple option, and there’s a long list of weapons with bleed built in, including the Uchigatana, Moonveil, Rivers of Blood, Reduvia and Bloodhound’s Fang. Bloodflame Blade buffs your weapon with it, and Seppuku, Bloody Slash and Blood Blade are the Ashes of War. The Blood and Occult affinities also matter here; see Affinities for which one suits a given weapon. The Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman and the White Mask raise your attack for 20 seconds whenever blood loss triggers nearby.
Protecting yourself: the Stalwart Horn Charm (and +1) is the dedicated talisman, Invigorating Cured Meat is the short buff, and the Ice Crest Shield or Smoldering Shield add Robustness. Against Mohg’s blood ritual specifically, the Purifying Crystal Tear cuts the damage dramatically.
Frostbite
Frostbite hits once for 30 HP plus 10% of max HP, then leaves the victim softer for 30 seconds: 20% less damage negation against every source, and slower stamina recovery. Fire damage ends it early, which is handy to know if you’re caught out. Because the negation penalty applies to everything, frost is a great opener before a big hit, for you and against you.
Inflicting it: Freezing Grease and Freezing Pots, weapons like the Dark Moon Greatsword, Frozen Needle, Icerind Hatchet and Ghostflame Torch, the Cold affinity, and spells such as Glintstone Icecrag, Zamor Ice Storm, Adula’s Moonblade, Freezing Mist and Frozen Armament.
Protecting yourself: it shares Robustness with Blood Loss, so the Stalwart Horn Charm and Invigorating Cured Meat help here too. Watch for it against Borealis the Freezing Fog, Commander Niall and the Death Rite Bird.
Sleep
When sleep lands on a player it staggers them, even mid-roll, and drains a chunk of FP. On enemies it’s more interesting: most get a brief stagger, riders get knocked off their mounts, and some, like Godskin Apostles and Nobles, fall into a deep sleep that leaves them open to a critical hit. Sleep also snaps a victim out of mind control, such as the kind the Giant Ants use. The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC adds Eternal Sleep, a stronger variant that drains more FP and can put weaker enemies down for good.
Inflicting it: Sleep Pots (their buildup grows with Arcane), Soporific Grease, the Sword of St. Trina, St. Trina’s Torch and, for Eternal Sleep, the Velvet Sword of St. Trina. There are no spells that cause sleep.
Protecting yourself: the Clarifying Horn Charm (or +1), Clarifying Cured Meat, and shields like the Rift Shield or Shield of the Guilty all raise Focus.
Madness
Madness is the nastiest of the Focus pair: it stuns you briefly and takes 100 HP plus 15% of your max HP, and 30 FP plus 10% of your max FP, in one go. The good and bad news is the same: it does little to most enemies, so it’s mainly a threat to you. The Frenzied Flame Village is where most players first run into it.
Inflicting it: Vyke’s War Spear and the Frenzied Flame incantations, such as The Flame of Frenzy, Frenzied Burst, Howl of Shabriri, Inescapable Frenzy, Unendurable Frenzy and the DLC’s Midra’s Flame of Frenzy.
Protecting yourself: stack Focus with the Clarifying Horn Charm and Clarifying meat, and keep Clarifying Boluses handy. In the DLC, Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame leans heavily on it.
Death Blight
Death Blight kills you outright when the meter fills, but only player-shaped characters (you, invaders and similar NPCs) can suffer it. It also ignores the Sacrificial Twig talisman and the Twiggy Cracked Tear.
Inflicting it: the Eclipse Shotel, Death Lightning and Fia’s Mist, plus the Lhutel the Headless spirit ash. Since it only works on human-shaped foes, it’s a niche tool.
Protecting yourself: the Prince of Death’s Pustule and Prince of Death’s Cyst talismans, the Grave Scythe, the Pillory Shield and the Dragonbolt Blessing incantation all raise Vitality. Basilisks, Deathbirds and Lichdragon Fortissax are the usual culprits.
Destined Death and Corpse Wax
Two rarer effects round things out. Destined Death, drawn from the Rune of Death, burns you over a short time and also lowers your max HP by 10% for a while; Maliketh, the Black Blade and Black Knife Assassins use it, and you can too with the Black Blade incantation or the Black Knife Tiche spirit ash. The Power of Corpse Wax looks almost the same but skips the max HP penalty.
Reading the status icons
The row of icons under your health bar shows both ailments and buffs, and the border tells you what kind each one is:
- Square border: a permanent effect, or one from a permanent source like a talisman. These stack freely with each other.
- Diamond border: a temporary effect. Temporary buffs and debuffs are sorted into categories, and only one per category can be active at once, so a new one may replace the old. Buffs and Debuffs explains which ones stack.
- No border: effects that react to the world around you or depend on context.
Quick tips
- Status buildup is stronger against enemies that haven’t spotted you, so open with a sneak attack when you can.
- Dual-wielding lets you put a different buff or affinity on each weapon and stack two effects at once. See Powerstancing and Affinities.
- Blocking with Immutable Shield active cuts status buildup that gets through your guard.
- Arcane raises Blood Loss, Poison, Madness and Sleep buildup on weapons whose status scales with it, such as anything with the Occult, Blood or Poison affinity. See Weapon Scaling and Damage Types for the rest of the damage picture.