Madness

Status Effect

madness status effect elden ring wiki guide 100px
Effect Target loses FP and takes health damage
Mitigated by Clarifying Cured Meat
Clarifying Horn Charm
Cured by Clarifying Boluses
Lucidity
Resistive Stat Focus

Madness is a Status Effect in Elden Ring. Status Effects are various buffs or ailments that apply either a beneficial or detrimental effect to the target. Status Effects can be applied to both enemies and players alike. Status Effects are triggered after a buildup meter is filled by repeated application of attacks that cause the effect. Both players and enemies can have varying resistances to a given Status Effect.

 

Elden Ring Madness Guide

Madness is a status effect that builds up through the repeated application of the effect. Madness is inflicted via various means including Weapons, Skills, and Spells. Once the Madness meter is filled, the effect is triggered and the target loses Focus Points (FP), rendering them unable to cast Spells. The target also takes health damage. 

 

Madness Effects in Elden Ring

Targets afflicted with Madness lose FP and take damage.

  • Deals damage equal to 100+15% of the target's max HP, and causes FP loss of 30+10% of their max FP.
  • The Madness effect can be mitigated by raising your Focus stat. Focus can be improved by adding points into Mind.

 

Elden Ring Madness Effect on Players

This section lists information pertaining to the Madness effect and its relation to Players

 

Madness Sources (Weapons)

The following weapons cause the Madness effect:

Madness Sources (Skills & Spells)

The following Skills & Spells cause the Madness effect:

Madness Sources (Others)

The following are other sources of the Madness effect:

 

Mitigating Madness

The following Equipment, Skills, Spells, and Items offer resistance to the Madness effect:

  • Equipment: N/A
  • Skill: N/A
  • Spell: N/A
  • Item: N/A

Curing Madness

The following Skills, Spells, and Items can be used to remove the Madness effect:

 

Elden Ring Madness Effect on Enemies

This section lists information pertaining to the Madness effect and its relation to Enemies and Bosses.

 

Enemies that cause Madness

The following Enemies, NPC, Invaders and Bosses can inflict the Madness effect on players:

 

Madness Vulnerable

The following Enemies, NPC, Invaders and Bosses are weak to the Madness effect. Weakness indicates a target has a much lower threshold for the effect, requiring fewer applications to fill the build up meter and trigger the effect.

Madness Resistant

The following EnemiesNPC, Invaders and Bosses are resistant to the Madness effect. Resistance indicates a target has a much higher threshold for the effect, requiring many more applications to fill the build up meter and finally trigger the effect.

  • N/A

Madness Immune

The following EnemiesNPC, Invaders and Bosses are immune to the Madness effect. Immunity indicates a target is impossible or near-impossible to afflict with a given effect.

  • Most Non-Invader enemies
  • Most Bosses

 

 

Elden Ring Madness Notes & Tips

  • 1.0 disc version Madness icon inflicted by red eye frenzy rats is purple and little different:  madness 1.0 100px

 

Status Effects in Elden Ring
Death Blight  ♦  Frostbite  ♦  Hemorrhage  ♦  Poison  ♦  Scarlet Rot  ♦  Sleep



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    • Anonymous

      “Ahh, may chaos take the world. MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD” is how I feel using madness incantations while being the Lord of Chaos

      • Anonymous

        i think it would be cool to have a frenzy incant that adds a madness buff to a weapon, it would look cool and be useful but if somehow it becomes real i hope it isnt something insane, shits already strong as hell in pvp; could just make the buff last a few seconds like black flame blade tho but if its too short then it would be useless as the whole point is to build frenzy. you know the more i think about it thats probably why it isnt a thing

        • Anonymous

          On one hand, I would love if PvE enemies were vulnerable to madness. On the other hand, madness weapons and spells are already great as they are, if they also could proc the status effect they would be broken af unless their other aspects got nerfed heavily

          • Anonymous

            I love the new madness curved greatsword. Especially its weapon art where the frenzied flame pours out your eyes into the weapon which boosts its madness build up from 70 to 110 for 1 minute and does extra fire damage. What? What do you mean that’s not a thing? Of course it is.

            • Anonymous

              This status effect pisses me off bc we see throughout the game that pretty much anything thats organic can be effected by madness,from knights to ****ing flowers. And yet this is a pvp exclusive status effect. But SLEEP the status effect with WAY LESS ways of applying it than madness has effect animations for pretty much EVERY organic enemy in the game, so im putting the lack of madness-able enemies up to from not having enough time,i wouldve totally taken elden ring being delayed for like another 4 months if it meant madness was more useful

              • Anonymous

                miyazaki loves pvp so much he made 3 pvp only status effects that are all extremely unfun to fight against

                • Anonymous

                  They should definitely being back the Chaos Blade from the Dark Souls as a new Madness weapon.

                  - Maybe give it a new name like The Three-Fingered Blade, the Frenzied Blade or something (though Chaos Blade could work too).
                  - 3rd longest katana in the game (between Rivers of Blood and Hand of Malenia).
                  - Scales primarily with Strength and Faith (since we don't have a faith-scaling katana yet, and it could be a second Strength-based katana similar to the Meteoric Ore Blade).
                  - Weight is 8.0, the heaviest katana in the game. Deals good poise damage as a result.
                  - Deals Physical and Fire Damage.
                  - Inflicts both wielder and opponent with madness buildup (55 on enemies).
                  - A unique katana in that both physical and fire damage increase the more your madness bar is filled. Useful against enemies not affected by madness, and even enemies resistant to fire since physical damage is affected too. However, your bar does deplete slightly faster than usual, so keep that in mind.
                  - Unique heavy attacks. Tap to slash downward similar to a Kendo stance. Charge to run forward and land a heavy upward slash.
                  - New Ash of War: Blessing of Chaos. Gaze upon your weapon with fiery light, buffing the blade with the Flame of Frenzy for 40 seconds. Increases madness buildup, physical and fire damage, and changes the charged heavy attack to a series of slashes akin to the Frayed Blade from DS3. Receives damage boost of the Roar Medallion, and increases Faith Scaling by +5.

                  • Anonymous

                    *Notes and tips: Proccing Madness grants immunity to fall damage and grab attacks during the lengthy animation.

                    • Anonymous

                      I got pointed down in a duel for this. Ok, maybe I was also duel wielding Vyke's spears not knowing that people find them maidenless but that is besides the point. To the person that pointed down just because of my extremely maidenless build, I hope the only food you are allowed to eat for the rest of your life is oatmeal raisan cookies.

                      • Anonymous

                        The fact that tons of enemies have madness afflicted variants, yet you can only use madness on other players, really makes me think they were planning to give many enemies madness anims like they did with sleep, but they just didnt have the time so it just didnt happen

                        • Anonymous

                          Considering how only humans are actually vulnerable to it, it's kind of stupid how they have a bunch of nonhuman enemies which seem like they're supposed to be afflicted.

                          • Anonymous

                            Why is it that in game we can see madness afflicting soldiers, knights, rats, and giants, but all of these enemies are somehow immune to the madness status effect when you are wielding it?

                            • Anonymous

                              Your complaints about this status effect will become relevant whenever you learn how to 1 vs 1 an invader, or use a taunter's tongue without summons (using furlcalling finger remedy enables taunter's tongue, apparently) and kill one one invader after another by yourself. Until then you gonkers are going to burn in the very hell you have created.

                              "I'm an agent of chaos... and you know one thing about chaos? It's fair."

                              • Anonymous

                                On paper I love this. It cucks mages, its edgy, its got cool lore. But the janky phantom hits and super punishing stun just makes it feel like pure cheese to use.

                                • Anonymous

                                  DLC finally drops, first boss is a basic lord-sworn Miquellan knight boss with beautifully-adorned full plate and spells like Elden Stars, Rings of Light, Wrath of Gold. Suddenly at 50% health he smashes his sword into the stone tile, breaking it, rips his helmet off, and reveals his eyes have melted and the inside of his regal plate helmet looks like a Fanta slushie. Phase 2 Gael but with Frenzy. For some reason a Crucible Knight is there too.

                                  • Anonymous

                                    Guys did you know there are going to be more madness weapons? To see them look up “how can I get away with domestic terrorism”

                                    • Anonymous

                                      >go to that one Sauron tower ruin
                                      >get high madness from being uncovered near the tower
                                      >get hit by the rats, get mad, die
                                      >go back
                                      >take cover at high madness
                                      >get hit by the ****ing rat near the one rock
                                      >mad
                                      >rat doesn't care and finishes me off
                                      >lose almost a level worth of runes

                                      "Game design is my passion"

                                      • Anonymous

                                        i get that this is supposed to be like the equivalent to sleep as bleed is to frost, or rot is to poison, but they should've made it just drain more fp. the damage + stun + fp drain is just too much to deal with

                                        • Anonymous

                                          I wish there was a frenzyflame based boss, because even the boss of the yelough anix ruins in consecrated snowfields is just a ctrl + v of astel.

                                          • Anonymous

                                            Crazy they made an entire element with a lot of involvement in the world and it straight up doesn't affect anything but other players lol

                                            • Anonymous

                                              Considering how the entire concept of the Frenzied Flame got its own quests, plural, and an entire ending with a cutscene different than the "sit on the throne" ones, just like Age of Stars... I really wish we had more frenzied flame weapons with madness build-up and everything, not just Vyke's War Spear and the Fingerprint Stone Shield (which is not even technically a weapon). Like, I love the spear, but I do hope we get at least one new frenzied flame unique weapon in Shadow of the Erdtree, or even an Ash of War.

                                              • Anonymous

                                                I’d love if Fromsoft removed this from the game entirely. “It’s only useful in PvP!” Yeah ok bro but it’s broken as f uck in pvp. I bet you dual wield Vyke spears and gank invaders 3v1

                                                • Anonymous

                                                  At least lore-wise, it makes no sense that this can't affect more things. I mean we see plenty of other things affected by Madness. Knights, nobles, rats, even trolls. I don't know how you'd make it's effect unique, considering it's basically a mix between bleed and sleep, but I wish it could be used on things other than "Are they an NPC or player?"

                                                  • Anonymous

                                                    am I allowed to think that some of the first ways the people tried to "cure" madness was to pour water in a mad persons eyes because of the whole "Flame" of Frenzy thing.

                                                    • Anonymous

                                                      Just me spitballing here but I think it’ll be cool if they give this a different effect for non player like enemies so It’ll be more enticing to use things that proc madness in PvE maybe something like it deals a small initial burst of damage but then adds a short burn afterward maybe something similar to the black flame effect (the enemies eyes are on fire?) or instead of the burn a chunk of poise damage?

                                                      • Anonymous

                                                        I’m on Day 2 of a COVID infection and it increasingly feels like madness buildup (getting worse). I also keep looking out my window (nighttime) at a lighter tree and find myself straining my eyes to see a golden seed. Yep, way way to many hours put into this game to the point of blurred lines betweeen fantasy and reality (ala EQ 1999-2003). !

                                                        • Anonymous

                                                          I think It should make npcs and mobs attack any living thing nearby, that say It could be a little more useful in PVP

                                                          • Anonymous

                                                            Being rewarded for missing attacks shouldn't be a thing.

                                                            Madness working on more enemies should be a thing.

                                                            Change my mind.

                                                            • Anonymous

                                                              why are so many affected by it canonically yet such a specific type of people are affected by it in gameplay?

                                                              obviously soldiers and knights are just people and are seen suffering from it, yet theyre immune? what happened here? same goes for death blight

                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                I love making a build that revolves around something that has no effect on anything in the actual game, or that they made so many abilities for it, only for it to be useless.

                                                                With that said, if madness is intended for pvp, then i suppose that means invaders just want the world to burn...literally and metaphorically :D i see what you did there fromsoft

                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                  It's so annoying to deal with this in pvp with phantom hits, just a few phantom hits and the enemy gets a free hit :(

                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                    Ba-ba-ba-ba
                                                                    Brrrat-dat-da-da-da, da
                                                                    Ga-ga-ga-ga
                                                                    Brrr-ah-da-da-da, brrr-ah-da-da-da
                                                                    Brrr-ah-da-da-da, brrr-ah-da-da-da
                                                                    Brrr-ah-rrr-ah, brrr-ah-gat-gat-ga
                                                                    Rude-rude-rude-rude-woo!

                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                      A very interesting status effect that's obviously new to the series. Unfortunately it doesn't see much use since most enemies can't inflict it nor have it inflicted upon them as well. A missed opportunity? Perhaps we'll see more use of it in the DLC. Scaling that madness tower was a fun challenge/puzzle the first playthrough though.

                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                        It’s like bleed except when it procs you are forced to stand still for 5 seconds completely vulnerable with no option to defend yourself, isn’t that fair?

                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                          I wish this worked on more enemies, after all it has an entire ending dedicated to it, yet its almost useless for other things than pvp

                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                            They need to put in a hotfix that disables madness entirely in PVP until they can fix the phantom status build-up.

                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                              imagine a katana that does madness buildup. faith scaling katana and all that. could call it “chaos blade.” a totally unique name that i came up with myself

                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                Ah, Kos.. or some say Kosm. Do you hear our prayers? As you once did for the vacuous rom, grant us eyes, grant us eyes. Plant eyes in our brains to cleanse our beastly idiocy. The grand lake of mud, hidden now from sight... The COSMOS OF COURSE! we can sit about and speak feverishly, chatting into the wee hours of new ideas of the higher plane!













                                                                                AWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO

                                                                                OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                  using madness only incants with a mimic tear i as able to proc madness on the dragon guarding Farum Azula. it put a weird orange cloud over his head and he couldnt use fp. is there anything else other than humanoid weak to madness?

                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                    Madness should have been to Faith builds what Frostbite is to Intelligence.
                                                                                    Make it a weapon infusion with Faith scaling, fire split damage and madness build up.
                                                                                    And let it affect humanoid enemies: soldiers, burger kings, knights, battle mages, nobles, commoners, ancestral followers, perfumers, bk assassins, miners, crucible knights, nox, kaiden, zamor, omen killers, bulgar militia etc.. so it's not worthless in PvE.

                                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                                      Yes, an AOW for madness would be cool, but I think it is well balance at least for lvl 40-130, even further if you use the double spear build. Flame of Frenzy works well on bosses regarding poise, burst is nice to have as a back up range (both with low level investment), howl works with increased physical Defence to raise attack for sudden attacks on higher lvl and combining Vykes Spear with Bestial Sling gives you decent attack/defense maneuvers.
                                                                                      What’s really missing a madness enchantment, how cool would it be to look at your own weapon, covering it with burning freakin lasers and then go literally madevil on your opponents asses…

                                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                                        The way this procs should have changed if you were embraced by the frenzied flame. It should have been canceled out altogether or restore health or something. Not only does it have the longest combat animation once it procs, it’s missing major story components that should change the effect on the player.

                                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                                          The weapons and attacks with this weapon should stack on the player when used. It’s almost like the madness isn’t really madness it acts more like a psychic attack, which it’s not. It’s Chaos. Make it chaotic.

                                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                                            I feel like Madness should be able to be procced on everything with a clear mind that Lifesteal Fist can grapple.

                                                                                            Not a crazy amount of stuff by any stretch but enough to make it PvE viable too, apart from raw spell damage.

                                                                                            • It'd be nice if it affected any humanoid enemy, there are a few enemies that are clearly afflicted by madness in the game, some soldiers, knights and villagers, but you can only inflict it yourself on NPC invaders, some Tarnished enemies and other players...

                                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                                I require an ash of war that does madness NOW (if you dare mention vykes war spear I will rip your eyes out so they can't witness the true beauty of madness flame"

                                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                                  a nice change to madness is to not have arcane increase madness build-up, but rather faith as all the incantations and weapons that deal with madness scale with faith, but have the build-up be reduced compared to arcane so as to not do too much damage AND proc madness alot.

                                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                                    There are Miranda Flowers that cause frenzy. They are black and near that big frenzy flame tower near the Church of Inhibition.

                                                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                                                      gideon ofnir as a boss can be afflicted with madness, tho is seems to be quite high as it was was finished him off after he had healed too

                                                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                                                        Really wish there was a madness infusion, would love to have something similar to cold infusion but for faith builds. The fact that faith infusions completely destroy physical with no alternative is extremely annoying, and faith is in desperate need of a good status in PvP.

                                                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                                                          So the hints say that only humans can be afflicted with madness. Does becoming a dragon by way of dragon communion help mitigate this?

                                                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                                                            death doesn't work in pve and neither does madness, i really don't know what the game had in mind for those two status other than pvp.

                                                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                                                              Under enemies that cause madness section some mention of the MIranda plants that do this should be mentioned. They're near Vyke and also in Ansel River where you're teleported from Renna's Rise.

                                                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                                                Okay, so I think this is how it works: Everything started with the One Great, as Hyetta explains. Two fingers plus three make a hand, after all. This was a state of nothingness, where everything was blended together. However, the Greater Will decided to create individual life and souls. That was when pain and sorrow came into the world, as beings who were once part of the same entity could now come into opposition to one another.

                                                                                                                There are two sources of Madness we see in the game: Either someone else inflicts you with it, or you're driven to the brink by the things that have happened to you. The important thing to remember is that Madness in Elden Ring isn't merely a psychological condition, it physically manifests as flame in people that have lost their minds. You (and some enemies) can literally use this flame to attack people.

                                                                                                                The Flame of Frenzy was also summoned into this world by the Nomadic Merchant tribe after they had been buried alive by Golden Order fanatics. This situation is similar to what you find on Mt. Gelmir, which, as Gideon will inform you, was stage for "the most appalling battle in the entirety of the Shattering."

                                                                                                                It seems to me, then, that the Flame of Frenzy is part of all creatures in the Lands Between. But only after having been completely violated by the current order, or after having been spurned by it like the Tarnished, will it take hold in them - a curse that manifests from pure despair, the desire to end a world that one considers cruel and beyond repair.

                                                                                                                This might seem evil at first, but there's actually an incredibly rare drop you can get from those horrifying screaming Albinaurics you can find at Volcano Manor. It's the "Black Dumpling" headpiece, and its description reads:

                                                                                                                "Mask forced on a victim's head to lend torture an extra degree of cruelty. It magnifies one's fears and makes them acutely aware of all forms of pain. When the Black Dumpling goes on, the torturer no longer seeks answers; only to inflict suffering without hope of relief."

                                                                                                                It is the only piece of armor I'm aware of that trriggers a special effect after the Madness gauge is filled. The Lands Between are a pretty horrifying place.

                                                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                                                  Madness barely works in PVE but is fantastic in PVP wish it would proc against all humanoids would make madness so much better

                                                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                                                    But what's the lore behind it? There is a tower with a village next to it and a good chunk of volcano manor is affected too. But where does it come from? I also noticed some soldiers eating their comrades in the volcano manor region, so is it like a curse that affects people who do horrible things?

                                                                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                                                                      I actually love this status effect, has interesting lore behind it and the incantations have a deeply visceral feel to them.

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