Pest Threads

pest threads incantation elden ring wiki guide 200px
Spell Type Servants of Rot Incantations
FP Cost 19 Slots Used 1
item effects icon elden ring wiki guide 55px 18pxEffect
Launches countless sticky threads before caster

attributes required elden ring wiki guide 18Requires

Pest Threads is an Incantation in Elden Ring. Pest Threads spell conjures sticky threads that deal damage to enemies.

 

Incantation of the servants of rot.

Secretes countless sticky threads, launching them forwards.

A technique of the pale pests who crawl through the lands afflicted by scarlet rot; the abandoned children of the goddess.
"Do you have an interest in rot incantations?"

 

Where to find Pest Threads

Where to find Pest Threads:

 

Elden Ring Pest Threads Guide

  • Servants of Rot Incantation
  • Stamina Cost: 29
  • Deals Standard Damage and 1 Stance damage per hit
  • Can hit as few as 6 times on smaller enemies to as many as 30 times for larger enemies
  • Very good tracking, therefore can be useful against smaller targets.
  • This incantation can do extremely high damage to large boss enemies, even without a significant amount of optimization 
    • This is because the projectiles do damage to every piece of geometry they pass though, and the wings/arms/legs of larger bosses are counted separately 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
Elden Ring Incantations
Agheel's Flame  ♦  Ancient Dragons' Lightning Spear  ♦  Ancient Dragons' Lightning Strike  ♦  Aspects of the Crucible: Breath  ♦  Aspects of the Crucible: Horns  ♦  Aspects of the Crucible: Tail  ♦  Barrier of Gold  ♦  Beast Claw  ♦  Bestial Constitution  ♦  Bestial Sling  ♦  Bestial Vitality  ♦  Black Blade  ♦  Black Flame  ♦  Black Flame's Protection  ♦  Black Flame Blade  ♦  Black Flame Ritual  ♦  Blessing's Boon  ♦  Blessing of the Erdtree  ♦  Bloodboon  ♦  Bloodflame Blade  ♦  Bloodflame Talons  ♦  Borealis's Mist  ♦  Burn O Flame!  ♦  Catch Flame  ♦  Cure Poison  ♦  Darkness  ♦  Death Lightning  ♦  Discus of Light  ♦  Divine Fortification  ♦  Dragonbolt Blessing  ♦  Dragonclaw  ♦  Dragonfire  ♦  Dragonice  ♦  Dragonmaw  ♦  Ekzykes's Decay  ♦  Elden Stars  ♦  Electrify Armament  ♦  Erdtree Heal  ♦  Fire's Deadly Sin  ♦  Flame Fall Upon Them  ♦  Flame Fortification  ♦  Flame of the Fell God  ♦  Flame Protect Me  ♦  Fortissax's Lightning Spear  ♦  Frenzied Burst  ♦  Frozen Lightning Spear  ♦  Giantsflame Take Thee  ♦  Glintstone Breath  ♦  Golden Lightning Fortification  ♦  Golden Vow (Spell)  ♦  Great Heal  ♦  Greyoll's Roar  ♦  Heal  ♦  Honed Bolt  ♦  Howl of Shabriri  ♦  Immutable Shield  ♦  Inescapable Frenzy  ♦  Lansseax's Glaive  ♦  Law of Causality  ♦  Law of Regression  ♦  Lightning Fortification  ♦  Lightning Spear  ♦  Lightning Strike  ♦  Litany of Proper Death  ♦  Lord's Aid  ♦  Lord's Divine Fortification  ♦  Lord's Heal  ♦  Magic Fortification  ♦  Magma Breath  ♦  Noble Presence  ♦  O Flame!  ♦  Order's Blade  ♦  Order Healing  ♦  Placidusax's Ruin  ♦  Poison Armament  ♦  Poison Mist  ♦  Protection of the Erdtree  ♦  Radagon's Rings of Light  ♦  Rejection  ♦  Rotten Breath  ♦  Scarlet Aeonia  ♦  Scouring Black Flame  ♦  Shadow Bait  ♦  Smarag's Glintstone Breath  ♦  Stone of Gurranq  ♦  Surge O Flame!  ♦  Swarm of Flies  ♦  The Flame of Frenzy  ♦  Theodorix's Magma  ♦  Triple Rings of Light  ♦  Unendurable Frenzy  ♦  Urgent Heal  ♦  Vyke's Dragonbolt  ♦  Whirl O Flame!  ♦  Wrath of Gold



Register to EDIT the Wiki!
    • Anonymous

      I was pretty septic with pest threads, the few time i used it it was very underwhelming, after reading some comments here i tried again and now i understand. With the Clawmark seal +19 and 60str it blasted the Black Blade Kindred and the dragon on the bridge not far from the bestial sanctum, the trick was to get really close, i only used pest threads and did one riposte on each with my weapon, it's staying in my memorized spells from now on

      • Anonymous

        It works well against any red wolf.
        Pest Threads and Night Maiden's Mist are my favorite magic in the game.

        • Anonymous

          however, at the moment of this spell's purchase, the player will have already found better alternatives

          How could you possibly know that... Keep your opinions to yourself and just include the information relating to the specific subject.
          almost every page has irrelevant info and opinion.

          • Anonymous

            The best cosmos shark slug killer, low-key yet op as hell on most big bosses.

            9/10 incant, only downside is range.

            • Anonymous

              Pest Threads is a weird incantation. It's cheap. It's FP efficient and it does a ridiculous sum of damage, once you realize that you just need an S scaling Seal. You don't even need to lock-on an enemy, just shred the Dragon(s) with it. You'll get what I mean.

              • Anonymous

                Tested this today on my faith build for the first time today, first Fire Giant then Adula. Comments state that you have to get really close but it does annihilate super huge bosses from close. Giant was too mobile but staying right under Adula did 50% in two casts with 80 faith

                • Anonymous

                  Underrated spell if you're looking to cheese big bosses

                  Normally when you hit anything in ER, it adds that specific attack to its list of things to not take damage from again ( so you don't hit the same target multiple times with one swing ), when it comes to big bosses, each of their separate internally labelled body parts counts as a unique entity to hit, since this spell has several projectiles that keep going until they reach the "center" of a target, one thread can hit up to several times for a crazy amount of damage. Astel, Fire Giant, and Elden Beast weep when they see you use this

                  • Anonymous

                    There is a hidden feature of this spell that increases its utility by quite a lot. While on your horse, Torrent, this spell once locked onto the enemy does not care for where your character is pointed. Meaning, an enemy can be directly behind you, once you cast this skill it will go directly for them, unlike most other skills which require your character to to some degree be pointed towards your locked-on target.

                    This in my opinion significantly boosts its usefulness is PVE, and makes it excellent for Mongol-Horse-Archering any enemy while running away from it. The only downside is the absurdly low range, which I wish would get buffed.

                    • Anonymous

                      This incantation will wreck any beastie larger than a house. You will need to be right up in its face for maximum devastation, but the sheer power of it is worth the risk.
                      — Courh the Explorer

                      • Anonymous

                        Fire giant, Elden Beast, Rykard,Astel, you name it, if is big it will destroy it.

                        If used for rykard equip the flamedrake talisman and the fire resistant incantation sold by corhyn and go stand next to him, i had erdtree seal (+10) and 70 faith + 10 from wondrous physick and opaline hard tear, i was taking negligible damage from fire, second phase is harder but as long as he doesn't use the fire skull attack (rykard rancor) its easy, just dodge the jump and gg, and dont forget to boost it with golden vow, flock canvas talisman and radagon icon to spam it faster.

                        • Anonymous

                          Just watched a video where a buffed up faith caster killed Elden Beast in under 10 seconds using this. Rofl

                          • confirming the pest threads hype vs Elden beast. i think it took around 10 casts with a max upgrade erdtree seal with 78 faith @ level 150. golden vow may or may not have been active XD

                            • Anonymous

                              To use this properly, you have to be more or less right next or under your target. At that point it does absolutely insane damage, and use the Winged Sword Insignia + flock's and faithful canvas talismans to maximise damage. Winged Sword in particular means each successive hit's going to do more damage. Fortissax and Lansseaxx go down incredibly fast.

                              • Anonymous

                                This is a very strong incantation. Pest Threads does insane damage but with two very large caveats. It's extremely situational and requires two factors to get full value.

                                Firstly, Pest Threads is superior against large enemies like Dragonkin Soldier, Fire Giant, Elden Beast, or dragons.

                                Secondly, Pest Threads seems to have really intense damage falloff at range. To maximize damage with this spell, you need to be in melee range of the large target. If you're farther than melee range, the damage really suffers.

                                Pest Threads also seems to do a ton of poise damage. But, again, this incantation only really gets full value against massive enemies and in melee range. If the enemy is smaller, or you're not in melee range, it will only tickle. Tickle threads at range or against lil enemies.

                                • Anonymous

                                  To the comment after the one below me. I just got the threads from Gowry today. You either too early in Millicent quest line or too late

                                  • Anonymous

                                    A spell so good I have to deliberately withhold it for "oh crap" situations so I don't feel like I'm cheesing the game with it. Not even God itself could have hoped to stand against the might of my S T I C K Y S E C R E T I O N S

                                    • Anonymous

                                      Tested on secluded cell giant and friends, this spell when used while wearing black knife set, is silent. I cast some flame spells on the giant and the friends always noticed, but I could cast dozens of pest threads and kill the giant without them being alerted. Might be useful for your stealth run :)

                                      • Anonymous

                                        Getting hit by this at point blank range actually hurts a lot. Running a glass cannon blue dancer build, i noticed it can take off more than half of someones healthbar in a single cast. In some cases even oneshotting them. Pair that with the impressive tracking & the ability to hit a target multiple times (but only when cast at a target within dagger range) & you have a powerful spell. Not broken, as you can still just use a shield or strafe it in most cases. But pretty good.

                                        • Anonymous

                                          A lot of comments and the page saying this does very good damage to large bosses but that hasn't been my experience with it I've never seen it hit for more than a couple of hundred. I used it on the dragons near fort faroth and I've tried using it on Lansseax but it wasn't worth the FP price of casting it.
                                          Can anyone explain this and if there's something I'm doing wrong or if I'm missing something?

                                          • Anonymous

                                            Did this get nerfed, or am I just not understanding this incantation properly? This did nothing to dragons for me. Nothing. Even with 44 faith. Maybe because I'm a clawmark seal user? Does it need to be a different seal?

                                            • Anonymous

                                              Arguably the best offensive incantation in the game for two main reasons:
                                              1) Unmatched damage against large enemies (ex: dragons, gargoyles, elden beast)
                                              2) Great tracking against mobile enemies (ex: birds, runebears, mounted knights, NPC invaders)

                                              • Anonymous

                                                Aaand now I'm struggling against the Elden Beast and Gowry is all depressed and won't sell anything to me anymore smh

                                                • Anonymous

                                                  The damage this spell deals against larger enemies is absolutely insane. Dragons and especially the Elden Beast get their health bar deleted in a matter of seconds. With the Erdtree Seal at 80 Faith, I'm dealing well over 3000 DPS against the Elden Beast. It's pretty much the Faith equivalent of Astel's Meteorites.

                                                  I believe the reason for its huge damage against large creatures (while being mediocre at best against humanoid enemies) is that it has a rather unique combination of being able to pass through enemy hitboxes while also having good tracking. So each of the projectiles can hit the enemy, pass through its hitbox, turn around, hit it again and again. And if it happens to hit one of the bosses limbs/wings while doing so, it will tick for additional damage too.

                                                  • Anonymous

                                                    This spell is how you kill Rykard without Serpent-Hunter. Absurd scaling with absurdly large enemies. Near-useless on your average enemy, but oh man is this satisfying to delete the healthbars of anything giant.

                                                    • Anonymous

                                                      This is decent for setting up combos, even very simple ones, like Pest Threads -> Lightning Spear. If they get stunned by the threads lightning spear will most likely connect (given enough cast speed)
                                                      But Tiple Rings of Light still is the best setup combo spell faith user have rn. Not much options compared to sorceries, especially after the removal of chain casting in 1.05 unfortunately

                                                      • Anonymous

                                                        Melts tree spirits, and it's easy to do that since you hug them all the time. Wait for it to spit fire and cast one, boom that's 1/5th of its health gone

                                                        • Anonymous

                                                          Does anyone know if this incant is boosted by the (Rotten) Winged Sword Insignia talisman and the Thorny Cracked Tear? Would be kinda crazy.

                                                          • Anonymous

                                                            I just got these and I thought I'd wasted 7500 runes after seeing the disappointing damage it was doing to the marionette enemies near the gate of sellia. But after reading some of these comments I think I might have been a bit quick to write them off as worthless. I'm trying them on the next erdtree avatar or wormface I come across ( I hate both of those boss types)

                                                            • Anonymous

                                                              It does so much damage on larger enemies because every time the threads hit a new piece of geometry, it hits the boss again. That means anything with wings etc. is extremely vulnerable to this. You can maximize damage with this by going in melee range to maximize the number of folds in the boss’s mesh that they pass through.

                                                              The same is true for the discus of light incantation, but it only has “2” projectiles if you count the return.

                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                If you spam this ability in PVP a house centipede will be laying on your junk when you wake up the next morning singing fly like a bird by Mariah Carey

                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                  While absolutely garbage on small targets, this thing shreds large enemies, so its essentially a giant killer.

                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                    If you are struggling on Placidusax or Elden beast then this incant is a must try. You can dish out thousands of damage very quickly if you get just a few seconds opening to cast this at melee range

                                                                    • Tested it out against Placidusax in coop and it's potentially even more broken than Ancient Dragons' Lightning Strike although it is a lot more of a pain to use effectively.

                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                        I think this is actually missable on a playthrough. I didnt go back to Gowry until after the final step of Milicent's Quest. Now he is stuck in a dialog loop, and I can no longer purchase anything. Darn.

                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                          Using this against the Elden Beast with 60 int and 30 faith with +10 Golden order Seal yields near 2000 damage if cast at melee range. Had good results helping out folks as a cooperator.

                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                            I've tried every op incantation on youtube, This beats them all.
                                                                            Kinda sucks vs small targets it's fast low fp and spammable. With 75 faith and +10 erd tree it takes seconds to plow through big bosses.

                                                                            In pvp it's hard to dodge but the damage is a bit lacking

                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                              So after playing a pure faith caster for almost 200 hours, this is the best incantation for pure damage out there. Fast casting speed, low stamina, low FP cost, strong knockback on weaker/light weight foes and extremely high damage on large, heavy targets. The only *possible* downside might be its range but even then; it's just a little shorter than Lightning Spear.
                                                                              You could solely rely on this spell with any faith build and wreck all the content in the game.

                                                                              I decided against using this spell since it trivializes most bosses and negates the use of all the other incantations I could use. This needs a nerf, either to damage, duration, or range.

                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                Highly spammable. Great vs large bodied enemies and nice to have for things weak to physical damage. Highly situational but so good at what it does. S-tier incantation.

                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                  Tracking on this for pvp is actually quite nutty, if they dodge throught it, does a 360 and hit them in the back or side, get hard countered by shield, but nice against two hander or dual build. Does around catch flame damage.

                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                    I gave Millicent the prosthesis and completed her quest by siding with her in co-op.
                                                                                    Visited Gowry and he still doesn't sell this. There's either a bug, or this page is missing something

                                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                                      I just saved Millicent but Gowry only sells Glintstone Stars, Night Shard, and Night Maiden’s Mist. Pest Threads is not showing up for me. Anybody know why? I’ve been looking forward to unlocking it. :(

                                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                                        Something worth noting:

                                                                                        This incant seems to hit multiple times on larger enemies. I'm guessing the hitbox itself refreshes every ~8 frames or so in the context of 60 fps. In other words, on small targets, it'll only hit for the number of threads, but on big targets, a single cast has the potential to hit HUNDREDS of times.

                                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                                          I killed him pretty early in the game and he turned into a bug and didn't drop anything. Just went back and he had resurrected some how lmao but did drop everythin

                                                                                          • You can also buy it from Gowry once he returns to his shack after Millicent visits it. I haven’t killed him in my playthrough so I can’t say if his bell allows you to buy it.

                                                                                          Load more
                                                                                          ⇈ ⇈