The guide containt minor spoilers especially about items and their location, i won't say anything about bosses if it need to be defeated to claim an item tho.

I'm not a pro especially not in term of stats application so i won't go deep into that aspect.

I will probably update this guide if anything new come to me since i haven't finished everything in the game yet.

Thanks to the main wiki https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Elden+Ring+Wiki


Thanks to that guide
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2765060616

Interactive map
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2766530622

Well since you will focus being a mage/summon you will go mostly in to INT, FAITH and MIND so picking a class with high level of any of those is wise, yet i do not recommend Astrologer, why would you ask me? Simple since you will not use the Astrologer staff at all, there is a much better and stronger staff available right at the beginning without killing anything: Meteorite staff with its spell rock sling (see below for it's location).
I personnaly took Confessor for his high faith and the sword is good to begin with.

Alright so you got your class. Now we need to level up a bit to get some good stats and get some proper items so let's start with the items.
What do a mage need? I will notify each items if they are easy to get at the beginning or not, some of them you need to kill a boss for example which can be very hard early game.

-Staff (Meteorite staff is pretty easy to get early game)
-Memory stones (increase slots for spells, you start wiith only 2 slots)
-Sword (This will be the hardest one to pickup)
-Spells (There are plenty everywhere)
-Spell books (To discover more spells)
-Summons (A must have as a ranged specialized)
-Talisman (To increase specific things depend of your playstyle)
-Tears and Physick flask

First the summon bell, you can get it right after you first meet Melina in the third Grace you activate, you just have to go back to the Church of Elleh probably the very first ruin you find right at the beginning, there you will see a witch who will give you the bell and Wolves summon spell.

If you explore too far the witch won't spawn anymore (happen to me) so the second way to get the bell is in the Roundtable the twin merchant will sell both the bell and wovles to you for cheap.



Now we get into the staff:




















The location of those is right here:
There are ruins on this area (see map below) the staff is on a body hanging on a windows of a ruin and the spell is slightly farther in a underground cave in a chest.








The staff is already maxed and it increase damage on Gravity magic (purple spells) and so that why you will use this one a lot early-mid game, for the end game, increasing some other staff will do better job.

Here the list of memory stones to increase your spell slots:

Reachable right at the beginning:
-Red circle: Oridys's Rise you need to kill 3 turtle to get inside (look up wiki or video)
-Green circle: Testu's Rise same as above
-Yellow circle: Lenne's Rise use the stream with Torment to reach the balcony
-Blue circle: Converted Tower

Mid-game (all 3 are boss locked)
-Purple circle: Raya Lucaria academy mid boss kill reward
-Pink circle: 3 Sisters tower unlocked only if you kill Carian manor boss
unshown on the map: Volcano hermit village boss kill

Here we get into the main arsenal of a mage, spells and incantations, you can setup your spells from any Grace:











You can buy spells to different merchant and mages, also you can find Prayerbooks you will give to either the Lady or the Turtle for them to teach you more spells.

Merchant location:
-Blue circle: Sellen sell basic spells, can learn prayerbooks
-Green circle: Rogier sell basic spells, can be found in round table after some story event
-Red circle: Thops sell basic spells
-Purple circle: Gowry sell basic spells (his quest need to be done in order to become merchant)
-Orange circle: Turtle boi sell basic and expensive spells, can learn prayerbooks

Most of spells aren't that expensive and you can just buy them all and test them out by yourself, they do not sell every game spells, some can be found and some are boss rewards.

Prayer books location:

-Red circle: Assassin's book roundtable
Can be found behind the second Imp Statue door in Roundtable Hold. The first door will require one Key to open, and the second door behind the first requires two keys to open, totaling three keys.
-Pink circle: Somewhere in stormveil castle Godskin book
From the arch doorway exiting to the courtyard, make a hard left and you'll see a set of stairs that goes underground. You'll find a room that is guarded by three Rats, and ahead, is a doorway that is blocked by a white fog. To dispel this, you will need to use a Stonesword Key on the Imp Statue. You'll find a stock room upon unlocking the doorway, the room has a treasure chest where the book is.
-Blue circle: Dragon cult book
Liurnia of the Lakes: Dropped by Golden Knight patrolling the road outside of Artist's Shack Site of Grace
-Green circle: Fire monk book
Liurnia of the Lakes: Found on a corpse in a Fire Monk outpost on the southern landmass. Accessible via the southwest of the lake.
-Purple circle: Ancient dragon book
somwhere in Crumbling Faram Azula
-Orange circle: Two finger book in the capital AND golden order principia book
two finger: Fortified Manor, First Floor: in the Leyndell Royal Capital
golden order: From the Erdtree Sanctuary site in Leyndell, Royal Capital. Go up a root. Then go through door and jump down to a roof. Circle back into the building and climb up a root to loot this from a corpse sitting in a chair in mid air.
unshown on the map: Giant book in snowy area
Inside a chest at the very top of Guardian's Garrison in Mountaintops of the Giants.


Scrolls location they can be given to Sellen for more spells:
Royal house scroll
Head southeast from the Agheel Lake South site of grace, head to the top of a cliff and you'll see a statue of an object that looks like the half piece of a bowl or a circle. Face the other way, to see a Knight. Keep going to a structure to see a man standing watching over the big structure, alongside a dead body. In that body, you will find the Royal House Scroll.
Academy scroll
Found in the graveyeard just by the starting Site of Grace of Liurnia of the Lakes, Lake-Facing Cliffs. Guarded by several Skeletons.
Conspectus scroll
Can be found near the Great Hall of the Raya Lucaria Academy. From the doorway, go left and you'll find a room, there is a body that you can loot to find the scroll.



Here is my favorite spells so far, and useful in different situations/bosses i won't list them all there are way too many:

Carian Greatsword, close combat Can be purchased from Miriel, Pastor of Vows at the Church of Vows for runes currency elden ring wiki guide 18 10,000 Runes.









Glintstone Arc:
-Dropped by Teardrop Scarab in the southern portion of Agheel Lake in Limgrave, where Giant Crabs dwell. Beware of a Giant Crab ambush!
-Starting Item for the Astrologer
-Can be purchased from Sorceress Sellen for 1500 Runes. Sellen is located in Limgrave: Waypoint Ruins








Glintstone Pebble:
-Starting Spell for the Astrologer
-Can be purchased from Sorceress Sellen for 1000 Runes. Sellen is located in Limgrave: Waypoint Ruins








Loretta's Greatbow:
Carian Manor boss reward








Greatblade Phalanx:
Cockoo's Evergaol boss reward








Rock Sling
Get it next to the Meteorite staff as mentionned upper









Black Flame:
Turtle boi after giving him the Godskin Prayerbook.








Lightning Strike:
Purchase from Brother Corhyn or Miriel, Pastor of Vows after giving either the Dragon Cult Prayerbook








Great Heal:
Sold by Brother Corhyn after he moves to Altus Plateau.








Additional infos:
You can have Dragon power each dragon boss you kill, you will get a heart from them and it will unlock a set of power in a Dragon Communion altar:
you will need to raise your Arcane if you want to use them or use the Silver Tear Mask to gain +8 Arcane. (Dropped from Mimic Tear boss)

This one is quite hard to reach and to get even tho it's open and you can go right at the beginning the sword of Night and Flame is really overpowered for mages because it has 2 magical attacks: Laser beam (long range which is really really useful and insane) and the Flame hit (close range and as powerful), i am still using that sword almost endgame. Here it's location in the Carian manor:
In a locked room behind the gardens in the east. This room is accessible from the walkways above. You can get onto the walkways through the chapel building in the west









There is many dangerous enemies inside the manor you can rush through everything but it will be hard to reach BUT with your staff and all different spells we have it's not impossible.












Take note that you will need to have
24 INT and 24 FAITH to use it

Those are incredibly useful and can be powerful everything depend on the situation where you use them and which spirit you will use, for example the Jelly fish make almost no damage yet it is very tanky and can easily take enemy aggro which will let you make the damage in peace.
You can also upgrade them like you do with your weapons, i do not recommend to upgrade any spirit that won't be used in endgame like that jelly fish.

Here a small list of good and useful spirits:

Lone Wolf (early game utility)
You obtain it either from the witch or the twin merchant at the round table











Jellyfish (early game utility)
-Looted from a corpse in Stormhill, to the northwest where all the Jellyfish and grave stones are located.
-In Stormhill Shack there's a Woman with a Red Hood that will lend you x1 Spirit Jellyfish Ashes by talking to her several times.












Ancestral Follower (mid game utility)
Dropped by Ancestor Spirit in the Siofra river.












Archer (mid game utility)
Found on a corpse tucked behind a building in Nokstella, Eternal City











Skeletal Militiaman (mid game utility)
Obtained when defeating the Tibia Mariner Field Boss in Summonwater Village.












Greatshield soldier (end game utility upgrade recommended can tank a lot of bosses)
Found on a corpse in a graveyard in Nokron, Eternal City guarded by a Fallen Hawks Soldier.












Mimic Tear (end game utility, basically a copy of yourself who can use all your arsenal spell included upgrade highly recommended this spirit is god tier)
Found in a chest locked behind an imp statue door in Night's Sacred Ground















Take note that there is a lot of different spirit of any kind and each one has different utility depending the type of boss you fight, up to you to make your own test.

Here we are looking for a unique flask to grant you special bonuses depend how you mix the ressources inside (everything can be reused infinitely) the flask only last 1 shot until you rest on a Grace kinda like health and FP flask.
You can boost HP, Stamina, FP, Damage etc etc... You can find ressources to mix to any tree (dropped from tree boss) some are randomly placed in the world too.




















You can find the flask at the Church or Marika right here:

i won't detail each method to farm EXP since you can check on youtube there are plenty of different spot all depend your current level but i have 2 recommendation:

If you just started or below level 50 you should do the boulder method which give you 2000 xp every 30 seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl8GFpgCBRk&t=90s

And the other one is to kill little black creatures that give you 1000 exp there are about 10-15 of them located just above the boulder area between Bestial Sanctum and Farum Greatbridge (see below in red the boulder and blue the killing spree arena)


































I also highly recommend to get the Golden Scarab talisman to increase permanently your EXP gain but it is a boss reward which can be pretty though at the beginning but the earlier you get it the faster you will grind.
It is located in the Abandonned cave, boss reward:

After all it is all up to you and how you like to play, use whatever you enjoy and you feel confident.

Also i haven't finished the whole game nor explored/obtained everything so the guide may lack of some informations if you want to add up your knowledge feel free to comment i will be pleased to add it to the guide if it is useful.