One of the best PvE Incantations in Elden Ring, Golden Vow is relatively inexpensive and buffs your damage and defense for 80 seconds by default. It doesn’t have the fastest cast time, but it isn’t as long as other buffing Incantations, making Golden Vow useful throughout the Lands Between.
This Elden Ring guide tells you where how to find Golden Vow and what it takes to use it.
Where to Find the Golden Vow Incantation in Elden Ring
You’ll find the Golden Vow Incantation shortly after entering Mt. Gelmir via the bridge in the northwest of the Altus Plateau. Continue past the Bridge of Inequity Site of Grace, through the soldier camp with the iron virgin.
Keep to the northernmost path that travels deeper into the mountainside. You’ll encounter a small shack, the Corpse-Stench Shack, on your right.
If you’re riding Torrent, you’ll automatically dismount as you get close to the shack, Anastasia, Tarnished-Eater, will invade you. She’s got a mean meat cleaver, and it hits like a motorcycle doing 90. Defeat her, and you’ll have free reign of a broken-down shack. The corpse in the Corpse-Stench Shack holds Golden Vow.
Unless you’re already playing a Faith build, you probably can’t use this Incantation right away. Golden Vow requires 25 Faith even to cast, but the 15% PvE buff to damage and 10% increase to PvE damage resistance is well worth the expenditure.
With patch 1.04, almost every Incantation saw some kind of buff, either to its cast or recovery time or even its damage. Many of the ones that improve your stats or heal don’t cost much more than 25 Faith to cast, and almost all the dragon breath Incantations are also fairly stat-cheap.
Golden Vow isn’t quite as effective in PvP, seeing both buffs cut in half. It still lasts 80 seconds and does stack with the bonuses granted by the Flame, Grant Me Strength Incarnation. It does overwrite any other spell that decreases damage, such as Barrier of Gold. As magic of all kinds is very powerful in PvP right now, especially after 1.04, there are better defensive choices than Golden Vow.
That shouldn’t stop you from equipping Golden Vow for almost any boss fight. Combine it with spells like Blessings Boon, Flame, Grant Me Strength, and the weapon buff of your choice to maximize both damage and mitigation potential. You can even add the Beastial Incantations from feeding Deathroot to Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman. Our Elden Ring guides hub has many more tips, weapon and spell locations, and more.
