Sunday, April 3, 2022

ELDEN RING - Collection of Tips for Both New and Vet Players (No Spoilers)

This is a collection of useful tips and info I've found while playing the game. I'm making this from the phone so the formatting/details won't be perfect right off the bat but the information is there. I'll work on making it more orderly and and fleshing it out to be more detailed over time. If you have anything you think should be added, please let me know.

Tips for First Time Souls Players AKA Souls is Different

1. Don't be a murder hobo(unless you just really want to). Killing NPCs will lock you out of questlines that give amazing rewards when completed. You never know how useful an NPC will be and you'll get very little besides temporary personal satisfaction for killing them.

2. NPCs can sometimes be killed by enemies. Be careful.

3. **THERE IS NO BUYBACK MENU!!!!** Selling anything that isn't a Rune is a generally bad idea. There are lots of weapons, armor, talismans, and other such items that you can't get back once they are gone.

4. You have Unlimited Storage Space in your bag, however if you want to clean it up a bit, rather than selling you can put it in a Storage Chest. To access your Storage Chest, go sit at any Grace and choose the option.

5. Enemies USUALLY respawn but chests do not and items on the ground do not.

6. Leave Item will drop the item on the ground where you or someone else can pick it up. Discard Item deletes the item forever.

7. Runes are used as both a currency for buying things and for leveling up

8. If you die, ALL of your Runes drop on the ground. However you can retrieve them if you go back and pick them if. WARNING!!! If you die before grabbing them, they are gone forever.

9. Cater your build to your playstyle rather than catering your playstyle to your build. What do you usually like to do? The game will be much more enjoyable if you use this method. However, no matter your build, putting points into Vigor is not a bad idea as it governs how much health you have. You can always respec later for big damage.

10. Be wary opening chests....

11. You can Dual-Wield 2 weapons of the same type by equipping one in each hand. While doing this, the LT/L2 will activate the R-Hand Weapons special attack and the LB/L1 will attack with both Weapons in a single motion.

12. Strength is the only stat that you don’t actually need to meet the full requirements to use. If you 2-hand a weapon, your strength with the weapon is increased by 50%. So if a weapon needs 18 Strength, then you need 12 strength to use it when 2-handing. You can 2-hand by holding Y/Triangle and pressing either LB/L1 or RB/R1.

13. So if you see a weapon that needs multiple stat requirements to wield, focus on the non-strength requirement first to use the weapon as early as possible.

14. Torches can be equipped to light up dark environments but the Lantern works better as it frees up your hand.

15. Playing with friends is fun but remember that if you Summon OTHER PLAYERS, Boss Enemies Health will increase to compensate. This doesn't happen with NPC Summons.

16. If you Summon other Players to help you run through an area, you can be invaded by Enemy Players.

Tips that are new in Elden Ring

1. You can pass time at any Sight of Grace. Note that some things only appear at certain times of day and may not appear if you pass time at the Grace right next to them. So re-explore areas at different times to find more stuff or solve problems you may be having.

2. The first merchant you should meet has an item that unlocks crafting. Crafting allows you to make items that you have the recipe for and you can acquire more recipes from Crafting Books. Crafting Books can be bought from merchants or found throughout the world.

3. Don’t be afraid to use items that look common, there are tons of Crafting Books in the game and you can make more.

4. Rune Arcs activate whatever Great Rune you have equipped. You can’t equip Great Runes until you activate them at certain locations. The locations to Activate them are on the same general map area as where you get them. Once you do equip them, the Rune Arc will activate them until your next death, making it a very useful item for exploring/bossing. Hint: The Great Rune you are most likely to get first can be activated immediately after getting it provided you go to the correct location while other may or may not be ready to activate depending on what you’ve done so far.

5. Spirit Ashes require you to have the Summoning Bell to use. They summon an ally to help you kill enemies much like a summon does but they do not add more health to bosses.

6. There are 2 types of Spirit Ashes. Normal and Special. As a general rule, Special Spirit Ashes are much stronger than Normal Spirit Ashes. A good way to approximate their strength is by checking their FP cost, but this isn’t universal as different builds and different bosses may have different needs.

7. Remembrances are items dropped by specific bosses, being a replacement for Boss Souls. They can be used to gain a ton of extra souls however this is usually a wasteful use of them. When you get your first Remembrance, you will gain access to an NPC that will allow you to trade your Remembrance for special items, spells, and equipment that can’t be acquired elsewhere.

8. There are giant stone turtle things with buildings on their back known as Walking Mausoleums. You can enter them by breaking all the skulls on 2 of their legs. They will stop moving forever and you can enter the building. Inside the building you can activate the center to create a duplicate of any Remembrance(Boss Soul) you’ve earned so far. This allows you to get both Remembrance rewards for that item in a single playthrough.

9. Golden Seeds replace Flask Shards and there are more Golden Seeds in the game than you can possibly use. The max amount of Flasks is 14 and even though they go up in cost to upgrade each time, you will still have more than enough Golden Seeds for everything.

10. There are also more Stonesword Keys in the game than you can use, so don't be stingy in using them

11. There is an item known as a Bell Bearing that is dropped by any NPC that sells anything. Taking this Bell Bearing to the Twin Maiden Husks will let you buy that NPCs items from them, but if they were supposed to add inventory later, you will not get that added inventory.

12. If you hear a gentle tinkling sound nearby, it means a Dung Beetle is near. Kill it for stuff. Red ones give you Health Flasks back. Blue ones give Magic Flasks back. And the Normal ones give weapon upgrade materials and Ashes of War.

13. Ashes of War allow you to change weapon skills on normal weapons. They can be applied and taken off at will so don’t be afraid to test them out. This is also how you change your weapon type which allows you to increase it’s damage further than normally possible.

14. Getting on and off your horse has i-frames. So if you're worried about getting hit and want to dodge roll on the horse, just jump off of it instead by pressing on the left stick.

15. If you plan to 2-hand on a horse, you have to be 2-handing the weapon when you get on for it to work properly.

16. Also, you can switch to your off-hand weapon while horseback, just press and hold Y/Triangle and press either LB/L1 or RB/R1 to swap hands.

17. In Order to make the map show color and display areas, you need to find map items. These can be found by looking at the brown spots on your map and finding a little pillar symbol drawn on the map. At those pillars are the map pieces.

18. The Tombstone Symbol that sometimes appears in the bottom-left corner of the screen means that you can Summon your Spirit Ashes, helpful PvE companions that are found throughout the game.

19. If you see the Tombstone Symbol, it usually means that there is a boss nearby or a very large group of enemies. Once the boss or the enemies are defeated, the spirit will disappear.

20. There are large circles of wind around the map. If you are on your horse, you can jump high into the air but they can also be used to fall on. No matter the height, as long as you are on your horse and you land on or in the general area of one of these circles, you won’t take any damage.

21. Some Bosses only appear at night, so try exploring every overworld area at night if you want to find them.

22. You can leave markers on the map by pressing x/square while on the map. There are different symbols so you can differentiate what you want and it stays on that character through New Game+. This is useful for marking Merchants, NPCs, Imp Statues, Walking Mausoleums, and Field Bosses for later.

23. There is an item known as a Wondrous Physick that gives you a single, reusable potion that you can customize to have various effects.

24. You can also free up the amount of items you scroll through by putting them in your Pouch instead. To do this, open your menu and go over to the Pouch on the right. Here you can put 4 items that you can access at anytime outside the menu by holding down Y/Triangle and clicking the d-pad in the direction you want. I recommend putting your Horse, Spirit Ashes, Flask of Wondrous Physick, and a Lantern. I recommend these because you can more easily remember to do this outside of battle rather than trying to hold down and click a button in the middle of a fight.

25. Your horse can be killed, but it can be resurrected as long as you have a health flask left.

26. This game recognizes inputs. So if you press "use spell" enemy will react to your input of the spell usage, not the actual spell itself. The same goes for dodge-rolling, basic attacks, and anything else. The AI knows you are panic rolling and will wait until you stop to hit you.

27. This game remembers inputs. So if you press attack 3 times, it will attack 3 times as long as only a short time passes. Be careful with spam clicking buttons.

Basic Tips

1. Leave Messages that are funny or helpful in various locations and appraise messages that are helpful or that you like. You get an item in the first room that allows you to place messages by opening your menu and going to ‘Messages.’ When a Message is appraised, good or bad, the writer of the Message gets a free heal so your Message being appraised could be the difference between winning or losing a battle.

2. Messages are more likely to be appraised if they already have a high number of appraisals so save the ones that seem to be gaining traction by going to Messages and clicking the “Protect” button(Y/Triangle).

3. There is Respeccing in the game after a certain point so if you don’t like your build, but don’t want to start over, just push through and you’ll be able to try different builds later.

4. Bring a useable bow and arrows in your inventory at all times if you can’t use magic. They might come in handy even if you don’t use them all the time.

5. Activate lifts then get off them to send them back when you're leaving a Grace. That way, if you die, you won't have to wait for the lift.

6. If you are using a controller, pressing and holding the down button will transition your items back to the start of the list. This can be done with Spells as well by pressing the up button.

7. If you don't mind hurting your soul for convenience, kill Nomadic Merchants you come across and take what they drop to the Twin Maiden Husks to have a one stop shop for all the Nomadic Merchant items.

8. When you dodge roll, you get something called I-Frames. During I-Frames, you are invincible and can't be hurt. How many I-Frames you get is determined by your Equip Load.

9. There are 4 Levels of Equip Load.

1. Light = Less that 30% of your Max Equip Load and provides a lot of I-Frames and a faster dodge roll

2. Medium = 30-70% of your Max Equip Load and provides some I-Frames and a normal dodge roll

3. Heavy = 70%-100% of your Max Equip Load and provides a couple I-Frames and a slow roll.

4. Overloaded = 100%+ of your Max Equip Load and has no I-Frames or dodge roll

10. These weights also have minor to major effects on your running speed but not your horse speed.

11. Stuff hits hard, so if you're having trouble and/or are getting frustrated about being one-shot all the time **PUT POINTS IN VIGOR!!!!** Health is more powerful than any other stat because you can always deal damage so long as you live but if you're dead your damage is 0.

12. Pressing down sprint while on your horse will cause it to dash forward and then stay sprinting. The initial dash is slightly faster so you can press repeatedly to keep going faster but this uses stamina.

Exploration Tips

1. There are Illusions in this game. So sometimes there are Illusory Walls, Floors, Trees or Pots that appear to be there but actually aren't or are something different. There are even a few Invisible Walkways that don't appear to be there but actually are. However, there is a pattern and/or hints as to where these things will be so they aren't just randomness. For example, most Illusory Walls are in Crypts/Catacombs and most Illusory Floors are in Overworld Ruins.

2. If you ever see a statue of an old hunched man on a cliff holding his hand out, interact with it. A blue light will shine out from his hand and show you where a nearby Crypt is. There is one old man statue for every Crypt and if you can’t interact with the statue, it means you’ve done the Crypt.

3. The light blue circles on the map always have bosses there but if you lose to the bosses there, you can safely and easily collect your souls and leave the boss to come back later.

4. Fall Damage has very little margin for error. Usually you will either live or die with a very small margin where you just take damage. You can see whether or not a fall would kill you by attack the edge with your weapon. If you would take lethal damage, you will encounter an invisible wall and be unable to fall down but if you will live, you will go over the edge. Be careful, because live does not necessarily mean live well. If you go over the edge, you may survive but it could be with just 1 health and surrounded by enemies. If you want to test without going over the edge though, use a Rainbow Stone. Just go to the edge, toss it out and see what happens. If it shatters, it means lethal damage, otherwise the higher-pitched the sound the more damage you'll take.

5. Don’t dodge roll through swampy areas containing poison, rot, etc… It will get on your clothes and continue applying even after you leave the area. If you have to dodge through, then take off your clothes or use “Soap” when you get out to stop the effect.

6. There are little blue portals in various places around the map, be careful when you enter because you don’t know where they’ll lead but definitely chance it when you can because they usually have great rewards that you can’t access without taking the portal.

7. Don’t be afraid to use Stonesword Keys on Imp Statues. The statues hold nice rewards and you will find lots of keys, just be sure to always buy all the keys from any merchant you meet.

8. Oftentimes, running through an area to the next Grace then back-tracking is easier than trying to push through the enemies one at a time.

9. Activate lifts from the bottom then get off of them to see if there is a secret path beneath. Some lifts let you drop down below them and others will have doorways to enter at the bottom when the lift reaches the top.

10. Lifts sometimes have other secrets. When riding a lift, look around for anything to jump onto partway up/down. You can find secret paths and items and really, at least half of lifts have at least one.

11. There's a lantern you can buy to attach on your waist instead of carrying a torch. This will lower your equipped weight and allow you to use both weapon slots and still have light.

12. When exploring a cave, you can use the rainbow stones to mark a particular area especially if the place is huge and there's many entrances or holes, and there are several places like this. Take note that these will disappear on death so you may need quite a few.

13. A faster way to get through swampy areas that slow you down is to use the special ability "Quickstep." This ability is on most daggers but there is also an Ash of War for this ability so you can put it on whatever weapon you like. There is another ability that's even more effective called "Bloodhound Step" but is only on one weapon though it also has an Ash of War.

Combat Tips

1. Fight Dragons on Horseback, it’s much easier.

2. If you’re having trouble learning to dodge boss attacks, it’s okay to use shields, just don’t become reliant on them.

3. Bleed Damage is incredibly strong against most bosses/enemies. If you feel like you’re having a lot of trouble, try using a weapon with Bleed Damage or applying the item Bleed Grease to the weapon you normally use.

4. If you encounter an enemy that is Hardened(causes your weapon to bounce off when you attack) try 2-handing your weapon. It will keep it from bouncing off. Better yet, use a striking weapon like a hammer or maul to deal increased damage and stagger them.

5. You can snipe enemies from further away by aiming with a Telescope first. Use the Telescope, aim your attack, exit Telescope(careful not to move) then fire. This is most effective with spells but Greatbows or even regular bows can be used with the right talisman.

6. There are useable items called Grease that add affinities to your weapons. They can't be applied to all weapons but if they can be applied, they will stack with any affinities already on the weapon. You can do this to give your weapon an edge against any particular enemy that has a weakness.

7. If your weapon has a natural effect, let's say Bleed, AND you can use a Grease on it, the effects stack. This means that if your weapon has 50 Bleed and Grease adds 30 Bleed, it becomes 80 Bleed.

8. You can escape grab attacks. Press the LB/L1 and RB/R1 button repeatedly to break out of grabs more quickly and lower the damage you take.

9. All those videos you see of people one-shotting stuff is generally because they use all the buffs they can. An easy and powerful buff that anyone can use is Determination/Royal Knight's Resolve. This is a skill and/or Ash of War that increases the damage of your next attack by 60%/100% and if you put this on both weapons, the effects stack. However, the buff leaves if you swap weapons so remember to have the weapon you want to attack with out when you cast the buffs.

By Athrek

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