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Sunday, April 3, 2022

ELDEN RING: Spoiler-free beginners' guide

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$Beginner's Guide By Yal Spoiler-free beginners' guide covering class selection, basic gameplay mechanics and encouraging words. Introduction It's been about a decade since FROM Software hit it off big time with Demon's Souls, and after lots of janky but famous games they finally took the time to make the one perfect game to rule them all - Elden Ring. This guide is intended to walk you through the basics of the game, not assuming any familiarity with the Souls series or Elden Ring in general, but if you are familiar with the previous games by FROM, it'll still have some advanced gameplay tricks and bring up notable differences from the Souls games. Don't despair! You don't need lightning-fast reflexes or a superhuman pain threshold to beat Elden Ring, just determination and an open mind. May the good blood guide your way, and don't forget to praise the sun! Umbasa. A word of warning: Savefile Security Elden Ring does not have Steam Cloud support! If you change computers (or need to reinstall Windows after it inevitably breaks) you will lose your savefiles. Savefiles are found in C:\Users\(your username)\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing\(a mess of random numbers and letters), there is a single file for all your characters. It's strongly recommended you back this file up regularly and occasionally mail it to yourself or something. Apart from the PC crash risk, all previous Souls games have had problems with "hackers", malicious players that force glitched items on strangers to break their game or get them banned from online matchmaking. Supposedly the new anti-cheat should make this a lot less of an issue in Elden Ring, but it doesn't hurt to have backups just in case. Also side note: this guide was written before the game's release, based on various Network Test footage and general series knowledge. Information might be inaccurate, please yell at me if you find something that's wrong and I'll fix it. Gameplay Mechanics (Basic) If you've played any previous Souls game, you can safely skip this chapter. You know this stuff already. Basic Controls Left stick to move around, right stick to control the camera. (Like in basically every other game) Press the left stick to enter/leave stealth mode. In tall grass, you will be almost impossible to spot, and you make much less noise overall. Press the right stick to lock the camera on the nearest enemy. If there's no enemy to lock on to, this will swing the camera to face the direction you're currently moving. D-Pad: switch between equipped weapons. Down changes consumables, Up changes spells, Right changes main-hand weapons and Left changes off-hand weapons. Holding a direction for a few seconds will instantly change to the first slot, this is particularly useful to quickly select your healing flask when you have a lot of consumables equipped. A button: jump. While on horseback, you can double jump. Jumping gives you invincibility frames just like a dodgeroll, so jumping over attacks is one way to dodge them. (Particularly useful on narrow platforms where you risk dodgerolling to your death if you dodge to the sides) B button: dodge. Having a heavier equip load will lower the distance of your dodge. (Only equipped items count, not your entire inventory). Hold the button down to run. Running and dodging consumes stamina and cannot be performed while your stamina is depleted, just like attacks. Y button: Interact. Hold the button down to access your toolbelt items, or to hold a weapon in both hands (Y + R1 to twohand your main weapon, Y + L1 to twohand your offhand weapon). X button: Use equipped consumable. The consumable's icon is grayed out if something is preventing you from using it. R1: Light attack. Pressing repeatedly will perform a combo. R2: Heavy attack. Heavy attacks can be charged for more power. L1: Hold to block. L2: Perform the Weapon Art of the equipped weapon. The active Weapon Art will be shown in the HUD, above your equipped gear. Start: Open the menu, allowing you to change gear, craft, etc. THIS DOES NOT PAUSE THE GAME, so don't do it while there are enemies nearby. Select: Perform gestures. This has no gameplay purpose, but can be used to communicate with other players in multiplayer. Runes & Death Runes are a currency used to level up, purchase items, and upgrade gear. They are acquired from slain enemies, typically more the stronger the enemy is. (You initially cannot level up, but you will meet a character that gives you this ability early in the game) When you die, you will drop all runes you were carrying. (They will take the form of a golden sapling). If you can make it back to this spot and interact with the runes, you will get them back, but if you die again before this, you will lose them permanently. Since you can lose runes permanently, it's worth considering travelling back to safety and spending them instead of pushing onwards when you carry a lot of runes. You will sometimes find rune consumables (e.g. "Fringefolk's Rune"), colloquially called "crunchies" by players. If you're just a teensy bit short of a levelup or purchase (or need to stock up on consumables after dying and dropping all your runes) this is when you should use these. You will not drop crunchies on death, so save them for when you need them. Enemies with glowing golden eyes are more difficult than normal, but drop additional runes. These enemies get the boost if another player has been killed by them recently. You can sometimes find skulls with golden glowing eyes. Crush them to obtain some free runes. Flask of Tears You start out with the Flask of Tears, with 4 charges divided between Crimson (HP) and Cerulean (FP) tears. This is a healing potion that will recharge to full every time you rest, and occasionally will also recharge when you defeat certain strong enemies. Managing your flask charges is a vital part of both exploration and boss fights - drinking every time you take a sliver of chip damage will leave you with no healing at the end, while being too stingy will see you die with a full flask. Drinking will slow you down and leave you unable to dodge or block, so it's important to wait for an opening if you don't want to immediately get hit again and lose all the HP you just healed. When resting at a Site of Grace, you can distribute flask charges between the HP and FP tears. If you don't use magic, you might want to have all charges distributed to HP and unequip the Cerulean flask altogether. Attacking, Blocking and Spellcasting What happens when you press R1/R2/L1/L2 is dependant on what you are holding in the corresponding hand. If it's a weapon, you will attack. If it's a shield, you will block. If it's a spell catalyst, you will cast the equipped spell. Your character is right-handed. Weapons equipped in the left hand will generally prioritize blocking. Shields equipped in the right hand can be used for attacking. Magic catalysts and ranged weapons such as crossbows will act the same way in both hands. Holding a weapon in both hands (hold Y + press R1 or L1) will change its moveset. In this stance, L1 will always block and L2 will use the weapon's associated Weapon Art, a powerful skill that uses FP. Holding a weapon in both hands will slightly increase your effective Strength, which allows you to equip certain heavy weapons without meeting the stat requirements. Stat Requirements and Equip Load Weapons, armors and spells will sometimes have stat requirements. You can equip them even if you don't meet the requirements, but they will have greatly reduced effectiveness. Spells cannot be cast at all if you don't meet their requirements. All equipped gear will increase your Equip Load. (Other items in your inventory has no effect, only the equipped stuff). At certain thresholds (30%, 70% and 100%), your mobility will be reduced. If you prefer dodging over blocking, keep your equip load below 30% to increase dodge effectiveness. Going above 100% equip load will make you unable to run and dodge, and greatly hamper your survivability. It's usually never worth it.$

Focus Points (FP) FP is the blue meter under your healthbar. They are used to cast spells, summon friendly spirits, and perform Weapon Arts. Spells and summons cannot be performed without sufficient FP. Weapon arts can be performed without sufficient FP, but they will be slower, much weaker, and any magical effects such as projectiles will not happen. Stamina Stamina is the green meter under your healthbar and FP bar. Stamina is required to perform basically every action, including attacking and blocking, but you have unlimited stamina while not in combat. If your stamina runs out, you will enter a winded state where you cannot run and your attacks will be slower and weaker. You can notice your character's posture change when winded. This state ends when sufficient stamina has been recovered. Running out of stamina while blocking will throw you off balance, and allow enemies to perform riposte attacks on you for massive damage. Your shield's stability rating influence how much stamina you lose when blocking (higher is better). Gameplay Mechanics (Basic) (continued) Upgrading Weapons As in previous Souls games, weapons are essentially sidegrades: even your starting sword is viable at endgame levels, and weapons are all roughly comparable in power and instead differ in ways like moveset and weight. Instead, you power up weapons via upgrading them. Weapons are upgraded by spending smithing shards at an anvil. A fully upgraded (+10) weapon will be twice as powerful as a +0 weapon. However, there are several tiers of upgrades, which use different tiers of shards, and for the higher tiers you will need the help of a blacksmith. Smithing shards are rare early on, but become easier to find as you progress to more difficult areas. Make sure to prioritize weapons you like when choosing what to upgrade! Moveset versatility, range and attack speed are usually more important than raw attack power in your weapons. Power Stance Equipping two weapons at once will allow you to "powerstance" them, if they are of the same type. In this stance, L1 will do special combination attacks that use both weapons at once, while R1/R2 only attacks with the weapon in your right hand. Powerstancing increases attack power and versatility, but it leaves you without defensive options. It's a very advanced playstyle. (It is still possible to dual-wield weapons that aren't eligible for powerstancing. You just won't be able to do the special combination attacks.) Spellcasting To cast a spell, do a light attack with a catalyst equipped in that hand. Different spell schools use different catalysts. The flavor text of the catalyst will tell you what spells it can be used with: sacred seals for cleric Incantations, staves for Sorceries, and so on. Spells consume FP, Focus Points. You cannot cast a spell if you're too low on FP. Many spells and weapon arts can be charged by holding the attack button for a longer time before releasing. This increases damage or auxiliary effects with no additional FP cost, so do it whenever you can! You can only equip spells while resting at a Site of Grace. You start out with a limited number of Memory Slots to attune spells in, but certain rare collectibles will grant you more. Unlike in previous Souls games, there is no stat that increases the number of spell slots. Gameplay Mechanics (Advanced) Item Drops Enemies sometimes drop items, such as materials or equipment. When an enemy drops an item on death, there's a special particle effect where five rays of light explode out of their corpse. Be on the lookout for this so you won't miss anything! Enemies can only drop equipment they're actually using. If you're looking for a particular piece of gear, pick your fights wisely. Item drop chance increases with the Arcane stat. Special foes such as bosses and scarabs will always drop their item upon death, with no chance of failure. Hub World After you progress a certain amount through the game, you will be granted the ability to warp to the hub world at any time, just like you can fast-travel to any Site of Grace. This is where you find the blacksmith, spell tutors, and other helpful NPCs you meet through your adventure. Stakes of Marika Boss rooms, enemy camps and other tough encounters often have a Stake of Marika nearby, which acts as a checkpoint. You can choose to revive there instead of at the last Site of Grace upon death, allowing you to quickly retry the fight. There's a small, barely noticeable icon of a calm face under your healthbar whenever you're in range of a Stake of Marika. Keep in mind that you will only be able to spend your Runes at a Site of Grace, so if you're carrying more runes than you can afford to lose, you might want to consider backtracking before entering an obviously difficult battle whether there's a nearby Stake or not. Horse After you progress a certain amount through the game, you will be given access to a spiritual horse. While mounted, you move faster, making it easy to fight groups of weak enemies. But being knocked off your horse will stun you for a long time, which can quickly prove fatal. Additionally, you have no dodge move with invincibility while mounted, having to rely on moving out of the way instead. Attacks change while on horseback: L1/L2 will attack on your left side and R1/R2 will attack on your right side. Your offhand weapon is inaccessible. Stances where you hold out a weapon (e.g. dragging a greatsword on the ground, or readying a lance) will damage enemies even when you don't attack. This can be useful to make it easier to hit enemies, and save on stamina. Your horse has limited HP, and can be killed by enemy attacks. Being ethereal, he won't stay dead permanently, but you will need to spend a Crimson Flask to summon him again. With the right Cookbook, you can craft certain healing items to heal him mid-combat to avoid this happening. Your horse has a double jump, allowing access to some areas you cannot reach on foot. However, the double jump does not cancel out fall damage. In certain areas you will find Spirit Springs, updrafts that allow you to jump great distances while on horseback. You can influence the direction of the jump, allowing you to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Additionally, jumping into an updraft from above will cancel out fall damage, you will be enveloped by a wind effect when this happens. You cannot ride your horse in dungeons, and certain other cramped locations. Additionally, you cannot ride in multiplayer, including when you are invaded. Ashes of War Ashes of War are a type of equipment that can be assigned to weapons while resting. They will replace the weapon's default Weapon Art with some sort of advanced move or spell, and can optionally also replace their elemental effects or scaling. You typically earn these by defeating a lesser boss. Ashes of War can be changed at any time (when resting at a Site of Grace), so experiment with them to adapt to the challenges you're facing! Keep in mind that when an Ash is equipped, it's merged with the weapon. You can only use each ash on one weapon at a time. However, certain blacksmiths and Ash merchants can duplicate an Ash of War, letting you use the copy as well. You need a rare item called "Lost Ash of War" for this. Certain unique weapons cannot use an Ash of War. If a weapon isn't listed in the Ashes of War menu, this is why.

Spirit Ashes Don't mix these up with the Ashes of War! Summoning ashes are usable items that contain the spirits of dead monsters. They are infinitely reusable consumables, but consume a large amount of FP when used. You will need the Cube Bell to use summoning ashes, but you will obtain it fairly early on. Spirits start out weak, but can be upgraded by a certain NPC in the hub world. You need to be near a summoning monument to use a summoning ash. These are typically placed near large enemy groups, and in boss rooms. You will see a glowing tombstone icon in the HUD when summoning is possible, above your equipped gear icons. Summoned spirits' HP is visible in the HUD. Your healing spells will heal summoned spirits too. Most enemies will prioritize spirits over you, so you can use them as a distraction in a pinch. However, if you rely on them to do damage, you will need to lure enemies away from them and soak up all the aggro yourself. Mixed Physique In a certain dungeon, you will find the Wondrous Physique Flask. This is essentially a Tear Flask whose effects you can manually change, by equipping it with Crystal Tears. The flask starts out with 1 charge, but it recharges every time you rest at a Site of Grace. The default effect it comes with is causing the potion to explode, damaging you and any nearby enemies - depending on your playstyle, you might want to replace that with some other effect. Posture Damage Attacking an enemy will reduce their Posture. Exhausting it completely will stun the enemy momentarily, allowing you to perform a riposte finisher on them for massive damage. The weak point will glow gold when this is possible, and you can trigger the finisher by pressing R1 when close to the weak point. Heavy attacks, headshots, and jumping attacks all deal increased posture damage. Parrying an enemy's attack (using the Parry weapon art and its relatives) will deal a massive amount of posture damage, immediately breaking the posture of most non-boss enemies. Breaking the posture of an enemy on horseback will make them fall off. Of course, the same applies to you. Shield Counters Pressing R2 immediately after blocking an attack will launch a powerful counterattack. There will be a special sound effect when you do this, telling you that you've executed the move successfully. Of course, you lower your guard when doing this move, so make sure to only trigger it if the enemy staggered or otherwise finished their attack combo. Enemies can do this too, so be careful about being too aggressive when facing an enemy with a shield. Contrary to the name, you can do these counters after blocking even if you don't have a shield equipped! Just keep in mind that most weapons have pretty bad block rates, so you will take heavy chip damage when blocking with them. Gameplay Mechanics (Advanced) (continued) Time & Weather Time of day and weather affect things. During night, enemies have a harder time spotting you and stealth is easier, but there are also stronger monsters and elite enemies roaming the land. Certain crafting ingredients can only be found at night, or glows in the dark and are more easily spotted. Tarnished such as yourself see perfectly during the night, and you should also be wary of other creatures with glowing eyes. Wet targets take additional electric damage and reduced fire damage, this also applies to fighting in rain. Strong winds will slow down or speed up your movement, and it's possible to be hit by lightning. Fog will make stealth easier, but also make enemies harder to detect. Most time-based effects doesn't matter underground. Weather patterns vary by area, for instance Stormhill got its name for a reason. Crafting Crafting allows you to create consumables like elemental resins, throwing knives and arrows in the field. Finding or purchasing cookbooks will increase your repertoire. Certain items like bombs require containers to be crafted. Containers are reusable, but the maximal capacity you can carry of that item is based on the number of containers you've obtained. Try to buy additional containers whenever you have the opportunity! Of particular note for the early game are the sleep arrows, and other sleep implements crafted with the Trina's Lily. Targets hit by one will instantly fall asleep and be harmless for 60 seconds, allowing you to do a guaranteed finishing blow for massive damage! (Or quickly put an enemy that spotted you down before they raise the alarm). If you're quick on your fingers, you can quickly put multiple enemies to sleep before they raise their guard. This can be useful when e.g. two elite knights guard a gate. They don't work on bosses, but they work just fine on massive regular enemies like trolls! Just keep in mind that they only work on targets that are living things, so stone golems, reanimated undead and the like tend to have disappointing results. Most crafting ingredients are easy to find, so don't worry about using consumables! Though whenever you find an ingredient explicitly mentioned as being "very rare" (such as the Trina's Lily) you might want to mark the spot on your map. Most crafting ingredients respawn every time you rest at a Site of Grace or die. Stealth Press the left stick to enter stealth mode. While crouched, you make less sound and can hide in tall grass. (Metal armor will make noise and greatly reduce the effectiveness of this. You can judge the impact by moving around and listening to the sounds your armor makes) Enemies that haven't noticed you yet will take increased damage from attacks. This also synergizes with other sources of increased damage, like headshots and backstabs. Enemies will have a harder time detecting you during nighttime or other sources of darkness. However, nocturnal enemies like bats are stronger than the foes you face during the day, and usually tend to have night vision. Counter Attacks and Critical Attacks Being hit in the middle of an attack, or while running, will deal additional damage. This applies to both you and enemies. This is called a "counter attack". When this happens, the impact sound of the attack will be deeper than normal. Being hit by regular attacks in certain vulnerable states, such as after having posture broken, being parried, or falling off a horse, will deal additional damage greater than that of a counterattack. This is called a "critical attack". When this happens, a special impact sound will play. Finishing blows will typically deal less damage than a series of critical attacks, but they use less stamina and temporarily make you invulnerable for the duration of the animation. It's typically safer to go for finishing blows over critical attacks when you have the opportunity, but ranged attackers tend to not have a choice. Additionally, projectile strikes at an enemy's weak point (such as shooting a human in the head) will deal increased damage and greatly increased posture damage. Caravans & Enemy Camps Sometimes you face large camps of enemies, or groups escorting a wagon with a treasure chest. Fighting them for the goodies is optional, but they're usually guarding something REALLY nice... It's possible to loot caravan chests without killing nearby enemies, but it takes a long time to open it and you're not invincible during this animation. If you're going for this, stealth is your best option. (Additionally, chests can only be opened when the wagon is standing still, so if the caravan is moving, you'll need to do something about the trolls). Enemy camps and caravans usually have scouts, who carry a trumpet. If they spot you, they will signal every enemy in the group to attack you, so be mindful of these guys and try to take them out first.

Dungeons You can find dungeons in all sorts of places: ruins, mines, and natural caves. They're usually easier than world bosses / story bosses, sometimes just being a single room with loot, and usually having minibosses instead of regular bosses guarding the end. Whenever you find one, check it out! (Most dungeons also has a Site of Grace at the entrance, so just finding one lets you rest and level up as a nice bonus) Dungeons sometimes has large doors you can't open normally. There's a hidden lever somewhere in the dungeon that will open these. Some dungeons has multiple entrances, connecting to otherwise inaccessible areas or just allowing you to tackle them in different ways. World Bosses World bosses are simply bosses that roam the world, such as the Tree Sentinel right outside the tutorial zone. They are considerably harder than regular enemies, but always drop something really nice when killed and are permanently gone afterwards. World bosses are bosses, so come prepared if you intend to fight them. If you find a new boss while exploring and are almost out of resources, you might want to consider running away and come back later. Since world bosses are roaming, you can usually lure them away from where you first find them. Use the environment to your advantage! Multiplayer Using a Furlcalling Finger Remedy allows you to summon another player to help you out. You will find summon signs on the ground, or glowing Summoning Pool stakes. Generally, dungeon entrances or boss room antechambers are the most lively places for multiplayer. The Remedy effect ends when you die. However, once you summon help, you also open your world up for invasions by hostile players. When dying as a summoned-in spirit, you will not drop your carried runes. If you feel like practicing an area before braving it yourself, consider leaving a summon sign and help someone else out - it's completely safe! Players can leave messages for each other. Don't trust every message you see, you can't tell if whoever wrote it had honest intentions. In particular, most messages near bottomless pits that read "try jumping" are just there to troll you. Fast Travel Whenever you are not in combat, you can warp to any Site of Grace you've discovered. This allows you to quickly return to vendors, dungeons and other places of interest. However, keep in mind that there are many secrets in the world, and using fast-travel all the time deprives you of chances to stumble over them... Class Guide Class Guide Summary There are no class-exclusive items or abilities, everything is purely based off your stats and equipment. Thus, your starting class will only affect the first few hours of the game. Don't fret too much over it. Scaling effects are influenced by upgrade levels. Thus, pumping your main attack stat early on gives less of an effect. If you're new to Souls games, you should focus on survivability instead: levelling your health, with mana and stamina when required. As you grow comfortable with your levels in these stats, you can start focusing on getting the stats needed to use the cool weapons you want to try out, and when you've settled on a loadout and playstyle, that's when you start pumping offensive stats. It's usually better to be versatile than specialized, since you don't know what challenges you'll be facing on your first run. Healing is very limited early in the game, so starting as a Prophet or Confessor to gain access to healing magic is probably the easiest as a newcomer. (Casting is slow, so use magic between fights and your Flask of Tears to heal in the middle of a fight) To be able to use more advanced equipment, level the stats indicated on the gear. Most melee weapons require some combination of strength and dexterity, occasionally with a sprinkle of a magical stat if it has innate elemental damage. To be able to wear heavier armor, level Strength to increase your maximal equip load. To be able to attune stronger magic, level the corresponding stat for the magic school of your choice (Intelligence, Faith or Arcane). Unlike in previous Souls games, there is no stat to increase the number of attunement slots. You will gain additional spell slots as you find a certain rare collectible. Vagabond A noble traveller versed in all manner of weaponry. Jack of all trades, master of none... A balanced class starting with heavy armor, halberd, sword and shield. And when I say "heavy armor", I mean, "so heavy you're overencumbered and have an inferior dodge roll". If you prefer dodging over blocking, you need to unequip some of your equipment to get under 70% equip load. The starting sword has a surprisingly long range, especially when used in thrusting attacks, but you probably want to stick to the halberd whenever convenient (i.e., when you're not swarmed by fast enemies, and when you're not fighting in tight corridors). Light attacks are thrusts with longer range, heavy attacks swings that can hit a large are around you. Holding the halberd in both hands speeds up the attacks and gives you greater reach, but of course it means you're giving up your ability to block with the shield. The default weapon art is a running attack that can stunlock enemies and easily break a shielded enemy's guard. Being able to use both Axe and Spear-type Ashes of War gives the halberd a lot of customizability later on, though its default weapon art is great for burst damage right out of the gate. Also be mindful of the halberd's long reach while on horseback. Just holding it out to ready a heavy attack is powerful enough to kill many lesser enemies as you ride past, and this is an excellent way to clear the early camps and caravans. Has balanced stats allowing you to pivot into any playstyle relatively easily, though of course that also means they have no major advantages over any other class. Archetypes: Tank, Jack-of-all-trades Beginner-friendliness: Excellent Warrior Seasoned mercenary and war veteran. Surely, war never changes? Has the highest dexterity, and dual-wields curved swords. Wielding two weapons of matching type allows you to enter the "power stance", which lets you attack with both weapons at once for increased attack power at great expense to stamina. To use power-stanced attacks, use the left-hand attack buttons; to attack with just your primary weapon, use the right-hand buttons. Starts with a parrying shield which is unsuitable for regular blocking, so if you're a beginner and not comfortable in your ability to parry and dodgeroll every attack, you might want to pick another class. The perfect class for fancy, dexterity-based playstyles taking advantage of the dual-wield moveset. Dexterity also speeds up spellcasting speed, and they start with above-average intelligence, so mixing in some magic in your playstyle will be easy. Archetypes: Swashbuckler, dual wielder, spellsword Beginner-friendliness: Low Hero The heir to a barbarian chieftain, driven out by the Golden Order. Free wills will always be ridiculed by the powers that be. Has the highest strength, starting with a large axe. You'll have an easy time breaking enemies' guard, but attacks leave you open to enemy attacks, so be careful about large groups of enemies. Doubly so for the default weapon art, which is a sustained combo attack that can stunlock lesser foes, but which is slower and locks you into the combo until it finishes. One of the earliest caravans you can find in Western Limgrave guards a Greataxe, and if you enjoy the battleaxe you start with, you're sure to love the Greataxe even more. Whether you want to explore further away or not, consider nabbing this axe before you leave. The optimal class if you like oversized, heavy weapons. Also has the second lowest magic stat investment, making this a good choice if you don't intend to ever use magic and want to avoid "wasted" stat points. Archetypes: Barbarian, heavy weapons guy Beginner-friendliness: Average

Bandit Highwayman hoping to profit from the civil war. Whatever this golden order is, it sure sounds like it'd fetch a high price... Has high Dexterity and the highest Arcane, starting with a dagger, buckler, and shortbow. Not terribly strong in a direct encounter, relying instead on backstabs and cheesing enemies at a distance with arrows. The dagger has a very high critical damage multiplier, which applies to ripostes and backstabs. Fishing for backstabs and ripostes (special finishers usable after you poise-break, guard-break or parry an enemy) is considerably more effective than just stabbing your foes repeatedly. Holding the off-hand attack button allows you to aim a bow in first person, which is useful when fighting enemies at so long ranges you can't lock on to them. Pestering an enemy with bow attacks from a long range allows you to draw them out one at a time instead of fighting them all at once, or even outright kill them before they pose a threat! Of course, the shortbow has a pretty short attack range and low power, but it makes up for it with speed. With a little training and some sleep arrows, you can end many encounters before they have a chance to begin. Arcane is used for some spells, but also influences item drop rate. The perfect class if you intend to focus on crafting or looking for rare items early on. But if you're not, this is an advanced class for players that are comfortable learning parrying timings and enemy patterns, and probably not particularly easy to play if you're completely new to the Souls series. Starts at the lowest level other than Wretch. Archetypes: Rogue, ninja Beginner-friendliness: Very low Class Guide (continued) Astrologer Scholar of the once-forbidden arts of precognition, now laid bare for anyone to study. Where books burn, people are soon to follow... Sorcerer class. Starts with the highest Intelligence and Mind, allowing them to cast powerful spells, and a lot of them. Also starts off with a powerful mix of area-of-effect and DPS spells allowing them to deal reliable damage right away. Since mana is also used to call upon Summoning Ashes, it's also a solid starting choice for a summoner build, though the clerical classes probably are a better choice for that since they can heal their summons. Too physically weak to use many early weapons other than daggers and short swords. But magic has many advantages in both range and power, and being able to fight tougher enemies at a distance makes many encounters considerably easier. You will be reliant on magic attacks to deal damage, but don't forget that elemental Ashes of War gives your melee weapons scaling with your magical stats. There are many different sorceries, and since your spell slots are limited, it's important to attune the ones most suitable for the task at hand. Archetypes: Sorcerer, summoner Beginner-friendliness: Good Prophet Once ridiculed as a doomsayer, then all the visions came to pass... but the people didn't flock to your side, they ran in fear. Cleric class. Starts with the highest Faith. Uses miracle spells to heal and support, and a spear for offense. The spear is ineffective against groups due to its narrow attacks. For the best effect, use the range to your advantage and wield it two-handed. Unlike almost every other weapon, spears can be used to attack while blocking. Be aware that this is both slower and weaker than regular attacks. And of course, like most mage classes, the Prophet doesn't start with a particularly good shield. Since you have decent Strength, you might want to replace it with a larger shield as soon as possible. Offensive miracles have a wild, unpredictable nature to them that lends themselves well for fighting groups of weaker enemies. Healing is very limited early on, so having access to healing spells makes the early game easier. Archetypes: Healer, summoner, pyromancer Beginner-friendliness: Good Samurai Blood has been a common sight, but these lands yet know their inner peace... you can only hope they don't forget. Has high Dexterity and the highest starting stamina, fighting with a katana that induces bleeding and a bow for ranged attacks, but doesn't use a shield. Even with access to a shield, the two-handed moveset of a katana is generally preferrable with faster attacks and greater posture damage, and of course you need both hands to use a bow. More attuned to dodging than damage mitigation. Bleed damage is proportional to enemy health, so the uchigatana gives you an edge against larger enemies. Of course, only enemies with blood can bleed. The weapon art is an iaido slash, which takes some time to prepare but comes out very quickly once you actually start the attack. Best used when an enemy is playing defensively, unleashed the moment they drop their guard. The longbow is a slow but powerful bow, most useful for sniping enemies from a distance instead of engaging them directly. Holding the off-hand attack button allows you to aim a bow in first person, which is useful when fighting enemies at so long ranges you can't lock on to them. Pestering an enemy with bow attacks from a long range allows you to draw them out one at a time instead of fighting them all at once, or even outright kill them before they pose a threat! Hitting an enemy's weak point (such as the head for humanoids) will deal critical damage and stun them, this is usually only possible when manually aiming the bow. Starts with the lowest magic stat allotment, making them the perfect choice if you have no intent to use magic and want to avoid wasting stat points. Archetypes: Samurai, ranger Beginner-friendliness: Good Prisoner A once-noble heretic, imprisoned for unsavory experiments with the arcane. But without challenge, how are we to improve? A hybrid sorcerer/melee class, with access to both physical damage and glintstone sorceries. Starts without the powerful sorceries of the Astrologer, so you will rely on them mostly for situational support. Magic Glintblade is a homing spell with decent power, but the projectile doesn't fire until a few seconds after you deploy it. This has its uses, though: it gives you just enough time to break an enemy's guard with a melee attack to make sure they don't dodge out of the way of the projectile! Starts with an estoc, a hybrid sword which has light thrusting attacks as well as heavy slashing attacks. Mastery of this weapon requires getting comfortable with varying your moves to fit the situation, and it's particularly difficult to use against groups of smaller enemies. Their starting shield is a buckler, a parrying shield with very generous window of timing. If you want to learn parry timings, this is probably the easiest class to start with. Additionally, the shield slightly boosts some ailment resistances, but only when held in an active hand. The iron mask has surprisingly good defenses, but you might want to replace your starting rags with some proper armor as soon as possible to compliment it. Archetypes: Spellsword, ninja Beginner-friendliness: Low Confessor A seeker of sinners, sword always at the ready. Blind faith is dangerous, so you will be Our eyes. A paladin-style hybrid cleric/melee class with solid weaponry to compliment their miracle-based spells. Also starts with a metal kite shield, which is a reliable defensive tool for most early-game enemies. The broadsword lacks thrusting attacks and only has wide swings, which makes it easy to use against groups of enemies, but which leaves you open to counterattacks from faster enemies. You should get into a habit of using jumping attacks when using this weapon, both to leave yourself less open for counterattacks, and taking advantage of its higher-than-average posture breaking ability. An excellent choice for beginners, with access to both reliable melee damage, reliable defenses, and healing. Also starts at the highest level out of all classes. Urgent Heal is a very fast healing spell which can even be cast while moving, but it only heals a miniscule amount of HP. It does not heal allies, only yourself. Assassin's Approach is a spell that makes your movement inaudible, allowing you to sneak up on enemies more easily, including running at full speed. It makes stealth much easier, as long as you don't let yourself get seen. Archetypes: Paladin, healer, jack-of-all-trades Beginner-friendliness: Excellent

Wretch Outcast deprived of everything but their humanity. Some say, for good reason. A joke class intended for challenge runs, starting with no armor, the lowest starting level, and only a wooden club for offense. You probably don't want to pick it for your first run. Their main saving grace is perfectly balanced stats, allowing you to dabble in all playstyles without a large investment, and they start out at level 1, making levelling up cheap and easy compared to the other classes. Of course, it also means they don't start out particularly good at anything... Keepsakes Keepsakes are a starting item that gives you a little extra boost early in the game. They're not terribly powerful, and the items can be found later on in the world, so don't fret too much over your choice. It mostly affects your playstyle in the first few hours. Crimson Amber Medallion A talisman that slightly increases Max HP while equipped. The boring default choice, but there's very few situations where 10% more health isn't going to help. You start out with a single talisman slot, and of course only equipped talismans will provide any benefits. Lands-Between Rune A consumable that gives a bunch of runes (levelup/shopping currency) when used. Depending on class, it will give you enough for 2-4 levelups. Of course, you can use it to buy starting gear from merchants as well. Make sure to not use it until you reach the NPC you intend to spend the runes at, since the consumable will not be lost on death, but the runes it grants when eaten will be. Golden Seed An upgrade material that increases your Flask of Tears (estus flask) uses, essentially allowing you to start the game off with 5 flask charges instead of 4. Unlike in previous Souls games, you need an increasing number of these for each new flask capacity tier. Gives more benefits than the life talisman early on since the flask heals way more than 10% of your health, and since you can distribute flask charges between health and mana, it could be especially useful if you intend to rely on magic damage. Fanged Imp's Ashes A summoning ash, which can be used to summon a friendly spirit that will help you in battle. Infinitely reusable, but consumes Focus (the mana bar) when used. (You need to obtain the Summoning Bell before you can use summoning ashes, but fortunately you can get it very early on: head back to the Church of Elleh once you meet Melina and somebody will be waiting for you...) Also note that summoning is usually only possible in boss rooms and encampments. There is a special tombstone icon in the HUD when summoning is possible. The imps aren't terribly powerful, but they're very aggressive and cause bleeding. Works really well for the Bandit or Samurai. Cracked Pot x3 A special crafting material used to craft bombs. The pots are magical and can be reused, so this essentially acts as a capacity upgrade for your maximal bomb carrying capacity, and lets you start out crafting bombs immediately instead of having to find some Cracked Pots first. Perfect for crafting-focused builds, or to add elemental damage to a melee-focused class. Stonesword Key x2 Consumable master keys, working pretty much the same way as the Pharros Lockstones from Dark Souls 2. When you find an area sealed by a blue fog you can't pass through, you can spend these keys to unlock them. Typically these areas are either major shortcuts, or treasuries hiding some special weapon or armor. There's one such area right at the start of the game, but you might want to save your keys for later... partially because said area is very difficult compared to the intended path, and perhaps not the most enjoyable place to start your adventure. (Note that this gate also has two keyholes, so both your keys will be used up if you choose to open it.) Bewitching Branch x5 Consumables that will temporarily sway an enemy to your side, similar to the Rapport pyromancy. Can allow for a panicked escape from a botched encounter, or a distraction when you attempt to stealth past enemies. Of course, they only work on weaker enemies, so there's only so much you can achieve with these. If you're good at the game, you won't need these, and if you're bad at the game, you probably need more of these than you can reasonably find, so you probably should pick a more permanent gift. Boiled Prawn x5 Consumable that temporarily buffs physical defense, similar to the Brightbugs from Dark Souls 2. The effect isn't too pronounced, but they last a relatively long time. Do note that they only affect physical damage, and not elemental damage like fire or holy attacks. If you're good at the game, you won't need these, and if you're bad at the game, you probably need more of these than you can reasonably find, so you probably should pick a more permanent gift. Shabriri's Woe Talisman. Draws enemy attention more reliably an from further away. Mostly useful in challenge runs, or if you want to draw aggro from your friends in co-op runs. None If you really want that extra bit of challenge, you can just opt out of picking a keepsake altogether. I wouldn't recommend it for your first playthrough. If you can't decide what to pick, you probably want the Golden Seed. Frequently Asked Questions I can see something cool off in the distance. Can I go there? Yes. It might not be as easy as it seems, the direct route might be blocked, and it might be a really bad idea to go there, but there are very few places you can't explore if you want to. What should I level up first? Focus on HP. Weapon scaling is unimportant early on (it increases as you upgrade weapons) and you should worry about survival before you start worrying about increasing your DPS. (Though keep in mind, Endurance increases your equip load so if you rely on high-defense armor you will need a bit of this too) How do I beat the Tree Sentinel? Speed is the key here. Come back when you get a horse, and then fight him by jousting (run past him at high speeds and stab him when passing by) Beating him rewards you with his halberd, which requires pretty high stats to use, so there's no need to rush to beat him early on. How do I level up? You need to team up with Melina, the Finger Maiden. After meeting her, you can select "Level Up" at any grace you rest at. After finding three Sites of Grace, she will approach you the next time you rest. Ones found in dungeons does not count towards this, only the ones on the overworld. The easiest way to find additional Sites of Grace is to follow the guiding light from the Graces you ignite. When do I get the horse? When you first meet the level-up maiden Melina, she will give you the whistle that lets you summon him. Follow the guiding light from the Graces you ignite and you should find the one she hangs out at. (She should show up at the third grace you ignite, but there are exceptions to this rule). I'm using a shield, but I still take a lot of damage! Check the shield's stats. Smaller shields like bucklers don't block a lot of damage, they're intended to parry (deflect) enemy attacks instead. Larger shields typically block more damage (sometimes even 100% of damage!) but they require more Strength to equip. If you don't meet stat requirements, the effect of the shield also is greatly diminished. Also keep in mind, a lot of metal shields (which block the most physical damage) don't block magic damage very good, so if you're fighting something hurling arcane projectiles or lightning at you, you might want to

What's the best early-game weapon? (Mild spoilers) The easiest weapon to use is the Broadsword, starting weapon of the Confessor and sold by some merchants. The wide swings make it easy to hit enemies even if you're bad at aiming and timing. The Twinblade, found in the ruins of Lake Agheel, is a solid choice. It hits in a wide area around you when one-handed, and when twohanded it can quickly deliver a series of hits that stunlocks lesser enemies. Additionally it has access to a large number of Ashes of War, allowing you to supplement its basic attacks with a lot of skills that compliments its moveset. The Morning Star is a spiked mace which is great at breaking shields and deal bonus damage through blood loss. Twohand it to absolutely tear through shielding enemies. It's found in the caravan at the start of Weeping Peninsula, the southeast part of Limgrave. The Rindfrost Hatchet is a magical handaxe with relatively low power, but an amazing weapon art that ignores shields and is very fast and cheap to cast. It's found in a hidden chest in a tower at the Temple Quarter, at the northern edge of the city in the middle of the great lake in Liurnia. Can I make a fistfighting build? You can fight with no weapon equipped, but both raw damage and scaling are pitiful, and you lose out on the ability to use Ashes of War. However, there is a "fist" weapon class in the game, such as the ancient roman boxing glove, the Caestus, which is available early on. (Stormveil Castle gatekeeper becomes a merchant after you make some progress inside) How do I swim over to the dragon island? You don't. For some reason "just swim over to that island lol" has become a meme among Souls content creators. Don't be fooled; you can only reach that island by going through a certain dungeon at the beach. How do I beat Flying Dragon Agheel? Bring some horse-healing items (e.g. craft raisins using Rowa Fruit) and equip a lightning-elemental Ash of War on a long weapon, like a lance or greatsword. Stay on horseback, stay mobile, and circle around Agheel at a safe distance, taking some stabs at their feet whenever you get an opening. (A safe distance doesn't necessarily mean a LONG distance, Agheel's breath has a pretty big area of effect - aim for far away that you won't get stomped on or bitten, but not in fire breath range). Make sure to keep your horse alive using the raisins, because you're pretty screwed if he dies. For some reason Agheel takes massive fall damage and can be oneshot by walking off a reasonable-sized ledge, but it's very tricky to set up this cheese and it probably will be patched out soon... How Do I beat the Demi-Human Chief x2? Use stealth. One of the chieftains is sleeping initially and will only wake up if you fight nearby. You can also pick off a lot of the regular demihumans without being spotted if you take the right approach, making the fight much easier. The chieftains themselves are staggered by basically any attack, so use a fast weapon and be aggressive, but save your last bit of stamina for dodging out of harm's way. How Do I beat the Bloodhound Knight Darriwil? He ignores my dodges! Darriwil's attacks are delayed, so if you dodge on instinct, your dodge ends prematurely and you'll get hit. Stay cool and wait until the last moment before you dodge. (Many other bosses also do this) Where do I find Smithing Stone Shards? They're scattered all over the place in small numbers, often dropped by certain tougher enemies like the trolls on Stormhill. But your best bet to get them quickly is exploring mine-type dungeons, which usually have both dedicated treasure piles of them and enemies that commonly drop them. Bring some means of elemental damage, since enemies with stone skin are very resistant to physical damage. Frequently Asked Questions (continued) Throwing knives deal like no damage, why should I bother with crafting? Throwing knives are mostly meant to aggro a single enemy without alerting their buddies, letting you separate a group and take them on one at a time. For more damage, try the Fire Pots (they can even hit multiple enemies at once!) Is there a crafting-focused build? Arcane boosts your item discovery rate (there's also spells and gear that scales with Arcane, but they're rare early on) and most thrown projectiles scale with strength and/or dexterity. If you don't want to fight directly yourself, consider focusing on spirit summons and healing spells, suppleanted with ailment-inducing weapons like the Coiled Snake Shield. How do I beat Margit the Fell Omen? Margit is the first "git gud" boss of the game and a massive leap in difficulty from previous first-area bosses like Iudex Gundyr and the Dragonrider. If you immediately ran here instead of exploring Limgrave, and you're bad enough at the game to need this guide, you probably should hold off a bit and explore other places first - upgrade some weapons, get some stats, get comfortable with dodgerolling and blocking timings, and get yourself equipped with some War Ashes you're comfortable with. Grinding is by no means necessary for success, but it does make things easier. Some general pointers: Heavy attacks and jump attacks deal greatly increased posture damage. Use these whenever you can, and you will occasionally stagger Margit, creating an opening for critical attacks or healing. A lot of Margit's attacks have a delay to them that makes it hard to dodge them on instinct. Try to keep your cool and dodge at the very last second. Being a beast, Margit is weak to fire damage and hemmorhaging/lacerating damage. Incantations, Ashes of War and consumables that add fire damage will all give you an easier time, as does anything that causes the bleeding status ailment. Using a large shield and Guard Countering is a simple strategy, but it's not super effective against Margit's long combos. Try to dodge primarily and make sure you don't do a Guard Counter until the last attack of Margit's combos, so you don't eat up eating a follow-up attack to the face. Also keep in mind that Margit's jump attack cannot be blocked. Margit cannot fall into the bottomless pits to the side of the arena. However, YOU can, especially when he starts using the hammer attack which has massive knockback. Try to stay in the middle of the arena. Margit's attacks have a large area of effect that easily kills weaker summons, and like most bosses he will focus on summons first. A melee-focused tank like the Mercenary is your best bet here (though with a little luck the Wolves might also survive since they jump around a lot). Having the high ground (being further up the slope than Margit) makes it easier to hit him with jump attacks, which deals additional posture damage. There might be a certain key item that weakens Margit, if you can find it... If you're extremely stuck and don't want to bash your head against the wall for another hour, you CAN find an alternate way into the castle that doesn't force you go get past Margit. Though the next boss you'll need to fight is even harder... (Also, the reward for beating Margit is an additional talisman slot, so it's well worth your time fighting him!) How Do I beat (boss not listed here)? I'm not writing a 100% achivement guide here... if you're persistent enough to beat Margit, you've got what it takes to beat this boss too!

ELDEN RING: Gigachad character creation with sliders screenshots

7:43 AM / by admin / in ELDEN RING / with No comments /

GIGACHAD CHARACTER SLIDERS By balch™ Gigachad character creation with sliders screenshots. Welcome I tried to create the Gigachad in Elden Ring. Of course it's not perfect, but I'd like to share if anyone is interested on using or improving it. Thanks in advance, stay safe and remember to bonk Dex users. Sliders Initial screen Face Template Facial Balance Forehead/Glabella Brow Ridge Eyes Nose Ridge Nostrils Cheeks Lips

Mouth Chin Jaw Hair (wasn't exactly sure which one to go) Eyebrows Facial Hair Eyelashes Eyes Skin Features Cosmetics Tattoo/Mark/Eyepatch Body

Easy Mode Build for ELDEN RING

7:41 AM / by admin / in ELDEN RING / with No comments /

This is how to make the game super easy for anyone, playing offline.

Going for a quality melee build.

TL;DR get a ton of hp, get the mimic tear, get some bleed going (bloodhound's fang).

Overview

Start the game as Vagabond and pick the Golden Seed (extra flask early is the best option)

TURN OFF AUTO WALL RECOVERY (prevents the camera being out of control near walls)

And then unequip the halberd to be able to midroll.

Mid rolling is good enough for the whole game, being lighter would only benefit an experienced player (better dodge, less armor)

So I went quality for my first build and it was by far my easiest time in the game.

Going quality (STR+DEX) is a great way to experiment with nearly all weapons until you find your own style. Going melee is also easy to handle compared to magic builds, because you have simple and clear goals. All you really need is HP, stamina and basic scaling damage.

Magic build are broken for sure, however it requires to already have knowledge of the game, where are the good spells, what weakness to exploit etc. It also needs more stats to be effective as you want to increase FP and magic scaling, knowing that you still need some HP, stamina and basic stats to fight trash mobs with weapons. You don't want to add too much ressource management for a first time build so I suggest going melee and forget about FP and FP flasks for now.

In this guide I will explain basic principles on how to create a quality build and all the good stuff to get in order to make the game as easy as possible, playing offline.

Playing coop is the true easy mode for sure, however to experience the game at your own pace and actually learn how to play you should go offline and don't even bother until later. It will remove troll messages preventing you to open chests and climbing ladders, leaving you with only dev messages so you know what's up. It also lets you experience the game without having to worry about random invasions, although it's really not an issue in ER.

Stats

Being a melee build, you want to level Vigor ASAP.

Not having enough HP is the most common mistake all players make and is the only reason you die all the time against strong bossses and in PVP.

You want to get 20/25 Vigor before anything else. Only then you start increasing END, get your basic requirements for weapons before coming back to Vigor and focus heavily on it.

Having a ton of HP makes your experience much easier in PVE and is a necessity for PVP.

Leveling STR/DEX early is a big mistake. Most of your damage comes from weapon upgrades. Scaling only add damage once weapons are upgraded (improved scaling) and is only good once you reach high levels.

VIGOR:

Like I said, get 20/25 early. This is good for clearing Stormwind Castle. Get in the castle only after explored most of Limgrave, getting runes for leveling up as well as upgrade materials (at least a +3 weapon). Once you're at this level of HP, you can then focus on getting some END, some STR/DEX (20 for each is good).

Once you got all this, get back to leveling Vigor like crazy, until 40 at the very least. I would suggest going up to 50 or even 60 before anything else.

Some talismans increase your max hp but these are %based so they might not seem like much at first, once you get to 50 / 60 vig however this is another story.

Running around with about 2k hp makes the game infinitely easier to deal with and lets you afford to be somewhat careless even in NG+

ENDURANCE:

Get 20 and be done with it. you never need much more that this, unless you want to perform some crazy 10 hits combos which will just never happen.

The weak ennemies die in a few hits anyway and the big ones have infinite poise or hyper armor and they will never let you land so many hits in a row.

You might want to boost END somewhat for equip load, 25 or 30 seems good enough for endgame.

STR/DEX:

It works like in dark souls 1, two handing a weapon grants you +50% STR. Therefore if you are primarily two handing a weapon you should get proper stats to reflect this.

In practice, rather than having a 1 to 1 ratio, you can safely get 20 STR / 20 DEX to unlock most weapons. Then, after getting a high hp pool, slowly increase it towards 27 STR / 40 DEX.

Reaching late game you should be 34 STR / 50 DEX.

I even tried 40 STR / 60 DEX and it still works fine. It seems that you can keep leveling them to crazy levels and it would still benefits you somewhat. Not sure yet about the stats hard caps.

However this is like NG+ consideration and probably unnecessary to get much higher (try to not level up too much for the sake of online play)

Following these guidelines you should be about lvl 140 in the endgame.

Leveling other stats is boring and unnecessary for that kind of build. You might consider getting 10 faith just to be able to cast cure poison, but even that is easily dealt with using items instead.

Equipment

ARMOR:

Anything that has good Physical DEF and poise is good to go.

Poise and armor will never make you unstoppable, but every bit helps. Lowering the damage taken and not getting stunlocked all the time is super helpful, coupled with high HP it makes everything much easier.

Your starting gear is more than enough for the first half of the game as far as armors go. Once you beat radhan, you can get his armor : not only does it look cool it also has great stats.

You could also do the volcano quests and get the scaled armor. Both are great choices. heavy but not too much, good stats, good poise.

WEAPON:

I would highly recommend the bloodhound's fang. It was my weapon of choice on my first playthough, being the first strong weapon i found. I thought I would use it until I get something better, but i never felt the need to switch to anything else. It's not that fancy but gets the job done everytime (even in NG+ i'm just R1 spamming everything).

Being a curved greatsword (murakumo type), it might feel a bit slow and awkward to use at first, but it has high damage, good range, good for catching npcs rolling away, strong art (L2 into R2), tends to stunlock most things (unless they have infinite poise of course) and also has built in bleed effect, which you can still improve with a bleed resin even though it's a "special" weapon.

This is great stuff. You get this weapon in the gaol just left of the bridge leading to the weeping peninsula. If you struggle you can even befriend blaidd (get to hear the wolf in the mistwood, then get the emote from kale in church of elleh and then come back to the wolf) and get him to fight the boss for you. Easy stuff.

You should eventually invest in a bow (any bow, composite is good, black is good, even a basic shortbow is fine) just to have a ranged option. This is always helpful, if anything it lets you desactivate the fire towers in the catacombs from a safe distance.

If you really hate the bloodhound's fang moveset, just settle for an ultra greatsword. Being able to stunlock ennemies is easymode, which is much harder to do if you're going for a regular straight sword or any other light weapon. Go big.

Talismans to consider: increasing HP, Stamina, Equip Load, Poise, Physical DEF (most common damage type)

General Tips

>> try to play unlocked as often as possible.

it lets you have 100% control over your camera and movements and will just make you a better player in both pve and pvp once you get used to. Absolutely necessary to master this.

Playing with lock on isn't wrong though, you just need to see it as a tool rather than a necessity. Playing unlocked helps staying in control against fast moving targets (randomly rolling in pits never feels good), makes boss fights less chaotic but more importantly it lets you be less predictable in pvp : harder to get back stabbed, being able to perform deadangle attacks etc.

Google claw grip to see how the pros do it. Feels wierd at first and then a whole new world gets available to you, being able to turn the camera around while running / rolling. Just don't hurt yourself !

>> dodge forward

anytime you're in a bad spot during a fight you might tend to roll backwards to attempt healing and this is generally something you want to avoid doing, even though it's only natural to try. Most ennemies have good tracking and leap forwards during their attacks, so most of the time you roll back and get rekt because of it. The safe place is quite often being as close as possible to your ennemies (in between their legs, hugging their side/back). In that sence dodging towards the attack is 90% of the time the best thing to do, being safer (able to heal) and more aggressive in the process. The 10% left is when you want to run away instead, to avoid boss charged aoe (plenty of those)

>> explore and take what you can, avoid obvious danger.

you will often get rekt by some random big ennemy on the way.

graveyards are full of heroes : don't be silly and avoid the scary dudes.

they will often drop next to nothing and are more of a hassle than a challenge. if you get stuck anywhere just go do something else instead and come back later when you're stronger. don't be lazy and clear most dungeons. you always get some runes and loot (including upgrade materials for your weapons and ashes)

>> spend all runes to suicide run

some areas are much harder/annoying/not worth clearing than the actual boss of said area. so just spend your runes and suicide run to grab the items/unlock bonfires (for instance in siofra river to activate the blue moose boss). You could then try to clear the area in reverse to make it easier on you (snipers not looking your way etc).

Don't worry if you die and lose some runes it doesn't matter in the long run.

>> be friendly with the crab cook

once you get to liurnia you can meet a dude with a metal mask selling crab dishes. make sure you buy 1. (also buy the medallion to initiate the volcano quest)

buying one there will make him eventually move near the capital (where you fight the dung eater).

There, he will sell you an upgraded version of his prawn dish. At this point, kill him or let the dung eater do his thing. either way get him dead so you get to buy his stuff from the roundtable.

it's a consumable that boost physical def. get a ton of this. It's simple, cheap and helpful.

>> maybe kill the merchants lol

there's no way you'll ever remember who sells what and where, so these friendly nomadic merchants just need to be exterminated. that way you get access to all of them at once in the hub.

>> get strong ashes

wolves are fine early on, but once you feel strong enough you should get to siofra river via the mistwood elevator and kill the blue moose boss to get the ancestral dude ash.

you have just enough FP to summon this dude with base mind value (as a vagabond). this guy gets the job done, he can snipe and tank just fine until you get the mimic tear.

at which point, well just switch to the mimic tear and gg.

>> craft some bleed resin

bleed is insanely effective against everything and is your go to easy strat in most cases. when they are immune to bleed however you can try the dragon resin (very few available ingame do not waste). Other good stuff to craft are poison cure, scarlet rot cure and basic arrows. Don't forget rainbow stones to map invisible paths (at least 2 path found so far)

>> get interested in ranni's quest

not only are these guys the most friendly ones imo, they also lead you to the underground ruins where you'll find great loot and materials. progressing in this quest also gives you key items needed to explore 100%. Get to the carian manor north of Liurnia.

Last words

At this point the build is pretty much done and you have all you need to destroy the whole game. Going in with a ton of hp/armor, a heavy damage stunlocking bleed weapon + a clone of you (with improved hp) is enough to break all bosses, including the hardest ones (malenia getting stunlocked+bleed, fire giant, maliketh, nialls etc. all of them get rekt) The only boss requiring some thought would be the very last one, but even then with all these tools it's not that hard.

How to make it work better? unequip all unecessary stuff (bow/shield etc) to prevent the mimic tear from derping too much.

Keep the main consumables on hand (bleed resin, crab dish boost). as long as you have at least one, the mimic gets multiple copies it can use for free.

About the great runes:

I was confused about it until I realized it only works if you burn a rune arc (kinda like an ember from dark3).

However I would suggest you do not rely on it too much, I only found about 40 throughout the entire game and farming those is boring af. Keep it for the very last boss, for which I equipped radhan's great rune because why not having even more hp.

Extra stuff :

Don't worry about ashes of war (weapon skills) and armor tweaking. I'm sure you can achieve great stuff with these tools however I never used it and it did not matter. The best skills are usually the simple ones (from a pvp pov). Fancy skills are generally a great way to get killed by good players.

Don't waste the star shards (FP regen), seluvis will trade for them eventually.

At least 2 weapons are impossible to get once you beat maliketh so make sure you get them before for the achievement (if you care). If you messed up that's fine, just get all you can from the game and procceed to NG+.

Maybe once you beat the game consider not going in NG+ just yet, respec at the great library and try wierd, more interesting builds for your next playthroughs. Hopefully you won't even need ashes or bleed anymore.

by Draculol

How to disable EAC in ELDEN RING

7:38 AM / by admin / in ELDEN RING / with No comments /

For people that don't want to deal with Epic's trash.

READ THIS FIRST

IF YOU DISABLE EAC YOU CAN'T GO ONLINE, IF YOU WANT TO DO SHENANIGANS WITH YOUR SAVE DON'T GO ONLINE WITH IT AFTERWARDS. IF YOU GOT YOURSELF BANNED BECAUSE YOU TRIED TO BRING YOUR LEVEL 999 CHEAT ENGINED CHAR ONLINE ITS YOUR OWN FAULT.

Guide

Create a .txt file and name it steam_appid.txt and it needs to go into the same folder that eldenring.exe is in.
Open it and add the string of numbers "1245620" (without quotes) to the file.
Launch the game by clicking on the exe file, DO NOT launch it through steam, it won't work if you do.

if you see this screen when you reach the main menu then it worked.

However this screen will only show up if you set it to go online automatically in settings.

If you set it to start offline just try to go online and that message will appear.

To go online again launch it through steam so EAC is enabled.

How to switch the controls to Keyboard in ELDEN RING

7:37 AM / by admin / in ELDEN RING / with No comments /

How to switch the controls to keyboard from Xbox controller

Intro

Why this setting isn't default like all other games is beyond me.

How to do it

Pause
Settings
Sound and Display
Device for on Screen Prompts
Keyboard and mouse

ELDEN RING - How To Unlock The Ability To Buy Infinite Smithing Stones +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7, +8,

7:23 AM / by admin / in ELDEN RING / with No comments /

Here Is How To Unlock The Ability To Buy Infinite Smithing Stones +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7, +8, and somber smithing stones By Goose Smithing Stones wooo How to get +1 and +2 If you've visited the hub, you've likely seen the twin husks merchant off to the side, who also gives you the option to offer her "bell bearings." This functions just like ashes with the shrine handmaid in Dark Souls 3; giving her bell bearings increases her shop with new items. ... In Liurnia of the Lakes, there is a cave off to the North East Side. Location below, Raya Lucaria Crystal Caves. Fighting your way to the end and beating the boss rewards you with a smithing bell bearing to give to the Twin Maiden Husks. This unlocks infinite smithing stone (1) and (2) at her shop. How to get +3 and +4 You need to find the Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing to unlock the Smithing Stones 3 & 4 for purchase. To find this item make your way to the Atlas Plateau and visit the Sealed Tunnel named location to the southeast of the Outer Wall Phantom Tree Site of Grace. To start hit the tunnel entrance to reveal a path going forward. Head forward past the first enemy and take your first right along the path blocked by some barrels, crates, and a wheelbarrow. Inside the room here there is a chest. Open the chest to get the Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing. Take the Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing and head to the Roundtable Hold. Go to the Twin Maiden Husks and offer the Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing to them. Doing this unlocks the Smithing Stones 3 & 4 for purchase from them. The prices are as follows: Smithing Stone [3] – 2400. Smithing Stone [4] – 3600. These are the first set of major materials you can unlock from the twins. Once unlocked the sisters sell an infinite amount. The next few sets follow the same system. Find a bell, bring it to them, unlock the materials. How to get +5 and +6 The third Smithing Bell Bearing comes up much later in the game, and this is where we get into SPOILER territory. It’s south of the Zamor Ruins site of grace, in the ruins. You’ll find a staircase with torches on either side leading underground. Open the door, then the chest, and that’s where it is. How to get +7 and +8 The fourth and final Smithing Bell Bearing drops from the main story boss called Godskin Duo, in the Dragon Temple. Somber Smithing Stones - All Locations and Bell Bearing Somber Smithing Stones are used to upgrade unique equipment, up to +9. Useful for unique weapons that are generally of a much better quality from the get-go. Somberstone ball bearing 1 will be dropped by Fallingstar Beast boss in the Sellia Crystal Tunnel in Caelid. Somber smithing stone 1 and somber smithing stone 2 can be bought from the Smithing Master Iji in Lirunia. You should run into him naturally near the Site of Grace named Road to the Manor. Somber smithing stone 3 and somber smithing stone 4 can be bought from the Twin Maiden Husks at Roundtable Hold as long as you bring them the Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing 2, which will be dropped by a pair of Crystalin bosses at the Site of Grace named Altus Tunnel. You'll be able to buy somber smithing stone 5 and somber smithing stone 6 after you bring Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing 3 to the Twin Maiden Husks. This particular ball bearing can be found on a corpse near the Site of Grace named First Church of Marika. Somber smithing stone 7 and somber smithing stone 8 can be bought from the Twin Maiden Husks after you bring them Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing 4 - that ball bearing is found very late in the game near a Site of Grace named Tempest Facing Balcony (up in the Crumbling Farum Azula area of the map). You will find Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing [5] towards the very later stage of the game. After you unlock Forge of the Giants, you will be able to teleport to the small island on the southeast end of the map (Crumbling Farum Azula) as shown in the picture below. In Crumbling Farum Azula, you need to go to the location marked in the picture below. From the Godskin Duo boss, get out from the north door and keep progressing until you reach a dragon casting red lightning. From there, turn right and you will reach the area marked in the pictures below. Use the fallen building to cross the path and then enter the building on the right side. Here you will find the Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing [5] on a corpse as shown in the third picture below.

Elden Ring: No Spoiler Beginner Tips for New Players

7:21 AM / by admin / in ELDEN RING / with No comments /

Here is a selection of Elden Ring tips designed for newcomers to the games and those having trouble getting started! This guide is designed to give you a bunch of quick tips to browse - but there is much more info out there once you've gotten started!

Elden Ring Tips for New Players

My friends have a lot of questions about Elden Ring, with some saying it's a lot harder than other Souls games, so I keep writing out tips.

They ended up getting pretty comprehensive, so I'm sharing our list here too in case it's useful for anyone to send to their new pals! Hope they're helpful!

Please share any other good tips you have, but try not to drop any spoilers in the comments so I can safely link this post to my friends!

General Tips

Do the “optional” tutorial: There is an optional tutorial dungeon at the start if you jump into the hole, very recommended to unlock it and you can use it to test new weapons. This tutorial dungeon is where you will be shown how to do basic combat like blocking and back stabbing.

Unlearn habits: You may be in the habit of jamming buttons or relying on waypoints and narration in games - but this game is a little different and it’s often for a game design reason. It wants you to be more present, but there’s usually some direction or indication on screen of what is happening or what you could do.

Reconceptualize the game: If you are thinking you are playing Assassins' Creed or Dragon Age because it looks similar (third person, fantasy), you will have trouble. Try thinking of it as a horror game or a survival game - every step forward and every moment you are not currently dead is progress.

Don’t get sad: Remember, this game doesn’t play into lazy game design with obvious victory conditions - that also means the real reward is getting to explore and learn things and see weird stuff. You are totally still “winning” if you are just exploring in random directions and avoiding scary bosses.

Mix up playstyles: This game offers many options. Don’t feel you need to beat enemies - almost every enemy in the game is technically optional. Go do something else if you are stuck. You can level, change weapons, summon help, use your mount, try stealth, try ranged attacks. Don’t get stuck thinking something is impossible, it wouldn't be there if it was. Often there is a "trick" that makes an enemy easier once you get it.

Info in inventory: There is an "info" section in your inventory that holds tutorials and "tips" you can buy from vendors. You can also find out more about items and moves and spells by examining them in your inventory.

Play with item slot configurations: You can equip flasks to your quick item menu. I personally put the horse on “up” to make it easier to use in combat and my flasks on "left" (HP), "right" (Mystik) and "down" (FP) so I never accidentally heal while trying to use combat items anymore.

Items required for slots: In this game you need items to unlock more spell slots and to unlock more equip slots for the special items (that replace rings in previous games). Throwing items (the equivalent of firebombs in Souls games) may require items like "cracked pots" which are essentially slots for crafting and holding.

Get NPC or multiplayer help: If you are having trouble solo remember you can summon to help! This actually makes this game MUCH easier than many linear single player games. Co-op is much easier to get into than prior souls games, just craft the item to summon.

Co-op to learn: Joining someone else’s game is a great way to learn a new area with NO risk. Watch what your new friends do and when you summon into your game to get help use emotes to "say" you are confused or lost they will usually lead you around!

Look things up: These games are designed to reward exploration and make you feel the mystery, but also they reward learning and cooperation outside the game. It’s ok to check the wiki to look up where to get an item or get build ideas still have to trek across the map and brave challenges to get it. When I find something amazing, I let my partner know and they mark it on their map.

Run back runes: When you die and know you will die again, you can get your runes and run back towards the save point, and keep running them back while dying until you are safe. Tense but effective! You don’t need to beat what killed you to get them back.

Don’t forget your mount: The mount is like parrying in Sekiro, it completely changes this game from previous Souls games including combat. The open world, including enemy placement, is designed around it. Don’t forget it. You really won't be handling giant groups of enemies easily without it.

Target to find danger: The game designers don’t want you getting out of the immersion with item outlines (like you see in Dragon Age, Horizon or Cyberpunk), but you can still use your right stick click to find enemies by targeting them. In a new area and scared? Not sure where someone is hiding? Try targeting and see if it picks up an enemy with the white dot.

Enemies drop what they have: See a weapon or armor that you like? Chances are the enemy holding it drops it. This is random, so you may have to kill them many times. Most really great weapons, though, are found somewhere as an item on the ground or in the chest, but you can really get through the entire game with amazing gear dropped by enemies in the first area.

Movement / Exploration

♥♥♥♥ em: You can run past almost anything, get to new save points or open shortcuts, and keep items you pick up. Progression doesn’t always require combat.

Run a lot: Stamina doesn’t drain out of combat in this one so you can run everywhere until you start a fight.

Explore vertically and behind things: Remember to jump up and down to find things, go into every corner to find items. This game rewards peeking in every corner.

Sneak: Sneaking is very useful, you can use it to get in place for backstabs, explore or get past enemies when going back to pick up your dropped runes. It’s a good idea to sneak everywhere while exploring a dangerous new area.

Use light: Use a torch or your belt light to see in areas where it's pitch black or you're unsure of your footing. The torch can also be useful in combat in a pinch or against a slow fire-weak enemy near the start of the game.

Explore when broke: When you have just lost your runes permanently by dying twice, you now are in a perfect position to fearlessly explore anywhere. Run past enemies, get into trouble, die confidently - you have nothing to lose. I often use this moment to run past literally everyone I just fought to get the next save point. You actually can progress because now you know the area which is the real progression. It's also a good time to practice a boss or learn a hard optional enemy without stress.

Die with purpose: A suicide run into an impossible area to get a weapon or other item is a time honored souls tradition.

Jump into pillars of light and wind: You know those pillars of wind you can use to jump up with? You can jump down into them as well (while on your horse).

Less fall damage, but be careful: It’s still a huge risk, but you can handle larger falls (especially on the horse) than you can in previous games, so don’t rule out exploration option. Make sure you are healed, though, you often will take some damage. There are also ways to reduce fall damage further.

Let a co-op partner test falls: Souls games love to hide items behind drops off edges - but you may want to let a co-op partner try out risky ledges deep into dungeons. You can always resummon them!

Rainbow Stones: Alternatively, you can use Rainbow Stones - they'll break if you're going to get killed from a fall. Stones can be a little hard to direct and don't have the added benefit of letting you know if an enemy is lurking, but they don't require sacrificing a summon (and your time.)

Mark and view your map: Mark hard enemies, places of interest, or future places to explore (suggested by your friends) on the map so you can head to them. The map also shows a kind of direction from the save points which is also often a useful tip on where to try exploring.

Pick up on the go: Unlike previous games, you don’t stop to pick items up, so you can run up and over them on your horse and then run away. It also makes gathering crafting ingredients very quick.

Ingredients respawn: Ingredients, from plants to crystals, respawn and always in the same place. You can just go back to get them any time. Animals and enemies are always in the same place too!

Your Mount

Stop on a dime: The horse doesn’t keep moving if you stop holding forward, unlike transportation in many other games. You can use it for precision movement and jumping or to stop instantly while swinging in combat (but moving past while swinging is often safer).

Use the dodge: The horse “dodge” mostly goes faster but is still a dodge you can work into combat. Without stamina drain outside of combat, you can hit it over and over to keep up speed.

Mow down groups of enemies: Horseback combat is incredibly overpowered against groups or single enemies once you learn it, especially with larger weapons. You may want to find the biggest weapon you can that also is quick enough to have a "Back and forth" movement, since getting the "forth" upswing is very useful.

Hit and run: You can really hit something and then go far away and come back, don’t feel you need to dodge or risk any sort of counter attack if you can avoid it.

Some enemies are harder: Some enemies are harder on the horse though, getting in close may be best.

It’s a tank: Your equip load doesn’t impact your horse gameplay, so you can load yourself up to heavy with your biggest armor if you want to use it to clear an area. It's a medieval tank! Just remember to wear a reasonable amount when you're back on foot.

But the horse can get hurt: Don’t get too cocky, you can get knocked off or have the horse unavailable until you revive it. Still, it's generally better to let your horse take a hit than have you take a hit and you can usually resummon it quickly after getting knocked off.

Use the left side too: Mounted combat can use both sides, use left triggers to hit the left. You can practice on animals, it’s very useful to learn this to take out large groups quick and level up

Sweep up groups: Holding the strong attack often gives a sweep style move that can be used for large groups. Some weapons can do quick attacks back and forth, large ones are very slow.

Jump off: You can also do a jump attack while jumping off your horse (left stick). Helpful when getting into trouble with enemies you know will be easier off the horse. This attack does a fair amount of damage!

No poison hoofs: The horse won’t get damaged by poison on the ground so use it to get through those swamps.

Combat Tips

Don’t panic: Panic is your worst enemy. Anything can kill you if you run out of stamina by panic attacking or dodging, almost everything can be indefinitely avoided by a patient player. Obviously this is the point of the whole game, so don't feel bad though - it's designed to scare you and make you freak out and then eventually become confident.

Dying is fine: Souls games have a reputation for being very hard, but you probably actually die more times per hour playing Mario or Halo. It's just aesthetics that make it feel dark! Dying is a normal part of most gameplay loops, you're doing fine if you are dying a lot.

Be patient: Combat rewards patience more than anything else, you can usually circle around and avoid all the attacks to learn a new enemies movements. There's almost always a way to use ranged or other less fun but "easier" tactics. I've got EDS, hand pain, am terrible at games, but I can get through these with practice and grinding!

Weapons hit what they hit: Unlike in many melee combat games, the hitboxes really matter. You can narrowly avoid a hit above your head, and your weapon won't hit them unless it actually hits them. Just keep that in mind. Many enemies do have area-of-effect attacks you'll have to work to avoid, though.

Invincible dodge: Dodging gives “i-frames” meaning you are invincible for a portion of the dodge. You can dodge right into most attacks or through them if timed right.

Don’t hold block: Blocking is incredibly useful, but you don’t regain stamina while holding it. Learn to block, let the shield drop when they are prepping the second attack, and then block again. You'll be able to block many more attacks in a row.

Try hugging enemies: Enemies don’t damage you by touch like in Mario. You can get right up into them. Push into their back at the same time as an attack to backstab. Hug them to get under large sweep attacks or circle round.

Dodge can interrupt some attacks: If an enemy seems skinny, even if they have powerful attacks, you may be able to interrupt it for a second by rolling /into/ it. This can be very helpful when managing mages or mobs of slow but grabby undead.

Stagger em: Almost anything can stagger somehow via being hit a bunch, parry, block, etc. Use that moment to do a huge attack by moving forward on their weak spot like you were going to backstab. However, sometimes you'll be able to do more damage by just wailing on them while they are down for a moment, so keep an eye on how it worked for next time you encounter them.

Hit weakspots: Enemy weakspots are often orange. Some, like the land octopus, don’t show up until they are staggered and take very little damage until the weakspot is exposed.

Get under attacks: Many giant enemies like trolls and dragons have trouble hitting you when you are closer and have insane ranged attacks - losing your fear and getting in close makes things easier. Some huge enemies are actually trivial once you get into the pattern of hitting one leg from behind, rolling, hitting again.

Don't Neglect Jump Attack: Jumping gives you an expanded move set, but also more damage and higher chances of applying effects (like Bleed). A certain talisman can increase that damage further. Jumping can also sometimes give you a quicker attack with a heavy weapon. There's another benefit too: Sometimes enemy attacks will go under you while you jump up, allowing you to dodge a hit while getting in a big one. Depending on your moveset, you may even get a second leaned over at the end and sometime enemy attacks go over that (Caestus is a good example). Some spells can even be cast while jumping. Jump isn't just for exploration!

Parry with practice: Parrying is easier if you’re not moving. Try not to panic and you’ll be able to parry incredibly strong enemies eventually. Try thinking of it as if you are slowly baiting them, waiting for them to attack into your trap. It takes a lot of practice! Start on lower level enemies and don’t rely on it until you know a move set. When you are starting out, I highly recommend just doing it in the tutorial tunnel until you've got those enemies consistently. But parrying is totally optional and high skill level play, unlike learning how to dodge. If you're good at fighting games, though, you can get good at parrying.

Pull enemies: You can pull enemies back with a dart or arrow to get them to come at you one at a time. Or, often, you can simply pull one by sneaking close and standing up for a second, trying to get just one facing you to follow you out. Most enemies won't alert their friends, though some will with horns or other calls out to them.

Cheese em: “Cheesing” is valid and even encouraged. Use corners, doors, get height and use ranged attacks. Craft items, poison enemies, resummon help over and over. Don't be ashamed that you used tactics to destroy a dragon, that's a victory!

Most enemies don’t heal: Most enemies don’t heal even after they stop aggroing, so you can pull back and try and get them in waves of attacks.

Practice on animals: You can practice with weapons or mounted combat on animals! They don't give much souls, but you need the crafting items and it's very useful when first learning, especially learning the timing for mounted combat

Throwing weapons are better than ever: You can craft throwing weapons from findable ingredients. Freeing up the slot just for combat (by putting your flasks in the other quick item slots) makes it more reliable than ever to use in the middle of combos or to manage crowds. I always keep at least some bone darts in my slot for getting animals before they run or a quick tiny extra bit of damage to bosses. You can throw from horseback too.

Magic is an option for beginners! Ranged magic is very useful for beginners, though you may be more easily killed than someone in heavy armor with a strength build, the best way to avoid getting killed is to stay out of range entirely. You can usually get some kind of entry level ranged spell for any build without too much investment and only set your flasks to FP when you need to get out of a pinch with it.

Weapons / Equipment

Test every weapon: Test out weapon move sets of anything you pick up, remember to try holding it two handed.

Try the whole move set: Jump and crouch offer more weapon moves, make sure to actually learn and use them in combat. You also do different moves from a dash or back step, sometimes unique very useful ones for clearing a crowd. Test them all!

Dual Hand: Try weapons in different slots, use Y and the weapon bumper to two hand them, vary your playstyle by combining weapons and shields and magic.

Power Stance is back: Power stancing two weapons (from DS2) is back, meaning you can hold a similar weapons in each hand and access a special moveset where L1 will do a combination move. It's an advanced move and requires upgrading both weapons to get best damage so don't worry too much about it as a starting player.

Try on the horse: You may like one weapon for mounted combat, one for on foot. Some, like the Lance, are really designed for mounted combat.

The right situation: Some weapons will be more useful in a hallway (vertical moves), some have large sweeps for groups. The “best” have a varied move set you can mix up, though sometimes require switching one to two handing as needed for the moves.

Use what you like: Every weapon is workable though, people beat these games with anything.

Get a 100% shield: Not every shield blocks 100% of damage. The ones that do will be way more helpful for new players. Some shields are more resilient to getting hit, others will be staggered quicker.

“Turtle” behind shields: Some weapons, like spears, can be used behind a shield, but watch that you don’t run out of stamina while blocking and attacking at the same time.

Watch your equip load: Equipment load is very important. You will suffer huge penalties by wearing too much armor. Held weapons contribute to weight even if they are not currently in your hand. Make sure to stay under medium load.

UPGRADE IT: Remember to upgrade your weapons, this will often boost your attack more than leveling. ALSO REMEMBER TO UPGRADE YOUR FLASK.

Make weapons scale: Also make sure to equip ashes and change your scaling on weapons (heavy, keen, etc) to make sure they “scale” with your stats. Changing the weapon special ability offers a lot more customization than dark souls. You can make almost any weapon fit any build with the scaling changes, so pick a weapon by the move set that you like.

Armor gives Poise: An armor will have specific stats for resistance against various damage types (most commonly you'll be concerned with "physical" damage) but another important stat is "Poise". Basically, this helps determine how easily you will be stunned, interrupted, and so on. Poise is a complicated stat, but for most players you simply want to get it as high as you can. If you see someone saying they "poise through it", what they mean is they were hit and damaged but their attack continued and hit the enemy (often for a lot more damage, if you're using a slow strength weapon.) Some weapons and moves effectively increase your poise, which may be something you may want to research for late game PVP.

Fashion souls: For armor, stats can matter, but you can also really just use whatever you think looks cool. Same goes for weapons, sometimes it’s worth making things “harder” for yourself with a cool weapon you like - once you learn it well anyway.

Stats / Leveling

Get weapon stats first: When leveling, get your weapon stats first so you can hold the one you like. Those stats are Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith and (less common) Arcane. Without the required stats, you'll do almost no damage with it though you can hold it to try out the move set.

General stats help every build: The Health (Vigor) and FP (Mind) and Stamina (Endurance) improving stats help with every build, with vigor and endurance being incredibly important. The others are mainly for damage scaling. Arcane improves item drop rate - but also can be a damage stat with a specialized build.

You can respec: Go for stat requirements of a weapon you like based on move set, but you can respec later so don’t stress too much. "Respec" means re-assigning all your earned levels from the start of the game - you can try a totally different build. Without spoiling anything, if you really need to do it, just look up "how to respec in Elden Ring" online.

Over level: You can “over level” and any amount of leveling increases your defense, so this is a very valid way towards making an area ‘easier’ without getting more skilled. No enemy scales to your level, they always get easier as you level.

Ground runes: You can get runes from skulls on the ground, save the rune items for when you find a random vender or need some extra to hit a level.

Gold Eyes Means Increased Rewards: If you see an enemy with glowing eyes, they'll likely drop extra runes if you take them out - so maybe worth stopping to challenge them as you're on your way elsewhere!

Grind big guys: If you want to level, find an enemy you can beat that drops a lot of runes, and practice on it instead of wasting time with a lot of low level ones. Trolls drop 1000 runes and are not quite as hard as they look once you realize you can just hit-dodge-hit their right leg over and over.

Win big in other people's games: Alternatively, grind bosses! You'll get really really good at the game eventually - or if you just find one boss you think is easy for some reason you can beat it over and over in other people's game. And they'll love you for it!! You can be summoned almost anywhere so use this technique when you are close to a level, need to learn an area or just want to play with a little less stress!

by xoxomonstergirl