As expected from the developers of thriller games like the Dark Soul Series and Demon’s Soul, Elden Ring is one of the most intriguing role-play games (RPGs) you can find. It takes plenty of creativity, precision, out-of-the-box attempts, perseverance, and even luck to survive the ruthless Lands Between.
Some of the aspects that make Elden Ring difficult to win are the numerous heinous monsters, brutal bosses, and demigods you must defeat. Additionally, you have to find a long list of items to enhance your build and equip yourself with what it takes to have a winning chance.
Read on to master a few essential survival tips if you feel stuck.
Don’t Play “Hero” as a Newbie
One of the most significant decisions you have to make when playing Elden Ring is to choose a starting class. Note that your choice will have a significant impact on your playstyle. After all, it will give your character a specific playstyle.
The Origin class will help establish starting stats and obtain your first set of equipment. You can always replace your equipment or upgrade your character along the way, although the starting stats remain the same, or go back to the default state after a respec.
Your choice of starting class will not be as relevant as you explore deeper into the game. You can level up, pick up stats and even earn new equipment from loots. However, whether you will survive through the first hours of the game or die will highly depend on your starting class.
Elden Ring is among the easiest Soul Games around. After all, you can choose the combat style you best prefer without necessarily obsessing over a starting class. The idea is not to make your early life needlessly difficult.
For instance, start as a Vagabond if you are into the melee playstyle. On the other hand, Magic beginners can begin with the Astrologer class. If you are going to opt for a hybrid class, opt for a Confessor.
Once you advance in skill, you can now choose starting classes for advanced souls players like the Hero, Warrior, Bandit, Samurai, Prophet, or Prisoner. You could even advance into a Wretch, where you begin playing with no equipment—like the tough guy you indeed are!
Do Learn the Ropes around Runes and Leveling Up
You can level up using runes to make yourself stronger and boost your survival chances. Runes are points earned from finding items and defeating your enemies. Increasing your abilities and health using these points doesn’t have to be intimidating.
First, consider your number of runes and determine whether to use them to level up your attributes or buy stuff from merchants. If you want to increase your attributes, you have to spend your runes to boost your stats. This includes vigor, endurance, strength, mind, intelligence, damage, faith, and dexterity.
It is crucial to consider your playstyle before choosing the stats to level up. For instance, if you use a melee playstyle, it would make great sense to increase your dexterity and strength. This could even allow you to reach attribute requirements that enable you to buy the equipment you previously would not have the power to wield.
Having the right equipment can go a long way in boosting your chances of surviving Elden ring. You can earn weapons from loots or completing quests, although this is easier said than done, especially for newbie players. Fortunately, there’s no shoddiness in buying cheap Elden Ring items like crafting kits and armor to increase your chances of living past specific hurdles.
Don’t Downplay the Need for Weapon Upgrades
One of the first bosses you beat or dodge in Elden ring is located at the Tree Sentinel, a few steps from the Grace Point. A few steps ahead is the Church of Elleh, where you can talk to the merchant and unlock your Crafting Kit.
You cannot afford to underestimate the need to obtain this crafting kit if you want to have maximum survival chances when playing. It will help give your armaments the much-needed upgrades to pursue your next quest. While the upgrade is a mere +3, it will allow you to opt to face your enemies instead of choosing more time-consuming safe paths.
Do Keep an Eye on Your Equipment Load
It can be tempting to equip yourself to the tooth, especially when planning to get into combat with a monstrous boss. Anything at your disposal, including firebombs, katanas, and blades, can come in handy at your worst of moments. Just ensure that you maintain a safe equipment load.
To check on your equipment load, check out the character status column. If you lack excellent endurance stats, you can safely carry more weapons and armor. You can level up your stats to carry more weight or simply let go of what you don’t need to maintain a light or medium load.
So, what’s the beef with a heavy load?
A heavy load makes you easy prey for your enemies, including ruthless bosses. It can slow you down and make you use more stamina during combat. It is counterproductive to have even the best equipment if you cannot make light and fast moves.
Don’t Be the Loner
Being a loner in Elden Ring has its perks. However, it’s always better to gang up with other players to loot dungeons and slay bosses. This increases your runes which will come in handy when upgrading your stats.
Fighting a boss alone can be risky business. This is more so for the newbie with half-baked attributes and skills. On the other hand, working as a group reduces your risk of damage or even death during battle.
Getting summoned into the game worlds of other players is also pretty exciting. Also, there’s little risk because you can slide back into your game if you get killed and still have all the runes you collect for keeps.
Do Use Spirit Ashes
Fights with regular enemies are tough, although combats with bosses are potentially lethal. Fortunately, you still have great survival chances if you have a summoner’s bell and spirit ashes. They assure you of calling for help during dark hours.
The summoner’s bell is available for free, and you simply need to get to the Church of Elleh. At the Church, you will find a witch surrounded by mist who will hand over the bell. If you did not get the bell, you could purchase one from the Roundtable Hold.
With the summoner’s bell, you can collect spirit ashes as you progress through the game. The ashes allow you to call upon your spirit companies like fallen creatures or warriors to come to your aid.
Note that you can only summon one spirit at any given time. It is also not possible to call other players and spirit buddies simultaneously. Depending on your situation, it sometimes makes better sense to avoid bosses or only fight those within your ability to kill with just a few attempts. Although it is not always worth the risk, killing a boss can help you level or gear up.
Conclusion
We hope this post doesn’t contain too many spoilers, especially for Elden Ring first-time players. We did our best only to dispense information to help you survive through early game hurdles.
You’ll still likely get lost or killed along the way—but that’s the thrill of playing an open-world action RPG. There are still plenty of precious tricks and tips to learn along the way, so you better remain on your toes when playing!
