Getting Started
See our About page to get some general ideas on the concepts of the game. You should then visit the Classes page and select a class you believe would be approachable to your style. To proceed through the game, you can refer to our Walkthrough page for an overview of the recommended route.
Movement & Actions
You can control your character movement with Left Analog Stick, or vaulting with Left Analog Stick and holding Circle. See the Controls page for full control configuration.
What is the Best Class?
Starting class does not matter a lot late game, and none lock you into a specific build, with only a few stat points separating the "best" class for a build from an unoptimal one. This being said, Vagabond is generally considered to be the optimal starting class for the majority of builds.
All Classes are very distinct in their gameplay and will markedly affect your playthrough of the game. All Elden Ring Classes follow similar concept to that of the Dark Souls series, choosing a class determines the player's starting Stats and Equipment which can then be improved and upgraded later on as you progress throughout the game
Elden Ring has a lot of unique Skills, magical abilities, and even a horse to leaping up a cliffside, as well as attacking while riding your Mount. These are Skills that you pick up through the player's progression and exploration. There are some cases that a player can acquire a skill through purchasing it from merchants or learning them from an NPC, but in general, Skills are hidden throughout the game's world, and it is the player's responsibility to discover these through exploration.
Elden Ring provides complete freedom when it comes to building up your character, you are basically free to combine your Skills with different weapons and equipment, and you'll learn magic as well. Skills are freely interchangeable between a large variety of weapons as per Hidetaka Miyazaki, and that there are around 100 Skills. With having less restrictions, players will have even more variations of Builds that is even richer than previous Souls games
Where is the Jump Button
The ability to jump is a new feature in the game. Details on the Controls scheme can be found in our Controls Page.
Spiritspring Jumping
Jump while on horseback near a spiritspring to ride its current high into the air.
You won't take damage from jumping into a spiritspring while on horseback, even from a great height.
Press the X button at a spiritspring while on horseback: Spiritspring jump.
Death
Upon dying, you will be revived at the last site of grace at which you rested.
However, if there is a Stake of Marika near where you died, you can choose to be revived there instead.
Stakes of Marika are statues found usually before fully entering a new location where many enemies are expected, they serve as temporary respawn points. If you happen to die in a zone after visiting a Stakes of Marika close by, you will be able to choose between reviving on a Site of Grace, or that Stake of Marika. After leaving that location, if you happen again, you will no longer be able to revive there.
What are Ashes of War?
Ashes of War is a new mechanic that allows player to modify their Weapon and Shield base damage, protection, scaling and Skills. This allows players to adapt each type of armament to their respective Build and playstyle.
How to use Ashes of War?
Visit a Site of Grace and select the "Ashes of War" menu (this only becomes available after you have collected at least one Ash of War). Once inside the menu, you can preview the effect of the Ash on your Weapon or Shield, and select to apply either the skill or the skill and the effect, which acts as an optional Prefix. By using Ashes of War, you can match the scaling of your equipment to your character's Stats.
To successfully modify your equipment, you'll need to collect Ashes of War and apply them to your equipment at a Site of Grace.
Using Gestures
From the Menu, use Gestures to perform unique motions to communicate with other travelers. Gestures are most commonly used as means of communication between players in an Online game.
Gestures & Secrets
In some rare cases, Gestures may trigger certain events that will take you to new quests, items or places, maybe even new Bosses or Enemies. It's important to pay attention to details as some of them may hint of a gesture that may trigger some event. For example, if you find a statue posing as a gesture you recognize, you may consider trying to play the same gesture and wait for a minute, if an event triggers, surely you will be noticed by some sound, watch around to see if any secret door opens or if something moves.
Equip Load
When you carry more than 70% of your maximum equipment load, your dodge rolling will become slower and clumsier. If you exceed your maximum equipment load entirely, you will be unable to roll at all. Keep always this information in mind when equipping your character, mobility is key and will help you avoid hazardous traps as well as nasty attacks from enemies or Bosses.
What do you Sell in Elden Ring?
Players who have collected enough extra Items and Materials will want to clear their inventory of clutter and gain a few Runes in the process. It is usually not recommended to get rid of items in Elden Ring since you can probably find a use for them later on and they will yield little Runes. However, those who want to clear space in their inventory can consider letting go of some come Materials first like fruit. You might thing of getting rid of any Weapons or equipment that you won't consider making a part of a build or some PvP items that you come across if you don't intend on engaging in multiplayer very often, but even sold Weapons do not yield a lot of runes. If you do not have to, most people suggest keeping your items since the storage limits to your chest will allow at least one of every item in the game.
Summoning Spirits
Spirits Are the fallen souls of the countless Enemies you defeat in the game. As the player progresses the game, they will be able to encounter certain Skills such as being able to summon the spirits of the fallen enemies, and upon calling their fallen souls, they can aid the player in combat.
In order to summon Spirits, you'll first need to find their corresponding Spirit-Caller's Ash. Once in your possession, you can use the ash as an item to summon the selected spirit to aid you in combat.
Summoning Spirits will usually consume FP. Only one summoned spirit can be active at any given time, and you won't be able to summon them while in multiplayer.
- Spirits may only be summoned in specific locations. If you leave the boundary, it will unsummon
- Spirits may only be summoned once per encounter, so you cannot re-summon them after they die during a boss fight.
- You must be near a rebirth monument to summon spirits from ashes.
- When you are close to a rebirth monument and able to summon, a monument icon will appear on the left side of the screen.
Using the Flask of Wondrous Physick
The Flask of Wondrous Physick is a relic of the physick chemists, priests of the Erdtree that you can use at Sites of Grace to mix two Crystal Tears to create elixirs with various custom effects.
The Crystal Tears and Sites of Grace
Crystal Tears can be used and mixed to enhance the effects of the Flask of Wondrous Physick. You can find Crystal Tears at the bases of Minor Erdtrees and elsewhere throughout the Lands Between.
Sites of Grace are the Checkpoints of Elden Ring. These special locations feature a luminous remnant of Grace, enshrined by a small stump of roots, and allow a moment of respite in The Lands Between. Sites of Lost Grace function much the way that Bonfires worked in Dark Souls.
The New Mechanics
Elden Ring will have a large scale in terms of the world and exploration, and to go hand-in-hand with this, some new mechanics are introduced such as jumping, yes players can jump now, as well as riding on horseback (Mounts). Hidetaka Miyazaki strongly suggests that you thoroughly search and explore every section of the world to find Skills that are hidden.
There are a number of choices as well that players can approach their way of combat, some may be brave and choose to go on head-to-head, while others would rather have allies such as being able to summon the spirits of deceased enemies.
Night and Day Cycle
Real-time changes are featured in Elden Ring in the form of the Day and Night cycle, as well as Dynamic Weather. These features also heavily affect gameplay, combat, and the world you are exploring. For example, in cases that you are roaming at night, both players and enemies will change in terms of aggression due to a decrease in visibility, and some special enemies that only appear at night will come out.
Stance
Similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, during Combat you should be careful not to lose your Stance in order to avoid getting staggered. You will also want the break you Enemy's Stance in order to make them stagger, giving you a chance to perform a critical attack. During combat, you can block your Enemy's attack by holding the block button, however if you block each attack only when it's necessary, the game will consider that you performed a perfect Block. Perfect Blocks will save your Stance, and waste the Enemy's Stance, but if you block earlier or keep blocking longer than necessary, you will lose some Stance while your Enemy saves it.
Performing successful parries will also help lowering or breaking your Enemies' Stance greatly, but failing an attempt of parrying will cost you a lot of Stance. Heavy Strikes, Sneak Attacks and attacking from above can also heavily lower or break the opponent's Stance.
Magic and Spells
Magic Spells in Elden Ring is a combat mechanic where players conjure the dark arts to execute a variety of offensive, defensive and support functions. From casting elemental magic, healing properties, and support-based spells, these have various effects and properties that can be inflicted on both players and enemies.
You must have a Staff equipped to cast Sorceries, or a Sacred Seal to cast Incantations.
Casting Sorceries and Incantations consumes FP.
Sorcery Spells have a wide variety of effects. You must have a Staff equipped in order to conjure a Sorcery.
Incantation Spells have a wide variety of offensive effects. You must have a Sacred Seal equipped in order to conjure an Incantation.
Game Difficulty
There is ONE difficulty in Elden Ring. The decision of FromSoftware leaning towards this feature can benefit both new and veteran players of this genre. Elden Ring features a large scale when it comes to its world and exploration, so it does make sense that it really is up to you on how you want to tackle the game, it is highly encouraged that players carefully assess the situation that lies ahead and to find different ways to deal with it. This also provides a good camaraderie within the community since everyone can share their experiences and hopefully help one another.
Torrent, the Spirit Steed (Mount)
Shortly after you began exploring the world, you will find Sites of Grace that serve as Fast Travel points and a place to Rest. After you find 3 Sites of Grace, Melina will give you the Spectral Steed Whistle, which can be equipped as a quick item to summon Torrent and mount it, mainly used to run long distances in less time. Also used for Ranged and Melee Mounted Combat.
How do I get to the Elden Ring Main Menu?
Once you enter any menu from the main menu screen, using a controller, you press on the indicated back button to bring you back to the main menu, but while using a PC you are able to right click to bring up some additional options which will also give you the back button option. Select the back option to return to the Main Menu.
