Elden Ring - 5 Beginner Tips

I've recently overindulged myself in the the beast that is Elden Ring with over 90 hours of playtime to completion. I've enjoyed the experience immensely, I'd go as far to say I've enjoyed this more than any other game developed by FromSoftware.

It has it's minor flaws but the game is 100% worth it. So, instead of a full review right away I've decided why not do a tip list for players new to the Soulslike/Elden Ring experience.

We are going through 5 main tips here.

1. Stat Priority.

2. Loss of Runes.

3. Get Lost.

4. Play Offline.

5. Bare Minimum.

1. Stat Priority:

Elden Ring features 8 key stats for your character. Out of those 8; 3 are generally used by all playstyles and classes. Those 3 stats would be vigor, mind, endurance.

Vigor is your top most priority as it affects your characters' health points. More health means you live longer, and that's more time you are potentially doing damage to the enemies you encounter.

Endurance is your second priority, it main encompasses your overall stamina, and equipment load. Stamina is used for basically every action in combat that isn't the basic movement, but even then; sprinting uses stamina as well. Dodging, attacking, blocking, and casting spells all require stamina. Equipment load is self explanatory. The more you have the more you can equip without being encumbered. Ideally you will want to be within the very generous <70% of your maximum equipment load range for the regular or fast rolling. Any higher and you might as well not roll at all.

Mind is your third priority, thought if you are a mage it's interchangeable with endurance.

This affects your Focus Points, or FP for short. This is essentially your mana and allows you to cast spells, use weapon arts, and even use most of the spirit ashes. So even if you aren't a mage you will still find use for this, one way or another.

2. Loss of Runes:

Runes are your currency, and your experience points. When you die, you drop those precious runes and that can be a frustrating experience for many. Thankfully; you have an opportunity to go pick up those lost runes, as they drop in a spot you were standing about 3-5 seconds from where you died. However, if you die again before picking up those dropped runes then all of them disappear forever. It's admittedly intimidating especially for anyone new to the soulslike experience, but try not to worry about it. The runes you get from bosses around the world will keep you well runed, even more so than what you'd be getting if you farmed runes in the same area multiple times. The best part is, after each boss is either a site of grace or an escape teleport that connects to a site of grace. There you can spend your runes on levels or even teleport out to the main hub area for some shopping or equipment upgrades.

3. Get Lost:

It's fine to follow what is essentially your main quest marker in the guidance of grace, but getting lost and finding a cave, ruin, mine etc is even better.

You might find yourself hitting that progressive wall, when you do that's the best time to turn around and wander the open world.

You'll find plenty of bosses (and accompanying runes), treasures, and even merchants that scatter the lands. The next time you return to face that halting wall, you might not only pass it, but utterly destroy it. It's exploration in the name of progress!

4. Play Offline:

For your first time around I'd recommend you play offline. Personally, I found the online messages and bloodstains distracting. Most of the messages you find from other players are nonsense anyway, and can get mixed up with the messages from the game and NPC's.

Thanks to the addition of spirit ashes you will have access to AI controlled characters that will fight with you in battle. It's easily the most accessible game out of every FromSoftware game in terms of offline play.

If you feel the need for some PvP or PvE, then you can just login for them, then log back out when you are finished. There is nothing stopping you from going online first to get a feel for things, your character isn't tied to a server or state of play.

5. The Bare Minimum:

All weapons have a stat requirement from a pool of strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith, and arcane.

Ideally you would choose 2 of these stats alongside your main stats. Investing into all of these stats equally isn't optimal.

To wield the most amount of weapons; I've made a stat shortlist. Note that these are for weapons mainly. For casters: intelligence/faith/arcane would ideally be about 40+ late game just to access the better spells and incantation in the game.

Strength - 27. When two handing a weapon, your strength increases by 50% when it comes to wielding requirements. This is the only stat to gain this bonus. 27 strength will allow you to use weapons with a requirement of 40 or less.

Dexterity - 22. This stat is your weapon spice rack. The more you have, the more choice you have with your selection.

Intelligence - 25. This covers 12 staves out of the 18 available. One of the remaining 6 staves have a requirement of 28 while the other 5 have a requirement of 48 all the way to 60. There is also numerous melee weapons with an intelligence requirement. Faith - 24. This covers 7 out of 9 seals, or incantation catalysts. The two remaining require 27, and 40 respectively. Faith has access to two of the coolest looking weapons in the game. One requires 28 while the other requires 30. If you are building a caster then you will have this stat requirement met. Otherwise they are not worth investing in.

Arcane 20. Arcane is an odd one. There is a few spells/incantations that require it, but the most you'll need in those cases is 18.

20 will have you covered when it comes to weapons though.

Ranking the stats according to the number of weapons they allow access to id' put dexterity first, followed by strength, intelligence, faith, then finally arcane.

It's a basic list for the most part but don't let it affect your playstyle if you don't agree with any of it. It's not a rule list. If you think are having trouble with the game, don't be afraid to start a new character and try again in a different manner. Just know that you unlock a respec option relatively early on so don't go rushing back to start a new character right away. Just have fun with it, give it a chance. It's okay to screw up every so often.