Elden Ring Beginner Guide – The Ultimate New Player Guide – In this Elden Ring Beginner Guide I’ll share with you my top tips for getting started, including things I wish I knew sooner! Keep in mind Elden Ring is a very big and really complex game, so this guide will give you a short crash course on things to be on the lookout for rather than go in-depth with mechanics.
Elden Ring Beginner Guide – The Ultimate New Player Help Guide
Few things affect your playthrough as much as Character Creation, since your Starting Class determines what Equipment you can use right out of the gate. Let’s begin here before getting into other topics that will make your playthrough go a bit more smoothly.
Elden Ring Getting Started – Character Creation
The first Boss of the game starts strong with a complex character creator. But do not fret, you can change your appearance, name and gender soon after starting the game and as many times as you want. You will not, however, be able to change your Class and Keepsake, so these are important early choices.
Elden Ring classes are simply starting points, but the starting equipment is not found as easily so you should pick something that best represents your gamestyle. My personal favorites are Astrologer, Samurai and Confessor. The Astrologer is a mage build with easy range that will give you lots of room to breathe. The Samurai has good Armor and a wicked Katana. The Confessor can be turned into a paladin for your faith-strength combos. If you are lost, make good use of our Builds page as we will be publishing multiple starter builds right away!
For Keepsake, you’ll want to pick the Golden Seed, Lands Between Rune or Stonesword Key. The health Talisman is an easy pickup not long into the game, and the other items aren’t really worth it. If you want more details on this, check out our Character Creation Guide on the Youtube Channel.
Elden Ring Tips & Tricks – Your First Hour
The game gives you several early tutorials to introduce you to controls and the basics of Multiplayer Mechanics. If you are new to the souls in general, you’ll want to pay attention. You can read all these tips in your inventory under “info” – so don’t be too worried if you miss something.
To set the tone of the game, you first need to obtain a few vital items. Hit the Site of Grace at your starting Point (Stranded Graveyard), then the one outside (The First Step) and run directly North to Church of Elleh. The merchant here has 3 main items you will want: buy the Torch, Crafting Kit and Telescope as soon as you can. Then head over to Gatefront Ruins by following the grace and you’ll meet Melina and obtain Torrent, your mount. Be sure to get the Whetstone Knife item that allows you to slot Ashes of War on your Weapon as well, since this no longer occurs automatically. You can now begin exploring Limgrave at your own pace, but make sure to return to Church of Elleh after you have made some progress and rest at the Site of Grace there, as this will unlock a conversation with Renna that gives you Lone Wolf Ashes and the Spirit Calling Bell which you need to use Spirit Ashes in the game.
You can now begin to follow our Game Progress Route to get things done with some direction. That wiki page will be vital to your efforts so make sure to bookmark it!
Elden Ring Beginner Guide – Combat Tips
If you are new to souls, there’s a lot to unpack on the depth of the Combat, and you can read about it and status effects etc on our Wiki pages. For this guide, we’ll focus on some essential tips to keep you alive. These are: Gear, Tactics and Mount.
For Gear, you will want to get equipment that suits your build or playstyle and is easy to pick up. Our Build Guides have recommended pickup Locations for good gear, but you can also sort this out yourself by opening our Equipment page and using the comparative tables, then finding items that are near you. Basic recommendations are to get the Brass Shield from the guards in Gatefront Ruins as it has 100% physical block, the Demi-Human Queen Staff from Weeping Peninsula’s Demi-Human Forest Ruins, and the Kaiden Sellsword Ashes from Murkwater Catacombs. If you use Sword and Shield, get the Barricade Shield from the Night’s Cavalry in Weeping Peninsula. For any class Ash of War: Glintstone Phalanx is amazingly useful and you can check the Wiki for its location.
- For Tactics, it is best not to approach groups of enemies full on.
- Always check the corners and ceiling when exploring catacombs and ruins, as you will find enemies waiting in ambush hidden at clever angles. Expect the unexpected or you will get ganged up on and killed by a mob.
- You can pick to play stealthy and backstab stronger enemies, or hit them and run away until they lose aggro then return to finish them off.
- You should do whatever feels like matches you best, so think creatively and if you get stuck consider coming back later or rethink your gear, Ashes of War and Spells.
- You should also experiment with the many, many consumables available to apply damage effects to your weapons, throw bombs at enemies, or boost your own defenses.
Your Mount is a very important part of combat and many encounters, particularly dragons, are better done mounted. Magic users should note that even if you are locked on, your spells will fire in the direction that you are facing, so you have to be looking toward enemies to hit them. Everyone needs to make good use of Torrent’s Sprint to get out of enemy range but be mindful that this consumes Stamina.
The most important combat mount tip is: If you are fighting mounted, YOUR WEIGHT DOESNT MATTER. This means even if you are a mage, if you are on torrent you can equip the heaviest Armor in your inventory and move at the same speed. This is indispensable for avoiding damage in many encounters, so make full use of it when fighting Night’s Cavalry, Dragons, and any mount-friendly boss!
Elden Ring for New Players – Exploration Tips
Elden Ring is a game that heavily rewards exploration. Don’t leave any specific location unchecked! Some general tips for this are:
Stonesword Key Imp Gates: These gates require a Stonesword Key. There are many of these around so be sure to purchase any you see from vendors.
Catacombs have Ghost and Grave Glovewort, which are used to upgrade your Spirit Ashes. You will also find more Spirit Ashes within these sections, that usually have traps and puzzles to solve.
Catacomb puzzles are solved in one of these ways: A) Gain access to a different floor: either by finding a ladder, jumping ON TOP of fire and slashing traps to rise with them, or dropping UNDER elevators. B) Access a secret area: some catacombs have illusory walls that you must hit to reveal a hidden path.
Caves and Tunnels usually have special equipment and ore. You will find most lifts have mid-way drop-off points that guide you to some special equipment. Whenever you see a tunnel, make sure to go in and gather as many Upgrade Materials as are available.
Towers and Rises have magic and magic equipment. Many will give you Memory Slots, which are indispensable for mages. Towers feature several puzzles, including finding “Wise Beasts” (turtle spirits, they are hidden around the area and sometimes clinging to the walls, trees, or even cliffs). Other puzzles require you to do a gesture like “Erudition”, so make sure to collect the gestures. Lastly you may be told that something “Guides the way”. This is a hint that there’s an invisible platform. Pay very close attention to nearby cliffs and look for misty signals of a possible way on what should be air.
Militia Camps can have good equipment and spells so make sure to clear them out when you find them rather than ride by. The same goes for Forts and similar larger structures. Oftentimes there are quests associated with these or you receive key materials.
You can run by any large boss or section that you feel you’re not ready for. Find a nearby site of grace and summon some help if you need!
Beware that if you get dismounted while exploring, you’re about to be invaded by an NPC! Some of these encounters can be very difficult, so always make sure to unlock every Site of Grace when you see them.
Elden Ring Progression Tips
The game doesn’t give you any firm guidance on what to do or where to go. You get hints from NPC dialogue and ITEM DESCRIPTIONS so this is where you need to focus to plan your progression. Even with this, you will find yourself roaming about wondering if this is where you should be, as the game has areas with noticeable difficulty spikes. As mentioned before, your best bet is to bookmark our Game Progress Route as it will evolve to include all NPC sidequests and such. That said, your immediate aim should be to do Limgrave, Weeping Peninsula and Stormhill before heading into Stormveil Castle. From here you should go North to Liurnia of the Lakes.
If you get stuck, revisit NPCs and trigger their dialogue to find out where they tell you to go, or read the descriptions in your Key Items inventory. If all fails, the Wiki is always there. This is a massive game with multiple branching paths and many secret locations that can only be accessed by NPC and quest progression. Avoid being overwhelmed by it by approaching the game methodically and not rushing from one zone to the next or skipping dialogues.
For your character, remember that upgrades outpace leveling. Putting more points into your Stats without upgrading your weapons will yield sub-par results. Gather upgrades for both your Spirit Summons and Weapons and improve your chosen armaments often and diligently. You should also focus your stats: spreading them about does not help and you will not be able to re-spec until after the main boss of the legacy dungeon in Liurnia of the Lakes, which is estimated at level 50+. Upgrade Vigor, Endurance and your main weapon stat (Strength, Dexterity, Faith or Intelligence) only.
Upgrade materials are not hard to come by, and a special smith in Western Liurnia of the Lakes sells several. You can also find Bell Bearings to give to the Twin Maiden Husks and unlock purchase of all upgrade materials.
For your weapons, you can freely change “affinity” to optimize their scaling to your desired stats, and apply skills that are useful in combat. There is no best weapon or best armor, but many pieces have Special Effects. We have made a list of Equipment with Special Effects that you can find on the Wiki, and will help you determine which individual pieces to match to optimize your damage output.
NPC Questlines & Inventories
Elden Ring has some of the more complex NPC questlines in the souls series. This is mostly because the game is so large and non-linear that it’s very easy to miss a step on their progress, or advance the main quest past the point where they can be found. It is prudent to keep track of their whereabouts, talk to them whenever possible and re-visit old areas after major plot points. If an NPC disappears or dies, you can find their equipment and bell bearing at their corpse, or their stock may directly appear with the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold.
You can also advance your magic progress by giving scrolls to an NPC at Liurnia of the Lakes, who doesn’t have a death flag. If you anger an NPC or commit some sin, there is an absolution mechanic that can also be found at the same NPC at the Church of Vows in eastern Liurnia of the Lakes.
There is a lot more to learn to master Elden Ring, and there are so many tips that I can’t possibly fit them all into one article. If you have your own tips to share, make sure to do so on the comments! Or head over to the Wiki and help the community by editing and adding information about the game. Also make sure to check out our Elden Ring Review, Character Creation, and Builds that we have coming out.
