Beginner’s Guide to Elden Ring: 9 Essential Tips for New Players

Elden Ring is the biggest From Software game to date, and certainly the studio’s best work, with secrets and challenges in almost every corner. I understand how intimidating a release from a well-known developer can be for newbies, so I’ve created a beginner’s guide to Elden Ring with nine essential tips for new players to help you get the most out of The Lands Between.

Don’t Miss Craft Kits

After venturing into the open world, a crafting kit should be your first purchase. You can buy this item for 300 runes from the Merchant in the Church of Elai, north of the starting area. Crafting kits unlock recipes for potent perfumes, weapon grease, throwable cans, health items for your mounts, valuable buffs, and more – all of which will make your time playing Elden Ring more energized.

learn to escape

There are many powerful enemies in the world of Elden Ring, and you will encounter several of them in the first few hours. You don’t intend to beat some of the challenges in the game right away. Instead, you should explore, level up, and come back later with more knowledge and skills.

The location of the lost grace points to the main target

Like the campfires and lanterns in From Software’s previous games, the Lost Grace Ruins are checkpoints for you to chase in the Elden Ring. These locations are used as fast travel points, storage management, and safe areas in most dungeons. While you rest in the Land of Grace, your health, focus, and reusable flasks are restored, and you can also use these checkpoints to level up your character stats or memorize new spells.

Additionally, these safe areas will point towards your main target. If you feel lost or not sure where to go next, try to find another Lost Grace site and explore the surrounding area.

How to Unlock Spiritual Summons

Spirit Summons are essential tools in Elden Ring. While they don’t do much damage, even if you level them up in roundtables, Souls will help tanks deal damage from bosses or hordes of enemies. They can even help you interrupt or stagger daunting enemies. There are many different kinds of Soul Summons, all of which are similar to the opponents you encounter in the world. You can summon wolves, floating jellyfish, and even Godric soldiers wielding shields, swords and crossbows. Each companion behaves differently, so finding the best companion for your playstyle or current scenario is critical. These collectibles are scattered throughout Elden Ring’s sprawling world, and you’ll naturally find them by exploring and fighting enemies.

However, it is entirely possible to miss the spirit summoning bell necessary to summon the spirit. To unlock it, go to Elleh Church at night. You’ll find the ruins of the church right up the hill in the first step of the game’s starting area, but watch out for the tree posts guarding the path. After resting in the Church’s Land of Grace, a specific NPC will visit you and present you with a Soul Summoning Bell, allowing you to use any Soul Summons you may have collected.

Finally, know that while you can use them in every boss fight and most open world areas, you can’t use Spirit Summons anywhere. You’ll know you can use Spirit Summons when you have a blue arch symbol on the left side of your HUD.

Dodge scroll speed is related to device load

Every piece of equipment has an associated weight, and if you don’t manage your build properly, you’ll end up being too slow to function. Your dodge speed is related to a percentage of your gear load: 30% gear load for light roll, 70% for medium roll, 71% for heavy roll, and if you go over 100%, you’ll be over-complicated and unable to dodge. For novice players, I recommend staying in the medium range. Nonetheless, you can always increase your stamina to increase your equipment load threshold to carry heavier items while maintaining a faster evasion rate.

Upgrade your weapons as soon as possible

Aside from observing and studying the world around you, the best way to improve your Elden Ring is to upgrade your weapons. Weapon level plays a huge role in the amount of damage you deal, especially against early bosses like Margit’s Fallen Omen. To upgrade your weapons in the early hours, visit Elleh Church and use the anvil next to the wandering merchant. However, you’ll need to visit the Roundtable (unlocked by advancing the main objective) and talk to Blacksmith Shogg, who will allow you to upgrade your weapons and equip or duplicate new weapon skills.

You can use Smithing Stones to upgrade normal weapons to level 25, and Somber Smithing Stones to upgrade special weapons to level 10. Regardless, you’ll need to explore the world or loot enemies to find these resources. Trust me; you’ll be happy when you see them.

Upgrade your Flask by exploring

As you explore The Lands Between, you’ll find Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears, two items that can be used to upgrade your reusable flasks at Sites of Lost Grace. You’ll find little saplings that radiate golden light along with the golden seeds of the little Eddard trees, and the Divine Tears inhabiting various churches scattered around the world. Gold Seeds will increase your flask recharges, while Divine Tears will increase the amount of refills per flask.

You can redistribute your Flask charges by resting at any grace site. My power builds require the least amount of focus – resources for magical abilities and spells – so I usually allocate all my flask charge to Crimson Tears Flasks to restore health. If you are a heavy magic user, you will need to assign a cost to the Flask of Azure Tears, which restores focus when consumed.

How to Find Map Fragments

At the start of the game, your world map will be completely blank, save for the few Grace ruins you have unlocked. To clear the fog of war and see a detailed version of the area you’re exploring, you’ll need to collect items called map fragments, which you can find on tall stone pillars on major roads or prominent intersections. If you’ve thoroughly explored an area and are still missing relevant map fragments, open your map and zoom in, looking for a small icon that resembles a pinnacle. These icons will only appear after you visit the area and then remove the fog of war.

Don’t miss the tutorial

You may want to skip the tutorial in Elden Ring. After all, there is a wonderful world waiting for you to explore. But don’t skip this tutorial. In less than five minutes, you’ll be taught how to use spells, sword and shield counters, stealth knockouts, and more basics like the two-handed weapon stance, which is required to use a special skill called the Art of War. The Elden Ring tutorial is located in the Stranded Graveyard, the cave where you wake up at the start of the game. There was a soul sitting on a chair on the edge of the cliff – climbing down from the rock to start.

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