Essential pointers to know before you play Elden Ring

Elden Ring is a messy masterpiece. The magnificent visuals, action-focused RPG, simple controls and sprawling world-building give it a terrific replay value. The FromSoftware game is a collaboration between Dark Souls mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin. Needless to say, almost every Souls game gets a nod in Elden Ring (the Bloodborne mode is real!) and the fact that it has almost no dead ends makes it a great experience for beginners. In fact, its open-world set-up, optional content and tutorial-heavy introduction are curated to make the game more approachable.

Nevertheless, you should be ready to die — a lot! But that’s part of the experience. Elden Ring rewards exploration and engagement. Moreover, the game constantly encourages players to learn new mechanics and experiment with playstyles. So, there’s always hope and here’s what you should know before you jump into Elden Ring this weekend

You can use respec

One of the best things about Elden Ring is that players don’t have to commit to one single build. Elden Ring has a respec option, although it’s fairly deep in the game. Respeccing lets players completely reallocate all their stats, so they can explore any cool weapons or armour or swap builds. This feature has existed in previous Souls games, but has often confused players.

In Elden Ring, respeccing is fairly easy to utilise and it can even become crucial when it comes to defeating late-game Elden bosses.

Spoiler: You can’t respec unless you’ve beaten Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon in the Raya Lucaria Academy in Liurnia, following which you’ll need to find a Larval Tear to access the ‘rebirth’ function.

Samurai is the best class for beginners

For beginners, it’s ideal to choose a class with a ranged attack, since melee-focussed enemies would find it more challenging. The Samurai class offers long-range attack and close-quarters combat. Besides high physical defence, the class also comes with the highest endurance stat across all starting classes. It’s equipped with the Land of Reeds armour set and Red Thorn Roundshield.

For offence, the Samurai has a Longbow and Uchigatana. The latter is a starter kattana which is one of the most accessible weapons in the entire game. It has the ability to cause bleed damage and is immensely useful in cutting through the early stages.

Although if you’ve never played a Souls game before, consider going with Vagabond or Hero for their balanced starting stats.

Keep monitoring your equip load

On your stats screen, you’ll find an ‘Equip Load’ detail with light, medium and heavy markers and it’s based on your equipped armour and weapons. Remember a ‘heavy’ equip roll slows your dodge rolls, so keep it at medium at all times. You can even lose some armour if you need to. A heavy equip load (over 70%) uses more stamina with each roll, making you slower and a prime target for bosses.

Stealth could be useful

Remember the game has stealth! Elden Ring’s stealth mechanics are similar to Sekiro’s (another action-adventure game from Elden Ring’s developer FromSoftware). So you can achieve a lot if you’re simply crouching! You can even do a stealth playthrough if you want, which can give you a leg up.

Spend your runes (and often)

Don’t be jittery about losing your runes — it’s a big part of the game! Use them to level up or upgrade your gear. Remember, you lose them when you die while facing a boss, so don’t get too attached to them or hoard them, when you can use them to survive.

You can skip Margit

If you come across Margit too early or are underleveled when you face the Fell Omen Boss, skip him! Yes, Margit can be skipped and players can even go through to Liurnia of the Lakes without going through Stormveil Castle. There’ll always be time for Margit once you’ve levelled up instead of struggling with the pesky boss for hours on end.

The Flask of the Wondrous Physick is real

If you’ve heard about the Third Church of Marika, you may have also heard about the mythical flask that can be reused for different effects, be it for healing or boosting your stamina. It can be found in the starting region of Limgrave. Once you have the Flask, you will be able to choose 'Mix Wondrous Physick' in the menu which will lead you to the Crystal Tears.

Using spirit ashes is not cheating

Purists will advise against using spirit ashes or casting spells, but Elden Game rewards strategy as well as awareness. Spirit Ashes are spectral allies typically based on various NPCs and can be summoned during boss battles. They can be terrifically useful in distracting enemies. But not anyone can use Spirit Ashes, only players who are near a Rebirth Monument. Lhutel the Headless is by the far the best Spirit Summon on offer although this headless knight may require more than 100 FP to be summoned.

Elden Ring has a secret Bloodborne mode!

Several Hidetaka Miyazaki projects have obviously influenced Elden Ring’s gameplay. And although the closest resemblance is to Dark Souls, players will find Bloodborne’s aggressive mechanics in Elden Ring. Malenia's Great Rune is basically a nod to Bloodborne. There are seven Great Runes in the game and fans who wish to recreate the combat of Bloodborne should seek out Malenia's Great Rune.