Elden Ring: 14 gameplay tips to make your journey easier

These are simple but very useful details and mechanics.

This question goes to those who haven’t played it yet. Elden Ring: Can you believe that, with 65 hours of gameplay, there’s still a lot to see? So it is true. I’ve been playing since the exact moment of the PC launch, that is, 10 days ago. Here are some simple but very useful tips for those just starting out. Or even for those who have already started, but still don’t understand some mechanics.

I wouldn’t focus here on better weapon, or build, or item locations in general. Do not. As I said above, these are simple tips, but very useful. Come on:

Don’t be afraid to explore…

The Intermediate Lands (Lands Between) form a huge super cool world to explore. The game hides many secrets in different corners. Explore! Don’t be afraid to get into corners where you have no idea where you’re going. Don’t worry about the order of doing things, that’s not important in Elden Ring. Always explore the walls, you will find places to enter, and also many enemies much stronger than you.

… Do you know why?

Torrente, your mount (you can’t call it a horse), is the one who will get you out of the biggest hurdles that you, most likely, will get yourself into. Did you sense danger and chaos? Horseback riding for what I want you. run away! You will hardly be caught, even if there are enemies that reach the Torrent at full speed. Explore!

Don’t forget to collect resources

You will mostly see plants everywhere. Went through them, take it. There are the rarest, hidden, but the vast majority will be in the middle of your path. The friendly and innocent animals roaming the desolate lands also offer resources when they are slaughtered. Yeah, that’s life… Eventually, you’ll start to find the recipes to craft items that you would buy from merchants around the world. Oh, don’t forget to buy the Production Kit from the first vendor right at Elleh Church.

Indications on the map

I want to highlight only two of them that may go unnoticed. One of them, the one on the right, indicates a piece of map. As you advance through unknown regions, the map, still empty, will eventually show this symbol. Go to it and find the map of the region. The other sign (left) shows the mine tunnels, where you can get a lot of forge stone, needed to upgrade weapons. Don’t miss these two points.

jumping exploration

A simple jump opens up a lot of possibilities for exploration. Those unreachable corners in “soulsborne” games can now be easily conquered. Did you run into a dead end? Jump, walk or ride the Torrent, because the chance to find an item, or find a secret location, exists.

Night with money rain

During the night, you will randomly see golden particles across the scene. They are the leaves of the great tree, Erdtree. Any enemy taken down during this period will grant more runes, which is the equivalent of souls in the Souls franchise, the in-game currency.

Skulls and enemies with yellow eyes

Still about money, did you come across enemies with yellow eyes? Kill quickly, as they “drop” significantly more runes than other enemies. Also, during your journey you will see skulls on the ground and some of them glow and have yellow eyes. Run around with the Torrent already “spamming” the pick up button, and you’ll get a small rune fragment.

Don’t miss a Digitonthophagus Gazella, the famous dung beetle

There are several of them and you must exterminate them, as sad as it is. The red dung beetles fill their bottles with Crimson Tears, and the blue ones fill the other bottle for magic, the one with Cerulean Tears. Other beetles of other colors (actually it’s not the beetle that is colored, it’s his “shit”) will “drop” War Ashes, spells, forge items, etc. Keep an eye on them.

Can you fall? It seems so, but beware

Since the first gameplay trailers started to come out, one thing that has caught my attention is how far you can fall without dying. But make no mistake, there is no math to calculate this. The best thing to do, before playing, is to use Rainbow Stones. When playing one, if it doesn’t break, it’s possible to fall without dying. Regarding Torrente, he is not invincible, be careful. There are typhoons that throw you very high, and they can also be used to fall great heights unharmed.

torrent in battle

By calling or dismounting your mount, you get that precise frame of invincibility. This is very useful in field battles, especially against bosses. If you use swords, especially the big ones, before riding the Torrent, wield your weapon with both hands, this will increase the damage when attacking an enemy. Beware of exposing yourself too much, as if your mount is shot down, you are vulnerable on the ground for a few seconds. To close, you can attack from both sides, using the upper left and right buttons (L1/LB, R1/RB, L2/LT and R2/RT).

Don’t swim in the poison

When crossing a poisonous patch, or any rotten status, don’t roll, just run (or jump). If you roll in these places, even when you arrive in a dry place, the indicator bar will continue to rise until it becomes a de facto negative status. This is, I believe, because the clothing will be soaked in the poisonous liquid. Just running or jumping, it doesn’t.

Jump with strong attack

If you choose a “porradeiro” build, use and abuse the jump with strong attack, especially holding the sword with both hands. Depending on the size of the enemy, and even boss, right after such an attack, followed by a normal attack, will stagger him, ideal chance for extra damage.

Sekiro Heritage: Shadows Die Twice

Don’t forget about stealth. This mechanic is very useful, both for getting out of a jam and for taking down enemies. Know that, on very tall humanoid enemies, it is not possible to perform the “back stab”, so charge your strongest attack soon, in that case.

Weather interferes with spell damage

This tip is very valid for faith and intelligence builds. In the case of rain, any electrical attack does more damage (not a lot, but there is). However, during the rain, do not set fire, this will be less efficient.

I could still talk about many other things, such as the hit box that borders on perfection (this video exemplifies well), special attacks with the ashes of war, the portals that lead to the unknown, the epic boss battles, that unique moment that deserves to go to the forums. Anyway, apart from the stuttering problem (which doesn’t happen much in my experience), the game is all that they say. Personally, I haven’t felt this way since Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Elden Ring maintains tradition of problem releases on PC
We have performance drops and missed opportunities in the preliminary version of the PC game

–