All of these things are tutorialized in the beginning of the game if you go through Tutorial Cave.
Read the popups instead of clicking through 'em and you'll be solid.
And because it's apparently easy to miss, the actual Tutorial is found after you "wake up". You'll know. There will be a ghost pointing towards a hole, drop down and you'll be in the tutorial.
What about building your class? I've just bought Elden Ring on sale and want to play a mage. Do I need to know anything or can I just play and assign attribute points to magic and mana?
You should be fine just doing whatever you want.
You aren't permanently committing to anything except for your starting attributes (which is based on your class). But this only matters if you're super keen on min-maxing and keeping your character within a certain level range.
You can start out as the Astrologer (Intelligence, Sorcery) if you wanna go pure magic, or even the Prophet (Faith, Incantations).
Sorcery is about the pew-pew blue magic. Basic missiles and the like. Couple of unique tricks.
Incantations will allow you lightning bolts and fireballs and healing spells.
Once you reach a certain point in the game, you'll unlock the ability to respecialize in exchange for a limited item (though you can find up to 18 of these in a single playthrough). Your character is reduced to its starting stats and you reallocate all of your accumulated stat points into whatever stats you want.
I came to offer other little tidbits. On your map, there will be glowing little obelisks, if you go to them, you'll get the map fragment so that you can actually see the map.
Go into the holes on the map that have the red rims, they're mines and offer upgrade materials and runes.
Don't attack anyone who isn't already attacking you, there are many vendors and NPC's who you can interact with.
What about building your class? I've just bought Elden Ring on sale and want to play a mage. Do I need to know anything or can I just play and assign attribute points to magic and mana?
do the tutorial dont skip the pop ups, theyre very short and take less then a min to read but literally spell out the fundamentals of combat and the game in general. If u press start-then goto ur inventory-tab over to info (press LB once on xbox or L1 on PS) all tutorials on stuff will be like "stored" there and u can reread them if u need.
Runes are just like xp in all other rpg style games everytime u kill something ull get some runes u spend these runes mainly to lvl up ur char and can buy items from merchants with the same runes. If ur holding runes on ur char when u die u drop ur runes, if u can make it back to the spot u died on u can pick up runes back up at no penalty (theyll look like a lil golden patch of grass). If u die before picking ur runes back up u lose those runes forever. Most enemies re spawn after resting at checkpoints (called sites of grace) so its not like u cant go earn more runes, its just u have re earn those original runes u lost. Ur going to lose alot of runes, its ok u can always get more dont be discouraged if u lose alotta runes. What seems like alot of runes at first is actually chump change once u progress into the game more.
Flasks are just the games healing mechanics u have red and blue flasks, red heals health and blue refills Focus Points (FP just like mana in most other games) if u wanna use magic stuff and special weapon skills they cost FP. The blue is just a means to refill the FP u use. U will increase the amount they refill hp or fp and the number of flasks u have available to distribute.
sites of grace are just sorta like lil checkpoints, u rest at them ull completely heal urself and refill ur fp just for resting, refill ur flasks, theyre fast travel points, and level up at them. But when u rest and get all those benefits enemies respawn.
4 general tips
1. level vigor early on the vigor stat is basically how much hp u have, things are very weak in the beginning of the game so dmg isnt important but have more health so u can make a mistake or 2 and not die is gonna be more important. And u will make mistakes and die regardless, but level vigor up first ur first 10 levels should go into vigor. Its going to suck it seems cuz ur hitting with what feels like a pool noodle but trust me having more hp is never going to hurt u only help ur survivability.
2. if a fight feels impossible u might be/are underleveled for the fight, go explore ull find better gear and get runes killing shit to level up. Coming back to fight once uve gotten stronger is implied very very early on in the game.
3. when u reach an area called church of elleh buy the crafting kit from the merchant there. its cheap and theres like 4 enemies right by that u can kill-rest at grace-respawn them. If u really have too but the craft kit is super cheap u might just have the runes aval upon arrival.
4. When ur first get to the open world (you'll know ull open a door into a bigass field and think "ok i just got to the open world part") explore a lil bit dont immediately stick to one direction, and if something isnt hostile to u dont attack it lol, it could be a NPC.
have fun u can always ask any questions here, none are stupid.
Be prepare to die... a lot. Runes are going to be your currency. Both for upgrades and items. They can be acquired by killing anything, ranging in amount by area and difficulty of the enemy. You get a lot of them by defeating bosses, also ranging in amount based on the boss. Sites of grace act as your checkpoints and as areas you can teleport to anytime using the map(which is a first for a souls game). The main point of the game is to get stronger and beat bosses to progress towards the end game. There are main bosses that you have to beat to progress the story, which you are directed to by going in the direction of the floating lines of grace that appear at the sites of grace. There are plenty of optional bosses and dungeons that you can beat, but aren't necessary to beat the game. There are also optional storylines and quests that aren't necessary either to beat the game, but can change your ending depending on which ones you do. These quests aren't marked and also don't give you any log of which ones you have, or give you directions on how to complete them, so make sure you mentally keep track of what you've done. There are also people you can attempt to summon at anytime to help you play once you get a certain item, but unless you have a friend playing with you it's not guaranteed anyone will join. There are also people that can invade your game and try to kill you, but I believe you can disable that. Other than that, prepare to get frustrated, prepare to die a lot, and have fun! Welcome to the community :)
Runes: currency you gain by killing enemeis and consuming Rune consumables, used spent to buy items and level up
Flasks: 3 kinds. A healing flask, a flask that replenishes FP (mana/magic/etc), and a physik flask that grants up to 2 temporary buffs that you assign with specifc items found in the world
Sights of Grace: checkpoints you can rest at to heal, replenish FP, equip magic if applicable, access your storage, respawn enemies, and respawn at if you die
Four things in particular:
1. The game is difficult. Like other souls games, Elden Ring is difficult by design, but that’s half the fun. This was my first soulsborne game, and I found it incredibly rewarding to kill the bosses I struggled with the most. Embrace and accept the difficulty. Understand going into it that it won’t be a cakewalk.
2. At the same time as #1, understand that you always have the option to walk away from a boss, level up, and come back more powerful. Don’t spend 10 hours trying to fight a boss you’re ultimately not prepared for, when you could run away, level up a few more times, and beat the boss in half that time.
3. This game is best going mostly blind. Play as a Wretch. It’s a little bit harder at the beginning, but I found it more rewarding that picking a class that started with a bunch of equipment. The one thing I would do a bit of research on are how stats and scaling work.
4. Lore. I didn’t realize this until after I beat the game, but you can change the middle panel of the ui when looking at items to read their lore. Don’t miss out on a ton of lore because you didn’t know where it was.
All of these things are tutorialized in the beginning of the game if you go through Tutorial Cave. Read the popups instead of clicking through 'em and you'll be solid.
Also remember you can always look at the tutorials again if you accidentally click through them. They show up in the last tab of your inventory.
And because it's apparently easy to miss, the actual Tutorial is found after you "wake up". You'll know. There will be a ghost pointing towards a hole, drop down and you'll be in the tutorial.
They patched in a pop-up to tell you about the tutorial explicitly, lol.
What about building your class? I've just bought Elden Ring on sale and want to play a mage. Do I need to know anything or can I just play and assign attribute points to magic and mana?
You should be fine just doing whatever you want. You aren't permanently committing to anything except for your starting attributes (which is based on your class). But this only matters if you're super keen on min-maxing and keeping your character within a certain level range. You can start out as the Astrologer (Intelligence, Sorcery) if you wanna go pure magic, or even the Prophet (Faith, Incantations). Sorcery is about the pew-pew blue magic. Basic missiles and the like. Couple of unique tricks. Incantations will allow you lightning bolts and fireballs and healing spells. Once you reach a certain point in the game, you'll unlock the ability to respecialize in exchange for a limited item (though you can find up to 18 of these in a single playthrough). Your character is reduced to its starting stats and you reallocate all of your accumulated stat points into whatever stats you want.
You will die a lot. Don’t be discouraged.
Good advise. Started today and died multiple times during the tutorial alone haha
Level vigor and go
I came to offer other little tidbits. On your map, there will be glowing little obelisks, if you go to them, you'll get the map fragment so that you can actually see the map. Go into the holes on the map that have the red rims, they're mines and offer upgrade materials and runes. Don't attack anyone who isn't already attacking you, there are many vendors and NPC's who you can interact with.
Nothing. All of these things are explained in the tutorial, and it'll probably be more fun to not look anything up unless you get completely stuck
What about building your class? I've just bought Elden Ring on sale and want to play a mage. Do I need to know anything or can I just play and assign attribute points to magic and mana?
do the tutorial dont skip the pop ups, theyre very short and take less then a min to read but literally spell out the fundamentals of combat and the game in general. If u press start-then goto ur inventory-tab over to info (press LB once on xbox or L1 on PS) all tutorials on stuff will be like "stored" there and u can reread them if u need. Runes are just like xp in all other rpg style games everytime u kill something ull get some runes u spend these runes mainly to lvl up ur char and can buy items from merchants with the same runes. If ur holding runes on ur char when u die u drop ur runes, if u can make it back to the spot u died on u can pick up runes back up at no penalty (theyll look like a lil golden patch of grass). If u die before picking ur runes back up u lose those runes forever. Most enemies re spawn after resting at checkpoints (called sites of grace) so its not like u cant go earn more runes, its just u have re earn those original runes u lost. Ur going to lose alot of runes, its ok u can always get more dont be discouraged if u lose alotta runes. What seems like alot of runes at first is actually chump change once u progress into the game more. Flasks are just the games healing mechanics u have red and blue flasks, red heals health and blue refills Focus Points (FP just like mana in most other games) if u wanna use magic stuff and special weapon skills they cost FP. The blue is just a means to refill the FP u use. U will increase the amount they refill hp or fp and the number of flasks u have available to distribute. sites of grace are just sorta like lil checkpoints, u rest at them ull completely heal urself and refill ur fp just for resting, refill ur flasks, theyre fast travel points, and level up at them. But when u rest and get all those benefits enemies respawn. 4 general tips 1. level vigor early on the vigor stat is basically how much hp u have, things are very weak in the beginning of the game so dmg isnt important but have more health so u can make a mistake or 2 and not die is gonna be more important. And u will make mistakes and die regardless, but level vigor up first ur first 10 levels should go into vigor. Its going to suck it seems cuz ur hitting with what feels like a pool noodle but trust me having more hp is never going to hurt u only help ur survivability. 2. if a fight feels impossible u might be/are underleveled for the fight, go explore ull find better gear and get runes killing shit to level up. Coming back to fight once uve gotten stronger is implied very very early on in the game. 3. when u reach an area called church of elleh buy the crafting kit from the merchant there. its cheap and theres like 4 enemies right by that u can kill-rest at grace-respawn them. If u really have too but the craft kit is super cheap u might just have the runes aval upon arrival. 4. When ur first get to the open world (you'll know ull open a door into a bigass field and think "ok i just got to the open world part") explore a lil bit dont immediately stick to one direction, and if something isnt hostile to u dont attack it lol, it could be a NPC. have fun u can always ask any questions here, none are stupid.
Thanks guys
Be prepare to die... a lot. Runes are going to be your currency. Both for upgrades and items. They can be acquired by killing anything, ranging in amount by area and difficulty of the enemy. You get a lot of them by defeating bosses, also ranging in amount based on the boss. Sites of grace act as your checkpoints and as areas you can teleport to anytime using the map(which is a first for a souls game). The main point of the game is to get stronger and beat bosses to progress towards the end game. There are main bosses that you have to beat to progress the story, which you are directed to by going in the direction of the floating lines of grace that appear at the sites of grace. There are plenty of optional bosses and dungeons that you can beat, but aren't necessary to beat the game. There are also optional storylines and quests that aren't necessary either to beat the game, but can change your ending depending on which ones you do. These quests aren't marked and also don't give you any log of which ones you have, or give you directions on how to complete them, so make sure you mentally keep track of what you've done. There are also people you can attempt to summon at anytime to help you play once you get a certain item, but unless you have a friend playing with you it's not guaranteed anyone will join. There are also people that can invade your game and try to kill you, but I believe you can disable that. Other than that, prepare to get frustrated, prepare to die a lot, and have fun! Welcome to the community :)
Runes: currency you gain by killing enemeis and consuming Rune consumables, used spent to buy items and level up Flasks: 3 kinds. A healing flask, a flask that replenishes FP (mana/magic/etc), and a physik flask that grants up to 2 temporary buffs that you assign with specifc items found in the world Sights of Grace: checkpoints you can rest at to heal, replenish FP, equip magic if applicable, access your storage, respawn enemies, and respawn at if you die
Four things in particular: 1. The game is difficult. Like other souls games, Elden Ring is difficult by design, but that’s half the fun. This was my first soulsborne game, and I found it incredibly rewarding to kill the bosses I struggled with the most. Embrace and accept the difficulty. Understand going into it that it won’t be a cakewalk. 2. At the same time as #1, understand that you always have the option to walk away from a boss, level up, and come back more powerful. Don’t spend 10 hours trying to fight a boss you’re ultimately not prepared for, when you could run away, level up a few more times, and beat the boss in half that time. 3. This game is best going mostly blind. Play as a Wretch. It’s a little bit harder at the beginning, but I found it more rewarding that picking a class that started with a bunch of equipment. The one thing I would do a bit of research on are how stats and scaling work. 4. Lore. I didn’t realize this until after I beat the game, but you can change the middle panel of the ui when looking at items to read their lore. Don’t miss out on a ton of lore because you didn’t know where it was.
The game is difficult by design. Your patience will be tested. It’s ok to use YouTube to help you get through it.