Elden Ring - 10 Early Game Discoveries You May Have Missed
I'm going to be going through some of the best early game discoveries, tips and tricks, and all that stuff. And that's an understatement. For now, sticking with the exploding theme, you might have figured out that a simple torch sold from Calais is useful for much more than just lighting up dark tunnels.
Not only is it one of the most effective early weapons against the skeletal slimes, it even lights up the miners in the limb grave tunnels with a spectacular explosion. Alright, I admit it. I stretched the truth a bit with that one. The normal torch that you buy from Calais doesn't scare away beasts, unfortunately, but this beast repellent torch sure does.
You can buy it from an isolated merchant in the Dragon Barrow region to the north, and it works on lots of things like wolves, dogs, and bears. Now if we're talking about methods to deal with annoying enemies, how can I avoid mentioning skeletons? Throughout your travels in the lands between, you're guaranteed to come across these bony boys in graveyards and dungeons.
Some bosses even summon them. The problem is that they just resurrect after you drop their health bar down to zero. You can deplete their health bar as many times as you like; it won't make a difference. Now there are specific items and spells to stop this from happening, like holy water and the litany of proper death incantation.
I'm not 100 certain, but I think in the network test we had before, holy items like these were the only way to stop skeletons from respawning in the full release. All you need to do is strike them in their glowing form after killing them just before they resurrect, and that's it, problem solved. And if you already knew that, did you know the skeletal militia man ashes you find from defeating the mariner field boss in Summon Water Village have the same effect, but this time they rise from the dead to aid you?
These two skeletal militia you summon as spirit allies will continue to resurrect by your side, in some cases, making them the ultimate. Tanks and shivers down your spine, another very large surprise in the early game can be found here next to the agile lake on the south side of Grace. It's close to where you start the game, but it's easy to miss.
Go up east from the path and you'll find a weak-looking enemy all by himself. Strike him and he transforms into a vicious bear. If you manage to defeat it, you'll be rewarded with a larval tear, which is an item needed to reallocate your character's attributes and change your build later in the game.
These are very rare and hard to find, so it's worth picking this one up. We have the map open, which brings me to my next tip. The map in Eldon's Ring has a very useful secondary multiplayer function for revealing hotspots. Just press the left trigger to toggle the multiplayer status and all these orange and blue zones will appear on the map, showing where all the pvp action is taking place.
useful for invasions and co-op. Certain other puns about fingers and buttholes don't translate so well either. As you can see, there was a mega thread about this on Twitter recently, with Japanese players trying to understand and come to terms with all these weird fort and knight references. All over the game it didn't make sense because it was being machine translated for them.
Although the fortnightly messages are a joke, that's not to say Eldon's ring doesn't change at night. Because it certainly does, the lands between become far more dangerous at night, but with greater risk comes greater reward. Certain areas, while appearing peaceful during the day, become the hunting grounds for dangerous bosses at night.
Let's take an example in the early game area of North Central Stormhill. This is a remote building called the War Master's Shack. In the daytime, it's home to Knight Bernal, a merchant trading the ashes of war. When the knight falls, however, he disappears, and a deadly bell-bearing hunter takes his place.
It's definitely worth your time to explore in the dark. If you're brave enough, you never know when you might run into a special nighttime encounter. Horrifying though it might be, the loot is often worth it. This next tip is probably unintentional. You probably aren't supposed to be able to do this one by the cliffs behind the Third Church of America.
There's a very enticing ledge lower down. It's an absolute death trap with blood stains everywhere as everyone tries desperately to jump down there down the cliff rocks without dying, and almost everyone fails. Even if you appear to leap from ledge to ledge on your way down, gravity always seems to catch up with you.
However, if you spam dismount from your horse on the way down and you get off, it seems to reset your falling state, and this way you can actually survive and make it to the bottom safely. The reason I think this might be unintentional is because you're clearly supposed to enter this ledge from the cave inside the cliff, because once I got down there I couldn't go through the fog door from this side.
It was one way only. I got some cool items though, and the point is that for now, at least certain lethal falls can be avoided by jumping off your horse and landing on a ledge halfway down. In Elder Ring, you begin the game by waking up in the cathedral of anticipation. And in true soul tradition, the first enemy you find here is almost impossible to defeat.
It appears to be a scripted death because once he takes your health to zero, you are sent to the stranded graveyard via a cutscene. However, it is actually possible to defeat this grafted scion if you're smart about it, and if you're starting a new character, I recommend giving it a go. You have nothing to lose.
The easiest character to do this with by far is the samurai. You start with enough arrows to shoot it down while keeping a safe ish distance. If you do manage to overcome this starting challenge, you will receive an ornamental straight sword along with the golden beast's crest shield, two incredibly good early game items.
The sword can be used straight away and is a pair of one-handed swords that can be buffed in the same manner as the grafted scion. Finally, some of you may not have realized you've contracted a debuff as a result of your reckless behavior. If you have a red square debuff icon under your health bar, that means you've had your health reduced by five percent and it's from fear of the deathbed companion in the round table hold.
I've already seen a few people say they didn't realize they'd had this debuff and they're over 60 hours into the game, which is pretty rough. Essentially, she gives you this rejection if you accept her offer of a hug. To get rid of this debuff, simply use the Baldichin's blessing, which he gives you at the same time.
