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[cormack12]

I have this sitting here waiting to dive into properly. I fired it up a few times when it launched, got distracted and never went back. I'm not that far in and I don't think I've encountered even the first boss. I find Souls games hard generally - I have no problem admitting that. But with Elden Ring I just felt lost when I wandered into areas and mobs felt really tough. Like mini bosses.

So just curious as to what the strategies are. Do you guys just kill a bunch of mobs in an area like an MMO then force respawns until you have enough currency? Do you just throw yourself at it until you brute force your way through the area despite how many deaths you accumulate? Do you focus on gethering materials only for your gear?

 

[Jigsaah]

So one thing I should mention off the bat. Everybody still playing the game is likely experienced with it. To keep the launch experience intact, my personal first playthrough rule is "Only help others, don't accept help yourself". So basically that means I would go to a boss and would beat it on my own using whatever means except for summoning phantoms. (NPC phantoms are fine) Then to boost myself up a bit I would then offer my sign to help others beat the same boss. That would get you rewards and souls to spend on levels and items from shops while still technically going the through the first playthrough solo.

Also don't look anything up on the first playthrough as it creates value for the 2nd playthrough where I allow myself to look at wikis and what not.

 

[RoboFu]

Eldin ring has fun starting hour or two.

You don’t really have to fight any bosses until you get your build up. Depending on that build though determines your first steps. If you want a somewhat easy first half of the game. Meet yuri near the beginning and then run to the ravine to do the invade fight with yuris help for the blood dagger. Then everything is easy up until getting to city.

Forgive me , remembering actual names is something I can no longer do. Lol

 

[Paltheos]

Wander around and find better stuff until you can brute force your way through an area. The game points you to Margit at the start but he's substantially more difficult than other first bosses in Souls games and despite the game's directions I don't think they really want you fighting him first. Spirit Ashes are a game-changer because they break From's enemy AI which still is not effective at fighting multiple opponents at once. If you're ok with cheesing, that's a good way to go.

I generally don't recommend this kind of strat but I think Elden Ring goes too far in difficulty for pure melee builds - a point which is especially obvious after replaying Dark Souls 3 (there's a ringing endorsement for ER lol). Still a fun game though.

 

[Gaiff]

I have this sitting here waiting to dive into properly. I fired it up a few times when it launched, got distracted and never went back. I'm not that far in and I don't think I've encountered even the first boss. I find Souls games hard generally - I have no problem admitting that. But with Elden Ring I just felt lost when I wandered into areas and mobs felt really tough. Like mini bosses.

So just curious as to what the strategies are. Do you guys just kill a bunch of mobs in an area like an MMO then force respawns until you have enough currency? Do you just throw yourself at it until you brute force your way through the area despite how many deaths you accumulate? Do you focus on gethering materials only for your gear?

Elden Ring's difficulty curve is generally quite smooth right up until the final quarter or fifth. Most mobs until then shouldn't give you much trouble besides the occasional ambush or tough grouping of enemies. You'll know quickly when you have no business in an area because you'll do low damage and get one-shotted by trash. Just explore and come back until the challenge becomes balanced again. The first two bosses you encounter for instance will very likely kick your ass and you'll figure out rapidly that you're not meant to take them on at the level you first meet them.

You also have many options to alleviate the difficulty such as really strong spells, powerful early game weapons, and most importantly, Spirit Ashes that do damage and drive aggro away from you. I find Elden Ring to be by far the easiest assuming you take the path that you're meant to take. The last quarter of the game or so though, ooh boy.

Just go out there and play. That's the appeal of the game. It's an adventure game where you never know what might lay in wait around the corner. This is what makes it so exhilarating; you're exploring and adventuring. Not just running through levels.

Edit: Grinding also isn't necessary and mostly useless unless there's a specific weapon you need to use and/or upgrade. Try doing caves and tunnels whenever possible. They're a great source of xp and materials to strengthen your weapons and tools. That's more effective than leveling up.

 

[Rex_DX]

Generally speaking don't over-explore too soon. You begin the game in Limgrave. Some enemies are meant to be tough but you'll be fine scouring that fairly large region for gear and secrets for quite some time. If you find yourself in a new region and every mob is one-shotting you it's probably a sign you should come back later.

Another sign is that when you're killing a bunch of mobs and barely making enough to level up, you're ready for a new area.

It's all about choosing the path to take and the above suggestions will help you, I hope.

Good luck. We're all counting on you.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Delete the game and don’t look back.

 

[Beer Baelly]

If you follow the main story you shouldn't have too much problems but explore and get as many items and exp as you can. I'm doing a rerun now but I didn't found it too hard at first. Definitely one of the easier Souls game, especially with the summon ability.

 

[anothertech]

If you want to turn the game into a hack and slash, go find the giant bird and knock it off a cliff for 12 hours.

If you want to play like a pro, get naked, put the caldron on your head and beat everything with a wood spoon.

 

[fart town usa]

I have this sitting here waiting to dive into properly. I fired it up a few times when it launched, got distracted and never went back. I'm not that far in and I don't think I've encountered even the first boss. I find Souls games hard generally - I have no problem admitting that. But with Elden Ring I just felt lost when I wandered into areas and mobs felt really tough. Like mini bosses.

So just curious as to what the strategies are. Do you guys just kill a bunch of mobs in an area like an MMO then force respawns until you have enough currency? Do you just throw yourself at it until you brute force your way through the area despite how many deaths you accumulate? Do you focus on gethering materials only for your gear?

Just explore the environment and try to avoid large enemies. You got a horse that can double jump, just ride around and then retreat if things get too intense.

You should be going around and activating grace points and leveling up, that's all you need to do and you can easily kill 20+ hours just roaming around and exploring, you won't be in the same area either, you can completely bypass the castle by taking the footpath to the right on the cobblestone path that leads to the castle, you then make your way up to the far left side of the map that has lots of shallow water in the environment. That will give you access to a massive section of the map to explore.

Stop over thinking the game, just explore, get grace points, and level up. There's so much content in the game, don't even bother with the first boss because you can avoid him for hours and then when you do get to him, it won't feel as daunting. There's also coop, you can fully coop like 99% of the game. Let me know if you don't understand the coop aspect and I'll break it down for you.

 

[JCK75]

I always get my horse and then immediately go find the boulder farming spot and get myself beefed up a little bit.

 

[DeepSpace5D]

I personally like to spend a bit of time grinding runes in the early stages and leveling up some stats.

The first area where I like to go to as a new character is at the “gatefront” site of grace to the north of the Church of Elleh in Limgrave. There’s a good amount of soldiers right there and they can be lured away from their group pretty easily if it feels difficult to take them all on at once. Four of the soldiers near this site of grace also carry a brass shield and if you get your strength stat to 16, you can equip this shield. It has a very high guard boost stat for early game and can carry to the mid stages with ease, or even later when upgraded. Just keep in mind that the drop rate for this shield is supposedly ~0.8% per kill, so you may need to kill 100+ to get one. It’s not a mandatory get in the early game, but can be very helpful if you don’t mind the grind.

Another good spot early on is the 5 Trolls on Stormhill, in the upper part of Limgrave to the east of Stormveil Castle. They give a very good amount of rune per kill for early game standards, but they can be pretty dangerous. Don’t try to take on more than one at a time. Although they can potentially hurt each other, it’s not worth it when both of their attacks are coming at you. Think of this area as more high risk, high reward in the early stages. But once you get all of their timing figured out, they become pretty trivial.

 

[cormack12]

Just explore the environment and try to avoid large enemies. You got a horse that can double jump, just ride around and then retreat if things get too intense.

You should be going around and activating grace points and leveling up, that's all you need to do and you can easily kill 20+ hours just roaming around and exploring, you won't be in the same area either, you can completely bypass the castle by take the footpath to the right on the cobblestone path that leads to the castle, you then make your way up to the far left side of the map that has lots of shallow water in the environment. That will give you access to a massive section of the map to explore.

Stop over thinking the game, just explore, get grace points, and level up. There's so much content in the game, don't even bother with the first boss because you can avoid him for hours and then when you do get to him, it won't feel as daunting. There's also coop, you can fully coop like 99% of the game. Let me know if you don't understand the coop aspect and I'll break it down for you.

I don't even think I got to co op. I remember going to a field with loads of mini ogres and they felt tougher than they should be. I went round another way and some beast dropped down into a tunnel so I rode past them. Ended up in a big field with more of those ogres.

Went the other way and came across caravans with a lot of mobs which overwhelmed me with numbers. Got a bit annoyed, then other games came out and I started some of them lol

I think I met a woman sitting down by the tunnel aside from the main NPCs, the Sentinel wrecked my shit so just ignored him

 

[fart town usa]

Also, buy a lantern the first time you see one available from a merchant. Equip that and turn it on, makes a huge difference in dark areas.

 

[fart town usa]

I don't even think I got to co op. I remember going to a field with loads of mini ogres and they felt tougher than they should be. I went round another way and some beast dropped down into a tunnel so I rode past them. Ended up in a big field with more of those ogres.

Went the other way and came across caravans with a lot of mobs which overwhelmed me with numbers. Got a bit annoyed, then other games came out and I started some of them lol

I think I met a woman sitting down by the tunnel aside from the main NPCs, the Sentinel wrecked my shit so just ignored him

Where that Ogre dropped, that's the cobblestone path that will lead you to the castle, and that's where the first boss is.

If you follow that path, it will spit you out of that ravine area where the ogre drops, once you're out, you'll see a tree with a golden seed on your right, you want those because you use them to upgrade your health flask. You can only upgrade health flasks while resting at a grace point. Keep following the path to the right, some wolves will appear, shortly after the wolves appear, you'll see a grace point near a shack on the right side of the road, activate it and then talk to the girl in the shack a few times (she should be there). I think that's when you get your first summon.

That path though, if you keep following it, it will eventually veer left, that takes you to the castle. If you keep going straight, you'll go under a bridge or something and there will be giant bats, just keep going and eventually it'll allow you to go past the castle to a giant section of the map. Just use your horse to ride around and pick off single enemies. As long as you activate grace points, you can always fast travel around. The world map has a ton of grace points.

You also need to fast travel to the round table area at some point to progress certain things, the round table is in the lower left corner of the map.

 

[The Cockatrice]

If a boss or larger/tougher enemy seems too hard then it means you're not supposed to defeat it then, but later and you can just move past it is the only advice you should seek regarding the game. Even then, you can still beat them with perseverance and patience but not highly mandatory. Simply follow the "beacon" direction and explore around it as you push towards the area it points. Dont expect to know everything from the get, actually do yourself a favor and stop reading shit, because the beauty of Souls games is finding out things for yourself and getting good. If you look up guides and where to go and what weapon to get and whatnot, what is even the point? Defeating bosses is not the only beauty of Dark Souls and Elden Ring. It's the exploration and AHA! moments. I can guarantee most, if not 99% of all new players who started with Elden Ring looked up shit, picked up the most overpowered shit and bragged online about beating the game. This has been the case since day one. Dont be one of those unless you hate yourself I guess, then go ahead. Also do not let anyone tell you that you shouldnt use that or this, like summons or whatever. If they're part of the game they're meant to be used. If you think the game becomes too easy, then stop using them, simple as that. I personally played the game twice, once with and once without any summon whatsoever full solo, nothing OP. Second playthrough was much better. The game does expect you to have some knowledge of previous games in certain janky outdated mechanics such as quests and npc's showing up after you rest/reset.

 

[Urban]

Get Mimic Tear +10 easy game

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Cheat Engine ftw

 

[cormack12]

If a boss or larger/tougher enemy seems too hard then it means you're not supposed to defeat it then, but later and you can just move past it is the only advice you should seek regarding the game. Even then, you can still beat them with perseverance and patience but not highly mandatory. Simply follow the "beacon" direction and explore around it as you push towards the area it points. Dont expect to know everything from the get, actually do yourself a favor and stop reading shit, because the beauty of Souls games is finding out things for yourself and getting good. If you look up guides and where to go and what weapon to get and whatnot, what is even the point? Defeating bosses is not the only beauty of Dark Souls and Elden Ring. It's the exploration and AHA! moments. I can guarantee most, if not 99% of all new players who started with Elden Ring looked up shit, picked up the most overpowered shit and bragged online about beating the game. This has been the case since day one. Dont be one of those unless you hate yourself I guess, then go ahead. Also do not let anyone tell you that you shouldnt use that or this, like summons or whatever. If they're part of the game they're meant to be used. If you think the game becomes too easy, then stop using them, simple as that. I personally played the game twice, once with and once without any summon whatsoever full solo, nothing OP. Second playthrough was much better. The game does expect you to have some knowledge of previous games in certain janky outdated mechanics such as quests and npc's showing up after you rest/reset.

Yeah I haven't looked anything up really. I guess I have trouble knowing when an enemy is at my level or appropriate to take on?

Like is it measured by ttk, damage I do to them? Damage they do to me? I think with this (and souls in general) I just get demoralised. I can kind of dodge and block decently enough but it seems to take me ages for certain enemies to get them down. I usually get killed because I can't take more than a few hits. But when I have to have 3 perfect attempts fully exhausting my stamina it feels like they should be down quicker, you know. It's not as linear as Demon's for example. Then I ask the questions in the poll lol.

 

[Bartski]

One of the core features of Elden Ring is if you enter an area that's way too hard for you, there are always multiple other areas to go and explore. Not even once did I farm a single rune in the game across 320 hours of playtime. My best advice for the first playthrough - avoid guides like plague and carve your own path

 

[NeverYouMind]

I have this sitting here waiting to dive into properly. I fired it up a few times when it launched, got distracted and never went back. I'm not that far in and I don't think I've encountered even the first boss. I find Souls games hard generally - I have no problem admitting that. But with Elden Ring I just felt lost when I wandered into areas and mobs felt really tough. Like mini bosses.

So just curious as to what the strategies are. Do you guys just kill a bunch of mobs in an area like an MMO then force respawns until you have enough currency? Do you just throw yourself at it until you brute force your way through the area despite how many deaths you accumulate? Do you focus on gethering materials only for your gear?

My advice in general is to do suicide runs to loot places and open shortcuts instead of trying to 1v1 every encounter. At the start of this game take the path from Church of Elleh to Stormgate site of grace. Rest and Melina will offer you a concord that gives you a horse. Teleport back to the church and talk to the witch resting on the East wall to acquire your first summon. Teleport back to Stormgate and ride the horse in the opposite direction. Once past the bridge take the right fork to island in the SouthEast. The enemies and bosses of that island seem to be scaled for the starting player. Once done with the boss of that island return to Stormgate and fight your way through it and Stormhill.

P.S. Everyone that tells you to do everything blind is full of shit. If an area feels difficult to navigate or you are not sure you have plundered everything, then look it up on fextralife wiki.

 

[Hohenheim]

If quite early, go to the area with the cleegyman and kill all the enemies wandering around multiple times for quick farming. If later, do the same in the area with the big bird who falls off the cliff when hit with a arrow.

And/or find somewhere else to explore.

 

[Yoboman]

I'd say early on there are a couple small caves around the entrance to Limgrave you can get some levels up in

Ignore the souls nerds. Use summoning where you want, it makes bosses easier and more fun doing it with someone else.

Levelling makes a huge difference in the ease of the game. If you are really struggling early on you can cheese the levelling a bit here is a guide for a good early farming option



I would also recommend you get moonveil katana relatively early on as it is a great weapon

 

[Soodanim]

The good thing about Elden Ring is that there is so much available to be on your side, you just need to be willing to explore to find it. It's all well and good me giving out specific loot tips, and I can if you want them, but my general advice:

• Get a 100% physical block shield
• Experiement with Ashes of War on weapons. You can change them at any time at no cost, and you can find some incredibly effective ones very early on
  • One I found that looked like a joke ended up having insane poise break, don't underestimate them until you've tried them
• Don't be afraid to use Spirit Summons once you get access to them. I find that not only do they help, but they can add some individuality to your play style and they also keep things fresh
• Use the customisable flask. As above, you can really customise things to suit you and it refills at every site of grace. You will find some very useful ones.
• Don't be afraid to craft things in the cracked pots. It took me longer than I care to admit to realise that you don't permanently lose the pots when thrown. Carrying round some damaging pots can be a great way to get an edge from a safe distance
• Make good use of your quick item slots
  • Forget about putting flasks on the old item bar, put them in fixed slots and you will never have to spend brain power and focus getting back to your red flask when you're near death.
  • Personally, I have 3 flasks and Torrent as my quick slots as they're the four vital ones. That leaves 10 slots for consumables

If you don't have Spirit Ashes/Ashes or War/flask 3, I'll be more than happy to help you find them. They're very early game things, but you may not have seen them yet. As long as you have Torrent, you can have both in a couple minutes.

If you REALLY want some help, there is a talisman that slowly regens health. It's a good one to keep on for a long time, especially when you're exploring. I found it by accident and it's pre first major boss, so you can make a beeline for it if you want the help.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Explore and coop.

 

[Banjo64]

Googled ‘Elden Ring best early mage gear’. Speed ran to it, that got me on my way.

I love souls games but I’m not in the business of exploring for 30 hours just to find capable gear. I always google early ways to get decent gear and then complete the game on my own after that.

I’d decide on a play style and do the same. Once you aren’t getting slapped about left and right progressing is easy as.

 

[Gojiira]

I have this sitting here waiting to dive into properly. I fired it up a few times when it launched, got distracted and never went back. I'm not that far in and I don't think I've encountered even the first boss. I find Souls games hard generally - I have no problem admitting that. But with Elden Ring I just felt lost when I wandered into areas and mobs felt really tough. Like mini bosses.

So just curious as to what the strategies are. Do you guys just kill a bunch of mobs in an area like an MMO then force respawns until you have enough currency? Do you just throw yourself at it until you brute force your way through the area despite how many deaths you accumulate? Do you focus on gethering materials only for your gear?

This just sounds like the typical nonsense when people wander into Caelid then complain about difficulty despite it being signposted as a ‘come back better prepared kind of area’…No offence of course, you did say you find Souls games generally hard.
But if an area is woefully difficult, you either stumbled into a later area such as travelling from Limgrave into Caelid, or your simply underequipped.
Id suggest explore Limgrave, come to terms with the gameplay and its mechanics, find some new gear (of which there is plenty), level a little, upgrade your weapon etc.
Just take your time and explore, and just know theres plenty of ‘world bosses’ such as the Dragon at Agheel Lake that are meant to be genuine early game challenges so dont worry if you cant beat them, just ignore and come back later.

 

[acm2000]

you know you dont have to force yourself to enjoy souls like games right?

 

[The Cockatrice]

Like is it measured by ttk, damage I do to them? Damage they do to me?

Yes. If you get one/two shot and you barely do 5% damage it's too tough for ya. Move on. It will become instinctual as you defeat more and more enemies, you'll notice that most of them at your appropriate level are way too easy. Do note that you can upgrade your weapons so ofc stats you put points in are not enough. That being said, you'll encounter in areas you have to go, some tougher ones that you simply can;t or at least shouldnt avoid. You will die, and you will learn from it, you will learn their attack patterns and get better. Sometimes you can even cheese some of them. It's almost impossible to die to normal enemies like the soldiers that roam around near the starting area. Unless they swarm you by the dozen, you should have 0 issues and if they do swarm you, just cheese them/run and pick them one by one. Blocking isn't hard, managing your stamina is. I would recommend for a few hours to just dodge and dont block at all, just to get the hang of it, have that instinct. Blocking won't do you much good in a lot of cases. Also, remember, you can move around enemies

I will let you in on a dumb japanese game logic secret tho because it was stupid af and never explained. Unlike any of the other souls games, the game has time of day, and the entire game is prolly best spent at night because you can miss a lot of "things". There is absolutely nothing unique happening in any other day time, so yeah...thats why its stupid.

Thats all I can say, explore and explore! Find the maps, you can easily tell where they are, use map markers, and just try not to overextend yourself. If you feel like you might die, just go back , level up so you don't lose your shit and continue. And remember to always rest because things may show up.

 

[Saber]

-Go slow and explore area with caution. You can entering an area that is not for your level
-Choose well your enemies. There are enemies who are starters(basic) and others who are either tough(have high poise) or elites.
- Choose the playstyle that better fits YOUR playstyle. Don't force trying a build or a class that you don't like or have difficulty using
- Most of bosses are ignorable. Don't get your head over it
- Taking too much of beating? Retreat and train. Everything becomes easier and farm is slow? Move to the next area
- Don't go around stupidly facing dragons just yet
- Aways scoults for smithing stones. They can be found on mines and are yellow crystals glue to walls or grounds. Leveling your weapons gives you a huge advantage
- Take a good look at scalings of your weapons. That one tells if your weapons are taking good advantage of your invested points
- Do not face Malenia unless you git gud, she like many other bosses are not mandatory to beat the game
- Make use of summons. They can help with areas infested with enemies and even aggro bosses
- Scoult for golden seeds. These ones are found on either little golden trees or Churchs, they are easy to notice and increase the number of your flasks
- If you ever get interested on using Great Runes, remember:
First - You need to go to the tower of the bearer you just defeated to activate
Second - You need a Rune arc to activate

 

[semiconscious]

Just explore the environment and try to avoid large enemies. You got a horse that can double jump, just ride around and then retreat if things get too intense.

You should be going around and activating grace points and leveling up, that's all you need to do and you can easily kill 20+ hours just roaming around and exploring, you won't be in the same area either, you can completely bypass the castle by taking the footpath to the right on the cobblestone path that leads to the castle, you then make your way up to the far left side of the map that has lots of shallow water in the environment. That will give you access to a massive section of the map to explore.

Stop over thinking the game, just explore, get grace points, and level up. There's so much content in the game, don't even bother with the first boss because you can avoid him for hours and then when you do get to him, it won't feel as daunting. There's also coop, you can fully coop like 99% of the game. Let me know if you don't understand the coop aspect and I'll break it down for you.

op: read this post. then go enjoy the game...

 

[Andrew Evenstar]

only had helps from friends in the first boss fight. aside from that I tried my best to not look up anything. never looked up the best builds or boss strats. I only looked up a few tricky things on now to proceed further in the game etc. beat Malenia with my own Paladin type confessor build.

if you can't beat a boss, go explore. get trapped in those dungeons lol. explore Caelid early like I did. I did snipe / cheese some harder enemies at that time in the game but the damn bow and arrow is a weapon that's given to USE, as is spirits.

i love this game and loved the way I played it

 

[IAmRei]

I grind all the way, returning with 10 levels more make everything easier. So my route usually this way:

Found hard place > grinding all the way > destroy last enemies who once kicked me hard but this time not so hard even sometimes easily > found new area > getting arrogant because i beat foes easily last time > killed by new mobs that eventually too hard > repeat grinding > repeat the cycle above : ))

 

[semiconscious]

I grind all the way, returning with 10 levels more make everything easier. So my route usually this way:

Found hard place > grinding all the way > destroy last enemies who once kicked me hard but this time not so hard even sometimes easily > found new area > getting arrogant because i beat foes easily last time > killed by new mobs that eventually too hard > repeat grinding > repeat the cycle above : ))

yep. cheesy but effective. which's all i really care about...

 

[F0rneus]

R1 attacks things. Attack things.

 

[Danjin44]

In my very first playthrough I went completely blind and I died A LOT, but it was fun trying figure things out and discover new areas.

 

[ssringo]

Just explore. If you get your ass kicked go elsewhere and come back later. Biggest thing is make use of your map markers. Find a cave you can't clear? Mark it. Overworld boss too hard? Mark it. Area you want to check out but you can't get there or are too weak to handle the mooks? Mark it. Check back on said markers every so often.

And don't be afraid to reroll an hour or two in if you're not feeling your starting class loadout. There's fairly easy to get gear for whatever you want to do but if you're doing it blind you might not find it for a long time.

 

[IAmRei]

yep. cheesy but effective. which's all i really care about...

it might be only me, but i played that way since DS1, i know there is better way for some, such as finding another dungeon to fill the gap rather than grinding in same area. but somehow not all dungeon is attractive for me here. ended farming on the overworld instead.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Annoying thread. I was tired of Soul’s games and quit Elden Ring pretty quick.

Now I’m reinstalling…

 

[Danjin44]

Annoying thread. I was tired of Soul’s games and quit Elden Ring pretty quick.

Now I’m reinstalling…

This is my big reason why I don’t play other “Souls like” games other than the ones FROM makes.

As long as FROM continues making games I don’t need to bother with other Souls clones, this way it prevents me from getting burn out of Souls formula.

 

[Ribi]

Just play Elden ring coop mod what are you doing?

 

[Arsic]

The vast majority of areas that give you trouble in fromsoft games just require one easy tip to succeed:

Run past the enemies to the next bonfire.

That’s it.

 

[ntropy]

I'd say early on there are a couple small caves around the entrance to Limgrave you can get some levels up in

Ignore the souls nerds. Use summoning where you want, it makes bosses easier and more fun doing it with someone else.

Levelling makes a huge difference in the ease of the game. If you are really struggling early on you can cheese the levelling a bit here is a guide for a good early farming option



I would also recommend you get moonveil katana relatively early on as it is a great weapon

maidenless behavior

 

[Jinzo Prime]

I have this sitting here waiting to dive into properly. I fired it up a few times when it launched, got distracted and never went back. I'm not that far in and I don't think I've encountered even the first boss. I find Souls games hard generally - I have no problem admitting that. But with Elden Ring I just felt lost when I wandered into areas and mobs felt really tough. Like mini bosses.

So just curious as to what the strategies are. Do you guys just kill a bunch of mobs in an area like an MMO then force respawns until you have enough currency? Do you just throw yourself at it until you brute force your way through the area despite how many deaths you accumulate? Do you focus on gethering materials only for your gear?

I struggled hard against the first and second boss, but the thing that made them possible was Smithing Stones. I hate using resources in rpg's, but in this game, upgrading your weapons is essential.

Like a plus 4 weapon makes the second boss go from impossible to actually fun. I honestly think upgrading your weapon is slightly more important than leveling.

 

[semiconscious]

it might be only me, but i played that way since DS1, i know there is better way for some, such as finding another dungeon to fill the gap rather than grinding in same area. but somehow not all dungeon is attractive for me here. ended farming on the overworld instead.

git cheesy! has always worked for me, as well. i've always been into these games for the exploring, not the combat...

 

[Yoboman]

maidenless behavior

 

[Danjin44]

Where is my Elden Ring DLC trailer FROM!!?

 

[Northeastmonk]

Bleed is OP. I went with katana build, but they also beefed greatsword damage with later patches. Magic is great for beginners, but you’ll need to experiment. Don’t worry about wasting stats, but stats help scale weapons. I thought the interactive maps were great. That way you can grab whatever you want before progressing onward. Idk how other newcomers handle these things. You think someone would be use to it having played earlier titles.

Where is my Elden Ring DLC trailer FROM!!?

Let it cook. I wonder how much and how big it’s going to be. I’ve been ready to preorder since the base game came out.

 

[Danjin44]

Let it cook. I wonder how much and how big it’s going to be. I’ve been ready to preorder since the base game came out.

I’m hungry now!

 

[Fredrik]

In my very first playthrough I went completely blind and I died A LOT, but it was fun trying figure things out and discover new areas.

Yeah that’s how I did it as well. Level up through exploration. I actually went in thinking I would never be able to finish this game, might not even beat the first boss, but I said to myself that I would try to enjoy it as much as I could.
And I struggled a lot, took me nearly 3 hours to beat Margit, same with Godrick. But after that I had learned most combat mechanics that I used for the rest of the playthrough.