Getting Started in The Lands Between
Contains minor spoilers
Welcome to your first hour in Elden Ring, Tarnished. You have a very long and arduous road before you. It will be filled with discovery, challenge and immense satisfaction. And dying. Lots and lots of dying. Let’s get started!
Pick a Class, Any Class
The first thing you’ll need to do is pick a starting class. While Dark Souls tradition tells you that you can shape any class into your ideal character, how you start does make a difference. After all, it will take some time to earn enough runes (Elden Ring’s version of souls) to upgrade. Your starting class will determine how successful (and fun) your first few hours are. Of course, you can start over any time and try something new.
There are ten classes to choose from. In general, they follow standard fantasy RPG archetypes. They’re all viable and fun. We’ll have a class guide coming soon, but for now, let’s assume you’ve picked a class and toyed with the character creator. For many people, that alone takes up their first hour.
One thing to pay attention to is your choice of Keepsake (Dark Souls: starting gift). We recommend picking the Golden Seed, as it will give you an extra starting flask for healing or focus (magic). Alternatively, you might want to pick the Stonesword key. The Stonesword key opens hidden boss areas.
Aaaaand….You’re Dead!
After the opening cinematic, you find yourself in the appropriately named Chapel of Anticipation. There’s nothing to do here (and nothing to collect) but take in the sights. Maybe practice your moves. Take the stairs down to the left and move forward. At the end of the path you’ll meet your first enemy, a Grafted Scion mini-boss. You’re meant to die to this boss, in Dark Souls tradition. You almost certainly will, but for the uber-skilled, your reward will be a greatshield and some twin swords. However, you won’t have the levels to use them.
Following another cutscene you’ll find yourself in a dark, cave-like room. You’ll see a path forward, but don’t go that way just yet. Look for the spectral figure sitting in a chair. Take a leap of faith and drop into the darkness to the right. You’ll find yourself in the Cave of Knowledge (a bit on the nose, don’t you think?). You also discover your first site of Lost Grace. These are checkpoints and you can fast travel to them. As a side note, you’ll take some fall damage. In general, Elden Ring is pretty forgiving about this, much more than in Dark Souls. You’re gonna heal right away at the Site of Grace.
What follows is a short and very easy tutorial that teaches new players the basic controls. It also teaches old players the new controls. If you want to run through this area and kill everything quickly, just two-hand your weapon (triangle/Y button plus right bumper). Casters can basically one-shot everything from a distance.
At the end of the tutorial is a “boss.” Well, he has a boss health bar, anyway. The Soldier of Godrick is not much of a challenge. If you die — don’t feel bad, happens to all of us — you can resurrect at the statue of Marika right outside the boss gate.
The Real Elden Ring Begins….Now
After you finish the tutorial area, hop down to the path near the ghostly figure and move up the steps and through the door. You’ll now find yourself at the Stranded Graveyard Site of Grace. There’s a fog wall to your right, and a little gargoyle statue. If you took the Stonesword key as your keepsake, you can use it on the statue and open the fog gate. Don’t. There’s no way for you to survive this boss right now.
Instead, move forward (pick up the items along the way, you’ll need them for multiplayer) and step on the elevator. Ride to the top, and exit through the door. Welcome to Limgrave!
Take in the scenery and the lay of the land. Activate the Site of Grace (called The First Step) right in front of you. Talk to the dude named Valle near the Site of Grace. He’s kind of an insulting dick, but he’ll give you some lore (but no items).
Before you move on, look around. You see the knight riding the horse to the right? That is the Tree Sentinel, and the game’s first mini-boss. He rides a north-south path just looking for easy prey like you. You can take him on now, but we’d suggest waiting a little while, until you’re stronger. He’s not an easy kill.
Go to Church
Instead of taking on the Tree Sentinel, head north to that little cluster of ruins. That’s the Church of Elleh. On your way to the church, practice your skills by killing wildlife (you’ll need their bones for crafting) and picking plants and berries. When you get to the Church, activate the Site of Grace and meet Kale. He’s a merchant and sells all sorts of handy early-game goodies. We suggest buying the torch to start with. Some of the dungeons you find are hella dark.
You’ll also find a crafting table and you’ll pick up your first smithing shard. You’ll need to use the shards to upgrade your gear. They serve the same function as titanite in Dark Souls, and there are different levels of shards.
Ok, that’s a good start. Have fun and enjoy your time in the Lands Between!
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