Starting your first journey through the Lands Between can be overwhelming. Elden Ring drops you into a vast, dangerous open world with very little hand-holding, and for players new to FromSoftware games, the opening hours can feel like being thrown in at the deep end. The good news: the game gives you everything you need to survive — it just doesn’t underline it. This beginner’s guide covers the ten most important tips to survive your opening hours, from where to find your first Spirit Ashes to which stats actually matter for your build. Follow these tips and you’ll go from confused Tarnished to confident explorer in no time. Good luck, and remember: every death is a lesson.
1. Choose a Forgiving Starting Class
Your starting class matters less than it first appears — any class can eventually use any weapon or spell — but it shapes your first ten hours. For complete beginners, the Vagabond is the safest pick: it starts with high health, a solid shield that blocks 100% of physical damage, and a dependable sword. The Samurai is another excellent choice, beginning with a fast katana that causes blood loss buildup and a bow for pulling enemies from a distance. If you fancy magic, the Astrologer starts with strong spells but is fragile in melee. For your Keepsake, choose the Golden Seed: it gives you an extra healing flask charge almost immediately, which is worth more in the early game than any weapon.
2. Follow the Guidance of Grace — Then Wander
Sites of Grace, the golden checkpoints scattered across the world, emit faint streams of light pointing toward your next major objective. That guidance is a suggestion, not an order. Early on, follow it just far enough to reach the Gatefront Site of Grace in Limgrave, where you will meet Melina, who grants you the ability to level up and your spectral steed, Torrent. After that, the smartest move is often to ignore the main path entirely. Explore Limgrave thoroughly, and when in doubt, head south across the bridge to the Weeping Peninsula — a self-contained region with gentler enemies, useful loot and a satisfying mini-dungeon finale. It is the perfect training ground before you challenge the main story.
3. Get Your Spirit Calling Bell Early
Spirit Ashes — summonable allies — are one of Elden Ring’s biggest helps for new players, but the item that enables them is easy to miss. After you have met Melina and received Torrent, return to the Church of Elleh (the ruined church near the start of Limgrave, with the merchant Kalé) at night. A new character will be waiting there who gives you the Spirit Calling Bell and the Lone Wolf Ashes. Those three wolves will draw enemy attention, buy you breathing room in boss fights, and make early dungeons dramatically more manageable. While you are at the church, buy the Crafting Kit and some throwing knives from Kalé — both pay for themselves many times over.
4. Upgrade Your Weapon Before Your Stats
This is the single most valuable mechanical tip in the game. Early on, increasing a weapon’s upgrade level with Smithing Stones adds far more damage than raising your Strength or Dexterity. You can upgrade weapons at the smithing table in the Church of Elleh, and properly once you reach Roundtable Hold and meet Smithing Master Hewg. Mines — marked on the map as small dark tunnels with an orange rim — are stuffed with Smithing Stones, so explore every one you find. A +3 weapon in the hands of a level-15 character will out-damage an unupgraded weapon in the hands of a level-40 character. Stats matter later, when your upgraded weapon’s scaling kicks in; upgrades matter now.
5. Put Your Early Levels into Vigor
New players love to chase damage stats. Resist. Vigor — your health — is the most important stat in the early game by a wide margin, because every point directly increases how many mistakes you can survive. Aim to raise Vigor steadily toward 25–30 in your first areas, and eventually toward 40 for the mid-game. After Vigor, invest in Endurance for stamina and equip load, and only then feed your main damage stat. Meet the minimum requirements for a weapon you love, then go back to Vigor. You cannot deal damage while you are dead, and in Elden Ring you will be dead a lot — give yourself the biggest health bar you can.
6. Master Your Flasks
Your Flask of Crimson Tears heals you, and the Flask of Cerulean Tears restores the FP used for spells and skills. Two upgrades make them dramatically stronger, and both are found by exploring. Golden Seeds — picked up beneath small golden trees all over the world — increase how many flask charges you carry. Sacred Tears, found in churches (look for the statue inside), increase how much each charge restores. At any Site of Grace you can also reallocate your charges between healing and FP depending on your build. Hunt for seeds and tears whenever you enter a new region; a well-upgraded flask is better than any armour in the game.
7. Don’t Bang Your Head Against the Wall
Moments after stepping into Limgrave you will see a golden knight on a huge horse: the Tree Sentinel. He is a lesson, not a first boss. Elden Ring’s open world means you are never truly stuck — if an enemy flattens you in two hits, ride around it, explore somewhere else, grow stronger and come back later for revenge. Almost every boss in the game can be approached out of order, and the world is balanced to reward wandering. Dying to the same boss thirty times while under-levelled is the classic beginner trap. The game is telling you something: not yet.
8. Learn the Combat Fundamentals
A few habits will carry you through the whole game. First, watch your stamina: every swing, roll and block drains it, and an empty stamina bar means no emergency roll. Second, fight enemies one at a time where possible — use throwing knives or a bow to pull individuals away from groups. Third, experiment with jumping attacks and charged heavy attacks: they deal heavy “poise” damage, and breaking an enemy’s stance opens them to a devastating critical hit. Fourth, if you use a shield, try the guard counter — block a hit, then immediately press heavy attack to strike back. And when a fight truly walls you, use every tool the game offers: Spirit Ashes, summon signs outside boss doors, and crafted items like fire pots. There is no wrong way to win.
9. Stay at a Medium Equip Load
Elden Ring tracks the total weight of your weapons and armour as a percentage of your maximum equip load. Above 70% you enter “heavy load,” and your dodge roll becomes slow, short and genuinely dangerous — veterans call it the fat roll. Stay below 70% for the standard medium roll, which has generous invincibility frames. Check the number on your equipment screen whenever you swap gear; a prettier helmet is never worth a worse roll. Raising Endurance increases your maximum load, and talismans found later can raise it further. When in doubt, lighter is safer.
10. Spend Your Runes, Don’t Hoard Them
Runes are both your experience points and your currency — and when you die, you drop them where you fell. Die again before picking them up, and they are gone forever. So treat runes like a hot potato: after clearing a dungeon or beating a boss, return to a Site of Grace and spend them on levels or purchases before pushing deeper. Golden Rune items in your inventory are a savings account — they only convert to runes when you use them, so crack them open at the Grace when you are a few thousand short of a level. If you die somewhere dangerous, a stealthy retrieval run — or simply accepting the loss and moving on — beats an hour of frustration.
Key advice, in short: explore freely, don’t be afraid to ride past enemies you can’t beat yet, and upgrade your weapon before your stats. Sites of Grace aren’t just checkpoints — they’re your roadmap through the world. The Lands Between will test you, but with these ten tips in hand, you are ready. Now go and become Elden Lord.