While renowned for its difficulty, Elden Ring distinguishes itself by being more newcomer-friendly compared to previous FromSoftware titles. However, mastering character leveling remains a crucial aspect of the game, requiring careful consideration and strategic planning. In this guide, we’ll delve into the intricacies of leveling up your character in Elden Ring and optimizing your stats to become the powerful hero you aspire to be.
Where to Level Up
Before diving into the specifics of character progression, it’s essential to understand where and how to level up your character in Elden Ring. Unlike traditional RPGs, Elden Ring doesn’t automatically allocate stat points upon leveling up. Instead, players must manually invest Elden Ring runes, the game’s currency equivalent to souls from Dark Souls, into various attributes. To begin leveling up, players need to reach the third Site of Grace in the open world, a milestone achievable early in the game. Once there, players encounter Melina, a maiden who offers her services, allowing players to level up at any Site of Grace throughout their journey.
How Leveling Works
Leveling up in Elden Ring is a deliberate process that demands strategic decision-making. Each level gained corresponds to the allocation of points into specific attributes, such as Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane. Runes obtained from defeating enemies serve as the currency for leveling up, but beware—dying in Elden Ring results in the loss of accumulated runes, emphasizing the importance of prudent resource management. It’s advisable to level up at a Site of Grace before facing formidable foes or exploring perilous territories to minimize potential losses.
Understanding the Stats
Elden Ring features a diverse array of stats, each contributing to different aspects of your character’s capabilities. Let’s explore each stat and its significance:
Vigor: Increases total HP, enhancing survivability against enemy attacks and environmental hazards.
Mind: Boosts maximum FP, granting more casts for sorcery and incantations, and improves melee weapon special abilities.
Endurance: Raises overall stamina, allowing for more frequent attacks, defenses, and dodges, and increases equip load for heavier gear.
Strength: Enables the use of heavier weapons and augments damage for weapons scaling with this stat.
Dexterity: Enhances damage for weapons scaling with Dexterity, reduces spell cast time, improves horse stability, and reduces fall damage.
Intelligence: Amplifies sorcery spell damage, unlocks powerful sorceries, and enhances Intelligence-scaling weapons.
Faith: Enables the use of Faith-scaling weapons and incantations, and unlocks potent incantations.
Arcane: Increases item discovery rate and benefits certain sorceries and incantations.What to Level Up and Why
Your choice of stats to prioritize depends on your preferred playstyle and character build. Melee-focused characters should prioritize Vigor, Endurance, and either Strength or Dexterity to ensure adequate health, stamina, and damage output. Alternatively, a Quality build, evenly leveling Strength and Dexterity, offers versatility with various weapon types but sacrifices specialization.
Sorcery-focused characters benefit from investing in Mind and Intelligence for potent magical abilities and a larger FP pool. Similarly, incantation-focused characters should focus on Mind and Faith for formidable offensive and defensive capabilities. Even magic-based builds benefit from investing in Vigor for increased survivability and meeting base requirements for certain Elden Ring Items weapons.
While hybrid builds incorporating multiple playstyles are possible, they may not reach the full potential of specialized builds. However, experimentation is encouraged, and players can tailor their builds to suit their preferences while remaining mindful of potential trade-offs.
In conclusion, mastering character leveling in Elden Ring is a nuanced process that requires careful consideration of stats, playstyle, and long-term objectives. By understanding the mechanics of leveling up and strategically allocating attribute points, players can create powerful characters capable of conquering the challenges that await in the Lands Between.
