Each Origin (class) caters to a specific style of play, so take care to pick the one you suspect you will enjoy most. Refer to the color-coded table at the end of this section and Tip #4 in this guide to properly choose which Attributes to boost when leveling-up.

Hero:

• Prefers to wield heavy weapons that emphasize Strength, including clubs, hammers, axes, and colossal weapons.
  
• Prefers to infuse weapons with Heavy and Fire Affinities.

Warrior:

• Prefers to wield light weapons that emphasize Dexterity, including curved swords, daggers, claws, and whips.
  
• Prefers to infuse weapons with Keen and Lightning Affinities.

Astrologer:

• Committed to Intelligence-based Sorcery.
  
• Prefers to infuse weapons with Magic and Frost Affinities, although melee combat is not your preferred strategy.

Prophet:

• Committed to Faith-based Incantations.
  
• Prefers to infuse weapons with Sacred and Flame Art Affinities, although melee combat is not your preferred strategy.

Bandit:

• Committed to Arcane-based attacks that inflict blood loss, poison, and scarlet rot.
  
• Prefers to infuse weapons with Blood, Poison, and Occult Affinities.

Vagabond:

• Prefers to wield weapons that emphasize both Strength and Dexterity, including swords, spears, halberds, scythes, and specific colossal weapons.
  
• Prefers to infuse weapons with Quality Affinity.

Samurai:

• Can either become Dexterity-focused like the Warrior or a Strength/Dexterity-focused like the Vagabond.

Prisoner:

• Committed to Intelligence-based weapon skills (Ashes of War) with a side of Sorcery.
  
• Prefers to infuse weapons with Magic and Cold Affinities.

Confessor:

• Committed to Faith-based weapon skills (Ashes of War) with a side of Incantations.
  
• Prefers to infuse weapons with Sacred and Flame Art Affinities.

Wretch:

• The natural pick for expert players seeking to play with a self-imposed ‘hard mode’.
  
• The Wretch starts the game at peak and loses peak if they level-up!

Don’t worry too much about getting your appearance perfect before starting your adventure because once you reach the Roundtable Hold after a few hours, you will find a special mirror that allows you to get a facelift whenever you please. Alternatively, if you want to browse and copy faces created by other players, these websites can help:

Elden Sliders[eldensliders.com]
Souls Sliders - Reddit

Carefully read the Adventurer’s Guide prior to playing the game. Shortly after starting your adventure, you will find the Cave of Knowledge which serves as a tutorial to basic game mechanics. Be attentive and remember everything presented to you there! It’s annoying how much information gets thrown in your face right as you start the game, but you really do need to know this stuff to enjoy Elden Ring.

You boost an Attribute of your choice whenever you level-up. Here are some tips to spend these points wisely:

• When in doubt, increase your Vigor until it reaches 40. You will later want to increase your Vigor to as high as 60 when you get to the late game.
  
• Prior to achieving 40 Vigor, you should only boost your Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, or Arcane if doing so is necessary to use your preferred Armaments or spells. The same holds true for boosting Mind to summon a preferred Spirit Ash.
  
• You may also want to put a few points into Endurance in order to wear heavier armor. It's useful to attain 51 Poise because this will prevent you from getting staggered when struck by a single light or medium attack. Purchasing the entire Knight Set at Roundtable Hold will grant 51 Poise.
  
• The chart below shows where your Attributes should fall once your character is between level 125-150.

NPC’s in Elden Ring are weird because you need to “Talk” to them repeatedly to receive all the information they are willing to reveal. Furthermore, NPC’s will often reveal information only once. Thus, if you forget what has been said, you won’t have a way to review it unless you resort to an online guide. My recommendation is to either take notes with paper and pencil or record/stream your gameplay so you won’t forget useful information.

• Your strength gets multiplied by 1.5x if you wield a weapon with two hands. This not only increases the damage you inflict, but it also enables you to wield some weapons that you otherwise would not be able to.
  
• If you equip two weapons of the same category (such as two curved swords or two hammers) in both hands, you can attack with both weapons simultaneously with the left bumper button.
  
• Locking-on by pressing the right thumbstick is almost always the best strategy while fighting single enemies. Abstaining from locking-on is often best when fighting groups of enemies.

You can temporarily buff your fighting power with Consumables and Spells. However, some of these buffs override each other. At any moment, you can only have one Body buff, one Aura buff, and one Weapon buff. Pay attention to the icons below your status bars as you layer buffs and take note when applying one buff removes icons granted by prior buffs. Finally, the temporary effects from your Flask of Wondrous Physick are an exception and NEVER override other buffs.

Using the Spirit Calling Bell to summon Spirit Ashes makes the game profoundly easier. If you summon Spirit Ashes, Elden Ring is a fairly challenging game compared to most other computer games. If you abstain from summoning Spirit Ashes, Elden Ring is one of the most difficult computer gaming experiences you can have… but also one of the most gratifying computer gaming experiences you can have if you have the grit to keep at it until you finally win!

Because Elden Ring is an open world game, you will occasionally find yourself wandering into regions and bosses which you are unprepared for. Pay attention to how hard enemies hit you and what type of Smithing Stones you find (they range from [1] to [8]). If you are losing all your health in just 1-2 hits or are picking up Smithing Stones 2 units higher than previously, you are probably in a dangerous region that you should return to after you have gained more levels.

You should know when to STOP increasing your Rune Level if you have any interest in online multiplayer because you are only permitted to fight against opponents who are close to your own Rune Level. Thus, if you level-up too much, you might have to wait a long time before the server pairs you against an opponent. The following stopping points are recommended:

• Rune Level 125 if you want to be a super-hardcore arena kombatant.
  
• Rune Level 137-139 if you want to minimize the wait time to find an opponent.
  
• Rune Level 150 if you want a low wait time but also want to avoid fighting super-hardcore players who stopped at Rune Level 125.