(logo beeps) - [Jake] "Elden Ring" is
absolutely awesome and challenging, pretty much just like you'd
expect, but if you're new, just know that there's a lot of mistakes you can potentially make. So here's some things you shouldn't do. We got 10 examples. So let's get started off with number 10. Don't get stuck endlessly
ramming your head into what seems like a
nearly impossible boss fight. Now, "Elden Ring" is a
massive open-world game, but there are a lot of people out there making the mistake that it isn't. Instead of going out
and exploring the world, they bash their skulls
into the closest boss that they're clearly
underleveled to fight, inevitably dying again
and again in the process. Maybe it's a matter of pride. Gamer pride. I don't know. But some folks just cannot walk away and try again later. But that's what you should do. This isn't like some other Souls games, where you're basically stuck if you can't beat a certain boss. In this game, you can
easily go do something else, and there are probably a few,
much easier bosses nearby that you can take out instead
and learn and grow stronger. Now, for some players,
this is right at the start with the Tree Sentinel, that
armored knight wandering around right outside the starting tomb, and for others, it's
Marjit, but either way, there's no reason to fight these guys if you're getting crushed by them. Seriously, just go do something
else, get a few levels, and come back, learn the ropes
of the game a little bit. You don't want to immediately
just hate the game. You don't want to die 40
times right at the start. Long story short, if you find yourself dying
constantly to a boss, just remember that there's no
shame in a tactical retreat. Now, next over at number nine, a lot of people make the mistake not to remove Baldachin's Blessing. There's a mysterious character that says she'll grant you a boon if you let her hold you
in the Roundtable Hold, just a nice hug. And hearing that sounds
like a good thing, right? - What you felt light up inside you was a baldachin's blessing. Though it is but a fleeting
thing, I am afraid. Come back to me should
you require another. I will take you in my
arms as often as you need. - [Jake] But actually,
the blessing she gives you is a net negative and
lowers your maximum HP. There's no way you'd
know that would happen the first time around, so we can't really
blame anyone for trying. We certainly did. But one easily fixed
mistake a lot of people make is that they don't actually
remove the Baldachin's Blessing that is given to you from their inventory. That's the thing that's causing
the debuff on your health, and you can easily just
select it and get rid of it if you want. It's really as simple as that,
just removing the blessing, and your health will go back to normal. "Elden Ring" is massive. It's filled with a lot of
different use cases and examples, so this can be necessary for something, but for most people, in
the beginning of the game, you're gonna need all the HP you can get. We think a lot of people make the mistake of just assuming that this blessing item is just there to show
you what the effect is, and you can't actually get rid
of it, but you actually can. There's no additional steps or secrets you have to find to do it. Just select it, and it's gone. There you go. It's a really basic one, but it's a mistake a lot of
people are making right now, including us. Now, next over at number
eight, a mistake you can make is really just getting too hung
up on character-build stuff at the start. Don't freak out at the start
over your character class. Just try to slightly lean
towards what you're into or interested in, but also know that you
can change it up later because the game gives you
at least enough freedom to fill in whatever stats you want, regardless of the class you pick. You can pivot a bit. This game is so open, and they give you so
many different weapons and spells and pieces of armor that you'll be able to switch up and pivot your playstyle somewhat. It's not ideal, especially if you're more
experienced, but you can. Hell, if you're not happy with your build, then you can even do a complete
respec of your character. All you have to do is beat
the Shardbearer in Liurnia, and you're all good, as long as you got the
surprisingly common item that gets spent while respeccing. The biggest thing, though, the biggest mistake that we see made, don't try to become a
jack of all trades here. Don't think you can just
evenly distribute points in a little bit of everything. You can't quite do that here. You're gonna need to at
least have a few stats at substantial levels
to really get somewhere, especially if you're a first-timer. Next, over at number seven, so many players are making
the mistake of heading east right when they start the game, only to end up in the
hellish wasteland of Caelid, when they're ridiculously underleveled to deal with the place. Now, maybe it's the Guidance of Grace tricking them over there, maybe it's just their own curiosity, but this is a place you do not want to go when you're just starting out. (dramatic music) It's a nasty place to be
in for most of the game. The enemies here can
give you a lot of trouble even if you're awesome. The freak crows don't care. They'll just kill you
as easily either way, no matter what level of player you are. So don't just make the mistake
of wandering into this place, and really don't make
the mistake of thinking that this is the way the
game expects you to go. Just try going north or south instead. This is where you're
gonna spend a ton of hours in the early game. There's a lot of things
in those directions that are designed to be fought, roughly, generally at your level, especially in the southern
area, the Weeping Peninsula. It's a perfect place to
start out for new players. So while it can be really tempting to check out this weird place to the east, it's really a mistake to head there too early on your adventure. Now, next over at number six, one mistake we've seen
a lot of players make is that they just rush through areas, either on horseback or just
by running past enemies to get to the Sites of Grace checkpoints. Now, it's tempting mistake to make, because many enemies are
pretty easy to avoid, and some folks either get
afraid of losing progress or just wanna move
through the game quickly, but that's only something
you should do sometimes. Sometimes, it can really be a mistake. Outside of the obvious problems
that can happen with this, like being under-leveled
when fighting a boss, another big thing you might miss out if you rush through an area is all of the important items you can find along the way that's gonna make
your life that much better. You start the game with
only one talisman slot, but the further you get,
the more you unlock, and some of these things
can be incredibly powerful and make certain fights much easier. Then there's new armor, weapons, even Spirit Ashes that you can find that make things much,
much easier for yourself in the long run. Fully exploring a location,
even if it's scary, will help you out a lot more
than just rushing through it. Of course, we're not saying
you should stop and fight every single little wandering
monster out in the world. No way. That would be
a waste of your time. But at least, if you do
rush through an area, maybe just think about
going back through it, now that you're not so
pressured to find a checkpoint. Now, next over at number five, here's an easy mistake to make: certain enemies have different resistances depending on what they are, and
if you use the wrong weapon, it can be a frustrating
experience, to say the least. Try to use a slashing weapon
against a rock monster, you'll get nowhere. So try to mix things up and use a striking weapon
like a club next time to damage these heavily armored dudes. It's less important when you're dealing with regular enemies, but for certain bosses, like the Falling Star Beast, switching up your weapons
can make a huge difference. Even if it's something
you're not very good with, it's sometimes just worth a shot to see if you'll have more
luck with a different weapon, or even if you just change out your weapon's Ashes of War to try to do elemental
damage or something. But if it feels like
you're not doing any damage to certain enemies, then it's
worth trying something new. Maybe it'll make things easier. Next, over at number four, a big mistake, a lot of players are missing out on using weapons two-handed. Now, if you're a Souls veteran, then this kind of tip is a no-brainer, but it's something that a lot of players either forget about or just
don't even realize you could do. It doesn't help that actually switching to two-handed weapons has
changed in "Elden Ring," so some old-school players may be confused about what you're supposed to do. On a controller, you have
to hit triangle or Y, then press R1 to switch
to using the weapon in your right hand two-handed, or L1 to use the weapon in
your left hand two-handed. This definitely took a little
bit of getting used to, but it eventually starts
to become second nature after a few hours or so. What's important about
two-handing a weapon is that it increases the
damage you do with it, and it also critically improves the amount of poise damage you do. Now, poise is a stat that governs if an enemy will flinch when hit, and eventually, when they'll break, which allows you to hit
them with a critical strike. Now, breaking an enemy's poise is one of the best ways to take them down. Hell, it even works on a lot of bosses, which can make them much easier. The downside, of course, is that you'll be short a
shield to defend yourself or something else, so you'll take damage if you
try and block with your sword, but that's why have to
get used to switching to two-handed and then back
to one-handed on the fly, so you could do damage when you want while still having access to your shield when you really need it or any other item. Just get used to swapping
two hands in and out, especially if you're the type
of build that caters to it. It'll take a little practice, but you'd be surprised
just how much stronger it can make your attacks. Now, next over at number
three, a big mistake. Definitely make sure to
not ignore the NPC quests. If someone says something to you that even vaguely sounds
like a task or a request, try to remember it. Yeah, there's no quest log, so keeping track of people's requests can be a little confusing, but in contrast to other games where there's little reason
to follow these characters, there's actually a few very good reasons to do it in this game. For one, certain areas can only be reached by participating in
certain characters' quests. I don't think you'll
necessarily have to start them from the beginning for it to work, but you'll definitely have
to talk to certain characters and do something for them
to reveal certain sections of the map or just cool
little things to discover. And on top of that, some
of the rewards you get for doing these things
are legitimately good. It can get you unique armor or some really interesting
weapons or handy-dandy items. So taking the time to get to
the end of some of these things is really worth it. Here's another quick little tip for finishing certain quests. After going through all
of a character's dialogue, always make sure to leave and come back to just see if they have
anything else to say and click it again. Certain NPCs need to be talked
to multiple times this way before their quest will actually advance. Yeah, it's a little awkward, but it can be seriously worth it, depending on the character, and if you're really
struggling with what to do for some character or another,
just look up a guide online. We won't judge you here. We mentioned this a little bit in our previous tips-style video, so check that out if you haven't yet. Now, down to number two, another mistake we're
seeing a lot of people make is that they're not
changing out Ashes of War to change the damage scaling on a weapon. Now, this kind of thing
can make a huge difference on your damage output, depending on what scaling
option you choose, so it's important to always attach an Ash to any weapon you're serious about using and setting the scaling to whatever you got the most points in. Now, if you don't know, weapon scaling is the amount
of damage a weapon can do, depending on a stat. So a weapon with a B in strength scaling means that it'll do a lot more damage if you got a lot of points in strength. It's dexterity scaling,
then that's better. You get the idea. If a weapon has a D in strength scaling, that means the weapon
isn't going to get as much of a benefit from your strength stat. Certain weapons don't scale at all, while others pretty much are
entirely dependent on scaling to do most of the damage. It's kind of a confusing system, but they took pretty much
all of the risk out of it in "Elden Ring" compared
to previous Souls games, so you can just try out
different scaling methods whenever you want and see which ones give you the biggest benefit. Basically, if you got a
lot of points in strength, it makes sense to use a weapon
with high strength scaling, while if you got a lot
of points in dexterity, then you should use weapons
with high dex scaling instead. It's not a hard and fast rule because certain weapons will
probably just be better, but in general, if a weapon
has a high rating scaling like an A or a B, then
it'll be a lot stronger if you part your points
into the affected stat. Now, down to number one, Spirit
Ashes are an amazing tool that can turn certain
crazy-difficult encounters into things that are totally beatable, but there are a lot of people
who don't quite understand what the deal is with these things, or maybe they just don't want to use them. For one thing, be sure to try to get
the Spirit Summoner Bell at the starting church
that has the merchant. If you don't ever go back to this place, you can easily miss out on it, as it's given to you by the
witch who only should shows up after you visited this place once already. Now, once you've got this key item, all you have to do is equip a Spirit Ash in your quick-select inventory and use it when this little symbol
appears in the left side of the corner of the UI. Don't sleep on these things. They're a major game mechanic that seems like the game is
somewhat designed around. There are certain bosses where it feels like the game expects you to use spirit summons. It's giving you the tools, so use them. Some of the stuff in this game can be overwhelmingly difficult, so if you're having a hard time, use 'em. Sure there are some people
online that may judge you and say you gotta beat the
old-fashioned way with no help, but who cares? They put it in the game.
They want you to use it. Just make your own fun, man. If you're having a hard time, there's no shame in
calling in some backup. There's no real penalty at all, so don't feel like you
gotta be the cool guy who beats a boss on your own. You don't have to do it. Just summon some help. There are plenty of bosses in the game that already don't play fair, so beat 'em at their
own game a little bit. But those are some mistakes that we see people make in "Elden Ring." Consider them kind of tips
for beginners, really. We want to hear from
you guys in the comments what you think. If this is your or first game or if you've played
every single Souls game, if you got any tips, definitely leave them for
people down in the comments 'cause people are
certainly gonna need 'em. If you enjoyed this video, though, and maybe it helped you out, clicking the Like
button's all you gotta do. It really helps us out,
and we appreciate it. But as always, thanks for watching, and we'll see you guys next time.
