Elden Ring Tips and Tricks: Beginner Guide to Combat, Runes, Builds & Survival

Elden Ring Tips & Tricks for PS5 and PS4

If this is your first time playing Elden Ring, there is a good chance your first few hours will involve several questions. Why is that enemy stronger than a boss? Why am I dead again? And perhaps the most painful question of all: where did all my Runes go?

Relax, Tarnished. In the Lands Between, dying is normal. The unusual part is dying in exactly the same location ten times and continuing to insist that the strategy is working. This Elden Ring tips and tricks guide covers combat, leveling, Runes, Spirit Ashes, weapon upgrades, exploration, survival, and the general art of not turning every encounter into an expensive funeral.

1. Do Not Try to Be a Hero at the Beginning

Elden Ring does not always introduce danger with a friendly tutorial message. Sometimes you leave an early area, see a gigantic enemy on horseback, and immediately think, "Surely this is what the game wants me to fight."

Sometimes it is. Sometimes the game is politely suggesting that you go somewhere else first.

What to Do When an Enemy Feels Overpowered

• Turn around and explore another area.
• Find easier enemies and collect Runes.
• Upgrade your character and equipment.
• Return later with better preparation.
• Do not confuse courage with repeatedly hitting a brick wall.

The open-world design gives you enormous freedom. If something is too difficult, you are not necessarily supposed to defeat it immediately. Explore, grow stronger, and come back later with a much more satisfying smile.

2. Dodge Rolling Is More Important Than Your Pride

A powerful shield and heavy armor can certainly help, but learning how to dodge effectively is one of the most valuable skills in Elden Ring. Timing your roll correctly can allow you to avoid attacks that would otherwise destroy a large portion of your health.

Improve Your Dodge Timing

• Do not spam the dodge button continuously.
• Watch enemy attack animations carefully.
• Learn when an attack actually lands.
• Keep enough stamina available for another action.
• Practice against easier enemies before challenging stronger bosses.

Stamina management is critical. If your stamina bar is empty when an attack arrives, your beautiful dodge strategy becomes a very short documentary called "You Died."

3. Level Up With a Plan, Not Just Because the Number Looks Nice

Your character stats should support your actual build and playstyle. Putting points into random attributes simply because you have enough Runes can create a character who is technically powerful but strangely bad at everything.

Useful Early Stats to Consider

• Vigor: Gives you more health and improves your ability to survive mistakes.
• Endurance: Improves stamina and equipment capacity.
• Strength: Supports weapons that scale with Strength.
• Dexterity: Supports many fast and agile weapons.
• Intelligence: Important for many sorcery-focused builds.
• Faith: Useful for many incantation and Faith-based weapon builds.

A huge damage number does not help much if your health bar is so small that the first enemy you meet can erase it with one enthusiastic slap. Survival and damage should develop together.

4. Runes Are Valuable, but They Are Also a Mental Test

Runes are essential for leveling and purchasing useful items, but carrying a huge pile of them into unexplored territory can become a dangerous habit. When you die, your Runes are dropped at the location of your death. If you die again before recovering them, they are gone.

How to Protect Your Runes

• Spend your Runes before difficult exploration when possible.
• Do not carry more Runes than you are comfortable risking.
• Recover your dropped Runes carefully after dying.
• Avoid unnecessary fights when your main objective is simply retrieving your Runes.

There is nothing wrong with dying. There is something deeply painful about dying while carrying a mountain of Runes, returning to recover them, and immediately dying again because you are now emotionally invested in the recovery mission.

5. Spirit Ashes Are Not Cheating, They Are Teammates

Spirit Ashes can provide valuable assistance during many encounters by distracting enemies, creating openings, and giving you more room to recover or attack. If the game gives you a tool, using that tool is part of playing the game.

Why Spirit Ashes Are Useful

• They can distract powerful enemies.
• They create opportunities for healing.
• They can help interrupt enemy pressure.
• They allow you to attack while enemies are focused elsewhere.

Someone may tell you that using Spirit Ashes makes the game too easy. That is fine. They can enjoy their personal challenge while you enjoy having a spectral friend helping you survive the world's most aggressive family reunion.

6. Weapon Upgrades Can Matter More Than Character Level

Character level is important, but weapon upgrades can have an enormous impact on your damage output. A powerful character using an underdeveloped weapon can still struggle against enemies that should otherwise be manageable.

Upgrade Your Main Weapon

• Use Smithing Stones to improve compatible weapons.
• Visit appropriate blacksmith services as you progress.
• Focus on one or two weapons that fit your build.
• Test different weapons before spending valuable upgrade materials.

Do not spread your resources across every weapon you find. Finding a weapon you genuinely enjoy using and upgrading it consistently can make combat much more comfortable.

7. Running Away Is a Strategy

One of the biggest mistakes new players make is assuming every enemy must be defeated immediately. Elden Ring is an open-world game, and sometimes the smartest move is simply to leave.

When Should You Run?

• When an enemy is clearly overpowered for your current build.
• When you only need to collect an item and leave.
• When you are carrying a large number of Runes.
• When you need to reset your position.
• When the battlefield gives you no meaningful advantage.

Running away is not cowardice. It is resource management. A living Tarnished can return later with better equipment, more health, and considerably more confidence.

8. Read Player Messages, but Do Not Trust Them Completely

Messages left by other players can provide useful hints about hidden areas, dangerous enemies, traps, or interesting locations. Unfortunately, they can also be deliberately misleading because the Elden Ring community has apparently decided that psychological warfare is part of the multiplayer experience.

Use Messages Carefully

• Consider helpful messages near suspicious locations.
• Be skeptical of messages near cliffs.
• Look for multiple messages pointing toward the same discovery.
• Do not blindly follow every "Try jumping" message.

If you see a message telling you to jump near a massive cliff, pause for a second. Maybe there is a secret path. Maybe there is treasure. Or maybe another Tarnished has decided that your evening needed a little more gravity.

9. Learn Enemy Patterns Instead of Memorizing Button Combinations

Many difficult encounters become easier once you learn how an enemy behaves. Watch attack animations, identify delayed strikes, learn when the enemy becomes vulnerable, and recognize which attacks can be avoided or punished.

Do not attack simply because your weapon is ready. Wait for openings and strike when the enemy has committed to an animation. Patience can be more valuable than raw damage because every unnecessary attack creates another opportunity for the enemy to hit you.

10. Manage Stamina During Every Fight

Stamina controls many of your most important actions, including attacking, blocking, dodging, and sprinting. Spending the entire stamina bar on an aggressive combo can leave you unable to react when the enemy suddenly decides to become extremely enthusiastic.

Keep enough stamina available for defense. A good combat rhythm is often attack, observe, reposition, recover stamina, and attack again. You do not have to empty your stamina bar every time your weapon becomes available.

11. Choose a Build That Matches Your Playstyle

Elden Ring allows you to build your character in many different ways. Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, Arcane, hybrid builds, ranged combat, spellcasting, status effects, and many weapon combinations can all create very different experiences.

Do not copy a complicated build simply because someone online says it is powerful. If you dislike the weapon or combat style, the build will not magically become fun. Start with something you enjoy and refine it as you learn the game.

12. Explore Before Following the Main Path

The Lands Between rewards curiosity. Instead of rushing directly toward the next major objective, explore nearby areas, caves, ruins, underground locations, and optional encounters. You can discover weapons, upgrade materials, spells, useful equipment, and new challenges.

Exploration also helps you become stronger naturally. Sometimes the best solution to a difficult boss is not another attempt. It is spending an hour exploring somewhere else and returning with better equipment and a character who has finally stopped being allergic to health points.

13. Upgrade Your Flask and Survival Tools

Healing resources are extremely important, especially during long exploration sessions and difficult boss encounters. Whenever you find resources that improve your healing setup, consider collecting them and making your recovery tools more effective.

Do not underestimate the value of preparation. A stronger healing setup gives you more room for mistakes and allows you to spend longer exploring dangerous areas without constantly returning to safety.

14. Learn When to Use Ranged Attacks

Not every enemy needs to be defeated at sword range. Depending on your build, ranged attacks, spells, bows, or other abilities can create useful openings and allow you to control the distance between you and an enemy.

Ranged attacks are especially useful when you want to pull one enemy away from a group or damage a target before committing to close combat. Good positioning can turn a dangerous group encounter into several smaller and more manageable fights.

15. Boss Fights Are About Learning, Not Just Winning

Boss encounters in Elden Ring are designed to punish impatient attacks. Your first attempt may simply be an opportunity to observe. Learn the boss's movement, attack range, delayed attacks, area attacks, and recovery windows.

A Simple Boss Strategy

• Spend your first attempts learning the attack patterns.
• Do not panic when the boss changes phases.
• Look for predictable openings.
• Use Spirit Ashes when appropriate.
• Keep enough stamina for emergency dodges.
• Do not become greedy after landing one successful attack.

Greed is one of the most reliable boss-killing strategies in Elden Ring, except the person being killed is usually you. One extra hit can look tempting, but sometimes the smartest decision is to retreat and wait for another opening.

16. Death Is Part of the Learning Process

Elden Ring can make death feel personal, especially when you lose a large number of Runes or fail against the same boss repeatedly. Try to treat each death as information rather than simply punishment.

Ask yourself what actually caused the death. Was the attack too aggressive? Did you run out of stamina? Did you ignore an attack pattern? Were you carrying too many Runes? Did you simply become greedy? Once you identify the mistake, the next attempt becomes more useful.

17. Elden Ring Beginner Survival Checklist

If you want a quick set of rules to remember while playing, keep these principles in mind. They will not make the game easy, because that would probably violate the ancient laws of the Lands Between, but they can make your progress considerably smoother.

• Explore when an enemy is too powerful.
• Learn dodge timing instead of panic rolling.
• Invest in Vigor and other useful stats.
• Keep your weapon upgraded.
• Spend Runes before taking unnecessary risks.
• Use Spirit Ashes when they help your playstyle.
• Run away when a fight is not worth taking.
• Study enemy and boss attack patterns.
• Manage stamina carefully.
• Choose a build that you actually enjoy using.
• Explore optional areas for equipment and resources.
• Treat every death as useful information.

Conclusion: Become a Better Tarnished, One Death at a Time

Elden Ring is not about becoming unstoppable from the beginning. It is about learning how the world works, improving your character, understanding enemies, exploring intelligently, and slowly turning repeated failures into actual skill.

The most important Elden Ring tips and tricks are surprisingly simple: be patient, upgrade your equipment, protect your Runes, use the tools available to you, and do not be afraid to walk away from a fight. The Lands Between is enormous, so there is no reason to treat every powerful enemy like an appointment you absolutely must attend.

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If you survive ten hours in Elden Ring, congratulations. You are officially becoming a more experienced Tarnished. If you survive ten hours without losing a giant pile of Runes, congratulations again. That is no longer gaming skill. That is financial discipline. 🩸⚔️