Full Elden Ring guide to help you beat bosses, master the world and more

Elden Ring
(Image credit: FromSoftware)

This Elden Ring guide will help you deal with a famously difficult game, but a deeply rewarding one nonetheless. Whether you're out to beat a boss, find legendary weapons and armor, or crack some of the game's meatiest quests, we've got something to help you and make it a little less relentless. Because there's no shame in getting help! No one, no matter what they say, worked this stuff out on their own without some aid along the way. With all those stats, combat mechanics to try and understand, entire important bosses, weapons and areas you can completely miss, there's a lot we can help you with. This Elden Ring guide cover everything you need to help you discover, survive and more. So if you want to save time and avoid too much trial and error, we can help.

Elden Ring beginners tips

Elden Ring

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring tips are obviously the best place to start in a game this expansive, complex and secretive. This is a great set of suggestions and advice from hours of playing to get you settled and aware of as much as possible, as quickly as possible. This guide covers combat, weapons and classes, tips for exploring and finding resources, summons and loads more.  

Classes

Elden Ring classes wretch

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
Stats

Elden Ring class selection stats

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

If you need Elden Ring stats explained then this guide will help you make sense of it all. Some of it is obvious, like Strength, but there are four stats tied to magic and a few different names for otherwise familiar things. Whatever questions you have, or if there's anything you want to check, this is the guide for you. 

The Elden Ring Classes give you a lot to choose from, and the best choice depends entirely on how you want to play. Do you want to focus on strength-based melee and tank it? Or go for Dexterity based damage for a lighter, faster fighter? Then there's magic, which can involve either direct damage or support spells, plus bows to think about and more. This is a game with an incredible amount of options and freedom to create almost any style. However, some choices might take a while to develop their full potential as you level up, which might make you worry if you've made a bad choice initially. Broadly, though, it all boils down to whether you want a melee or ranged, physical or magical character, with the variations slotting into those larger options so but this guides lays out all those possibilities.

Keepsakes

You'll have a choice of various Elden Ring Keepsakes while making your character. But trying to pick one right at the start when you've no idea what's valuable or not, is a big ask. In this keepsake guide we'll outline all the options, explain what's good and highlight any that you can find out in the world later so you don't waste your time with something you can get elsewhere. 

Melina

Elden Ring Melina

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

If you're not sure what to do with Melina's accord in Elden Ring then read this guide to find out more about this mysterious character, and her offer. The short version is, yes, you want to accept the accord but if you want to know more, read this for the full breakdown.

How to get the Horse in Elden Ring

Elden Ring

(Image credit: From Software)

Knowing how to get the Elden Ring horse isn't as obvious as you might think. That's because it's actually tied to certain progress in the game. So, if you're not careful, you might end up missing where you can earn the ability to summon it. You definitely don't want it taking longer than is actually possible, so this Elden Ring guide will get your horse sorted. 

PS4 and PS5 comparison

elden ring ps4 ps4 pro ps5

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Depending on what console you have right now this Elden Ring PS4 and PS5 comparison might be helpful if you're trying to decide what to play it on. Do you get on a PS4 or PS4 Pro now? Or wait until you get a PS5? This comparison will compare the same bit of the game across all three PlayStation versions and let you see what the differences are before you make a decision. 

Bosses

elden ring grafted scion

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

It's a From tradition to start the game with an impossible boss you can actually beat if you really know what you're doing. Which is why the question can you beat the Grafted Scion at the beginning? is a very valid ask. This first boss can be defeated but you might want to read our guide find out more before you try. Or check out the full list of the Elden Ring main bosses to see how to find.

Tree Sentinel boss fight

Elden Ring Tree Sentinel boss fight

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

This Elden Ring Tree Sentinel Boss guide will help you handle one of the first world bosses you encounter. He's hard to miss, appearing almost as soon as you reach the open world, but he's a piece of work you might want to come back to. Attack straight away or wait until you're better prepared? It's up to you, but check this guide first for some help before you make your choice. 

Godrick

Elden Ring review

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

You wouldn't be the first person wondering How to beat Godrick in Elden Ring. He's largely described as 'the wall' in the game - a challenge so testing that it's where most people get stuck. This guide will help you face his attacks, patterns and phases, and hopefully give you a fighting chance to defeat him. 

Margit

Elden Ring Margit fell omen boss fight

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

If you want to know how to beat Margit in Elden Ring then this guide will lay out attack patterns, stages and more. Save yourself some time trying to learn all the rhythms with our guide full of info on how he behaves, what he does, and how best to take him on. Forewarned is forearmed. 

Stormveil gate choice

elden ring stormveil gate

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

The Elden Ring Stormveil gate choice is understandably something that might make you nervous. You can't trust anyone in these games, so an offer of help is deeply, worryingly suspicious. This guide will tell you exactly what's going on so you can make an informed choice and avoid the worst outcome. 

The Divine Towers

Elden Ring great runes rune arc farming

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

At a certain point you will need to know how to find the Divine Tower of Limgrave, the first of all Elden Ring Divine Tower locations. It's presented as specific 'thing' at a certain point but you will eventually realise that it's part of a larger mechanic that reoccurs. This guide will explain what's going on, help you start this first quest, and see where it goes. 

Smithing Stones

Elden Ring

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring Smithing Stones and the more specialised Elden Ring Somber Smithing Stones are vital to upgrading your weapons to make them stronger. While you can level up your character for more damage, you also really need to power up your weapon of choice to actually stand a chance against bigger bosses and tougher enemies. To help you do that, this guide will help you find all those you need - or learn how to farm them infinitely with the Elden Ring Bell Bearing locations.

Rune farming

Elden Ring rune farming

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

As runes are critical to leveling up your character and progressing, some Elden Ring Rune farming locations will be a great help to speed up the process. This guide will point out an easy, early place to farm a few runes, as well as give you a few general pointers on how to get more, quicker. If you want to fast track your character development then take a look. 

Best weapons

Elden Ring classes warrior attacking

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

There's a few quick pointers on Elden Ring weapons here, just to cover some basic types and what they're good for, as well as some of the best weapons you can find. If you just want to get a feel for what the various types are, or what sort of stats and scaling to expect for different types, then check this guide out for more.  

How to upgrade weapons

Elden Ring weapon upgrade blacksmith

(Image credit: FromSoftware)
Weapon scaling

Elden Ring weapon scaling attributes

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Our Elden Ring weapon scaling explained guide should help you make sense of a very FromSoftware system. You see, the Souls' way of doing it is to have weapons level up with different attributes. So, depending on the item, you might have a sword that does more damage with magic, for example. If you're not sure what's going on you could easily end up wasting levels on the wrong stat, so read this to make sure you understand it all. 

Once you've found a stabby thing you like you're probably going to want to know how to strengthen weapons in Elden Ring as enemies and threats will get tougher as you progress. It means you'll always be looking to improve your damage output and adding a +1 or more to a weapon is as important as levelling up your character. 

The game is more or less gear-locked in some ways, in that some of the bigger bosses - and even optional mini bosses - are basically being unbeatable until you add a +1, 2, 3, or more whatever you're hitting them with. There's a two part process here where you not only need to find certain resources - in this case smithing stones - This guide, then, is all about how you can do that, where and what you need so you can do more damage and stay competitive.  

Best armor

Elden Ring armor location best

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

There's a lot of Elden Ring armor to find, with locations all over the map where you can find or buy sets for different purposes. Are you after heavy protection that needs high strength? Or something that will keep you a little more mobile? Whatever you're after we've outlined the best options and where to find them here. 

How to Summon

Elden Ring

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring Summons can give you a big edge in any fight. If you've found them and unlocked the right items, you can summon Ash Spirits to fight alongside you. Even the weaker options can still run interference on a boss, letting you get in some free hits while they're busy. But more power options can even do a decent amount of the work for you. This guide will tell you how to get summoning and where to look for some ghostly fighting friends to help you out. 

Ashes of War

Elden Ring ashes of war

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Using Elden Ring Ashes of War will let you modify your characters and loadout in interesting ways. These Ashes can be reused and moved around but essentially let you alter stats, scaling and so on to bend items and gear to your build or playstyle. They've a versatile tool, giving you some powerful flexibility and options to tune builds. 

How to respec

Elden Ring respec larval tears

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

The Elden Ring respec and Larval Tears system will let you completely reset our character and redistribute all your points. This is a big deal though and not something you can do easily or often. There's a tricky boss fight involved, hard to find items, and more. So read our guide to help if you want to change up your character. 

Leon Hurley
Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides, which means I run GamesRadar's guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website. 

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