Elden Ring: Review and class guide

Intro

Elden Ring is a new role-playing game that aims to merge the iconic, brutal combat From Software ‘s Souls games are famous for with open-world exploration and crafting mechanics, clearly inspired by Nintendo‘s Breath of the Wild.

After spending more than 100 hours playing the game, I can confirm that Elden Ring is the most developed and cozy Souls series game yet, with the added narrative and open world making Elden Ring much more accessible to newcomers to From Software.

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History

Elden Ring begins pretty much the same way as all Souls games. After clicking on the new game icon, you are treated to a suitably dark fantasy introduction that tells of the doom of the world you are about to explore.

In particular, it recounts the drift of the Interregnum, which fell into ruin after the destruction of the Ring that gives the game its name, the Elden Ring. The game’s introduction offers no further narrative details, other than the fact that you, a newly resurrected“Lightless,” and you must remedy the world’s ruin by collecting and reassembling the fragments of the ancestral ring.

The game’s narrative , which occurs through cryptic dialogue, object descriptions, and environmental narratives, is incredibly deep. The author claims that the lack of guidance in the narrative is a deliberate choice and that the game is designed to keep players in a state of morbid curiosity as they seek answers about the world and their place in it.

The author suggests that discovering the story of the game on your own is what makes it so rewarding and that this style of storytelling would not work if it followed more conventional methods.

The author has repeatedly said that Elden Ring ‘s narrative style may not be suitable for everyone and that the game’s seemingly impenetrable story and mechanics may turn some players away. However, I found the ability to discover the story bit by bit through world building and items found during the game, very rewarding.

Gameplay

Open world and dungeons

The world open to exploration is grand, filled with a rich and engaging atmosphere and brimming with surprising discoveries. “Legacy” dungeons, steeped in interregnum history, are often connected to the outside world through several entrances. These intricately designed mazes are a treasure waiting to be explored, and in Elden Ring there are many different ways to traverse them

It is worth noting that sometimes access to certain areas is found in the most unexpected places, but the journey to discover them is often filled with even more enticing paths to follow.

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Boss

The main opponents, typically located at the end of dungeons, look like epic battles against deities. These extraordinary, highly scenic fights are exhilarating midpoints during an incredible journey, absolute spectacles that combine tension and triumph in a masterful way.

Of all From Software‘s games, Elden Ring boasts the most extraordinary and challenging boss fights ever. Without making too many spoilers there is an optional and hidden confrontation had me waking up in the middle of the night to come back and try to defeat it several times.

This boss fight is a perfect example of how incredibly captivating and engaging Elden Ring is; I often put it down with the intention of doing something else, only to find myself playing it again within minutes. There is always another mystery to unravel, another boss to defeat, and another hidden path to discover.

Character creation and classes

From character creation onward, everything is very familiar. You are catapulted into a character creator that allows you to change their appearance, give them a name and choose their initial class. The creator is virtually identical to that seen in Dark Souls 3, which means you will have a lot of freedom in changing the appearance of your character.

Level advancement works much the same way: you have to fight from checkpoint to checkpoint and spend your hard-earned experience points to level up. The only difference is that experience points are now called Runes instead of Souls, and checkpoints are called places of grace instead of bonfires.

As in all Souls games, classes are not very important. All they do is set the starting statistics and equipment. There are no class-specific skills, spells or items . The only roadblocks concern the statistical requirements of some items, which can be easily changed as you level up.

Classroom guide

Wandering Knight

The Wandering Knight is a very beginner-friendly class that can be specialized in Strength or Dexterity to create strong and relatively simple melee builds.

You will start with a standard long sword, halberd and shield, although I think it is better to use the long sword and shield for the relatively fast attacks and good blocking capabilities. The shield is an excellent defensive tool, but it is also useful for practicing parries (or perfect parries) on low-level soldiers that are found at the beginning.

With the initial Vitality (health) higher than any other class, players will be able to take more hits from the start and will receive a nice set of armor for decent protection.

However, you will have to remove some of this armor to bring your weight below the 70% equipment load threshold to have an average rolling speed-above this threshold, you will have“fat” (slow) rolling.

Devote a good portion of your levels to boosting Endurance to increase equipment load, and you will be able to equip as best you can to get maximum protection and still roll at medium speed.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 9
• Vitality – 15
• Mind – 10
• Temper – 11
• Strength – 14
• Dexterity – 13
• Intelligence – 9
• Faith – 9
• Arcane – 7

Nomadic Warrior

The Nomad Warrior is the Elden Ring’s Dexterity-focused melee class, so lighter melee weapons that require some dexterity or ranged weapons such as bows will be your weapons of choice.

A base Dexterity of 16 will allow you to get a good level of melee damage with scimitars that scale with Dexterity, allowing you to focus the first few levels on increasing Endurance to get more rolls and attacks with Stamina. This will also enable you to avoid using the shield and learn to dodge effectively, instead of just blocking and taking hits.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 8
• Vitality – 11
• Mind – 12
• Temper – 11
• Strength – 10
• Dexterity – 16
• Intelligence – 10
• Faith – 8
• Arcane – 9

Hero

Choosing the Hero means focusing on total strength. In contrast to the Warrior class, Hero players will use heavier weapons with slow attacks that inflict heavy damage.

At first, you will be able to rely on 16 Strength points and a large axe, but if you add more points to the Strength you will be able to meet the requirements of some very heavy weapons.

Heroes start out with good Vigor and Endurance, then more HP and Stamina, which means they are at least a little more resilient and agile. You can enhance these attributes more in the early levels to make the hero more balanced, or focus solely on Strength to increase damage as much as possible.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 7
• Vitality – 14
• Mind – 9
• Hardening – 12
• Strength – 16
• Dexterity – 9
• Intelligence – 7
• Faith – 8
• Arcane – 11

Outlaw

The Outlaw is the stealthy assassin of Elden Ring. Equipped with a dagger and a small shield, the Outlaw must avoid direct confrontations with groups of enemies and focus instead on critical hits with backstabs or sniping with the initial short bow.

If things take a turn for the worse, you will have to rely on your ability to dodge e parry, since the Outlaw has rather low statistics in all fields except Arcane, which gives this class a fair rate of discovery of new objects, somewhat like the Fortune In Dark Souls.

However, Outlaw stats are generally low and balanced enough that a new specialization in a different play style is not too difficult, provided you can find the right equipment.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 5
• Vitality – 10
• Mind – 11
• Hardening – 10
• Strength – 9
• Dexterity – 13
• Intelligence – 9
• Faith – 8
• Arcane – 14

Astrologer

The Astrologer class is one of the few options built for magic from the start, with impressive statistics 15 Mind and 16 Intelligence. Astrologers will be able to cast many powerful spells for single and multiple targets, making it a rather destructive ranged class.

However, all other stats are quite low, so it might be a good idea to spend the first few runes on boosting Vigor and Endurance to increase HP and Stamina to make the Astrologer more agile and durable.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 6
• Vitality – 9
• Mind – 15
• Temper – 9
• Strength – 8
• Dexterity – 12
• Intelligence – 16
• Faith – 7
• Arcane – 9

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Prophet

The Prophet class is the other side of the coin of the Astrologer class as it focuses on Faith and the casting of Spells, which are generally more supportive than offensive.

This will allow you to play the role of sacred warrior, supporting yourself and allies with healing spells and hitting your enemies with fire and sacred damage if you can find the right spells.

As long as you have good access to healing spells, concentrate your runes on the Mind attribute; it will increase your available skill points and thus the number of spells you can cast.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 7
• Vitality – 10
• Mind – 14
• Hardening – 8
• Strength – 12
• Dexterity – 8
• Intelligence – 7
• Faith – 16
• Arcane – 11

Samurai

The Samurai class is a kind of hybrid between the Wanderer and the Bandit. Combining good Strength, higher basic Endurance than any other class, and excellent Dexterity, the Samurai devotes himself exclusively to hand-to-hand combat using Dexterity, with the bow as a secondary option.

Players must focus on mastering dodges, parries, and the two-handed weapon to deliver accurate strikes and attack combos. The initial Longbow adds further versatility to the Samurai, allowing this class to dominate at close range and beyond.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 9
• Vitality – 12
• Mind – 11
• Temper – 13
• Strength – 12
• Dexterity – 15
• Intelligence – 9
• Faith – 8
• Arcane – 8

Prisoner

Located between the Warrior and the Astrologer, the Prisoner class combines good Dexterity in melee with Intelligence-based Sorceries to inflict a wide range of damage. High Dexterity has the advantage of speeding up spell casting, so Prisoners have the potential to inflict a lot of damage very quickly.

This class, however, has lower Vitality and Endurance , so increasing HP and Stamina should be a goal to level up when deemed necessary.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 9
• Vitality – 11
• Mind – 12
• Temper – 11
• Strength – 11
• Dexterity – 14
• Intelligence – 14
• Faith – 6
• Arcane – 9

Confessor

Similar to the Prisoner, the class blends the balanced melee skills of the Nomad Warrior with the Faith-focused Spells of the Prophet. Basic Strength and Dexterity statistics of 12 allow Confessor players to freely choose the weapons in which to specialize.

Balancing this with levels of Faith, Vitality and Temper to keep spells at maximum speed should result in a relatively balanced character competent in both physical and magical attacks.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 10
• Vitality – 10
• Mind – 13
• Hardening – 10
• Strength – 12
• Dexterity – 12
• Intelligence – 9
• Faith – 14
• Arcane – 9

Gutted

The most basic and empty class there is. Unfortunates start with 10 in all attributes and almost no equipment. This allows players to completely build their own character, but it means having to start from scratch and find their own weapons and armor.

Players will start with a measly bat and nothing else, not even clothes. This class is recommended only for players who have a lot of experience with FromSoftware‘s previous games, and even then it would be a better choice for a second playthrough of Elden Ring.

Statistics:

• Starting level: 1
• Vitality – 10
• Mind – 10
• Hardening – 10
• Strength – 10
• Dexterity – 10
• Intelligence – 10
• Faith – 10
• Arcane – 10

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