Basically what the other comment has said. imo it's harder than Old Hunters on base ng, assuming you're going in solo melee. Roughly the same in difficulty on max ng+ cycle.

Get the best spirit summons (look these up) and level them up. There are more than a few dragons and deathrite birds that you're better off just summoning and getting it over with.

Unless you're checking a guide you're bound to miss a lot of stuff, especially the character quests. Don't fret too much over them.

1+2: Beat the base game for the best start in it. Around 120-150 would be pretty good.

3: Whatever you like, bring in whatever. You can go back to the base game at any time.

4: Probably.

5: Collect Scadutree Fragments to increase your damage and defenses. This is how you actually get strong enough to take on the DLC. If you do not, no matter what level you are, you're gonna get ground to dust.

If you just explore the world you should never have yo worry about being under leveled. The most important thing is to upgrade your weapons

If you are farming the same enemies over and over it gets tiring really fast. Just exploring all areas, caves and dungeons and doing all optional bosses will give you more than enough levels

Quite the opposite for me- leveling up is pretty consistent and fast in this game- I was often over leveled most of the game just for fully exploring- towards lategame it evens out pretty good. Extraordinarily I feel like they got the leveling pace perfect in this game.

If you’ve beaten Godrick you can do Varres quest line to access the best tune farming spot in the game

literally explore everything - every nook & cranny, every cave, tunnel, dungeon, etc. activate all of the summoning pools and throw out the effigy to be summoned to help people. activate the hunter ring to be summoned as a hunter. if you do these things you will level up quickly and never need to farm for runes.

First spot that I actually start to farm is the area outside of Gurranq the beast clergyman location. Kill the vulgar militia guys in the area, and they'll drop about 1000 runes each. Before that, I'm just killing every enemy along the way and leveling up whenever I can. There's LOTS of places to branch out and get new weapons, armor, smithing stones, and runes without having to face the harder bosses until you're ready. Just look for anything that looks like a building or cave on your map and spend time exploring. Definitely skip the tree sentinel until you're ready. Good luck!

You need to go exploring. Go into caves. Kill a lot of enemies and start leveling up. You don’t need to worry about the tree sentinel at all

"i’m having trouble with even tree sentinel"

Tree Sentinel and 15-20 minutes later Margit are purposesfully put on beggining of the game with purpose to force you realise that trying to beat the 1st oppnent which you see is not always the best solution. Now go in gatefront ruins(sites of grace should show the main path) unlock the cutscene with Melina when you rest in this site of grace and you will take the abillity to level up and use Torrent as your horse.

After that explore the whole Limgrave for dungeons,tombs and ruins which have easier opponents to face and this how you collect runes(you beat easier enemies and mini-bosses. Also invest all these runes in leveling mainly your vigor and weapon upgrade level. Also explore for golden seeds,sacred tears and finding wondrous Physic Flask.

Generally you have a lot explore in Limgrave.

tree sentinel is there to teach you thats its ok to leave a boss and come back later when you're stronger

I’d skip tree sentinel for now. Go for small camps and dungeons, and don’t forget to upgrade your flasks. Once you’re higher level you can more easily tackle the big bosses.

There are some areas that are accessible really early that you'll definitely be underleveled for. They kinda want to softly funnel you into areas that are appropriate for your level with that. It could also be that you're not doing a lot of side dungeons to level up and could just be underleveled in general.

as with most games the further away from the starter area you get the stronger the enemies. when ppl say "it's sn open world, so just go somewhere else" they forget to mention that most the time.

the fact that you csn just stumble straight into Calid doesn't help either. that's more of a early midgame area.

If you stick in the starter areas limgrave, east-limgrave and weeping peninsula you should be fine even at low leveld

Yeah pretty normal if you just explore randomly and end up at like Caelid too early.

You can always explore somewhere else and come back, that's the thing with this game.

Yeah this is just traditional rpg stuff. If you seem underleveled you should see if there’s another path or area you haven’t explored.

Tbh souls are pretty light in the actual stat leveling. Pick the weapon you want and level to the requirements. Then all you have to do is keep leveling health/stamina until you decide to change things up.

Upgrading your weapons at a blacksmith will always be way more useful than leveling the scaling stat. Scaling is so random I’ve played ds 1 & 3 bloodborne and ER yet I still doesn’t seem like I can get significant results lol

I am still on my first play through. Just got the game as well. Been playing ds 1 and 3. My experience is to start with something simple. And for me that is a strength build. And when things get too difficult I google on that specific problem. There is a joy in going in blind. And do not trip if an enemy is too difficult. Go somewhere else and come back later. It’s a beautiful game. Maybe the best I have ever tried. Enjoy.

Imo it’s best to experience this game blind from the start. The discovery just adds so much to it. The only thing I would think is worth looking up are some of the side quest as they are easy to miss and have cool gear and weapons/spells but even then I would try them out before looking it up. Don’t be afraid to try out different things. You can respec at some point like mid game. On a second run through or after you beat the game I would then look up a guide to find everything you might have missed. And also to add on to my point about my side quest, it’s no big deal if you miss them. I have 200+ hours in the game and have not done them all. There is just a ton to explore and find. I feel like a comprehensive guide would take a lot of the fun out of it.

In my experience this is all you need:

1. Level up vigor

2. Have fun with your favorite build

3.Don’t spread stats unless you know what you are doing

4. It’s ok to miss some quests

5. Gather Scooby doo blessings for the DLC

6. Use your consumables!

Bro I found this WiKi

Fextralife was a great guide, very helpful for me. I also recommend quitting your job and leaving your wife and child. Commit to ER.

Just continue exploring every corner of the open world should lead in a ton of runes(if u dont die too much ;)

Step 1. Do Varre's quest.

Step 2. Locate bird.

Step 3. Shoot bird.

Repeat step 3 until satisfied.

The bird spot is the best. If somebody hasn't explained fully how to get there yet, then just search youtube. There is probably 50 different videos explaining step by step how to get to the bird spot. Just search elden ring bird farming spot

Trying no to spoil anything, but do you farm at THAT point, where you shoot the huge bird monster with a bow? If you have no idea what I am talking about, you're missing on HARD so please message me so I can explain

Go to a recently defeated boss and put down a summon sign. Runes and a rune arc.

Sit at the site of grace (where the little Golden single flame is). There's a lot of them....one of them is about 15 feet from that merchant. The site of grace to lvl up first is at the ruins with guards (up the path) will trigger a cut scene for leveling up and you'll get torrent. After that, you can lvl up at any site of grace (provided you have enough runes)

Rest, reset, kill them again until you get comfortable

(Not sure why this was downvoted?)

>500000 runes >how I level up ? Nice bait

you know all those try jumping that's were the waygate to the roundtable hold is you have to jump off to get in them.

Go north from there until you find some ruins filled wifh soldiers. Past it and to the northeast will be another Grace where you unlock leveling up.

you need to get runes first

Try the wikis. But you may need to check each of your current quests.

22 and above for the Mundane Ring to drop on Raven Camoran which is probably the ring you’re referring to. If I remember correctly it’s 25 and up for quests to give their highest stat versions of rewards.

That being said there are more rewards than you’ll be able to use practically in one play through so unless you have a specific reward in mind speed leveling isn’t really necessary. Being a below a certain level to make a quest easier or keep npc’s alive is still a useful tactic.

^(F.A.Q.) ^(| Wiki) ^(| scammerlist) ^(| How to dupe runes)

I'll get on

Atill need runes?