Let’s talk about Elden Ring.
The biggest video game of 2022 so far is also, to put it bluntly, not very easy. Elden Ring is the latest in developer FromSoftware’s long-running “Soulsborne” series, which are known as much for their incredible world-building as their punishing difficulty. However, this one has reached a level of mainstream attention its predecessors didn’t. That means plenty of newcomers are banging their heads against the sometimes-not-self-explanatory wall that series veterans are used to at this point.
One of the very first points of confusion is at the level up screen, which you’ll encounter just a few minutes into your adventure at the first Site of Grace outside the tutorial area. Elden Ring gives the player the freedom to dump points into one of several different stats like Vigor, Mind, and Arcane at their own pace to create the killing machine of their dreams, but you need some know-how to do that. If this is your first foray into a From game, here are the three stats you seriously can’t go wrong with.
You’ll do your leveling at Sites of Grace like this one.
Credit: From Software
Let’s call it “The V.E.S. Method”
Or don’t, I don’t care. That’s a pretty dumb name, but it gets to the point. If you’re new to Elden Ring and just want to bulldoze your way through the game with the biggest possible margin of error you can give yourself, invest heavily in Vigor, Endurance, and Strength.
Vigor
I want to stress the first of those up front because I know multiple people who had trouble with late-game content because they never bothered leveling up their Vigor. It’s the stat that governs how much health you have. If you have more health, you can take more hits before you die. If you can take more hits before you die, you’ll die less often. Simple, right? Well, it can be so tempting to barrel into a cool magic build (you can throw magical rocks at enemies, for example) that you might forget that the little red meter at the top left corner of the screen is the most important one of all.
Oh, and Vigor gives you more resistance to poison and fire. Both of those things really suck! Put points into Vigor!
Get used to seeing this screen.
Credit: From Software
Endurance
Endurance goes hand-in-hand with Vigor. This stat determines both your stamina level (the green bar underneath the red health bar) and your equipment load. High Endurance will let you sprint, roll, and swing your weapon more often in a fight, which is obviously very useful if your objective is to not die. Load up enough on Endurance and you’ll also be able to equip heavier weapons and armor like the incredibly sturdy Bull Goat set without losing mobility.
Strength
Finally, Strength does what you think it does, for the most part. This stat increases your physical defense, so if you’re doing the newcomer thing of rolling with a regular sword, Strength will make your strikes hit harder. Dump enough points into Strength and eventually you’ll get access to huge greatswords (like an excellent one simply called Greatsword) and hammers, if that’s your thing.
Of course, all the other stats like Mind (which increases your magic meter), Dexterity (good for curved swords and katanas), and Intelligence (required to cast many spells) matter, too, but “The V.E.S. Method” is as good as it gets for someone who is brand new to Elden Ring. Investing in those three stats will give you the leeway you need to figure out how you want to play the game later on.
After all, you’ll probably have 150 hours to figure out your play style before you get to the final boss anyway.
