The basics of Elden Ring combat must be known, including weapon, skill, sorcery and incatation!

"ELDEN RING" will be released on February 25, 2022.

The protagonist's journey through the Lands Between to become the Elden Lord is filled with numerous enemies. The outcome of the combat is greatly influenced by how much information you have. This article will help you out the important knowledge in combat.

Pursue your tactics with a variety of weapon types.

　In the network test conducted in November 2021 alone, players were able to experience a wide variety of weapons, including melee weapons such as daggers, straight swords, large swords, curved swords, double-edged swords, swords, spears, axes, hammers, long-distance weapons such as bows, and shields.

　Each of these weapons can be used in a wide range of maneuvers, such as normal attacks, strong attacks, jumping attacks, and two-handed attacks, and the tactics, including attack motions, change when the weapon equipped changes. The weapons we were able to see in the network test alone had a variety of attack attributes, including standard, slashing, striking, and stabbing, so choosing the right weapon for your play style and enemy is one of the strategies.

　Naturally, different weapons have different characteristics. Daggers have a small attack range but can be used in quick succession, while big swords have a slower attack speed and are prone to gaps, but can unleash powerful attacks with a long reach. It is best to find a weapon that you are comfortable with as soon as possible.

Skills are the trump card in combat

Skills are special abilities that armaments have. There is a wide variety of skills such as an attack, defense, recovery, and buff. Using skills consume FP but will be your trump card in times of need.

In the network test, various weapon skills were able to be identified from those that elongate the features of the weapon, such as Spinning Slashes and Charge Forth, to straight sword’s skill, such as Storm Blades that can be fired forward, and a dagger's skill, such as Blood Blade.

The main feature of skills is that you can use "Ash of War" to bestow new skills and attributes.

For example, a double-edged sword with a wide range of attacks has a "spinning slash" skill, which is powerful, but by applying another skill to it, you can now thrust while dashing. You can also use the parry skill, which allows you to repel enemy attacks and break the enemy’s stance. If you apply the charge forth to your spear to break the enemy's stance, you can use its long reach to more attacks.

Each weapon can only grant one skill, and new skill will replace old ones. In addition, the skills that can be granted differ by weapon type, some weapons have unique skills that can't be replaced. However, you can easily replace them at a Site of Grace, making it easy for you to customize them as you like.

Whether to concentrate on enhancing the features of your weapon with skills or increase the range of tactics? The combination of weapons and skills will expand your tactics endlessly.

Sorceries and Incantations to expand tactics

Sorceries and incantations have supernatural powers that are different from the armaments mentioned above. You need to spend FP to activate them, but they provide a variety of effects such as attack, recovery, and assistance can be obtained.

You can memorize sorceries and incantations at Sites of Grace. You must have a staff equipped to cast sorceries, or a sacred seal equipped to cast incantations.

There are a variety of effects, such as attacking from a distance, causing abnormal status, giving special effects to weapons, and continuously refilling HP. Some of them are useful in critical situations, such as temporarily reducing attack power, so if you incorporate sorcery and incantation into your tactics, you'll be able to evolve your strategy even further.

A Spirit that becomes a dependable companion

Spirits can aid you in combat by summoning them. To summon a spirit, you need ashes, and there must be a Rebirth Monument nearby.

Summoning a spirit consumes FP, it will attack the enemy automatically. It will unsummon when HP goes to zero or you leave the boundary where the monument icon is displayed.

Each spirit has its own unique abilities, such as those that unleash sorcery-like attacks and those that use quick movements to distract the enemy. In addition to supporting attacks, they can also be used in different ways depending on the player, such as focusing the enemy's attack on the spirit and aiming for a counterattack.

If you find a Rebirth Monument when confronting a powerful enemy, summon a spirit to aid you in combat.

The chalice bottle is absolutely essential for adventure.

　The chalice bottle is the lifeline of the main character in adventures. In the network test version, we were able to see the "Scarlet Drop Chalice," which restores HP, and the "Blue Drop Chalice," which restores FP. In total, the chalices can be used four times, and we were able to adjust them according to our play style, such as allocating all four times to the "Scarlet Drop Chalice" in order to focus on stamina.

　The number of times the Chalice Bottle can be replenished with blessings. You could also recover the number of times you could use the chalice by defeating scarlet and blue scarabs, defeating a certain number of enemies, or destroying groups of enemies, but the type and number of times depended on the group.

　In addition, there is a "chalice bottle of elixir" that allows you to customize elixirs with various effects by combining items, so find a variety of elixirs to use in your adventures.