How to Level Up in Elden Ring

Elden Ring demands a lot from its players because of its skill-intensive and punishing combat. However, execution is half the battle; your character’s stats and equipment are also vital.

Like previous Soulsborne games, you have the option to level up your character in Elden Ring. As a result, you’ll steadily become stronger in the process. It’s a crucial part of the experience, yet it’s not immediately made clear, especially for newcomers.

Additionally, the stats in Elden Ring seem complex for players new to the series. Every point is essential, and you don’t want to dump points into stats you wouldn’t use.

You don’t have to worry because this guide will make that process easier to understand. By the end of this article, you’ll know how to level up in Elden Ring. As well as what each of the main eight stats means.

Where to Find Melina

The first NPC you meet in Elden Ring tells you that you won’t go far without a maiden. In Elden Ring, maidens offer guidance and strength to aid the Tarnished on their quest.

Therefore, you have to find Melina to level up in Elden Ring. You can get it pretty early, and I recommend doing so before going off to explore. To unlock your maiden, you have to rest at three Sites of Grace in the overworld. 

Sites of Grace act as checkpoints and respawn points in Elden Ring. Here, you can rest up and refill your flasks along with other useful functions like switching out your spells and weapons. Activating a Lost Grace site also releases a golden aura pointing you towards the main quest.

For veteran Soulsborne players, this will serve as your new and improved Bonfire.

From your first Site of Grace in the overworld, follow the golden path to the next Site of Grace located in the Church of Elleh. There’s a giant knight mounted on a massive horse on the main trail. That’s a hard boss called the Tree Sentinel; avoid it for now because you’re still too underleveled and undergeared.

Instead, sneak through the bushes or just avoid the area altogether. Rest at the ruined Church of Elleh for your second Site of Grace. There’s a merchant nearby who looks like santa and a smithing table you could use.

Open your map to check the next stop in the golden path. You’ll have to pass by a forest populated with a few hostile soldiers. You should kill a few of them to earn runes if you can; plus, it’s excellent practice to stagger enemies in Elden Ring.

By this point, you should reach the castle’s wall. There’s a Site of Grace just in front of it. Touch this to activate your third checkpoint.

A cutscene will play, and you’ll meet Melina. She’ll serve as your maiden, who’ll guide you and increase your power. She’ll also give you the valuable Spectral Steed Whistle item, which allows you to get the horse in Elden Ring.

Elden Ring Leveling and Stats Explained

Now that Melina is by your side, you’ll unlock the feature to level up in Elden Ring. But, before that, you’re going to need enough runes.

Runes serve as your currency for purchasing items, and your experience points to level up in Elden Ring. You can collect these from vanquishing foes, selling items, or consuming items that give you runes. In previous games, these are your souls in Dark Souls and Demon souls and Blood Echoes in Bloodborne.

There’s no bank or store extra souls in Elden Ring; you’ll have to carry them with you all the time. Unfortunately, you’ll drop all your held souls upon death. You have a chance to go back to it to collect it; however, you’ll lose it all if you die again without getting it.

Now, to level up in Elden Ring, you need to rest at a Site of Grace and select the option to level up. Here, you can choose which stat of the eight main stats you want to increase if you have enough Runes to progress.

Take note that each time you level up in Elden Ring, the required souls also increase. It’s going to quickly reach absurd levels, so you need to start fighting more challenging enemies and bosses who’ll drop more souls. 

There are eight main stats to level up in Elden Ring. Veterans of the Soulsborne series will see many similarities, but most received a slight change.

• Vigor— Stat that increases your health, your red bar. It also affects your resistance to fire and Immunity, a defensive stat resisting poison and blights. It’s always good to dump points to Vigor no matter what build you go for.
• Mind—Stat that increases your focus points, your blue bar. It acts as your mana pool or energy reserve to use spells or weapon skills. It also increases your focus stat, which resists madness and drowsiness.
• Endurance—Stat that increases your stamina, your green bar. With more stamina, you can dodge and guard more often. It also affects how much gear you can carry and equip.
• Strength—Attribute that lets you hold heavy weapons and shields, such as a greatsword. It also increases your physical defense, which reduces your damage against regular physical attacks.
• Dexterity—Stat that lets you use tricky weapons like spears. Additionally, it also decreases the cast time of magic spells, reduces fall damage, and increases your grip on your horse.
• Intelligence—Essential stat for magic users. It amplifies spell damage and allows you to use advanced spells. And it bolsters your magic resistance.
• Faith—Stat that amplifies and allows you to use advance incantations. In Elden Ring, incantations are a combination of Faith and Pyromancy. So, there are curative spells, powerful buffs, and destructive fire-based magic for faith users.
• Arcane—Contrary to the name, this stat is about item discovery, like Luck. A few sorceries and incantations also need Arcane to use them.

These are the eight main stats you can use to level up in Elden Ring. You have complete control over when and where each stat will increase, and all up to you to make a build that suits you.

Remember that all armaments and spells require certain stats to wild them properly, so you have to be wise where you allocate your points. 

Additionally, most weapons and spells scale off your main damage stats: strength, dexterity, intelligence, and faith. Some weapons like the lance in Elden Ring scales with multiple attributes.

Eventually, you’ll have the option to respec your character. Doing so will refund all your points back, and you can allocate them elsewhere. However, this is far into the game so make sure you’re comfortable with your early build.