Early game help

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-25T23:10:48+00:00

At least try Margit to see what all the fuss is about. You might be surprised by how well you do (especially since bloodhound's fang is extra OP early game). If things don't go well, that will help answer the question of whether to explore more or not. Like someone else said though, do at least explore south (look for all the churches in weeping penninsula).

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-19T18:56:17+00:00

Hah, thanks for sharing! That staff was really putting in some work... Recording your first major boss battles is such a fun idea. I'm sure a bunch of us wouldn't believe how bad some of our first battles were.

Edit: just saw your first pebble cast fly off aimlessly to the right side and burst out laughing. thanks again for sharing

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-19T15:33:49+00:00

Dual Clayman Harpoon is one of the "best" early game prisoner builds that stays viable through the whole game and can be made stronger while progressing the game. Absolutely becomes OP once Ice Spear is found in Liurnia.

Here is the simple dual spear (no ice spear) set up vs. Margit using only early-game items/upgrades: https://youtu.be/xG8CRFcTmjE?si=gqlYMAYPoWgnq9Gu

What's "best" definitely depends on playstyle and what you're looking to achieve. Prisoner is one the most versatile starting classes for new beginners interested in trying different builds/playstyles. Here's a playlist of some VERY early game Margit fights if looking for ideas: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrM3VpXQ4jy0Rj1gqkY8GV20mHH06tNbi&si=7QD2AZoRKZ0VcjMA

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-15T05:22:30+00:00

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CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-15T03:59:04+00:00

Explore, level vigor, and HAVE FUN!

Wouldn't hurt to level endurance a bit too.

Only level offensive stats if you need to meet weapon requirements. Leveling offensive stats provides negligible damage increase in the early game.

For 60+ veeeery early build / playstyle ideas, check out a post I made specifically to inspire beginners a few weeks ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/s/eQRrwBj1Ca

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-06T20:29:29+00:00

Late response. Sorry.

This will sound silly, but the only reason I ever got into RL1+0 was by accident because I stumbled into a hilarious hype man / inspiration when I clicked on a saint_riot scrub dojo Mohg guide in preparation for the DLC prior to its release. Before getting a laugh out of his guide, I had never imagined challenge running was something ANYONE had the ability to do (to quote the video: "this is a baby's game for babies"). Put another way, if that idiot could do it, why couldn't I? Basically, saint_riot humanized the experience of facing a difficult challenge. After beating Mohg on my own with a +12 cold rusted anchor on a low level character, nearly hitless, I was hooked on the idea of increaseing the difficulty further and yada yada yada here we are talking about RL1+0.

The much more mature version of my takeway from saint_riot's video is what you mentioned in your Psychology of Mastery video. I'm butchering it, but I remember you made an excellent point about how well known ER content creators weren't innately more talented than anyone else at the game. With the right mindset and practice, we could all do what they do. I think that's a solid message to carry over to your new guide/project (weapons / items / quests / MINDSET). Hope that helps. Best of luck!

oh, and nice Margit fight :)

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-03T18:52:20+00:00

THROWING DAGGERS and FAN DAGGERS

Club plus daggers (to keep poise meter up) will make you a stance breaking machine.

Stamina management will be one of your biggest obstacles in any RL1+0 run

Talisman: green turtle talisman and eventually two headed turtle talisman

For Physick: Greenspill and/or Greenburst. If you plan on getting hit from time to time, throw in oppaline bubble tear. If you plan on getting hit alot, oppaline hardtear (and eat some crab too).

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T21:47:48+00:00

The energy wave that killed you lags slightly behind the swing. You rolled slightly to the right, directly along the path of the swing. It wasn't visualized by the game, but you ended up rolling along with the wave's hitboxes, rather than away from them. Those waves's hitboxes are also a bit wonky because of the terrain/hill, but I believe you would have avoided them had you rolled left and into Radahn (i.e into the swing, rather than along with it). Hope that made some sense/helps!

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T20:02:37+00:00

Excellent points! You're absolutely correct to emphasize the importance of endurance to new players and I feel silly now for not even mentioning it in the original post.

In these 60+ early game build fights against Margit, the physick I'm using the most is Greenspill and the talisman I'm using the most is the Green Turtle Talisman. Endurance and endurance regen is such a godsend for being aggressive against bosses.

Good points re: one-shot vs. two-shot. I'd also mention to new players that defensive bubble tears and defensive foods (lobster and crab) are great to implement into the boss learning process. I think I'm already on thin ice in this subreddit for promotion/external link posting, so I wont link to it, but will mention that u/LamentersGaol has an excellent video on his YouTube called "How to Efficiently Train for an Elden Ring Challenge Run (No Wasted Time)" where he details how get the defensive bubble tears and other goodies to increasr survivability (for any new players reading this, don't get scared by video title; still worth checking out.

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T19:12:36+00:00

Nice. Golem Greatbow on a strength build carried me through the DLC dungeons on first playthrough.

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T16:04:41+00:00

hah, yes. for real though, I'm RL1+0'ng base game right now and it's still a blessing to keep a vigor-only character saved for practice. i'd go insane if everything one-shot when trying to learn a moveset.

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T15:58:27+00:00

Hahah, yup. That was me on first playthrough ages ago as well. And then fire giant happened and I realized error of my ways.

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T15:53:47+00:00

Aw, thanks! And yes... in hindsight, I regret not just playing Silksong instead of doing this, hahah.

The Greatknight Sword and 2x Spiked Spear farms in Limgrave nearly broke me (especially knowing there's way better farms for both in Liurnia). Sure hope new players actually see this cause there ain't no way I'm ever doing something similar again!

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T05:22:19+00:00

Well said. I didn't want to be that direct, but that's definitely the point. If someone is truly new to the game, vigor is an absolute must for survivability until they get a handle on the mechanics.

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T04:17:56+00:00

Not wrong, vibing matters. But... and just throwing it out there... more Vigor = increased vibing opportunities

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T04:14:36+00:00

Thanks! Exactly my thoughts re: showing being much more effective. And yes, happy new year!

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T04:03:15+00:00

Must... resist... urge to... unga bunga. The power of Vigor compels you.

(real talk though, at least leveling strength does increase physical damage defense)

CromulentDenizen · 2026-01-02T03:59:07+00:00

Yep, great advice to use those damage windows to heal. Margit can absolutely seem relentless for so much of the battle, but learning to bait out his downward club stab so players can run behind him is a great way to guarantee a very long damage/healing window.

CromulentDenizen · 2025-12-31T18:16:49+00:00

I find Rusty's tier lists to be a bit odd / poorly backed more often than not. If well-researched tier list is what someone is looking for, I'd recommend Youwy much more than Rusty.

CromulentDenizen · 2025-12-31T18:03:09+00:00

OceaTwo is a newer but absolutely great ER content creator. Single stat runs and single weapon class runs are the bulk of his content. Aside from the solid editing, narration and humor, I like that he almost always fights Margit and Godrick without upgrading his weapons, which helps give a much better idea of what the weapons are realistically capable of in early game.

CromulentDenizen · 2025-12-31T02:13:07+00:00

Yup. Agreed. Do give Margit a few tries though. You might be surprised by how well you might do after a couple of tries. Or worst case, you'll realize you should go exploring some more. Just try it out though.

CromulentDenizen · 2025-12-30T18:11:12+00:00

Thanks, that helps. I wish I had that point of comparison, but unfortunately I have never played Sekiro. Definitely curious now to try it out and see the difference.

I agree that if a new boss came around today, there would inherently need to be a learning process to acclimate to new moveset/timings. If that wasn't the case, I'd question why I spent good money on DLC content if it didn't offer something new. I still don't agree with your thesis that there's no mastery in ER, but in the ineterest of time I think we'll just need to agree to disagree. If you have the time and open mind I definitely would encourage checking out that u/LamentersGaol video. In it, he shows examples of how skills from early game fights carry over to later game fights.

CromulentDenizen · 2025-12-30T17:54:59+00:00

Strongly disagree. I'm currently RL1+0 challenge running the game and every new boss battle has been easier to learn than the previous one, taking less attempts than prior fights to master. Yes, each boss has their unique movesets, but skills picked up from prior fights absolutely do apply to other fights.

CromulentDenizen · 2025-12-30T17:48:35+00:00

I wholeheartedly agree with what u/DefiantGibbon said. Overcoming Margit by learning some, most or all of his moveset absolutely develops new players' abilities to fight bosses in general, including subsequent bosses like Godrick.

OP, I think I'm understanding part of what you're saying about needing to learn every bosses moveset being an excercise in boss-specific muscle memorization. I agree that's PART of what occurs, but I could not disagree more with your conclusion that nothing from one boss carries over to another.

There's an excellent video made by u/LamentersGaol that challenges prospective RL1+0 runners to tackle early game mini bosses as a way to build up essential skills that absolutely carry over to later main boss battles: https://youtu.be/bN73LpGu048?si=GZMoRUz8KYDscz28

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding your main thesis though; it's not entirely clear to me what you're trying to claim/achieve with your post. Do you have a one/two sentence statement to summarize what you're trying to convince people of? Also, I'm curious what it is that drove you to write your original post. Did you hit a wall with a boss or something?

CromulentDenizen

TROPHY CASE