First steps in Elden Ring: how do you even get around?

You walk out of the cave, and a whole land lies ahead. No arrow over your head, no quest log, no hint where to go. That's normal: Elden Ring is built this way, and you read the world yourself instead of following a signpost. Still, a few simple rules make the first hours much easier, and here they are in the order you will run into them.

• ✦Grace: where to rest and what to look at when you're lost.
• ✦Which enemy is not meant for your first hour, and why walking away is fine.
• ✦What to buy from the first merchant, and how to light up the dark map.
• ✦A horse, leveling up, spirit summons and a stronger flask.
• ✦What happens to your runes when you die.
• ✦Where to go next, and how our map shows your own playthrough.

The first Site of Grace is literally called The First Step. It's right outside the cave. Grace is the most important place in the game, so get used to it from minute one.

Rest

- sit at a grace and your flasks refill.

Respawn point

- when you die, you come back to the last grace you rested at.

The catch

- enemies around come back when you rest. A camp you just cleared is full again, so rest with care, not out of habit.

Now look at the golden rays above the grace. They point along the main path. You don't have to follow them: the world is open, and nobody stops you from wandering off. But if you're lost and can't tell where to go, the rays always show the way.

On our map every grace has its own marker: click it to open a card with its name and state. The First Step on the map

The first one you meet on the road from The First Step is the Tree Sentinel, a rider in golden armor. He's too strong for your first hour and knocks a new character down in a couple of hits.

Just go around him and come back later, once you're stronger. Here, walking away from a fight isn't losing, it's normal tactics. The world is big, and you can always slip past an enemy that's too strong and grow stronger somewhere else.

A rule for the whole game: if an enemy or a boss is beyond you, it isn't a wall, it's a sign saying «too early». You can come back any time, and it will be waiting in the same place.

The Tree Sentinel is on our map in the Bosses layer, so you won't lose track of where to come back to. Tree Sentinel on the map

The road leads to the Church of Elleh. Merchant Kalé is here, and he sells two things worth buying on your first evening.

Crafting Kit

- lets you make consumables right in the field, without going back to a merchant.

Torch

- helps in dark caves.

Our map has a Merchants layer. It shows where each of the 41 merchants stands. The map answers «where»; what a merchant sells, the search from his card will tell you. The layer is free.

1. Open the map and click «Layers» in the top bar. On a phone it's the Layers tab at the bottom.
2. Turn on Merchants. You can switch the other layers off so the map isn't cluttered.
3. Click a merchant's icon: his card opens, and from it a search for what he sells.

Remember the Church of Elleh: it has a Site of Grace, and at night Renna the Witch comes here, more on her below. Church of Elleh on the map

The in-game map starts out dark. A stele with a map fragment reveals it. The first one stands at the Gatefront Ruins: walk up to it, and western Limgrave appears.

If you don't know where the next stele is, type its name into the search on our map. Search finds places, bosses and items, in English or in the site's language, and shows the spot at once. You don't need to turn on a layer or zoom in for it: a found item is shown over every filter.

1. Click the «Find on the map» field above the map.
2. Type at least two letters of the name, for example «Map: Limgrave».
3. Pick the fragment you need from the list, West or East, and the map flies to the stele.

The stele for western Limgrave, at the Gatefront Ruins: Map: Limgrave, West

Rest at the Gatefront Site of Grace. Melina comes at one of the first graces, and this one is the surest bet. She gives you the Spectral Steed Whistle, and with it a horse named Torrent. And from then on you can level up at a grace with runes.

Double jump

- Torrent can jump twice, the second time in mid-air.

Spiritsprings

- at a spiritspring Torrent soars where you can't climb.

Leveling up

- at any Site of Grace, with runes.

Every spiritspring is marked on our map as a free layer of its own, Spiritsprings. And the grace where Melina is most likely to find you is here: Gatefront on the map

Once you have the horse, return to the Church of Elleh at night. Renna the Witch gives you the Spirit Calling Bell and the Lone Wolf Ashes. Now you can call for help in a boss fight.

You don't have to wait for nightfall: rest at the church's grace and pass time until night in its menu.

The bell doesn't work everywhere, only where the game shows the summoning icon.

You can find the bell and the ashes on our map with the search, like any item: Spirit Calling Bell

Your flask heals, but at first it runs out fast. Two items make it stronger:

Golden Seed

- found by glowing saplings, adds more uses to the flask.

Sacred Tear

- found in churches, makes the flask heal more.

Type Golden Seed into the search on our map, and it shows where they lie. The item card also tells you how many there are, and how many you've already picked up if a save is loaded. The same search works for Sacred Tears.

Where the Golden Seeds are: Golden Seed on the map

Everyone dies here. What matters is what happens to your runes:

1. After death your runes stay where you fell.
2. Go back to that spot and pick them up.
3. Die again on the way, and they are gone.

So spend a big sum at a grace right away, on a level or a purchase. Runes you've spent can't be lost, while carrying a big pile around means risking it in every fight.

If you died next to a strong enemy, think before you run back for the runes: a second death on the way costs you the whole sum.

The big beginner question: where next? Our map has a Progression order layer. It's the story route by region, with a level guide, and it's free.

Limgrave

- levels 1 to 20.

Weeping Peninsula

- in the south, optional, from level 15.

Stormveil Castle

- levels 20 to 35. Margit, the Fell Omen, at the castle gate is the first main boss of this, the third, step.

If Margit is too strong, it's too early: the world is full of places to grow stronger. Go back to Limgrave or the Weeping Peninsula, gain some levels and try again. The new map design also has a «What next?» card: from your save it names the next main boss and an undiscovered grace near you.

The main steps are joined by a dashed line, side steps are marked «optional». Click a step's number and the map zooms in to its bosses. With a save loaded, what you've done turns gold.

Margit at the castle gate: Margit, the Fell Omen, on the map

Now the main part. Load your save file onto the map, and it shows what you've found and what you haven't. The «Missing only» switch hides what you've already done, so only what's still waiting for you stays on the map.

1. Sign in: a free account is needed for the map to read a save.
2. Drag the file ER0000.sl2 onto the left panel. It's in the folder %APPDATA%\EldenRing\<account number>\.
3. Answer the questions in the «Save opened» window and pick your character.
4. Turn on «Missing only» in the layers panel.

The file never leaves your computer: the page itself reads it in your browser. Nothing is installed into the game. Want to see what it looks like first? Click «See an example», and the map shows someone else's playthrough.

Playing on a console? A PlayStation or Xbox save can't be loaded here, so you mark what you find by hand: with the “Tick it off by hand” button in a marker's card and with the checkboxes in the boss and grace lists.

Everything above is free. If you want more, there's Pro: a one-time purchase, no subscription.

A route to any marker

- the «Route here» button in a marker's card draws a path over land from your character or from the nearest discovered grace.

Quests

- the panel shows where you are in each quest: what's done and what comes next.

Still to find

- a list of everything your save says you haven't picked up yet, with a jump to each spot on the map.

What Pro includes and what it costs is on the pricing page. Pricing

Your first evening, in short:

1. Rest at The First Step and remember: the golden rays point along the main path.
2. Go around the Tree Sentinel and come back for him later.
3. Buy the Crafting Kit and a Torch from Kalé at the Church of Elleh.
4. Find the stele at the Gatefront Ruins and reveal western Limgrave.
5. Get Torrent from Melina and start leveling up.
6. At night at the Church of Elleh, get the bell and the wolf ashes from Renna.
7. Collect Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears.
8. Spend big sums of runes at a grace instead of carrying them around.

Links to everything in the video are in its pinned comment. And the map that has all of it opens here: eldenring.krut.top