Essential Things to Do First

New to Elden Ring? Learn the essential first steps in Limgrave, from activating Sites of Grace and meeting NPCs like Varre and Melina, to obtaining Torrent and the Spirit Calling Bell.

If you’re new to From Software’s RPGs, you’ll have a significant learning curve ahead of you in terms of combat mechanics, but also exploration mechanics and how to make the most efficient use of your time. The starting region of Limgrave provides the perfect opportunity to learn about the basics of adventuring in Elden Ring.

There are quite a lot of tasks ahead of you, but you’re free to pursue them in whatever manner you see fit. This handy table below will allow you to jump to a specific task:

The first NPC that you’ll encounter once you enter Limgrave is Varre, who can be found near the Site of Grace at The First Step, just outside to the northwest of the Cave of Knowledge and Stranded Graveyard. Varre will introduce you to the concept of “grace” in Elden Ring - how it provides you with life and guides you along the path of the Tarnished. Essentially, when in doubt as to where you should go next to continue with the main story, you should follow the direction of the light which shines from Sites of Grace, and which can also be seen on your map.

Any Site of Grace that you come across should be discovered immediately. These are essentially camps where you can rest to regenerate health, stamina, and FP (Focus Points), which are used primarily to power magical skills. You can also pass time at Sites of Grace to Morning, Noon, and Night, and you’ll eventually be able to use the sites to level up, memorize spells, mix custom potions with specific ingredients, sort your storage chest, and imbue weapons with Ashes of War armaments. Finally, Sites of Grace can be used as fast travel points, making them invaluable as points of interest to discover across the map.

Once you’ve spoken with Varre and avoided the Sentinel Tree boss (or died to him), you can make your way north from The First Step to the Church of Elleh, where you’ll find another Site of Grace. Interact with this and then speak with the nearby NPC, Merchant Kalé. You’ll find a number of merchants like this around the world, each of which offer different things for purchase. You can also sell most items that you acquire to these merchants in exchange for Runes, the main basic currency of the game. Runes are used to purchase all manner of items from armor, weapons, recipe books, arrows, throwing weapons, various crafting ingredients, and basic tools such as the Crafting Kit and Telescope. However, you’ll also need Runes to level up your character at Sites of Grace, so be sure to keep a healthy balance between purchasing useful items and investing in your character development.

In addition to the Site of Grace and Merchant Kalé, you’ll also find a Smithing Table here at the Church of Elleh. This can be used to upgrade your equipment, but you’ll need Smithing Stones to do this, plenty of which you’ll find during your adventures.

At this point you’ve found at least two Sites of Grace. If you haven’t already encountered Melina the Maiden, you should travel to the Site of Grace at Gatefront, which is along the road north from the Church of Elleh. Upon resting at this Site of Grace (or any other for the third time), a cutscene will play during which you’ll encounter Melina the Maiden. You should accept her offer to be your maiden, then receive the Spectral Steed Whistle, which will allow you to summon the mount known as Torrent. This is an essential step that you’ll need to complete before you meet the witch known as Renna, who will give you the Spirit Calling Bell that can be used to summon spirit allies in various forms during battle.

Now that you’ve met Melina, from this point on you’ll be able to level up at any Site of Grace, so long as you have enough Runes. The amount of Runes required to level up will increase for each new level.

Now that you have the Torrent mount, you can return to the Church of Elleh at night to meet the witch named Renna. She will only appear at night, so you may need to pass some time at a Site of Grace. There is also a chance that she may not appear until you’ve been defeated by the Tree Sentinel at least once, so if you can’t see Renna at night in the church ruins, just go get yourself killed by the Tree Sentinel. She will then appear sat on the ruins of the church.

The first spirits summon that you have access to are three Lone Wolf Spirits. These provide effective crowd control and can be used to distract larger enemies for a period of time, but they’re not particularly tough so don’t expect them to last too long without help. There’s no time limit duration on the summon of the spirits, so they’ll stick with you until you die or fast travel. You can slot the Spirit Call