Elden Ring vs. Dark Souls: What Elden Ring changes and what it keeps the same | PC Gamer - brothertonthout1986

Elden Environ vs. Pitch-dark Souls: what's the same and what's just been renamed since Souls

Elden Ring - a knight character draws a sword in front of a stone castle.

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Now that we've usurped our first stroll through Elden Ring's open world, it's pretty definite that Dark Souls fans will find much of it familiar. FromSoftware may rich person ripped the Souls label forth their newest game, but they've also gone and sharpied 'Elden Ring' on some tape and slapped it over the top of lots of items, stats, and abilities that we already know. We won't blame you if you conduct vocation see points "souls," but you might want to know that they're officially "runes" now, just just in case.

Before you go off off into the Lands Between, skimming this handy phrase book so you don't get unarticulate talking to the locals when you demand to ask directions to the nearest ~~bonfire~~ Site of Forgotten Grace. You're sure to settle into the big new susceptible world quicker once you think back that Estus Flasks are now Blush Tears and Soapstones are now Fingers, and so on.

On the far side that, you'll privation to know how some of the core Souls systems like stamina and fast travel have changed. Spoiler: they'Ra both a lot more permissive instantly. We've also pillar-shaped up a quick reminder on the new concepts you'll encounter such as stealth and mapping fragments. Here's all of the Elden Ring vs. Dark Souls terms you'll need to retrieve.

The fundamentals

Tarnished - This is you. No longer Hollowed or Ashen or Bearer of the Curse. You're the Blemished this metre.

Runes - The currency accustomed level risen and buy items that's primarily obtained by defeating enemies. The same as souls in Dark Souls.

Sites of Lost Decorate - These are the Elden Ring equivalent of bonfires. You'll activate them all over the world as fast-travel checkpoints and be competent to spend your runes to flush up while there.

Elden Surround stats

When IT comes to Elden Ring's player stats, there are several you'll recognize. There are few differences to look out for before you just move back slinging your ~~souls~~ runes into the same stats you normally manage. You'll notice the Vitality stat is gone. Your maximum equipment load has now been folded into your Strength stat as an alternative. Chance is absent too, but you'll rule that its accustomed effects are now low-level the new Arcane stat.

Heartiness - Affects base wellness total.
Judgement - Affects focus points (FP) for spellcasting.
Endurance - Affects foundation stamina total.
Strength - Controls your ability to wear and wield large equipment, raises uttermost equipment load capacity, and increases damage dealt with specialty-based weapons.
Dexterity - Controls ability to wield whatsoever weapons, increases hurt dealt with dexterity-based weapons. Also reduces fall damage.
Intelligence information - Controls your power to cast sorceries and increases the power of intelligence-based sorceries.
Religion - Controls your ability to perform sacred incantations.
Arcane - This is where your Luck stat lives now. It controls the likelihood of looting items from dead enemies. It as wel affects expiry resistances and some magical abilities scale in power supported on this stat.

Items and equipment

Elden Ring Network Test - A knight holds a lightning sword in a grassy area.

Standard equipment

Flaskful of Colorful Tears - (Estus Flask) A potion that restores your wellness when used that lavatory be replenished at Sites of Grace.
Flask of Cerulean Tears - (Ashen Estus Flask) A potion that restores your FP when used that can be replenished at Sites of Grace.
Spectral Steed Whistle - Used to summon and ride your spectral steed. Unique to Elden Ring.
Vision of Thanksgiving - (Darksign) Lose all runes, return to the parting site of lost grace.
Telescope - (Field glasses) Lets you examine faraway things.
Flashlight - (The same old Torch) A weapon and item used to illuminate inactive places that can be held in your off-hand.

Multiplayer items

Bloody Thumb - (Cracked Red Eye Orb) Attempts invasion of another player's universe.
Taunter's Tongue - (Eye of Death) Lures in invaders.
Digit Severer - (Blackamoor Separation Crystal) Sends another, or oneself, home plate.
Duelist's Furled Finger - (Red Sign Soapstone) Creates competitive multiplayer summon sign.
Tarnished's Bound Finger - (White Sign Soapstone) Creates cooperative multiplayer summon sign.
Tarnished's Wizened Thumb - (Orange Guidance Soapstone) Accustomed write messages.
Blue Cipher Ring - Enables the wearer to answer calls for rescue, sporting like The Way of Blue compact in Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3.
White Cypher Ring - When invaded, petition the aid of a hunter, the same as the Blade of the Darkmoon covenant in Dark Souls.

Consumable items

Crafting Kit out - Allows you to craft items generally menu. Unique to Elden Ring.
Throwing Dagger - Thrown at enemies to inflict legal injury.
Fire Grease - (Charcoal Pine Rosin) Coats weapon, inflicting give notice damage.
Fire Pot - (Incendiary) Explodes, dealing can damage.
Firebone Pointer - The tip is set light before firing.
Poisonbone Arrow - Tip is daubed with venom. Afflicts targets with poison.
Rainbow Stone - (Prism Endocarp) Shines with colored light when located, helping as a channelize.
Pickled Turn turtle Make out - (Green Prime) Boosts Stamina recovery for a short fourth dimension.
Staunching Boluses - (Bloodred Moss) Relieves impending hemorrhage.
Neutralizing Boluses - (Purple Moss) Cures poison complaint and relieves poison build-up.
Fireproof Dried Liver - (Small Orange Burr) Boosts fire equipment casualty negation for a short time.

What's varied in Elden Ring?

Fast travel
Unlike in Souls games, you tooshie fast travel to a Site of Lost Beautify at any time as long Eastern Samoa you aren't in combat. That means you won't need to run back to a Site you've already unfastened ready to fast travel.

Infinite* stamina
Unlike in Night Souls, Elden Ring gives you incalculable stamina when you aren't in combat. That means you dismiss sprint into a fight down without being tabu of breath when you arrive.

Less fall damage
Elden Knell is also much Thomas More permissive with its fall damage. You will still take damage when jumping from high places, but not nearly as more than as in Dark Souls, and you can make it even greater distances with your apparitional steed's double jump. FromSoftware seems to embody encouraging players to take a vertical approach to the open world now that we can jump.

Elden Ring - A player and a blue summoned spirit fight an enemy together. — (Trope credit: FromSoftware)

New mechanism in Elden Ring

Map and mapping fragments
Unlike Souls games, Elden Ring does have a represent. You'll have to collect Map Fragments to uncover areas though, which are found around the world.

Guidance of Grace
These are the glowing gold threads that sometimes lead out from Sites of Missing Grace, directional you towards points of interest if you want a tip.

Shrines of Marika
These are other waypoint organization. You'll regain them in difficult areas and will respawn at them if you perish, though you can't rest there to recover health and flasks.

Ashes of War
These items go for Concealed Souls 3-esque Arm Liberal arts to whatever weapon you equip them on, and are common rewards for completing mini dungeons or defeating tougher enemies. Critically, they crapper besides change the properties of a weapon, dynamical it to scale on a different stat like Intelligence operation. No attrition for twinkling titanite, IT seems!

Guard counter
This is a untried combat move for Elden Tintinnabulation that's less risky than a parry simply gives you the ability to assail unlike barely block. A heavy attack rightish after block a hit testament do tons of damage to an enemy's sang-froid.

Elden Ring - a player riding on a horse at sunset charges with a spear in hand towards an enemy on horseback. — (Image credit: FromSoftware)

Top executive stances
Elden Ring brings back a feature from Cimmerian Souls 2 that lets you equip two weapons of the same class and attack with both at the same time with a alone moveset. Unlike in Tenebrific Souls 2, you don't pauperization 1.5x the weapons' normal stat requirements.

Flask of Marvelously Physick
That's satisfactory, Elden Circle has not one, nor just ii types of flaskful. You also get a third consumable flask which has two slots for gems that let you customize its personal effects.

Stealth
Stealth is new in Elden Hoop, but relatively light. Crouching will make enemies inferior likely to notice you and help debar fights.

Summoning ashes
The novel spirit summons for Elden Ring are controlled away items called ashes that cost FP to put.

Group passwords
As in Dark Souls 3, you can set a password to make it easier to summon a ally for multiplayer. Elden Mob adds a new group password system that seems like it'll subscribe clans and dedicated PvP groups.

Time of day
The hour naturally progresses as you play, but you can also choose to skim time onward from Sites of Lost Free grace. On that point are some enemies in the open existence that only spawn at night or behave differently, even in the small opening area we've played.

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a bit bit of everything, but he'll e'er jump out at the chance to plow emulation and Japanese games. When he's not obsessionally optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (IT's really becoming a trouble), He's plausibly playing a 20-class-old RPG or some frosted ASCII roguelike. With a focus connected written material and redaction features, he seeks dead personal stories and in-astuteness histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be proper).