I’ve played Elden Ring for 100 hours and I think I can still fill the book with something I don’t know about. It’s a huge game, full of the usual mysterious folklore of the developer From Software, with a subtle touch that is often overlooked in one-tenth-sized games.
Even if you finish Elden Ring and join New Game +, you may not know all the secrets. Here are some fun things to learn about Lands Between.
Heavy spoilers below.
Radan horses dive underground and teleport when they make a meteorite attack
Radahn is probably Elden Ring’s most intimidating boss. He certainly presented one of the game’s greatest difficulty spikes before FromSoftware toned him down a bit with a patch. My favorite flavor text at Elden Ring is that he learned gravity magic when Radan grew up to be a giant. That is to allow him to continue riding his beloved horse, Leonard. so sweet!
But what happens to Radan’s horse when Radan jumps into the sky and rushes back to the ground? Witch Zuri breaks it down. In slow motion, you can see him pushing his horse underground. Probably to keep him safe from the impact of the crash of Radan. OK, actual The reason is that FromSoftware can teleport the horse hidden at your feet to target Radan for attack and reunite the character model, but Radan is Leonard’s greatest benefit. I think I have it from the bottom of my heart.
Leyndell had very different enemies in the 1.0 build before the first day patch
The Day 1 patch isn’t just about last-minute bug fixes, at least for FromSoftware. Modder Sekiro Dubi recently released a video showing a significantly different placement of enemies in the royal capital, Leyndell. In the 1.0 build of the game, you’ll encounter types of enemies that no longer exist in Leyndell, and you’ll notice that other types are missing, like Oracle Envoys, who plays the music they encounter along the walls of the capital. There are also some important changes to the loot and item placement. One patch that day was a big’un.
You must use “You are beautiful” emotes to complete one NPC quest
The Souls series always contains these fun and creepy voice emote items, so you can say “thank you” or “you are beautiful” to other players online. But this is a From Software game. Of course, there is more. All items have some impact on the world. In this case, after Boc the Seamster says it’s ugly in Leyndell, you’ll need to use the “You’re beautiful” Prattling Pate item in front of Bocthe Seamster.
There are several ways to end Bock’s quest line, but giving him a compliment leads to the happiest outcome. Everyone sometimes needs positive encouragement.
Fall damage is as messed up as it looks
This is probably not something you didn’t know, but something you want to see Felt At Elden Ring, but certainly didn’t know: Fall damage doesn’t make much sense. Someone decomposed the math in play and found that the gap between “a little fall damage” and “you’re dead” is pretty small. In fact, it’s only 4 meters between 16 (ouchie) and 20 (RIP).
The most confusing thing about Elden Ring’s fall damage is that items that seem to reduce it have no real effect on the distance you have to fall to take fatal damage. That distance is set, so if you use an item or increase your dexterity stats, percentage Of the damage you take in a fall that wasn’t meant to kill you anyway.
Bewitching brunch items can mind control some amazing enemies
Elden Ring has a fairly rare consumable called Bewitching Branch. According to the description, it can be used to “stab an enemy and use FP to turn an enemy into a temporary ally”. As you know, it’s an old-fashioned mind control trick. It’s usually only available to low-level enemies, but the boss will laugh and kill your face. This is true to some extent for the Bewitching Branch. For example, you can’t use Malenia to turn the most difficult boss in the game into an ally. But in fact, you can use it to summon in one of the tougher battles of Elden Ring.
When confronting Commander Nial at the top of the Giants, you can change from 1v3 to 3v1 by rushing to Commander Nial’s Spectrum Summon and poking a bewitching branch.
It’s probably the only most useful moment of a bewitching branch, but you can use it to turn some formidable enemies into allies, Ruin the invader’s day (Opens in a new tab)..
Swap the dragon hearts to get eyes that shine like a frenzy.
Each dragon defeated in the Elden Ring will provide items that can be taken to the Cathedral of the Eucharist of the Dragon and exchanged for powerful spells. As you may not have noticed, after four transactions, your eyes will glow bright yellow, as if you were slipping a dragon’s contact lenses and cosplaying a bit. The dragon’s eyes have cat-like pupils, which are actually different from the more fiery eyes you would get if you followed the path of the Slade in Flames.
You can also get bloody eyes by following Varre’s quest line.
White Mask Valle is level 154, but has only one INT
Varre, the first NPC you meet when you step into Lands Between, isn’t the best guy. He suggests that you “seem to be vaguely destined to die” before suggesting that you need his advice to survive. Ironically, Excavated by Witch Zuri (Opens in a new tab), Varre actually has only one point in the INT stats. My man is a cold stone idiot.
All Elden Ring classes start with far more INTs than Varre has at the level 154.. Even barbaric heroes start with 7INT.
If you defeat Morgot before fighting Margit, Margit’s arena will be empty.
One of the big surprises of Elden Ring is that the first major boss, Margit the Fell Omen, will reappear under a new name well after the game: Morgott the Omen King. It looks and sounds the same, but Mogot has some new moves to kill you. The two are certainly the same. Margit is essentially an alter ego for Mogot to do dirty work. There are many YouTube videos that dive into Mogot’s lore, but the little trivia quiz here is what happens if you skip the first battle with Margit.
Fighting Morgot in front of the Eld Tree, avoiding Stormvale Castle, will give you a talisman pouch that normally drops when Margit defeats him. You can then return to Stormvale to find an empty arena. Well, it’s not completely empty. A place of grace that appears after defeating Margit is waiting for you.
Try your finger, but the entire map.
