Essential Items in Elden Ring: A Guide to Boosting Your Gameplay

In the vast and treacherous world of Elden Ring, the right items can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Whether you're facing formidable bosses or exploring hidden dungeons, understanding the significance of key items is crucial. This guide delves into the most impactful items in the game, highlighting how they can elevate your gameplay and enhance your journey through the Lands Between.

1. Great Runes

What They Are: Great Runes are the remnants of the shattered Elden Ring, obtained by defeating the game's major bosses, the Demigods. To use them, you must first restore their power by traveling to a specific Divine Tower associated with each rune.

Detailed Effect: Once restored and equipped, Great Runes provides powerful stat bonuses. For example:

• Godrick’s Great Rune: When activated, it grants a substantial boost to all attributes like Strength, Endurance, and Vigor. This makes your character significantly more powerful in combat.
• Radahn’s Great Rune: This rune enhances your health (HP), stamina, and focus points (FP), giving you more resources to survive longer and cast more spells or use abilities.

Impact on Gameplay: Great Runes are game-changers during boss fights and exploration. The ability to enhance your character with significant buffs opens up different strategies. Proper use of Great Runes can make encounters with tough bosses more manageable.

2. Flask of Crimson Tears & Flask of Cerulean Tears

What They Are: These are your primary healing and resource-replenishing items in Elden Ring. They’re like your lifeline, and knowing how to manage them is crucial for survival.

Detailed Effect:

• Flask of Crimson Tears: Restores a portion of your health (HP). You can increase the amount it restores or the number of times it can be used by collecting Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears scattered throughout the world.
• Flask of Cerulean Tears: Replenishes your focus points (FP), which are used for casting spells and using weapon abilities.

Impact on Gameplay: These flasks allow players to sustain themselves in combat and exploration. Upgrading your flasks’ capacity and healing power is essential for enduring longer in fights. For mage builds, managing FP is critical, so the Cerulean Flask becomes an indispensable tool for spellcasting efficiency.

3. Bell Bearings

What They Are: Bell Bearings are collectible items that can be given to the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold. This expands their shop’s inventory, allowing players to purchase rare upgrade materials and other resources.

Detailed Effect: Bell Bearings give access to critical items like Smithing Stones (used to upgrade weapons) or consumables that are otherwise hard to find. For example, after defeating certain NPCs or bosses, their Bell Bearing might give you access to materials for upgrading your gear to higher levels.

Impact on Gameplay: These items significantly reduce the grind for obtaining essential materials like Smithing Stones. This allows players to focus on exploration and combat rather than endlessly searching for upgrade materials. By using Bell Bearings, you can more quickly and efficiently power up your weapons, giving you a noticeable edge in battle.

4. Whetblades

What They Are: Whetblades are items used at the blacksmith to change the affinities of your weapons, allowing you to fine-tune their scaling with your character’s stats.

Detailed Effect:

• Iron Whetblade: Enables you to switch between Standard, Heavy (increased Strength scaling), and Keen (increased Dexterity scaling) affinities.
• Glintstone Whetblade: Adds Magic or Cold affinity to your weapons, which increases scaling with Intelligence and deals additional magic damage.

Impact on Gameplay: Whetblades allow you to adapt your weapons to your chosen build. For example, if you’re focusing on Strength, you can use the Heavy affinity to increase damage output, or if you’re playing a magic-focused character, you can use the Glintstone Whetblade to add magical properties to your weapon. This customization allows for greater flexibility and adaptability in combat.

5. Stonesword Keys

What They Are: Stonesword Keys are used to unlock imp statues scattered across the game, which hide secret areas or valuable loot.

Detailed Effect: When you find an imp statue, you’ll need one or more Stonesword Keys to unlock the area it guards. Behind these statues, you may find rare weapons, gear, or shortcuts that make your exploration easier.

Impact on Gameplay: Stonesword Keys encourage exploration and give access to hidden rewards. Finding secret dungeons or hidden bosses can lead to powerful items that enhance your character. These keys often open areas with high-level loot that can give you an advantage in the early and mid-game.

6. Spirit Ashes

What They Are: Spirit Ashes are summonable spirits that aid you in combat. They vary widely, from single powerful warriors to groups of spectral allies.

Detailed Effect: You can summon these spirits during tough battles, and they will help you fight enemies. Spirit Ashes can be upgraded to make them stronger, and different ashes offer unique advantages:

• Lone Wolf Ashes: Summon three wolves to distract and attack enemies.
• Mimic Tear Ashes: Summons a clone of yourself, replicating your abilities, weapons, and spells.

Impact on Gameplay: Spirit Ashes act as additional firepower or distraction during difficult boss fights. Using the right Spirit Ashes can make the difference between success and failure in combat. Their ability to take attention away from you or deal additional damage can shift the tide in your favor.

7. Talisman Pouch

What It Is: Talismans provide various passive bonuses to your character, such as increasing health, stamina, or resistances. The Talisman Pouch increases the number of talismans you can equip.

Detailed Effect: With each additional Talisman Pouch, you can equip more talismans. For example, you can equip talismans that increase your critical hit damage, raise your resistance to poison, or boost your stamina regeneration.

Impact on Gameplay: Having more talisman slots opens up more options for customizing your character. You can tailor your build to suit your playstyle by equipping talismans that enhance certain abilities or stats, allowing for more nuanced and strategic gameplay.

8. Larval Tear

What It Is: Larval Tears are required to respec your character’s stats by visiting Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, at the Raya Lucaria Academy.

Detailed Effect: Using a Larval Tear allows you to redistribute all of your character's stats, which means you can change your build without starting the game over. For example, if you’ve been playing a Strength build but want to switch to a Magic-focused character, Larval Tears allow you to reallocate your attribute points accordingly.

Impact on Gameplay: Larval Tears offer immense flexibility, as you can adjust your character’s build mid-game without committing to a single playstyle. This encourages experimentation with different builds, weapons, and spells.

9. Rune Arcs

What They Are: Rune Arcs are consumables that activate the effects of equipped Great Runes, providing substantial buffs as long as you stay alive.

Detailed Effect: Once consumed, the Rune Arc enhances your stats according to the Great Rune you’ve equipped. For instance, if you have Godrick’s Great Rune equipped, using a Rune Arc will boost all of your attributes temporarily until you die.

Impact on Gameplay: Rune Arcs are especially valuable in difficult boss fights or PvP encounters. Using them at the right moment can provide a powerful edge, making them a strategic resource to conserve and use wisely.

These key items in Elden Ring are vital in shaping how you approach the game’s challenges. From stat-boosting Great Runes to life-saving flasks and character-customizing Whetblades, each item offers unique advantages that can drastically alter your experience. Mastering their use is crucial for progressing through the game’s vast and dangerous world.

If you're looking for a shortcut to gather these items, you can check out U4GM, where Elden Ring items for sale are available, including rare weapons and upgrade materials. Use the coupon code “yang6” at checkout for a 5% discount!