You’ll need to level up in Elden Ring if you want to beat its tough enemies, from bosses to regular mobs. If you’re new to the series and to the genre, here’s everything you need to know about this mechanic.
Table Of Contents
Leveling Up With Melina
At the start of the game, your player is “Maidenless.” In Elden Ring, Finger Maidens provide aid to the Tarnished. That includes you. Since you have no Finger Maiden to aid you, Melina fills that role for you.
That said, you won’t be able to level up in Elden Ring without Melina’s help. She occasionally appears before you while resting at a Site of Grace. The earliest Site of Grace where she appears is at Gatefront in Limgrave.
Once encountered, Melina will offer to play the role of maiden as long as you take her to the foot of the Erdtree. Accept her accord and you’ll be able to turn Runes into strength, which essentially just means you’ll unlock the game’s leveling mechanic.
Your character levels up when you raise an attribute with your Runes. Moving forward, you’ll be able to do this at any Site of Grace, even after Melina leaves your company.
Leveling Up & Runes
In Elden Ring, you acquire Runes by defeating enemies and bosses, and by using consumables. The more you level up in the game, the higher the rune requirement for leveling will be.
The Rune cost of a level up will get immensely high once you reach three-digit levels. For example, it only costs 14,535 Runes to raise your level from 49 to 50, but it costs 467,193 Runes to get from 237 to 238.
Don’t worry, though. As you go along the game, you’ll also receive higher amounts of Runes. Otherwise, you can farm runes if you’re finding the game too tough for you.
Elden Ring also has a ReSpec mechanic. This means resetting your overall Stats. You’ll still maintain your current level, but you can redistribute your points to other Stats. This is helpful if you want to change your build or if you want to reach a certain weapon’s stat requirement.
