Elden Ring has brought in a ton of new fans to the FromSoftware-type games. And, because these people don't have the accumulated experience starting with Demon's Souls to Dark Souls, then to Bloodborne, and finally Sekiro before Elden Ring, there are a lot of little "common sense" aspects of the game they don't immediately pick up on.
One huge aspect is reading Item Descriptions, as this is how a lot of the FromSoftware narrative is presented and also how the game gives a lot of mechanical hints. So, let's go over some of the most helpful item description hints that talk about helpful mechanics, or hidden lore.
8 Revenants Take Damage From Healing Spells
First up is one of the most commonly talked about examples, and it's the way to easily take care of the Revenant enemies that are insanely aggressive and painful to fight. In the Note: Revenants piece of info that the Isolated Raya Lucaria Merchant sells, it basically just tells players that all Revenants and their followers are hurt by healing spells.
And it's true! Use a healing Spell or Incantation anywhere near a Revenant and they take a huge burst of damage and are usually Stance Broken.
7 The Location Of Every Divine Tower & Which Great Rune It's Linked To
Next up is something that should be obvious, but a lot of long-time Elden Ring players somehow missed, and it's the location of all the Divine Towers spread out across the Lands Between. As most players likely know by now, the Great Runes obtained from Shardbearers in the game can only be "activated" and equipped once a player has visited the associated Divine Tower and climbed to the top. But, how are players supposed to know where Mohg, the Blood Lord's Divine Tower is? Well, just read his Great Rune Item Description!
6 The Well That Leads To The Subterranean-Shunning Grounds
When Dung Eater first hands the player the Key to the Sewer Goal and tells them to "find his corporeal flesh" to start his Quest Line, it's a bit of an obtuse request. NPCs have been hinting at the area underneath Leyndell a couple of times up to this point in the game, but none have been very specific on how players are supposed to get there.
Eventually, most players succumb to looking it up or stumbling across the well they need to go down to eventually reach the Subterranean Shunning Grounds, but it didn't need to be that complicated. If they just bought the "Below The Capital" Note from the Hermit Merchant near the Capital, it tells them how to get there clear as day. "The well in the city below reaches deep into its tunnels" is what the Note says, and since every other well in the game is filled up with dirt, all players have to do is walk around Leyndell until they stumble across a well they can jump into.
5 The Merchants & Their Frenzy Flame Origins
The Merchant NPCs in Elden Ring are so incredibly different from how FromSoftware has done it in the past. For one, there are a ton of them, who all sell a select limited stock of items. Two, they all have a similar appearance, with the only noticeable difference being their clothes. And three, they're a "group" of people who have their own history and lore in the setting of the Lands Between.
And, to find out a lot of this Lore, players will need to read the Item Descriptions from any item obtained from the Merchant or the Bell Bearing Hunters. Essentially, this is where the player finds out how the Merchants were persecuted and buried alive underground for their "heretical" views that eventually caused them to summon the Flame of Frenzy. And, learning of this makes it so much more understandable as to why all the Merchants use Madness Spells/Incantations when they're angered.
4 How The Consecrated Snowfield Leads To The Haligtree
Miquella's Haligree is a large, absurdly difficult, and entirely optional area of Elden Ring that players can only reach after obtaining a "secret" medallion for the Grand Lift of Rold and solving a puzzle in the Consecrated Snowfield, a side area of the Mountaintops of the Giants. But, how are players supposed to naturally figure out that this Consecrated Snowfield even leads to the Haligtree? Well for one, they could just read the Item Description for the map fragment they pick up for the Consecrated Snowfield. In the Description, it says "The route through this land, crossed east to west by a frozen river, leads to Miquella's Haligtree."
So already, players learn that this area leads to Miquella's Haligtree. But also, they know that the route to get there lies on the far west side of the river seen on the map. And what's directly next to the area of the river that goes from west to the north? That's right, the Ordina Liturgical Town that holds the Transport gate to the Haligtree (as well as the Black Knife Armor Set).
3 What New Crafting Recipes Were Unlocked With Each Cookbook
Another crucial aspect of Elden Ring is the Crafting Menu. FromSoftware really went the extra mile to make sure all the materials players could use to craft things are found in logical and understandable locations around the map.
But, since there are such an absurd number of different Cookbooks to collect throughout the game, it can be hard for a player to keep track of what they just unlocked or what they don't even know is craftable. Thankfully, it's easy to see as soon as a Cookbook is obtained! Simply read the Item Description, and it says right near the bottom in bulleted format what exactly was added to the Crafting Menu with this specific Cookbook.
2 Radahn's History & Life With Leonard
Radahn the Starscourge is far and away one of the most memorable Bosses in Elden Ring. But, the aspect of him that they likely didn't expect everyone would be gravitating towards is his lore. More specifically, the Lore found in some Gravity-type Spells and in his Remembrance.
These two tidbits of info talk about how much work he put into learning Gravity Magic, that he learned it from an Alabaster Lord, and that one of the big reasons he learned it so masterfully is so that he could keep riding his favorite steed, Leonard. Without these Item Descriptions, players may have mistakenly believed that Radahn was just a mindless battle-hungry warrior with no depth.
1 The Solution To Boc The Seamster's Self-Esteem Issues
And finally, let's talk about a specific Quest Line. To be more precise, the Quest Line for Boc, the Seamster. He appears multiple times throughout the Tarnished Adventure, eventually being the one they can go to for Gear Alterings. But, Boc actually has an "ending" for his Quest Line that's pretty tragic. Thankfully, there's a less tragic (but still not great) alternate Quest end that's obtainable from using the "You're Beautiful" Prattling Pate on him.
But, in order to figure this out, players need to read the Item Description for that specific Prattling Pate. More specifically, the part of the Item Description that mentions the Pate is shaped like a Demi-Human's head and the part that mentions the voice must have been that of a mother. Over the series of dialogues the player has with Boc, he really only mentions two things about himself:
- That he thinks he's the epitome of ugliness.
- He talks about his mother a lot and how kind she was to him.
These are the two clues players have for what to do when Boc starts questioning if he's really worth serving the future Elden Lord with his looks. It's obtuse, but this is where players can use the Prattling Pate to truly convince Boc that they think he's beautiful, something that wouldn't have made any sense without a guide if they hadn't read the Item Descriptions.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.