Highlights
- Elden Ring's PvP multiplayer etiquette includes rules like avoiding healing during duels and showing respect through gestures.
- In invasion multiplayer and PvE, there are no restrictions on using in-game mechanics that make the game easier, so players should enjoy the game in their own preferred way.
- Optional bosses in Elden Ring offer powerful rewards and contribute to unlocking additional endings, making them worth pursuing for a stronger gameplay experience.
Like any game with an immense following, Elden Ring’s community has over time established a set of habits that have become known as the unwritten rules to follow when playing the game. Players who participate in Elden Ring’s PvP, for example, may have been exposed to these rules without ever realizing it.
Given the expected scope of Elden Ring’s upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree expansion and the potential expansions afterward, the game’s list of unwritten rules may grow, but the current list is expected to ring true permanently. Part of this is because these unwritten rules are inspired by FromSoftware’s games in the genre that came before Elden Ring.
Elden Ring's Duel Multiplayer Etiquette
For players who have never played a Dark Souls-like game before Elden Ring, it’s important to become familiar with the Elden Ring’s PvP multiplayer etiquette to know what to expect when facing another player. When it comes to dueling multiplayer in particular, the community has adopted specific terms of engagement that are generally honored by the majority of the player base.
This includes things like not using the Crimson Flask or Flask of Wondrous Physick to heal, respectful use of gestures, and refraining from using mods/cheats. It’s up for debate whether these rules apply to the Elden Ring’s Coliseum PvP game modes, but these rules play a key role in duels.
Anything Goes in Elden Ring's Invasion Multiplayer and PvE
Certain members of the community have taken to gatekeeping Elden Ring’s difficulty by arguing that players shouldn’t use certain elements of the game that make it relatively easy. This includes things like Elden Ring’s Spirit Summons, as well as the meta weapons, and spells.
However, the game can still be plenty hard even with these tools at the player’s disposal, so there’s no reason that players should limit themselves and potentially sacrifice their enjoyment of the game. Aside from duel multiplayer, anything goes in Elden Ring, so players should use whatever they prefer without concerning themselves with other players’ judgments. These kinds of self-imposed challenges are ultimately both arbitrary and up to each individual player to consider participating in.
There Are No 'Optional' Bosses in Elden Ring
Elden Ring has a generous amount of optional bosses, although players who skip out on some of these encounters are potentially missing out on some powerful rewards and memorable fights. This also ties into the importance of Elden Ring’s NPC side quests, as some of the optional bosses are only available after progressing some of these questlines. These quests and related bosses can be difficult to follow, but the finale of some of these quests can unlock additional endings for Elden Ring that players can achieve.
Elden Ring’s open-world design generally means that when players find themselves stuck on a certain encounter, there’s almost always a separate route to explore before coming back better prepared to the original obstacle. This alone means that players may want to pursue some of the optional bosses because they can provide plenty of means to make players stronger. Not to mention some of these bosses, like Astel, Melania, Dragon Lord Placidusax, and the other dragons are all epic fights worth experiencing first-hand, at least once.
Leisurely Killing Turtles in Elden Ring is Forbidden
The final unwritten rule for Elden Ring regards a moral principle that players should never violate, except for in specific scenarios. Throughout the game, players can encounter turtles that are peaceful and unbothered by the player’s presence, even refusing to retaliate after players attack them. To harm these turtles is to cross a desperate line that can never be forgiven.
The only time in Elden Ring when it’s acceptable to attack turtles is during the puzzles at Oridys’s Rise, Testu’s Rise, and Chelona’s Rise where players are required to defeat three specific turtles to enter each tower. Many players make a habit of killing the traveling merchants in Elden Ring in order to consolidate their shop inventories, and while this is its own questionable practice, killing turtles is unanimously evil.
Elden Ring is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
