How to Fully Prepare for Elden Ring's DLC

Right now is a great time to prepare a character for the DLC.

So open up this guide alongside Elden Ring

and by the end of this video you'll be whatever level you want,

You'll have the most versatile talismans, you'll have the strongest character

buffs, you'll have infinite smithing stones to fully upgrade new weapons,

infinite Glovewart to fully upgrade any new spirits,

a ton of Larval Tears to respec your build going forward,

and you'll have Rune Arcs, powerful consumables, and your flasks upgraded too.

we'll also go over some tips for quickly defeating Radahn and Mohg,

who are both essential kills for entering the DLC.

And we'll have a quick discussion about which NPC quest lines

might see resolution in the Land of Shadow.

So let's get into it

Starting with rune farming.

Most people seem to finish Elden

Ring somewhere between level 100 to 150.

Inside this range is also where most people PvP.

So this range is

what I'd recommend leveling up to, to have a good experience in the DLC.

It gives you enough stat points for good weapon scaling and spell access as well.

And most importantly perhaps, you'll have enough points left over for 60 vigor,

which is the recommended amount for the end game.

Now, if your main character is in new game plus then you should know that

traditionally DLC enemies that you fight will also deal

more damage and have more health if you're in new game plus.

So you have a decision to make here.

Will you enter the DLC with your new game plus character

and get them to a higher level if necessary?

Or will you make a new character and prepare them for the DLC?

Whatever you decide, let's talk about rune farming.

Honestly, the best way to level up is just by completing the game

if you haven't already.

But if you want a quick fix, then the best place to visit is still Mohgwyn's Palace.

Here you can lure this bird off a cliff

or kill the helpless Albinaurics for a ton of runes.

There are two ways to get to this rune farming area. Late in the game

you're able to get here by taking this way gate in the Consecrated Snow Field.

But if you're still in the early game, then you're actually able to get here

much faster by completing Varre's Questline. First, talk to Varre

at "The First Step" Site of Grace, then defeat Godrick at Stormveil Castle

and talk to Enia back at Roundtable Hold.

At this point Varre should appear at the Rose Church here

in Liurnia, where he tasks you with invading as a red phantom.

If you're playing online, then you can simply invade three players

with the festering fingers he gives you.

And if you're playing offline, then you can find a red summon

sign here and defeat Magnus the Beast Claw instead

for the final step, talk to Varre again at the Rose Church.

He'll ask you to soak a Favor in the blood of a maiden.

The closest one is in Liurnia, here at the Church of Inhibition,

which should be approached from this direction.

With this, you can return to Varre, and he'll give you an item

that can teleport you to Mohgwyn Palace.

Once you've teleported here, ride back south while hugging the eastern side

of the map until you reach the grace with a bunch of lazing

Albinaurics.

These Albinauric's give a ton of runes, especially if you have a good AOE option

as part of your build.

For example, if you're a cleric, you could try to use the "Burn O' Flame" incantation

that you can get

from the Remembrance of the Fire Giant, or if you're a strength/int build,

you could use the Ruins Greatsword located here to cleave down enemies

with that instead, Radahn's Greatswords will also work really well.

Use whatever you can, but the best option by far is

the Sacred Relic Sword from the Elden Beasts Remembrance.

If you're a faith build that's beaten the game.

But since you're probably in the early game,

another option exists here for rune farming.

And all you need for this is a ranged weapon. To do this farm,

sit at the grace, walk over to the cliff without going too far forward

and snipe the monstrous crow so that it aggros and runs off the cliff.

This nets you a ton of runes without any risk, and all you need is a bow and arrow

which you can get easily here from the merchant on the beach of Limgrave.

Actually, beyond this merchant you can also pick up a Gold Pickled Fowl

Foot, a consumable that will temporarily boost

your rune acquisition by 30% for a short time.

In addition to that consumable, you can also pick up

the Gold Scarab Talisman to help your rune farming go even faster.

This talisman increases Rune acquisition by 20%

and you can get it from the abandoned cave in

Caelid, As long as you are strong enough to defeat, to Cleanrot Knights,

to get there, head east from the "Smoldering Wall" site of grace

and platform across the canyon located here,

there are a bunch of other powerful talismans

that will be useful for any build.

So let's talk about those next.

In terms of defensive talismans, it doesn't get much better than these 4

Let's start with the Great Jar's Arsenal. In Elden Ring

it's best to maintain at least a medium load weight,

which means your weight ratio needs to be lower than 70%.

To maintain this and still equip new gear.

It's great to level your endurance, of course, but in addition to that, it's

also great to have the Great Jar's Arsenal, which is one talisman

that raises your maximum equipment load by 19% to get this,

go down the elevator in the Mistwood of Limgrave and stick

to the right side of the underground all the way until you reach an elevator

that will require two Stonesword Keys to activate. Activate it,

go up and run through the northern canyon until you arrive at the Great Jar

Here you must defeat three pretty difficult

NPC summons to receive the Great Jar's Arsenal.

Next, most enemies do physical damage.

So the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman is always great

to have on hand as this reduces physical damage taken by a massive 20%

to get this start at the "Drainage Channel"

Site of Grace in the Haligtree and follow this path.

Next, if you want

8% extra health, the best medallion you can get is found

just after you burn down the Erdtree at the Capital of Ash,

drop down into the sewer and land on this beam below. To stack

With that you'll want the Erdtree's Favor + two, which is also in the Ashen Capital.

Start from the "Forbidden Lands" Site of Grace,

then cross the bridge to the elevator, which will take you to this open area.

Beyond some Ulcerated Tree Spirits is your prize.

So these are great defensive talismans for any build.

But another approach you can try is building

compounding damage bonuses with your offensive talismans

instead. For example, combining the Ritual Sword Talisman,

the Exaltation Talismans, the Claw and Spear Talismans and other

similar items will increase your damage dealt exponentially.

I'll leave a link to some of the best ones in the description.

And if you're looking for some unique build ideas for the DLC, go and check out

this video or subscribe as I might be

putting out a new build video soon.

Other than talismans, one of the quickest ways

to make any character more powerful is making sure

you have a set of temporary buffs that you know how to stack correctly.

Temporary buffs fall into six different

categories in Elden Ring. There's weapon buffs, shield buffs, body

buffs, aura buffs, and regen buffs for both your health and stamina.

Now of these, in my opinion, the two most important ones

you should focus on are body buffs and aura buffs.

This is because they're very powerful and very accessible.

For example, speaking of body buffs, this is boiled crab,

which gives you a 20% physical damage

negation.

Alternatively, if you have a bit of faith, you should be using Flame,

Grant me Strength, which gives a 20% boost to your physical and fire damage.

Boiled Crab can be purchased easily if you do Boggart's Quest Line,

which starts here in Liurnia with Rya.

Talk to her then go and pay Boggart for her necklace,

after which Boggart will become friendly with you.

You can now stock up on Boiled Prawn, but if you want

the stronger version of this then you'll need to find Boggart again here

in Altus Plateau, where he'll happily sell boiled crab forever

unless you progress the Dung Eater's Questline.

So this is a great defensive body buff, but if you have 15 faith

and you want offense instead, then Flame, Grant me Strength

is an incantation that only requires 15

faith to cast and can be found here.

The only downside of this buff is that it only lasts 30 seconds.

As for Aura buffs, Golden Vow is the way to go.

This can be found as a Weapon

Art here, and you can always have it handy if you put it on a light dagger

and simply use it to buff yourself.

However, if you have 25 faith, then the spell version of Golden Vow

is even more powerful, giving you 15% extra damage and 10% damage

negation for 80 seconds.

This spell is located here in the northwest of Altus Plateau.

Honestly, investing in 25 faith is just so worth it for almost every build

you get so many utility spells, but Flame,

Grant me Strength and Golden Vow alone make it worth it.

With these, you'll have your body buffs and your aura buffs

sorted for whenever you start any major fight.

And of course, also make sure you collect the correct

Crystal Tears for your Flask of Wondrous Physick.

Finding a combination that elevates your build specifically will give you

a huge power spike two tears that work honestly really well for any build

the Greenburst Crystal Tier for stamina regen, located here,

and the Crimsonburst Crystal Tear for HP regen located here.

These two together fill both of your regen buff slots,

which is just a huge boost for any build.

Next, you're going to want to try new weapons in the DLC.

Therefore you're going to want to be able to upgrade them quickly.

So instead of hunting down 12 of each smithing stone to get your weapon

to plus 24 or one of each somber smithing stone to get your weapon to plus 9,

you should instead go out and collect all of the Miner's Bell Bearings.

With these Bell Bearings, you'll be able to visit the Twin Maiden

statue in Roundtable Hold and quickly

buy whichever smithing stones you need.

First, let's go over the Bell Bearings

you need to upgrade a weapon to plus 24.

First, you'll have to get the one from the Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel,

the one located here in the Sealed Tunnel in Altus Plateau,

the one located here in the Zamor Ruins,

and the one located

here in Farum Azula from the required boss Godskin Duo.

Next, the Somberstone Miner's Bell

Bearings can be found here in the Sellia Crystal Tunnel

in Caelid, here in the Altus Tunnel,

here at the First Church of Marika,

here near

the Tempest Facing Balcony in Farum Azula,

And here just before the Beside the Greatbridge Grace

in Farum Azula as well.

While you're in

Farum Azula, collecting all the Somber Stone Bel Bearings,

you should also consider taking care of various

ancient dragons scattered throughout the city.

If you want to upgrade some regular weapons to plus 25,

then we can grab a few easy ones while we're here in Farum Azula,

one is dropped by the ancient dragon that attacks

you just beyond the "Crumbling Beast

Grave" Site of Grace.

This is just after you first arrive in Farum Azula, a second can be found

after starting at the "Dragon Temple Altar" Site of Grace.

Take the northern exit and pull out your telescope.

Your prize is up on that ledge.

To get there, you'll have to progress along this path.

Going out through the whole way, up the stairs,

then head back the way you came jumping on this floating pillar.

The smithing stone is just ahead.

A third is dropped by the ancient dragon

beyond the "Dragon Temple Rooftop" Site of Grace.

Defeat it,

And while you're here, go behind it to grab the Somber

Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone sitting here as well.

These somber stones can be used to upgrade your somber weapons to plus 10

for more Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones.

Consider the one here in Mohgwyn Palace, just beyond the "Dynasty

Mausoleum Midpoint" Site of Grace underneath

the giant statue.

Or another easy

one can be attained if you're invaded by Anastasia

here in the Consecrated Snowfield southwest of Ordina, Liturgical Town.

After this invasion, you will receive a stone.

Anyway, these are just some of the easy stones to pick up.

If you want more Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones,

go and check out the links in the description.

While we're on the subject of collecting upgrades, let's talk spirit summons.

All spirits can reach plus ten as their maximum upgrade level,

requiring either ghost or grave glovewart

depending on what type of spirit they are.

And luckily, instead of hunting down these upgrades individually,

it's way faster again to simply grab the bell bearings for glovewart

What you can find the Glovewart Picker's Bell bBarings here in the Wyndham's

Catacombs, here in the Giant's Mountaintop Catacombs,

and here in a small body of water in Farum Azula.

In order to max out your chosen standard

summon, though, you'll need to pick up a Great Grave Glovewart.

There are only six available, and they're found in late game locations mainly,

including the Giant Conquering Hero's Grave located here in the mountaintops

or the Scarlet Rot Pond in the Haligtree.

Those are two easy ones to pick.

Up next, let's get the bell bearings for spirits that require Ghost Glovewart.

you can find the first one here in a gazebo in Nokron,

here in a chest in Nokstella

and here in a graveyard

just before the Haligtree roots.

If you want to get these spirits to

plus 10, there's only four Great Ghost glovewart's

to be found.

There's one in a chest found after fighting

the Dragonkin Soldier in the Ainsel River.

Another in the Night's Sacred Ground under the skeleton statue.

One located

inside a chest in a room that's guarded by a silver sphere in

Nokstella

and one at the Mohgwyn Dynasty

Mausoleum hidden away in the cave before the "Dynasty Mausoleum

Midpoint" Grace,

As you can see here.

Once you have the means to upgrade your spirits,

you need to decide on which one is good for your build.

Personally, I like to choose spirits that thematically match my build.

But of course you can't go wrong with the mimic tear found in the Eternal City here.

That's always going to be strong.

One of the easiest ways

to become more powerful is to take a tour around the Lands

Between collecting all of the golden seeds and Sacred Tears

Along the way. Golden Seeds increase the amount of crimson and cerulean flasks

you can carry and Sacred Tears increase how much health or FP

you'll flasks replenish.

If you're interested in picking up the vast

majority of these quickly, then you can simply hop on torrent

and follow this route that I'm showing on screen.

This way, it's as simple as running past these trees and picking them up.

However, if you want to hunt down every last one,

then you're going to have to do some legacy dungeons.

So for a full list containing every seed

and tear, check out the link in the description.

In the DLC you're probably going to want to respec

to test out new weapons and spells.

So for that you're going to want a lot of larval tears

which enable you to respec at Rennala.

If Fromsoftware are smart, then they'll make larval tears

an unlimited resource in the DLC somehow, because unfortunately,

as it stands today, larval tears are a limited resource.

Here are the locations of some in Limgrave,

in Caelid, in Altus, in Mt. Gelmir

in the consecrated snowfield, Siofra river, and Nokstella

Once you've found a build that works for you, it's important to see

how much poise you have with the armor or talismans you're wearing,

which can be seen on the equipment screen here.

The higher your poise, the less chance you have of being staggered

by certain attacks.

For most PvE builds, you're going to want at least 51 points.

This is a crucial break point as having less than this

is actually borderline useless as far as PvE is concerned.

But having more than this

will stop a ton of enemies in the game from knocking you around.

There are some other good break points to hit after 51,

but if you really want to stack on the poise,

know that there's not much point going beyond 101

to help you get over these break points.

Consider using one or two pieces from heavier armor sets.

The most poise heavy sets are the Bull- Goat, Veteran or Lionel set

the most

powerful consumables in Elden Ring are Rune Arcs, which can be used

to enable the power of whatever great rune you have equipped.

Speaking of great runes, Radahn's two or Morgott's are pretty much great

for any build.

Now one way to quickly stock up on rune arcs is to visit certain nomadic

merchants.

Three are sold here in Liurnia, three are sold here

in the mountaintops.

Three are sold outside Leyndell

and three are sold here

inside the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum.

Beyond this,

you can engage in multiplayer to farm some rune arcs.

You can either invade and defeat other players in PvP

or you can help other players in PvE Co-op.

Pretty much everyone has their ability to put their sign down and be summoned.

But if you don't have the bloody finger invasion item, you can get it from Varre's

Questline discussed earlier, or you can find a different invasion

finger within be Recusant hideout located here in Mt Gelmir.

As for other consumable items, one I might recommend

taking into the DLC, are these stimulating Boluses

These can be eaten to remove sleep build up and we did see a sleep swamp

in the DLC trailer... Just saying. to get an infinite amount

of these, I'd recommend killing the Bell Bearing Hunter

at the Hermit Merchant's Shack here in Altus Plateau.

Afterwards, you can hand in the Medicine Peddler's

bell bearing at the twin maiden husks to improve their inventory

with boluses for sleep, but also frost, poison and bleeding as well.

As for offensive consumables,

The freezing pot item is super underrated.

It pretty much instantly inflicts frostbite

on most bosses, which does a chunk of damage.

It stuns the boss momentarily and it also inflicts a debuff

that increases the damage that enemy takes by 20% for a while.

People have used this against Malenia recently to great success.

It breaks her out of her waterfowl dance, for example,

to get the cookbook for these turn right as soon as you enter Caria Manor

and you'll find it in this small room

the rimed crystal buds to make these freezing pots can be easily

found here west of the Ordina Town

Site of Grace in the consecrated snowfields.

And of course, you'll also need a few ritual pots to craft these.

Ritual pots are a resource that you get back

after you throw a freezing pot and a couple can be easily found.

Here in Jarburg, a hidden little town

that's located off a drop from Liurnia.

I'll leave a link to all of the ritual pot locations in the description.

The two mandatory bosses for entering the DLC are Mohg and Radahn.

Let me give you some quick tips for them. For Radahn,

Of course you know that running over the summon signs will summon help.

But did you know that you can re-summon those helpers as soon as they die?

So if you want a sure chance at winning this fight,

play it slow and ride around the arena to re-summon your companions if they die.

One thing I like to do on low level characters is to use a stonesword key

at roundtable hold and pick up

Crepus's Black-key Crossbow and the 20 black key bolts.

These bolts can inflict rot on Radahn, which synergizes

extremely well with that passive summon playstyle we talked about.

As for Mohg,

you'll be able to access him early as a part of the Rune Farming Guide

We mentioned earlier.

But if you didn't do that, travel here

in the consecrated snowfield and take the waygate instead.

And at the end of Mohgwyn Palace is this,

Miquella's cocoon. It's the entrance to the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

And of course, to access it, you'll need to defeat Mohg

two items exist in the game specifically to make this fight easier.

The first is Mohg's Shackle, which can force him to the ground

two times in phase one making Getting to phase two a lot easier for you.

to find this, you'll have to go to the Subterranean Shunning Ground

underneath Leyndell start from the Avenue Balcony and make your way to Gransaax's

wing that is folded over a part of the city,

search underneath the wing, and you'll eventually find a small well

which will eventually lead you to the underground

and the "Underground Roadside" site of grace.

From this grace head to an entrance on the opposite wall

and try to safely drop down from the pipes into the swamp below.

The shackle is here.

The second

item you're going to want for this fight is the Purifying Crystal Tear,

which you can put into your Flask if Wondrous Physick to drink and completely

negate the effects of Mohg's Nihil attack at the end of his countdown.

This can be acquired by defeating Eleonora, who invades

at the Second Church of Marika here in Altus Plateau.

If she doesn't spawn here for you, you should try to complete Yura's Questline

by being invaded here in Limgrave,

then talking to Yura, and then after that you find

a red summon sign at the "Main Academy" site of Grace in Raya Lucaria.

you help Yura defeat the assassin here, then talk to him afterwards nearby.

Then Eleonora and Yura should appear

at the second church of Marika, where you can get the tear.

As for Mohg's fight itself, ironically,

bleed weapons are quite good against Mohg,

and that's all I'll say about that.

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I have one final question for you guys.

Do you think that any NPCs in the base game will show up in the Land of Shadow?

If so, who?

There are certainly a few characters I can think of with unresolved quest lines.

First and foremost is Melina, whose true purpose is alluded to but never revealed.

Most players will burn her in the Giants Flame Forge.

So for the DLC, I wonder if it'll be better to keep

the Erdtree unburnt and keep Melina alive instead.

Of course, this means

you won't be able to get to Farum Azula, so this isn't exactly optimal.

Next is Millicent, who has a rebirth alluded to at the end of her Questline

If you side with Gowry and Millicent's sisters

and kill her, you get a worse reward for doing this.

So this is not optimal.

But since the Land of Shadow DLC takes place in the present,

I do wonder if we'll see some continuation of her questline.

I'll be looking out for that at least.

I personally think that it's kind of unlikely that existing

quest lines will continue in the DLC, but it's possible,

and at least with a fresh new character, there's a chance that you will be able

to continue these quest lines if you need to later.

So I hope this video helped.

Good luck preparing your characters and thank you very much for watching.