The Smart Way To Start EVERY Build | Early Smithing & Somber Stone Routes | OP Early | Elden Ring

[@ThingfishyGaming]

FAQ's: Will there be a written guide? In the original version of this video, I mentioned making written guides for some of my build guides. I said this with the best of intentions, but this was just before my channel got a lot bigger, and the time I spent making and editing videos increased massively. It was also before the addition of maps to my videos, making them much easier to follow. If there is still a desire for written guides, let me know. It may be something I could look at incorporating into a Patreon page, which I plan on creating soon. Will this break any questlines? Lighting a grace in Altus Plateau will trigger the Radahn Festival. This will block you from getting both the Red Hot Whetblade and the Ruins Greatsword until Radahn is defeated. You can grab the Whetblade before following this guide, or for an early Ruins run, just go up to Altus without lighting a grace. It's not as scary as it sounds. The thumbnail says 150k runes. The old video was 150k runes. Why only 140K? I warped out from Greyoll before all the runes had appeared. Only noticed this when I started another run and had 150K. You'll get 150k. Is this for beginners? It's not intended to be. You'll have the most memorable experience of Elden Ring just playing it blind, only looking up specific guides if you get stuck on something. I make videos for people who have already experienced the game, and want to go back and bully it in a few hours instead of 200. However, almost every single one of my comment sections (the last iteration of this guide especially so) are filled with people who used my vids for their first playthrough and had a blast - and who am I to argue! Will it actually take 1 hour? Until you've done it a few times, it'll probably take a little longer. This set up was done in about 54/55 minutes (the last few getting set up to record the intro) and that's with no deaths and everything going pretty well. Like I said in the Selia section, you can easily add a lot of time there. Any way to make it even faster? Slightly. The very last smithing stones (6 smithing 3's) I pick up could be skipped and bought instead, but grabbing them and continuing north onto the next gazebo is a great way of unlocking Iji for faster upgrading later. A cheeky little timesave I used to use when doing this reguarly was NOT lighting the Grace in the sealed tunnel. Doing this will mean you spawning at the Grace on the stairs after dying and skip the short run out. Hardly worth it unless you're super comfortable with the route, though. I hate the Selia Crystal Tunnel. Any other options? The Old Altus Tunnel has identical loot to Selia for this guide (Somber 4, 8 Smithing 5's). I did test this as an alternative route but the Altus Tunnel is even more crowded that Selia, quite a bit slower, and just as hard hitting. What you gain in the lack of Pest Threads, you lose in spell-spamming miners, but it's not a bad shout if you're particularly adverse to the former. Will doing this make Gideon a better boss? No.

[@PowerhouseKlaus]

I also only got 140k runes and I didn't warp, so maybe its a bug that sometimes happens

[@urbrojack]

Hey do you recommend following Cowboy’s guid?

[@Mattimation01]

the normal stone route only gets you to a +13 not a +16

[@Coffee_Break1111]

Should have read the comments 😂 beginner here getting destroyed in the sillia cave. Fml! I’ll start playing it normal now 👍

[@RamixTheRed]

I'd say maybe release transcripts of your videos? That's not EXACTLY the same but is a good middle ground for relatively little effort?

[@Frost-Kris]

Lovely to see a remake to the original starting guide, I have basically memorised that whole video by now.

[@ThingfishyGaming]

It was quite nice to revisit it. Thanks for watching, Kris!

[@Frost-Kris]

​@@sriousprobs477Yeah I realised lmao, but the addition of the map helps a lot of people that haven't used this route

[@briquesbts]

I memorised it as well 😂 Lost count of how many characters I've made

[@xantishayde-walker4593]

@@ThingfishyGaming Maybe give us a map so we can just see where all the goodies are and a path you take to get thru? That would be nice. I'm trying to do this for your OP Faith Samurai build and for that you go off script and my ADHD (diagnosed) brain can't follow along between 2 videos, jumbled together after having gotten partway thru your guide and having given up after 3-4 months, finally decided to come back to where I left off. Turns out, I gave up and decided to do my own thing. I'd have to start over again and the damn Knight's Calvary won't commit sudoku for me off the bridge, just like last time. FML! Edit: Typos.

[@K.O.D.888]

​@xantishayde-walker4593 I thought they patched it but it still works !

[@Green3Eagle]

Exhaust Rodricka dialogue at Stormhill Shack and after she moves to the Roundtable Hold, come back and pick up a golden seed where she was sitting.

[@tarasouthwell6132]

I've tested this a couple times, and resting in Liurnia gets her to move

[@causticwit2286]

Bullshit?

[@insertcringeynamehere5729]

@@causticwit2286 nah after she moves a golden seed is literally just there

[@He-who-wakes]

​@causticwit2286 how?

[@insertcringeynamehere5729]

@@He-who-wakes after u talk to roderika and exhaust her dialogue she moves to roundtable and if u refresh the area after roderika has moved in the exact spot she sat in in the shack therell just be a golden seed

[@1umbreon4life]

A few notes: 3:32 After crossing the bridge, you can head over the terrain to your right to grab the Faith physic if it's applicable to your build. 4:20 After grabbing the Somber 2, just run into the sea. It's faster than quitting out and will put you at the grace. 5:27 Exhaust Rodericka dialogue here. At some point once she's moved to the Roundtable, you can come back for her Golden Seed. 6:14 Might as well help Alex while you're in the area, you'll get some more Exalted Flesh and a gesture (the gesture is available later in the game if you miss it here, but still). 7:20 Instead of going straight to Fort Haight, aim for the minor erdtree. There are a couple crystal tears at its base and it's not out of your way. 9:17 Use the spiritspring to jump on top of the giant skull in front of you here. There are several smithing stones and a stonesword key on top of it. 9:40 Just loot everything here. One of the items is a Rune Arc. 11:58 Note: if you grab the extra grace, the puppets will kill you. Still, probably worth it to save time if you die while running naked through the academy. 12.59 Behind the Abductor Virgin is the Longtail Cat Talisman. Grab it before getting abducted. It's very helpful for the big jump into lava at 13:20 which I've personally never managed to do without fall damage otherwise. 17:40 At this point, you can head to the Altus Highway Junction grace and then north from there to grab an extra seed, as well as the Sacred Tear at the 2nd Church of Marika. You can also go west to the Erdtree Gazing Hill grace for the nearby seed, but that's pretty out of the way for one seed. 17:56 I recommend continuing north here to the Outer Wall Battleground grace (swinging wide to avoid Margit). It's a good warp point to have for eventually grabbing several nearby crystal tears (Winged and Twiggy mainly), a couple Golden Seeds outside the walls, and the Sacred Tear in the Stormcaller Church. 18:35 Loot the corpses on the roots as you cross, one of them has an extra Golden Fowl Foot. Remember to go back to Stormhill shack for Rodericka's Golden Seed after the fact. There are a few more generally useful items in northern Liurnia that are out of the way for this guide but might be worth snagging after the setup is done: the Intelligence physic, Golden Seed in the ravine, and Jellyfish Shield. If you want the Sacred Tear from the Church of Inhibition, be aware that there's a spiritspring just north of the Frenzy Flaming Tower that allows you to approach reach it pretty easily, making the area much safer. You'll still get slaughtered by Vyke, but not before grabbing the tear. Obviously, this will take longer, but none of it is difficult and all of it is worth it.

[@Words-of-encouragement.-.]

An absolute legend! Thanks!

[@waggyScul]

This comment should be pinned, lots of good stuff

[@donkarnage6986]

dude, why do you guys cheat like that... See, iam so strong, but i need to cheat :P this isnt the best start, it just full of cheaters, its like playing on easy mode what you guys a doing, and then you bragging about how good you are...

[@Words-of-encouragement.-.]

@@donkarnage6986 You're making assumptions. I've put over 200 hours into this game. I have 2 different characters in NG+. Some of us aren't looking to re-explore the early game all over again. Some of us just want to quickly start a brand new build for fun. If you don't like it, play the way YOU want to play and don't worry about what other people are doing.

[@pauljohnson9315]

Make your own guide?

[@llow1170]

Nice to see an update. The old guide is still rock solid. I've used it for at least 8 characters over the last few months. Thanks for the guides!

[@SlothKuroVT]

I purchased Elden Ring on 27/02 so literally last month. you were THE first channel I found and only made me love the game more. I struggled a lot in the beginning but because of your speed build I finally managed to finish a run in under 5 hours (My first ever playthrough was just under 50 hours) I attribute that to your brilliant videos

[@ThingfishyGaming]

That's awesome to hear, Hanon! So glad you're enjoying the game and pleased the vids have helped. Thanks for watching!

[@Astrophobia88]

Were you watching guides when you played? i played blind first run and it took me about 150 hours!!! 50 hours on a first run is insane!

[@SlothKuroVT]

@@Astrophobia88 Other than looking up cool builds to try, I did it blind

[@pineapplesauce4823]

@@SlothKuroVTdamn 50 hours is crazy lol. Did you explore at all?

[@SlothKuroVT]

@@pineapplesauce4823 I explored quite a bit. Not as much as I probably should have tho

[@danielwilliams310]

Little caveat to this for those who can do it: 1. Grab a seal and catch flame, level up your blue flasks and allocate 5 of them. 2. Grab the Gold Pickled Fowl Feet from the spirit spring behind the first step, past the first bridge in limgrave, and in the Sealed tunnel on the branch. 3. Use them when you cheese the night's cavalry and the dragon in Caelid. 4. Fight the putrid avatar near Fort Faroth using Catch Flame and your 5 blue flasks. The avatar will one-shot you, but it's not too hard with catch flame. Should net you about 270,000 runes. Thanks again Fishy for the amazing setup guide, use it on basically all my builds!

[@zack-apsalar-rake]

Thanks! Hope to see build for SOTE.

[@Lamppostout]

Thanks!

[@ThingfishyGaming]

Thank you so much, LampPost! You'll be in the credits for all future vids. Thanks for watching!

[@Matein13]

Man, I so much appreciate all the work you put into these videos. Not just the information, but the editing, the music, the narration, everything is really, really well done overall. Thanks again, and can't wait for your next videos!

[@LosferWerds]

Just got back in to ER after not having much time to play it since launch. Your channel has been a great help since coming back.

[@ianwilliams2632]

Perfect cosy guide to follow if you're new and afraid of getting killed over & over in the first areas. You will get OP fast following dear old Thingfishy's advice. Glad you've remade this mate. Sometimes I like to see how far I can get without fighting or even getting hit, grabbing runes off graves, etc., and this is a nice framework video to try it out. You don't have to quit out when you get the flail though. Just run to the whetblade basement. They don't follow you downstairs, and they de-aggro when you open the chest.

[@Michael-yb2jh]

TO NOTE: Going to Lyndell without doing blackguard's quest will lock you out of being able to get Boiled Crab that entire playthrough, which is free 20% dmg reduction

[@SyckestBlah]

For Greyoll, if it hasn't been patched since I last played: If you're fast enough, you can start Dreyoll's death animation, hop onto Torrent, run straight to the grace and sit on it. By doing so, you get the runes for killing Greyoll, but she respawns. You do get less than the 150k runes, as the other dragons are not killed, but you can do this as often as you're fast enough.

[@The1506andy]

this works still i did it like 2 days ago

[@callanlandis4300]

works untill the dlc. im assuming theyll patch it

[@nuzzelde]

i fucked it up on my first try and didn't even pop the pickled foul foot :(

[@shrek8052]

@@callanlandis4300nope it still works.

[@shrek8052]

@@nuzzeldethat’s why you use the foot before you kill them. Definitely not like everyone says to do it before not wait till after

[@CrappyCar]

When you take the Spirit Spring next to Fort Faroth, don't forget to jump up on the Giant Skull, and grab the Smithing Stone 8, 7 (x2), and Stonesword Key.

[@brandoncarter2708]

What giant skull? Before or after you you use spirit spring…

[@CrappyCar]

@@brandoncarter2708 The one South-West of the fort, you can use it to get from FF to the Church of the Plague.

[@ARCOYUTOKHAN]

I just recently bought Elden Ring for PS5 and this guide was excellent and easy to follow.

[@saussie22]

I have expanded on this run quite considerably, I go through Volcano manor via the girl Rya? who I do the quest and meet at the top of the Dectus lift, because you can actually run past every thing to the Somber 6 and 5 from there. There is also a few awesome talismans you can pick up on the way, during this set up run, like the Arsenal +2, the Icon shield, not to mention ashes of war. Thingfishy you taught me that everything you can run past, you just need to time it right. You have totally changed Elden Ring for me. I can never thank you enough. Never Stop making your videos, they are absolutely essential to living the Elden Ring Dream for us older players with less skills. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are the BEST!

[@Ecliptor.]

I add the dungeon with the golden scarab talisman before killing the free rune guys, any straight sword can do it without any upgrades, just need Square Off heavy attack, it breaks their poise in 2 attacks. And if your build can kill tree bosses easily, you can go straight to the one near Greyoll for almost 80k runes (without taking foot or scarab into calculation) after killing Greyoll, this one will one shot you tho, but if you're good you can kill it while you still have the chicken foot buff.

[@imab0t274]

Speedrunning to volcano manor also gets you assassin’s gambit. just kill bernie at the shack and do the first volcano manor quest, then hand over his bell bearing and you’ve got one of the most useful tools in the game within minutes.

[@chalke37]

Been loving these guides, super helpful as some of us return to make new characters for the DLC - Look forward to more!

[@ThingfishyGaming]

Glad you're enjoying them, Chalked! Cannot wait for the DLC. Thanks for watching!

[@ardbug9577]

LOVE seeing you optimize this guide, it is so freaking good !

[@wallele3910]

You help me so much thank you! I’m new to souls games. I have rewatched all of your videos multiple times. Amazed at how easy u make all fights look.

[@hungrygrunty3922]

Love to see another starting guide! I've used your older one for every playthrough since it came out, and your other guides for inspiration. I have one small critique though... Around 19:58, you head North West to the poison gazebo, but say North East. "I thought you said Weast" crossed my mind lol. Regardless, awesome job, and I can't wait to see what you cook up for the DLC!

[@averagegamer1422]

He's done it again! For me, I don't use this guide, but it was used as a blueprint for the route i used which accomplishes the same as this but gives a couple extra things.

[@zack-apsalar-rake]

Just started Elden ring recently even though I got the game 2 years ago. And your guide has been a tremendous help for a souls noob like me. I haven’t touch souls game since blood borne and fail to complete any souls game from demon soul for lack of skills. Even if I can’t get good, I still love the universe Miyazaki and his team has crafted. And with all your build guides I believe there comes a chance for me to complete my first souls game. Thanks for your effort. It made the game more fun as well. Hope to see more. PS: I hope if there is a build cater for people like me as well haha.

[@waynecribb6784]

Saved the video for future ER runs. Thanks for updating your guide. Looking forward to see what you bring us after the DLC drops.

[@MrX-lf9de]

This is clutch, I was really hoping for this revision. Ty good sir!

[@25Dzone]

I'm coming back to the game and can't quite get used to my old build so I wanted to start fresh - this video is PERFECT for me, thank you

[@shrek8052]

Same. I took a 4 month break and tried to come back onto a ng+7 and was getting wrecked.

[@TheUselessJ]

Great guide again! I used your first guide for basically all of my my characters except the first one :) I have a suggestion tho, if you go to the Bridge of Sacrifice Site of Grace before going to the Churche of Pilgrimage, you can grab the faith tear on the way without losing much time. I find that to be one of the most useful tears for any build because of the Golden Vow and Howl of Shabriri buffs.

[@alexepic3255]

13:59 I have never seen anyone pointing out there is a grace upstairs. The door is blocked at first, but you can head to the balcony and jump to another on the left, in which you will find a snake and a gate to the grace. This grace will be very useful if you want to fight the Godskin Noble, who will grant you access to the somber +7. Basically follow the path to Rykard’s portal, but in the hall with the snakes, take the stairs to the left towards the stonekey thing. After the parkour, go to the room with the dungeater item, and head left to find an iron maiden guarding the somber +7. This route allows you to have a +9 special weapon having killed a single boss 😎

[@seanryu5214]

im so glad that you made this video, with the new steam family share ive been able to try elden ring and its a blast. been watching all you vids for hte help so thank you

[@Sinstoxin]

Im on my 6th new character and I’ve used your original video for all of them. I have most of it memorized by now. I’m definitely going to have to start a 7th now just to try out this one. Thanks for all the videos and hard work!

[@greysnowleopard]

Hey, just wanted to thank you for your great content. I started recently with Elden Ring as my first souls game & I felt completely lost… but I love it got an understanding of the game & the lore behind it. Just wanted to thank you & asking if you are going to stream on twitch soon? You could connect it with KZbin (2. channel??) Much love

[@akitas8165]

excellent guide mate. Tip: When you drop down to the spiritspring next to Fort Faroth, it is worth jumping straight back up to the huge rock on your right. You will find a stonesword key and some sober stones.

[@brandonrios1935]

100%ed game at launch and decided to come back and start a new play through for the dlc but was worried cause I didn’t want to reexplore the whole map and get re set up this video helped tremendously and was surprisingly very fun to follow along best guide I’ve ever watched.

[@MB-iz7ml]

Me too i lost my main character which i finished the game in 6 times and i wanted to play the dlc but i didn’t have the energy to go through everything for the 7nth time this guide is great.

[@maxmanjohnson]

I used the previous version of this guide for my rl1 run so i am happy to see an even better one for new players

[@WeiOhWei]

Right on time for my second playthrough! Thanks for the effort fishy!

[@ThingfishyGaming]

No problem, Wei! Thanks for watching!

[@craigslaunwhite579]

I have memorized this escorted route you’ve created. I had to watch the new one. Love the editing and epic music. 😮🎶

[@aayushdasgupta9754]

Really nice vid! Somethings I usually add for ease/more upgrades might be accessible to slightly experienced players. Everyone knows about the Somber 7 behind Godskin Noble, so i will focus on the smithing stones. 1. 5 smithing stone 6's each from the Full Grown Fallingstar beast and the Fallingstar beast in Altus (this with the 2 from the breakable statue infront of Auriza Heroes grave give u a +18) 2. 5 Smithing 7s from the Fallingstar beast in Sellia Crystal Tunnel. 3. 2 Smithing 7s from top of the skull near the spirit spring between Fort Faroth and Church of the Plague. These can get ur weapons to +20 before any Rememberence bosses. I believe the Fallingstar Beasts in Altus and Gelmir can be cheesed using Poison Mist. For DLC prep, after defeating Radahn, we can find 2 somber 7s and 1 sombr 8 and 1 somber 9, by doing Ranni Questline till Nokstella. Then completing the Ranni Questline nets u 6 smithing 7s and 6 smithing 8s in the Moonlight Altar. This can push 1 smithing weapon to +22 before the Capital and Mogh. Thus u can fight Mogh and enter the DLC with a +22 smithing or a +10 somber. PS: anybody looking for a Somber 4 can find 1 lying in the Swanp of Aeonia. Just travel north from Southern Aeonia Swamp site of grace, and it will be lying in the swap close to another glowing pickup of Aeonian Butterflies. Hope this helps, and great video dude!

[@macklee6837]

Sir, you the top guvnor for doing this. I recently reinstalled ER and was completely lost somewhere in an NG+, but I'm going to follow this guide now. Ty!

[@SchettiNButter]

I was about to watch your old guide - I thought I was until the merchant at liurna of the lakes when I thought “wait buying? I don’t remember this” awesome guide, much easier to follow for new comers I dare to say. Thanks for all your videos

[@ronjohnson6916]

The old guide was a mainstay. I do like the improvements. It generally takes me a fair bit longer because the moment I get any runes I seem to be invested in not losing them and that adds so much time in fighting and sneaking. Oh well one day I may smarten up.

[@PowerhouseKlaus]

Nice, this makes a lot of the annoying parts a lot easier with proper timed quit outs

[@chrisbutler83]

The amount of regular smithing stones required is nuts and there never seems to be enough. I've got sombre stones for man and dog but can never get enough regulars!

[@wintergearz]

You can continually kill greyol if you sit down at a bonfire before her death animation finishes. Bleed her till she's near dead, then use poison mist on her and rush back to the nearest bonfire. As soon as her health drops to zero, sit down immediately. If you get a dragon heart from her before you sit down, you have failed, and she doesn't respawn. Happy farming everyone👍

[@ascendedprism4685]

Thank you a ton!!!

[@Markadown]

Love that we get an update. The original guide really helped me level up my other builds very quickly.

[@1mzion]

There is a somber 4 not too far just north west up the lake in liurnia from the somber 3 featured around 17 min mark. Just fwiw. Prob takes an extra 90 seconds to grab. Edit: also, thank you for all these videos and guides. Excellent resources and very entertaining.

[@philippqquutt4549]

thanks for the refresher, i finished the game 2 years ago(time flies) and have no clue where what is!

[@Nick-gb9ci]

Great Guide! Lots of notes from others here, and not sure if anyone mentioned it yet, but you can grab a somber 3 from behind the puppets when you first enter the Acadamy, this saves the time of running to and dropping down the spirit spring from the east gate site of grace. Also, just watched your Early DLC vid, another great one, can't wait to follow this and that together and start getting some early DLC builds going. Thanks for all your hard work on these vids!

[@nancy955]

I keep watching and playing along with this excellently made video. It's entertaining and easy to follow, and the cheeky humor just gets me laughing every time. Darn dogs, I hate them lol. I've made two builds from it so far, because holy crap it only takes about an hour. If I'm honest, I really don't know which build (parry, which I'm not very good at yet, or my personal favorite, bonk) I want to play when Shadow of the Erdtree drops. So I'll have to play along again, and make one where I don't spend any of the runes I get along the way. It's so tempting to just have a go at bosses, I keep getting carried away! Thanks so much Thingfishy for this excellent (updated) guide, you're amazing! This video and the high value of it is what got me to finally become a member of your channel. Keep up the good work 🙂

[@Osuraven52]

Great guide sir, if I could add a couple things. In Caelid when you take the spirit spring to the church of the plague use it to jump to the top of the skull for smithing stones 7 and 8. Also in the volcano manor section instead of taking the trip down to the site of grace you can climb the ladder across from the somber stone roof top and jump around the corner of the building to get the guest hall site of grace.

[@spicy9297]

Brodie please stop cutting when the distance aint even that far bro im getting lost and dying cause of it 😭

[@The_Other_Dan]

If you're trying to avoid triggering the festival you can easily make it to the sealed tunnel and grab the 5 and bell bearing without lighting a grace up there. Rather than going down further into the tunnel I find it much easier to lure the dragon over to break the statue in Caelid for the 3 5's you miss in the deeper tunnel. Just another option. Another good tip for Volcano Manor is to have a dagger with quick step. You can get through areas with lava (and poison and rot) so much faster by quick stepping through

[@mustardscroll7]

I've used this guide with slight modifications for two new characters so far and I'm back here for another. Cheers.

[@micahortiz2598]

at 20:15 I cannot seem to find the offer for Smithing stones 4 & 3.

[@adamwinkeler3391]

I absolutely love the update! I have the original video completely memorized at this point but really do appreciate the changes! Thanks for helping my ADHD brain capable of playing multiple builds at once much less of a chore!

[@______8761]

I did this on my primary character who I got through to the haligtree and farum azula and still going. Came back to make a secondary character and I now understand why you cut so much. It was initially confusing and a little frustrating, but it was clearly for good reason since you didn't want to spoil certain things. I absolutely love the way you scored the music in this video. Thank you for making such a straightforward video that truly improves this game's experience.

[@weirdybeardystuff9261]

Late to the party but damn am I looking forward to this one

[@ThingfishyGaming]

Hope you enjoy it, Beardy! Thanks for watching!

[@Theotheralt2]

Seriously, you have some of the clearest and most concise route guides I've ever seen. Subbed on my main, my alt account AND this one 😉

[@justindugan4243]

Would highly suggest using the morningstar with wild strikes vice using the physick for flail, as its two-handable for every starting class’s base stats and the AoW can be picked up along the route. Also, its worth noting that you can cheese FLYING Dragon Greyll (80k) and the Caelid Bell Bearing Hunter (50k) without actually fighting them as well, brings your grand total up to 240k (without gold feet) to start the game with

[@DaleRowell]

I was about to comment this as well, wild strikes on the Morningstar uses considerably less FP and stamina and has lower stat requirements. If you’re planning on farming Greyoll more than once, better to get a torch and Deaths Poker +6 as it takes around a minute to kill with frostbite vs 2-3 with bleed.

[@justarmchair]

Not sure if someone else already commented it. But if you kill the dragon on horseback and rush back to the grace. You still get runes, however she doesn’t die. This way you can farm it repeatedly

[@elvinrosenlund431]

A nice and peaceful start to an otherwise stressful and punishing game. Good work!

[@corvusthestrigoi]

So for some reason whenever I get the Knight to jump the bridge he doesn’t die, he just respawns back on the bridge and I have no clue why. Also, it’s worth noting that if you run to the nearby site of Grace after killing Elder Dragon Greyoll, as long as you rest before she finishes her death animation she won’t disappear but you’ll still get the runes, making her a solid (albeit time consuming) early game rune-farm.

[@Safetyman99]

Can't wait to see your guides on Shadow of the Erdtree.

[@Firek_swordsman]

I saw the original video like 30 times, very original guide, I'm glad to see this updated versión, thank you bro

[@edwinstewart5145]

Great guide! At Callu I ride straight west and come down the cliff to the bridge instead of quitting out. Looking forward to the DLC guides!

[@mh_golfer]

If you take the lift to Altus Plateau you can get 8 more golden seeds for additional flasks without having to fight anything. Get one going north to the Erdtree Gazing Hill, than head to the broken bridge after grabbing a seed and the map. Teleport across, use the jump spring to get the site of grace under the bridge, than jump back up and head towards the Windmill village, there is one south of the Windmill site of grace just passed the village. Than head towards the towards the outer wall picking up another. Grab the site of grace and grab 4 more on the way to the map. Lastly you can go to the sealed tunnel and grab the Smithing Stone Bell Bearing 2 from the chest in the first room and exit out of the dungeon.

[@alaudejon024]

12:57 The item you didn't pick up beside you when you drop down by the abductor is a Smithing Stone (5)

[@aaronswelt2458]

I dont know what it is but, your voice is so smooth and relaxing.... oh and i love yor content all these guides have been really helpful, thanks keep it up ❤

[@ThingfishyGaming]

Thanks, Aaron. Glad you like it. Thanks for watching and pleased the guides have helped!

[@xPandaaaah]

Very tough to follow since you show a map but not where you are on the map. "Stop here for Golden Vow" where!??!?! "Jump down here" WHERE!?!?

[@ivanotriggiani1734]

Totally agree.

[@frozenpigz2746]

You can see where he is on the map with that white circle. Kinda hard to see but it's there

[@creatorF0UR73EN]

You gotta look around, cuz it’s apart of playing the game. He’s not tryna walk you through it.

[@xPandaaaah]

​@@creatorF0UR73EN are you daft? He is quite literally walking us through his routes for upgrade materials and such. Silly guy

[@freelifematters6193]

Maybe for you and 22 others. 75,000 other people disagree.

[@volynx]

Another note I use for setup: by killing agheel and greyoll for agheels flame, wrong warps can be used into lleyndeyl and then morgott skip with agheels flame to reach any content in the game before godskin duo in only one boss

[@TheJoker-bz2uz]

Like that you updated the guide, not that there's anything wrong with the original.

[@carlwagnermusic]

So I just learned if you jump over the smoldering wall and head to the spirit spring like you're about to go to millicent, instead, jump up the spirit spring onto the giant skull. You can loot yourself a smithing stone 8, 2x smithing stone 7s and a stonesword key. :)

[@MajorBlack002]

9:17 hey Thing, great video! I just wanted to give u a little tip, if I remember correctly u can jump up this spirit spring and on top of the skully stone thing there are some normal smithing stones 7/8. could be something else but there are definitely smithing stones up there. Maybe u wanna check that out. Thanks for the video! K update:it’s stone sword key, 2x smithing 7‘s and an 8

[@shanelindimore9418]

Oh, a new one. Nice. Love your videos. Maybe you did one, and I missed it, but a bow build would be cool. I'm thinking of trying that out.

[@ThingfishyGaming]

Glad you like the vids, Shane. A bow build has been on the list for a while, but I keep putting it off 😂. Will see what I can do before DLC. Thanks for watching!

[@Jakaup]

Black bow is a longbow with shortbow move set (jump attack and when landing quickly) barrage WA use for poison bleed frost etc, pulley crossbow fires three but is too slow for my liking. Pulley bow has the longest range of a longbow and uses might shot WA and thats what i use for bow builds you can light roll and just avoid anything you want really but for enemies that innately dodge you need the black bows shortbow moveset with longbow damage because you need to get the second one off when you land after they dodge the mid air arrow or vice versa.

[@Jakaup]

Great Jar Cannon is fun for some nukes / mobbing from afar. Radahns rain unlimited supply of great gravity arrows( RTH ) couple vendors around the game house all the different arrows or bolts you’ll need. But thats just the issue w bow builds runes for arrows. ( i use mogwhyns palace To practice archery obviously )

[@Jakaup]

Golem Greatbow don’t forget that beast if you want raw damage

[@enriqueruiz6582]

I appreciate that you updated your video to show how to grace out of volcano manner. As such, I will go ahead and amend my prior comment on older video regarding my dissapointment here

[@factsonly1522]

As some one who has just started playing yesterday and found one map, I feel really overwhelmed by everything.. have you got any videos for complete starters??

[@ThingfishyGaming]

Highly recommend Fightin' Cowboy if you're looking for a full walkthrough. All his are done step by step, in real-time. Have fun on your first playthrough!

[@factsonly1522]

I’m only just starting and being killed by everything but still enjoying the game and I choose samurai for a melee based character mainly because of one of your videos he looked awesome 😂😂 I’m sure a lot of this will make sense soon. Just need to farming for some runes. One question what’s the best attribute to improve with my runes ? Thanks for the reply

[@GTass455in]

@@factsonly1522 You can farm runes by killing the troll at Gatefront for 1k each time. If you find the teleporter near the Third Church of Marika, there are good places to farm over there too. The small militia guys do lots of damage but have little HP, and worth 1k runes each. Also if you find the big ball trap, you can use it to get 2k runes in about 30 seconds. As for attributes, I'd recommend getting vigor to 20, endurance to 20, then vigor to 30. After that you can go hard into your damage stat, e.g. strength, dex, int, or faith -- depending on what you want to do. If you like the katanas from Samurai, you could go find the Moonveil katana of dex/int or go for a strong bleed build with Rivers of Blood katana and boost the arcane stat.

[@mellindrums]

At 9:18 you could jump back up on the spring and get some smithing stone 7 and 8 on top of the grey rock. There's also a somber stone 4 right behind you after climbing the ladder after the big cave dude at around 16:02.

[@Zingerboxx]

I’ve just collected everything you said and I literally have no idea what to do with any of it 😂

[@brandoncarter2708]

I don’t see any smithing stones for sale at the rountable hold??

[@charleygohard8663]

No matter how many times I’ve tried over the years I’ve been able to cheese the knights cavalry a total of 0 times

[@ferrenfrog]

I did it just for him to respawn on the bridge D:

[@mh_golfer]

I tried 20 times and couldn't cheese him, so I tried to fight him and he jumped over me and off the bridge. Go figure!

[@ZiggyStarman42]

Dude you are and will always be the GOAT. 😭💜

[@bohdaicitta]

the instructions are much better in this version thank you! just fyi, for someone completely new to the game, there are still some places that take some trial and error to figure out where to go, but in the end that's ok. i'd request the guide to include Smithing Bell 1 pls. after following this, i actually don't have enough Smithing Stone 2s to get past +6

[@tarasouthwell6132]

I always pick up the beast repellant torch from the merchant in caelid west of the divine tower. it makes volcano manor, ft faroth, dragon burnt ruins, and the running section in mt gelmir where you get golden vow much easier. there's a guy on a chair with a somber 4 near the beginning of the ravine that leads to ruin strewn precipice. if you're facing the grace just before the ravine, turn left and keep near the cliff if you have a hard time with the night's cav cheese, you can also cheese him by luring him to the cliff to the left of the poison path and crouching on the tiny lip of ledge. he'll jump off pretty consistently. there's a somber five in caelid near selia tunnel. when you exit the tunnel, make a right and hug the cliff. there's an enormous crimson scarab right in front of the path that leads to it. it's nestled into some glintstone crystals there's a somber six on a guy on a chair in mt gelmir. If you're going to pick up incant golden vow, you can use the beast torch to keep the dogs from attacking, grab the incant, then cheese anastasia by crouching on a lip of the ledge near the shack. then, get on torrent and go up the big rock just before the battlefield and the abductors. quit out to lose aggro, then watch the abductors path until they're well away from the ladder going up the cliff that's below you. climb the ladder, light the grace, then turn left to see some runes on some coffins, and on the ledge beyond them, a wolf guarding the somber six. You can now either avoid the volcano manor running section entirely, or level 2 somber weapons to +6. I chose the latter in my death's poker playthrough. I rushed lusat's staff in raya lucaria early, along with the radagon icon. I've also done this with the erdtree seal on my blasphemous blade playthrough. It adds a ridiculous amount of QOL

[@westloves]

Great guide, for returning players I think it’s perfect. For a new player probably not very ez. Cheers

[@living_legacy_7]

16:21 there's also a second somber 4 in that final room of Selia's Crystal Tunnel just turn to the left instead to the right where all the Kindred of Rot's are and you will find it

[@senya7869]

Nice video! Can i ask you to upload the link of the backup file with all items collect on this route? thx

[@Bosspinata]

12:32 don’t worry to much about them following you onto it that rarely ever happ-

[@theMaszketnik]

Thanks man, really good guide. Easy to follow even for a first timer who has no idea where we at 😂 I didn't kill the dragon, cause it looked a bit game breaking for later, but leveling weapons is a dumb mechanic imo, so I grabbed all stones and runes I could.

[@tony2shoes525]

Followed it step by step but I’m missing a somber 7. Did I miss it in the video or do we not find one?

[@N3V3RLookBack]

Looked at the old video and scanned through this again but finally found a helpful comment. You are correct, and it looks like theres are no somber 7s available without killing bosses, so that's why its not mentioned in the guide. The advice I found was to just go with +6 and wait till you get into the capital city for your +7. Quoting the comment below: "Somber 7 is an interesting one in the fact that you'd either need to wrongwarp to Crumbling Farum Azula, zip glitch or parkour master a jump in Volcano Manor (which you can get to early from the pit (Abductor Virgin) in Raya Lucaria), or get into Leyndell Capital. Any of which would extend this route by 30-45 minutes or more, maybe less if you know what you're doing. I know, it's crazy that 1-6 and 8-9 are so easy, but 7 is a pain is the butt to get. Thankfully, at a +6 somber weapon, both Margit and Godrick go down with ease, and Rennala and Radagon Wolf become pretty easy too. After that, you can get into Leyndell, go down to the Shunning Grounds, drop off the pipes into the pit with the crawfish, and grab the +7 down there to finish it off until after Godskin Duo, or the various questlines that give an ancient somber dragon smithing stone."

[@ArdentAsh]

Thanks for this! This was really easy to follow and is going to help make playing Elden Ring a lot more fun for me

[@DannieJensen]

Thanks bro, I can't say i enjoyed doing this, but I'm sure as hell gonna enjoy the results :)

[@Saf_]

Felt weird not watching a fishy video at the weekend man!

[@ThingfishyGaming]

Haha, it was weird waking up on Satruday with nothing to put out. I was hoping to have the Archthrones one out at the weekend, but after they announced a patch was coming, I wanted to play it again on new patch before doing a vid, so decided to switch to this. Thanks for watching, as always, Saf!

[@afm571]

Well geez, gonna have to tell work I gotta take the week off. Thanks fishthingy.

[@AnnLesbi]

I would like to mention that, since we go to Altus Plateau anyway, you can pick up an 8th Sacred Tear at the Second Church of Marika, which is an easy drop down near where you pick up the map. I love the content Thingfishy, keep it up!

[@cornthdl]

Great idea to update. 2.0 here we go!

[@ewybean]

Small tip I learned while watching speedruns is if you hold block while picking up items it skips most of the pickup animation and more importantly letting u start sprinting/rolling sooner, making some of these suicide runs just a smidgen comfier

[@WolfWing177]

Another great video fishy! Hope to see a lies of p video again in the future :D

[@jadedjay8928]

Not sure if this was said already but there’s a somber 2 behind the sorcerer with the book when you walk into Raya Lucaria and another golden seed off a path to the left when you exit the lift of dectus, hope this helps.

[@ayasolaris4971]

awesome video. One thing that I think could helped is a more zoomed in map of the locations, so its a bit easier to read

[@Hwachaaah]

just beat the game for the first time, and i wanna run up some not-so-meta-weapon runs!! this is perfect thank you! my next playthrough is gonna be on short spear, and then after that is gonna be powerstance pickaxe!

[@Izabehl]

Returning to the game as well, thanks for this walkthrough, I appreciate you!