Play the game raw the first time. Just explore a lot and don’t get too frustrated from dying and losing all your runes. It will happen a lot. Just pick yourself up and try again.

I’d suggest heading south for your first playthrough when you make it to Limgrave instead of towards Stormveil Castle. You’ll get more experience and possibly some gear in some areas that are easier than stormveil for a new player.

You do not need mods. Elden Ring can be made quite easier than other From Software games out of the box. It’s an open world, if you’re blocked at some point, you can go somewhere else to level up and get better. Also, you can summon spirits to help you with bosses and in some areas. And like with previous games, you can ask other humans to help you in difficult moments. I’d recommend to check some guides for beginner friendly builds. Otherwise, you’re good to go. The difficulty in those games is real, but it has been exagerated a lot.

I don’t typically like soulsborne games but Elden Ring got me into it for a few reasons. The biggest one was I had no requirement to beat my head against the wall to continue. If you’re having trouble fighting a boss or type of enemy go somewhere else and fight through that area. Sometimes it’s just good practice to get used to the mechanics, and it’s good for leveling.

Don’t worry about losing runes and dying. Those are two very common things. Experienced players do it all the time too. My gf is obsessed with souls games and sometimes she will lose a lot of souls/runes while trying to recover them after death.

When you die it’s best to try and recover your runes if you can, and it’s okay to run past enemies, you don’t have to clear cut the whole area because when you save or die they respawn. If you need to grind out runes for a level you can always reset an area by saving at a bonfire, that’s a useful trick when you find an area you can clear out efficiently.

The wiki is helpful, the game tells you very little about what is going on or what to do next. There are also entire areas you’re very likely to miss if you don’t know about how to get to them, so exploration and when you come across something you don’t understand don’t feel stupid looking up a guide.

I built a dexterity oriented build and used Bloodhound Fang for almost the entire game and it worked out great. Unless they’ve nerfed that weapon it’s still very good for less experienced players. The game has a lot of information to learn, it’s overwhelming, but you’ll pick it up as you go.

If you really want mods, there’s one called Glorious Merchant. It makes the merchant at the beginning of the game (Kalé) sell every obtainable item for free, including runes that you can use to level up.

Helpful if you’re looking to test out a specific build/gear set from the beginning, but if you’re just using it to get as overpowered as possible, it’ll trivialize the game. If you use it, I recommend doing so in moderation.

Before you try mods, I’d recommend learning a bit more about the core of the game and deciding for yourself. A lot of people make the game harder for themselves than they need to because they refuse to make use of spirit ash summons that the game gives you very early on.

My recommendation, if you’re looking for an easy start that does well and doesn’t require much thought: go all in on strength. Find the biggest sword you can get, then find a second big sword and hold it in your other hand. When you have two of the same kind of weapon equipped (2 greatswords/2 colossal swords/etc) you can press LB to attack with both at the same time. Level up your endurance enough to stay in medium load, then throw the rest of your levels into vigor for HP and strength for damage. Other stats don’t really matter. Use spirit ashes (and NPC summons if available) in any fight you feel like. Don’t worry about shields, just practice dodge rolling to avoid damage.

My first playthrough, I used one colossal sword I got from beating the boss of Castle Morne down south in the Weeping Peninsula (Grafted Blade Greatsword), and then I used another colossal sword I picked up in the overworld in Caelid (Greatsword. Just “Greatsword”. Ironically it’s classified as a colossal sword and not a greatsword). I used those for the rest of the game and all through the DLC, and they can be obtained very early.

I should also add that I did this as someone who also had not played any Souls games prior, was worried about how hard Elden Ring would be, but stuck with it for a bit and ended up finding it very fun and manageable after a while.

Edit: forgot where one weapon came from.

Most important things to know:

1. Level vigor
2. Iframes - understand and get used to the dodge roll mechanic
3. Upgrade the weapon that has your favorite moveset once you have the base stats to use it

The rest has been said here. No need for mods, just try something else and/or go somewhere else if you hit a wall. There are a few difficulty spikes but they are overcome with additional leveling

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There is mod to make the game easier, even dumb easy. However, difficulty is also a part of this kind of game. My recommendation is just to play the game and enjoy ! If game is too hard, just go elsewhere : game is designed this way. Don’t be afraid to farm levels, to summon other player to help you, try different weapon/build or even to start again with a different starting class. You’ll be shocked by how much of the map is explorable without having to hit a single boss !

You mod yourself

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