noob questsion, new to the game

[CosmicAcidGuru]

sorry for those super noob questions, but it seems Elden ring is pretty hard to get into especially without any into about skill, spells, actions, keybindings. so here I go:

I'm playing with keyboard on PC

- how do I gain HP back? as a confessor, I have heal spell which seems to be the only option, but that brings me to 2nd question:
- how do I gain mana back?
- how do I move backwards? I don't want to turn my back to an enemy
- I saw in a video that there is guard attacks, how do I do them?
- I'm in the starter area with those guards with torchers: They jump me out of invisibility and are only show for a split second while attacking. Is there some see invis option? I'm confused about the very first enemies in the game having this mechanic. Or did I take a wrong turn and didn't find the starter area?
- is there any setting so that I always face and attack in the way I look? Plenty of time my character looks, walks, parries and attacks to the side while the enemy in front of me attacks me without any chance to defend
- how do I get exp?

[huma474]

HP - You can drink red flasks for health or visit the Grace fires
FP - Blue Flasks or fires
To be able to back run while facing an enemy you need to target lock them
To guard attack you parry an enemy's attack by blocking right before they hit and then immediately hit an attack button to trigger it.
For the starter area - did you go through the white smoke door ? that's a very hard dungeon that is higher level zone than the tutorial dungeon monsters.
Target lock will face your character in the direction of the camera when no enemy is visible.
XP in this game is money - the Gold Runes you get from killing enemies is used to level up at the sites of Grace you fine. You won't be able to start leveling up right away, you need to make a little progress into the game before the level up system will unlock.

[huma474]

Q or Middle mouse button are the default keybinds to be able to use target locking

[Kovak]

Originally posted by huma474:

HP - You can drink red flasks for health or visit the Grace fires
FP - Blue Flasks or fires
To be able to back run while facing an enemy you need to target lock them
To guard attack you parry an enemy's attack by blocking right before they hit and then immediately hit an attack button to trigger it.
For the starter area - did you go through the white smoke door ? that's a very hard dungeon that is higher level zone than the tutorial dungeon monsters.
Target lock will face your character in the direction of the camera when no enemy is visible.
XP in this game is money - the Gold Runes you get from killing enemies is used to level up at the sites of Grace you fine. You won't be able to start leveling up right away, you need to make a little progress into the game before the level up system will unlock.

Only correction to this would be that Guard Attack is when an enemy hits you while your blocking with a shield and press the Heavy attack button just after he hits, its easier than parrying, R2 on controllers, not sure on keyboard

[mldb88]

-To get HP back, you use your flask (the sippy drink item you got after the tutorial area). Equip the item in your equpiment, make sure it's selected/the active item on the HUD, then press the use item button.
-Resting at a grace gives you the option to allocate flasks, the second flask (blue ones) restore mana.
-If you want to move backwards without turning around, use the lockon (not sure what the keyboard binds are for it, personally play with a controller)
-For guard attacks, press the heavy attack button immediately after blocking an attack
-The invisibility bit MIGHT be a bug? there is an area later on with sorcerers that only show when you get close, but it might be the invisible enemies bug, check similar threads or the bug report thread on steam for fixes to see if that works?
-There's no setting to 'always' face the enemy, but locking on will make you face your targetted enemy, and you can change targets using the appropriate button
-EXP you can get by killing enemies or by using rune items. When resting at a site of grace you can spend these points to level up your abilities. These points also function as in game currency for buying items from shops and such.

Personally I'd recommend switching to controller since Fromsoft games have always been a nightmare on kb/mouse setup, but considering people have beaten DS1 on a freaking Guitar Hero controller... it's definitely 'doable'.

[WillD]

i try to answer in order:
-you have the potions numbered and with those you can regen both mana and hp but you need to sort the amount of mana and hp potion because the number is shared, you can put all vials in hp or all in mana but you need to play accordingly to what you select. the selection is changable infinite times at every site of grace and you can also find items to upgrade the quanitty of mana and hp restored and also add more vials in total
-to move backwards you can lock enemies, i play on controller so cant help you with key bindings but there is a mechanic that lets you lock on a certain enemy and move always facing the said enemy
-i dont get what you mean with guard attacks but if you mean parry you can do them by timing the shield or you can backstab an enemy if you go behind him and do a light attack, you can also attack while having your shield up but beware that you dont block when you are doing the attack animation so pay attention
-the invisible enemies i think is a glitch, i didnt encounter any invisible enemies
-to face wher you attack use the mentioned lock mechanic with enemies, still search for key bindings cuz i cant help you there
-you get xp from killing enemies, its the same resource used as currency and you can also use it to buy stuff from merchant. IMPORTANT, when you die ALL your exp is lost in the place where you died but you can take it back ONLY if you go back to that point and interact with a golden bush that forms after your death, if you die BEFORE retrieving them they are forever lost. example: i have 1k souls i die under a tree now i have 0 souls, i need to go back to said tree and interact with the golden bush formed under the tree. if i die i lose those 1k souls but not the souls i got while going back retrieving the 1k.

end

[Joreel]

Also the invisible enemies are a bug. The guards there shouldn't be invisible. Are your drivers
for your GPU updated? Also what graphics settings are you using? When I was playing at 4K and 1440p at max I had invisible enemies, but when I turned down the settings to High it seem to fix the issue as the game used less of the GPUs memory to render. Try turning the quality down, restart your system and see if it helps.

[Hoki]

Originally posted by CosmicAcidGuru:

- how do I gain HP back? as a confessor, I have heal spell which seems to be the only option, but that brings me to 2nd question:
- how do I gain mana back?

there are multiple ways that can be found. as soon as you leave the introductory area and get into the tutorial catacombs you get access to tears (3 health - 1 fp) which you can upgrade and change the ratio at sides of grace. they are your goto option for healing - especially when you only have little time in combat. with a lil bit of exploration you can get "heal via criticals" and a "weak life regeneration" talismans

Originally posted by CosmicAcidGuru:

- how do I move backwards? I don't want to turn my back to an enemy
- I saw in a video that there is guard attacks, how do I do them?

with R3 you can lock onto enemies. with active lockon you walk backwards unless you're running. a guard counter is easier to pull of than parries. parries are weapon arts of some shields while the counter can be done with any shield as long as the incoming attack doesnt break your block (draining all your stamina). right after the enemies attack hits your shield just use R2 (main hand heavy attack). a parry instantly breaks the enemies stance while the counter deals dmg and does high stance dmg.

Originally posted by CosmicAcidGuru:

- is there any setting so that I always face and attack in the way I look? Plenty of time my character looks, walks, parries and attacks to the side while the enemy in front of me attacks me without any chance to defend
- how do I get exp?

with an active lock onyour character will always face towards the target. how to lock on is stated above. runes represent your money and your experience. you basically buy your levels once you have the maiden unlocked.

[CosmicAcidGuru]

- thanks for all the replies. I thought the one mana vial I havewould be used up when I use it. but I figured, I can refill it.

- I'm now even more confused about the guard attacks. But I guess I need to try and learn. I just die so fast when never facing my shield towards the enemies.

- so I tried that target lock (Q) but then I can't freely move anymore. How do you guys fight? Do you fight with or without target lock? Both options feel terrible.

I'm playing on PC, so I have no controller but only keyboard, I guess that is an issue.

[mldb88]

Originally posted by CosmicAcidGuru:

- thanks for all the replies. I thought the one mana vial I havewould be used up when I use it. but I figured, I can refill it.

- I'm now even more confused about the guard attacks. But I guess I need to try and learn. I just die so fast when never facing my shield towards the enemies.

- so I tried that target lock (Q) but then I can't freely move anymore. How do you guys fight? Do you fight with or without target lock? Both options feel terrible.

I'm playing on PC, so I have no controller but only keyboard, I guess that is an issue.

I'm playing on PC also, but use a 3rd party Xbox controller for most of my gaming. Definitely makes the game tons easier. As for the other points:

-Guard attacks: After blocking an enemy attack while guarding, press heavy attack and it should do the guard counter. Lock-on helps with keeping your shield the right direction.

-When locked on, your movement changes so that you're essentially strafing/moving around a central point, that point being the enemy you're locked on to. It does take a little getting used to but both options (or a mix of the two depending on the situation) are viable. If I'm facing hordes of enemies, sometimes I'll switch between lock on and free roam controls based on if the enemies are grouped, or if i'm getting flanked so I can freely control the camera to avoid getting backed into a corner.

Mostly just takes practice. It'll get easier the more you use it. Personally I'd say head either north east following the road, or head around to the island to the south when starting out. Those are 'generally' more beginner friendly areas (with the exception of a few high power enemies meant to be avoided, like Tree Sentinel and a 'surprise' boss)

[huma474]

Originally posted by CosmicAcidGuru:

- thanks for all the replies. I thought the one mana vial I havewould be used up when I use it. but I figured, I can refill it.

- I'm now even more confused about the guard attacks. But I guess I need to try and learn. I just die so fast when never facing my shield towards the enemies.

- so I tried that target lock (Q) but then I can't freely move anymore. How do you guys fight? Do you fight with or without target lock? Both options feel terrible.

I'm playing on PC, so I have no controller but only keyboard, I guess that is an issue.

you'll eventually be able to get more flasks as you go, there's items out there for upgrading both the number (Golden Seeds) and Quality (Sacred Chalices) that you'll find all around as you explore.

target locking is something you get used too, eventually you'll be toggling it on or off as needed without issues.

[CosmicAcidGuru]

thanks a lot for the responses. But thsoe controls are so abysmal, I'm not sure I really want to practice that. The game looks pretty cool, but the controls/movement.... wow, I didn't think anyone could come up with something that terrible.

[mldb88]

Originally posted by CosmicAcidGuru:

thanks a lot for the responses. But thsoe controls are so abysmal, I'm not sure I really want to practice that. The game looks pretty cool, but the controls/movement.... wow, I didn't think anyone could come up with something that terrible.

Yea playing with keyboard is a terrible experience. I'ts a LOT more fluid on a controller, but then again the From games have always had this issue. Controller layout in its simplest breakdown is:
Shoulder bumpers/triggers for light attack/heavy attack and block/weapon art
B- rolls/dodges/run button
A- Jump
X- Item
Y- Interact
Dpad-swap equipment slots
R3-lockon