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Where to go first in Elden Ring, without wrecking your run
Limgrave, then Stormveil, then Liurnia — the trap isn't the order, it's wandering into Caelid or the capital gate before you're ready.
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Limgrave, then Stormveil, then Liurnia — the trap isn't the order, it's wandering into Caelid or the capital gate before you're ready.
Play Limgrave first, take Stormveil Castle before anything else, then work through Liurnia toward Raya Lucaria — that's the intended spine of the early game. This guide names the major areas and bosses up to the Royal Capital, so if you want every location to stay a surprise, stop here. Nothing below spoils endings or late-game twists.
You start in a cliffside cave with a tutorial encounter against the Grafted Scion — a boss that hits far harder than anything else for miles. You're not meant to win it yet. Run past it toward the fog gate exit or just die to it; either way you land in the open world proper, at the Church of Elleh, with your first two flasks already in hand (Crimson Tears for HP, Cerulean Tears for FP). If you want that fight back later at a level where it's fair, the Four Belfries let you return to it.
Rest at a couple of Sites of Grace and Melina turns up to offer herself as your maiden. Say yes and she hands you the Spectral Steed Whistle, which summons Torrent — get this before you go looking for any of the other early areas, since half of Limgrave's optional content assumes you have a horse and a double jump.
The first real boss is Margit, the Fell Omen, guarding the approach to Stormveil Castle. He's optional in the sense that nothing forces you to fight him the moment you meet him — you can leave, explore, level up, and come back — but you do need to beat him eventually to get through Stormveil's gate. Margit is also where most people learn Elden Ring's most important skill, which is why a poise build or a shield can make the difference between a ten-minute fight and a two-hour one.
Godrick the Grafted, at the end of Stormveil Castle, is the first demigod and the fight the game expects you to have prepared for by exploring Limgrave first — picking up gear, side dungeons, and levels before walking in. After Godrick, the natural next stop is Liurnia of the Lakes and Raya Lucaria Academy, ending in Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. Beating Rennala also lets you fully respec your character for the price of a Larval Tear, which is worth knowing before you commit to a build you're unsure about.
From there the map opens up rather than narrowing: Caelid to the east (reachable via Redmane Castle for Starscourge Radahn's fight), Mt. Gelmir and the Altus Plateau to the south (leading to Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy), and eventually the Royal Capital, Leyndell, guarded by Morgott, the Omen King. None of these are strictly linear — you can beat Radahn before or after Rykard, for instance — but Godrick and Rennala are the two the rest of the game leans on.
| Stage | Boss | Recommended level (indicative) |
|---|---|---|
| Limgrave / Stormveil Castle | Margit, then Godrick the Grafted | Low; whatever exploring Limgrave's own dungeons naturally gets you to |
| Liurnia / Raya Lucaria Academy | Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon | A bit above Godrick's level, after clearing Liurnia's side content |
| Caelid / Redmane Castle | Starscourge Radahn | Around 60+ — guides that give a number tend to converge here |
| Leyndell, Royal Capital | Morgott, the Omen King | Noticeably above Radahn, after Altus Plateau and Mt. Gelmir |
| Mohgwyn Palace | Mohg, Lord of Blood | Around 90+, and worth doing after Rennala, Radahn, and Morgott, not before |
Take that level column as a rough compass, not a checklist: different outlets that publish a number at all don't agree on the exact figure, and your own level depends heavily on how much of each region's optional dungeons and locations you clear before moving on. Summons, a class built around your weapon of choice, and how much you're willing to reposition mid-fight matter more than the number next to your name.
Three spots account for most of the "this game is broken" moments that are actually just wrong-order moments:
Shadow of the Erdtree isn't something you stumble into — it opens up after you defeat both Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood. Once Mohg is down, interact with Miquella's Cocoon at the back of his boss arena to start the expansion's opening area.
There's no hard level gate stopping you from doing this early, but the content is built for a character who has already been through most of the base game: guides that cite a number tend to land somewhere between 100 and 150-plus, with some noting that even the developers' own playtests skewed toward the higher end of that. The DLC also runs on its own separate power curve — Scadutree Fragments you collect inside it — so raw character level matters less there than it does everywhere else, and grinding levels beforehand isn't the fix if the fights still feel too hard once you're in.