Elden Ring is more of a traditional role-playing game than any of the previous FromSoftware titles. This is present in the open-world tropes that the game utilizes, such as the ability to ride a mount or increase your weapon’s stats. It’s perhaps most evident in Elden Ring with the ability to level up your character, however. You have different stats that you can increase to level up, but this will require cold-hard Runes.
Leveling up in Elden Ring isn’t available from the start of the game, so you’ll have some time to acquire Runes and use them to spend on stat increases. With every stat increase that you spend Runes on, you earn one character level. So, if you started at Level 9 and increased your Strength stat by one, you would be Level 10. Below, you can find more details about how to level up in Elden Ring.
Leveling your character up in Elden Ring
The ability to level up comes after you meet Melina at a Site of Grace. You must rest at three different sites before Melina will make herself known and offer to be your maiden in the game. She will give you Torrent the horse as a reward for agreeing — but she also allows you to increase your stats and, in turn, level up.
Once Melina is done talking, you now have the option at any Site of Grace to level up. Just select the option for that and you’ll be brought to the leveling menu. From there, you can spend Runes to increase the value of any stat by one. You can see how this change affects your other stats in Elden Ring, such as physical damage, immunity, HP and more.
The lower a stat is, the less Runes it will take to level it up by one. However, as you go on and increase more stats, you’ll need more Runes to level up. This can often be a tricky decision, as Runes are also used to purchase items from merchants, such as the Crafting Kit, Ashes of War and Spirit Ash summons.
If you need higher stats and a higher character level, though, spending the Runes to level up is worth it in Elden Ring. You might want to consider acquiring some better gear before you start leveling up too much, however.
