History EldenRing / TropesOToZ

* RecurringBoss: Several bosses are reused multiple times, sometimes with nothing but changed stats and sometimes with one or two new moves and maybe a PaletteSwap, but some stand out for frequency:

** The Red Wolf of Radagon seems like a story boss, but four other near-identical Red Wolves show up as minibosses throughout the game.

** It should be noted the term "Demigod" is multilayered and encompasses beings of vastly different power levels. It's used, most often, in context to Marika's direct brood; her children she had with Godfry and Radagon. Demigod in our real world history refers to an offspring born from a union between a God and a mortal. In Lands Between however; Marika is the TopGod, and her consorts are ''DeityOfHumanOrigin'', ''once'' mortal champions turned into Lords through SuperEmpowering, and referred as Demigods. Thus, Marika's Demigod children have a full Divine parent and a SemiDivine parent; as such, they display ''immense'' power, ranging from an utter mastery in arms and magic, to more Esoteric abilities, can be {{Physical God}}s in their own right, and worshipped as such. The lesser offsprings of these Demigods (such as Godrick and [[spoiler: Millicent]]) are in turn much more in-line with classical depictions in terms of power (being very gifted, but far lesser champions) even though they too are referred to as Demigods.

** And the Pot Warriors: sentient, animated pot jars which explode liquid when they die. Their shards are also coveted by poachers thanks to the magic within.

** Another peninsula would be at [[spoiler:Mohgwyn Palace, and a much more compact one at that. At the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace, there's a gathering of Albinaurics who drop around 2000 runes each. And there's around 17 of them from just across the grace, and almost all of them not reacting to the player until attacked. There's also a Giant Crow across a very large chasm that, if aggroed by shooting it with a bow, will stupidly run straight off the cliff and into said chasm in its attempt to reach you, netting you 11,000 runes. The way to get to the area in the first place is to either go through a portal at the Consecrated Snowfields near the Yelough Anix Ruins... or complete Varré's quest of invading three players, join their order, and get an item that teleports to the entrance of the boss arena, with a map and a site of grace just right inside. Granted, the bird farm quickly becomes irrelevant for higher levels, and the way to efficiently farm the much more lucrative Albinaurics is to use the Sacred Relic Sword, which is gained by exchanging the remembrance of the FinalBoss, along with the Gold Scarab, the Holy Scorpion Charm, the Shard of Alexander and Ritual Sword Talisman to not only get more runes from the Gold Scarab, but to help guarantee the overkill bonus for even more. Even then, this only shines in NewGamePlus when the rune gain is doubled in the area.]]

* PlatformHell: There are a few out-of-the-way areas that can only be reached by precarious jumps across tiny platforms, which doesn't play well with the game's sense of momentum and judgment of what constitutes a lethal drop. Expect the surroundings to be painted with bloodstains in online mode.
* PlayerHeadquarters: The Roundtable Hold is this for the Tarnished. It is hidden headquarter for all Tarnished working under the Two Fingers' command to work toward one of them becoming the next Elden Lord. It acts as a safe haven for the Tarnished as well as several helpful characters and merchants, all of whom can't be attacked due to a pact. In there, one can notably gather helpful information on the whereabouts of the bosses, upgrade their equipment and visit merchants to notably buy boss weapons.

* PointOfNoReturn: After [[spoiler:defeating Maliketh, The Black Blade and completing Crumbling Farum Azula]], you will no longer be able to go to [[spoiler:Leyndell as it was above-ground, as now it becomes completely covered in ash and turns into another gameplay area entirely with new enemies and treasures]]. Although there aren't any explicit warnings this is a case, you have a grace period [[spoiler:after you start burning the Erdtree and it has an a noticeable impact on the world]]. Subverted as this only affects the area in question: you are still free to explore the rest of the world which is left as it is, and follow other available questlines--except Coryhn/Goldmask and Shabriri.
* PollutedWasteland: Caelid and [[spoiler:the Lake of Rot]] are this, having been devastated by the scarlet rot because of Malenia releasing the rot during her fight against Radahn. As a result, these area have a number of hazards and enemies which can inflict rot on the player.

* RecurringBoss: Almost all bosses will be reused multiple times, sometimes with nothing but changed stats and sometimes with one or two new moves and maybe a PaletteSwap, but some stand out for frequency:

** Tibia Mariner can be encountered four times over the course of the game, three times as a field boss and once as a miniboss. Curiously, the last one lacks the others' ability to summon undead, making it the weakest of the lot.

* RedSkyTakeWarning: The Caelid Wilds have a very prominent red sky.

* SealedEvilInACan: Around the world the Tarnished can come across concave stone platforms whose centers are inscribed with a glowing seal and are surrounded by ominous stone worms. These 'Evergaols' each allow the Tarnished to initiate a boss-fight against their particular prisoner who will drop a unique piece of loot.

** Another odd sequence break allows you to access Leyndell without having two Great Runes. If you are able to access Deeproot Depths and defeat [[spoiler:Fia's Champions]], you unlock a waygate which teleports you to Leyndell after the barrier which would have otherwise blocked you. However, accessing Deeproot Depths involves going out of the way to progress [[spoiler:Ranni's sidequest]], involves defeating enemies and bosses more powerful than the dungeons containing the expected Great Runes, and results in you getting a Great Rune ''anyways'', thus the break isn't attractive for either casual players or speedrunners.
** Another way to get into Leyndell without two Great Runes is to take a teleporter chest in the Weeping Peninsula that takes you to a small section of Leyndell. Normally, you are limited to this one section, since the elevator connecting it to the rest of Leyndell is stuck at the bottom, and you're all the way at the top. However, you can negate the fall damage by blowing yourself up with the Rupturing Crystal Tear at a very precise point in the fall. Or you could use the Taunter's Tongue and hope an invader spawns at the bottom of the elevator and has to ride it up to get to you, activating it permanently.
** To access the Consecrated Snowfield, the game's BrutalBonusLevel, you need the two halves of the Haligtree Medallion - one half is obtained from a hidden NPC in a village in Liurnia, the other is locked behind a challenging boss in the Mountaintops of the Giants. You can skip ''both'' with death-warp abuse; by jumping off of a cliff in the Mountaintops, you can die in range of a Stake of Marika, giving you the option to warp straight to the Snowfield, at which point it's just a matter of making a mad dash for a Grace before one of the endgame enemies takes you out.

* SoiledCityOnAHill: Leyndell is the impossibly huge and opulent capital of Marika's empire, and seemingly one of the only places left mostly intact by the Shattering, but it hides some seriously dark secrets. Not only are the sewers crawling with discarded Omen children whom the populace above had no desire to deal with, but buried deep beneath its surface [[spoiler:are the Three Fingers, heralds of the Frenzied Flame]]. In addition, the [[SerialKiller Loathsome Dung Eater]] still stalks the streets, leaving defiled corpses in his wake, even in the high class areas of the city.

* SpoilerOpening: The images shown in the game's introductive cutscene spoil and hint at several things in the story that only players who played through the game would understand, in no particular order: [[spoiler: It reveals Marika shattered the Elden Ring, that Marika has an alternate male body, Rykard being devoured by the God-Eating Serpent, that "Margit" fought in the Shattering, shows Mohg kidnapping Miquella, and that Hourah Loux is the original identity of Godfrey.]]

** On the other hand, there are Those Who Live In Death, which are people who will not stay dead as a result of the Rune of Destined Death being partially embedded in Godwin's corpse, and the influence of said rune spreading across the Lands Between to make corpses rise from their graves. They can be destroyed but will rise again unless their bodies are struck or they are slain with holy damage or with the Litany of Proper Death. Their existence is considered an affront to the Golden Order and so they are actively hunted down and destroyed by undead hunters.

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:Leyndell, Capital of Ash, a BossOnlyLevel accessed after defeating Maliketh and setting fire to the Erdtree]].

** [[spoiler:Godfrey also recognizes the Tarnished as this, and compliments them by saying they fought nobly if he kills them during his first phase. When entering his second phase as Hoaroah Loux, he decides he's given them "courtesy enough" and kills Serosh so he can give them the proper walloping his station demands.]]

** Black-Key Bolts are crossbow bolts which can inflict scarlet rot, but they're not craftable or purchaseable and you can only find a limited number of them in a single playthrough. You're better off using the craftable but slightly weaker Rotbone Bolts.

* VancianMagic: Sorcerors can learn dozens of spells, but they can only actively wield as many as they are able to memorize while resting at Sites of Grace. Each spell produces a distinct magical effect, such as Glintstone Pebble firing a mid-range projectile with moderate homing capability. Spells also draw from the caster's finite pool of FP, meaning a sorceror can only cast spells a limited number of times before needing to rest or drink from a Flask of Cerulean Tears.

* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Gravity magic exists in this game. It is used to drag those in and basically prevent them from moving for a moment.

** The Dragons of ''Elden Ring'' are said to have ruled in an Age of Stone, and were ancient when the God-kin (Marika and her brood) were young. Sometime after, the power of dragons faded, and during the very early age of the Erdtree, war erupted between the Dragons and the Empire, due to the latter’s fear of “foreign” fire. The war devastated both sides, until Godwyn the Golden faced Fortissax, the Legendary Dragon General. Though Godwyn had the upper hand and was prepared to strike down Fortissax, he instead spared his life. Befriending the mighty drake, Godywn convinced his mother the Dragons were better as allies, Marika forged a pact with the Dragons and the Dragons were elevated to a position similar to lesser God-kin. This eventually flourished to outright worship, and a Dragon Cult formed at the Imperial Capital, soon encompassing many might knights and warriors. It would eventually become the Empire's unofficial "secondary" religion, as the demigods decreed the worship of the Erdtree did not conflict with idolizing the Ancient Dragons. After the Shattering, dragonkind still lingers and split into two different groups.

*** [[spoiler:One who had part of its essence sealed underneath the Lake of Rot, which resulted in the unholy Scarlet Rot infested place it is now. Not only the Scarlet Rot is a corruption incurable to even the God-kin, the entity appears to have marked Malenia since birth to become an extension of it as “Goddess of Rot”.]]

** The area in the Lake of Rot where you fight [[spoiler:the Baleful Shadow of Blaidd]] looks a ''lot'' like the painting ''Pandemonium'' by John Martin.

* SoiledCityOnAHill: Leyndell is the impossibly huge and opulent capital of Marika's empire, and seemingly one of the only places left mostly intact by the Shattering, but it hides some seriously dark secrets. Not only are the sewers crawling with discarded Omen children whom the populace above had no desire to deal with, but buried deep beneath its surface [[spoiler:are the Three Fingers, heralds of the Frenzied Flame]].

** Godrick, at the end of the same dungeon Margit opens, is another test of skill. He isn't quite as aggressive as Margit, but he is ''beefy,'' requiring a lot of attacks to bring down. With Margit, a sufficiently strong player who has been exploring the world could potentially damage race to victory, if they showed some skill; the same does ''not'' hold true for the master of Stormveil Castle, who will punish greedy strikes and initiate attacks with odd dodging windows, forcing the player to learn how to dodge ''properly'' and capitalize on certain attacks. His [[spoiler:second phase]] is a final exam of sorts for the opening act of the game, as he becomes even more brutal, if predictable; a player who has learned their lesson and seeks out moments to strike will come out ahead, while any player still convinced they can attack mindlessly will be beaten into the ground. Additionally, [[spoiler:a little exploring in Stormveil can lead you to find a powerful summonable ally for the fight, Nephili Loux. She can take a lot of heat off the player with her aggressive attacks.]]

* WarIsHell: The Shattering has absolutely decimated the Lands Between, with almost every settlement in ruins and '''very''' few sane civilians left in the countryside. The Tarnished's primary foes are the armies of the various demigods, who have occupied and utterly despoiled the Lands Between, with bands of soldiers descending from their fortresses to commit unspeakable atrocities against the few souls who remain.

** Crucible Knights probably take the cake. They are encountered four times as bosses: twice alone (one just called Crucible Knight, another with the name Crucible Knight Siluria), once as a duo with a Leonine Misbegotten, and once as a duo of two Crucible Knights (a generic Knight and another named one, Crucible Knight Ordovis). ''Nine'' others show up around the game as non-respawning minibosses in six separate encounters (three single fights and three duo fights), for a total of fourteen Crucible Knights in ten boss or miniboss fights throughout the game. Aside from differing stats (most of the miniboss versions are actually tougher than the first boss version), every Crucible Knight is identical to one of two variants (spear or greatsword) in appearance and move set.

** Crucible Knights probably take the cake. They are encountered four times as bosses: twice alone (one just called Crucible Knight, another with the name Crucible Knight Siluria), once as a duo with a Leonine Misbegotten, and once as a duo of two Crucible Knights (a generic name and another named one, Crucible Knight Ordovis). ''Nine'' others show up around the game as non-respawning minibosses in six separate encounters (three single fights and three duo fights), for a total of fourteen Crucible Knights in ten boss or miniboss fights throughout the game. Aside from differing stats (most of the miniboss versions are actually tougher than the first boss version), every Crucible Knight is identical to one of two variants (spear or greatsword) in appearance and move set.

** Godrick, a hulking demigod whose back is covered in dozens of prosthetic arms and who has even more sprouting off of his actual arm. He later uses the severed head of a dragon as an ArmCannon.

** Godrick, at the end of the same dungeon Margit opens, is another test of skill. He isn't quite as aggressive as Margit, but he is ''beefy,'' requiring a lot of attacks to bring down. With Margit, a sufficiently strong player who has been exploring the world could potentially damage race to victory, if they showed some skill; the same does ''not'' hold true for the master of Stormveil Castle, who will punish greedy strikes and initiate attacks with odd dodging windows, forcing the player to learn how to dodge ''properly'' and capitalize on certain attacks. His [[spoiler:second phase]] is a final exam of sorts for the opening act of the game, as he becomes even more brutal, if predictable; a player who has learned their lesson and seeks out moments to strike will come out ahead, while any player still convinced they can attack mindlessly will be beaten into the ground.

** Very near the above location, you can find a MageTower called Lenne's Rise. West of the tower is a path with a cliff at one side. Ride down the path on Torrent a short ways and a giant steel ball will appear and attempt to run you over. As it appears, make a U-turn towards the cliff side and dash past it so that it rolls right off the cliff. Since this ball is technically an enemy, it "dies" from falling off the cliff and gives you about 1900 runes. This makes for a slightly faster and safer, yet far more boring rune farm than the above Vulgar Militiamen.
** Another peninsula would be at [[spoiler:Mohgwyn's Palace, and a much more compact one at that. At the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace, there's a gathering of Albinaurics who drop around 2000 runes each. And there's around 17 of them from just across the grace, and almost all of them not reacting to the player until attacked. There's also a Giant Crow across a very large chasm that, if aggroed by shooting it with a bow, will stupidly run straight off the cliff and into said chasm in its attempt to reach you, netting you 11,000 runes. The way to get to the area in the first place is to either go through a portal at the Consecrated Snowfields near the Yelough Anix Ruins... or complete Varre's quest of invading three players, join their order, and get an item that teleports to the entrance of the boss arena, with a map and a site of grace just right inside. Granted, the bird farm quickly becomes irrelevant for higher levels, and the way to efficiently farm the much more lucrative Albinaurics is to use the Sacred Relic Sword, which is gained by exchanging the remembrance of the FinalBoss, along with the Gold Scarab, the Holy Scorpion Charm, the Shard of Alexander and Ritual Sword Talisman to not only get more runes from the Gold Scarab, but to help guarantee the overkill bonus for even more. Even then, this only shines in NewGamePlus when the rune gain is doubled in the area.]]

** Death Birds and their slight variants, Death Rite Birds, are fought a grand total of eight times across the game.

* PointOfNoReturn: After [[spoiler:defeating Maliketh, The Black Blade and completing Crumbling Farum Azula]], you will no longer be able to go to [[spoiler:Leyndell as it was above-ground, as now it becomes completely covered in ash and turns into another gameplay area entirely with new enemies and treasures]]. Although there aren't any explicit warnings this is a case, you have a grace period [[spoiler:after you start burning the Erdtree and it has an a noticeable impact on the world]]. Subverted as this only affects the area in question: you are still free to explore the rest of the world which is left as it is, and follow other available questlines.

** Erdtree Avatars (including the Putrid variants) have fourteen boss and miniboss fights throughout the game, always solo. Some of the later ones actually respawn.

** Crucible Knights probably take the cake. They are encountered four times as bosses: twice alone (one just called Crucible Knight, another with the name Crucible Knight Siluria), once as a duo with a Leonine Misbegotten, and once as a duo of two Crucible Knights (a generic name and another named one, Crucible Knight Ordovis). ''Nine'' others show up around the game as non-respawning minibosses in six separate encounters (three single fights and three duo fights), for a total of fourteen Crucible Knights in nine boss or miniboss fights throughout the game. Aside from differing stats (most of the miniboss versions are actually tougher than the first boss version), every Crucible Knight is identical to one of two variants (spear or greatsword) in appearance and move set.

** Something which looks like a giant crawling hand with way too many fingers.
** A misshapen creature shrouded in a robe who crawls like a spider on dozens of human-looking arms.
** A huge quadrupedal stone construct with a bell hung from its underside and some sort of building on top.

** Strange, crawling creatures who dwell in Agheel's lake and have bodies shaped like massive, slimy eggs.

** Trolls in the setting are barrel-chested giants but are emaciated to the point their stomachs are caved in.

** The Scarseal/Soreseal talismans give a +3/+5 increase to four stats (Vigor/Endurance/Strength/Dexterity for Radagon's, Mind/Intelligence/Faith/Arcane for Marika's) in exchange for more damage taken (about 10% depending on which talisman). However, having the equivalent of 12/20 levels of stat increases far outweighs the downside, especially for Radagon's talismans which give defensive stats which counteract this penalty. There is also the Scarab head pieces, the Crimson and Cerulean ones increase the effectiveness of their respective flasks, while the others reduce the FP cost to either sorceries, incantations or weapon skills, all in exchange for increasing damage taken.

* SpellBlade: One of the Ash of War skills is Carian Glintsword, which lets the Tarnished wreathe their sword in mystical energy, and charge it to create a glowing blue {{BFS}} far larger than they are tall. Carian Grandeur is a variation that makes a bigger BFS.

** Any craftable item which uses a "rare" ingredient that does not respawn after you pick it up. While there are enemies which drop these ingredients so you can still replenish your supply after exhausting all of the naturally occuring ones, [[DemonicSpiders they are almost never enemies that anyone in their right mind would want to fight repeatedly]]. Note that Aeonian Butterflies are one such ingredient, and are needed to craft the above-mentioned Rotbone Bolts (and most other scarlet-rot-related items). Despite them being the "replenishable" alternative to Black-Key Bolts, Rotbone Bolts may themselves eventually become this trope for you as well. Unless farming [[DemonicSpiders Basilisks]] in [ThaTOneLevel the Lake of Rot]] somehow sounds appealing to you.