Picking up a new Souls-like game like Lords of the Fallen can be tricky at first. There are a range of new mechanics to learn, tough bosses and enemies with unique attacks and plenty of large deadly areas to navigate through. With that in mind, here are my top five tips for getting started in Lords of the Fallen so you can have the best experience possible.
Don’t Be Afraid to Farm Levels
Don’t be afraid to slow things down and farm up some levels. You won’t simply be able to “get good” and unga bunga your way through all the content with ease. Having a bit more health or a bit more damage can easily be the make or break factor when going up against a tough boss or an area full of difficult enemies. You’d be surprised how many times you end up beating a boss by the skin of your teeth in Lords of the Fallen.
Whenever you find yourself really struggling you should put what you’re doing on hold. Farm up some levels and then come back to it. We’ve got a really great guide on early farming spots you can take advantage of so make sure you check that out!
Related: Best Time to Use Vestige Seedling Spawns in Lords of the Fallen
Shields Aren’t Good in Lords of the Fallen
Shields suck early on in Lords of the Fallen. While shields are an excellent choice to make use of blocking and parrying right from the get go in games like Dark Souls, it’s not the case here. Any attack that you block will Wither your health. You’ll need to make enough successful attacks to restore your Withered health before you get hit again. More often than not this will just throw off your timing with attacks as you try to get your health back and you’ll just end up being sad as you get skewered by enemies.
This does change further into the game once you’re able to actually upgrade a shield a bunch. You’ll take much less Withered damage and be able to recover to recover it effectively. At that stage they become good to use, but it can take a while to get a +4 or 5 shield going. In the meantime dodging is excellent in this game. You can dash or roll which gives you excellent options for evading. You’ll look like a badass and you won’t even have to worry about Withering your own health.
Upgrade Weapons Early in Lords of the Fallen
Upgrade your weapons as soon as possible. Upgrading the level of your weapons is huge for your damage in Lords of the Fallen. The stat scaling on them jumps up along with the base damage with each level. You can quickly take a weapon from wet spaghetti to a weapon of mass destruction once you have the right materials.
To upgrade your weapons you’ll first need to find Gerlinde the blacksmith. She’ll be in a cage right before you head in to fight the third boss in the game, the Mistress of Hounds. Talk to her and hand her the key and she’ll head back to Skyrest. Next time you head back there you’ll now be able to upgrade your weapons if you have enough Vigor and Deralium. A standard weapon at +5 or a boss weapon at +3 is where you get your first giant damage leap.
Don’t Waste Your Vestige Seeds in Lords of the Fallen
In Lords of the Fallen you’ll be able to place down a makeshift Vestige in locations that have an Umbral flower bed. Think of it as being able to choose from a bunch of locations where you want to have a makeshift Dark Souls Bonfire. Just like with the main Vestige locations, you’ll be able to rest, level up and warp to other locations from your planted Vestige seed. This can be hugely beneficial if you’re near a boss fight or halfway through a tough area with a long way back to run if you die. It’s a big time saver but the Vestige Seeds you’ll get access to are pretty limited early on. You’ll primarily be getting them as boss drops so make sure you use them wisely.
You can also buy them from Molhu, but they cost a hefty amount of vigor at 2500 a pop. You don’t want to plant one without checking around the next corner only to find a main Vestige to rest at mere steps away. Tip number four, don’t waste your Vestige Seeds. In Lords of the Fallen you’ll be able to place down a makeshift Vestige in locations that have an Umbral flower bed. Think of it as being able to choose from a bunch of locations where you want to have a makeshift Dark Souls Bonfire. Just like with the main Vestige locations, you’ll be able to rest, level up and warp to other locations from your planted Vestige seed.
Related: All Schools of Sorcery in Lords of the Fallen
This can be hugely beneficial if you’re near a boss fight or halfway through a tough area with a long way back to run if you die. It’s a big time saver but the Vestige Seeds you’ll get access to are pretty limited early on. You’ll primarily be getting them as boss drops so make sure you use them wisely. You can also buy them from Mohul, but they cost a hefty amount of vigor at 2500 a pop. You don’t want to plant one without checking around the next corner only to find a main Vestige to rest at mere steps away.
Don’t Sleep on Sorcery
Radiant, Infernal and Umbral sorcery are the three types of sorcery available in Lords of the Fallen, and they’re all incredibly powerful. Even if you’re playing a big sword wielding chad to double hand swing enemies into oblivion, with minimal investment you could imbue your weapon with Radiant damage and hit 50% harder. It’s also incredibly useful to have access to a few ranged damage sorceries. There are a ton of enemies in Lords of the Fallen that absolutely love to pepper you with spells and arrows from afar. It’s nice to have some sorceries on hand to zap them with when you don’t have enough throwing weapons or arrows on hand to deal with them all. With higher investment in the Radiant and Infernal stats you can get some pretty impressive nuking sorceries to help you chunk down bosses as well!
Those are the top five tips you should take into consideration when starting out with Lords of the Fallen. Doing so will save you a lot of headaches and make your tough journey through the game a little easier!
If you’re looking for more on the game, check out if you should explore in Axiom or Umbral in Lords of the Fallen.
