Elden Ring Early Optimization Route

Goal

The purpose of this route is to obtain as much useful gear, progression, and character power as possible before properly progressing through the main game or entering Altus Plateau.

This is intended for someone who has already beaten the game and does not need detailed navigation instructions for every location.

Main restrictions

  • Idus Knight is the primary starting class.
  • Vagabond is an optional alternative.
  • Stay at very low Rune Level.
  • Avoid killing Demigods, Great Enemies, and Legends until necessary.
  • Red Wolf of Radagon is the final step of this route.
  • Do not enter Altus Plateau during this phase.
  • The trip to Volcano Manor through the Raya Lucaria Abductor Virgin is allowed. It is used only to collect resources and activate the nearby route/bridge.
  • Somber Smithing Stone [7] is intentionally skipped for now.
  • Regular weapons are more important during this stage because Somber weapons can already reach +6 fairly easily.

Note: Rune Level milestones in this guide refer to the Idus Knight route unless otherwise stated.

Starting Class

Option A: Idus Knight

Recommended for the lowest-level version of the route.

Starts at RL7.

Stat Value
Vigor 10
Mind 12
Endurance 11
Strength 13
Dexterity 15
Intelligence 8
Faith 11
Arcane 6

Keepsake: Golden Seed

This gives you Golden Seed #1 immediately.

The Idus Knight route will eventually put one point into Dexterity and four into Faith, ending this setup at RL12.

Option B: Vagabond

The Vagabond is a good alternative if you prefer its starting stats and equipment.

Starts at RL9.

Stat Value
Vigor 15
Mind 10
Endurance 11
Strength 14
Dexterity 13
Intelligence 9
Faith 9
Arcane 7

Keepsake: Golden Seed

The important difference is that the Vagabond does not need to level Dexterity to use the Reed Great Katana once Radagon's Soreseal has been obtained.

The Reed Great Katana requires:

  • 11 Strength
  • 16 Dexterity

Radagon's Soreseal gives:

  • +5 Vigor
  • +5 Endurance
  • +5 Strength
  • +5 Dexterity

With the Soreseal equipped, the Vagabond effectively has:

  • 19 Strength
  • 18 Dexterity

This comfortably meets the Reed Great Katana's requirements without spending any levels on Dexterity.

The tradeoff is that the Vagabond starts with only 9 Faith, so the later RL12 / 15 Faith milestone is specific to the Idus Knight route. Adjust Faith investment according to how low you want to keep the Vagabond's Rune Level.

Phase 1: Limgrave Setup

Start by collecting the basic progression items and unlocking the main early-game systems.

  • Talk to Merchant Kalé
  • Get Torrent
  • Get the Spirit Calling Bell
  • Get the Limgrave Map
  • Get the Whetstone Knife at Gatefront Ruins
  • Collect the Golden Seed on the road toward Stormhill Shack
    • Golden Seeds: 2
  • Get the Stonesword Key at Stormhill Shack
  • Get the Spirit Jellyfish Ashes
  • Get Ash of War: Wild Strikes
  • Activate the Site of Grace outside Margit
  • Get the Strength-knot Crystal Tear
  • Collect Somber Smithing Stone [1]
  • Get a Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot

Third Church of Marika

  • Collect:
    • Flask of Wondrous Physick
    • Sacred Tear
  • Sacred Tears: 1
  • Start Kenneth Haight's quest
  • Get Fevor's Cookbook [1]
  • Use the waygate behind the Third Church of Marika to travel to the Bestial Sanctum
  • Activate the Bestial Sanctum Site of Grace
    Activating the grace now gives you a convenient fast-travel point for the later Dragonbarrow section.
  • Return to Limgrave and continue the route
  • Get the Green Turtle Talisman

Phase 2: Mistwood and Blaidd

Return toward Mistwood.

  • Get:
    • Spiked Cracked Tear
    • Greenspill Crystal Tear
  • Hear Blaidd howling at Mistwood Ruins
  • Get the Axe Talisman from Mistwood Ruins
  • Return to Kalé and ask about the howling
  • Get the Finger Snap gesture
  • Return to Mistwood Ruins and speak to Blaidd

This prepares Blaidd's involvement in the Bloodhound Knight Darriwil fight.

Phase 3: Fort Haight and Bloodhound's Fang

Fort Haight

Go to Fort Haight and collect:

  • Golden Seed
  • Dectus Medallion Left

Golden Seeds: 3

Forlorn Hound Evergaol

Fight Bloodhound Knight Darriwil, with Blaidd if desired.

Obtain:

  • Bloodhound's Fang

Return to Fort Haight afterward and kill the relevant soldier.

Return to Kenneth Haight afterward and receive the Erdsteel Dagger.

Do not kill Kenneth before getting the dagger.

Then kill Kenneth Haight.

  • Collect another Golden Seed
  • Golden Seeds: 4

Phase 4: Weeping Peninsula

Travel south.

Early pickups

  • Get the Morning Star between the Bridge of Sacrifice and Castle Morne Rampart
  • Collect the Golden Seed south of Castle Morne Rampart
  • Golden Seeds: 5
  • Get Poison Mist

Sacred Tears

Visit:

  1. Callu Baptismal Church
    • Sacred Tears: 2
  2. Church of Pilgrimage
    • Sacred Tears: 3
  3. Fourth Church of Marika
    • Sacred Tears: 4

Phase 5: Dragonbarrow

Fast travel directly to the Bestial Sanctum Site of Grace activated earlier.

Bestial Sanctum / Dragonbarrow

  • Collect the Golden Seed south of Bestial Sanctum
  • Golden Seeds: 6
  • Unlock the Lenne's Rise boulder rune farm
  • Get the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman

The Lenne's Rise boulder can be used as the main early rune source whenever additional purchases or levels are needed.

Phase 6: Fort Faroth

Travel to Fort Faroth.

Collect:

  • Radagon's Soreseal
  • Dectus Medallion Right

At this point you have the complete Dectus Medallion, although do not enter Altus yet.

Reed Great Katana

Get the Reed Great Katana from the corpse north of the Fort Faroth Site of Grace.

Idus Knight

The primary route spends one level here:

  • Dexterity: 15 -> 16
  • Rune Level: RL7 -> RL8

This lets the Idus Knight use the Reed Great Katana without depending on Radagon's Soreseal for its Dexterity requirement.

Vagabond

Do not level Dexterity for the Reed Great Katana.

Equip Radagon's Soreseal instead.

Your effective Strength and Dexterity become:

  • Strength: 14 -> 19
  • Dexterity: 13 -> 18

This meets the Reed Great Katana's 11 Strength / 16 Dexterity requirements.

The Vagabond therefore remains RL9 at this point.

Phase 7: Roundtable Hold

Visit Roundtable Hold and buy or collect whatever is needed for the route.

Recommended pickups:

  • Bow
  • Finger Seal
  • Dagger

Phase 8: Caelid and Sellia

Church of the Plague

  • Collect the Sacred Tear
  • Sacred Tears: 5

Sellia

  • Collect the Golden Seed
  • Golden Seeds: 7
  • Activate the relevant Site of Grace
  • Get the Rotten Stray Ashes

Upgrade and sorcery pickups

Collect:

  • Somber Smithing Stone [5]
  • Meteorite Staff
  • Rock Sling
  • Somber Smithing Stone [8]
  • Somber Smithing Stone [9]

The [8] and [9] stones are being collected early only so they are available later.

There is no need to rush Somber [7].

Idus Knight: RL12 for Flame, Grant Me Strength

For the Idus Knight route, level Faith from 11 to 15.

  • Faith: 11 -> 15
  • Rune Level: RL8 -> RL12

This allows the use of Flame, Grant Me Strength without requiring a Faith-boosting talisman.

Remain at RL12 for the rest of the Idus Knight version of this route.

Vagabond Note

The Vagabond starts with only 9 Faith, so this exact leveling step does not apply.

If using Vagabond, decide separately how much permanent Faith investment you want. The rest of the exploration route is otherwise the same.

Phase 9: Remaining Limgrave Utility

Collect:

  • Ash of War: Impaling Thrust from Bernahl at Warmaster's Shack
  • Ash of War: Repeating Thrust from the Limgrave Night's Cavalry
  • Ash of War: Golden Vow
  • Arrow's Reach Talisman from the tower northeast of Stormhill Evergaol

Phase 10: Enter Liurnia

Travel into Liurnia without progressing through Stormveil.

Church of Irith

  • Collect the Sacred Tear
  • Sacred Tears: 6

Eastern Liurnia

  • Get the Liurnia East Map
  • Activate the relevant Site of Grace
  • Get Glintstone Craftsman's Cookbook [2]

Phase 11: Rya and Boggart

Find Rya and begin her quest.

  • Talk to Rya
  • Speak to Blackguard Big Boggart
  • Recover or purchase Rya's necklace
  • Return the necklace to Rya
  • Receive the Volcano Manor Invitation

Stop here.

Do not continue Rya's quest until later.

Using the Abductor Virgin route into Volcano Manor does not interfere with this setup.

Phase 12: Central and Northern Liurnia

Collect:

  • Two Fingers Heirloom at Purified Ruins
  • Liurnia North Map
  • Bloodflame Blade
  • Golden Seed at Academy Gate Town
    • Golden Seeds: 8
  • Academy Glintstone Key
  • Dexterity-knot Crystal Tear
  • Liurnia West Map
  • Barbaric Roar
  • Golden Seed on the way to Barbaric Roar AoW
    • Golden Seeds: 9

Phase 13: Iji and Caria Manor Area

Reach the Road to the Manor Site of Grace and speak to Smithing Master Iji.

The main purpose here is access to:

  • Somber Smithing Stone [1]
  • Somber Smithing Stone [2]
  • Somber Smithing Stone [3]
  • Somber Smithing Stone [4]

Intelligence-knot Crystal Tear

Before continuing toward Caria Manor:

  • From Road to the Manor, drop down to the lower area east/southeast of the grace
  • Follow the base of the cliff north
  • Collect the Intelligence-knot Crystal Tear from the bowl guarded by Fingercreepers

Fast travel back to Road to the Manor afterward.

Caria Manor

Continue toward Caria Manor and collect the Golden Seed around Caria Manor Upper Level.

  • Golden Seeds: 10

Phase 14: Northern Liurnia Flask Upgrades

Collect the Golden Seed at the end of the broken bridge north of Main Academy Gate.

  • Golden Seeds: 11

Then visit:

Bellum Church

  • Sacred Tears: 7

Grand Lift of Dectus

Activate the nearby Site of Grace if desired, but do not ride the lift into Altus Plateau.

Frenzied Flame Village / Church of Inhibition

Kill the Frenzied Flame enemies as needed and visit the Church of Inhibition.

  • Collect Sacred Tear
  • Sacred Tears: 8

Phase 15: Raya Lucaria and Volcano Manor Access

Enter Raya Lucaria Academy.

The objective here is not yet to clear the Academy.

Instead, use the Abductor Virgin beneath the waterwheel to be transported to Volcano Manor.

Phase 16: Volcano Manor Excursion

This is a limited resource run.

From the Abductor Virgin arrival area:

  • Reach the nearest useful Site of Grace
  • Collect Somber Smithing Stone [6]
  • Progress far enough to activate the relevant bridge/shortcut
  • Leave Volcano Manor

Do not fight the Godskin Noble yet.

Somber Smithing Stone [7] is intentionally deferred.

The idea is:

  • Somber weapon: comfortably reach +6
  • Somber [8] and [9]: already banked
  • Somber [7]: obtain later when you are ready to kill Godskin Noble

Ideally, wait until Dolores the Sleeping Arrow Puppet is available before fighting him.

Once Somber [7] is obtained, a chosen Somber weapon can immediately go:

+6 +7 +8 -> +9

There is no need to rush this.

Phase 17: Regular Weapon Upgrade Infrastructure

Get Smithing-Stone Miner's Bell Bearing [1].

This allows unlimited purchase of:

  • Smithing Stone [1]
  • Smithing Stone [2]

As a result, any normal weapon can be upgraded freely to:

+6

This is currently more important than pushing a Somber weapon beyond +6, since it allows experimentation with multiple regular weapons and Ashes of War.

Phase 18: Remaining Limgrave / Caelid / Liurnia Equipment

Reduvia

Kill Bloody Finger Nerijus and obtain:

  • Reduvia

Patches

Deal with Patches as desired for his shop and quest access.

Redmane Castle

Collect the Golden Seed on the road toward Redmane Castle.

  • Golden Seeds: 12

Then collect:

  • Cragblade Ash of War
  • Arrow's Sting Talisman
  • Red-Hot Whetblade

This is important to do before activating Altus progression and changing Redmane Castle's state for the Radahn Festival.

Phase 19: Yura

Progress Yura's quest through his Raya Lucaria invasion encounter.

After obtaining everything you want from his early quest progression:

  • Kill Yura
  • Obtain Nagakiba

Phase 20: Final Pickups Before Red Wolf

Stormhill Shack

Collect the Golden Seed that appears at Stormhill Shack after Roderika leaves for Roundtable Hold.

This is a separate Golden Seed from the one collected earlier on the road toward Stormhill.

  • Golden Seeds: 13

Siofra River

Collect the Golden Seed in Siofra River.

  • Golden Seeds: 14

Also collect Marika's Scarseal Talisman without fighting the boss

At this point, the remaining Raya Lucaria Golden Seed is intentionally being saved until after Red Wolf.

Phase 21: Red Wolf of Radagon

This is the final step of the pre-Altus route.

Kill:

Red Wolf of Radagon

This is the first intentionally required Great Enemy in the route.

Afterward, collect:

Glintstone Whetblade

This unlocks additional affinity options for compatible Ashes of War.

Raya Lucaria Golden Seed

Collect the Golden Seed beyond the Red Wolf area.

  • Golden Seeds: 15

End State

Idus Knight

The primary version of the route ends at approximately:

  • RL12
  • Vigor 10
  • Mind 12
  • Endurance 11
  • Strength 13
  • Dexterity 16
  • Intelligence 8
  • Faith 15
  • Arcane 6

Radagon's Soreseal remains available whenever its additional attributes are useful.

Vagabond

The Vagabond follows the same exploration and equipment route, but its final Rune Level depends on how much permanent Faith investment you choose.

Notably:

  • No Dexterity investment is required for the Reed Great Katana while wearing Radagon's Soreseal
  • Base Strength: 14
  • Base Dexterity: 13
  • With Radagon's Soreseal:
    • Strength: 19
    • Dexterity: 18

Flask Progression

By the end of the route:

  • 15 Golden Seeds collected, including the starting keepsake
  • 8 Sacred Tears

Weapon Upgrades

Somber Weapons

Access to:

  • Somber [1]
  • Somber [2]
  • Somber [3]
  • Somber [4]
  • Somber [5]
  • Somber [6]
  • Somber [8]
  • Somber [9]

Practical current cap:

Somber +6

Somber [8] and [9] are banked for later.

Somber [7] is intentionally deferred until after Godskin Noble.

Regular Weapons

Unlimited access to:

  • Smithing Stone [1]
  • Smithing Stone [2]

This gives a renewable baseline of:

Regular +6

Higher upgrades can be obtained using loose Smithing Stones, but are not the primary objective of this version of the route.

Major Weapons and Combat Options

By this point you can have access to:

  • Bloodhound's Fang
  • Reed Great Katana
  • Nagakiba
  • Reduvia
  • Morning Star
  • Meteorite Staff
  • Finger Seal
  • Bow

Notable Ashes of War:

  • Wild Strikes
  • Impaling Thrust
  • Repeating Thrust
  • Golden Vow
  • Cragblade

Notable spells and incantations:

  • Flame, Grant Me Strength
  • Bloodflame Blade
  • Rock Sling
  • Poison Mist

Important Whetblades and Affinities

You should have:

  • Whetstone Knife
  • Red-Hot Whetblade
  • Glintstone Whetblade

This gives much greater flexibility when configuring regular weapons at very low Rune Level.

Important Talismans

Notable early options include:

  • Radagon's Soreseal
  • Dragoncrest Shield Talisman
  • Green Turtle Talisman
  • Axe Talisman
  • Arrow's Reach Talisman
  • Two Fingers Heirloom
  • Arrow's Sting Talisman
  • Marika's Scarseal

Route Philosophy

The purpose of the route is not to create the strongest possible weapon as quickly as possible.

The goal is to create a highly flexible low-Rune-Level character with:

  • Strong flask progression
  • Multiple weapon classes
  • Multiple affinity options
  • Strong early talismans
  • Useful Crystal Tears
  • Access to Spirit Ashes
  • Good sorcery and incantation utility
  • Somber weapons at +6
  • Regular weapons freely upgradeable to +6
  • Somber [8] and [9] already prepared for later
  • Most useful pre-Altus exploration already completed

The Idus Knight provides the lowest-level version of this setup, while the Vagabond offers a sturdier alternative and can wield the Reed Great Katana immediately after obtaining Radagon's Soreseal without investing in Dexterity.

After Red Wolf, the character is ready to begin normal boss progression with a very large portion of the early-game setup already finished.

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Pub: 27 Sep 2026 03:41 UTC

Edit: 01 Oct 2026 18:03 UTC

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