How Do I Level Up in Elden Ring?

While you can technically complete most any From Software game without leveling up your character, this is obviously not the recommended or the intended way to play. You're certainly not going to beat all 238(ish) bosses and collect all 308 weapons without leveling up, we can tell you that much!

The thing about Elden Ring's leveling up mechanic is that it's not immediately obvious how to unlock it, and you even need to choose a particular dialogue option for it all to open up. Here's exactly how it works!

Leveling Up Your Character in Elden Ring

Surprisingly enough, you can go quite far through Elden Ring's starting area, Limgrave, before opening up the game's leveling mechanic. Specifically, you need to rest at either the Gatefront or the Agheel Lake North Sites of Grace for the mysterious Melina to appear and speak to you. At this point, Melina will ask whether you want her to be your Maiden, and you have to accept her offer to be able to level up.

After you do so, you'll be able to level up at any Site of Grace you come across, as Melina will magically teleport to you whenever necessary. However, if you do not accept Melina's offer, you will not be able to level up at all.

If you end up accidentally refusing Melina's offer, the good news is that she will keep popping back up whenever you visit a Site of Grace, asking you if you've changed your mind. So, even if you don't want anything to do with Melina at the start of the game, you'll still have the opportunity to accept her offer whenever you're ready.

Of course, we highly recommend accepting Melina as your Maiden as soon as she visits you. Not doing so puts you at risk of losing all the Runes you've accumulated; to say nothing of the stat losses and performance you'd be leaving on the table for no good reason!

Get your Elden Ring Steam key right here at 2Game, and grab the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC at a discount!