Elden Ring Astrologer
401 words.
This is really dumb, but I’ve started a new Astrologer character in Elden Ring. At the time of this typing, they are level 42 and I’ve played for 20 hours.
That gives you a good idea of just how massive Elden Ring is, and why I haven’t gotten very far in replaying the game more than once thusfar. I think most of that twenty hours is actually just travel time. Navigating around Elden Ring is like space travel between galaxies.
I started playing blindly, but after Limgrave I realized that I had no idea where to go next and I didn’t want to explore again and end up with another 287-hour playthrough (who would??). So I pulled up what I assume is the standard progression guide and started working through it, methodically collecting gear that will probably remain roughly 95% unused.
The guide might not be exactly the way I would go, but I don’t have to think about it and can just keep listening to my audiobook. I’m not recording commentary on this one, but I do record key moments here and there for posterity.
As of this moment I’ve gotten to the Liurnia of the Lakes East section in the guide, which is labelled as level 50-60. I’m only level 42. These places are a slog at level 42. The Frenzied Flame Tower can go jump in a lake.
I was curious how my Astrologer run compares to my first Prisoner run two years ago. Prisoners also have some magic, but I went more into a Dexterity build.
- Margit the Fell Omen:
- Astrologer: 1 time, level 25, with Rogier and Fanged Imps.
- Prisoner: 65 times, level 11-23, with Wolves.
- Goderick the Grafted:
- Astrologer: 5 times, level 29-34, with Nepheli Loux and Marionette Soldiers.
- Prisoner: 60 times, level 27, solo.
- Red Wolf of Radagon:
- Astrologer: 10 times, level 39, with Fanged Imps.
- Prisoner: 1 time (4 swings heh), level 58.
- Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon:
- Astrologer: (Updated) 5 times, level 43-50, with Kaiden Sellsword.
- Prisoner: 1 time, level 60, with Marionette Soldiers.
(In my first playthrough, I didn’t go to Raya Lucaria with my Prisoner until after I fought Radahn, so I was really overleveled for it.)
P.S. That picture is not the Astrologer, but it is already uploaded to my content directory so I can reuse it without effort.
Archived Comments
Naithin 2024-08-18T23:10:27Z
I kicked over into a NG+ / Journey 2 run on my main save the other night, but I don’t think I’ll carry on with it. It WAS very satisfying to give that intro, grafted ‘you’re meant to die here’ boss a good what-for before moving on though.
I don’t think, even with guide, I’m up for a full restart just yet. But that guide is pretty cool, and while I didn’t quite divert as far as you did with Radahn before Rennala, I certainly took some less than optimal paths through parts of the game. Haha
pinkgallica 2024-08-19T05:27:53Z I don’t know how they made collecting fancy weapons you’ll never use fun lol
Endgame Viable 2024-08-19T21:57:10Z I haven’t spent any time trying to write down what this path might be, but I think the intended progression path to take in Elden Ring is sort of a human flood fill algorithm, where you go as far as you can without tackling any of the demigods, and then come back to them. e.g. you can go a LONG way in Elden Ring and pick up a ton of gear before you have to enter Stormveil Castle (technically I think it’s even optional). I think you can go all the way to doors of the Capital, or something like that. The path in that wiki guide seems unnecessarily linear and sometimes harder than it needs to be. But it’s like a masters thesis project to figure out a better path so it’s good enough. :)
Endgame Viable 2024-08-19T21:58:10Z Heh true. I ended up using mainly weapons from Limgrave for the whole game.
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