General location name spoilers below, as spoiler-free as humanly possible
If you’re wondering how to respec in Elden Ring, you’ve come to the right place! Just note some mild spoilers like location names of early zones; proper names of characters have been omitted. The header image isn’t even related to the area.
And here’s a generic intro screen buffer!
You need to beat the second “main” boss to respec in Elden Ring
So this one is really easy to obscure, because I don’t need to name the character in particular. What you’re going to do is progress through Stormveil Castle, the first “major” area and story boss location. Once you’ve cleared that zone out you’re likely going to head into Liurnia of the Lakes.
There, you’ll find the giant academy location. The boss inside of that area is the NPC that allows you to respec, after they are defeated. Jordan walks you through the entire process here, and how to get in there.
After that, you can talk to the boss NPC to respec, but you need an item
To respec, speak to the NPC. Note that there are two major provisos:
- You need the “larval tear” item (which can be found on the “key items” [key icon] section of your inventory), which is consumed when used. At endgame, I had 10 larval tears, so note that even during one playthrough, they are somewhat plentiful (depending on how many you discover)
- When you respec, you can’t lower your stats below the base numerical values of your starting class. In that sense, your starting class does matter somewhat.
If you want your first larval tear, you can find it close to the academy
Right in the southwest portion of Liurnia of the Lakes you’ll find an area called “Village of the Albinaurics.” It’s in a swamp-like biome.
Run through the swamp and up the hill: the rite [bonfire] checkpoint is in the first set of houses, and easy to spot. Get it first, just in case you run into trouble, then turn right back around and head out the way you came in. The graves/tombs right near the hill have a larval tear, just before the bridge.
Congrats! You can respec at least once now.