
These Spirits are based on enemies you will encounter, and come in many forms, including animals and humanoids that can fulfill certain roles your character might be lacking (melee or ranged support). Like spells, Spirits cost FP to summon, and certain Spirits come in groups, or cost more the more powerful the ally is. Spirits can also be increased in power, and there are many to choose from - and you are able to find and choose which ones you want to assist you. Spirits can only be summoned in certain areas, noted by a glowing grave-like icon that appears on the left side of the screen. While Dark Souls featured weapons with specific arts, Elden Ring will feature around 100 different skills that can be found and collected as you explore the open world, called Ashes of War.
These skills can be customized to tailor your build as you see fit, and will not be limited to certain weapon pairings. Ashes of War also allow you to customize your weapon scaling to better suit your build, though you can simply equip a skill without having to assign new scaling too. Each weapon can have a single skill assigned to it, but the skill can be swapped out as needed to help experiment with your playstyle. Certain weapons will have unique skills that cannot be exchanged. Certain enemies can fight on horseback just like you can, and may be better suited to fighting them on a mount of your own. You can target the enemy or its mount to try and dismount it.
You can perform a dismounting attack from horseback to launch yourself into a group of enemies.While mounted, you can cast spells, or swing your weapon to the right with RT, or the left with LT.As you might expect, spears and lance weapons excel on horseback, as you can joust and pierce enemies as you ride past them.There are patrols of enemies who can carry treasures and materials, and they can even be seen carrying these chests to indicate wealth.Many encampments feature enemies with large horns, and they will sound an alarm if they spot you, triggering all nearby enemies to converge on their location.Stealth actions are limited but viable, allowing you to crouch down to reduce noise and visibility and try to ambush enemies.
You can even crouch down to hide in tall grass. Players can craft sleep bombs or arrows to quietly put sentries to sleep, where they can be bypassed or hit with a visceral attack.