Elden Ring Keepsakes Guide: Best Keepsake to Choose When Starting the Game

After years of anticipation, Elden Ring is finally releasing on consoles and PC this week. The game features a good number of classes you can start with, and true to Dark Souls fashion, you can also choose a special item at the beginning to hopefully make things a bit easier. If you’re wondering which starting keepsake you should choose in Elden Ring, here’s what you need to know.

All Starting Keepsakes

There are a total of nine options to choose from, assuming that you actually want to start with something and avoid the ‘None’ option. We’ve listed them down below:

• Crimson Amber Medallion: A medallion inlaid with reddish amber. Increases maximum HP.
• Lands Between Rune: The gold of grace shining in the eyes of the people of the Lands Between. Use to gain many runes.
• Golden Seed: A golden seed washed ashore from the Lands Between. Said to reinforce Sacred Flasks.
• Fanged Imp Ashes: The ashes of small, diminutive golems. Ashes are said to hold spirits within.
• Cracked Pot: Three strange cracked pots that somehow mend themselves. A container for certain thrown items.
• Stonesword Key: Two stone keys shaped like swords. Breaks through an Imp’s seal, but shatters in the process.
• Bewitching Branch: Five sacred branches charged with beguiling power. Said to originate from the demigod Miquella.
• Boiled Prawn: Five boiled crayfish meats. Boosts physical damage negation.
• Shabriri’s Woe: The crazed likeness of a noble who crushed out their own two eyes. Attracts enemies’ aggression.

Right off the bat, I’d advise against taking the Crimson Amber Medallion or the Rune, simply because they’re only useful in the short term.

You’ll find plenty of other useful Talismans while exploring the open-world, and a small boost to your maximum HP isn’t worth wasting a Talisman slot on, especially since you’ll be able to raise it via leveling up very soon.

Similarly, runes are nice, but gaining a few extra levels early won’t exactly make the game that much easier, and they’re always farmable wherever you go. Not to mention the fact that the game is very generous with giving you Golden Runes.

Best Keepsakes in Elden Ring

After playing through the game, we’ve found that the best keepsakes to start with are either the Golden Seed, Stonesword Keys, or the Fanged Imp Ashes.

Upon receiving the Golden Seed, you can immediately rest at a Site of Grace to increase your Sacred Flask charges by one, essentially granting you an extra heal. We definitely favor picking the Golden Seed because it’s a permanent advantage, and also a very strong one especially as you’re still getting your bearings early on in the game.

The Stonesword Keys can also come in very handy as you’ll often come across mist gates that are being guarded by imp statues. Using the Stonesword Keys will allow you to break the seal, giving you access to new rooms that often house plenty of loot and valuable items. However, without knowing which seals are worth breaking, you may often end up with items that aren’t necessarily useful to you.

Finally, the Fanged Imp Ashes are also a pretty decent keepsake to start with as you’ll be able to consume FP to summon them in combat. The Spirit summons in this game serve as nice distractions, and having the Fanged Imps early on can help you out a lot in the early combat encounters. You’ll eventually find even more powerful ones, so it would come down to whether or not you feel you need that extra boost.

The rest of the items are much less desirable simply because they’re consumables that are much more easily found over the course of the game. Ultimately, none of these keepsakes will significantly impact your experience in Elden Ring, so feel free to choose whichever one you prefer. But for those who really want to get the most out of their keepsake, the Golden Seed, Stonesword Keys, and Fanged Imp Ashes are the strongest picks.

That’s all you need to know about which starting keepsake to choose in Elden Ring. Be sure to search for Twinfinite or check our guide wiki for more tips and information on the game.