from Limgrave, an area featuring grassy plains and ancient ruins, to Caelid, a wasteland home to undead monsters. Open world areas are explorable using the character's mount, Torrent, as the primary mode of transportation, along with the ability to fast travel outside of combat. Throughout the game, players encounter non-player characters (NPCs) and enemies, including the demigods who rule each main area and serve as the game's main bosses. Aside from open world areas, Elden Ring also features hidden dungeons, such as catacombs, tunnels, and caves where players can fight bosses and gather helpful items. The player chooses a character class at the start of the game, which determines their starting spells, equipment, and attributes. Combat with enemies can be within melee range, or from a distance using ranged weapons or spells. Attacks from enemies can be blocked using shields or avoided by dodging. Spells in Elden Ring allow the player to enhance their own weapons, fight enemies from afar, and restore lost hit points. The player can memorize a limited amount of these spells, which can be cast using a staff or Sacred Seal item. Weapons in Elden Ring can be improved using Ashes of War, obtainable "enchantments" that grant weapons new capabilities. Ashes of War can be applied to or removed from weapons, and each Ash adds a Weapon Art, a special ability that can be used during combat. Aside from direct combat, stealth mechanics can be used to avoid enemies entirely, or allow for the targeting of foes with critical hits while hidden. Checkpoints called Sites of Grace are located throughout the game's areas; they are places where the character can increase the power of their attributes, change memorized spells, swap Ashes of War, or walk to using fast travel. Upon death, players respawn at the last Site of Grace they interacted with. Alternatively, they may choose to respawn at certain locations highlighted by "Stakes of Marika" provided they died nearby. To increase their attributes at Sites of Grace, the player must spend runes, an in-game currency acquired by defeating enemies. Runes can also be used to buy items and improve weapons and armor. Dying in Elden Ring will cause the player to lose all collected runes at the location of death, and if the player dies again before retrieving the runes, they will be lost forever. The game contains crafting mechanics, which require materials in order