Talismans provide some of the best perks you can get in Elden Ring. Talismans serve pretty much the same purpose as the rings in Dark Souls, but because the Elden Ring itself isn’t an actual ring you can equip, FromSoft changed the name to avoid confusion.
Players begin Elden Ring with only one talisman slot, which might help a lot provided you pick a talisman that suits your playstyle, but having the possibility of using more is always a good thing. You can wear up to four talismans at once during a playthrough. You’ll earn more talisman slots by acquiring talisman pouches, which you can obtain in various ways. Let’s dig into those, shall we?
First extra talisman slot
The first talisman pouch can prove tough to obtain, as it requires players to defeat Margit, the Fell Omen, one of the first seriously challenging bosses in the game. This one isn’t hard to find, as he’s right by the entrance of Stormveil Castle.
As for tips for having an easier time with Margit, you can summon Sorcerer Rogier, which will provide an extra target for Margit to get busy with. An even better strategy would be to combine the use of spirit ash summons (as they don’t diminish your damage output) with Margit’s Shackle, an item that will stagger Margit for a while. You can get it from Patches, who you’ll find at Murkwater Cave.
Second extra talisman slot
This one is a bit tricky, as it’s the only one in the game that you can just straight up miss the chance of obtaining during a playthrough. If you know what you have to do, though, it’s not that difficult. In Stormveil castle, after beating Margit, you get to defeat Godrik the Grafted. Once you kill him and activate his great rune, you get the chance to acquire the second extra talisman slot, but you’ll only get it if you kill one of the game’s big optional bosses before you kill Godfrey.
Kill one of the following, ranked by difficulty, before dealing with Godfrey or you’ll miss the chance to get the second pouch.
- Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy – The easiest fight of the bunch by far
- Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon – A rather easy fight, but getting to Rennala requires you to jump through some hoops.
- Mohg, Lord of Blood – Hard fight, and hard to get to.
- Starscourge Radahn – Hard fight, hard to get to, but extremely fun.
- Morgott, the Omen King – Very hard fight, and tough to get to
- Malenia, Blade of Miquella – Please don’t go for Malenia if you’re doing it just for talisman slot. Please.
Once you kill one of these bosses ā which should totally be either Rykard or Rennala ā you’ll need to activate their great rune, which will then allow you to talk to the finger reader Enia NPC at the Roundtable Hold, who will give you another talisman pouch.
Third extra talisman slot
And finally, to get you the ability to wear four talismans at once, you have to beat Godfrey, First Elden Lord (in the golden shade form). The good news here is that Godfrey is actually pretty easy to beat, at least in comparison to the bosses guarding the other pouches. You can find Godfrey in Leyndell, Royal Capital.
And now you’ll hopefully be much more fortunate in all of your battles!
