When Should I Respec My Character in Elden Ring? The Complete Guide

So you‘ve put dozens of hours into your Elden Ring character, but now you‘re feeling stuck or limited by your original build and stats. You‘ve heard you can "respec" in the game to completely reset your attributes – but how does it work, when can you do it, and when should you actually take the plunge?

In this complete guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know about respecing your Elden Ring character build so you can optimize your stats and really make the most of this powerful tool. Let‘s dive in!

What Does Respecing Actually Do in Elden Ring?

When you decide to "respec" your Elden Ring character, you are able to completely reset all of your invested attribute points in:

• Vigor
• Mind
• Endurance
• Strength
• Dexterity
• Intelligence
• Faith
• Arcane

All of those stats will revert right back to their starting values based on the class you chose originally – so this represents a completely fresh start!

You are then able to reassign all of those attribute points from scratch. This gives you an amazing amount of freedom to radically change your character‘s build, gear they can equip, offensive capabilities, and playstyle.

However, there are some limitations:

• You cannot change your character‘s class or origin
• Your appearance remains the same
• Any spells or equipment you don‘t meet requirements for will be unequipped

So in summary, respecing lets you optimize your stats and attributes but keeps your broader class identity intact. Make sense? Okay, let‘s talk about when you can actually access respecing in Elden Ring…

When Do You Unlock the Ability to Respec in Elden Ring?

The ability to respec your character becomes available after defeating the shardbearer boss Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon at Raya Lucaria Academy in Liurnia of the Lakes.

Once defeated, Rennala becomes a passive NPC located in the Grand Library area just beyond her boss room. Here, she provides the power to respec in exchange for rare crafting items called Larval Tears.

Larval Tears are precious and limited – there are only around 18 that can be found per playthrough. So make sure you use your respecs wisely!

Now let‘s talk about ideal timing…

What is the Recommended Level to Use Your First Respec?

While you can respec right after beating Rennala, I‘d only recommend doing it so early if you made major mistakes in your original stat allocation.

For most players, the ideal time to use your first respec is around level 80-100 after you‘ve defeated a few shardbearers and explored Liurnia of the Lakes, Caelid, Altus Plateau and beyond.

This gives you plenty of time to:

• Experiment with different weapons, spells, and summons
• Identify your preferred playstyle and build direction
• Make some mistakes in stat investment
• Unlock new gear and abilities to inspire your build

Trying to respec when you‘ve only got 20-30 attribute points invested is often a waste of a scarce Larval Tear. I‘d wait until at least 40-50 before considering it.

Around 80+ you‘ll have a solid foundation in your original build but room to optimize it into something more focused with a respec. Let‘s weigh the pros and cons versus starting fresh…

Should You Respec or Start a New Character for a Big Build Change?

Respecing lets you:

• Retain all your explored areas, Site of Grace progress, loot, etc.
• Keep your upgraded weapons, spells, spirit ashes, and other gear
• Maintain access to Great Runes providing huge buffs
• Avoid re-doing questlines and side content

However, you are still limited by your original class and appearance.

Creating a brand new character lets you:

• Completely change your class, origin, look, and name
• Optimize starting stats and gear for a specific build
• Easily roleplay a new identity/archetype
• Experience the early game in a fresh way

But you lose access to late-game gear, spells, Great Runes, and areas. You also have to redo quests, upgrades, exploration, etc.

Overall for most players, respecing is ideal for changing up your playstyle while keeping your existing progress. Making a new character is best reserved when you want to fully commit to a brand new concept.

Alright, let‘s get into the specifics of how respecing works…

Step-By-Step Guide to Respecing Your Character with Rennala

When you‘re ready to respec, make sure you have at least one Larval Tear in your inventory. Then head to the Grand Library in Raya Lucaria Academy and speak to Rennala.

In her dialogue, select the "I want to be born anew" option. She will ask for confirmation, so select "Yes" to proceed.

Your Larval Tear will be consumed, and you‘ll enter the familiar class selection screen from the start of the game.

Here, you can take your time to allocate all of your attribute points from scratch. You‘ll see your stats on the right update in real time. Feel free to experiment until you get your new build just right!

Once you‘ve finalized your new attribute spread, confirm your selection to exit the respec.

All your stats will be reset to the new values, unequipping any spells, weapons, etc. you no longer meet requirements for. Just re-equip at a Site of Grace.

And that‘s it! For the low price of one Larval Tear, you‘ve got a powerful new build optimized for your preferred playstyle. Let‘s find some tears…

Where to Find Larval Tears for Respecing

Here are some of the most convenient locations to find Larval Tears naturally in Elden Ring:

• 1 in Village of the Albinaurics, Liurnia of the Lakes
• 2 in chests in Nokron, Eternal City
• 1 dropped by Alberich in Roundtable Hold (invade and defeat)
• 1 purchased from Pidia at Caria Manor after giving him a seedbed curse
• 1 dropped from the Dragonfly head boss in Caelid

And at least 10 more scattered across later zones like Mountaintops of the Giants, Elphael, Mohgwyn Palace and more. I‘ve compiled all 18 tear locations into this handy table for quick reference:

Location	How to Obtain
Village of the Albinaurics	Corpse
Nokron, Eternal City	Chest x2
Roundtable Hold	Kill invader
Caria Manor	Purchase from NPC
Caelid	Boss drop
Sellia Hideaway	Corpse
Temple Quarter	Corpse
Elphael	Chest
Mohgwyn Palace	Chest
Leyndell	Chest
Mountaintops of the Giants	Chest x3
Consecrated Snowfield	Chest x 2
Haligtree	Chest
Crumbling Farum Azula	Chest

Now let‘s talk about how to plan out your new and improved build…

How to Plan Your Respec Build in Elden Ring

Respecing represents a fresh start, so it pays to plan out your new build carefully before confirming the changes. Here are some tips:

• Consider your preferred weapons, spells, summons and gear first, then plan stats to equip them
• Identify the primary offensive scaling stats for your arsenal and invest heavily
• Balance offense with sufficient Vigor (at least 20-25) and Endurance for survivability
• Look up stat requirements for end-game gear you eventually want to use
• Use Elden Ring build planners to model your distribution
• Avoid spreading points too widely – specialize for maximum power!

Let‘s look at some powerful, popular builds that can benefit from respecing…

Strong Elden Ring Builds to Consider for Respecing

Here are examples of proven builds that can be enabled by respecing:

Sorcery Build

• Primary Stats: Intelligence, Mind, Dexterity
• High Intelligence improves sorcery damage
• Mind boosts FP for more spell casts
• Dexterity speeds up spell casting

Glass cannon capable of demolishing bosses from range. Squishy in close quarters.

Holy Paladin Build

• Primary Stats: Faith, Strength, Dexterity
• Medium investment in Faith for buffs/heals
• Strength/Dexterity for melee with sacred/flame infusion

Excellent survivability and balanced offense. Easier late-game playstyle.

Bleed Bandit Build

• Primary Stats: Arcane, Dexterity
• Arcane boosts bleed buildup
• Dexterity increases bleed attack speed

Shreds most enemies by inflicting devastating bleed procs. Risky.

Colossal Weapon Tank Build

• Primary Stats: Vigor, Endurance, Strength
• Vigor & Endurance for surviving boss hits
• Strength to wield colossal weapons

Soak damage and retaliate with huge colossal weapon strikes. Slow.

And of course, you can mix and match to create your own custom hybrid. Just be sure to specialize for maximum effectiveness!

Now let‘s make sure you use those Larval Tears wisely…

Be Careful Not to Waste Your Limited Larval Tears

While respecing is incredibly powerful, keep in mind that there are only about 18 Larval Tears available per playthrough. You can only respec about 18 times before you must enter New Game+ to find more.

Here are a few tips to avoid wasting these precious resources:

• Don‘t respec too early before establishing your build
• Plan out your new allocation carefully before confirming
• Make incremental small changes via re-speccing repeatedly
• Don‘t panic respec after a single difficult boss or area
• Consider respecing only 2-3 times per playthrough at most

Careful planning ensures you don‘t burn through Larval Tears and regret it later in your playthrough when you want to respec again but can‘t!

Speaking of which, keep the following side effects in mind…

Remember Respecing Also Resets Spells and Equipment

When you respec, keep in mind that your currently equipped spells, incantations, weapons, and armor will all be unequipped if you don‘t meet the new attribute requirements.

You‘ll have to re-equip everything at a Site of Grace afterwards.

Additionally, your spell slots are reset, so you‘ll need to re-allocate them as well.

So be prepared to spend some time re-gearing your character after each respec. Consider jotting down your new build‘s loadout beforehand so you know exactly what to re-equip.

Respecing Cannot Change Your Class or Origin

While respecing does completely reset your stats and attributes, there are some aspects of your character that remain fixed:

• Your class (e.g. Prophet, Prisoner) and origin cannot be altered
• Likewise, your character‘s name and physical appearance stay the same

The only way to completely change your class, origin or look is to create an entirely new character.

For most builds, your original class won‘t matter too much. But for min/max perfectionists, starting class does have some minor implications.

There Are Limits to How Many Times You Can Respec

As mentioned earlier, there are around 18 Larval Tears you can collect per playthrough of Elden Ring. Therefore, you can only respec your attributes about 18 times before you must enter New Game+ for more.

You can still beat the game just fine with 1-3 thoughtful respecs. But obsessive min/maxers may run into the limit if they respec repeatedly to fine tune their build.

The diminishing returns mean that incremental respecs rarely make sense anyway – you‘re better off planning your ultimate build in 1-2 resets.

So in summary, don‘t go too crazy – 18 is a reasonable limit before having to replay the game.

Should You Farm Runes Before Respecing to Level Up?

Once you‘ve reset your stats, you‘ll likely want to grind some runes to get your new build up to an appropriate level.

Before respecing, I recommend hitting at least level 120-150 if possible. This gives you plenty of points to allocate.

Popular rune farming spots like the Palace Approach Ledge-Road in Mohgwyn Palace can rapidly get you runes.

Spend them on some quick levels before respecing to optimize your new build. You can always farm more late game.

What Should You Spend Your Runes on After Respecing?

After resetting your stats, you‘ll want to spend your accumulated runes selectively to maximize your new build:

• First, get Weapon requirements to equip your desired loadout
• Next, increase Vigor to a minimum of 20-25 for survival
• Then boost your primary offensive scaling stats for damage
• Extras can go into Endurance, Mind or Arcane as needed
• Target core stats first, avoid spreading runes too thin!

Follow your respec plan, and hold off on niche stats until your core build is fleshed out.

Wrapping Up: Use Respecing Wisely to Optimize Your Build!

Hopefully this guide gave you a comprehensive overview of respecing your character in Elden Ring and when to make the most of it.

The ability to completely redo your attributes is incredibly powerful, especially for shifting to specialized late-game builds. Just be sure not to waste those rare Larval Tears!

Plan out your new allocation carefully, focusing on your weapons, spells and playstyle. And don‘t be afraid to respec more than once to incrementally improve your build over time.

Thanks for reading, and may the blessings of grace guide you, my friend! Let me know if you have any other questions.