Elden Ring Keepsake choice: best starting gifts at chargen

As is Souls series tradition, Elden Ring will offer you a bunch of choices during character generation, including that of your character class and appearance - but also the option for a Keepsake, a gift item that you start with in your possession.

Elden Ring presents ten different Keepsake options to the player, and each has a unique utility. Though this isn't a make-or-break choice for reasons we'll explain on this page, it is one you'll want to give at least a little bit of consideration to - and on this page, we'll explain the Keepsake Gift options on the table so you can make an informed choice.

Elden Ring Keepsakes: what each gift item does

There's ten different options of Keepsake that you can choose from during character generation - but one of them is nothing at all, meaning that Elden Ring has nine potential keepsake gifts for you to choose from. Here's what they are:

• None: "No keepsake. The past has been well and truly left behind."
  • Starts you with nothing.
• Crimson Amber Medallion: "A medallion inlaid with reddish amber. Increases Maximum HP."
  • Boosts your HP by a set amount. Powerful early on, less so the more you build your HP stat.
• Lands Between Rune: “The gold of grace shining in the eyes of the people of the Lands Between. Use to gain many runes.”
  • Once this item has been used, you can then spend the runes it gives you to level up some, getting a slight head-start. It's a one-time deal, though.
• Golden Seed: “A golden seed washed ashore from the Lands Between. Said to reinforce Sacred Flasks.”
  • Gives you upgrades to your healing flasks, giving you one extra. These are rare and finite out in the wider world.
• Fanged Imp Ashes: “The ashes of small, diminutive golems. Ashes are said to hold spirits within.”
  • Gives you a summonable creature to assist in battle, one of the Spirit Ashes. 
• Cracked Pot: “Three strange cracked pots that somehow mend themselves. A container for thrown items.”
  • Craft things for inside these, then throw them like grenades.
• Stonesword Key: “Two stone keys shaped like swords. Breaks through an Imp’s Seal, but shatters in the process.”
  • Used to access locked areas throughout the game, opening up new, optional areas.
• Bewitching Branch: “Five sacred branches charged with beguiling power. Said to originate from the demigod Miquella.”
  • Five one-time-use buff items that temporarily raise your attack power.
• Boiled Prawn: “Five boiled crayfish meats. Boosts physical damage negation.”
  • Five one-time-use buff items that temporarily raise your defensive powers.
• Shabriri’s Woe: “The crazed likeness of a noble who crushed out their own two eyes. Attracts enemies’ aggression.”
  • When equipped, makes enemies even more aggressive to you than they already are. 

The best Keepsake Item in Elden Ring

The choice between the above is, naturally, yours. However, there’s some stuff we’d like to note about the above items.

First of all, know that as far as we’ve been able to tell, the keepsake items can all be found in Elden Ring’s world. Several of them are regularly consumable or upgrade items found naturally as you adventure, but even those that are equipment can show up eventually, usually sold at a vendor. On the character creation screen, you should be more concerned about your choice of character class, as even a respec doesn't wipe that away.

Second, we do have some thoughts on which items you should choose:

• The Crimson Amber Medallion is the most obvious keepsake choice. This is an equippable accessory that simply boosts your HP value. Its strength is diminished later in the game, but it’s extremely valuable early on - and honestly, it’s easy to keep this one equipped all-game. You can also find another at a shop later on.
• Taking the Golden Seed would be our next recommendation. These seeds are finite in Elden Ring’s world, but they’re required to fortify your flasks, which ultimately gives you more healing charges for your HP or FP, keeping you alive or letting you cast more magic. However, all this does is let you fortify and upgrade your first flask earlier - and you will find many of these upgrades as you explore the world.
• The Cracked Pot might not sound very exciting, but if you can see yourself crafting and using grenade-type items often, this is really useful as it increases the number of such weapons you can carry. You’ll again find these out in the world as upgrades, but this gets you more, and right away.
• Shabriri’s Woe is only for the hardcore player, as it makes enemies more aggressive. It’s for those who want an even harder challenge, or those who want to play a beastmaster-style build that relies on summons - as you can hold aggro while your summon spirits do the killing.

And we have a few thoughts on Keepsake gift items you should skip:

• The Lands Between Rune sounds like a good deal - who doesn’t want to level up more right away - but, honestly, you can farm runes easily enough. Skip it.
• Stonesword Keys are exceptionally rare, and the places they unlock often contain game-changing gear… but they’re also usually high-end areas. There’s even a Stonesword key locked area at the end of the tutorial area - but you won’t be high enough level to tackle it for hours. The first place to use these keys, arguably, is in Roundtable Hold. By that time, you will have found more.
• The Bewitching Branch and Boiled Prawn are honestly just buff items that are found out in the world. You do not need them. And you’ll get plenty more later.