Do I keep all my stuff in New Game Plus?

As an avid Elden Ring player on my 5th journey through the Lands Between, I‘m often asked: "Do I get to keep all my weapons, spells, levels and loot when I start a New Game Plus (NG+)?".

The short answer is mostly yes! NG+ lets you carry over most of your hard-earned gear, levels and upgrades when you restart the game. However some key items do reset.

Here‘s a detailed breakdown of exactly what carries over in New Game Plus:

What You Keep in Elden Ring NG+

• Character level (all stats/attributes)
• All weapons, armor, spells, incantations and sorceries unlocked
• Upgrades on weapons, armor, spirits/ashes (+25 max)
• Weapon skills and ashes of war learned
• Spirit ashes upgrades and levels
• Sacred seals, staffs and their upgrades
• Talismans and great runes (must re-equip at sites of grace)
• Map fragments and sites of grace unlocked
• Gold and consumables like smithing stones, golden runes etc
• Crafting recipes for items, boluses, arrows etc
• Remembrances from conquered shardbearers

So as you can see, your character keeps a massive headstart with their levels, gear, upgrades and more carrying over to NG+. This makes subsequent playthroughs much easier early on.

What Doesn‘t Carry Over in NG+

However the following key items are reset when initiating a new game plus:

• Great rune upgrades (need to redo story bosses)
• Grace sites/dungeons unlocked with stonesword keys
• Quest progress and NPC interactions
• Legendary weapons tied to certain questlines
• Bell bearings that unlocked merchant items

So while you retain most gear and rewards, you do lose key unlocks tied to quests and exploration. You‘ll have to gather stone keys to access sealed tunnels or catacombs again. NPC stories reset so things like legendary armaments, gestures or spells locked behind their quests will need to be re-earned.

And you‘ll have to unlock special armor, whetblades and other merchant stock by collecting bell bearings across the world again.

Weighing Up The Pros and Cons of Starting NG+

Below I‘ve summarized the key advantages and disadvantages players should consider before initiating a New Game Plus.

Why You Should Start a New Journey

• Carry over character levels, gear, upgrades and more
• Earn more upgrade materials to max out weapons
• Fight enemies and bosses again but with boosted power
• Unlock additional achievements and trophies
• Discover new secrets or questlines missed originally
• Unlocks increased difficulty scale and enemy/boss alterations
• New journey but with overpowered hero right away

Why You May Not Want to Begin Again

• Have to redo lots of exploration like catacombs, tunnels etc
• Miss out on early game struggle and sense of accomplishment
• Can feel repetitive clearing same mini-dungeons again
• Lose access to gear locked behind questlines
• Bell bearings and merchant unlocks reset
• Gathering upgrade stones can be tedious

So while NG+ offers exciting advantages, the sense of discovery when first playing Elden Ring is hard to replicate again. It‘s a trade-off between mighty heroes against supercharged foes, or recapturing that intial magic.

What to Do Before Starting New Game Plus

If you decide to begin a new journey, I strongly advise completing the following preparatory steps:

• Max out your primary weapons and armor – Upgrade stones carry over so push them as high as possible beforehand to steamroll early game opponents.
• Finish any outstanding questlines – Legendary gear rewards don‘t carry over so finish NPC stories beforehand.
• Explore optional dungeons fully – Grab stonesword keys because they won‘t transfer.
• Unlock map fragments – Carry over as much explored terrain as you can.
• Spend remaining runes on levels or items – Gold carries over but consumables don‘t, spend excess runes before initiating.

Below I‘ve highlighted the equipment I‘d recommend maxing out before NG+ when possible:

This gear has amazing scaling and will help you demolish enemies with ease in the early areas of NG+.

How Difficulty and Enemies Scale in Successive New Game Plus Cycles

If you play through multiple NG+ cycles, the difficulty spike becomes more intense with each run. By Journey 4 or 5, standard foes hit brutally hard, so tank builds and high vigor are essential.

The main things that scale in higher NG+ runs are:

• Greatly increased enemy health and attack power
• Additional altered enemies and red phantom spirits
• Upgraded enemy gear, weapons and spells
• Bosses gain dangerous new moves and properties
• Runes from foes don‘t increase but upgrade materials do

So while your gear remains boosted, each NG+ journey closes the power gap. By NG+7 you face the maximum difficulty spike with enemies at their most lethal.

Certain notorious bosses also gain deadly new attacks in late NG+ cycles. For example Malenia heals much faster the more times you fight her. Meanwhile enemies like Crucible Knights and Misbegotten gain increased poise, damage and relentless aggression.

Below shows the ramping vigor I‘ve needed in succeeding NG+ runs to survive:

As you can see, health and defense become critical to not get one-shotted by NG+7!

Best Weapons and Builds for Slaying New Game Plus Bosses

Based on my NG+6 completion, I can confidently recommend the following weapons and builds:

Rivers of Blood

• Highest DPS and bleed build-up in the game
• Corpse Piler ash melts bosses and groups
• Pair with Lord of Blood‘s Exultation and white mask

Blasphemous Blade

• Incredible sustain from Taker‘s Flames weapon art
• Restore huge HP with every kill
• Massive damage to undead enemies

Dark Moon Greatsword

• Frost builds inflict percentage health damage
• High poise-breaking heavy attack
• Use Ranni‘s Dark Moon sorcery for big ranged magic nuke

I‘ve used all these weapons to decimate the likes of Maliketh, Godfrey and Radagon with ease in late NG+ cycles. Their arts and abilities counter even the tankiest bosses.

How Does NG+ Compare Between Elden Ring and Other Souls Games?

Elden Ring takes the most elements from Dark Souls 3‘s NG+ design, with the below key differences to note:

• Enemies scale higher in ER, increasing in lethality faster by NG+7
• Questlines still reset in ER, unlike DS3 where many stayed completed
• Special NG+ rings in DS3 vs no exclusive NG+ gear in Elden Ring
• Higher upgrade caps in ER enable more OP NG+ weapon scaling

The main advantage ER has over previous titles is how overpowered your build can become by stacking legendary weapons, max upgrades and mighty summon spirits together.

This empowers players to crush foes despite the scale up in difficulty with each run.

Additional Achievements and Goals for New Game Plus

On top of increased challenges, NG+ offers new trophies, achievements and targets to pursue, including:

• All Legendary Armaments trophy
• All sorceries, incants and weapons found
• Maxing out character level
• Completing Varre‘s full questline
• Unlocking additional ending cutscenes
• Discovering remaining NPC stories
• Collecting outstanding crafting recipes
• Upgrading every spirit ash

Having already finished the game before removes a lot of the early game time sinks. This frees you up to focus on new challenges like the above in NG+.

In Summary

While not everything carries over, NG+ allows veterans to respec their high level heroes and battle Mighty foes again wielding their best weapons and spirits. This amplifies the challenge but also the power fantasy.

Just be prepared to re-explore the world losing access to certain legendary armaments tied to reset questlines. And don‘t take early foes lightly as enemy damage scales rapidly with each successive journey!

Hopefully this detailed guide helps you decide if New Game Plus is right your for next adventure in the Lands Between or any other questions on this gameplay mode. Let me know in the comments!