What to Do After You Defeat the Elden Beast in Elden Ring

As a hardcore Elden Ring player and content creator, defeating the Elden Beast delivers an unparalleled sense of accomplishment. But once the credits roll, many players wonder – what comes next? With over 150 hours invested in my playthrough, I‘ve uncovered some incredibly fun post-game activities that are perfect for devoted Tarnished like us. So grab your best spirits ashes and let‘s dive in!

Select Your Preferred Ending

Without spoiling too much, Elden Ring has several possible storyline conclusions you can experience depending on key choices made. I‘d recommend newer players experience the default "Age of Fracture" ending first. But for my latest playthrough, I was drawn to Ranni‘s mysterious "Age of Stars" ending which has some incredible lore implications (plus, who can resist her witchy vibe?).

I‘m considering an Age of Duskborn run next because the Death bird lore has always fascinated me.

Journey 2 and New Game Plus

Once I wrapped my initial playthrough at level 178 and 150 hours, starting a Journey 2 (New Game+) run was hugely rewarding. Not only did I retain all weapons, spells, upgrades and stats – the Lands Between felt fresh again with altered enemy placements/loot and a new challenge level.

I estimate a Journey 2 run only takes 60-80 hours if you know what you‘re doing. And the gameplay variety is unreal – I‘ve run astrologer caster builds, bloody katana builds, even wackier meme builds using legendary armaments like the Giant Crusher. Journey 2 opens up the real "build crafting" fun!

Invasion PVP and Co-Op Adventures

Elden Ring‘s online community is extremely active, especially thanks to seamless open world co-op and competitive invasion mechanics. I‘d estimate over 40% of my playtime is spent assisting other Tarnished in jolly cooperation. The white cipher ring makes getting summoned for random boss fights a blast.

Tracking down terrified hosts across Liurnia with a squad of cooperators to outwit never gets old!

Completing NPC Quests

Even after sinking endless hours across multiple playthroughs, I‘m still discovering new NPC questlines and content by revisiting early zones. Recusant Bernahl‘s Volcano Manor quest, for example, has some incredible lore about the ancient dragon cults. And Rya‘s strange request line in Liurnia left me slack-jawed when I uncovered her true identity!

I estimate only 30% of players actually complete Fia‘s, Diallos‘, Alexander‘s and other intricate quests chains their first run through. Returning to them with the hindsight of Journey 2 helped me appreciate just how much optional content and story I missed originally.

Experiment with Respec and New Builds

One aspect that keeps me playing NG+ rather than starting fresh characters is Elden Ring‘s infinite respec option. By using a Larval Tear consumable at Rennala, you can completely redo your stats, weapons, spells and playstyle without any grind.

I‘ve had an absolute blast testing weird build ideas like a heavy armor battle mage tanking hits while blasting incantations. Or a poison focused bandit wielding two bleed curved swords that melts health bars. Thanks to respecing, the combat variety feels endless – overpowered strength weapons like Guts‘ Greatsword are just as viable as dex/int katana builds.

Helping the Elden Ring Community

One final incredible Elden Ring endgame activity is paying knowledge forward by helping other Tarnished in online communities and forums. I occasionally write Elden Ring wiki guides and boss strategies which new players have found really useful!

Teaching the next generation of Tarnished how to git gud is extremely rewarding. I‘ve made some awesome friends just from my co-op interactions and chats with the community.

So if you love Elden Ring, keep paying it forward once you wrap up Journey 2! Chances are good a poor Tarnished stuck fighting Godrick for the 20th time could use your wisdom.

Let me know what post-game journeys await you in the comments! And praise the sun! \[T]/