Best Elden Ring Keepsakes: Which Starting Item Should You Choose?

When you create your character in Elden Ring, you will have to choose from a list of Keepsakes to start the game with. You will begin the game with your Keepsake in your inventory, giving you a small advantage during the opening hours of your adventure. While none of them are particularly powerful, some of them are noticeably more useful than the others. Still, some players will prefer to choose some Keepsakes in order to fit their desired playstyle, so there’s a lot that goes into this decision. Here’s what every Keepsake does in Elden Ring.

What Are Keepsakes in Elden Ring?

Keepsakes fill the same role as Gifts the Dark Souls series. They’re special items that will be placed in your inventory at the start of the game. Some of them are consumable items that can be used to give you an edge in combat, some are useful crafting materials used in a variety of recipes, and others can grant you access to otherwise inaccessible areas. Keepsakes are also optional, and you can choose to start with nothing if you’re a purist.

What Does Each Keepsake Do?

There are 9 Keepsakes to choose from in Elden Ring, and each of them is listed below along with their purposes.

• Bewitching Branch: You can consume this item to imbue a melee weapon with magic damage for one attack. This costs FP to use and you begin with 5 of them.
• Boiled Prawn: You can consume these to boost physical damage negation. You start with 5 of them.
• Cracked Pot: These are crafting ingredients that can be used to craft thrown items. These are reusable and you start with 3.
• Crimson Amber Medallion: This is a Talisman that boosts your maximum HP by a small amount when equipped.
• Fanged Imp Ashes: This allows you to summon a spirit to fight alongside you at the cost of some FP.
• Golden Seed: This is an upgrade material that increases your maximum healing flask capacity.
• Lands Between Rune: This is a consumable item that can be used to gain a small amount of Runes.
• Shabriri’s Woe: This will draw enemies’ attention and boost madness build up in enemies when equipped.
• Stonesword Key: These can be used to open Imp Gargoyle locks, which are very common. These are single-use items that break upon use and you start with 2 of them.

Which Keepsake is the Best in Elden Ring?

The best Keepsakes in Elden Ring are the Crimson Amber Medallion and the Golden Seed without a doubt. The former increases your maximum HP, while the latter allows you to unlock an additional healing flask right from the get-go. These are basically the only long-term Keepsakes on the list, making them better than the others by default. The Shabiri’s Woe Keepsake is a permanent equippable item as well, but it is useless to anyone that doesn’t plan on using a weapon with madness damage. It also makes solo play much harder since it attracts enemies, but it could be useful if you want to tank for a co-op partner.

If you don’t want those permanent upgrades, then another safe choice is the Stonesword Key. These open Imp Gargoyle locks, which will allow you to pass through otherwise impenetrable fog walls through The Lands Between. These always lead to optional areas with shortcuts and rare rewards, so having extra Stonesword Keys is a nice bonus, especially if you’re going to be exploring off the beaten path fairly often. You can find additional Stonesword Keys in dungeons and purchase them from certain merchants, but it won’t hurt to have a few more at the start of the game.

The Bewitching Branch and Boiled Prawn should not be chosen since they are consumable items and you only get 5 of them. Sure they’re helpful, but you’ll most likely run out of them before you reach the first boss. Cracked Pots are also a poor choice because you can obtain plenty of them quite easily by buying them from merchants for a low price.

You really shouldn’t choose the Lands Between Rune either, as this just gives you a small amount of currency. You’ll be able to earn Runes really easily in Elden Ring if you do some exploring, and you can find items identical to this one all over the world that give you Runes when consumed. Finally, the Fanged Imp Ashes are an okay choice, but you will get access to better spirit summons very quickly so it’s not worth wasting the Keepsake slot on them.

Elden Ring is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.