Among the many changes buried in Elden Ring’s latest patch, one harks back to the very beginning of the game. Like many games, Elden Ring offers a combat tutorial a little after creating your Tarnished near the start of the game. Unlike most games, the tutorial is a side path that’s so easy to miss, many players went into the punishing adventure without even knowing how to do basic things, like what button to press to use items. Well, it turns out that FromSoftware has now added a popup message that points to that area so you don’t miss it this time.
The new update makes several adjustments to the game like buffing those big Colossal Swords and tweaking the stats of various spells. However, you won’t find any mention of the combat tutorial, the Cave of Knowledge, in the patch notes. It appears to be a passive, unceremonious addition since it took folks like Souls YouTuber Lance McDonald to tweet about it before anyone even knew there was this new message telling you about that spot.
According to McDonald, the popup “more explicitly” points to the Cave of Knowledge. It’s this grotto in the Stranded Graveyard where you learn mechanics like blocking, stealth, stance-breaking, and other tactics to survive in the Lands Between. The Cave of Knowledge is easy to miss, though. It’s off to the right, and you have to drop down into a hole. That hole is typically surrounded by troll messages where people warn that you might die if you go down there. The area is also lit by a mere specter in a chair who has a kind of ominous aura and that’s it. Meaning, even if you do see it, some players might be scared off from jumping down into the unknown hole. With this new patch, you will now see a message informing you that not only is there solid ground in that dark abyss the specter overlooks, but also the pit is the Cave of Knowledge. You just have to trust the game and jump.
A Twitter user named gibbed shared an English version of the message, which makes it more apparent what you learn from the Cave of Knowledge should you go there. It’s not hard, and the area’s end-boss, the Soldier of Godrick, is a chump. But it’s a great way to understand Elden Ring before desperately trying to summon Let Me Solo Her to help with the bullies.