Ahh, Elden Ring. It’s massive, it’s difficult, and it’s probably, maybe, very likely the game of the year. Having been out for over two weeks, it seems that people are really starting to fully get stuck into the depths of the game now - speedrunners have already started completing runs in super impressive times, and players have been discovering all sorts of secrets and tricks.
One of these is regarding the dear old merchants who populate the Lands Between. Pleasant enough fellows - they sit there, they sell you stuff, nothing to complain about. They are also very mortal, and players have it in their power to remove them, permanently, if they so wish, just like in the Dark Souls games.
Another neat trick that players have discovered is this amazing rune-farming spot, where you can get 11K runes from a single enemy without even fighting it - check out how in the video below.
Seems like it'd be a pretty bad idea to kill them though, right? You wouldn’t want to lock yourself out of any shops permanently, after all. Well, as it happens, it might actually be worth your while. As reported by Dexerto, one YouTuber, Boomstick Gaming, has tested out what happens if you show no mercy to any of the merchants, and found out that you can actually get a really neat reward. Take a look below.
Each time you decide to put one of the merchants out of their misery, you’ll be given a special Bell Bearing, which, when taken to the Twin Maiden Husks over at the Roundtable Hold, will unlock the Merchant’s inventory. What does this mean? You can put together all the shops into one handy place.
According to Dexerto, there’s a total of 11 merchants populating the Lands Between, so assuming you don’t get weighed down by the guilt of taking out some innocent people who just wanted to offer you their wares, it’s way more convenient to be able to buy all those different things from one location (which is also instantly accessible via fast travel once you’ve unlocked it). Just keep in mind that just because no repercussions for this have been discovered so far, doesn’t mean that they don't exist. This is a FromSoftware game we’re talking about, so y'know, murder with caution.
Topics: Elden Ring, Fromsoftware, Bandai Namco