Wretch (origin)

Template:Infobox Elden Ring origin

Description
A poor, purposeless sod, naked as the day
they were born. A nice club is all they have.

**Wretch** is one of the ten origins in *Elden Ring*, which decide starting equipment and stats of characters.

Characters starting with this origin begin at level 1, and with all their stats equal and set to 10. With no armor and only a Club as armament, the Wretch is the weakest origin in the game.

## Equipment and items

### Armor

With this origin, the character will begin with no armor, equipped or otherwise.

### Armaments

The character will begin with only one armament in either hand:

* Club, equipped in right hand armament 1

### Other Items

All characters, regardless of origin, come with the following in their pouch:

* Memory of Grace in pouch 1

Optionally, they may also start with a keepsake, which the player can pick during character creation.

## Strategy

The chosen class will mostly affect the earlier portions of the game, and they can decide their preferred build upon acquiring more equipment. However, the Wretch is typically considered the most challenging origin, as it provides the player no bonuses at the start, but this also means that the Wretch is the most flexible, as the player has complete discretion over how they may spend their character levels.

### Grafted Scion

Main article: Grafted Scion

It is easiest for the player to simply die to Grafted Scion in Chapel of Anticipation and come back later to defeat it, but nonetheless, it is entirely possible to defeat it on the first encounter. The boss has a number of exploitable moves that they can punish with ease without risking being hit. However, unlike most other origins, some of the slashing attacking of Grafted Scion can easily kill the player in one hit, so agility, lower equipment load and quick response times is crucial for this fight, and an edge that the Wretch has over other some other origins. Furthermore, since the player has no shield—or a second armament at all—it is more effective to hold your Club in two hands for this boss fight, or any subsequent encounters, until they gets a second armament.

See here for a detailed analysis of the moveset of Grafted Scion, and how to best counter them.

### Getting Equipment

Since the player begins with no armor, shield, or ranged weapon, and with a primitive Club as their sole weapon, it is prudent to get some equipment as soon as possible.

#### Shield

There are a number of shields that the player can acquire in very early-game. The most immediate choice is Large Leather Shield, which can be bought from Merchant Kalé for 600 runes. This shield can parry attacks, but, if that is of no import, then the player can buy Iron Roundshield from a Nomadic Merchant on the western shore of Limgrave for 900 runes. Instead, this shield has no skill—meaning they will use whatever skill the armament in the other hand has—and has lower physical damage negation compared to Large Leather Shield.

To get to the Nomadic Merchant, start from The First Step site of grace, making your way towards west, until you reach the cliffside. Now, if you look towards the ocean, you will notice an island not too far off from the mainland. If you look down while facing the island, you will notice a huge chunk of fallen ruin right under that cliff. If you're on the upper cliff, just jump down on a lower cliff under you. Then, carefully jump down onto the fallen ruin, and make your way down to the shore, and then circle back under the fallen ruins to find the merchant sitting next to a fire. (**Reminder:** The player can fast-travel to any site of grace by using their map.)

It is also possible to acquire a Brass Shield from slaying Godrick Soldiers in the vicinity of the starting area. This shield has the added advantage of negating all physical damage, but is more than twice as heavy as the other two options, cannot parry, and has a relatively low chance of dropping in the first place.

After the player gets to the Roundtable Hold, they can also buy Heater Shield from Twin Maiden Husks for 1,500 runes. This shield both negates all physical damage and can parry.

#### Armor

The first set of armor available to the player is the Chain set, sold by Merchant Kalé for a total of 4500 runes, which is not an insignificant amount at the stage in which he is encountered. Besides that, some enemies in Limgrave, such as Godrick Soldiers, Godrick Knights and Kaiden sellswords, can sometimes drop pieces of the armor they were wearing.

Once the player gets to Roundtable Hold, they can buy the Knight set from Twin Maiden Husks for a total of 13500 runes, which provides a decent amount of protection against all attacks.

#### Catalysts

The earliest Glintstone Staff the player has access to is the Glintstone Staff, which is dropped by Noble Sorcerers; in particular, a lone Noble Sorcerer near Waypoint Ruins in Limgrave will always drop one the first time it is slain. Elsewise, one must travel outside of Limgrave to get better staffs.

The player can learn some early-game sorceries from Sorceress Sellen, in the Waypoint Ruins cellar.

As for Sacred Seals, the earliest ones a player can acquire is the Finger Seal, sold by Twin Maiden Husks for 800 runes in the Roundtable Hold; or the Clawmark Seal, given by Gurranq, Beast Clergyman, who resides in Bestial Sanctum, recommended for strength-focused builds. The easiest way to get to Gurranq is by using a waygate near the Third Church of Marika.

#### Ranged Weapon

The Nomadic Merchant on the western shore of Limgrave sells a Shortbow for 600 runes, and it is also possible to buy a Longbow from Twin Maiden Husks for 1200 runes in the Roundtable Hold.

Another option is to use crossbows instead of bows. Crepus's Black-Key Crossbow can be found in a chest by breaking the seal of the first imp statue in Roundtable Hold. Furthermore, some enemies in Limgrave—such as Foot Soldiers and Godrick Soldiers—drop bolts for ammunition, but might also drop their crossbows when slain.

Ammunition for ranged weapon can be acquired either by buying it from the Nomadic Merchant or Merchant Kalé, or by crafting the arrows and bolts with Thin Beast Bones. Crafting them also requires the appropriate cookbooks to unlock the recipes.

### "Level 1" Challenge

Main article: Level 1 Challenge/Elden Ring

A "Level 1" challenge is a challenge where you attempt to complete the whole game without leveling up your character. Since Wretch is the only origin which starts with level 1, this means that all such challenges must be attempted with a character with Wretch origin. See the main article for more details on how this is achieved.