Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX among other things, is no stranger to public criticism and controversy. His latest stunt doesn’t come close to the worst things he’s said or done, but it does have plenty of people baffled. That’s because it concerns Elden Ring, the incredibly popular, critically acclaimed, and notoriously difficult game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco.
After Musk posted on Twitter proclaiming that ‘Elden Ring, experienced in its entirety, is the most beautiful art I have ever seen,’ a curious user asked Musk about how he went about building and equipping his character. His subsequent response was… eyebrow-raising to say the least.
There are plenty of ways you can play Elden Ring – you can start the game as a handful of different character classes, each with different strengths and weaknesses. As the game progresses, you can begin to shape your character in any manner of ways to better suit your playstyle, or enhance your ability to use the equipment you’ve managed to acquire. There’s really no right or wrong to play Elden Ring.
Read: Elden Ring: 10 tips every player should keep in mind
But one look at Elon Musk’s baffling Elden Ring character build, and most people who are familiar with the game will definitely feel like something is absolutely, definitely wrong. Take a look:
For those unfamiliar with Elden Ring, here’s a rundown of just some of the oddities in this build:
- Musk has decided to completely unequip the Flask of Crimson Tears, a vital item you get at the beginning of the game that lets you heal your character’s health and replenish their magic energy multiple times.
- I repeat, Musk has no way to heal or replenish magic energy while exploring the world.
- Despite having no way to replenish his magic energy, he has gone all-in on a magic build by equipping a casting staff and throwing a lot of points into Intelligence, which increases the damage of your sorceries.
- Similarly, he has equipped three different spirit summons, each of which costs a great deal of magic energy to summon. But why he would need quick access to all three at once (you can only summon one at a time) is a mystery. He’d only be able to summon one at most, before needing to return to a Site of Grace safehaven to replenish his magic.
- For some reason, he has equipped two different swords. This isn’t completely unheard of, as many players like to have quick access to two different kinds of weapons that inflict two different kinds of damage, but having two swords on top of a staff seems excessive.
- What is completely unheard of, is that he’s decided to also equip two shields. Not one shield in each hand, mind you. He’s carrying two different shields that he can swap between on a single hand. We struggled to think of any good reason for why someone might do this – simply use the better shield, and swap it out if it’s unsuitable for the area you’re entering! Why carry the extra weight?
- It’s important to note here that every extra piece of gear Musk equips on his character raises his equip load statistic, meaning his character won’t be able to dodge enemy attacks as effectively.
- Musk did remark that he’ll unequip items if he decides he wants the fast rolling movement that comes with having fewer items equipped, but that still doesn’t explain why he needs to carry two shields, or any of the many other things he’s decided to carry.
At best, Elon Musk’s Elden Ring build is horribly unoptimised, and we can only imagine how much easier of a time he might be having if he, you know, had a way to heal his character.
There are plenty of people jokingly questioning Musk’s supposed genius after seeing his Elden Ring character, but here’s hoping that he manages to glean at least some good advice somewhere amongst the dogpile.
Games like Elden Ring are difficult, and everyone who’s played it goes through a steep learning curve with plenty of bumps and mistakes along the way. It’s all part of the process, but for many it’s worth the effort to completely appreciate a modern classic like Elden Ring.
