elden ring has followed in Sekiro's steps and has a dedicated jump button. In the world of soulsborne games, this is revolutionary. It has opened up new methods of traversal that seemed impossible just a few years ago. Little ledge in your way? That's no longer a game-breaking obstacle, just jump over it.
But, with a new mechanic comes experimentation, and with jumping, this means falling to your death many times. Fall damage in Elden Ring seems random, but it's not. There are plenty of times where you'll be aiming for bushes and end up in a bloodstain with no runes. Here's everything - and we mean everything - you need to know about how fall damage works in Elden Ring.
How fall damage and death are calculated
We've all looked at a drop and thought, "Yeah, I'll live that, no problem," only to hear our Tarnished's knees crumble into dust on impact with the ground. We've survived similar falls and taken hardly any damage, so what's up? It can make the game seem random, but it's actually very precise. Thanks to YouTuber Illusory Wallwe know how everything works now.
You take fall damage from 16m and die each time you fall 20m or more. That's a very narrow window, so feel like you have to live through a 30m drop if you can survive a 15m drop without any damage. This is unlike Dark Souls, where you start taking fall damage at five meters. The change was likely made to encourage exploration and get you to take full advantage of the verticality of the world.
A fall of 16 m will cause you to lose 30 percent of your health. This is a fixed ratiomeaning that increasing your Vigor will not cause you to take less fall damage. A fall of 19.99 m will cause you to lose 50 percent of your health. One more centimeter and you die. Damage scales fairly linearly from 16m to 20m. The reason everything feels so random is because it's so hard to judge a four meter difference in a video game. Also, when you fall almost 20m, you have half your health left, so it intuitively seems like you should be able to survive a much bigger fall, but that's just not the case. No matter what, if you fall more than 20m, you die..
There are some parts of the scripted game where a fall won't kill you., but these are pretty obvious when they occur. To avoid spoilers, we won't mention when and where these will happen, but if the ground collapses below you or a beam breaks with you on it and you survive, it's not a glitch. If you die when that happens, it means you have and must not step on that thing again.
There are also some specific parts of the game where a fall below 20m will kill you, but that's because you passed through a deadly plane designed to keep you from falling for years and then either die anyway or stay stuck. The most notable examples of this are falling off shore-side cliffs, into the ocean, and down elevator shafts.
How to survive a fall
It is important to reiterate there is nothing to help you survive a fall of 20m or more. However, there are some items and tools that will help you judge a fall or mitigate all fall damage up to 20m entirely.
Rainbow Stones are your best bet to avoid falls that will kill you completely. Just drop one off a ledge you're facing up and Rainbow Stones break if the fall is deadly. You can find them in the overworld and also craft them as soon as you have the crafting kit. This is sold by Merchant Kale in Elleh's Church grace site, right in your initial spawn area in Limgrave. It only takes one Ruin Fragment to make, and they can be found scattered throughout most collapsed buildings.
| Where to find the crafting kit | ||
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| Small map | enlarged map | in-game view |
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If you have to take a big leap, try to crash into slopes or edges on your way down. If they stick out far enough, these can count as landing spots and help cushion your fall, making it a bunch of little ones instead of one big one. However, sliding down slopes usually doesn't count as a landing and you'll likely die when you hit the ground. This has been the case in previous Soulsborne games.
The Longtail Cat Talisman, Soft Cotton, and Assassin's Approach enchantment negates all fall damage, but a 20m fall will still kill you. They only disable fall damage, they do not increase the distance you can fall. The wording of the Cotton and the enchantment say they reduce fall damage, but they do the same thing as the Longtail Cat Talisman and actually negate it altogether.
Honestly, none of these are really worth it, as they only keep you from taking damage in that four meter window, and it's not that much damage anyway. The only need for any of this is if you're already badly damaged and there's a long drop you absolutely have to make.
A quick note: these items also work if you're on Torrent. You can use Cotton or cast Assassin's Approach while out of Torrent, then go up, and they'll still negate fall damage.
Does dexterity and gear loadout affect fall damage?
Soon: Yes, both your Dexterity and your team's charge have an effect on the amount of fall damage you take in the Elden Ring..
Dexterity can reduce the amount of fall damage you take, but before going to respect ityou'll want to know how little you actually do. Below 21 Dexterity, the stat has no effect on fall damage.. From 21 to 99 Dexterity, you take slightly less fall damage. At 99 Dexterity, you take 20 percent less fall damage usually. This is not 20 percent of 100, but 20 percent of the damage values. So a 16m fall at 99 Dexterity will reduce 24% of your total Vigor instead of 30, and a 19.99m fall will reduce 40% instead of 50. This is a minuscule difference, so that you don't specify just Dexterity. for this. No matter your Dexterity, you still die falling 20m or more.
Loading up your gear can increase the amount of fall damage you take. A light or medium equip charge will have no impact on your fall damage, but a heavy or overloaded gear load will increase fall damage. At exactly 70 percent gear charge, the amount needed to go heavy, you won't see a damage increase, but from 71 to 100 percent, the damage you take will increase by up to ten percent. Falling just under 20m will now deal 55 percent damage, and 16m will deal 33 percent damage. There is nothing to highlight. At 150 percent gear charge, this increases to 30 percent, meaning a 16m fall will now deal 39 percent damage, and 19.99m will now deal 65 percent damage.
These differences are so minuscule that they are hardly worth writing or thinking about, but people want to know the answers, so here they are. Soon: Don't worry about your Dexterity or gear loadout, it barely matters relative to fall damage..
Does the time spent falling matter and can Torrent's double jump save you?
No. No matter how long you fall in love, it has no impact on the damage you take.. If you get stuck in a falling animation for around 12 seconds, you die, but that's just to prevent players from going out of bounds forever or getting stuck on a glitchy rock. A longer fall can kill you, but it's probably because you fell farther, the two tend to go hand in hand.
Can the hottest guy in Soulsborne history save you with his trusty double jump? Also not. Torrent's double jump won't save you from a fatal fall. The only thing Elden Ring seems to care about is where you started and where you landed. If you land 20m below where you started, you die..
It seems that there is a small problem with Torrent. Landing on some sloped surfaces, like ruins, won't count as a proper landing if you quickly jump as soon as you land, meaning what seems like two small jumps counts as one big one and kills you.
Two other notable occurrences when falling on Torrent include him dying but you living and some spirit springs that have different radii that protect you from fall damage. The former is probably either because Trrent was already low on health or because he fell 20m and then the animation that knocked you down caused you to land just under 20m. The latter is possibly due to how the developers intended you to explore the areas, but the bottom line is that some spirit springs have a much larger fall protection radius than others. Play it safe and just aim for the bullseye.
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