Elden Ring is renowned for being an extremely difficult game, especially regarding its boss fights such as that of Maliketh, the Black Blade and many others. However, its difficulty expands past the fights and into even smaller aspects such as status effect icons. Elden Ring is very much a free-reign experience, which is great for the gameplay and atmosphere but not so much for players' understanding of its many core aspects.
Thankfully, the game's community has banded together to decipher the various symbols and icons in a variety of different ways. The most prominent example of this is Reddit user u/bluetheslinky's Elden Ring UI and Visual Hints guide, which goes over the various UI icons, their meanings, their variations and the ways that some of them are acquired. Since the game never really goes in-depth on the icon meanings and different mechanics in the game, this guide is really helpful for new players and experienced players alike.
The guide goes over gauge icons, other icons, and status effects. It not only goes over what the icons represent, such as life regeneration and increased rune acquisition, but also the ways that different shapes and arrows affect their meanings. One big thing to note is that a square icon means an effect is constant, and a rhomb icon means an effect is temporary. A common example of a square icon is the constant 5% HP debuff that comes from hugging Fia. The guide not only goes over how this debuff happens but also which item the player needs to get rid of it.
The guide also explains what different status effects do and a few tips for dealing with them. It explains that status effects have a gauge that goes up over time and that players can avoid getting the effect by disengaging with whatever is causing it before the gauge fills. The guide also gives an important, easily missed piece of information regarding status effect puddles: don't roll in them. Evidently, this was a widespread misunderstanding, as the comment section on the guide is filled with people who just realized this was why they kept dying to effects like blight.
Over time, players can expect plenty of edits to the guide since it's very much in progress. Going through the comments on the Reddit post yields tons of tidbits that will likely make their way into the next edition of the guide, especially since u/bluetheslinky has personally responded to a few suggestions. For example, regarding rolling in status effect puddles, u/Hefty_Trees commented that rolling around on dry land removes the effect. Commenter u/Karew also suggested some additions to the post, such as adding that dark orange squares on the map represent mine entrances.
This guide isn't the only example of the Elden Ring community coming together to help each other. The massive amounts of guides, wiki posts and forums related to the game really show the breadth of the community and how it's come together to make fun and collaborative environments.
In particular, websites like Reddit are a great gathering place, and users like u/bluetheslinky show the level of detail and care that the community has put into both playing the game and helping others enjoy it. The difficulty of Elden Ring is considered a downfall by some, but it definitely has its upsides, not only by enhancing the game's experience but also by bringing together millions of people with the same goals across different online communities.
