Elden Ring New Game Plus: How to trigger NG+, what carries over & changes

New Game Plus is back in Elden Ring, despite the game making quite a few changes when compared to FromSoftware’s previous Souls style action RPGs. 

The New Game Plus system works a little differently in each game, however, and Elden Ring has its own new spin on things. On this page, we’re going to explain everything you need to know about Elden Ring’s New Game Plus options, keeping it as spoiler-free as possible:

Elden Ring New Game Plus: How does it work?

The New Game Plus option, aka 'Begin Journey 2', is added to the Roundtable Hold Site of Grace in Elden Ring.

First thing’s first - you’ll want to know the detail about how New Game Plus functions in Elden Ring. The core thing is that at the end of the game, after defeating the final bosses and taking final actions to achieve one of the Elden Ring Endings, you’ll have a choice of if you want to start NG+ right away or not.

  • If you choose to start New Game Plus immediately, you’ll be dropped back into an all-new save - with the carry-over noted below. 
  • If you choose to defer and delay NG+, you’ll be dropped back into The Lands Between as they were right before you tackled the final boss. When ready, you can go to the Site of Grace inside Roundtable Hold and choose the ‘Begin Journey 2’ option to start your new game, carrying over things as detailed below.

The important thing to note if you delay New Game Plus is that you can’t use this to cheese and see the other Elden Ring endings; the door to the final boss arenas is blocked off for this ‘Journey’, or game, once you’ve seen one ending. You can’t replay the finale of the game, basically, without starting over. 

As well as a new chance to see the ending, NG+ generally gives you a chance to approach Elden Ring in a more completionist manner. Here’s everything you need to know about it: 

Hitting New Game Plus on Elden Ring will revive all those bosses, such as the fella pictured...

What Carries Over in NG+

The core of your character in Elden Ring carries over to your enw game plus. Pretty much everything related to your character build and progression as an individual Tarnished will begin intact in this new game. For instance:

Additionally, you will keep your Map Exploration - which means the map fragments you’ve found and any discovered locations on the map remain in place, even though you’ll have to rediscover Sites of Grace in order to fast travel to those areas again. 

Map Markers manually placed by the player also remain - which you can use to leave yourself reminders of key locations that aren’t automatically marked for your next play-through, if you plan ahead. 

Because some things that carry over are introduced by story scenes (like Torrent and the Spirit Calling Bell), those events are not repeated on Journey 2. 

Standard game features like summoning and invasions are still turned on in Journey 2 and beyond, though remember seeing summon signs or getting invaded will be less common when you’re a higher level, as there are level caps in place for online explorations unless you’re using a password to play with friends.

What Doesn’t Carry over to NG+

There are some elements of your game that won’t carry over to your second journey into The Lands Between, and will be deleted each and every time you use New Game Plus to start a new Journey in Elden Ring. Specifically:

  • Great Runes acquired from the grand bosses of Elden Ring will be revoked, and must be earned and powered up again to be used.
  • Any Keys and other items that allow game progression will be removed. This includes things like the Glintstone Key for Raya Lucaria Academy, and the items that allow the Lift of Dectus and Lift of Rold to function, both of which open up new areas.
  • Areas opened with the use of Swordstone Keys or teleporters opened with the Imbued Sword Key, or unlocked via puzzles will be closed once more, and require reopening.
  • While your Map remains intact, any discovered Sites of Grace will be removed; you’ll have to Touch Grace at each once again.
  • Bell Bearings that have been handed to the Two Maiden Husks NPC shop in Roundtable Hold will be reset; you’ll have to obtain them again. However, the NPCs that drop them will be revived.
  • As mentioned above, the status of all NPCs will be reset - those who died will be alive once more, and the Side Quest progress will also be reset. Any NPC aggro will be removed.
  • If you went for the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending, the power of the Frenzied Flame is removed from you when you start your NG+
  • You naturally won’t be able to respec until you unlock the areas and defeat the bosses necessary to unlock that feature - if you want to respec, do it first

What Else Changes?

In general, New Game Plus presents the same experience as your first Elden Ring play-through - just amped up to eleven (and then twelve, thirteen, and so on). Some notes:

  • Item placement remains the same
  • NPC side quests play out the same way
  • However, enemies are slightly more difficult with each journey you undertake to offset your own power levels
  • All enemies also drop more Runes for the same reason - to help you continue to level up

You can use some of the New Game Plus features to gain ever-more experience, flask charges, and so on - building an even more powerful character. It’s a way of experimenting and enjoying the Elden Ring journey in new ways.