The 10 Best Elden Ring mods worth starting another run for

With any major game, there is usually a budding modding community that produces all manner of new content for their favorite game, and Elden Ring is no different. Since its release, the game has received tons of different mods that add new content, remix and overhaul existing content, add quality-of-life adjustments, or do something completely bonkers just for the hell of it.

To help you get started on your modding journey with Elden Ring, we’ve selected some of the biggest and best mods out there for you to try and will give you some tips on how to set up your game for mods so you can get straight into the action.

How to set up anti-cheat/offline mode in Elden Ring

Before you can mod Elden Ring, you need to set your game to offline mode. This is due to the anti-cheat software that comes with the game to prevent hackers or mods from ruining the online experience for other players. Thankfully, it’s a straightforward process so let’s walk you through it.

To set up offline mode, you’ll need to:

1. Head to Nexus mods and create a free Nexus account, you’ll need one to download this anti-cheat/offline toggler mod and every other mod.
2. Once the account is created, download the Anti-cheat toggler/offline launcher mod.
3. Once downloaded, unzip the folder contents and copy the “toggle_anti_cheat.exe” into the game installation folder, by default this should be C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\ELDEN RING\Game\
4. Right-click the .exe file and create a desktop shortcut for easy access.
5. Once this is done, click on the shortcut you created to toggle anti-cheat/offline mode. You can click the shortcut again to turn these back on if you plan to play online or without mods.

We advise you to back up your clean save file before going through with modding, as this may cause problems when you try to play online.

How to install mods for Elden Ring

Now you are set up for mods to work in Elden Ring, let’s get into how to install them. This is a similar process to setting up the anti-cheat/offline mode, so it should be pretty easy to do.

To install mods for Elden Ring, you will need to:

1. Download the Elden Mod Loader, this enables all .dll mods to load when the game launches and is required by most mods to run properly.
2. Unzip this folder into the game installation folder C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\ELDEN RING\Game\
3. A new mods folder should appear in this game directory. This is where you want to place any .dll mods you download.
4. Download any .dll mods you want to try and use, and make sure to extract and place the files in this mods folder, they should automatically load up when you launch the game.

There are a few other ways to get mods working in Elden Ring, but this method should be the most straightforward and easy for those with or without modding experience to get working. There are also some mods that may require additional downloads and steps, or may not need the Elden Mod Launcher to work. These are usually detailed in the description of the mod, so please be sure to read the mod details first before downloading. You can also use Vortex, Nexus Mods’ in-house mod manager, to help organize and install mods if you would prefer.

Related: The Best Builds in Elden Ring – Meta builds, cheese builds, and more

The 10 Best Elden Ring mods

Now that you have everything you need, here are the best Elden Ring mods you can try, listed in alphabetical order.

Easy Mode for Elden Ring

In case the name wasn’t clear enough, the Easy Mode for Elden Ring mod is aimed at newcomers to the Soulslike genre and makes the game a more approachable experience. The mod tones down the difficulty in some aspects of the game, including increasing player damage, reducing incoming damage received, increasing runes gained, as well as a host of other settings you can play with. This mod is a good choice for anyone who wants a more relaxed and easier experience, or is new to FromSoftware titles.

Elden ReShade – HDR FX

Whilst there are plenty of mods to improve the gameplay experience of Elden Ring, there are also a bunch that make the already gorgeous game look even better. The Elden ReShade – HDR FX mod adds high dynamic range (HDR) lighting to the game, and as a result gives the game’s less spectacular areas a facelift. It provides brighter, more vibrant colors, adds blur to distant objects, and better contrast and skyboxes as well as other tweaks, all whilst not being a major burden on your PC. If you want the game to look as best as it can, this should be your first pick.

Enhanced Moveset Utility

FromSoftware games on PC can be a bit of a hassle to control and manage at times, but lucky this mod helps to make the PC experience a far more enjoyable one. The Enhanced Moveset Utility mod adds a few improvements to the PC experience for keyboard and mouse players, including a dedicated button for your roll that eliminates the input delay. The most notable inclusion is the ability to assign specific items, spells, and incantations to different hotkeys, giving you quick access to your toolkit to use in combat and making full use of your keyboard.

Grand Merchant

In most cases, the first merchant you will find as you begin your Elden Ring adventure is Merchant Kale and he doesn’t have a ton of helpful items compared to other merchants found in The Lands Between. This mod changes that and makes Kale the one-stop shop for anything you need. With this Grand Merchant mod, Kale becomes the ultimate merchant and will have every item available in his store, and also makes everything craftable for free.

Item and Parameter Randomizer

Item and Parmeter Randomizer mods have become quite popular in the modding scene, and Elden Ring has its own to give you the most chaotic and unique experience during your next playthrough. This mod will randomize almost every item in the game, including items found in the world, dropped by enemies, all enemy loot tables, and mixes and scrambles weapon and gear stats. There is also the option to randomize weather and nearly all of the parameters of the game, making it a completely unpredictable experience that can either be a blessing or a curse.

Pause the game

This mod does exactly what it says on the tin. With this Pause the game mod, you are able to fully pause the game with a customizable key or controller button when you are looking through menus and your inventory, meaning you won’t have to worry about a surprise attack when you need to sort equipment of your build.

Prepare to Die (Hard Mode)

The Prepare to Die Mod makes the already tough game even tougher and is designed for those who really want to suffer whilst they play. With this mod, enemies deal more damage, can hear you from further away, and have reworked AI to be smarter and more vigilant, making them tougher to sneak up on and behave in new unique ways. This mode also works on NG+ and ramps up in difficulty for anyone mad enough to try to take on Elden Ring at its highest level with this mod.

Ranged Weapons Rework

Ranged weapons often don’t get a lot of love in FromSoftware games and tend to not be quite powerful or fun to use. This mod attempts to change that by giving ranged weapons a makeover by having them be a more viable and enjoyable option. The Ranged Weapons Rework mod rebalances all the game’s ranged weapons to have them deal more damage, as well as giving them a number of new effects and changes so that they play and feel unique. This will also allow players to gain more arrows and ammo from crafting.

Sword Mastery – Total Combat Overhaul

This mod takes the melee combat of Elden ring and gives it a major upgrade, and completely changes the combat system. The Sword Mastery mod changes every weapon move set, giving them far more robust combos that lets players chain together different attacks for a more fluid and varied combat experience. It also brings with it some mechanics from Sekiro such as deflecting and perilous attacks that further enhance and vary the combat.

TechieW’s quality of life mods

Unlike the rest of this list, this is not a single mod, but rather the collective work of TechieW, a modder who has produced multiple great mods for Elden Ring that all deserve your attention. They have produced multiple graphical and performance improvement mods that include unlocking the game’s framerate, removing black bars for ultra-widescreen resolutions, and removing the unskippable intros to the game so you can get straight into playing. As well as that, they also produced the Pause the game, the Elden Mod Loader, and the Anti-cheat toggler and offline launcher you need to run these mods — making their work an essential part of the game’s modding community. We felt it was right to highlight this creator and suggest you check out all their work.