PSA: Elden Ring has two types of gear upgrade tracks that don’t compete

destructoid.com:

Knowing how to navigate the Elden Ring gear upgrade system can be nerve-wracking.

Having played these games since the start, I totally know the feeling of not wanting to upgrade, well, anything, out of fear of losing valuable resources. While that might be true near the start, that concern is alleviated later on due to several factors. Let’s talk about those for a second.

[Note that this article has very minor spoilers for the name of the game’s hub, which you encounter very early on, as well as images of items: the names of them have been crossed out just in case as a courtesy.]

So the simplest way to “pump up” gear, from swords to shields, is through the blacksmith. They can be found at the Roundtable Hold: the hub zone that’s disconnected from the rest of the world, which you’ll discover very quickly as part of the main story (if the maiden doesn’t whisk you away to the hold at a Site of Grace [bonfire], then you’ll get it after beating the first “main” boss right before the castle).

For your basic items, in this case let’s use a broadsword that you start with, you’ll upgrade them using smithing stones. The first upgrade will require a few smithing stone [1] items, then smithing stone [2], and so on, up the chain. Stones are found in random places throughout the game, as well as in caves, and the level of the smithing stone is typically dependent on the power level of the area you’re in. So in the first zone you’ll find a lot of smithing stone [1]s, and in later zones you’ll be able to gather [4]s and [5]s and so on.

To find caves, you’ll need to locate them in the overworld. They’re typically near mountains, with entrances in said mountainside, but you can also spot vague indentations of caves on the map with red