What are Stakes of Marika in Elden Ring?

gamepur.com:

You’ll find several items throughout your time in Elden Ring, and they’re going to be helpful at specific points in the game. Whenever your character perishes after a tough battle, every so often, you’ll have the option to select to spawn at a Stake of Marika or to return to your last point of grace. Of course, you’ll have to choose one or the other. What are the Stakes of Marika in Elden Ring, and how do they work?

The Stakes of Marika option is an alternate, sometimes closer, spawn point when you die. Their function is similar to the points of grace, except they don’t allow you to rest, level up, or modify your character. The significant benefit is that they could be closer to where you died, allowing you to grab your runes at a much quicker pace, much faster than you would have if you used the point of grace respawn location instead.

It all comes down to your general location and how far away it is from the point of grace. We do recommend selecting the Stakes of Marika to respawn point as we’ve found it helpful in cutting down our navigation time while exploring Elden Ring, but choosing the point of grace over that is not a bad thing.