To help you out with choosing the perfect Keepsake when starting your character, we’ve prepared this guide where we’ll be showing you exactly what each Keepsake does and which are the Best Keepsakes in Elden Ring.
What are Keepsakes in Elden Ring?
Before we start discussing which Keepsakes are better than others, let us first take a look at what exactly are Keepsakes and their purpose in Elden Ring.
If you’re familiar with the other FromSoftware games, you should already have an idea of what Keepsakes are supposed to be for.
But even if you haven’t played the other games, the function of Keepsakes is very easy to understand.
Keepsakes are reminiscent of Gifts from the Dark Souls franchise. When you start your playthrough of Elden Ring and create your character, you’ll have the option to choose a starting item for your character, a “Keepsake,” that will provide a unique buff to your character.
This buff will help you out a lot in the early stages of the game. There are 9 different Keepsakes in Elden Ring, with each Keepsake having a completely different effect from the others.
What Keepsake you select for your starting character may have a big impact on how easily you progress through the early content.
So to help you out with picking the right Keepsake for your character, this guide will tell you which Keepsakes are the best in Elden Ring.
But before we do that, let’s take a look at the buff provided by all 9 Keepsakes in the game.
| Keepsake | Buff |
| Bewitching Branch | Grants five sacred branches that can be used to charm enemies, temporarily turning them into allies. |
| Boiled Prawn | Grants five consumable items that temporarily increase defense against physical attacks. |
| Cracked Pot | Grants three cracked pots that can be used to craft throwable items. They can be reused as many times as you want. |
| Crimson Amber Medallion | Grants a medallion that increases the HP of your character. |
| Fanged Imp Ashes | Grants ashes of spirits that can be used to spawn spectral allies. |
| Golden Seed | Permanently increases the number of charges in your healing flask if you rest at a Site of Grace and apply it. |
| Lands Between Rune | Grants a small amount of runes that can be used to level up items and skills. |
| Shabiri’s Woe | Makes enemies more attracted towards you rather than your teammates. Designed to be used for tank character builds. |
| Stonesword Key | Grants a key that can be used to access blocked areas that contain hidden treasure. |
Elden Ring Best Keepsakes
Now that you’re up to speed with what each Keepsake does let’s dive into the three best Keepsakes you can pick for your character in Elden Ring.
Crimson Amber Medallion
The Crimson Amber Medallion is arguably the best Keepsake in Elden Ring. In a game like this, there is nothing more important than the survivability of your character.
Having a raw increase in your HP right from the start of the game is an extremely useful perk to have if you are nervous about combat, making this a great Keepsake to choose, no matter what character build you’re going with.
Golden Seed
Golden Seed is another Keepsake that increases the survivability of your character. It grants you an extra flask that you can use to restore HP or FP at a Site of Grace.
That said, Golden Seed is not on the same level as Crimson Amber Medallion, as you can obtain Golden Seeds already in the game. But still, having stronger healing at the start of the game can be very useful.
Stonesword Key
The Stonesword Key is also a great choice for your Keepsake. You can use the key from this Keepsake to unlock hidden areas that hold precious loot.
There’s a hidden doorway right at the start of the game that you can unlock using this key. This doorway will lead you to the Elden ring Fringefolk Hero’s Grave dungeon, and it rewards some great loot.
Do note that you’ll be finding Stonesword Keys throughout your playthrough of the game, but since they’re quite rare, having one right from the start can help you out a lot.
Best Keepsake for Samurai: Golden Seed
We recommend using the Golden Seed keepsake if you plan to select the Samurai class. This keepsake gives you an extra healing potion if you are short on those, providing a small advantage to progress through the early stages of the game.
Just about any keepsake would work equally good with this class, but the Golden Seed would prove most useful to you at the early stages. You can later switch to any other keepsake once you progress further into the game.
Best Keepsake for Prophet: Golden Seed
We recommend using the Golden Seed keepsake for this class as it allows you to carry an extra healing potion/flask. That will allow you to better manage your FP during the early stages of the game.
You can change the ratio of the flask allocation while resting at any sight of grace, because as a spell caster in this class, it is important to choose carefully between the FP and HP flasks that you have available. So having an extra HP flask with this Keepsake should prove useful.
Best Keepsake for Vagabond: Stonesword Key
The Vagabond class is a mainly strength-based class with high Vigor and Strength, and a little bit of extra HP; making it possible for your character to take more hits while moving forward as a tank.
This arguably makes the Stonesword Key the best keepsake for this class. Since you do not require much use of the extra health potions because of this class’ high HP, going for the rewards in some of the locked locations to acquire treasures should prove more useful.
Best Keepsake for Wretch: Golden Seed
The Wretch would be the most basic class in Elden Ring. You start off naked and with weak weapons, but this class allows you to build up to any playstyle that you want later on in this game.
Since you are so weak at the beginning, the Golden Seed would be the best keepsake to choose for this class as you would be in dire need of the extra health potion this keepsake gives you.
Best Keepsake for Confessor: Stonesword Key
The confessor is built around Strength, Dexterity and Mind. It has a series of skillsets that allow you to defend pretty well against any attacks.
This class allows you to equip a shield along with the Quickstep ability, allowing you to dodge any incoming attacks, making the Stonesword Key the best keepsake for this class as you do not require any extra health potions provided that you are good in combat.
You can use this key to unlock hidden treasures in blocked areas, allowing you to progress better early on in the game.
Best Keepsake for Prisoner: Golden Seed
The attributes for this class are fairly balanced, allowing you to use this class to buff up to any playstyle you want. You can use any keepsake with this class but we recommend using the Golden Seed keepsake as it allows you to wield an extra health potion, which proves useful in difficult fights.
Best Keepsake for Warrior: Stonesword Key
The warrior class is built around Dexterity, Vigor and Mind attributes. It excels for players looking for improved hand-to-hand combat because it allows you to dual wield early on in the game.
The best Keepsake for this class would be the Stonesword key as you do not require extra health potions with this class early on in the game.
This keepsake would allow you to access any hidden treasures in the blocked areas, from which you can get the Golden Seed keepsake anyways.
Best Keepsake for Astrologer: Golden Seed
The Astrologer mainly relies on long-range magic attacks rather than using physical melee attacks. So arguably the best keepsake to choose for this class would be the Golden Seed keepsake.
The idea behind using this keepsake for this class is so that you can have more magic regeneration flask without substituting any of the health regeneration flasks.
Best Keepsake for Bandit: Crimson Amber Medallion
The Bandit class is focused on Arcane and Dexterity. The Bandit has good movement and rolls, making it easier to dodge incoming attacks.
This would make the Crimson Amber Medallion keepsake the best one for this class as it would allow you to increase the total HP of your character, allowing you to receive about one more hit before you die which helps you in many cases.
You can also substitute this keepsake for the Golden Seed which has similar effects to the previous keepsake.
Best Keepsake for Hero: Golden Seed/Stonesword Key
Taking this class allows you to have a higher starting Strength, Endurance and Vigor, along with HP. The best keepsake for this build would be the Golden Seed keepsake.
Since this class doesn’t require much use of FP, it is better to stack up on Health potions using this keepsake, allowing you to tank up and increase your HP at the same time.
Another equally useful keepsake for this class would be the Stonesword Key. If you are better at combat and do not require much extra health, unlocking the treasure in the blocked areas using the Stonesword Key should be useful.
