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Elden Ring has followed in Sekiro's footsteps and has a dedicated jump button. In the world of soulsborne games, this is revolutionary. It's opened up new methods of traversal that seemed impossible just a few years ago. Small ledge in your way? That's no longer a game-breaking obstacle, just hop on over it.
But, with a new mechanic comes experimentation, and with jumping, this means falling to your death a lot. Fall damage in Elden Ring seems random, but it isn't. There are a lot of times when you'll aim for the bushes and end up a runeless bloodstain instead. Here's everything - and we mean everything - you need to know about how fall damage works in Elden Ring.
Updated May 2, 2022: We've updated this article to include a handy video that explains everything you need to know about fall damage and how to survive a fall.
How Fall Damage And Death Are Calculated
We've all looked at a drop and thought, "Aye, I'll live that, no problem," only to hear our Tarnished's knees crumble into dust upon impact with the ground below. We've survived similar falls and barely taken any damage, so what gives? It can make the game feel random, but it's actually very precise. Thanks to YouTuber Illusory Wall, we know how it all works now.
You take fall damage starting at 16m and die anytime you fall 20m or more. That's a really narrow window, so it feels like you should live a 30m fall if you can survive a 15m one with no damage at all. This is different to Dark Souls, where you start taking fall damage at five metres. The change was likely made to encourage exploration and get you to make full use of the verticality of the world.
A 16m fall will cause you to lose 30 percent of your health. This is a fixed ratio, meaning increasing your Vigor won't make you take less fall damage. A 19.99m fall will make you lose 50 percent of your health. A centimetre more and you die. The damage increases in a fairly linear way from 16m to 20m. The reason it all feels so random is because it's really hard to judge a difference of four metres in a video game. Also, when you fall almost 20m you have half your health left, so intuitively it feels like you should be able to survive a much bigger fall, but that's simply not the case. No matter what, if you drop more than 20m, you die.
There are a few scripted parts of the game where a fall won't kill you, but these are pretty obvious when they occur. To avoid spoilers we won't mention when and where these happen, but if the ground crumbles below you or a beam breaks with you on it and you survive, it's not a glitch. If you die when that happens, it means you got got and shouldn't step on that thing again.
There are also some specific parts of the game where a fall below 20m will kill you, but that's because you passed through a kill plane designed to stop you falling for ages then dying anyway, or getting stuck. The most notable examples of this are when you fall off shore-side cliffs, into the ocean, and down elevator shafts.
How To Survive A Fall
It's important to reiterate, there is nothing that will help you survive a drop of 20m or more. However, there are some items and tools that will help you judge a fall or mitigate all fall damage up to 20m entirely.
Rainbow Stones are your best bet for avoiding falls that will outright kill you. Just drop one off a ledge you're eyeing up and Rainbow Stones shatter if the fall is deadly. You can find them in the overworld and also craft them as soon as you have the Crafting Kit. This is sold by Merchant Kale at the Church of Elleh site of grace, right in your initial spawn area in Limgrave. It takes just one Ruin Fragment to make, and they can be found scattered over most crumbled buildings.
| Where To Find The Crafting Kit | ||
|---|---|---|
| Zoomed Out Map | Zoomed In Map | In-Game View |
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If you have to do a big jump, try colliding with the slopes or edges on your way down. If they jut out enough these can count as landing spots and help break you fall, turning it into loads of small ones rather than one big one. However, sliding down slopes generally doesn't count as landing and you'll likely die when you hit the ground. This has been the case in previous soulsborne games.
The Longtail Cat Talisman, Soft Cotton, and Assassin's Approach incantation will negate all fall damage, but a 20m drop will still kill you. They only turn fall damage off, they don't increase the distance you can fall. The wording of the Cotton and incantation both read that they reduce fall damage, but they do the same as the Longtail Cat Talisman and actually negate it entirely.
| Longtail Cat Talisman | Soft Cotton | Assassin's Approach |
|---|---|---|
| This can be found in the Acadamy of Raya Lucaria, at the bottom of the big lift. Go via the Schoolhouse Classroom site of grace. It's on a body behind a rogue pendulum statue. These are hard to kill, so feel free to doge past it, loot the body, and get the hell out of there. | You need the Nomadic Cookbook 7 to make this. It's found in Limgrave at the end of a broken bridge just east of Stormveil Castle. It takes three Rowa Fruit and one Smouldering Butterfly to make one piece. | You need to get the Assassin's Prayerbook from the Roundtable Hold and give it to someone who can teach incantations. Down the stairs by the blacksmith and through two sets of Stonesword Key doors. The incantation costs 12 FP to cast and requires 10 Faith to use. |
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Honestly, none of these are really worth your while as they only prevent you taking damage in that four metre window, and it's not that much damage anyway. The only need for any of this is if you're already badly damaged and there's a long drop you absolutely have to make.
A quick note: these items work if you're on Torrent as well. You can use the Cotton or cast Assassin's Approach while off Torrent, then get on, and they'll still negate fall damage.
Do Dexterity And Equip Load Affect Fall Damage?
In short: Yes, both Dexterity and your equipment load have an effect on the amount of fall damage you take in Elden Ring.
Dexterity can reduce the amount of fall damage you take, but before you go respecing into it, you'll want to know how little it really does. Below 21 Dexterity, the stat has no bearing on your fall damage. From 21 to 99 Dexterity, you take slightly less fall damage. At 99 Dexterity, you take 20 percent less fall damage overall. This isn't 20 percent of 100, but 20 percent of the damage values. So a drop of 16m with 99 Dexterity will take off 24 percent of your total Vigor instead of 30, and a drop of 19.99m will take off 40 percent instead of 50. This is a minuscule difference, so don't spec into Dexterity just for this. No matter your Dexterity, you still die falling 20m or more.
Your equipment load can increase the amount of fall damage you take. A light or medium equip load will have no impact on your fall damage, but a heavy or overloaded equip load will increase fall damage. At exactly 70 percent equip load - the amount needed to become heavy - you won't see a damage increase, but from 71 percent to 100 percent the damage you take will increase up to ten percent. Falling just under 20m will now do 55 percent damage, and 16m will do 33 percent damage. Nothing to write home about. At 150 percent equip load, this increases to 30 percent, meaning falling 16m will now do 39 percent damage, and 19.99m will do 65 percent damage.
These differences are so minuscule they're barely worth writing or thinking about, but people want to know the answers, so here they are. In short: Don't worry about your Dexterity or equip load, it barely matters in relation to fall damage.
Does Time Spent Falling Matter And Can Torrent's Double Jump Save You?
No. It doesn't matter how long you fall for, it has no impact on the damage you take. If you get stuck in a fall animation for around 12 seconds, you die, but that's just to stop players falling out of bounds forever or getting stuck on a glitched rock. A longer fall may kill you, but that's likely because you fell further, the two tend to go hand in hand.
Can the goodest boy in soulsborne history save you with their trusty double jump? Also no. Torrent's double jump won't save you from a lethal fall. The only thing that seems to matter to Elden Ring is where you started and where you land. If you land 20m below where you started, you die.
There does appear to be a small glitch with Torrent. Landing on some sloped surfaces like ruins won't count as proper landing if you quickly jump as soon as you land, meaning what looks like two small jumps get counted as one big one and kill you.
Two other notable occurrences when falling on Torrent include him dying but you living and some spirit springs having different radiuses that protect you from fall damage. The former is, likely because Trrent already had low health or because he fell 20m and then the animation that knocks you off caused you to land just under 20m. The latter is possibly due to how the developers intended you to explore areas, but the crux of it is some spirit springs have a much larger fall protection radius than others. Play it safe and just aim for the bullseye.
