The HUD

The HUD shows you many things about your character, so you never have to look far to receive a wealth of information. Your character stays in the center of the screen, and you have control of the camera to look around. In the upper corner, you have bars for your health (in red), your FPs (in blue), and your Stamina (in green). These fill or deplete depending on the actions you take, and that lets you track whether you need to keep fighting, back off to rest, heal, or simply flee.

If your health gets too low, you’re in great danger. Use your Estus Flask to heal, or get out of combat entirely if that isn’t an option.

If your FPs bottom out, use the Ashen Estus Flask to restore them, or resort to basic attacks that don’t rely on FP. Keep in mind that you can use many Weapon Skills even if your FP is depleted, but they drain more Stamina and often execute more slowly without FP. Spells, on the other hand, simply cannot be used without FP.

Stamina is the easiest to restore. Back off and lower your shield to get Stamina flowing back to your character. It only takes a few seconds to fill, and then you’re ready to perform more actions.

Your Souls indicator is in the bottom-right area. The higher it goes, the more you have to spend. Think about returning to the Fire Keeper or a vendor so that you can invest those Souls into something worthwhile.

The bottom-left area shows your weapons and tools. The items in your hands are on the left and right. The tools you have readied are on the bottom. The top slot is for your spells.

Use the D-pad to swap around these items with others in the same slots that you have prepared. To see what you have, go into the Equipment screen to swap these items around ahead of time.

It’s always good to have your Estus Flask and Ashen Estus Flasks equipped on the bar, but be sure to leave room for other staples like Homeward Bones, thrown weapons, buff items, or anything that raises your resistance against the major types of damage in the area.

Remember to shift your tools around depending on the situation that you’re handling. If you go into an area that is filled with poison, change your tools to focus on that. When you leave, take those back off of the bar so that you’re not always cycling through tons of items to get to the one you need.