Elden Ring is still one of the top trending games out there and a lot of players are asking the same question: “Which NPCs should I kill, and which should I spare?” Let’s take a few minutes to look into it. First, you do not have to kill these NPCS. Within minutes of starting the game, you are introduced to Kale, the wandering merchant who tells you about his people. There are several helpful items that you can buy from him like the crafting kit. As you travel through the lands between you will run into many other merchants just like him. I would suggest only killing the wandering merchants as other merchants in the game may have quests attached to them. 

 

 

Now comes the moral dilemma. “Should you kill these merchants?” Well, there are pros and cons to this. Several of these are in out-of-the-way locations. Many players would just go ahead and buy what they need or return later. From Software has given players an opportunity to decide the fate of these merchants. If you decide to kill them, do not worry about losing the merchant’s inventory. They all drop a bell bearing which can be given to the Twin Maiden Husks at Roundtable Hold, giving you the inventory of each merchant. This gives the player a nice, convenient single location for all the items sold by each merchant. Some players may worry that they will miss some quest or some important information that can be gleaned from the merchants but fret not. Kale is the only merchant that gives any quests, and his quest can even be picked up later in the game if you decide to kill him. As a side note, there is an optional boss called the Bell Bearing Hunter that will spawn at certain locations after you have killed the nomadic merchants.

Just like most things in Elden Ring, the choice is yours.