While playing Elden Ring, there are a lot of interesting status effects in the game. However, there’s one sneaky status effect that players might not notice at first—the Red Square debuff. It’s a little red square under your health bar. You might not have it yet, but if you do you’re probably wondering what it does or how you got it. So, is it important? And if so, what does it mean?
What Is the Red Square Debuff in Elden Ring
If you have the Red Square debuff, it means you let Fia hug you. For those who don’t know, in the Roundtable Hold, there’s a woman named Fia. This woman will offer to hold the player. It’s been memed about online. A lot. It’s right there next to the player being able to “touch grass” and be called “maidenless” by one of the women in the game. However, what you probably didn’t notice, is that if you let Fia hold you, you’ll be given a debuff.
Fia’s debuff removes 5% of max health from the player. While this is a massive debuff for a difficult FromSoftware game, there’s a way to fix it, and hide the fact that you possibly spent a little too much time in the arms of a digital maiden.
The key lies in the item that Fia gave you after you were held in her arms, The Baldachin’s Blessing. Using this item will rid you of the debuff that Fia gives you in exchange for an embrace. However, this consumable item holds something fairly useful. Using the Baldachin’s Blessing will increase your poise. This stat dictates how easily you can be staggered after being hit.
So if you want to remove the Red Square debuff, you’re going to have to use that consumable. However, you only get one, and the only way to get another is to embrace Fia once more.
While it’s very useful for something like a boss fight, you’re going to be walking around the world of Elden Ring with 5% less health, which could be the difference between life and death. Is that all worth a single hug?
