Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC - It’s Kicking My Ass and I Love It

It’s been over a week of sweat, tears, and triumphs with the Elden Ring expansion, Shadows of the Erdtree. This new content drop pushes even veteran players to their limits with some of the toughest bosses ever produced by developer FromSoftware. It’s kicking my ass, and I’m loving the challenge.

Yes, it’s difficult. This shouldn’t be a surprise, but the Elden Ring developers have really shown that players diving into this expansion will not have a cakewalk. They wanted those who have spent over 100 hours perfecting their builds and obtaining the best equipment to sweat. And that’s exactly what they did here.

The initial bosses will surprise players, as even smaller ones can easily take out a player with just a couple of hits, despite them being over level 150. Why is that? It’s because of a new system that dictates damage input and output in a fight. The developers didn’t want over-leveled players to enter the expansion and completely stomp any boss that came their way.

Scadutree Fragments and Spirit Ash Blessings

As you explore the new location, you will come across an item called Scadutree Fragments. These items increase a player’s damage output and enhance their damage mitigation. Spirit Ash Blessings improve your summons and increase the total life of your trusty steed, Torrent, making them more resilient against the expansion’s most deadly foes.

Simply put, there will be more room for error with these upgrades.

But don’t be fooled; this doesn’t make the expansion immensely easier. It actually promotes exploration, as these upgrades could dictate if you’ll die in three hits instead of four, which is a huge deal.

It promotes one of my favorite aspects of Elden Ring – the fact that you can come back a bit stronger when struggling with a certain boss. In the base game, I love that players can choose to explore other parts of the world to get stronger and hopefully stumble upon something that will give them an edge for the content they’re currently stuck on. Exploring in Elden Ring is rewarding and remains so in the expansion, even for the overpowered.

But again, despite the addition of Scadutree Fragments, this doesn’t make the game easier; it just makes it a tad more manageable. Shadows of the Erdtree still features the most punishing bosses ever created for the genre, even surpassing the likes of Malenia, Blade of Miquella, found in the base game, who is pegged as one of the hardest bosses in the game by the community.

I’m throwing everything at these bosses, all the tricks and weapons I have at max, and despite my arsenal, I’m struggling, which in turn makes my victories more rewarding. Simple fundamentals and knowledge of enemy attack patterns still play a major role in a player’s success in a fight.

Get Lost Once Again by Beauty and Dread

Once again, FromSoftware has outdone themselves with their boss encounters, but they have also delivered an impressive expansion location that could rival what is available in the base game. The open space and location are massive and gorgeous to look at. Elden Ring has always found an impressive balance of awe and death in their environmental designs, creating a sense of dread and despair just by overlooking the next large chunk of land to explore.

The lore found in the expansion is also rather intriguing. Though only those well-versed in the game’s story will get the most out of what is found in the expansion, it’s good to see new faces and new revelations about characters and facts about the world of Elden Ring.

It’s been a treat to explore the new Elden Ring expansion, and I’m quite surprised by how dense and rich this content is. It’s still surprising that they delivered such high-quality content two years after releasing the full game. I’m 15 hours in so far and still have a few roads and bosses left to conquer.

As to where I stand with the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, this is already a no-brainer for anyone who enjoyed the base game. The expansion not only adds more of what we want but also further challenges even the most skilled players, a feat I didn’t think was possible.

---