Ok, you remember that Aspects of the Crucible: Thorns incantation FromSoft showed off as part of the official images for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree we got long before it came out. Yeah, the one that turns your Tarnished into a hedgehog, kinda? Well, someone's now beaten the entirety of the base game and the DLC using just that, in less than 13 hours.

To be fair, given that Shadow of the Erdtree has already been beaten on its own by a streamer on a dance pad, who then went on to merk Messmer or two devices at once, we probably shouldn't be too surprised.

This time, Elden Ring challenge run specialist Distortion2 was up to the plate, having decided to use what they themselves describe as "one of the worst spells" in the game, to beat every boss from Margit, to the Elden Beast, and then Promised Consort Radahn.

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Everyone loves Radahn! Perhaps one of the most memorable bosses in Elden Ring is a fan favourite among players and far-flung spectators alike. But if you're still hungry for some time with FromSoftware's beloved horse rider you can spend an indefinate amount of time with the bloke in an unexpected game: League of Legends.

This comes courtesy of a fan-made skin for Pantheon available through Rune Forge, the MOBA's biggest hub for custom skins. For those who download it, Pantheon will be totally morphed into the Elden Ring boss, with all his abilities altered to match Radahn's own move set.

The creator of the skin Kaizen posted their results on Twitter, as well as work-in-process videos and screenshots in prior weeks that you can check through. It's always dope to see grassroots, passion-led creatives make all manner of fun stuff for their chosen games, and League is no different with its community skin scene.

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Bad news everyone. If you've been looking to put yourself at the top of the list of most bizarrely difficult Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree boss kills, you're gonna have to do a lot to top what one streamer's just done to our good buddy Messmer.

No, don't worry, this isn't us telling you that no-hit saxophone run we reported on prep having begun for the other day has already somehow been completed. Instead it's another lesson in Elden Ring mastery by someone who's already smashed through the DLC using a dance pad, presumably because they were kicked out of their local Zumba class for being too good.

You may already have heard of MissMikkaa. Aside from 'regular' dance pad runs like that DLC one we mentioned, she's also got a bit of thing for beating Elden Ring bosses in two different ways simultaneously, because multitasking's anm important skill to develop, yo.

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We've all be enjoying the inevitable array of challenge runs and unorthodox boss kills that've come out of Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion since it arrived late last month, and the good news is that it doesn't look like things will be slowing down for a little bit yet. As of right now, for example, there's a streamer casually prepping to try and deliver what we assume would be the world's first no-hit run of it using a musical instrument.

Yep, after beating Shadow of the Erdtree in regular fashion with their sax back on July 1, streamer DrDootPhD, formerly DrDecomposing, is now busy training to do a no-hit run of it using the instrument, having previously delivered the world's first musical no-hit run through the base game last summer.

How's that training going, you ask? Well, they've just managed to beat Messmer to death using their spiky ball fists without taking a hit, so I'd say pretty well, even if you can see by their reaction that they'd had to spend a fair a amount of time bashing their head against the fight during a three-hour stream.

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I should have been better. But I’m not, and here I am.

A Tarnished named Timmy sits by the site of grace tucked just inside Nokron, Eternal City. In this cavernous, overwhelming locale, as with all the others he’s passed through to get here, he’s got all the power a fighter could ever hope for coursing through his veins. The problem is, right now, it’s totally useless to him.

This uber-god among demigods – resembling Kurt Russell if he were to lose an eye and suffer from the kind of frostbite you’d only get doing nude snow angels at the north pole – looks mournfully down the trusty medallion he’s just unequipped. The medallion that malign and mocking forces beyond his knowledge have modded so that it makes him totally invincible. The medallion that, so far, has helped him best the likes of Rennala, Godrick, and the mighty Radahn in one go.

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Do you remember when Elden Ring was first announced? That beautiful moment back during E3 2019, when FromSoftware — at that point riding the high of Dark Souls' and Bloodborne's acclaim — presented a fresh spin on its signature hardcore fantasy RPG formula. It was like Dark Souls, but not quite. A new world, with a new spin. That moment before we were able to jump into this new adventure was truly special, and it's a feeling I'd quite like to experience again. And again, and again.

Fast forward to today and not only have we been able to play Elden Ring, but its major expansion in Shadow of the Erdtree. If you're like me, you've gorged yourself on the new lore, and experimented like a mad scientist with new weapons and talismans. Elden Ring is a hit. There's no way around it. But rather than return back to The Lands Between and capitalize on its absurd popularity, I'd rather FromSoftware go back to the kitchen and cook up something new once again.

I will conceed that there are exciting avenues that FromSoftware could walk down with a hypothetical Elden Ring 2. The narrative team has done a great job of teasing the world beyond the shores of Limgrave, and if one leaves the plain entirely, they'll find a whole cosmic stage production of competing forces that are undoubtedly intriguing. The Formless Mother, the sealed god of Scarlet Rot. The very stars themselves have ambition and motives, their path through the sky being a march towards celestial fate. Seeing more of these figures, — as well as the destiny of The Lands Between long after Marika's Golden Order — is tantalizing, but ultimately unnecessary.

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Look, it's ok to feel sad about a proper Bloodborne PC port being a thing we may well never get, even if some folks who aren't Sony keep trying to do a thing. However, if you want to take that energy and channel it into something positive once you've learned a bit about modding, the creator of a cool Bloodborne-themed Elden Ring mod is looking for some help.

As we've previously reported, Graceborne is an Elden Ring overhaul mod which aims to "turn Elden Ring's base game into a more grim and sinister experience through multiple means", such as the addition of a bunch of Bloodborne-themed gear and weapons. There's also stuff like gun parrying, Bloodborne-style healing, and the fact it's permanently after your bed time as you're wandering about.

Since realeasing that initial version of the mod, its creator CorvianNoctis, or just Noctis for short, has realised that if they want to make the full vision they've got for it a reality, they're not going to be able to do it solo. "Many people think there's a team behind this mod, but currently it's only me," they reveal in a YouTube video detailing the current situation.

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Elden Ring loves its mysteries. Strange gods, forbidden unions, an unknown vow between brothers that changes the fate of the world. At the center of all this, and Elden Ring itself, is the biggest mystery and the game’s most important character: Marika. Despite her significance, she’s the only character you never really meet and who never speaks for herself. It’s a bizarre state of affairs, considering this goddess-queen forced an entire world to submit to her rule and created an entire new religion with herself at the center.

I assumed the Marika mystery was just FromSoftware doing its usual thing of intentionally leaving narrative threads unfinished, but once I finished Shadow of the Erdtree, I realized that wasn’t the case. Marika’s erasure was intentional – and I think it drives Elden Ring’s entire plot.

Once upon a time, Marika was a very corporeal being, a ferocious warrior, and a capable sorceress. She swept into The Lands Between and brought it under her control, launched a crusade against the dragons, the ancient giants, and eventually, the people who stuffed her family into meat-grinder jars. She established herself at the head of a new social order. The important thing to note here is that she did this. Yes, Godfrey, her first lord, tagged along for the ride )and did lots of killing) but Marika was the force behind it all, the one who made contact with gods and brought ancient orders to ruin.

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Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree lie ahead.

I've seen this, so now you've got to. There's now an Elden Ring mod that swaps out Shadow of the Erdtree's big bad final boss, Promised Consort Radahn, for a giant version of Patches giving a piggyback to FromSoft bossman Hidetaka Miyazaki. Because of course there is.

Yep, you might have seen this pretty tough fight beaten using a saxophone or on a dance pad, but brother, the weeds of Elden Ring DLC weirdness are already growing a lot deeper than those wacky antics. This isn't the first time someone's decided to get meta and add Miyazaki into one of his own games as a character, but it might be the funniest.

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Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree lie ahead.

While everyone loves Messmer, another Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree chracter that's become a hit is Igon, the warrior who shows up at one point to essentially drop a brutally scathing diss track on big bad dragon boss Bayle the Dread. As it turns out, the actor who delivered those lines, Richard Charles Lintern, had a pretty bewildering, but fun, time doing so.

In an interview with IGN, Lintern has recounted his experience working with FromSoft and Miyazaki on the DLC, which was his first foray into video game voice acting, despite having appeared in plenty of TV shows, films, and theatre productions.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion has gone a long way in making crafting and upgrading specific items significantly easier. That isn’t just thanks to common enemies dropping an abundance of Smithing Stones either, but with the addition of certain Bell Bearings, getting items such as String and Knot Resin without farming them is simpler than ever.

There are multiple Bell Bearings scattered across the Realm of Shadow, and while many are found in pots or tied to NPCs and their quests, some are very well hidden. To help you out, here’s where to find all Bell Bearing locations in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

While hunting down Bell Bearings in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree, it’s worth noting that a majority of them are found inside of hanging pots around the map. These can be easy to miss at times, so here’s an example of one so you have an idea of what to look out for.

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Elden Ring has introduced its fair share of new bosses in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, and FromSoftware has definitely gone above and beyond with some of the foes it has cooked up. Take Romina, Saint of the Bud for example. A humanoid saint with a scorpion’s stinger, centipede’s head, and butterflies wings; it’s safe to say Messmer has put this maiden through a lot.

When you’re not busy admiring just how distressingly beautiful the fight between Romina and the Tarnished is, you’ve got your work cut out for you avoiding her weapons and arachnid or arthropod limbs. To help you out, here’s how to beat Romina in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

Romina, Saint of the Bud is one of the more grotesque enemies you’ll come across in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. She’s no Metyr, Mother of Fingers, that’s for sure, but there’s still a lot to take in once you enter her arena, Church of the Bud, for the first time.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion has added plenty of new gear to the already gargantuan game, giving Tarnished the opportunity to destroy fan-favourite bosses all over again with completely new builds. One type of build that has proved fruitful throughout the DLC involves making yourself as tanky as possible, helped along by the Verdigris Discus Talisman.

The Talisman, which increases defense the higher your equipment load is, is found in a secret, easy-to-miss area in the Realm of Shadow though. To help you get your hands on it, here’s where to find Verdigris Discus in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

The Verdigris Discus Talisman is found in the region of Ancient Ruins of Rauh in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. While you can collect Rauh’s map fragment and explore the area to your heart's content, you won’t actually find the Talisman this way.

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There's now a premium, extended version of this podcast that you can get as a VG247 paid subscriber - check out our Support Us page for more info. Doing so helps ensure that we can keep making the show! But don't worry if that's not for you, the main show will always be free.

You wait years and years for something to finally be over, and once that day comes, you’re left not with a sense of joy, but with a deep-set anxiety about what comes after. Bereft. Unable to enjoy the simple joy of being free, because you’ve been around the block a bit, and you know how these things go. Sigh.

But enough about finishing Morrowind. Recently the UK had an election and kicked out some of the worst people to ever be in charge of anything, replacing them with a default option that nobody actually likes that much. Which is rather like when you finish a video game. Except it isn’t. It’s nothing like that. It’s not remotely like that at all. Forgive the rubbish conceit, and please enjoy The Best Game You Were Glad To See The Back Of, a podcast episode which you can watch or listen to on this very web page and/or app!

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree has introduced a new map full of bosses to beat, dungeons to explore, and loot to find. Not just that, but FromSoftware has also added an abundance of new weapons and gear to the game so that you can beat new enemies in style. And if style is what you’re going for, you definitely want to give Wing Stance a whirl.

While this Ash of War can only be applied to a single weapon, the Milady, don’t let that put you off finding it and trying it. A Wing Stance Milady is incredibly powerful and a lot of fun to use, having you perform all manner of stylish slashes and impaling thrusts. Without further ado, here’s where to find Wing Stance in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

The Wing Stance Ash of War is found in Castle Ensis in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion hasn’t just added a whole new area to explore, and bosses to beat, but also a dozen weapons to go about battering them to a pulp with. One weapon that stands out amongst the crowd but can take some time to get your hands on is the Fire Knight’s Greatsword.

The Colossal Sword is a rare drop, but it’s worth farming given just how fun it is to use. It dishes out fire damage with each attack, and when further buffed with a fire affinity, it’ll dish out even more damage. Without further ado, here’s where to find the Fire Knight’s Greatsword in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

The Fire Knight Greatsword is a random drop from Fire Knights in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, and you’ll find most of these in Shadow Keep.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has plenty of weapons for you to choose from, and if you’re a fan of Curved Swords such as the Shamshir or Eclipse Shotel, you’ll no doubt enjoy using the Falx. The weapon has minimal requirements, dishes out plenty of bleed, and can be grabbed as early as Shadow Keep.

It also comes with the Revenger’s Blade skill, which sees the Tarnished quickly dash towards a target before slashing at them with the sword. Ultimately, if you like to flail about and bleed enemies to death, you’ll want to try the Falx out. To help with that, here’s how to get the Falx in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

There are spoilers ahead for Hornsent’s quest and end-game events.

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Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree lie ahead.

Don't look now, but someone's managed to beat Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion on a dance pad, downing all of the key bosses you need to face on the way there. Yup, it might have taken them several hours, but they even bested General Consort Radahn via jigging and jiving.

As you might remember, not long after the DLC initially released, we reported on a streamer managing to beat big snake boy Messmer using a dance pad, and since then we've been eagerly awaiting the day when its final boss would fall someone with fleet feet and a keen sense of attack-dodge rhythm. Now, thanks to a veteran of bizarre Elden Ring challenge runs, the wait is over.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion introduced plenty of new weapons to the game for Tarnished to experiment with, and while many stand out as being the latest overpowered weapon to fell foes with, others stand out for the unique way in which you get your hands on them. Namely, the Stone-Sheathed Sword and its counterparts, the Sword of Darkness and Sword of Light.

The Stone-Sheathed Sword is unique in that the weapon can be transformed into another weapon entirely using various altars around the Realm of Shadow. And when you tire of the Sword of Darkness? Well, you can transform it into the Sword of Light. Not a fan of that? You can transform it back again! To help you out with getting your hands on this weapon and using it, here’s how to transform the Stone-Sheathed Sword in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

First things first when it comes to the Stone-Sheathed Sword in Shadow of the Erdtree, there are three possible altars that you can collect it from.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is a sizable DLC with a dense map full of secrets to discover, and one area that you might find yourself curious about are the Ruins of Unte. These ruined buildings don’t seem like much at first, but you can go inside the ruins if you’ve a Hefty Furnace Pot to hand.

And it’s well worth doing so, as you’ll get your hands on a new Incantation and be able to transform your Stone-Sheathed Sword at last. To help you out, here’s how to get inside the Ruins of Unte in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

The Ruins of Unte is a location that you can find after venturing down into Shadow Keep’s Castle Watering Hole in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

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If you're waiting for news on an Elden Ring adaptation that isn't just George R.R. Martin vaguely trolling us via his blog, you're in luck. A fan-made anime based on FromSoft's creation has just gotten a teaser trailer ahead of its arrival this fall.

Yep, you'll soon (ish, at least) have something ER-related to watch that isn't a very good lore video that may or may not be 100 hours long or a very talented streamer slapping up Messmer one-handed while having a snack.

The teaser, which you can watch below, is for the fan-made Elden Ring anime currently being worked on by a team led by YouTuber Steins Alter, who decided earlier this year that enough was enough, they were going to make the Elden Ring anime a thing.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion has introduced a whole range of new weapons, spells, and other gear to the already gargantuan RPG, leaving players spoilt for choice. Spellcasters and Bleed fans in particular can rejoice though, given the addition of a brand-new, powerful spell - Impenetrable Thorns - that can make even the hardest of bosses incredibly easy.

Seriously, it’s one of the best spells in Elden Ring. Capable of staggering foes and causing blood loss from a great distance, Impenetrable Thorns is a little bit cheesy, but if you’re running an Arcane build, you should definitely have this in one of your Memory Slots. To help you out with just that, here’s where to find Impenetrable Thorns in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

Impenetrable Thorns can be found in the Specimen Storehouse in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. To access the spell, you’ll need to have made your way up to the Seventh Floor of the area; see our Specimen Storehouse walkthrough if you need help getting there.

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There are a few weapons introduced as part of Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC that stand out amongst the crowd; one of them being the Bloodfiend’s Arm. The Colossal Weapon, which sees you depleting the health pools of enemies in just a few hits in our Bloodfiend’s Arm build, is well worth trying out.

It helps that the weapon is available from the moment you set foot in the Realm of Shadow, and despite a recent nerf to its bugged Arcane scaling — which saw it causing 223 blood loss at +25 with 80 Arcane, rather than the 203 blood loss it does currently at the same stats — it’s still a force to be reckoned with. Without further ado, here’s where to find the Bloodfiend’s Arm weapon in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

Bloodfiend’s Arm can be found in Prospect Town in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, which is accessible from the moment that you set foot in Gravesite Plain.

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As you get deeper and deeper into Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, it just keeps getting more and more confusing. The end-game begins at the Ancient Ruins of Rauh, a multi-levelled maze filled with floating platforms, dark tombs and missile-firing prawn guys around every corner.

It’s really easy to wander into this clifftop corner of hell without finding the Ancient Ruins of Rauh map first, since you actually collect it in a totally different, and well hidden, area. You wouldn’t be the first, and you definitely won’t be the last. I personally spent hours looking for the map prerelease before I discovered the right place.

But even if you do have the right map, there’s not much stopping you from riding around in circles or missing key items and points of interest without even realising they’re there. You can find cool optional bosses, some fun summons and talismans, as well as the critical path towards wrapping up the DLC’s main story.

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Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree lie ahead.

A dataminer looks to have found some dialogue for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree's famously mute final boss that was cut by FromSoftware, leaving you to be battered without at least getting a nice hello before the deadly meteor showers start.

Yep, it turns out the extra bit of chatter from St Trina that Elden Ring sleuths found and restored last week isn't the only thing kicking around in the DLC's files cut content wise, there's more stuff that Miyazaki and co ended up electing not to have its characters vocalise.

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Picking up the best Elden Ring DLC Spirit Ash summons gives you a fighting chance against some of the toughest Shadow of the Erdtree enemies. Most of the top-tier ones are tied to Elden Ring's new NPC quests, but you can find a few high-performing ashes scattered around the Land of Shadow as well.

Our Elden Ring DLC Spirit Ash summons list lays out our picks for the best summons in the DLC expansion and how to get them.

If you're looking for some base game setups, head over to our vanilla Elden Ring spirit ashes and best armor picks.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has introduced a lot of new weapons to the gargantuan game, and some of them are very impressive. It’s also safe to say that fans of Faith are spoiled for choice with all the new additions, but one of the best weapons for any Faith player to try out is the Euporia.

This impressive twinblade dishes out Holy damage and has an incredible skill - Euporia Vortex - that buffs itself when used correctly, and it isn’t at all hard to use this weapon to obliterate foes with. Without further ado, here’s our guide to the best Euporia build in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

This weapon is found in an end-game area, so there are spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree’s final area ahead.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has an abundance of weapons to choose from, and Euporia is an impressive Faith-scaling twinblade that you won’t find until your journey through the Realm of Shadow is nearly over. Though, it is one you’ll likely want to run around New Game Plus with given how impressive it can be with the right build.

In this guide to the best Euporia build, we’re going to run through the stats you need and any other key gear that’ll help you get the most out of this weapon and the damage it is capable of inflicting. So without further ado, here’s our guide to the best Euporia build in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

The best Euporia build in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree focuses on Faith as a primary stat, given that the weapon has B scaling with it at +10. Additionally, given that the Euporia dishes out Holy damage, we’ll want a back-up for dealing damage to enemies that aren’t as susceptible to Holy damage; this is where our Lightning Incantations and the Gravel Stone Seal (and Golden Order Seal) come in handy.

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Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree may lie ahead.

You know how we've been telling you about Elden Ring players beating Shadow of the Erdtree's bosses in a huge array of very interesting ways lately? Well, there's now someone taking on the expansion one-handed and at level one, while also having some lunch so they can prove to any doubters that their second hand isn't on a secret controller.

After all, even though we've already seen someone slap up the DLC's uber-hard final boss using a goddamn saxophone on only about their twelth attempt, and someone beat its early baddies using their brain energy, believing that someone could take it on equipped with only five fingers is clearly a bridge too far.

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Midra’s Manse is a horrific haunted house at the heart of the Abyssal Woods in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. It’s one of the most unique areas in the whole of the Lands Between, and offers a variety of great rewards for those who dare to step foot inside.

Not least because Midra’s Manse offers some intriguing backstory on the Frenzied Flame, one of the many endings for Elden Ring you can choose from in the base game.

However, Midra’s Manse isn’t a storybook tour through the lore of Elden Ring. It’s filled with tough enemies, hidden secrets and everyone’s least favorite status affliction in the game: madness.

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The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland has compared the show's big bad to Elden Ring in an amusing and pretty relatable way.

Inspiration strikes in mysterious ways, occasionally coming from surprising places. With Star Wars being a sci-fi series, even if there are some very light fantasy elements, you wouldn't expect it to necessarily borrow from a game like Elden Ring, but in a recent interview with Inverse, Headland shared that she did actually take something funny from the FromSoftware game into the prequel series.

Spoilers ahead for the fifth episode of The Acolyte.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion has introduced an abundance of new weapons to the game, all of which can be taken back to The Lands Between with you to beat up all manner of enemies. It’s quickly become clear that some of these weapons are much more overpowered than others, and one of those in question is the Bloodfiend’s Arm.

The Bloodfiend’s Arm is a Colossal Weapon that packs a punch with the right build. It dishes out exceptional amounts of flat damage, and can cause plenty of blood loss with a Bleed infusion with ease. Simply put, I can bid a solemn farewell to Rivers of Blood. I have a new favourite weapon now! Without further ado, here’s the best Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Bloodfiend’s Arm build.

If you’re creating a build around Bloodfiend’s Arm, there are two ways you can take it. The first - and what we’re going to be doing in this build - is by applying a Bleed infusion to the weapon and leveling Arcane, allowing it to trigger an exceptional amount of blood loss. This was 223 previously (with 80 Arcane), but now sits at 203 blood loss following the 1.12.3 patch.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion has even more paintings for you to find, and that means tracking down the painters who produced them for some sweet rewards. Fortunately, there’s only three to worry about locating in the DLC, and their rewards are well worth the time spent seeking them out, especially if you like dragons.

To give you a helping hand tracking down these artists and their works, we’ve explained all painting locations and solutions in this Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree guide.

There are three paintings in total to find and solve in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion: The Sacred Tower, Incursion, and Domain of Dragons. These can all be found quite early on in your journey, though you might not reach one or two of the solutions until later in the game.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree is packed with secrets for keen Tarnished to uncover, especially given its smaller, denser map. Much like the base game, some solutions - and rewards - hide in plain sight, but can be easily missed given some obtuse prerequisites that aren’t always straight-forward.

One such instance involves the O Mother gesture, which grants the Tarnished passage to a secret area known as the Hinterlands. It’s an area you don’t want to miss out on given the lore you can find, and the nearby Finger Ruins that are tied to Count Ymir’s quest. Without further ado, here’s where to get the O Mother gesture in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

The O Mother gesture can be found in Bonny Village in Shadow of the Erdtree.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has provided FromSoft masochists with a whole heap of big new bosses to get stomped by and then stomp for themselves, so naturally the DLC's release has pretty quickly spawned calls for the game to have a system that'll faciliate some easily accessible boss fight rematches added to it next.

To be fair to them, unless you're one of the sickos who opted to keep a special DLC-ready save tucked away ready for a challenge involving a dance pad or a saxophone, getting a bunch of bosses together so you can merk them all again in quick succession is a bit tough. Unless you're willing to aid someone else as a summon Let Me Solo Her-style, there's probably gonna be at least a bit of a commute involved.

Hence a Reddit thread from Elden Ringers who've already finished off the DLC begging FromSoftware to give them at least one more treat before it potentially moves on to whatever's next on the menu.

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The best Elden Ring DLC spells give your build a big step up and add new ways to play, but not all of Shadow of the Erdtree’s spells are worth respeccing for. A handful of sorceries and incantations have much more to offer than the likes of Crucible: Bloom or whatever the heck the finger shield spell is supposed to do, though some of them are also tougher to find.

Our Elden Ring DLC best spells list lays out the top sorceries and incantations in Shadow of the Erdtree, including where to find them and what stats you need to get started.

It’s safe to say Elden Ring's sorcery had its finest moment in the base game, as FromSoft added few new spells and some of rather questionable value. There’s still a small handful worth building around, though, including one that even makes the final boss a much simpler challenge.

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Swordhand of Night, Jolan is one of a few NPCs to be discovered in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree, and while she doesn’t initially have much to say, advancing Count Ymir’s quest will earn you her trust. That is until you completely destroy that small semblance of trust, anyway.

As you conclude your time getting to know Jolan, you’ll have an important choice to make that can land you with her weapon, the Sword of Night. This black katana performs sweeping slashes that dish out Magic damage, and it looks damn cool, so here’s our guide to the best Sword of Night build in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

The Sword of Night is a cool, witchy weapon that the Tarnished can receive at the very end of Swordhand Night Jolan’s quest in Shadow of the Erdtree, by giving her an Iris of Occultation to consume. It has incredibly low requirements of just 11 Strength and 20 Dexterity to wield, with an S scaling with Dexterity once it’s been upgraded to +10.

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Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree lie ahead.

I'm very glad to report that Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree's big final boss, the one so tough folks have asked Let Me Solo Her to focus their efforts on it, has now been beaten by someone using a saxophone as a controller.

Yep, we've had one-shots, uber-tanks, and dance pads, so the natural progression is someone ruining a DLC boss' day via the medium of soothing jazz, which is exactly what this streamer has done. To be fair, given that they'd already managed to Clarence Clemons their way through the base game - as we discussed with them while asking for some DLC tips back when it was first revealed - this kill was probably inevitable.

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Storytelling-wise, Elden Ring's famous for being chock full of folks just subtlely alluding to things, without explicitly spelling out the whole picture, and it seems writer George R.R. Martin's embraced that philosophy in his real world interactions too. Well, he has specfically when it comes to acknowledging rumours of a potential Elden Ring TV or film adaptation.

Yep, forget trying to read into the meaning of the cut dialogue dataminers have already uncovered in Shadow of the Erdtree or contemplating what it means lore-wise when someone beats Messmer using a dance pad, it's time to try and read into what one of the gretest fantasy writers ever has said on his blog.

In the latest post to this blog, Martin discussed awards with help from some baseball philosophy, and also found time to say both nothing and a fair amount about the idea of the FromSoft hitting either the big screen or the smaller screen that all of your furniture is pointed at.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC wouldn’t be much of an expansion if there weren't a dozen of overlapping quest lines and obscure items to find the real purpose of. One of these peculiar items with a hidden use is Thiollier’s Concoction, a deadly brew that you can receive as part of both Thiollier’s quest and Moore’s quest.

Now, upon consumption, Thiollier’s Concoction will kill you. It doesn’t appear to do much else, but it turns out that you can give this potion to an unsuspecting NPC and receive a hefty reward for doing so. Here’s where to use Thiollier’s Concoction in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

First things first, you’ll need to get your hands on Thiollier’s Concoction in Shadow of the Erdtree. If you are yet to do this, pay a visit to Thiollier at Pillar Path Cross.

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If you've been desperate to play Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree in seamless co-op, I've got great news: the mod has just been updated.

Anyone that's played a modern FromSoftware game knows that its online multiplayer is one part interesting, and in another part a ballache. Elden Ring is no different, but thankfully there is a seamless co-op mod that makes playing online with your friends a whole lot easier. Of course, last week the game's highly anticipated DLC expansion Shadow of the Erdtree dropped, and with that came a new version of the game. Updates normally require mods to also be updated, as they normally won't be compatible otherwise. As spotted by PC Gamer, the seamless co-op mod was updated today, meaning you can now play Shadow of the Erdtree with your friends more easily too.

"While not perfect, it has reached a state where it can be used to play Elden Ring and the DLC in co-op," said Dalvik, a moderator for the seamless co-op mod's Discord server. So, if you do boot it up tonight, don't expect everything to run smoothly, especially considering some of the framerate issues the DLC currently has without any mods in place. The mod's update is a pretty substantial one too, as for one it lets you retain your saves from previous seamless co-op playthroughs. But it also introduces invasions for the first time, so you can have more of that classic only experience and ruin someone else's (or ruin your own) day.

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There’s no shortage of Elden Ring DLC weapons. FromSoftware added over 100 new armaments to Shadow of the Erdtree, from freaky little whips to swords with spectacular skills and a particularly potent sorcery staff you can only get from completing an easily missable side quest. The balance of weapon types isn’t exactly even. Faith and dexterity builds have the most freedom to choose in Shadow of the Erdtree, but there’s something unique and fun for any Elden Ring build.

We’ve put together a list of the best Elden Ring DLC weapons in every stat category, including arcane, along with where to get them and why they're so good.

I played almost all of the DLC except the final fight with the Greatsword of Solitude thanks to its exceptional Ash of War that fires off an arc of moonlight and follows up with a powerful slash. Take it off the Blackgaol Knight as soon as you can. Devonia’s Hammer makes up for its skills long animation time with the fact that it actually reaches further than five inches, unlike the nifty-but-limited Anvil Hammer, while Bloodfiend’s Arm infused with a bleed Ash of War has a whopping 200+ blood loss rating.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion has been a real treat for those who are fans of inflicting Sleep on foes, given that we now have access to Eternal Sleep. It’s the same status effect, but with a little bit of a buff, considering its capable of putting weaker enemies into an almost-permanent slumber.

As such, it’s not great against bosses unless they happen to be of the Godskin variety, but it is damned good fun to send mobs for a catnap against their will, before quickly clearing them out. It also makes Rune farming a hell of a lot simpler… So without further ado, here’s our guide to the best Eternal Sleep build in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

First things first, if you’re going to create a Sleep build in Elden Ring or expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, you need to know how Sleep (and Eternal Sleep) works against different enemies.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC introduced plenty of new content. Not only is there the huge Realm of Shadow and its various Legacy Dungeons to explore, but there are new weapons, gear, and even Ashes of War to track down. Some of these are brilliant additions to the game, giving some weapons a new lease of life.

This page will be focusing on the best Ashes of War that we have found in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Check out our best Elden Ring Ashes of War guide for the best Ashes in the base game.

Here are some of the best Ashes of War added to Elden Ring as a part of the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

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Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree lie ahead.

Right, before we go any further, make sure you've heeded the warning above. The kind datamining loreheads who pore over every detail in FromSoft games have inevitably started digging into Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. And, right on time, they've already seemingly unearthed and recreated an extra cutscene for you to enjoy.

In many ways, these dataminers are a bit like the folks who keep pasting the DLC's bosses in increasingly impressive ways. Artists, who, instead of painting canvases that show what happens if Messmer upsets someone who owns a dance pad, get their brush out and go 'here's a thing that might have been planned for the game, at some point, we assume'. Passionate Jackson Pollocks with crippling addictions to show-and-tell.

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Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC got off to a tougher start than many might have predicted Steam review-wise, with the likes of complaints about the expansion's difficulty and some performance issues having earned it in an initial thumbs down from plenty of folks on PC. Now though, it's back in the "Mostly Positive" column.

If you've missed out on seeing it, first of all congrats, but second, the FromSoft community spent a lot of time debating whether Shadow of the Erdtree's initial difficulty pushed things a little bit too far, with a patch having since made things a little easier. Teamed with some frame rate problems, a fence-sitting verdict was delivered.

Now, though, as spotted by GamesRadar, the expansion's rating on Steam shows it's now floated back above the 70% positive review threshold.

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Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree lie ahead.

Yep, we literally can't go a day at the moment without someone doing something boss-wise in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion that makes us go 'Ok, you're clearly very good at video games, aren't you?'. This time it's someone utterly bodying the DLC's big final boss by just tanking every blow it dishes out. You know, like you do.

Don't worry, at least this time there are no dance pads involved and the fight is slightly more of a struggle than someone just downing Messmer in one hit. You'll still most likely be sitting there questioning your life after watching it, though.

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Lurking deep in the east of the Shadow Realm in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, the Abyssal Woods is one of the most horrendous areas the Tarnished has ever had to face on their journey to becoming Elden Lord.

Cloaked in inky dark and plagued by madness, the Abyssal Woods features something new for Elden Ring: pure stealth sections where combat isn’t an option.

This is a whole new experience for the Tarnished, who up to now has never met an enemy they can’t eventually best or an obstacle they can’t overcome. But to make it out of the Abyssal Woods alive with the great riches it offers, they’ll have to use their brain as well as brawn.

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If there’s one thing to remember when crafting an Elden Ring build, it’s that you gotta have Faith. Even with the release of Shadow of the Erdtree, the best Faith build relies on a classic weapon with immense power!

The early game is always going to be difficult, but, ironically, that’s especially true when putting together advanced builds with restrictive stat requirements for specific weapons.

The best Faith build in Elden Ring requires a potent mix of Faith, Strength and Dexterity, which means you may have to neglect Vigor, Endurance and Mind in the short term, but the results are definitely worth it.

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Tucked into the eastern corner of the Black Keep, the Church District in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree hides a terrible secret…

While this unsuspecting, flooded nook of the Shadow Realm seems like a completely optional area, it in fact hides the entrance to not one, not two, not three, but four otherwise inaccessible areas. Two of which are critical to the main path of the DLC’s overarching story.

The first hides one of the required bosses needed to complete Shadow of the Erdtree, while the other is the only path that leads to the final main area of the game.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has introduced the Tarnished to plenty of new bosses, as well as a whole roster of weapons, talismans, and other gear to try out. One new item is the Chilling Perfume Bottle, which when built around effectively, can make for a rather fun and easy to use Frost build.

Given that we’re using the Chilling Perfume Bottle for this Frost build, you’ll want to prepare to pump a load of Rune Levels into Intelligence and learn to manage your damage negation, as you’ll no doubt tank a hit or two while making the most of this build. To help you out, here’s our guide to the best Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Frost build.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Best Frost Build

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Souls games are excellent at making you want to go forward, to explore that weird ruin and massive castle right in front of you. A lot of this comes down to framing, making it so the moment you step through a doorway a giant landmark is perfectly in view as the music kicks in. This is true for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree too, with two exceptions. Any time the DLC popped up a text box, the game flipped it. It's one of the best uses of a simple notification I've seen in a video game in recent memory.

This will go into some spoilers, so warning for those who want to go into Shadow of the Erdtree totally blind. The first time this happens is likely when you first go to the Shadow Keep, the massive castle where Messmer resides. Journeying inside, you're prepped for a lengthy climb through this massive mega dungeon, packed full of enemies and secrets. But, just as you reach the elevator, you get a pop up. "Somewhere, a great rune has broken. And so too a powerful charm." This can also happen when you first reach Rauh Base, or pass Bonny Village, so it's targeted at players who are well into their adventure.

The moment you see this, your desire to march ahead immediately shifts into turning around. Miquella's charm, as you may have figured out by this point, has affected all of the companions you journeyed into the Land of Shadow with. Immediately you're inclined to travel back to all the crosses of Miquella, speaking to all the NPCs you've met. It's a sharp and slicing world state change, changing not only your priorities but the actions of your allies. With the spell of Miquella's kindness gone, the DLC gains a darker and more nefarious tone.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has introduced dozens of new weapons, talismans, and spells to the game, and the expansion has proved to be a real treat for both Faith fans and those who like to stack devastating amounts of Bleed on their opponents. This Impenetrable Thorns build focuses on the latter, using Arcane and Intelligence to forge a rather formidable, cheesy build.

Capable of inflicting Bleed in a single use, Impenetrable Thorns very quickly melts through enemies, but you’ll need some additional equipment to make the most of it. To help you with that, here’s our best Impenetrable Thorns build guide for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

It can be quite troublesome trying to make a build that revolves around just one spell in Elden Ring. We’ve all seen the prep work - and Intelligence stat - needed to get the most out of Comet Azur. That said, a new Sorcery introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree - Impenetrable Thorns - isn’t too hard to set up.

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Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC might have just gotten a bit of balancing designed to help make it just a little bit less tough, but prior to that, director Hidetaka Miyazaki had been pretty steadfast in saying that lowering the game's difficulty wouldn't be an ideal move. However, contrary to what you might expect, it sounds like the developer's not taking that stance because he's one of the many uber-skilled folks who've thoroughly mastered battling through tough bosses.

If you've missed it, in between pausing to gawk at the likes of someone beating Messmer on a dance pad, the FromSoft community's spent a lot of time debating whether Shadow of the Erdtree's initial difficulty pushed things a little bit too far. With all the arguments you'd expect populating both sides, it's interesting to see Miyazaki revealing that he's very much in the camp of folks generally on the ER struggle bus.

In an interview with The Guardian, Miyazaki touched on his own playing habits, revealing: "Leading up to the release of any game, I’ll be very hands-on playing it and getting as much time on it as much as possible, but after the release, I tend to not want to touch it, because I know I’m going to either find things that I left on the table or issues that will bug me."

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Let Me Solo Her - Elden Ring's most famous player - grew a legendary reputation for offering his services to desperate players struggling to beat Malenia, Blade of Miquella in the base game. With Shadow of the Erdtree's release, they've packed up camp and set up shop in front of a new foe.

Messmer, the DLC's poster-child, has been causing issues for numerous players looking to progress through the challenging new content. As such, Let Me Solo Her has announced their new venture on social media and YouTube, letting players sit back and relax as they take on Messmer one-on-one.

This premiere video for the DLC, titled "Let me solo him" shows our titular hero take on Messmer with the distinct pot head and dual swords. They make short work of Messmer, and leave their client a happy customer. It's unclear how long they'll stay at Messmer's door, but for the time being, those having issues might want to hit them up.

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Make sure you're sitting down. Ok, here we go. Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree boss Messmer's just been beaten by a streamer on a dance pad. Yep. It was inevitable, and it's just as glorious to watch as you'd hope.

Since you might have forgotten about it as your head's filled up with all the DLC difficulty discourse that's been going on since Shadow of the Erdtree dropped, Elden Ring's got a rich history when it comes to people beating bosses on dance pads. MissMikkaa's probably the creator most famous for it, having beaten the entire base game - including Malenia - while dancing their socks off.

This time, however, Luality is the handle of the streamer delivering a masterclass in attack-dodge shape cutting, having used it to best Messmer the Impaler in a matter of minutes without help from any summons. Seriously, they even found time to hug their pet bunny, named Boo, while waiting for the boss to take on the base serpent form that marks his second phase, later dedicating the kill to the emotional support the furry fella provided during that time.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree’s Charo’s Hidden Grave location sounds like a small place – just a tiny grave, nothing major. It’s actually half of the Cerulean Coast area, and there’s more than one hidden treasure, another gaol, and an excellent weapon inside.

Our Shadow of the Erdtree Charo’s Hidden Grave guide breaks down how to reach this hidden location quickly and why it's worth your time.

If you’re after more help, check our our recommendation for the best Beast Claw build and where to find Shadow of the Erdtree's Larval Tears if you need to respec.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has provided players with plenty more gear to try out, which is already leading to some very interesting - and powerful - builds to obliterate bosses with. This Beast Claws build focuses on trying to stack Bleed on opponents as quickly as possible, and while it bears some similarities to our Dryleaf Arts build, the Beast Claws see you playing a lot more aggressively.

If flailing around like Wolverine and breaking the Poise of your opponents consistently sounds up your alley, then the Beast Claws might be the best weapon for you. Without further ado, here’s our best Beast Claws build for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

The Beast Claws weapon is available from the very beginning of Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion - dropped by an NPC called Logur, Beast Claw - which is undeniably a Wolverine reference.

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With Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion having over 100 different weapons to choose from, as well as new gear, spells, and more, there’ll likely come a point sooner or later where you might feel like changing your build with a Respec, and trying something new. This is where Larval Tears come in, and the good news is that there are plenty to find in the Realm of Shadow.

You might find you haven’t run into one yet, though, and that’s because Larval Tears only appear at night in spectral, glowing graveyards. To help you out with crafting that shiny new build, here’s where you can find the locations of all Larval Tears in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

Larval Tears are found at night in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. So, when venturing off to the below areas to collect the item, make sure you pass the time ‘until nightfall’ at a Site of Grace. Otherwise, Larval Tears won’t appear.

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Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC might have just gotten a bit of balancing designed to help make its earlier stages a bit less tough, but the difficulty hasn't stopped plenty of ER experts from blazing hrough it in less time than you can say 'I love me some Scadutree Fragments'. In fact, one of the streamers who's done just that is alrready taking on the task of trying to one shot a bunch of its bosses.

Yep, forget beating the likes of the Divine Beast Dancing Lion with your brain, some people are already at the stage of asking whether they can hit all these big new baddies a single time and have them fall over like a house of cards.

The streamer taking on this run is Bushy, and they've just kicked it off with a casual nine and half hour long bout of running through the Land of Shadow and trying to take down 11 of the DLC's bosses with one shot. Having teased that they might eventually try and do a run where they one shot "literally every boss in the game", the streamer kicked this one off from a save that'd seen them 100% the base game.

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has gotten its first balance patch, and it's a small but impactful one. This balance calibration, posted on the official Elden Ring website, has significantly improved the stat enhancements granted with initial Shadow Realm Blessings: Scadutree blessings and Revered Spirit Ashes.

This should make those early bosses like Rellana and the Divine Beast Dancing Lion a bit easier for those still struggling to get past them. In fact, it should allow players to tackle much of the first 50% of the DLC without doing as much exploration - great news for those who want to bash their heads against Messmer relatively early.

This comes in the wake of a swarm of negative reviews and criticism directed at the DLC by some players, asserting it was too hard to be fun and difficult to really get into. Some have even created mods for the game that lower the impact of the Scadutree fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes in order to make it similar in difficulty to the base game.

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Shadow of the Erdtree finally makes it possible for you to put together a viable Elden Ring Perfumer build, and you have a lot of flexibility in deciding how you want it to work. You can opt for elemental builds – assuming you have the stats for it – use Perfume Bottles as secondary weapons augmenting another build, or ignore all other weapons and just throw sparks at enemies. A particularly strong Ash of War unique to Perfumers makes that last option a stronger possibility than you might think.

Our Elden Ring Perfumer build breaks down what stats you need to make this work and which weapons and talismans work the best.

You have a few Perfumer weapons to choose from, and you should pick more than one. The selections are:

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With Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC introducing over 100 new weapons to the game, including eight new weapon types, there is plenty of interesting gear to be experimenting with. While some weapons are fun to use but don’t really stand a chance against the Realm of Shadow’s formidable foes, Dryleaf Arts manages to be both fun and viable against bosses.

One of two Hand-to-Hand weapons that allow you to turn Elden Ring combat into more of a boxing match, Dryleaf Arts allows you to punch your enemies to smithereens. And with the right gear, and a sprinkle of Bleed, it’s one of few weapons that is fun and powerful without feeling too cheesy. So, without further ado, here’s our Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Dryleaf Arts build for you to try.

Dryleaf Arts is one of two new Hand-to-Hand weapons in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Unlike Fists and Claw weapons that we’ve seen before, these allow you to beat up enemies using the ‘way of the warrior’, and they’re damned good fun to use.

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is firmly out in the wild, and with its release the lore hounds have been running wild and scavenging for any and all breadcrumbs that could help expand and clarify the murky waters of Elden Ring's story. WHile the DLC does answer a bunch of open questions, there's one character who has remain a bit of a mystery.

There are light spoilers for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, and its bosses below.

This character in question is the mysterious Gloam-Eyed Queen! She's the figure that created the Black Flame incantations, and is responsible for the various Godskin bosses you can find all over The Lands Between. She's also likely got a link to the Windmill Village up in the Altus Plateau. But, in the base game, who this figure actually was and her ultimate fate remains vague.

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If you’re looking for Smithing Stones or new weapons to add to your arsenal in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, you ideally want to keep your eyes peeled for ruined forges. These areas contain Smithing Stones in abundance, as well as plenty of other loot.

For example, the Ruined Forge of Starfall Past in Scadu Altus is home to some interesting Smithscript weapons to try; a cirque and a spear, as well as a Smithing Talisman to bolster their attacks. If these pique your curiosity, here’s our Ruined Forge of Starfall Past walkthrough for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

The Ruined Forge of Starfall Past is found in Scadu Altus in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. After having finished things over at Castle Ensis’, we recommend heading east to Moorth Ruins where you can meet Dryleaf Dane.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is home to over 100 new weapons for players to experiment with, and a few of these are known as Smithscript weapons. While not incredibly overpowered or anything like that, these weapons are throwable and thus, really good fun to play around with.

You’ll find these weapons in Ruined Forges across the Realm of Shadow, but these themselves can be quite hidden, as is the case with a lot of things in Shadow of the Erdtree’s dense map. Without further ado, here’s where to find all Smithscript weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree and how to use them.

Smithscript throwing weapons are found in Ruined Forges in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, and so far, three of these dungeons have been discovered in the Realm of Shadow. How to reach these forges, and what you can loot from inside them, is explained below.

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Since it came out, one of the big talking points about Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has been its difficulty, as well as how its systems differ from the base game. The need to collect Scadutree Fragments in order to avoid a bunch of hassle in leveling up your character has proven a bit controversial, but there's now a mod that aims to do away with this treasure hunt.

While gathering up Scadutree Fragments - which you can read our guide to the locations of here - isn't techincally mandatory in the expansion, it's something you'll want to do if you don't want to face an awful lot of rune farming instead in order to stack up the the hardest challenges Shadow of the Erdtree has to offer. If you've been playing and think you'd prefer to progress in a manner that's a bit more like the base game, that's where this mod I'm about to tell you about may come in handy.

'Normalized DLC damage' is the name of this work from modder Sereenaty, and they cite it as doing a couple of things. First of all, as you might expect given the name, it makes the damage you'll take and deal in the DLC more similar to that of the base game. Spirit summons have also had their damage brought in line with what you'll be used to from your years of exploring the Lands Between.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree's Dragon's Pit is one of the first miniature Shadow of the Erdtree dungeons you’ll likely run into, and while it’s short, there’s a humdinger of a surprise inside. It’s not a pleasant place, but if you want to see everything the Elden Ring DLC has to offer, including the Bayle fight and a whole storyline involving dragons, you’ll have to make the trek eventually.

Our Elden Ring Dragon's Pit walkthrough takes you through each step of the mini-dungeon, including some of the traps and surprises waiting for you inside. Note that there is one minor spoiler for a surprise at the end of the dungeon, but we’ll mark where it is so you can avoid it if you want to.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Dragon's Pit

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The most terrifying part of Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC isn’t the gigantic bosses, unexpected ambushes or horror-focused stealth sections, but when you’re wandering towards the Black Keep, a smashing sound effect plays and you get the message: “somewhere a Great Rune has broken”.

In a game as esoteric as Elden Ring, where steps in NPC quests can often go wrong without you realising, it’s very easy to worry that you’ve messed up. When this happened to me the first time, I froze in place and frantically looked around to see what mistake I’d made.

But don’t despair, the Great Rune breaking is a natural part of Shadow of the Erdtree.

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Are you the last living gentleman in the Lands Between? Well, fedoras at the ready, because Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has the perfect weapon for you to prove chivalry isn’t dead: Milady.

Milady is dextrous, Milady is long. Milady is cheesy, Milady is strong.

This Milady build is a cheese strategy PvE build that revolves around using a fully upgraded Milady equipped with the Ash of War: Thunderbolt to enhance its Dexterity scaling, give it a useful elemental damage type and a very overpowered ranged attack.

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Elden Ring puts you on the path to becoming a god, and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC lets you meet more of the pantheon than ever.

St Trina is the poison goddess of endless sleep, which, when you think about it, isn’t all that different from death, is it? Her intoxicating nectar inflicts melancholy and infinite sadness on whoever is charmed to imbibe it. But when you’re the Tarnished touched by the Grace of Queen Marika, and therefore blessed with reincarnation, you’re uniquely equipped to resist St Trina’s “blessing”.

That’s not the case for poor Thiollier, however, who, in love with St Trina, has imbibed the nectar only to become lost in sorrow.

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Struggling to beat Radahn and Mohg, but desperate to play Shadow of the Erdtree? Some helpful Elden Ring players might be able to sort you out.

One of the best things about Elden Ring, outside of the game, is the community itself. It's led to legends like Let Me Solo Her helping hundreds of players take down Malenia, one of the toughest bosses in the game, for one. The ability to summon other players is easily one of the most helpful parts about Elden Ring, as the right player can really come in clutch in a difficult boss fight. And now, as spotted by TheGamer, players are coming together on the r/BeyondTheFog subreddit to help those who really want to play the DLC, but can't quite manage to beat the prerequisite boss fights.

There's plenty of players out there who haven't beaten Mogh, more than 60% of them on Steam in fact (thanks, GamesRadar), though most have fared a touch better against Radahn, where 54.5% of players have actually managed to beat the giant foe. So some players have taken to Reddit to offer help with the game's various foes, several other users asking for help with Mohg, Radahn, and the like. The subreddit is filled with other calls for help, as well as offers, so if you're someone that's currently stuck on either of the bosses required to play the DLC, that might be your best bet.

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Bloodborne 2 is not going to happen, so why not try Graceborne, a great looking Elden Ring mod that seeks to overhaul FromSoftware's latest Soulslike.

Most of you Elden Ring players are probably off having a great (or maybe even terrible) time in Shadow of the Erdtree right now, but there might be a lot of you who, like me, desperately wish that there was more Bloodborne to be had. Unfortunately, almost a decade on, the only expansion to the classic FromSoftware title was its single piece of DLC, The Old Hunters, with no sign of any kind of sequel. There have been rumours about a potential remake, remaster, or even a PC part, but nothing's materialised just yet. Thankfully, we have modders to help pick up the slack when it comes to gothic games filled with Eldritch horrors, and if you want to mix some of those vibes with Elden Ring's world, Graceborne is the mod for you.

Developed by modder corvianNoctis, Graceborne is a Bloodborne inspired overhaul to Elden Ring, which aims to "turn Elden Ring's base game into a more grim and sinister experience through multiple means." This includes the addition of a whole bunch of items, including "22 armour sets, 35 weapons, 17 trick weapons and 5 firearms." Of course, it wouldn't be Bloodborne-like if there wasn't any gun parrying, which has also been added into Elden Ring through this mod, as well as the ability to quickstep when locked on to an enemy. It's also night-time all the time, and there's Bloodborne style healing too.

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Ok, so it's fair to say the current verdict about Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is that it certainly isn't easy, even in the eyes of the kind of FromSoft vets who might've expected to be able to breeze through without thinking. That said, as one streamer's busy demonstrating, it is possible to scythe through the expansion's bosses using just your brain.

The streamer in question is Perrikaryal, and if you're unfamiliar, they're the creator that managed to beat the entire base game last year using a headset that measures their brain's activity and turns those bursts of energy into inputs for the game. Basically, they think in a certain way, their Tarnished does a certain thing - as you can imagine, it adds an extra layer of challenge to an already notoriously difficult game.

Naturally, since Shadow of the Erdtree dropped, Perrikaryal's dug straight into a "mind control" run through it using their carefully-honed setup, and it looks to be going pretty well so far. While they haven't blazed through the DLC in a weekend like some folks, the streamer has already managed to beat the first two bosses.

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If you're having a tough time with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, there's a mod that just got an update that should help you out.

To the surprise of many, as it turns out, Elden Ring's first and only bit of DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is actually quite hard. So hard, in fact, that many players have been leaving the expansion negative reviews on Steam - though that's partially down to performance issues as well. Even as difficult as the DLC is, you might still want to see all it has to offer. After all, it is a beautiful game, and while the story might be a bit obtuse, there is still a narrative to uncover, and it's more fun to actually play something than just watch a let's play. Lucky for those of you playing on PC, there's a cheat mod that lets you tweak different parts of the game to your heart's content.

The mod in question, titled Syyke's All In One Cheat Version, comes from the titular modder, and over the weekend it was updated to work with the latest version of the game, version 1.12, meaning it now has DLC support. There is one caveat to this, as some of the cheat's allow easy access to all of the game's items, though these haven't been implemented with the new DLC items just yet - the update is mostly so that it works with the most recent patch.

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George R. R. Martin was an important part of building Elden Ring's world, and it seems like FromSoftware would be open to similar collaborations in the future.

While there still aren't really all the many specifics about the actual work that Martin did, he's obviously been billed as the person that set the foundations for Elden Ring. It's something that sets it apart from other FromSoftware titles, even if it might just be a bit of a PR move. Bandai Namco is apparently interested in working with fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, but whether that's at all related to anything FromSoftware or not isn't clear, and the author himself is open to the idea too. In a recent interview with GameSpot (thanks, GamesRadar), game director Hidetaka Miyazaki was asked about the possibility of another similar collab, which he seemed very open to.

"One of the huge value-adds of Elden Ring is, of course, George R. R. Martin's contribution in terms of the lore and the mythology, and it is one of the very unique points that other From Software games don't have," Miyazaki explained. "When the team was able to start unpacking his lore and his mythology, it turned into a huge stimulation for us, and it was something that on the development side, we don't get to experience that often. So there was a lot of fun in terms of the world-building and world-setting and trying to decipher and depict and then translate that to what players see on screen.

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has done well critically, but Steam reviews are painting a different picture.

After a long, long wait, Elden Ring's highly anticipated DLC Shadow of the Erdtree arrived, and critics were generally a big fan of it - our own James gave it full marks, and plenty of other reviews were equally strong. But despite all that critical praise, the DLC is currently sitting at a "Mixed" rating on Steam. There are plenty of positive reviews, but there are several users that are finding a lot of issues with it. One review notes that there are constant "micro-stuttering and frame drops" and suggests waiting for performance improvements before picking it up. Another reviewer also noted the DLC's performance issues, despite the base game working fine, with one particular enemy feeling "more like a slideshow."

However, it wasn't just the performance issues that people had a problem with. Everyone knows that FromSoftware games are tough, that's kind of their whole thing, but a lot of players seem to be finding this particular bit of DLC just a little bit too hard. A player who left a lengthy negative review of the DLC wrote that the game's combat just doesn't work for the fast-paced boss fights that would fit better in something like Sekiro or Bloodborne, but Elden Ring's slow-paced Dark Souls style combat just doesn't work for it.

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The main story of Elden Ring deals with demi-gods, legends, kings and queens, but the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC puts the devoted followers of these powerful nobles in the spotlight.

Across the Shadow Realm, you meet an assorted array of interesting individuals, each with their own motivations, conflicts and goals to achieve.

In true Elden Ring tradition, it’s also extremely easy to accidentally bypass quest steps, lose the location of characters, or just generally not know where to go next.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has a few colourful characters for you to meet, and for once, these NPCs don’t actually want to kill you from the outset. Instead, they offer help with your quest to track down Miquella. Hornsent is one of these, providing you with maps of Miquella’s Crosses and other information about the Realm of Shadow.

That said, these characters may be kind, but this is Elden Ring. You can’t trust anyone, and these characters pose you with decisions that can impact later events in the game. So to help you out with the Hornsent, here’s how to complete the Hornsent’s quest in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

There are spoilers ahead for Hornsent's quest and some of the events that are a part of it.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has a fair few notable characters to introduce yourself to, and the first one that you will meet is Needle Knight Leda. First found at the Cocoon of the Empyrean, Leda is a very important character in the Realm of Shadow, and someone you ought to regularly check in with.

That said, Leda’s quest can be a tad confusing. There’s decisions to make that, of course, impact later-game events, so to help you out with acquiring the best outcomes or simply grabbing all of Leda’s gear, here’s how to complete Leda’s quest in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

There are spoilers ahead for Needle Knight Leda’s quest and the end-game events that are a part of it. There are also spoilers for the quests of some other NPC’s.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC sees the Tarnished searching for the missing Empyrean, Miquella the Kind, throughout the dark Lands of Shadow - but they’re not doing it alone.

One ally you meet almost immediately is Redmane Freyja, an exemplary warrior and champion of General Starscourge Radahn. Following the cataclysmic battle between Radahn and Malenia which left Caelid desolated and blighted by the Scarlet Rot, Freyja wandered the Lands Between and came to follow the beguiling Empyrean, Miquella the Kind, and followed them into the Shadow Realm as their acolyte.

Freyja retains her strong connection with Radhan and his Redmane army, but is wholly committed to helping Miquella find what they seek in the Lands of Shadow.

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A former devotee of Mohg, Lord of Blood, Sir Ansbach the retired Pureblood Knight is one of the central characters in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

Ansbach’s quest deals with the relationship between Miquella, Mohg and the Tarnished, and tasks you first with finding the scattered Crosses of Miquella before taking an unexpected turn.

Once Ansbach moves from his first location, it’s very easy to miss the rest of his quest and end up wondering where he got to. But so you can experience it all for yourself, here’s where to find him.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree’s Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana – that’s a mouthful – might seem like a pretty skippable weapon at first glance. It’s a big katana, so it moves slower than regular ones, and since there’s another big katana at the other end of Gravesite Plain, you might think “why bother?” The answer is the Bayle boss fight. And basically every other dragon, but especially Bayle.

Our Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Dragon Hunter’s Katana guide points out where to find the anti-dragon weapon and what makes it so good.

The Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana comes from the Ancient Dragon-Man, a humanoid-ish boss in the Dragon’s Pit mini-dungeon. Dragon's Pit is in eastern Gravesite Plain, and you'll have to cross the Ellac Bridge to get there.

Complete the dungeon, defeat the dragon man, and you’ll get his sword. Strangely enough, he doesn’t really use its skill that often during battle, and he relies on dragon Incantations and generic swordplay instead. Oh well, makes life easier for you.

Anyway, completing this battle is technically optional, but you need to do it to complete Shadow of the Erdtree’s Igon quest and reach Jagged Peak.

Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana stats and scaling

The Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana requires:

• 15 strength
• 20 dexterity

And it’s scaling looks like this:

• Strength: D
• Dexterity: D

Like most katanas, this one’s dexterity scaling increases as you upgrade the weapon, so make sure you’re focusing on dexterity as your main stat with a bit set aside for strength as well. Since it’s a speciality weapon, you need Somber Smithing Stones to upgrade the Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana.

What you get from it in return is:

• Physical:125
• Magic: 0
• Fire: 0
• Lightning: 0
• Holy: 0

Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana skill: Dragonwound Slash

It also comes with the Dragonwound Slash skill built in.

Pressing the skill button coats the katana in a magical aura with jagged gravel stones and does a little slash right in front of you. If you hold the skill button, it unleashes the magic aura in a big arc ahead of you and deals quite a bit of damage.

The natural use for this is against dragon enemies, but you can use it against anything if you want to.

For more help with Shadow of the Erdtree, check out our guides for where to find Scadutree Fragment locations, how to duplicate Remembrances, and what Shadow of the Erdtree boss order to tackle the biggest challenges in.

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The Shadow Realm in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is a confusing enough place already, so you can’t be expected to wander around without a map, can you?

But in Elden Ring tradition, Shadow of the Erdtree makes you piece together your own world map from fragments left at waystones throughout the world. Only once you’ve found these five map fragments can you get a true sense of the task at hand as you search the Lands of Shadow for the missing Empyrean, Miquella the Kind.

For more detailed methods of exactly where to go, we have a specific walkthrough for each location below. However, if you’re sensitive to spoilers, first here’s a brief rundown of how you find each map fragment in Shadow of the Erdtree.

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As you might have seen, when the reviews of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree came out the other day, it snatched the title of most highly rated DLC ever among reviewers on Metacritic. The Witcher 3's brilliant Blood and Wine expansion was the foe it surpassed to earn that honour, and now developer CD Projekt's whipped out the charm to congratulate the new titleholders.

In fact, one of the key developers behind the very DLC that Shadow of the Erdtree eclipsed says he's going to go a step further and give Miyazaki and co a little financial pat on the back.

In a tweet quoting the one CD Projekt put out via The Witcher's official account, Pawel Sasko, who served as a lead quest designer on Blood and Wine - in addition to having assumed important roles on both Cyberpunk 2077 and its currently-in-development sequel since that point - has declared his intention to buy Shadow of the Erdtree despite not having beaten the Elden Beast even once.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree is packed with formidable foes, but none are quite as brutal as Bayle the Dread. Considering you’re here, you probably agree; Bayle the Dread hits hard, and during the fight with him, he is incredibly unforgiving. It can be hard to catch a breath without a summon to hand, and even then, Bayle boasts plenty of AoE moves.

Using the help and tools that Shadow of the Erdtree kits you out with prior to this fight does make things more manageable, however. That, and simply knowing what to expect from the vile opponent. So without further ado, here’s how to beat Bayle the Dread in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

There are spoilers ahead for Bayle the Dread’s fight, Igon’s quest, and the Dragon Priestess’ quest.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree is full of interesting characters for you to meet. One of them, who you’ll hear wailing and crying from a distance before you even see them, is Igon. This guy has clearly been through it, and his quest takes you on a perilous journey where you’ll wind up fighting multiple dragons.

And while fighting dragons isn’t the most exciting task (well, depending on the dragon really), Igon’s quest is a whole lot of fun. And if you fully complete it, you’ll pad out your inventory with some great rewards. So without further ado, here’s how to complete Igon’s quest in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

Igon’s quest kicks off when you run into him at Pillar Path Waypoint Site of Grace in Shadow of the Erdtree. This is just southeast of Castle Ensis’ front gate. You’ll want to go along the higher, upwards path to reach the Grace here, and Igon.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree has its own system for gaining power in place known as Shadow Realm Blessings. This doesn’t mean you should forget about Runes altogether, which will still be needed for weapon upgrades and popping more stats into your Tarnished, but they will help you handle the tough and challenging bosses you’ll be running into.

Shadow Realm Blessings are made up of Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes; the former improving the Tarnished’s stats and the latter improving Spirit Ashes and Torrent’s stats. These items are found all across the Realm of Shadow, and we definitely encourage you to use them! To aid with that, here’s how to use Shadow Realm Blessings in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

Shadow Realm Blessings (both Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes) can be applied at any Site of Grace in Shadow of the Erdtree. Once you’re eligible for a new upgrade, a small circle will appear next to the option at a Grace, much like when upgrades will have been available for your Flasks.

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I hate the Blackgaol Knight and so do you; that’s why you’re here.

Let me know if this sounds familiar: you were all excited to play Elden Ring’s new Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, wandered into the Gravesite Plain and took on the first boss you encountered.

You probably thought the Blackgaol Knight would be easy, you’re quite highly levelled from coming in near the end-game of the main adventure, of course. How wrong I was, and you were as well…

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A whole bunch of folks are currently busy digging into Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion now that it's out, but if you love a good JRPG, it might be worth pausing your trip to the Land of Shadow to absorb what director Hidetaka Miyazaki recently said about digging the idea of him spearheading development on one.

Yup, in an interview with Rolling Stone, the developer touched on the fact that he'd like to make a traditional JRPG at some point in the future, but wouldn't feel comfortable reviving one of the IPs that make up FromSoft's previous flirtations with the genre. If you're not an expert on the studio's history, 2006's Enchanted Arms is the main game being alluded to, though a return to FromSoftware's first ever game was also ruled out.

"I don’t think there’s a scenario where I myself would make a King’s Field. The same can be said about Otogi and Enchanted Arms," Miyazaki said, explaining: "I think a lot of these games are so intertwined with the directors who almost invented that style of game."

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You finally made it past Mohg and into Elden Ring’s DLC, but now you want to know how to leave the Land of Shadow in Shadow of the Erdtree and get back to The Lands Between. There’s pretty good reason to leave the land of Shadow, since you can’t access Roundtable Hold and all its amenities in Messmer’s demesne, and since Elden Ring assumes you’ll figure it out on your own, you don’t actually get a tutorial for how to swap locations.

Our guide for how to leave the Land of Shadow in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree explains how to get back to the Lands Between.

Elden Ring treats the passage to the Land of Shadow like any other teleporter in the game, which is to say it’s a one-way street. You enter via Miquella’s disgusting dead hand, and you can’t go back that way.

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How to kill the Wicker Men-slash-Furnace Golems in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is a bit of a process, and it involves using a new crafted item you can easily overlook for most of the expansion. The Furnace Golem wicker men act as guards in each region of the Land of Shadow, with one stomping around the middle of a main road. You can just ignore them and go on about your business, or you can take them down and earn new Crystal Tears for your Flask of Wondrous Physik, which is the better option once you’re able to.

Our guide for how to kill the Wicker Men Furnace Golems in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree explains their weaknesses and what you need to do to exploit them.

Furnace Golems have an obvious-looking weakness – their little face masks. The not-so-obvious part is how to reach them, and the answer is you normally can’t. Some Furnace Golems stomp around areas with elevated terrain, and you can climb up to target their weak points more easily. When you’re on the ground, level with their giant feet, you have few ways to aim that high without using a bow and greatarrows or spells such as night comet. They also have a weak point on their back, in the small opening amid the wire mesh.

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Belurat, Tower Settlement is less an introduction to Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC and more a baptism of fire.

Belurat is a confusing maze of interconnected tunnels, walkways and corridors, riddled with ambushes, invasions and powerful foes around almost every corner. Stuffed as it is with cheap, trial-and-error trickery, spell-slinging snipers and well-hidden side paths, Belurat feels less like Elden Ring and more like an area from the earlier days of FromSoftware’s back catalogue. It could easily be from Demon’s Souls or part of the Undead Burg in the original Dark Souls.

That comparison will be music to the ears of long-time series regulars, but if you’ve got this far in Elden Ring relying on Spirit Ash summons and overpowered builds be warned, nothing will save you if you’re unprepared for some of what’s to come. Prepare to die… again.

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The foreboding Castle Ensis looms in the east of the Shadow Lands in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree and is home to an infuriating triple threat: the hardest boss of the early game, the hardest invasion of the early game and the hardest regular enemy in the early game of Shadow of the Erdtree.

Not only that, it’s also stuffed with traps, ambushes and dead ends, each waiting to stump your progress or raise your core temperature to brain-busting levels. But, in true Elden Ring tradition, there are always ways to subvert Castle Ensis’s most difficult areas and encounters, or even skip them entirely; to the point where you can run and sneak through almost completely unscathed.

So, if you’re feeling hopeless, like you’ll never be able to reach the fog gate at the end of the tunnel, then I’ve got a sneaky route to share with you!

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The Specimen Storehouse is one of the densest and most confusing areas in all of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, and you probably found it by accident.

All you did was wander down the wrong corridor, ride a sketchy elevator and suddenly you're in the labyrinthine nightmare known as the Specimen Storehouse beneath the Black Keep. I can only say I’m sorry. And no, it doesn’t get any less befuddling.

You might have taken some solace in the thought that this easily missed and well-hidden area would be completely optional? You were wrong.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree has a few NPCs you will, honestly, be very happy to meet. For a start, they don’t actually want to kill you, and in some instances, they actually want to help you. Take the humble Moore, for example, a collector of ‘things’, for ‘things’ make everyone happy.

Moore is rather quiet, for the most part, but he does act as a merchant and later, poses you with a pivotal decision. To help you do right (or wrong!) by Moore, here’s our Moore quest guide, and whether you should tell him to ‘be sad forever’ or ‘put it behind you’ in Shadow of The Erdtree.

There are spoilers ahead for Moore's quest and mid-game events that affect it.

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In Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Messmer’s Fire Knights are revered warriors, wielding the Demigod’s own furious flames as their own against anyone unfortunate enough to become their enemy.

While many Fire Knights will make your life a misery as you attempt to storm Messmer’s Black Keep and its attached Specimen Storehouse, one named adversary who you square off against more than once is Fire Knight Queelign.

With a devastating light greatsword and a moveset full of explosive, fiery attacks, Fire Knight Queelign can be a tricky invader to deal with, but, as your adventure goes on, he also provides an interesting window into the lore of Messmer, the Shadow Realm and Queen Marika herself.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion comes with some new difficulty modifiers - Scadutree Fragments - that it definitely encourages you to use. This is a great help to those who’s builds aren’t quite where you want them to be, and saves you from spending your time Rune farming for levels when really, you probably want to be following Miquella’s trail.

Scadutree Fragments are your bread and butter then, and pretty much take the place of the likes of Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears in this DLC, found in key locations that are hard to miss. Though, there are some that lay off the beaten path which you may want to seek out. Here’s all known Scadutree Fragment locations in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree.

Before we dish out all the Scadutree Fragment locations in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree, let’s establish how to use them. Much like any upgrades to your Crimson or Cerulean Flasks, any Shadow Realm Blessings - which include Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes - upgrades have to be applied to your character at a Site of Grace.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree has quite a few different NPCs for you to meet, and some of the more mysterious folk are to be found in the Cathedral of Manus Metyr. Here, you’ll find Count Ymir and Swordhand of Night Jolan, who are tied to the same questline for the most part.

Though, the pair meet slightly different endings, and on this page, we’ll be focusing on Jolan. Below, we run you through what you need to do and where you need to go during Jolan’s quest in Shadow of the Erdtree, and whether to give her the Iris of Grace or Iris of Occultation.

Warning! There are spoilers ahead for Count Ymir’s quest and Jolan’s ending.

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Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree features a much denser map, with plenty of nooks and crannies for you to crawl into, delivering you to new, sprawling areas. These nooks and crannies can be pretty well-hidden, too, meaning some areas are easily missed if you aren’t actively seeking them out.

And since you’re here, I can only assume you’re seeking them out. The southern Map Fragment in Shadow of the Erdtree reveals a huge portion of the map known as the Cerulean Coast for you to explore, and as is to be expected with a guide like this, there are spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned! Now, here’s how to get the southern Map Fragment in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree.

The southern Map Fragment in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree is easy enough to get your hands on, especially with Torrent. Once collected, this Fragment will reveal the south of the map in its entirety, showing you the Cerulean Coast, Hidden Charo’s Grave above it, and Jagged Peak.

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