Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has solely been out for just a few days, and lots of gamers are already discovering that their character — who grew to become the Elden Lord of the Lands Between — is barely a match for the first chakram blade-wielding weirdo you may run into. These early punishing fights are merely a prelude for the uncooked aggression of the DLC bosses, who’re in a position to flip you right into a bloody smear on the floor with only a few assaults. Even worse, this issue ramp-up spares nobody — regardless of your degree, the weapons you wield, or the armor you equip.
The important thing to salvation in the Realm of Shadow lies inside a model new Shadow Realm Blessing system, however in case you aren’t paying consideration chances are you’ll simply miss out on the way it works.
With a bit of exploring, you are doubtless to discover no less than one Scadutree Fragment, which supplies a brief tooltip:
It may be simple to overlook this tip in the thick of battle or when distracted by distant factors of curiosity, but it surely’s secure to say Shadow of the Erdtree could also be underselling simply how vital your Scadutree Blessing actually is. Merely put, it may possibly rapidly turn into the distinction between victory and defeat in virtually each encounter, and it is barely even comparable to Elden Ring’s regular leveling system.
The explanation for it is because Shadow of the Erdtree has to account for all kinds of gamers searching for a problem on this DLC realm: Fights have to be troublesome sufficient for a degree 500 participant on New Sport+ 7, but in addition winnable for somebody who simply beat Mohg for the first time the different day. The answer: Make all the pieces hit extraordinarily onerous, with extremely excessive well being swimming pools, however introduce a brand new merchandise to quickly increase your individual talents to deal and negate harm.
Utilizing only one Scadutree Fragment to enhance your Shadow Realm Blessing to Degree 1 will increase your armaments harm AND your harm negation to all sources by round 5%, and there are lots of extra fragments to discover simply in the first area alone.
As a take a look at case, let’s use an early enemy many gamers are doubtless to get a impolite awakening from: The Blackgaol Knight of the Anonymous Western Mausoleum. His Greatsword of Solitude appears to hit more durable than the Radagon himself, and go away gamers questioning if any quantity of leveling up may even the odds.
For my degree 162 character with 50 Vigor and 50 Energy, my Blasphemous Blade had 795 assault energy; and my armor and different stats had been giving me 157 Protection Energy with 44.355% bodily harm negation as a multiplier.
Dealing with down the Blackgaol Knight, my primary one-handed swing was solely dealing 398 harm to his 525, which I used to be solely in a position to meet with a leaping assault that did 550. His did… much more.
Nonetheless, with only one Scadutree Blessing degree, my assault energy was boosted to 834, and my bodily harm negation to 47.004%. This enhance had me dealing 416 whereas solely taking 496 in return, which was roughly a 4.9% enhance in harm given and 5.5% harm taken.
Even when that sounds small — I then grabbed each Scadutree Fragment in the Gravesite Plain, elevating my Scadutree Blessing to Degree 4. Now my assault energy shot up to 954 and harm negation to 53.629%, which meant my hits had been now doing 20% extra harm that had been hitting more durable than the Blackgaol Knight’s, which was diminished by round 17.3%!
As you may see from the desk above, every blessing can enhance your powers by a considerable quantity, and with a most of 20 Scadutree Blessings that you may receive over the course of the sport, you may be dealing a LOT extra harm by the finish than while you first entered the Realm of Shadow.
However what about common leveling? My desk additionally consists of spending sufficient Runes to put 4 factors in Energy vs 4 Scadutree Blessings. At 50+ Energy, the returns barely resulted in a measly % of harm elevated, and the flat Protection Energy enhance as a substitute of harm negation from all sources meant I used to be shedding roughly the identical quantity of HP per hit. This is a crucial side to observe, as a result of it means since all gamers might be in and endgame setting, you may’t overcome bosses simply by spending runes. Nonetheless, it is nonetheless value including just a few factors right here and there anyway, particularly to enhance your HP pool with Vigor, add extra stamina with Endurance, or hit a requirement to equip a brand new weapon.
So the place can you discover extra Scadutree Fragments? You possibly can verify our information to monitor down each final Scadutree Fragment, however in case you desire to discover by yourself, listed here are some suggestions to take into accout:
- Scadutree Fragments most frequently seem in entrance of statues of Marika, like these present in church buildings or soldier camps.
- You are additionally assured to discover one at each Cross of Miquella that the demigod has left behind marking their journey to vital places in the Shadow Realm.
- Sure areas like ruins or destroyed cities can typically embrace a Shadow Undead holding a glowing pot. Rush them down earlier than they run away and you’ll acquire treasure that typically features a Scadutree Fragment.
- Development in Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t completely gated by a boss. If you end up missing energy, attempt searching for alternate paths to new areas the place yow will discover extra Scadutree Fragments.
- Related to these fragments, you too can discover Revered Spirit Ash in entrance of massive headless corpse altars or from Shadow Undead pot holders. The Revered Spirit Ash Blessing will enhance the energy of your Spirit Ash Summons comparable to how the Scadutree Fragments increase your individual.
As soon as you’re feeling robust sufficient to tackle the hardest challenges, there’s lots extra to do, and we’ve got all of it catalogued in our full Shadow of the Erdtree Information.
Brendan Graeber is a senior guides author for IGN, and remains to be onerous at work discovering each final secret in Elden Ring. Yow will discover him on Twitter/X @Ragga_Fragga