It’s not hyperbolic to say that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is possibly the most anticipated piece of DLC for a game. Ever. When Elden Ring was released in February 2022, it took the world by storm. FromSoftware’s Dark Souls trilogy had already created a new gaming genre, one often imitated but never truly replicated, but it felt like the Souls-like genre ascended to new heights with the release of Elden Ring.
Taking the Souls formula to an open world was a stroke of genius that diverted these games from the gruelling endurance tests of linear progression gauntlets that Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice kind of are, to a game more akin to the freeform, exploration of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – I wonder if the use of ‘Elder’ is a nod to famous open world RPG?
Add beloved fantasy writer George R. R. Martin’s name to the mix, and of course, Elden Ring was going to be a smash hit. So the world has been waiting with bated breath for over two years for an expansion. Now that the wait is almost over, it’s time for us to remind ourselves how good and engrossing Elden Ring was. We have therefore put together a list of a few things that should help you get excited and ready to jump back into the Lands Between.
01
Everything we know about the DLC
Let’s kick things off by going over everything we know about the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. FromSoftware is notoriously tight-lipped on details before the release of their games, but various interviewers and outlets – along with the officially released trailers – have managed to squeeze some juicy nuggets of information out of them to give us a rough picture of what to expect.
-
Probably the most definite piece of information we have is that Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree releases on Friday, June 21, 2024.
-
While FromSoftware hasn’t confirmed whether an Elden Ring sequel is on the way, they have said that Shadow of the Erdtree will be Elden Ring’s only piece of DLC. Explaining that a single DLC allowed the team to keep things on a large scale in a big world, rather than breaking this exploration experience up into smaller parts.
-
However, Elden Ring’s game director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, has declared Shadow of the Erdtree to be “our largest expansion to date in terms of overall volume.” FromSoftware has a tradition of making their DLCs transformative rather than feeling tacked on to their games. They will often finish crucial storylines and deepen the lore of their games with their expansions. Players also relish the new boss fights these DLCs bring, which are almost always some of the best in the game or at the very least the most difficult. So Miyazaki’s comment has us very excited.
-
To give us some context of what kind of volume to expect, Miyazaki let slip that the playable area in Shadow of the Erdtree would be “something larger even than Limgrave in the base game”.
-
Players can therefore expect the DLC to be 30 to 40 hours in length.
-
Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin famously provided a base mythos for FromSoftware to build the world and lore of Elden Ring from. Shadow of the Erdtree’s story and further world-building still stems from the original work George R. R. Martin did, and he has not provided any fresh material for this DLC.
-
We recently got a full story trailer for Shadow of the Erdtree, which has shed some light on how this DLC fits into the lore and narrative of Elden Ring. A very topline summary is that Shadow of the Erdtree follows the story of Miquella – Malenia’s twin brother, who was cursed to be eternally young and never grow into an adult. The player will follow Miquella’s footsteps in the Land of Shadow area in the DLC.The story will also involve Queen Marika and what she did in this Land of Shadow, and just what led Miquella to follow her into it.
-
How players will access the DLC requires a bit of a lore deep dive to understand. Tired of never getting to become an adult, Miquella beds down in a cocoon in the Haligtree, with the aim of growing older in parallel with the tree, binding himself to it by watering the tree with his blood. He intended for the Haligtree to grow into an Erdtree, but before he could complete his task, Miquella fell into a deep sleep. Miquella’s cocoon can actually be seen in Elden Ring after defeating Mohg Lord of Blood. Mohg stole the cocoon, entered it, and attempted to commune with Miquella through his dreams. In the Gameplay Reveal Trailer, we see the cocoon with Miquella’s arm dangling out of it. With all of that, Miyazaki has stated the following: “The cocoon and arm you saw at the beginning of the trailer… is actually the point of entry to the Land of Shadow where the players will enter to the DLC area”.
-
So, in order to access the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC area, you must defeat Starscourge Radahn at Redmane Castle and Mohg, Lord of Blood at Mohgwyn Palace.
-
Apparently, we can expect there to be at least 10 new boss fights in Shadow of the Erdtree.
-
There will also be eight new weapon categories added to the game, along with new weapons, equipment, and skills.
-
Miyazaki has dropped hints that Shadow of the Erdtree’s content can be considered to be at a late-game difficulty level. When describing the level of challenge players should expect, words like ‘challenging encounters’, ‘menacing threats’, and ‘hardships’ have all been used.
-
It sounds like the level design of Shadow of the Erdtree is going to be more interwoven between areas, without dramatic shifts between open areas and secluded dungeons. Miyazaki has said: “We wanted to go more in-depth and bring a denser and richer level design, which brings these types of layout together a little more seamlessly. There of course will be large open areas, there of course will be legacy dungeons, but we’ve also experimented with something a little more in-between these as well to bring a more diverse gameplay experience”.
-
The Shadow of the Erdtree area has a new level scaling mechanic that only applies to it. Players will be able to gather Scadurtree Fragments, and once enough, a new option will appear when you rest at a site of grace. This will increase the level of your Scadurtree Blessing, which increases the amount of damage you deal, and reduces the damage you receive from Enemies and Bosses. But this only applies to the Land of Shadows, if you return to the main game’s map, the Scadurtree Blessing will no longer apply.
-
Revered Spirit Ashes is another new mechanic introduced in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. This mechanic allows Spirit Ashes and Summons to be boosted beyond +10, allowing them to continue to scale with you in the DLC, but also increases the durability and health for Torrent, your spectral steed. Again, this mechanic only applies to the Land of Shadow and not The Lands Between.
-
Finally, we can expect more of a FromSoftware staple… poison swamps! Apparently, Miyazaki enjoys creating poison swamps because the process offers him a point of introspection. Running around a swap in a panic because of a steadily filling poison meter and the fear a fiend could burst out of the murky sludge at any moment can make anyone examine their own mental and emotional state I suppose. Each to their own.
02
Getting yourself ready for Shadow of The Erdtree
So that is what we can expect from Shadow of the Erdtree. We’re pumped for it, but what about getting ourselves ready for it? It’s been over two years in the making, so we might be a little rusty. Here are some things we recommended doing to get you match fit for this truly epic DLC:
It’s always nice to know the where, why, and what of something, so why not brush up on a bit of Elden Ring’s lore before venturing back into the game? FromSoftware has actually put out an official strategy guide, split into two volumes of 500 pages each, if you really want to dig deep.
But because we don’t have 1000 pages worth of time or space to cover all of the lore, here is a very basic overview just to jog your memory:
The world of Elden Ring is called the Lands Between. A giant, mystical continent surrounded by water ruled by demigods and blessed by a god known as The Greater Will with a power called the Elden Ring. The Elden Ring resides in the Erdtree – which you may remember seeing in the game while staring off into the distance at that colossal, ethereal perennial dominating the horizon.
The Elden Ring dictates the rules of The Lands Between’s reality and Queen Marika, the reigning divine sovereign, purposefully removes the Rune of Destined Death from it, granting eternal life to everybody.
Marika and her husband Godfrey – the first Elden Lord – then conquer the Lands Between. They have three children, who are the first demigod offspring, starting the “Golden Lineage”. Marika banishes Godfrey and his people, causing them to lose their grace and create the first Tarnished. Marika then takes Radagon, a mysterious red-haired warrior, as her next husband and Elden Lord, and also has some demigod children with him.
Godrick the Grafted – one tough cookie for one of the first bosses
© FromSoftware, Inc.
The Elden Ring is then shattered into multiple Great Runes after an event called the Night of the Black Knives and a terrible war called the Shattering. This alters reality and further compromises The Greater Will’s vision of the world. The Greater Will decides it’s had enough and abandons the demigods. Marika also disappears without warning or any hints as to where she went and has not been seen since.
So, at the start of Elden Ring, numerous factions and the demigod children of Marika are locked in a centuries-long stalemate across the Lands Between. These demigods have Great Runes scavenged from the damaged Elden Ring, but none have gained enough power to either replace Marika (which only certain powerful demigods known as Empyreans can do anyway) or become the next Elden Lord (which anybody can do).
While the Greater Will has abandoned the demigod children of Marika, it still influences the world thanks to entities known as the Two Fingers that act as its agents. Their job is to assist those that might aid the Greater Will, such as the Tarnished and other Empyreans.
So, who are you as the player in all this? Well, anyone who was exiled from the Lands Between with Godfrey and has lost the guidance of grace from the Erdtree is known as a “Tarnished”. For centuries, these Tarnished lived as mortals in other far away places – essentially just normal humans.
However, after the Shattering and the Greater Will forsaking the demigods, the guidance of grace from the Erdtree and the Elden Ring has returned to the Tarnished. This new power has guided your character back to the Lands Between to break the stalemate. The guidance of grace also means you can’t be permanently killed, hence why you respawn at sites of grace
Some Living Jars chilling by a Site of Grace
© FromSoftware, Inc.
So, as the player, your character is attempting to track down these bits of the Elden Ring called Great Runes, which are held by these demigod children of Marika, and get enough of them to become the Elden Lord. It’s your job to explore the world, grow in strength, and fight or ally with those you meet along the way to bring about a new order. You meet plenty of other Tarnished heroes along the way, especially in Roundtable Hold – a safe haven for Tarnished that exists outside the Lands Between.
Wow, that was still quite a lot for a summary, but trust me, I only scratched the surface of what’s going on in this behemoth of a game. However, I wouldn’t worry too much if you really can’t get a handle on all this. FromStoftware games are purposefully opaque with their narratives. Some people find this lack of clarity maddening, but think of it more as a tease. You can play this game in a sort of narrative daze, getting just enough of a general idea of why you’re doing what you’re doing to propel you forward. It all boils down to: you need to get Great Runes and become the Elden Lord. But it is fun to know that there is a rich, deep, and detailed lore waiting for you if you really feel included to nerd out on it.
03
Just play some Elden Ring
Now that you have reacquainted yourself with the story of Elden Ring, it’s time to fire the game back up and reacquaint yourself with playing it again. If it’s been a good long while you may load into your last save and find yourself in a late-game area, surrounded by enemies whose move sets you can’t remember. Inevitably you’ll end up getting pasted across the floor by these mobs and might end up throwing your controller across the room in frustration.
Our advice would be to start a brand-new character. Elden Ring lets you have up to 10 different save game slots. Just select New Game at the title screen.
Starting a new game will let you run through the game’s tutorial area, called the Cave of Knowledge, which could be useful if you really need to start at square one to reacquaint yourself with the game’s basic controls and systems.
After emerging from the cave, you’ll be in Limgrave, which is a lush, expansive section of the Tenebrae Demesne. Limgrave still has baddies trotting around, but they are designed for new players to fight, so it could be useful to relearn parry timings and stamina management with them.
Exploration will see you venture into places you really wouldn’t want to
© FromSoftware, Inc.
Of course, nothing is stopping you from loading into your high-level character and heading over to Limgrave so that you can carve through these low-level goons like a hot knife through butter, however, in doing so, you might forget about the challenge of Elden Ring. It might be best to create a new character so that you have to contend with a bit of struggle, you might find it helps get you back up to speed quicker.
After you feel confident being a low-level nobody, jump back into your high-level wrecking ball and reacquaint yourself with all the gear, talismans, skills, and Spirit Ashes of your build. You could go back to Limgrave and just demolish all those guys who caused you grief back when you were relearning the game. This might not help you get ready for Shadow of the Erdtree, but it will be cathartic fun.
Once you beat Elden Ring’s final boss, you’re given the option to go back out into the world or start a New Game + run. Whether to go into the DLC with a NG+ character is going to depend on where you left your game. We already know that to access the DLC, you just need to defeat Mogh, Lord of Blood. So if you never got as far as taking on the Elden Beast in your playthrough, you could just go off to bother Mogh and integrate the DLC into your existing Elden Ring Adventure.
But if you’ve already beaten the game, and didn’t immediately pick “Begin Journey 2?” when prompted after slaying the Elden Beast, you may have forgotten that the rest of the prompt said the following, “If you do not start over now, you can choose to begin Journey 2 later at the Table of Lost Grace in Roundtable Hold.” You can get to the Round Table Hold by clicking on the symbol in the bottom left corner of the map, or selecting it from the Sites of Grace list.
If you decide to take on the DLC in NG+, remember that enemies and bosses will deal more damage and have more health which scales up depending on their location. Also, your adventure will start at the beginning, so you’ll need to work your way back to the point where you can actually access Mogh again. Also, because we know that Shadow of the Erdtree is designed as late-game content, playing it on NG+ will make it substantially harder, and you’ll have to tackle it without the benefit of any guides at launch because it might take a month or two for those to get published by the community.
05
Take on some bosses and pick up some gear you may have missed
One argument for jumping back into your existing Elden Ring save and declining starting a New Game + character is that it affords you the opportunity to do some Elden Ring housekeeping. Why not tidy up the Lands Between by scouring it of some of those bosses who think they have escaped your notice? Here is a list of a few bosses that also happen to drop some handy loot that could help you in the DLC.
Fighting big, horrible bosses is all part of the Elden Ring experience
© FromSoftware, Inc.
Astel Naturalborn Of The Void
It might be worth taking on this boss for just how out of place it looks. Astel Naturalborn of the Void is a Legendary optional boss that looks like it came from space rather than fantasy lore. Its strangeness also extends to its attack animations, so be wary, you may need to evade and defend for a bit to get a handle on when a good attack window will be.
To get to Astel Naturalborn of the Void, you’ll will need to head deep underground, past the Lake of Rot and the Grand Cloister., Astel is an optional boss, but defeating it will unlock the Age of Stars alternate ending. Plus, you get the Remembrance of the Naturalborn, which can be traded with Enia for the Ash of War: Waves of Darkness or Bastard’s Stars.
Lichdragon Fortissax is an exceptionally difficult boss to beat. This Legendary boss dishes out a wide range of Lightning-infused attacks, so you’ll need to make use of armour sets with appropriate resistances to make any headway with this dragon. Though Lichdragon Fortissax is an optional boss, if you’re looking to get the Age Of The Duskborn ending, you’ll need to defeat him.
Slaying Lichdragon Fortissax will award players the Remembrance of the Lichdragon, which can be given to Enia in exchange for Fortissax’s Lightning Spear or Death Lightning Incantations. Fortissax’s Lightning Spear lets you summon two lightning spears that stab down from above, while Death Lightning releases a storm of death lightning area-of-effect attack, which is just awesome.
There are lots of dragons in Elden Ring (George R. R. Martin did write the lore, remember), but Dragonlord Placidusax is by far one of the more challenging bosses in the game. Not only is the name hard to pronounce, but this scally monstrosity uses massive fire and lightning-based area-of-effect attacks and also happens to have a lot of resistances.
Once defeated though, Dragonlord Placidusax will drop the Remembrance of the Dragonlord. This item can be used to obtain the Dragon King’s Cragblade or Placidusax’s Ruin by handing it to Enia in Roundtable Hold. The Dragon King’s Cragblade is a Heavy Thrusting Sword that scales with Dexterity and is excellent for dishing out Lightning damage. Placidusax’s Ruin, on the other hand, allows you to belch out the golden breath of the Dragonlord and deal immense Fire damage.
Malenia, Blade Of Miquella
Malenia, Blade Of Miquella, one of the toughest bosses in Elden Ring
© FromSoftware, Inc.
Malenia, Blade Of Miquella is the boss most Elden Ring players speak about in hushed tones and is often considered the real yardstick that separates the Tarnished from the merely slightly discoloured. It’s strange to think that she is in fact only an optional boss and is hidden away in an obscure section of the world – Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree.
Taking on Malenia is definitely challenging. But Malenia drops two notable items: Malenia’s Great Rune and Remembrance of the Rot Goddess. Malenia’s Great Rune is a great addition to any build, as it allows you to recover HP by attacking after taking damage – a bit like in Bloodborne. The Remembrance of the Rot Goddess, on the other hand, can allow you to get weapons like the Hand of Malenia or Scarlet Aeonia upon giving it to Enia at the Roundtable Hold.
06
Elden Ring mods to try out
If you feel you’ve got yourself back up to speed on all things Elden Ring and looking for a way to pass the time before Shadow of the Erdtree drops, why not spice up your Elden Ring experience with a mod? Alternatively, you could be finding the game a little harder than you remember and wish you could tune the game to be a bit more to your liking. Well, have no fear, there is probably a mod that can help you out. Here is a list of some of our favourites.
If playing Elden Ring again is starting to feel like you’re beating your head against a brick wall, why not install a mod that turns that wall into marshmallow?
Installing the Easy Mode for Elden Ring mod can let you reduce damage by 50%, increase your attack by 25%, give you 10x runes, and even let you turn off things like weapon and armour weight so you can put on the beefiest, most damage type resistant threads and still roll around as if only in a loincloth.
Disable Rune Loss On Death
This does exactly what it says on the tin and stops the wipe of your collected runes when you die. And also takes away the bother of having to shlep back to the place where you died to retrieve them. That might sound like it removes a lot of the challenge from the game, but it can actually be quite freeing to not have to constantly worry about banking your runes.
It also lets you explore and get caught out by traps and surprise attacks without any penalty. So what that sneaky knight with a pike who was hiding behind a door and poked you in the back killing you. You have lost nothing as a result and now you know he’s there so you can enjoy some sweet vengeance as you smite him for the very mild inconvenience he caused you.
Battling against friends is one thing, battling with them is another
© FromSoftware, Inc.
Seamless Co-Op is one of the most popular mods for Elden Ring because it revitalises the multiplayer aspect of the game. Everything is better with friends and the Seamless Co-Op mod allows players to play the game with up to four others without any restrictions.
Playing a FromSoftware game can often feel like a lonely endeavour, but you may worry that as lovely as it sounds to team up with friends, wouldn’t playing with four other people wreck the challenge of the game? Not to worry, the Seamless Co-op mod ensures a proper Elden Ring experience because it balances the enemy scaling so that the game doesn’t become an absolute cakewalk.
Creator: TechieW and iArtorias
It can be so easy to take certain things for granted in games. A good Ping system in multiplayer games, loot comparisons in RPGs, assist modes in fighting games etc. However, the ability to pause your game because your partner has asked you a question, or so you can get up and deal with the thing that’s boiling over on the stove, or just so you can scratch the itch on the end of your nose, is probably the most taken for granted.
Why FromSoftware insist on not letting you pause their games is beyond me (you could in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice!), but thanks to the cryptically named Pause The Game mod, you can finally enjoy Elden Ring the way it’s supposed to be enjoyed: on your terms
Why not take Elden Ring up a notch with the Clever’s Moveset Mod, which adds a bunch of crazy and fun move sets to the game? If you’re a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Clever’s Moveset Mod adds, Earthbending and Airbending, Martial Arts, and even Zenitsu’s Thunder Breathing from Demon Slayer.
There you have it. What we recommend you do to get yourself ready for Elden Ring’s Shadow of The Erdtree DLC. This has only scratched the surface of what you could be getting up to in Elden Ring because it’s hard to believe there is anyone out there that has truly one-hundred-percented this game. But whether you beat that Elden Beast or not, we all know that Shadow of the Erdtree is going to bring Elden Ring right back into the public zeitgeist when it releases on Friday, June 21 and we can’t wait to see how players will take on the new challenges that await.