Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has solely been out for a number of days, and lots of gamers are already discovering that their character — who turned the Elden Lord of the Lands Between — is barely a match for the primary chakram blade-wielding weirdo you possibly can run into. These early punishing fights are merely a prelude for the uncooked aggression of the DLC bosses, who’re capable of flip you right into a bloody smear on the bottom with just some assaults. Even worse, this issue ramp-up spares nobody — no matter your degree, the weapons you wield, or the armor you equip.
The important thing to salvation within the Realm of Shadow lies inside a model new Shadow Realm Blessing system, however if you happen to aren’t paying consideration you might simply miss out on the way it works.
With a little bit of exploring, you are more likely to discover no less than one Scadutree Fragment, which provides a brief tooltip:
It may be straightforward to miss this tip within 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 could possibly shortly develop into the distinction between victory and defeat in virtually each encounter, and it is barely even corresponding 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 must be troublesome sufficient for a degree 500 participant on New Sport+ 7, but additionally winnable for somebody who simply beat Mohg for the primary time the opposite day. The answer: Make the whole lot hit extraordinarily onerous, with extremely excessive well being swimming pools, however introduce a brand new merchandise to quickly increase your individual skills to deal and negate injury.
Utilizing only one Scadutree Fragment to extend your Shadow Realm Blessing to Stage 1 will increase your armaments injury AND your injury negation to all sources by round 5%, and there are various extra fragments to seek out simply within the first area alone.
![That's a nice health bar you've got, would be a shame if someone removed it.](https://assets-prd.ignimgs.com/2024/06/23/edlc-blackgaolknight1-1719101483621.jpg?width=1280&fit=bounds&height=720&quality=20&dpr=0.05)
As a take a look at case, let’s use an early enemy many gamers are more likely 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 depart gamers questioning if any quantity of leveling up may even the chances.
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 injury negation as a multiplier.
Dealing with down the Blackgaol Knight, my fundamental one-handed swing was solely dealing 398 injury to his 525, which I used to be solely capable of 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 injury negation to 47.004%. This enhance had me dealing 416 whereas solely taking 496 in return, which was roughly a 4.9% enhance in injury given and 5.5% injury taken.
Even when that sounds small — I then grabbed each Scadutree Fragment within the Gravesite Plain, elevating my Scadutree Blessing to Stage 4. Now my assault energy shot as much as 954 and injury negation to 53.629%, which meant my hits had been now doing 20% extra injury that had been hitting more durable than the Blackgaol Knight’s, which was diminished by round 17.3%!
As you possibly can 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 could acquire over the course of the sport, you will be dealing a LOT extra injury by the tip than if you first entered the Realm of Shadow.
However what about common leveling? My desk additionally consists of spending sufficient Runes to place 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 an alternative of harm negation from all sources meant I used to be shedding roughly the identical quantity of HP per hit. This is a vital side to notice, as a result of it means since all gamers can be in and endgame setting, you possibly can’t overcome bosses simply by spending runes. Nonetheless, it is nonetheless price including a number of factors right here and there anyway, particularly to extend 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 may examine our information to monitor down each final Scadutree Fragment, however if you happen to favor to discover by yourself, listed below are some ideas to remember:
- 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 seek out one at each Cross of Miquella that the demigod has left behind marking their journey to vital places within the Shadow Realm.
- Sure areas like ruins or destroyed cities can generally embrace a Shadow Undead holding a glowing pot. Rush them down earlier than they run away and you’ll achieve treasure that generally features a Scadutree Fragment.
- Development in Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t completely gated by a boss. If you end up missing energy, strive searching for alternate paths to new areas the place yow will discover extra Scadutree Fragments.
- Just like these fragments, you may also discover Revered Spirit Ash in entrance of huge headless corpse altars or from Shadow Undead pot holders. The Revered Spirit Ash Blessing will enhance the ability of your Spirit Ash Summons just like how the Scadutree Fragments increase your individual.
As soon as you are feeling robust sufficient to tackle the hardest challenges, there’s a lot extra to do, and we have now all of it catalogued in our full Shadow of the Erdtree Information.
Brendan Graeber is a senior guides author for IGN, and continues to be onerous at work discovering each final secret in Elden Ring. Yow will discover him on Twitter/X @Ragga_Fragga