Elden Ring players are already struggling to beat Shadow of the Erdtree

Difficulty is a well-known hallmark of FromSoftware games, and so the fact people are experiencing issues in the new Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, even against even common enemies, is unsurprising. However, even veteran players appear to be struggling. Many have taken to Steam to negatively review the game, which is now sitting at “Mixed” at the time of this writing.

Some of these complaints also cite performance issues, including stuttering and dropped frame rate. Publisher Bandai Namco and FromSoftware haven’t commented on any upcoming fixes.

Thankfully, FromSoftware has stepped into help with the difficulty spike. The developer published a post on its website Sunday with some tips on how to increase your strength. It specifically mentions Protection of the Spirit Ashes and Protection of the Shadow Tree, which coincidentally need Spirit Ash and Shadow Tree Fragments, so stock up on those when you can.

However, it appears that people have been overlooking one important thing exclusive to the DLC’s Land of Shadow. Bandai Namco briefly posted on X (formerly Twitter) over the weekend about Scadutree Blessing, which can help you deal and negate more damage. And to boost it, you need to find and pick up Scadutree Fragments. There are around 50 of them throughout Shadow of the Erdtree, and while some can just be found and picked up, others are dropped by enemies.

Game director Hidetaka Miyazaki warned players in interviews ahead of the DLC’s release that Shadow of the Erdtree would feature more challenges, including a new leveling system that was more similar to Sekiro than Elden Ring. If you’re unfamiliar, players now have an attack power separate than standard leveling. This was the developers’ reasoning since they had to account for players at all levels — from newbies who just defeated Mohg, Lord of Blood to enter the Land of Shadow to new game plus experts. And the best way to level that up is with Scadutree Fragments.

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