I Spent Months Preparing For Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree & Got Annihilated Anyway

Even though I spent months preparing for the arrival of , I am still getting annihilated by the DLC’s boss challenges and, at times, even some Legacy Dungeons I am caught off guard by. The highly anticipated expansion has finally been released and, with it, I can now visit the Land of Shadow and explore another part of the enigmatic history of the Lands Between and its many gods, though the focus is mainly on Miquella. Access to the DLC has some demanding prerequisites, such as defeating both Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood.

Of course, before unlocking and even its prerequisite boss encounters, I went through several challenges. During this playthrough, which is my second one following my initial run when the base game was first released, I went through all the main challenges and engaged in the most enticing side quests and boss encounters, even beating Malenia, Blade of Miquella ahead of the release of the DLC. I skipped a few Legacy Dungeons I am not particularly fond of, such as Castle Morne and The Shaded Castle, but, overall, I completed most of the activities available in the game.

Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is a victory lap for FromSoftware, bringing in elements from past games without losing what made it special.

For reference, I progressed into the campaign up until Crumbling Farum Azula since I did not want to get too close to the game’s end before playing through the DLC. I spent around 60 hours playing and reached level 135 with a decent Intelligence build that guided me through the dozens of bosses. I thought I was at a sufficient level for the DLC, but I was proven wrong very quickly. As soon as I reached the Scorched Ruins in the first minutes of the expansion, I noticed I’d be having a hard time.

For clarification, the Scorched Ruins are an extremely easy place to clear out, but what started to concern me was that the Hound Spirits, which I assumed would instantly die with a strike from my Dark Moon Greatsword actually went