Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t easy. At least, I got my behind thoroughly served to me during a hands-on preview last month. You must beat two of the base game’s hardest bosses to even gain access to the expansion, with FromSoftware recommending you are at least Level 120 before stepping into the Realm of Shadow.
Much like previous expansions for the likes of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, Erdtree is meant as a victory lap for the masterpiece that is Elden Ring, honoring everything it does so well by taking us to places we never thought possible. You are going to get your behind kicked by a laundry list of deadly bosses, devious traps, and unexpected surprises. But that’s part of the fun, and I can’t wait to laugh sad*stically when I’m ganked by a group of new enemies as I’m mere steps away from a Site of Grace. That’s just how the Elden Ring cookie crumbles. Or shatters. Yeah, let’s go with that.
How Do Scadutree Fragments And Revered Spirit Ashes Work In Shadow Of The Erdtree?
I know the headline says Elden Ring has an easy mode now, but I had to get you to click on this article somehow, so it’s time for me to come clean - it doesn’t have a new easy mode. It doesn’t have any difficulty settings, and I’ll forever be a believer in FromSoftware titles being superior because they refuse to abide by such strict parameters. Instead, Erdtree implements a more nuanced system that puts control directly in the hands of the player. Difficulty modes normally allow you to deal more damage while enemies deal less, or vice versa, applying an artificial scale of challenge that doesn’t fundamentally change how a game is really played.
Shadow of Erdtree introduces two items - Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes - that can be found throughout the open world. In theory, you could make it through the whole expansion without using a single one, but as is usually the case with FromSoftware DLC, it ratchets up the stats of both base and boss enemies, so you can struggle to feel like you’re growing stronger in the midst of everything. In theory, these new mechanics change that.
- Scadutree Fragments - These are used when enhancing the Blessing of Shadow, translating to how much damage you are able to deal and how much you’re able to take.
- Revered Spirit Ashes - These are used to increase the damage output and health of summoned spirits, while also increasing how much punishment Torrent can both take and dish out.
Each of these new blessings might seem like small additions, essentially adding the attack and defence improvements you’d typically associate with levelling up a couple of times. It’s minimal in the difference it makes, and chances are you won’t realise you need them until a boss has smacked you around a couple of times.
That’s the habit I fell into during the initial preview, ignoring this new mechanic because I foolishly believed I was good enough to get through on my own merits. I was wrong, so I politely crawled back to the nearest bonfire to bless myself to the nines. Afterward, I didn’t feel overpowered, but confident I was now more capable, and less likely to collapse into a heap after a couple of hits.
Shadow Of The Erdtree Puts Difficulty Directly In The Hands Of The Player
At first, you might feel ashamed that you’ve suddenly resorted to using blessings or ashes, or that you weren’t strong enough to triumph without some extra assistance. But I view this with the same perspective as I appreciate summons in FromSoftware games. I could summon an NPC or another player to help me defeat a hard boss in exchange for them having additional health for us to slice through. Fights take on a different pace and strategy this way, while the expansion doesn’t hope to change that option, but rather add another for players to consider.
If you’re failing to make it through a certain area or conquer a dastardly boss, a blessing can help even the odds without resorting to wasting time grinding for experience and messing up the pacing, while ensuring that even players who enter the expansion several hundred levels deep don’t view Shadow of the Erdtree as a cakewalk. Chances are you could collect plenty of blessings and ashes throughout the expansion and break the mechanic, but we’ll have no idea if that’s possible until it launches later this month. Right now, they both feel like gradual ways to approach difficulty in a game that has always viewed it as a precious commodity.
FromSoftware expansions have always been challenging, often too difficult for most players, but Shadow of Erdtree offers a way to push through the turmoil without sacrificing its identity. That’s the best kind of difficulty, one that puts all control in the hands of the player and allows them to gradually push and pull their experience into a direction that fits how they play. It will be interesting to see how this mechanic is viewed by the wider community, and if it comes to play a part in future games by the studio. Erdtree actively encourages you to make use of Fragments and Ashes, and I’d take its advice.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Shadow of the Erdtree is the first and only DLC expansion for FromSoftware's groundbreaking Elden Ring. It takes players to a whole new region, the Land of Shadow, where a new story awaits the Tarnished.
