Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has solely been out for just a few days, and plenty of gamers are already discovering that their character — who grew to become the Elden Lord of the Lands Between — is barely a match for the primary chakram blade-wielding weirdo you’ll be able to 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 problem 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 could simply miss out on the way it works.
With a little bit of exploring, you are more likely to discover not less than one Scadutree Fragment, which supplies a brief tooltip:
“Scadutree Fragments may be discovered throughout the realm of shadow. Eat these at websites of grace to bolster your Scadutree Blessing. The Scadutree Blessing bolsters the recipient’s talents to deal and negate injury, however has no affect outdoors the realm of shadow.”
It may be straightforward to miss this tip within the thick of battle or when distracted by distant factors of curiosity, however it’s protected to say Shadow of the Erdtree could also be underselling simply how vital your Scadutree Blessing actually is. Merely put, it might rapidly grow to be the distinction between victory and defeat in nearly each encounter, and it is barely even corresponding to Elden Ring’s regular leveling system.
The rationale for it is because Shadow of the Erdtree has to account for all kinds of gamers on the lookout for a problem on this DLC realm: Fights must be troublesome sufficient for a degree 500 participant on New Recreation+ 7, but in addition winnable for somebody who simply beat Mohg for the primary time the opposite day. The answer: Make all the pieces hit extraordinarily onerous, with extremely excessive well being swimming pools, however introduce a brand new merchandise to quickly increase your individual talents 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 numerous extra fragments to search out simply within the first area alone.
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 percentages.
For my degree 162 character with 50 Vigor and 50 Power, 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.
Going through down the Blackgaol Knight, my primary 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.
Nevertheless, 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 lowered by round 17.3%!
As you’ll be able to see from the desk above, every blessing can enhance your powers by a considerable quantity, and with a most of 20 Scadutree Blessings you can receive over the course of the sport, you will be dealing a LOT extra injury by the top than whenever 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 Power vs 4 Scadutree Blessings. At 50+ Power, the returns barely resulted in a measly % of injury elevated, and the flat Protection Energy enhance as an alternative of injury 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 shall be in and endgame setting, you’ll be able to’t overcome bosses simply by spending runes. Nevertheless, it is nonetheless value including just a few 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’ll be able to examine our information to trace down each final Scadutree Fragment, however if you happen to choose to discover by yourself, listed here are some suggestions 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 search out one at each Cross of Miquella that the demigod has left behind marking their journey to vital areas 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 may acquire 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, attempt on the lookout for alternate paths to new areas the place you’ll find extra Scadutree Fragments.Much like these fragments, you can too discover Revered Spirit Ash in entrance of enormous headless corpse altars or from Shadow Undead pot holders. The Revered Spirit Ash Blessing will enhance the facility of your Spirit Ash Summons much like how the Scadutree Fragments enhance your individual.
As soon as you are feeling robust sufficient to tackle the hardest challenges, there’s loads extra to do, and now we have all of it catalogued in our full Shadow of the Erdtree Information.
Brendan Graeber is a senior guides author for IGN, and remains to be onerous at work discovering each final secret in Elden Ring. You could find him on Twitter/X @Ragga_Fragga
