As it turns out, Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion is in fact brutally difficult. However, for the countless players that have gotten stumped by the DLC’s immense difficulty spike, there’s actually a pretty simple solution to your troubles: stop whatever it is you’re doing and go collect Scadutree fragments.
Scadutree fragments are pickups that can be found across the Land of Shadow in Elden Ring’s one and only expansion. Sometimes they are sitting in plain sight and other times they may drop off an opponent, but there’s a total of 50 of them to be found in Shadow of the Erdtree and they’re the key to the expansion’s new leveling system, as well as surviving the harrowing encounters it contains.
From the get-go, Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki has been upfront about the difficulty of Shadow of the Erdtree, as well as the means to beat it. Months ago, Miyazaki revealed that the expansion’s new region would have its own leveling system, and though he and the studio didn’t divulge much more about the system, previews eventually shed some light on the details surrounding Scadutree fragments. The problem is, a not insignificant amount of players have either been missing the fragments or not making tremendous use of them since the DLC launched last week.
At some point over the weekend, complaints about Shadow of the Erdtree’s difficulty reached a point where the U.S. Bandai Namco Twitter account posted a tweet gently urging players to actually seek out Scadutree fragments and level up their Scadutree Blessing rather than attempting to bulldoze through the DLC.
Though they don’t entirely replace Elden Ring’s existing stats, finding Scadutree fragments does make a significant difference for players and make Shadow of the Erdtree more approachable overall, while retaining the studio’s penchant for maddeningly difficult encounters. Boosting your Scadutree Blessing not only amplifies the amount of damage you put out, it also negates a percentage of the damage you take. Players have desperately needed the latter in Shadow of the Erdtree, considering simple enemies and boss encounters alike have wiped them out in one or two attacks.
So when you’re roaming around the Land of Shadow this week, do keep an eye out for Scadutree fragments all over the map. From the sounds of it, you will not enjoy the rest of Shadow of the Erdtree without making use of them.