10 things you need to do before Shadow of the Erdtree
Whether you start playing Elden Ring DLC at launch or after a while doesn’t matter: here’s a list of 10 things you should do before Shadow of the Erdtree.
Table of Contents
- 10 things you need to do before Elden Ring DLC
- 1. Defeat Starscourge Radahn
- 2. Defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood
- 3. Defeat Malenia, Blade of Miquella
- 4. Complete Elden Ring’s main campaign
- 5. Upgrade your Flasks
- 6. Consider respeccing your character’s stats
- 7. Stock up crafting materials and consumables
- 8. Farm Runes
- 9. Upgrade your Spirit Ashes
- 10. Look for secrets and study the lore
- Conclusions
10 things you need to do before Elden Ring DLC
Shadow of the Erdtree was released on June 21 at 12:00 AM (EDT). According to FromSoftware CEO Hidetaka Miyazaki, Shadow of the Erdtree is designed for the late-game or post-game. The Elden Ring DLC will continue the main game’s story and be FromSoftware’s most extensive DLC yet. We’ve covered everything you need to know about it without spoilers in our Shadow of the Erdtree overview, so check that out as well.
1. Defeat Starscourge Radahn
Miyazaki confirmed that you must defeat General Radahn to access the DLC. It’s unclear why this is necessary since Miquella and Radahn are not directly related. Defeating Radahn will likely have plot significance in Shadow of the Erdtree.
To defeat Radahn, you must take on the Radahn Festival quest, which Castellan Jerren organizes. During the boss fight with Starscourge Radahn, you can summon a variety of friendly NPCs to help you, including Blaidd, Alexander, Okina, and even Patches (though he will immediately run away).
2. Defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood
The second required boss to unlock Shadow of the Erdtree is Mohg. Without defeating him, you will not even be able to get close to Miquella’s cocoon since Mohg is protecting his slumbering consort from intruders. Mohg, Lord of Blood is located in the Siofra River region, but you can’t just get to Mohgwyn Palace.
To get to the top of the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum, you will need to either find the Waygate (teleport) in the western part of Consecrated Snowfield or complete the White Mask Varré quest. Varré meets your Tarnished at the very beginning of the game, calling them “maidenless.” If you find him again in Liurnia of the Lakes and complete his quests, you will become a knight of the Mohgwyn Dynasty. Then Varré will give you a Pureblood Knight’s Medal, which teleports you straight to the Mohgwyn Palace main entrance.
When granted an audience with Mohg, we recommend using Purifying Crystal Tear to protect you from blood loss. This item can be obtained by defeating Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger.
3. Defeat Malenia, Blade of Miquella
Although Malenia is not a mandatory boss to access Shadow of the Erdtree, nor is she a mandatory boss in Elden Ring, we still recommend defeating her. Malenia is the hardest boss in Elden Ring and possibly the hardest boss of all Soulslikes. She’s Miquella’s twin sister and was his protector. You can find Malenia in Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree.
Most likely, Malenia will play a significant role in the Shadow of the Erdtree story since she doesn’t die at the end of the boss fight but turns into a giant flower. According to the lore, Malenia will become the true Goddess if her flower blooms three times, and it has already happened twice: the first after the fight with General Radahn, which infected him with Scarlet Rot, the second after the battle with your Tarnished.
4. Complete Elden Ring’s main campaign
Since Shadow of the Erdtree is a late-game or post-game DLC relative to Elden Ring, we recommend completing the main game first. By the time Shadow of the Erdtree starts, your Tarnished should be at least level 100-150 to face the new powerful and ruthless enemies.
A complete Elden Ring walkthrough will also help you to understand the story better. You will also be able to farm and accumulate enough resources and consumables along the way. However, you should not transfer your save to New Game+, as this will make the enemies even stronger and complicate your progress if you want to enjoy Shadow of the Erdtree story for the first time.
5. Upgrade your Flasks
Your most essential items for survival and fights are Flask of Crimson Tears and Flask of Cerulean Tears, which restore your HP and FP, respectively. To upgrade the red flask, you will need Golden Seeds; if you want to bring it to a maximum of 14, you need to find 30 Golden Seeds. To upgrade the blue flask, you will need Sacred Tears, of which there are 12 in total, located in the Churches of Marika. Perhaps these additional Bolstering Materials will also be found in Shadows of the Erdtree.
6. Consider respeccing your character’s stats
If, during the Elden Ring, you got tired of your playstyle or just wanted to try something new, you can redistribute your character’s stats from Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, at the Academy of Raya Lucaria library after defeating her. For “Rebirth,” you will have to pay Rennala Larval Tears. There are only 18 Larval Tears in Elden Ring, but with a lot of new content in Shadow of the Erdtree, there definitely will be more.
7. Stock up crafting materials and consumables
Considering that Shadow of the Erdtree will have 30-40 hours of gameplay and a ton of new weapons and spells, you will need to upgrade them. Try to find more Smithing Stones to improve your weapons. You can also collect Bell Bearings and upgrade the Twin Maiden Husks shop to buy Smithing Stones from them. You can also find 8 Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones and 13 Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones, which strengthen your armaments up to +10 and +25, respectively.
8. Farm Runes
Naturally, you will need as many Runes as possible in Elden Ring DLC, which are both currency and XP. Most Runes can be obtained from defeating bosses, especially Mohg, Lord of Blood, Malenia, Blade of Miquella, and, of course, Elden Beast. Ironically, the best place to quickly farm Runes is the Blood Lake near Mohgwyn Palace. You can sit on high ground while killing Albinaurics and Giant Crows and receiving your Runes.
9. Upgrade your Spirit Ashes
Miyazaki said that the Shadow of the Erdtree bosses will be tough, so consider summoning your Spirit Ashes. To make their help noticeable, you need to upgrade them from Roderika in Roundtable Hold. To upgrade them, you will need Grave Glovewort and Ghost Glovewort, which can be found in dungeons or purchased from Twin Maiden Husks. It’s also better to save a few in case there are new Spirit Ashes in the DLC. The best Spirit Ashes to summon are Mimic Tear, Lhutel The Headless, Black Knife Tiche, and Latenna the Albinauric.
10. Look for secrets and study the lore
If you think you have already done everything you can in the Elden Ring and can only passively wait for the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, you are most likely wrong. Elden Ring is an incredibly huge game with a lot of hidden locations, dungeons, and many interesting characters. If you feel like you have nothing else to do, you can simply read the descriptions of the items in your inventory, and you’ll probably find something new already. Especially considering that almost all of the Miquella lore, a key character in Shadow of the Erdtree, is hidden.
You can also help your fellow Tarnished defeat the bosses needed for the DLC if you are confident enough, using summoning signs near the entrance gate to the boss arena.
Conclusions
In this article, we discussed how to prepare for Elden Ring DLC and covered 10 things you need to do before Shadow of the Erdtree. You will find all the details and helpful information in our Shadow of the Erdtree overview.
Share your checklists and suggestions in the comments on what else you can do before Elden Ring DLC!
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