Elden Ring player reaches Shadow of the Erdtree at level 1 with no gear
If you were worried about not being high enough level for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, don’t be – one talented gamer has proven that it is possible to enter the Shadow Realm at the lowest level, without any equipment, and still win.
Given the entry requirements for Shadow of the Erdtree, it’s obvious that heading into the Realm right after starting the game is suicide. The DLC is locked behind two difficult bosses, Radan and Mog, meaning that once they’re defeated, players will definitely have a few levels to lose. But Souls YouTuber Iron Pineapple took this as a challenge and decided to see if it was possible to survive the DLC’s first region, the Plains of Graves, and defeat the first boss, starting with only the ghostly steed Torrent and upgraded Estus Flasks for healing.
As expected, Iron Pineapple was initially getting clobbered by everything and had a hard time dealing significant damage to even the weakest enemies. The first step was finding a weapon – the YouTuber managed to get the Beast Claw by luring Logur to the edge of a cliff, where he fell to his death.
Luckily for Iron Pineapple, Beast Claw can stack bleed damage, causing a similar effect on susceptible enemies. This was important early in the run, as the effect eats up a fixed percentage of enemies’ health regardless of your level or weapon quality, giving Iron Pineapple a much better way to fight before getting upgrades.
Elden Ring player reaches Shadow of the Erdtree at level 1 with no gear
Next, he used the Erdtree Shards. While Shadow of the Erdtree doesn’t ignore all those hard-earned levels from regular runes, the main way to buff your character in the DLC is by collecting these shards to upgrade your Blessing. They reduce damage taken and boost your attacks in the Shadow Realm.
While it has been proven that it is possible to complete all of the DLCs without upgrading Blessings, they do significantly increase the likelihood of success, as demonstrated by Iron Pineapple, who suddenly began to have much greater success against all of the DLC’s enemies. Being able to defeat enemies faster also meant that the YouTuber had an easier time getting more gear, weapons, and upgrade materials to gradually build up a build to combat the Dancing Lion.
After collecting many Forge Stones and experimenting with various weapons, Iron Pineapple settled on using the Great Katana, another weapon with a bleeding effect, which he upgraded to +17 using materials scattered around the Plain of Graves area. Despite only being level 65 when he entered the battle with the Dancing Lion, he managed to emerge victorious by summoning the Spirit of the Black Knight Commander Andreas, using a talisman to temporarily boost his attack power after Andreas’s inevitable death, and using the Reflective Hard Tear to perform perfect blocks and powerful counterattacks.
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ELDEN RING SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE: THOSE WHO HAVE FINISHED THE GAME COMPLAIN ABOUT THE LAST BOSS