The release of Shadow of the Erdtree is right around the corner, and there are some things you need to do before you can play it, which we will cover in this guide for you.
How to Prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree Elden Ring DLC
Shadow of the Erdtree is the new expansion to Elden Ring, which covers the story of Miquella and his journey to the Land of Shadow. The expansion offers a variety of new weapons, boss fights, spells, and areas that you can visit. There is a lot to unveil in the Land of Shadow regarding Miquella, which you will learn about in the expansion.
However, before you set out on this new journey, you are required to do the things that we have mentioned below.
Defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood
The first and foremost thing to do before you can play the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion is to find Mohg, Lord of Blood, and defeat him. Since the expansion follows Miquella’s story and his half-brother Mohg was the one who kidnapped Miquella, you are required to defeat him before you can play the new expansion.
The place where you face Mohg is also the same place from where you will be able to enter the Land of Shadow, so it is one of the prerequisites to access the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC to defeat Mohg. After you have defeated Mohg, you will find Miquella’s infant body inside a large egg at the site. To enter the Land of Shadow, you will need to interact with Miquella, which will only be possible after defeating the Lord of Blood.
Defeat Starscourge Radahn
Another optional boss that you must defeat before the Shadow of the Erdtree is Starscourge Radahn, the boss of Redmane Castle. Defeating the boss causes the frozen stars cycle to resume, where one of the stars comes crashing down to the Lands Between and opens the route to Nokron, Eternal City. Starscourge is related to the story of the new expansion and will answer one or more questions about the plot.
Both are optional bosses in the game but are a requirement to access the Elden Ring DLC, as confirmed by the game director, Hidetaka Miyazaki.
Increase Your Flask Uses
Using Flasks will heal your character once your HP is low, and you will need as many Flasks as you can to heal your character more often when facing enemies in the new expansion. You will need to collect as many Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears as you can to upgrade your Flask uses and increase the amount of HP you will recover.
Flasks will help keep you alive when you are visiting new areas and come across enemies you are unfamiliar with. It will also come in handy to refill your FP when running a magic build.
Respec Your Character’s Stats
With the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, there are at least a hundred new weapons to try and spells to check. If you do end up liking any of the new weapons but it does not match your current build, then you will have to respec your character’s stats. For that reason, you should start farming for Larval Tears.
Larval Tears allows you to respec your character’s stats by speaking to Rennala at the Lucaria Grand Library. But before that, you will need to defeat her in a boss fight. After defeating her, talk to her and choose the “Rebirth” option to open the stats menu. You can now change your character’s stats. It will take one Larval Tear to respec your stats each time.
Level Up Your Character
You will need to be at a certain level between 100 and 150 before you can take on enemies in the Shadow of the Erdtree, and for that, you will need to level up your character as much as you can to stand your ground against them. Farm for Runes by defeating optional bosses and level up your character before you enter the Land of Shadow.
Should You NG+ or Not?
If you’ve completed the game and are deciding whether you should NG+ or not, then you should consider that the enemies will also prove a challenge to you in the expansion due to the new scaling system. It will make it more difficult for you to take on the new enemies, as their difficulty level will scale with your level. Also, you will have a limited supply of useful items to work with, since you will have used most of them in the base game.
It is up to you to choose whether you are up for the challenge of facing more difficult enemies with NG+ or going straight into the DLC without it.
And these are all the things that will help you prepare for the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. You should also look into getting the best weapons in Elden Ring for the upcoming DLC.
