Elden Ring is well-known for being an immensely challenging game for newbies and veterans alike, offering perilous locations to traverse, difficult bosses to fell, and plenty of PvP action to keep you on your toes. The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion continues this trend with an all-new map full of deadly secrets and dangerous enemies, so you’ll want to go into it at a high level to ensure you’re well-prepared for everything it throws at you.
However, while levels will definitely help you out, managing your difficulty level in the Land of Shadow is not as simple as just boosting your stats. Instead, you’ll need to round up Scadutree Fragments throughout this new realm to gain a blessing that improves your defensive and offensive capabilities. Here’s everything you need to know.
How Scadutree Fragments work
You’ll find Scadutree Fragments scattered around the map in key places, such as in legacy dungeons or near some Sites of Grace. As you gather these, you can take them to any Site of Grace and choose the new option that allows you to enhance your Shadow Realm Blessing. Each time you upgrade this blessing, you’ll do more damage to foes while taking less damage from their attacks.
This buff is entirely separate from your base stats, though, and is simply applied as an all-encompassing improvement to your damage and defense. This means you’ll retain full control over how you want to build your character, and any weapons you use or gear you wear will retain its standard values.
Here’s how many Scadutree Fragments you need for each Shadow Realm Blessing upgrade:
- Level 0: 1x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 1: 2x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 2: 2x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 3: 2x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 4: 2x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 5: 2x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 6: 2x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 7: 2x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 8: 2x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 9: 2x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 10: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 11: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 12: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 13: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 14: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 15: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 16: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 17: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 18: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 19: 3x Scadutree Fragment
- Level 20: 3x Scadutree Fragment
Note, however, that using the Scadutree Fragments are entirely optional, meaning you can tailor the experience to your liking. If you want an extremely difficult challenge, you can choose to skip this feature altogether, but you’ll want to use them if you’re seeking a way to lessen the difficulty of your adventure.
Also be aware that the Shadow Realm Blessing is an irreversible buff, so if you use your Scadutree Fragments to buff yourself in the new expansion, you’ll never be able to undo that buff for that character. So it goes without saying that you should be entirely certain you want to make things easier on yourself before you use any Scadutree Fragments at a Site of Grace.
The Shadow Realm Blessing only works while you’re in the Land of Shadow, so your increased damage and defense will disappear when returning to the Lands Between.
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