If you’ve been having a rough time with Elden Ring‘s devilishly hard Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, rest assured that you’re not alone. Popular streamer Asmongold has also been struggling with the notoriously hard DLC, tearing into it live on stream and calling it “too hard to be fun.”
The news was delivered through one of Asmongold’s trademark rants, mostly decrying the expansion’s boss design. Perhaps in an attempt to save face, he insisted that he could beat the DLC, but that he didn’t want to bother with it, which is also what I tell myself when I spend eight hours trying to beat Twin Moon Knight Rellana and her cheap-as-hell magic attacks.
Complaints about Shadow of the Erdtree‘s difficulty have overtaken most online discussions of the game, with the expansion boasting Mixed reviews on Steam and every third post on the Elden Ring subreddit complaining about some ridiculously overtuned boss or another. Whether it’s the Divine Beast Dancing Lion or the Golden Hippopotamus, every boss in this expansion represents a brick wall you can spend hours on end smashing your head into. Asmongold specifically called out the long, almost unavoidable combos many of the DLC’s bosses employ and the very small windows to deal damage in return.
Elden Ring is unique among From Software’s offerings, however, in that you can simply choose to walk away from that wall and come back later with a sturdier helmet. The disconnect between players and Shadow of the Erdtree largely comes from the expansion having its own level scaling system. It doesn’t matter if you have all the Vigor points in the world; if you’re not out there gathering Scadutree Fragments and getting your Blessings, you’re going to run into the exact same frustration that has been sweeping the Elden Ring community.
At least this particular story of frustration has a somewhat happy ending. Despite saying that he was “pretty much done,” Asmongold ultimately decided to give Shadow of the Erdtree another chance. After his rant, he restarted with a new build that will hopefully carry him all the way to the rage-inducingly difficult final boss of the expansion. It is is already responsible for countless broken controllers and angry rants, but with enough careful planning, Asmongold may finally be able to snatch victory. Provided he doesn’t ragequit again, that is.
