Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
GamesRadar
GamesRadar
Technology
Dustin Bailey

The new Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree patch buffs are way smaller than you'd think, but they let me instantly defeat a boss I'd been stuck on for hours

A knight bows before Miquella's Golden Cross inElden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree just got a little easier thanks to a new patch that makes Scadutree buffs stronger, and my own before-and-after experience with one of the expansion's more notorious bosses made it seem like a night-and-day change. But players have now done the math on the new buffs, and the numbers are so small I don't know what to believe anymore.

The Fextralife wiki shows exact numbers on how the Shadow of the Erdtree Scadutree Fragments affect your damage and defense in the DLC. Before the patch, the first blessing level would give you 1.05x damage dealt and 0.952 damage received, roughly a five percent buff on both stats. The progression from there was pretty linear - a full 20 blessing levels would get you to double damage dealt and half damage received.

Since the patch, things have changed slightly. At max blessing level, you now deal 2.05x damage and take 0.487x damage. That's a roughly 2.5% buff to both stats, which is nice, but not exactly earth-shattering. The big change is that earlier blessing levels are now more powerful, which weights the progression curve to give players a slightly easier time earlier in the DLC.

For me, the difference seemed pretty extreme. I spent about two hours trying to figure out how to beat Rellana in Shadow of the Erdtree last night, and never managed to get her below 25% health. This morning, after the update dropped, I took another shot and beat her in about 10 minutes, and on the winning effort I'd even forgotten to hit the helpful NPC summon on the way in.

I thought it was all thanks to the new buff, but I was at blessing level four and apparently that means I got an additional 8.3% buff to damage and a 7.6% buff to defense. That doesn't seem like quite enough to make up for the deficit I faced against Rellana. Does that mean these buffs are better than they look? Am I bad at judging the value of stat increases? Or was the real help the good night's sleep and cup of coffee I got in the meantime? These questions are sure to haunt me as I get deeper into the Realm of Shadow.

Good news, Tarnished: Your Scadutree Fragments carry over in the Elden Ring DLC, so you won't start back at square one as New Game Plus gets harder.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.