Examining VaatiVidya's "Shadow of the Erdtree" Experience – Dutchiee | Reviews & News (2024)

June 7, 2024

Shadow of the ErdTree, Elden Ring’s one and only DLC will release in 2 weeks and a select few creators were given a glimpse into what to expect and they in turn gave us insight into the new weapons, spells, enemies and most of all the lore. The whispers of of VaatiVidiya giving Shadow of Erdtree a test drive took over the gaming community like a storm. Everyone is eager to know all the details and the big twisted lore of the DLC.

WE GOT NEW WEAPONS (it was already confirmed before) BUT STILL!

We previously knew about 5 of the 8 new categories for the weapon types but now all 8 are known which are the following:

• Great Katanas
• Dryleaf arts (hand-to-hand combat)
• Thrusting shields
• Throwing weapons
• Reverse hand swords
• Perfume bottles
• Light Greatswords
• Beast Claws

Now the some weapons that multiple creators got to play around with were shown were the light greatswords,reverse hand swords, beast claws, perfume bottles, dryleaf arts and finally throwing weapons.

The light greatswords, dryleaf arts and beast claws all seem to emphasize more over attack speed than damage since the weapons shown all attacked comparatively quick against what is present in the base game.

Veteran souls players will recognize the ash of war shown for the light greatsword it being reminiscent of Gael’s Greatsword weapon art from Dark Souls 3, but the following regular attacks shown are noticeably fast compared to other two handed weapons in the base game.

The dryleaf arts shown from the first trailers are showcased here but not much is known about what weapons will feature this new hand-to-hand combat moves and it is the same with the throwing weapons apart from what was shown in the previous trailers. We do see that for the throwing weapon category both regular and heavy attacks constitute throwing the weapon.

The reverse hand swords showcased here are somewhat similar to powerstancing straight swords in the base game but are again noticeably faster compared to the attack speed of the former.

New Mechanics?

As known by now the DLC will have a different way of leveling up in the DLC much like the level system in Sekiro, where certain items collected and handed in will increase our attack power or health. It seems the one for increasing attack is called ‘ScaduTree Fragment’ and the one for upgrading one’s spirit ashes is aptly named ‘revered spirit ashes’ which notably also increase the damage negation of Torrent too.

For the Players Hungry for Lore

We know the tree in the DLC is called the ScaduTree and the description had stated it to be “..shadow of the ErdTree”. We now know Messmer’s Black Knights which were shown in recent trailers also have crucible incantation or such mastery as the spirit ash for one says it had “command over the crucible” just like with the Crucible Knights which served under Godfrey.

Another spirit ash shown were the Gravebird spirit ashes whose description says they were ‘..crafted to be kindred to the Deathbirds’. That itself opens a whole host of speculations and theories on the Deathbirds which are pretty scarce to find in the base game.

Of the new characters we see in the trailers, the one who beckons us to the DLC is called Leda who is considered to be the leader of the band of followers for Miquella. The names of most of the characters are:

• Leda
• Ansbach (A former Knight of Lord Mohg)
• Freyja (A former Knight of General Radahn)
• Hornscent? (name is not confirmed)
• Moore (Throwing jars in the first trailers for the DLC)
• Tholiae? (Spelling not confirmed)

It is confirmed that one of the bosses for the DLC is the sister of Queen Rennala, named Rellana. She renounced her birthright from the Carian Royal family and had joined Messmer’s side.

There is confirmed to be a boss called “Godwyn’s Loyal Knight”, which indicates that Godwyn still has influence now and in the land of shadow as well.Notably these knights started serving him after his death at the hands of the black knives.

How do you skip Time?

No one can wait for this DLC, 2 weeks is long enough and the previews shown already promise so much in terms of gameplay and lore and also brings forth the culmination of FromSoftware’s experience in producing such masterpiece titles that waiting for it is that much worse. We know that we will be blown away in both categories of gameplay and lore. We know that we will start new characters just to experience the DLC and the base game from the beginning and we know there will be lore breakdowns galore in the upcoming months.

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