Understanding Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree and Revered Spirit Ash Fragments

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree introduces a fresh leveling mechanism to assist players in navigating the perils of Messmer’s territory. The DLC’s Shadow Realm Blessings operate in the same fashion as described in this guide for Elden Ring.

In comparison to the base game, the Shadow Lands in the Elden Ring DLC pose a greater threat. To assist players, Shadow of the Erdtree introduces a new system that boosts their abilities. This ensures that all Tarnished champions have an equal footing when venturing into the expansion. Therefore,

This is achieved through the use of Shadow Realm Blessings, which are available in two types: Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes. These blessings are intended to permanently enhance both the player and their Spirit Ash summons, but only while in the Shadow Lands and not the base game’s Lands Between.

Players who have invested a significant amount of time in grinding to reach a high level can rest assured that they won’t lose their power when venturing into the DLC. The introduction of the new leveling system will not weaken current players, but it will make the Scadutree Fragments more valuable for lower-level players.

elden ring shadow blessings — FromSoftware

Shadow Blessings help players and Spirit Ash to become more powerful.

Scadutree Fragments

Whenever the player collects two Scadutree Fragments, they can bring them to a Site of Grace to activate their Shadow Blessing. These fragments enhance the player’s abilities while in the Shadow Lands, providing them with increased strength.

Nevertheless, if the player returns to the Lands Between, this buff will no longer be active. But once the player returns to the Shadow Lands, the buff will be reinstated. While these items are scarce, they can be found throughout the Shadow Lands and each time two are used, the player’s strength will increase.

This feature enables lower-level players to have comparable strength to higher-level players while exploring the DLC. However, players with a higher base level will still have an advantage. The Scadutree Blessing becomes crucial in the Shadow Lands, more so than a player’s base level.

Discovering all the Scadutree Fragments in Shadow of the Erdtree will elevate one’s status to max level, however, there is still room for growth through traditional leveling methods.

Revered Spirit Ashes

Similarly to Scadutree Fragments, Revered Spirit Ashes have a similar effect on Spirit Summons but do not affect anything else.

Whenever the player utilizes the Shadow Blessing at a Site of Grace, all of their Spirit Ashes will be permanently enhanced, resulting in them becoming stronger allies in the Shadow Lands where enemies and bosses pose greater challenges.

To prevent the player and enemies in the DLC from surpassing the Spirit Summons in level, this is mainly done. Hence, builds utilizing Spirit Ash can still level their allies while discovering the new content.

This implies that players who enjoy having the Mimic Tear or Black Knife Tiche as a combat companion in the original game can still do so in Shadow of the Erdtree.

It should be noted that both Shadow Blessings are only effective within the Shadow Lands. If you were to venture back to the Lands Between, your Spirit Summons would no longer receive the benefits of the DLC buff. However, upon returning to the expansion regions, the buff will once again be available for your Spirit Summons.

Are you planning to dive into Shadow of the Erdtree? Take a look at our thoughts on the expansion after extensively exploring the Shadow Lands.