What is the proper scadutree upgrade level if you want the game to scale SLIGHTLY higher than Elphael?

[Joeycentral]

In the ringed city DLC, I know the area was scaled higher than the archdragon peak, the optional hidden area in the base game that was the hardest area at the time. So I am assuming that since Elphael is the highest level area in Elden Ring non DLC, the DLC should be scaled so enemies have more HP than enemies in Elphael area (the area MAlenia is in).

So my question is what is the scadutree blessing level needed to ensure enemies have this desired difficulty? My goal is to give the most balanced difficulty to the DLC so it feels like a Fromsoft DLC area.

[Dollmaker]

10 is where you get the biggest boost, past that from 11 to 20 you get weaker boosts.

I’m been consistently reaching 18-19 level with my characters by the end and the areas still feel like Haligtree in terms of difficulty.

And this is with me usually exploring a lot before going into the Legacy Dungeons.

I don’t think you need to worry much about going overboard you DEFINITELY need the blessings unless you wanna get one shot and do no dmg

[Knavenformed]

It massively depends on the area you aim to be
10 is generally good, but 16+ feels appropriate for Enir-Ilim

Your upgrades don't matter for being summoned as a Phantom so might as well get as many as you can

[Evilinferno]

the answer might be a bit too relative to your choice of weapon, best way to genuinely find the answer is to go in yourself with low scadu level and add more levels until it feels right to you

[Sonnenbank]

Difficulty depends on a lot of things.

But here is an articel about which Blessing level is reccomended for a balanced experience
https://www.nme.com/guides/gaming-guides/elden-ring-dlc-boss-order-3769653

i still find this levels make it a bit too easy

Romina at 12 is a freewin for example

[C1REX]

Hard to tell. I’ve found DS3 super hard and couldn’t pass ng+3 when in Elden Ring I completed the game at NG+7 with not much trouble.

I personally would find all shadow tree fragments but keep your level at 150 max and obviously don’t use summon.

I’m a casual so I was using everything available in both games.

[Scuzz]

As I understood it at 18 all attack and defense elements of the dlc are balanced with the base game. I read that somewhere. Since you start with 0 the game feels quite hard.

You might aim for 10 then see how things go. It will take half the game to get there unless you look up the fragments and go for them at the start.

[Sgt. Flaw]

Level 2 until you get to Messmer then 7 about 10 ish for the optional bosses after..

Just fought Putrescent at 13 and it was a joke..dodged nothing...Gaius at 10 was about right probably the same for Putrescent..

Enir has a crazy difficulty spike...I'm gonna try 13 TN

I just collect the fragments and burn them when I need them one at a time

[EF_Neo1st]

Publicado originalmente por Joeycentral:

In the ringed city DLC, I know the area was scaled higher than the archdragon peak, the optional hidden area in the base game that was the hardest area at the time. So I am assuming that since Elphael is the highest level area in Elden Ring non DLC, the DLC should be scaled so enemies have more HP than enemies in Elphael area (the area MAlenia is in).

So my question is what is the scadutree blessing level needed to ensure enemies have this desired difficulty? My goal is to give the most balanced difficulty to the DLC so it feels like a Fromsoft DLC area.

Zero blessings to just 1 lvl of blesing per boss (so 1 for Divine Beast, 1 for Rellana, 1 for the serpent girl, 1 for Mesmer and 1 for Radahn) if you want a challenge run but not going zero blessings.

[Joeycentral]

Publicado originalmente por EF_Neo1st:

Publicado originalmente por Joeycentral:

In the ringed city DLC, I know the area was scaled higher than the archdragon peak, the optional hidden area in the base game that was the hardest area at the time. So I am assuming that since Elphael is the highest level area in Elden Ring non DLC, the DLC should be scaled so enemies have more HP than enemies in Elphael area (the area MAlenia is in).

So my question is what is the scadutree blessing level needed to ensure enemies have this desired difficulty? My goal is to give the most balanced difficulty to the DLC so it feels like a Fromsoft DLC area.

Zero blessings to just 1 lvl of blesing per boss (so 1 for Divine Beast, 1 for Rellana, 1 for the serpent girl, 1 for Mesmer and 1 for Radahn) if you want a challenge run but not going zero blessings.

That is the thing: I do not want to do a challenge run to the point in where I am doing no dmg and enemies and bosses are one/two shotting me. I want to make it so that the base enemies in the DLC are scaled slightly higher than enemies in Elphael. I just finished the DLC at NG+ (second playthrough) with 12 scadutree blessing levels and aside from the last boss, it didnt feel that bad. I wasnt dying in 1 or 2 hits, but I still took a big chunk of dmg, which forces me to know their attacks. But also they werent giant health sponges in where I had to spend 3-5 minutes hacking away at them in phase 1 (usually near hitless) just to get them into phase 2. I personally do not want a challenge run in where bosses are giant health sponges because to me, that kind of challenge isnt fun.

[Joeycentral]

Publicado originalmente por Sonnenbank:

Difficulty depends on a lot of things.

But here is an articel about which Blessing level is reccomended for a balanced experience
https://www.nme.com/guides/gaming-guides/elden-ring-dlc-boss-order-3769653

i still find this levels make it a bit too easy

Romina at 12 is a freewin for example

Eh, TBH, I find that guide makes the game way too easy. It says 6 scadutree blessings for Rellana. That would straight up trivialize her.

[EF_Neo1st]

Publicado originalmente por Joeycentral:

Publicado originalmente por EF_Neo1st:

Zero blessings to just 1 lvl of blesing per boss (so 1 for Divine Beast, 1 for Rellana, 1 for the serpent girl, 1 for Mesmer and 1 for Radahn) if you want a challenge run but not going zero blessings.

That is the thing: I do not want to do a challenge run to the point in where I am doing no dmg and enemies and bosses are one/two shotting me. I want to make it so that the base enemies in the DLC are scaled slightly higher than enemies in Elphael. I just finished the DLC at NG+ (second playthrough) with 12 scadutree blessing levels and aside from the last boss, it didnt feel that bad. I wasnt dying in 1 or 2 hits, but I still took a big chunk of dmg, which forces me to know their attacks. But also they werent giant health sponges in where I had to spend 3-5 minutes hacking away at them in phase 1 (usually near hitless) just to get them into phase 2. I personally do not want a challenge run in where bosses are giant health sponges because to me, that kind of challenge isnt fun.

Honestly, I saw videos of peoplee doing insane damage even at rune level 1 so "dmg" is more about the build.
Scadu may "double" your damage but if your build is good your damage will not be so low.

[EF_Neo1st]

Like, with around 10 scadu my damage to one of the late bosses of the DLC was some 50K health and my damage was enough to beat the boss in some 16 to 17 attacks (sure if it could be 10 I would like more)
So I think with around 4 or 5 you would need some 20 attacks.

[Joeycentral]

Publicado originalmente por EF_Neo1st:

Publicado originalmente por Joeycentral:

That is the thing: I do not want to do a challenge run to the point in where I am doing no dmg and enemies and bosses are one/two shotting me. I want to make it so that the base enemies in the DLC are scaled slightly higher than enemies in Elphael. I just finished the DLC at NG+ (second playthrough) with 12 scadutree blessing levels and aside from the last boss, it didnt feel that bad. I wasnt dying in 1 or 2 hits, but I still took a big chunk of dmg, which forces me to know their attacks. But also they werent giant health sponges in where I had to spend 3-5 minutes hacking away at them in phase 1 (usually near hitless) just to get them into phase 2. I personally do not want a challenge run in where bosses are giant health sponges because to me, that kind of challenge isnt fun.

Honestly, I saw videos of peoplee doing insane damage even at rune level 1 so "dmg" is more about the build.
Scadu may "double" your damage but if your build is good your damage will not be so low.

Good point. I guess the best thing to do is to use a regular infused claymore (classic souls weapon) fully upgraded to test dmg % to mobs in elphael and mobs in the shadow realm and continue to pump scadutree levels until the enemies in the dlc take slightly less dmg % with claymore (just a regular soldier since I think they all have similar resistances to physical dmg).

I just wanted to see if someone has already crunched those numbers first before I perform this experiment.

[EF_Neo1st]

Publicado originalmente por Joeycentral:

Publicado originalmente por EF_Neo1st:

Honestly, I saw videos of peoplee doing insane damage even at rune level 1 so "dmg" is more about the build.
Scadu may "double" your damage but if your build is good your damage will not be so low.

Good point. I guess the best thing to do is to use a regular infused claymore (classic souls weapon) fully upgraded to test dmg % to mobs in elphael and mobs in the shadow realm and continue to pump scadutree levels until the enemies in the dlc take slightly less dmg % with claymore (just a regular soldier since I think they all have similar resistances to physical dmg).

I just wanted to see if someone has already crunched those numbers first before I perform this experiment.

Chances are you wil be greeted quite soon at the DLC by something very mobile and with good amount of health or by something that may 1shot you if you are distracted or is catch roling when you are out of iframes if you are going something like 20% negation.

[Joeycentral]

Publicado originalmente por EF_Neo1st:

Publicado originalmente por Joeycentral:

Good point. I guess the best thing to do is to use a regular infused claymore (classic souls weapon) fully upgraded to test dmg % to mobs in elphael and mobs in the shadow realm and continue to pump scadutree levels until the enemies in the dlc take slightly less dmg % with claymore (just a regular soldier since I think they all have similar resistances to physical dmg).

I just wanted to see if someone has already crunched those numbers first before I perform this experiment.

Chances are you wil be greeted quite soon at the DLC by something very mobile and with good amount of health or by something that may 1shot you if you are distracted or is catch roling when you are out of iframes if you are going something like 20% negation.

Then maybe comparing enemies in the final area of the DLC and Elphael would be better. Of course this will result in early DLC enemies and bosses scaling lower than Elphael and likely being equivalent to mountaintop of the giants or leyndell scaling, but that would definitely eliminate the problem you mentioned which is enemies late game one/two shotting you.