Is Shadow of the Erdtree really that hard?

[mystemacc]

I was thinking of buying it but people got me spooked.

I cheesed Elden Ring after I found the mimic, but I've read people say some bosses can't be cheesed and summons won't help either.

Can I at least play it and cheese it if I don't bother fighting against the odds?

[psilocybe]

You should be fine.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3272020687


Same as base game.
Everything in the open-world can be cheesed with a ranged bow talisman.
Only irritating part is, no merchants in the open-world.
So stock up on some arrow options, before hand.

I haven't fought ALL of the bosses in the dlc.
Thought there are several videos on yt about how to cheese them.

If you care to overclock your system:
I can confirm that the most difficult few...
(Rellana, Geegus, Bayle, the sunflower, and Micquilla)
Can all have the map unloaded from under them, causing them to fall into the abyss for an easy win.
(Though, I think I heard something about how they might have patched the micquilla skip.)

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by mystemacc:

I was thinking of buying it but people got me spooked.

I cheesed Elden Ring after I found the mimic, but I've read people say some bosses can't be cheesed and summons won't help either.

Can I at least play it and cheese it if I don't bother fighting against the odds?

It is and is not (and already was harder too, some bosses nerfed and the blessing sysem help with early DLC and up to mid DLC.
End of DLC if you dont mind havivng only half, 10 blessings, maybe a bit more if needed 11 or 12 of the blessings, what grant enough to make it "doable" by casuals like me.

Overall bosses tend to be more aggressive, the aggressiveness (and aggressiveness form the get go, from the moment you enter boss fog) was "sort of" nerfed but also "sort of" by random chance, there is now a good cchance you enter boss fog and boss go walking to you instead of leaping from the other side of the room into you with a combo.

[Persona Au Gratin]

To reiterate something that was said, there's a lot of factors that give the DLC the reputation it has. First of all, something that was said, multiple bosses were situated in a way where even if you had leveled health and had scadu fragments, they could kill you in a sequence from the jump.

Messmer's Flame Orb, Gaius' charge, Putrescent Knight starting closer to you combined with the pretentious/stupid "take the plunge" way of entering its arena, Bayle having multiple means of immolating/charging you... Basically, by invoking the motif of a poorly designed second installment of Dark Souls and stupid, indulgent crap the game could kill seemingly instantly whether you had levels, scadu fragments or not.

Things have been done to try to remedy this and I can give explicit examples. Bosses no longer starting closer to the boss door, bosses waiting rather than instantly engaging you... it's still got a lot of dumb, indulgent design where the goal is to be annoying. But the DLC has been patched to remedy these sucker punches.

The reputation is deserved, but it's more par for the course and a little less extreme in terms of being out and out obnoxious.

[vamirez]

Using the mimic is not cheesing. And you can use spirits to beat the DLC just fine.

[Sc0rpiTr0n]

It is difficult but doable.

Even final boss can be reasonably simple to take down
with greatshield and some poking weapon(s) laced with status effects.

And don't forget if worst comes to worst you can always summon
players for help, in game or here on forum.

[Persona Au Gratin]

It's definitely cheesing, but there's nothing wrong with cheesing. Tapping out on learning boss patterns so you can scrap it out instead of engaging with the "choreography" is more possible now without bosses being a nuisance. The nuance here know-it-all is leaving out is MANY Spirit Ashes were also buffed too because they were getting ♥♥♥♥ on.

[bradams]

Most of the people saying it was hard were people who never diverted from the main road and were trying to fight key bosses with scadutree blessing levels being less than half of what they should have been.

That being said, there are a few bosses that are difficult for...questionable reasons (arena's too small so the camera is freaking out, a very specific boss having a charge with a hitbox that is obnoxious compared to every other attack in the game, ect) but aside from those few specific instances, as long as you are exploring the world and keeping up with your scadutree level, it shouldn't be too much worse than the base game.

[vamirez]

Originally posted by Persona Au Gratin:

It's definitely cheesing, but there's nothing wrong with cheesing. Tapping out on learning boss patterns so you can scrap it out instead of engaging with the "choreography" is more possible now without bosses being a nuisance. The nuance here know-it-all is leaving out is MANY Spirit Ashes were also buffed too because they were getting ♥♥♥♥ on.

Using ingame items and abilities is not cheesing. It's smart. To not use them is a self-imposed challenge.

[Persona Au Gratin]

The nuance of why this game has a reputation, or someone who clearly wants to peanut gallery, definitely enjoy the five across the eyes.

Again, trying to say "people not try hard enough" and not conveying patch notes that had to react to flaws in the DLC's approach... hmm wonder why that happened.

[causality]

Souls games are as hard as you make them.

[Rhythmless Ninja]

It's only hard if you don't grab the dook fragments. Actually explore the area and you will be fine.

[1100011]

Originally posted by Rhythmless Ninja:

It's only hard if you don't grab the dook fragments. Actually explore the area and you will be fine.

Just don't explore the *whole* area it's a bit large. Stay on the roads, and check the map for points of interest.

[cheetah1546]

Yes it is. But doable.

[p0k314NET]

No. Only boring, repetitive and without imagination.

[BoD[6-4]]

Bosses are over agressive and have too much long combos and too short recovery time. It made me want them to have a stamina system so they'd stop moving around non-stop