At long last, Elden Ring’s first and only expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, is finally here. If you’re anything like me, you want to be as prepared as possible, with a fun and powerful character build before you start exploring the Land of Shadow.
You don’t want to make the expansion too easy for yourself, but you don’t want it to feel like slamming your head against a brick wall. I’ve played many hours of Shadow of the Erdtree already for review, so if you’re wondering about the best level to start Elden Ring‘s expansion, I have the answer.
Best level for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
I recommend you start Shadow of the Erdtree on a level 150 character, but ultimately, it’s up to you. At Bandai Namco’s preview event in Paris, the prebuilt characters were all level 150. This felt about right for the challenges we faced—the enemies were still tough and could kill us in a few hits, but we packed a punch ourselves and did decent damage to elites and bosses.
For the best experience, make sure your character has 60 Vigor. All the new enemies deal a ton of damage, and any less than 60 Vigor will see you getting two or three-shot most of the time.
If you want, though, you can start Shadow of the Erdtree as soon as you’ve beaten Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood, the latter of which is a tough late-game fight you’ll struggle to beat before level 100.
Shadow of the Erdtree contains its own unique scaling system called the Scadutree Blessing. You Scadutree Fragments around the Land of Shadow and use them at Sites of Grace to upgrade your damage and defense in the DLC, similar to how you upgrade your attack after beating bosses in Sekiro. With its separate scaling system, Shadow of the Erdtree gives you lots of flexibility in the levels at which you play through it.
If you want a tougher time, feel free to explore the Land of Shadow as soon as you beat Mohg—which will probably be around level 100 unless you’re speed-running. If you want a balanced experience, enter the DLC at level 150. It certainly won’t be a cakewalk at higher levels, though, so don’t worry about Shadow of the Erdtree being too easy if you’re above level 150.
I played for three hours at level 150 at the preview, and the enemies, elites, and bosses were all satisfyingly difficult. The DLC is definitely tougher than the base game, so even if you’re level 300, I reckon they’ll still put up a good fight.
