Highlights

  • Elden Ring players face a bug affecting the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion's leveling system, causing difficulty in conquering the DLC.
  • The bug involves Scadutree Fragments, which are limited and one can be permanently lost if not picked up after defeating a certain enemy.
  • Players hope for a fix from FromSoftware, while the expansion remains a commercial and critical success.

A frustrating bug in Elden Ring is causing some players to have a difficult time conquering the game's new Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. This new bug directly affects the DLC's new leveling system, which was implemented into Elden Ring as a way to put all players, regardless of their level, on a somewhat-equal playing field going into Shadow of the Erdtree.

Few open-world games have managed to take hold of the video game industry quite like Elden Ring. Released by FromSoftware in 2022, a studio known for creating detailed fantasy worlds filled with deeply rewarding combat and terrifying enemies, Elden Ring took the world by storm, becoming one of the most commercially and critically successful games of all time. Elden Ring went on to sell over 25 million copies, and now the game has received a massive chunk of new content in 2024 titled Shadow of the Erdtree. This paid DLC welcomes players back into the world of Elden Ring, offering them the chance to face some of the game's toughest foes yet. However, some players are encountering a bug that makes the new expansion much harder.

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Shadow of the Erdtree introduces a new way to level up Elden Ring characters with items called Scadutree Fragments. These fragments are quite rare, with only 50 of them being included in the expansion. These fragments can be found naturally throughout the world but are also given as rewards for killing certain enemies, like the Pit Shadow undead. If players manage to kill this enemy but die before picking up the Scadutree Fragment, the enemy will respawn, but the fragment won't, permanently limiting the number of levels players have access to in Shadow of the Erdtree.

Elden Ring Players Encounter Major Bug in New DLC

The max level for the Scadutree Blessing that Elden Ring players can reach by using Scadutree Fragments is 20.

Players have slowly started to encounter this rather harsh bug, sharing their thoughts on the Elden Ring community on Reddit. "I'm missing a single Scadutree Fragment from the Rauh Ruins," said AeroNeon 55. "It stings so much considering how little I've missed otherwise." "Also happened to me," said duketogo84. "Hopefully a patch for it soon as pretty stupid that they wouldn't drop it again if you died before getting it." Progression is a key part of Elden Ring, with this bug meaning some players will have a harder time facing off against the new enemies and bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree.

Players are hopeful FromSoftware will take care of this issue soon, and aside from performance issues in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, reception to the game's massive expansion has been exceptional. The new DLC managed to take a top spot on the Steam charts, with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree becoming one of the best-selling expansions on the platform. Developers stated a second DLC will not be developed for Elden Ring, but Shadow of the Erdtree features more than enough content to keep players busy for quite a while.