Highlights

  • Hefty Cracked Pots in Elden Ring add new crafting options for players, enhancing the base game's system.
  • Materials for Hefty Pots make powerful builds like Scarlet Rot more accessible, with easier farming options.
  • Scarlet Rot builds offer a strong but passive way to deal damage to bosses, with Hefty Rot Pots as key items.

A series of new items under the umbrella of Hefty Cracked Pots brought into Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree helps to add a new layer to the crafting system of the base game. Not only does this give new methods for players to deal damage, but the availability of materials for some Hefty Pots also helps to make the passively powerful Scarlet Rot builds even more accessible.

This expansion to the builds in Elden Ring comes from the Hefty Cracked Pots and the ability to make them into various types of throwable items that can deal large amounts of damage or inflict status effects. However, most important is the fact that the Hefty Rot Pots are made with materials that are relatively easy to farm, and some can even be purchased infinitely, which stands in stark opposition to the original pots of the same effect.

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Shadow of the Erdtree's New Pots Enhance Elden Ring's Old Tricks

Farming for Rot Pots, Regular and Hefty

In the base Elden Ring, there are two different types of pot items, the Cracked Pots and the Ritual Pots. Between these two pot types, players can then craft several different consumable items that use up the materials required to create them but replenish the vessels once the contents have been used up. This includes the Rot Pot, which can be crafted with a combination of Ritual Pots, Toxic Mushrooms, Faded Erdleaf Flowers, and Aeonian Butterflies. Most important among these materials, however, are the Aeonian Butterflies, which can be found across the region of Caelid and the Lake of Rot in limited supply. It's the limited supply specifically that restricts any builds making use of these consumables since the only way to infinitely farm the Aeonian Butterflies is to hunt Basilisks in the Lake of Rot, which only have an eight percent drop rate.

To contrast the limited supply of materials for the Rot Pots, Hefty Rot Pots can be made with a combination of Fly Mold and the infinitely respawning Scarlet Buds found in the Ancient Ruins of Rauh combined. This means that while replenishing a full stock of Hefty Rot Pots can still require some farming, it is a faster and less involved farm that doesn't have the potential of costing hours between attempting bosses with a build that leans heavily on rot. Beyond the time save, this also means that gathering the materials required for Hefty Rot Pots over the standard versions saves the player from having to brave Elden Ring's Lake of Rot every few hours in order to keep the build running strong.

The Power of a Scarlet Rot Build

While it can be difficult and costly to base a character on dealing Scarlet Rot damage, a focus on this specific status effect can potentially be one of the strongest builds in Elden Ring. Relying on Scarlet Rot for most of the player's damage leans towards passive gameplay as opposed to something more aggressive like powerstancing curved swords. Still, Scarlet Rot can be a more consistent way to deal damage to bosses as they string together fifteen-hit combos back-to-back. Additionally, adding Scarlet Rot as a component to a build can help to bring down even the biggest bosses with the most health without having to hack away for twenty minutes at a time.

Even in the base game, weapons like Elden Ring's Antspur Rapier can be used as the base of a Scarlet Rot build and can be empowered with additional ashes of war to double up on other status effects or damage types. This includes a Poison affinity in order to double the damage over time effects on susceptible bosses, or a bleed effect that can quickly drain the health of some of the toughest bosses. So, naturally, having a way to bolster a Scarlet Rot build with items like the Hefty Rot Pots can be a major part of making the player character incredibly powerful.