Highlights

  • Shadow of the Erdtree DLC introduces tough bosses and overworld enemies to challenge even seasoned Elden Ring players.
  • Furnace Golems, akin to trolls, present a significant threat with high health and devastating attacks, testing player progression.
  • Players must adapt, level up, and learn strategies to overcome the daunting Furnace Golems in the challenging DLC expansion.

When Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was first announced, there was a reasonable expectation that it would be difficult; FromSoftware games are renowned for their difficulty, and the studio's DLCs are often particularly challenging and designed for experienced players. Additionally, with the base game being out for over two years, Shadow of the Erdtree is positioned to reintroduce brutal and bitter difficulty to those who may have gotten a bit too comfortable with Elden Ring's base game.

To this end, the DLC includes some of the toughest bosses in Elden Ring, and possibly in FromSoftware history. But official, big-health-bar bosses aren't the only place where the expansion shows its grit: the overworld of The Land of Shadow is littered with some intimidating enemies, waiting to hit players with an unpleasant surprise as they traipse from landmark to landmark. Perhaps the most striking of these overworld enemies are the Furnace Golems, hulking, surreal creatures reminiscent of the wicker man statues built by ancient Celtic priests. Only these statues aren't merely for show or ceremony: they can stomp, burn, and decimate anyone who gets too close.

elden ring shadow of the erdtree dlc illusory walls
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Furnace Golems Serve a Similar Purpose as Elden Ring's Trolls

Trolls Are Some of the Scariest Enemies in Elden Ring's Early Game

The first time players encounter a troll in Elden Ring, they are bound to be surprised and more than a little scared. These enemies patrol Limgrave, the base game's starting area, and are thus remarkably easy to run into during the first few hours of gameplay. Their size, high health and defense, and sheer strength make them truly formidable foes in the early game, and felling them is quite an achievement.

But what's interesting about trolls is, for as intimidating as they are in the early game, taking them on becomes progressively less daunting. Once players learn the trolls' moveset, and after they get a little more powerful, these enemies become somewhat trivial in spite of their size. This makes them a good litmus test for progression, as players can measure their skill and character strength against these early-game roadblocks. Naturally, Shadow of the Erdtree has upped the ante with this enemy archetype.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's Furnace Golems Are Trolls Writ Large

Shadow of the Erdtree's spate of new enemy types includes the Furnace Golems, which roam The Land of Shadow at all times, visible even across vast gulfs of space. Most players will encounter their first Furnace Golem just moments after starting the expansion, as there is one strolling through the Gravesite Plains starting area. By this point, players will have defeated Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood —two difficult base game bosses—and they may be feeling confident. The Furnace Golems are there to shatter that confidence.

Furnace Golems are considerably larger than trolls, with more health and devastating AOE attacks that can be hard to avoid and easy to die from. Indeed, the DLC's first Furnace Golem can be a rude awakening to overconfident players. But like the base game's trolls, Elden Ring players can exploit the Furnace Golems' weaknesses, discover useful strategies, and level up to drastically reduce the threat that they pose.

On top of being emblematic of the DLC's elevated difficulty, Furnace Golems can be useful touchstones for tracking progress. This is especially poignant due to Shadow of the Erdtree's exclusive progression model, which sees players growing stronger across a linear vector in expansion areas. Through a combination of leveling up, learning attack patterns and exploits, and perseverance, players will have a much easier time taking down Furnace Golems over the course of the DLC, making them a sort of ramped-up version of trolls in more ways than one.