Elden Ring’s new expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, will be released on June 21, and many players are wondering if they need to complete the original main quest before entering the new content.

Because the base content in Elden Ring is enormous, it will take players hundreds of hours to explore all the content in The Lands Between thoroughly. For those who just want to relax, it may be a very daunting task and take them a long time.

The time spent in the game depends on the player’s skill level, and most players will need 40-50 hours. This time is only enough to defeat the 11 necessary bosses, complete the quests in a hurry and do not have a deep understanding of all the plots, etc.

But those who are worried about missing out on these plots can breathe a sigh of relief. It has been revealed that the missed content will come in handy when this DLC is finally released. Because FromSoftware did this with previous expansion.

Need To Complete The Main Quest?

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has been confirmed to fully complete the main quest before entering the new expansion, but you still need to reach the area where the expansion entrance is located. For example, in Bloodborne Old Hunters DLC, players need to defeat Vicar Amelia's boss to enter Hunter’s Nightmare.

This operation has been tried in many DLCs of previous FromSoftware games, including Elden Ring Colosseum DLC.

Which Step Can You Unlock New Expansion At?

To unlock Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC in the regular way, it takes quite a long game session, but there is an easy way! You only need to defeat two special bosses to enter the new expansion directly.

The first is to defeat Starscourge Radahn, which will unlock Eternal City Nokron. Of course, you need to fight Radahn by completing the quest of Ranni or activating Site of Grace by reaching Altus Plateau.

After defeating the boss during Radahn Festival, you need to enter the questline in Varre to obtain Elden Ring Items required for Mohgwyn’s Palace in the underground area.

You then need to go through this area to find Lord of Blood Mohg - the last boss to be dealt with before entering the new expansion. Once you have killed him successfully, you can actively access DLC by touching Miquella’s hand at the far end of Mohg’s arena.

You Can Go Deeper Into Story As You Wish

While players are always strongly encouraged to progress in the game, from my point of view, it is best not to lose the battle before entering the new expansion.

The first reason is that it takes a long time to defeat both bosses, especially if you want to increase your progress by killing the bosses that appear on the road. If you plan to run it a second time with New Game Plus, it may take longer.

The second reason is that New Game Plus makes your game more difficult. Therefore, players may need to defeat Radahn and Mohg besides updating the clearance content. In the worst case, they may not unlock Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

While New Game Plus in some ways increases the health of bosses and other enemies, in another way it also allows players to complete the first attempt of Elden Ring DLC ​​at a higher level.

For players who are constantly looking for new and harder challenges, this makes sense. But for players who already find the base game difficult, New Game Plus does increase the difficulty of DLC. Different people have different opinions.

Of course, this does not prevent you from making a lot of progress in the game and picking up some of the best endgame weapons and gear. But in fact, you are better off getting as deep into the base game’s campaign as possible.

Summary

In addition, during Elden Ring DLC ​​hands-on preview sessions, you are also better off setting your character to level 100 or above in advance, so that you can get higher stats and better equipment later.

FromSoftware has always had a tradition of DLC being much more difficult than the base game, especially with featured bosses. For example, the ultimate boss of Bloodborne DLC, Orphan of Kos, is a very typical example. What? You think it’s not strong enough? What about Darkeater Midir and Slave Knight Gael from Dark Souls 3?

Therefore, players who find the base game difficult are strongly advised not to use New Game Plus to enter the new expansion.

However, there are exceptions. Players who rely entirely on Marika’s Hammer or Sacred Relic Sword can kill a lot in those “hard modes”. These two weapons will drop last before the credits. In addition, players can try different builds and weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC to achieve different effects.

It should be noted that the weapons obtained by defeating Maliketh, Radagon, and Elden Beast in Elden Ring are the best weapons in the game. But with the updated equipment provided in DLC, you can also try a lot of new options.

Like you, I am looking forward to Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, which will be officially released tomorrow. See you in the game and wish you a merry game.