The Difficulty Of Elden Ring’s DLC Has Already Been Nerfed, But It Might Not Be Enough

Despite getting amazing reviews from critics, Elden Ring’s DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree started off with a mixed reception from fans. Many complained about how the new areas in The Shadow Realm were simply too difficult. Much of this was because these areas relied on a new power progression system, and most players had simply not figured it out yet.

However, even despite that, there are some glaring issues with the overall difficulty in the new DLC areas. Most notably, some of the bosses simply could use some adjustments. This is especially true for the final boss fight, Promised Consort Radahn. While FromSoftware has already nerfed the difficulty of the DLC a bit, there is still a lot more that can be done to make the experience more enjoyable. Here’s why.

The Current Change Doesn’t Do Much For Endgame Content

Instead of changing damage numbers or enemy health, FromSoftware has altered how the Scadutree fragments empower players in its first difficulty nerf. The power that players receive through this system is very frontloaded now, meaning they will become much stronger at the start when acquiring these. But this will gradually fall off for the later upgrades.

It’s good to see this implemented, and it’s something I myself suggested earlier. But it’s simply not enough on its own. The main issue is that while this will help players progress much more smoothly during the early parts of the DLC, the latter half is relatively the same, even with this change. And so, most people who are stuck in the Black Keep or beyond, don’t benefit from this at all.

It’s clear that FromSoftware will need to take a proper look at the difficulty spikes players are facing and manually address each. I don’t think going a flat-out damage nerf would be a good idea since that has the potential to make some foes too easy. But taking a look at the bosses and encounters players are particularly struggling with can help to make the DLC a much more enjoyable experience.

Some Bosses Can Use Tweaks

Shadow of the Erdtree has some of the hardest bosses in FromSoftware history. It doesn’t help that half the time, you’re locked in a battle against the camera, rather than the boss itself. Fixing some of these problematic elements from certain fights like Divine Beast Dancing Lion can help resolve most of the frustration involved in that encounter. 

Personally, I’d also like to see the enemy AI for the Ghostflame Dragon to be tweaked. When we meet the dragon, it’s fighting against Messmer’s army. However, if you decide to engage and help them, everyone, including the dragon, is locked into a fight with you. That just feels weird, and I’d like to see that get adjusted so that the army waits to fight you until after the dragon is dead.

There are some other bosses like the Golden Hippopotamus that have janky hitboxes that need fixing. Its grab attack felt like something straight from Dark Souls 2. No matter how I tried to out-roll it, I always somehow ended up in its mouth. Commander Gaius has also caused a lot of headaches for players. The hitbox on the charge attack in particular has been described as “disgusting,” and rightly so. 

Promised Consort Radahn Needs Fixing

There’s a reason why Radahn deserves his own section. This boss is beyond frustrating. While his first phase is manageable, for the second one, it felt like FromSoftware completely forgot not everyone runs the game on an RTX 4090. The most frustrating aspect, even if you ignore the insanity of his attacks, is the performance dips. Despite getting a solid 60 frames per second for most of my playthrough, I dipped well below 30 during the phase transition. 

The visual spectacle of the encounter definitely needs to be changed so I can actually see what’s going on. There is simply too much flying around during the second phase to get a good idea of what I’m supposed to dodge. And when a single attack can deal more than 30 to 40 percent of my health bar, it’s no surprise why having visual clarity is a must.

FromSoftware is no stranger to nerfing bosses post-release. So for now, I think they are likely just gathering data and planning out what they want to change. Their most recent change has been to fix a few bugs that inadvertently make the game harder but remove some cheese strategies. So players still stuck on some of these bosses aren’t exactly happy right now, to say the least.