Elden Ring
You may have realized that Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree is going to destroy you without some serious help from the game’s new currencies, Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ash, which power you and your summons up respectively.
You’re going to want to get as many of these as possible before you take on bosses like Blackgaol Knight or Rellana, and there are some early locations you can find them. I’m going to go through both Scadutree Fragment locations on a map and then Sprit Ashes as well. Purple is Scadutree, Yellow is Spirit Ash. Here are some for you in the starting area:
The map
All of these are accessible relatively early on in the game, but obviously there will be a larger map as you get further with more to find, and believe me, you’ll need them. A couple of these are “shiny pot guys” who will drop the material when you kill them, so if you don’t see it immediately as a glowing purple item, that’s why.
I also included an arrow showing how you get to the zone that’s on the cliff above the starting area. It took me ages to realize this, but it’s a path along the outer cliffside if you look south from the Belurat area, one of the first places you’ll go.
Early on, it will take 1 Scadutree Fragment and 1 Revered Spirit Ash to level up. But it will turn into two, then eventually three to keep going. Even after 45+ hours in, I’m still “only” at levels 13 and 9, respectively. So yes, it’s a long journey.
Again, these upgrades, not your current power level, matter the most when it comes to all combat in Shadow of the Erdtree, whether you’re level 100 or 800. And yes, I promise you do get stronger over time, and you can come back here and start wrecking stuff that was destroying you later on. That includes the infamous Blackgaol Knight in the mausoleum near the start. I see people beating their heads against the wall with him, but he’s not a required boss and I’d advise most people to come back way, way later after powering up. The same is absolutely true for the Walking Torch Thing, which you should go nowhere near for ages. It took me probably 30 hours to kill that first one. There’s just no reason to do it now.
Hopefully this helps get you started on your journey. Looking forward to seeing how you all progress.
Follow me on Twitter, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
