How To Get Actual Damage Mitigation In ‘Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree’

Let me guess. You log into Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and you proceed to get 2-3 shot by essentially every enemy in the game, including bosses. Especially bosses. This does not get much better as time goes on, and it’s getting exhausting. I’ve been there. Well, let me introduce you to what turned my whole game around, the magic of “damage mitigation.”

I was taught some very valuable lessons about this from YouTuber Scott Jund, and I’ve taken a lot of his advice that has really changed the game for me. I highly suggest you watch his whole video here, but I’ll go through the major points, and also link to guides to show how to get the items I’m talking about.

Scadutree Blessing – I do not know how much I have to shout this from the rooftops but this is the single most important thing in the DLC to boost your attack but especially your defense. You will be amazed how much a fight can change coming back even 2-3 more Scadutree levels later. Please, just go out of your way to find these things. Here’s a guide for all of them

Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman – This is the talisman that reduces physical damage more than any other, and it essentially should be on at all times given that so much of enemy damage is physical, including most bosses. You can find the Talisman in the base game here:

Matching Elemental Talisman – For boss fights in particular, you want to find out what damage type they do besides physical, and make sure you have the max level “reduce damage by the utmost” Talisman to match it. You can look up where all the elemental ones are, though one hugely important one is the new Holy Braid to take on (the final boss) at the end by reducing Holy damage. You can find that below. Besides that, if you’re struggling with a boss, look up what type of damage they do and plan accordingly. Trust me, you want this over things like the “here’s some more life” Talisman, and do not use “do more damage but reduce defense” Talismans in this DLC especially.

Opaline Hardtear Physick – This is an overall damage reduction Physick that also essentially gives you one “free hit” which is useful for the bosses that charge at you immediately, which is practically all of them. You find that here:

Second Physick – Jund recommends the faith-boosting Faith-Knot Crystal Tear, which at 15 base faith, is enough to get you to cast the spell Golden Vow for further damage reduction. This is probably the best option though I am bad at fumbling between weapon switching and spells and finding time to cast this during fights, so I am using the Crimson Bubble Tear which gives you a free heal when you’re extremely low health.

Boiled Crab – This is a food you eat that gives you 20% damage reduction and you can just put it in your quick access bar. You can buy 99 for very cheap at any given time. You get access to this by doing a questline in the base game you can find here:

These are the main things. Obviously after this, I mean, a good armor set is required, unless you’re doing some sort of crazy naked run. I really, really promise this is going to help you, and I thank Jund for helping me, just trying to pay it forward.

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