Shadow of the Erdtree DLC File Size

The Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC clocks in at 16.502 GB on PlayStation 5. For reference, the entire base game is a little over 45 GB, so the full game plus DLC is just over 60 GB.

We know that the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is comparable in size to Limgrave (including the Weeping Peninsula), but this file size makes it seem as if the DLC will be larger than 1/3 of the base game. With 10+ bosses and around 100 weapons, we already know there is a lot for players to discover.

When can you Pre-Load Shadow of the Erdtree?

Elden Ring’s DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, will be available to pre-load on PlayStation on June 19. This will give players two days to download all 16.5 GB before the gates to the Realm of Shadow officially open.

It’s worth noting that the download might add content to the base game, as previous updates have extended questlines or changed weapon stats. So, all 16 GB may not be dedicated to content found inside The Shadow of the Erdtree.

When Can You Play Shadow of the Erdtree?

As of right now, Shadow of the Erdtree won’t be a global release, meaning you won’t be able to play it until 12 AM local time. A way to get around this is by using a PlayStation account from Australia or Japan, but that might also require you to have purchased Elden Ring in that region.

If BANDAI NAMCO or FromSoftware announces a global release, we will make sure to update this section with the appropriate time for each region.

Wood Carving Turns Home Inot Pokemon GO Hot Spot

The incident was reported by Reddit user Luckyconroy, who reported the invalid stop on the old man’s behalf. Conroy explained how the man lives near the ocean in an area with a lot of tourists at this time of year, some of which play Pokemon GO.

“There’s a guy who lives a little up the road from me. He’s in his late 80s and retired, so he spends a lot of time making wood carvings, and he sticks them around his house,” Conroy wrote. “Someone semi-recently suggested one of these cravings (a Pelican made of palm wood) to be a Pokestop.”

Despite being on private property, the pelican was approved to be a Pokestop. Of course, without proper context and wide-angle photos, it could have come across as a piece of street art or some kind of art installation.

Conroy explained how people have been showing up at the man’s house, some of which have entered his yard or driveway. “He doesn’t wanna ruin anyone’s fun. He just doesn’t want people standing outside his house late at night and walking in his lawn and driveway,” Luckyconroy wrote.

June is a lighter month for tourism in his area, and Conroy started seeking advice from other users before July/August.

Users in the comments suggested Conroy report the spot from in-game and walk them through the steps. Others suggested posting the story to different subreddits that specialize in taking down unwanted Pokestops. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved soon, and Luckyconroy will report back with good news.

Shadow of the Erdtree Gameplay premiers at Red Bull Event

On June 15, 2024, Red Bull will be hosting a Shadow of the Erdtree event live from Atelier Gardens in Berlin, Germany. The event promises an “explosive livestreamed showcase” of never-before-seen Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay ahead of its official release.

In addition to gameplay footage, the developers will dive into how the DLC was crafted and how George R. R. Martin played a role in shaping Elden Ring’s world. There will also be a deep dive into the lore of the Realm of Shadow for those who want to understand why they’re following in Miquella’s footsteps.

The event will be streamed on the official Red Bull Gaming Twitch channel but will also be co-streamed by the streamers in attendance. The stream will start at 17 CEST on June 15, and the event will kick off at 18 CEST. The show is set to run for about four and a half hours.

• Time (Europe, CEST):
  • Stream start: 17:00 CEST
  • Show start: 18:00 CEST
  • est. show end: 22:30 CEST
• Time (United States, PST):
  • Stream start: 08 AM PST
  • Show start: 09 AM PST
  • show end: 1 PM PST
• Time (United States, EST):
  • Stream start: 11 AM EST
  • Show start: 12 PM EST
  • Show end: 4:30 PM EST

Of course, the most tantalizing part of the event is the exclusive preview of Elden Ring’s first and final DLC. We’ve been given two trailers and a 15-minute, highly edited preview video, but there’s still much more to be discovered. Hopefully, for those craving more info, the Red Bull event will satiate their hunger.

Trainer Needs To Walk Across the US To Power Up Zygarde

This news comes from Reddit user CallMePoro, who posted a screenshot of their 10% Zygarde (dog forme) on the Power Up screen. In order to reach its maximum level, Poro needs 268 Zygarde Candy and 20 XL Zygarde Candy. At first glance, this doesn’t seem too bad.

However, Poro posted a second screenshot showing how far they’d have to walk to earn a single candy. Since Zygarde isn’t a Pokemon you can catch in the wild to earn Candy, the only way to accumulate more is by setting it as your buddy and walking. Poro would need to walk 20 km for every piece of candy.

Doing quick math, that’s 5,360 km total, just to raise Zygarde to 2338 CP. To earn enough candy, Poro would have to walk from New York City to Los Angeles and then part of the way back. Even if Poro walked from Florida to Washington, they’d only walk 4,509 km, leaving almost 1,000 km more to squeeze in elsewhere.

However, some trainers offered advice on how to cut down on the required walking. If Poro had a Puffin active the entire time, they’d only have to walk 2,680 km, a little more than half the distance between Florida and Washington. And every Rare Candy they used would shave 20 km off the journey.

If Poro really wanted to get their Zygarde to max level, we recommend rank tanking in GO Battle League. A player recently reported nabbing over 1,000 Rare Candies from the last season by tanking their rank, which is far more than Zygarde is asking for.

Saying Goodbye until the Shadow of the Erdtree

It’s normal for gamers to want to go into an experience without having seen a smidge of content beforehand. Maybe one or two trailers to sell them on the game, but seeing too much can spoil that feeling of discovery. That’s certainly the case for Elden Ring, as stepping out of the Stranded Graveyard and seeing the Erdtree loom over Limgrave wouldn’t have been as impactful if you watched a ton of preview content beforehand.

We’re two years removed from the launch of Elden Ring, and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is weeks away. Players have been given their two trailers, and hype is at an all-time high. That said, some players are running for the hill after a wave of preview coverage shared more than what they bargained for.

The latest Internet Exodus was started by Reddit user Good-Jellyfish-364, who was quick to jump ship as soon as the previews dropped. Video from Vaati, IronPineapple, and even PlayStation started to circulate, showing off roughly 15 minutes of edited gameplay and hours of lore and speculation.

“Time to leave the internet,” Jellyfish wrote. “Fromsoft decided it was cool to let folks play the DLC early, so now every 3rd post [on the Elden Ring subreddit] is showing off something I wanted to see for myself. WHY???”

And they weren’t alone. The post garnered over 2k upvotes and 300+ comments, most of which were players also saying their goodbyes. The top comment thread is quite literally made up of “goodbye people” over and over.

However, there were a few people claiming the preview videos and gameplay footage didn’t spoil all that much. FromSoftware only allowed a pre-recorded, highly-edited video to be shared, which featured a boss we already saw and a lot more of the first area we also saw.

Regardless, watching the previews comes down to how unspoiled you want to be going into the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. If you want to discover every inch of the DLC from start to finish, we recommend leaving the internet for the next 15 days.

Luxury Apartment, Great Neighborhood, Within Reach Of Pokestops

There are a lot of factors to consider when apartment shopping. What’s the commute to work like? How are the neighbors? Does the monthly expense fit your budget? And if you’re a Pokemon GO player, are there any Pokestops you can spin from inside your home?

For Reddit user moreadhiel, it seemed the stars had aligned. Not only was the rent the lowest they’d seen for the number of square feet in years, but it was also adjacent to three Pokestops and a Pokemon GO Gym. So, not only could OP avoid going outside for yardwork (a perk they mentioned in the comments of the post), but they also wouldn’t need to leave to play Pokemon GO.

The comments were flooded with affirmations, urging the user to move in as soon as possible. “Doesn’t matter how terrible an apartment is as long as it has stops and gyms nearby,” one user wrote. “If you can reach that gym from your couch, yes,” another chimed in.

Moreadhiel confirmed they could reach the gym from their bed.

Not everyone was so gung-ho about the Pokemon GO-based decision. While moreadhiel tried to make it clear they were only joking about Pokemon GO being a determining factor, some took the opportunity to offer a word of caution.

“I actually know someone that made this exact decision based on this, and he’s miserable, stuck paying exorbitantly high prices in downtown Denver, but at least he can hit 5 stops and 3 gyms,” one user claimed. Moreadhiel let the user know in a reply that they were “mostly joking.”

Shadow Realm Blessing & Scadutree Fragments Explained

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree introduces a new mechanic called Shadow Realm Blessing. It’s FromSoftware’s way to ensure that over-leveled characters can’t crash through the DLC as if Messmer the Impaler were nothing more than a wet napkin.

When you enter the Realm of Shadow via Miquella’s decaying hand, you will start with zero stacks of the Shadow Realm Blessing buff. Players will need to hunt down Scadutree Fragments, similar to Golden Seeds, and use them at Sites of Grace to accumulate the buff. The stacks are permanent, so don’t worry about dying and having to find more fragments.

With each stack of the Shadow Realm Blessing, players will take less damage from enemies while dealing more damage themselves. Think of each stack of the blessing as a traditional level-up. Your defense and attack stats increase, but only in the Realm of Shadow. The Shadow Realm Blessing has no effect in the Lands Between.

Another aspect of Scadutree Fragments that is similar to Golden Seeds is that each level will require more Scadutree Fragments. So, while your first buff may have only needed one fragment, your fifth might require four or more.

As of right now, we only know what we do about Shadow Realm Blessings and Scadutree Fragments because of hands-on previews from June 4. That said, when the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC drops on June 21, we will make sure to update this piece with a map showing you where to find each Scadutree Fragment.

So many weapons… So much movement

Have you ever seen those videos of people modding Elden Ring to play like a Dragon Ball Z character? The character models fly and flip and attack with furious speeds, but it just doesn’t look quite right in the Lands Between.

Sure, FromSoftware has given players the ability to summon meteors from the sky or vanish before reporting a short distance, but player movement has always felt restricted. There’s a reason why agility isn’t a stat, and that’s reflected in Elden Ring’s combat. You strafe. You roll. You wind up an attack. And you retreat.

But that is about to change when players enter the Realm of Shadow. Eric Whelan, the Content Communications Manager at PlayStation, partook in a hands-on preview of the DLC and recently reported on what he was allowed to see. And in a few cases, we were allowed to see as well.

Whelan touched on new enemies, a couple of locations, two boss fights, and the overall feel of the Realm of Shadow. But the most interesting tidbit was when he dived into the new weaponry.

“Shadow of the Erdtree will introduce around one hundred new weapons for players to discover,” Whelan wrote. “Players can also discover eight brand-new weapon types. The details on many of these types were being kept under wraps for now, but I was given access to one: Martial Arts.”

This was first revealed during the gameplay trailer (at around 1:55) and was further confirmed via a video inside the PlayStation blog post where Whelan’s character dashes toward a baby Deathbird and hits it with a wild combo. It honestly looks like gameplay from a different game, as there’s nothing quite like this in Elden Ring’s base game.

“This new category allowed me to go into combat bare-handed, swinging heavy punches and slamming kicks into my opponents. Just like other weapon types, Martial Arts can be assigned a Skill to suit your playstyle, and mine saw me taking a leaf from some of the bosses’ books by leaping through the air and landing a flurry of kicks on my enemies,” Whelan detailed.

What’s more exciting is that “Martial Arts” is a weapon category, which means we’ve only seen one of the various forms this new combat style can take. Of course, we likely won’t see more of it until the DLC is here. That said, the wait is nearly over.

Beat Mohg!

Yeah, you should have seen this one coming. See that guy in the image above. That’d Mohg, the Lord of Blood. And that gross egg-like thing behind him is the entrance to the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

You need to beat Mohg before you can access the DLC, and he’s not an easy boss fight. Luckily, we have a few guides that can help, including where to find Mohg and how to beat Mohg.

Reach Level 150+

There are going to be eight new weapon types in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, and you don’t want to be a few levels short of being able to test out any new hardware you come across. 150 is a good balance, allowing players to use a Larval Tear to respect into any build without having to sacrifice Vigor.

We do have a couple of guides that can help. The first is an explainer of the best level to be at for the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC and why it shouldn’t affect the game’s difficulty too much. And the second is a Rune Farming guide, so you can reach the desired level in a snap.

Collect All Larval Tears

Speaking of respecing, you are going to need Larval Tears to actually do that. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding a new weapon and going to Renalla, only to realize you don’t have a spare Larval Tear on hand.

We’ve got you covered as we’ve prepared a guide showing you the location of every Larval Tear in Elden Ring.

Collect Every Smithing Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing

When you eventually find a weapon you love and want to start using it against some DLC bosses, you’re going to need Smithing Stones or Somber Stones to upgrade it. Of course, you can just run around caves and collect them, but that’s a lot of time wasted that could be spent exploring the Realm of Shadow.

This is where Smithing Stone Bell Bearings come in. There are five Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearings and four Smithing Stone Miner’s Bell Bearings. Collecting them all will allow you to buy an infinite number of Smithing Stones or Somber Stones. Again, we’ve got guides for both, which are linked above.

Collect Every Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone

Some weapons reach their highest scaling potential when they reach the max level. For Somber weapons, this is +10. For normal weapons, it’s +25. But you can’t reach these levels without either a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone or an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.

The issue is that there’s a finite number of both per playthrough, and some can be missed if you progress too far in the main story without completing a few sidequests. We’ve got guides showing you the location of every Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone and Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone in Elden Ring.

Complete Side Quests

There are a ton of side quests in Elden Ring, most of which end in despair, but some leave the player wanting a bit more. While Miyazaki has explicitly stated that The Lands Between and the Realm of Shadow are two separate places, we think there are a few NPCs that could end up appearing in the DLC.

• Sorceror Thops: He dies shortly after making it to Raya Lucaria Academy
• Rogier: He disappears after you become Ranni’s vassal
• Millicent: Her lengthy quest ends in her death before fighting Malenia, but she does have close ties to Miquella
• Jar Bairn: I don’t know why, but I’d like to see him again in the Realm of Shadow

There is a chance we don’t see any familiar NPCs in the Realm of Shadow, as the trailers have already shown several new NPCs that will likely have their own convoluted questlines.

That’s everything you need to take on the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC in Elden Ring. Sure, you can collect every item in the game and max out your flasks, but to really enjoy the DLC, you need to be ready to adapt to whatever items you find. Following the list above will not only make your life easier when testing out new weapons, but it will also cut out a ton of backtracking that would otherwise steal you away from the Realm of Shadow.

Drake Talisman: Is It A Dragon or a Map?

The debate began on June 1, 2024, after Reddit user chrysamere shared a theory that the Drake Talismans, the ones that offer protection from various elements, are decorated with a map of the pre-Erdtree map. They even showed a picture of the talisman and drew comparisons to the post-Pangea Lands Between.

Chrysamere even explained how each area could have formed into what it is today after the Erdtree grew. However, it does take a bit of imagination to see the picture of the history they tried to paint.

However, this Drake Map Theory was quickly refuted by user erickr199, who made a post of their own breaking down why the symbol on the Talisman is actually a dragon. The post showed all of the talismans side by side, including the Dragoncrest Talisman, which is clearly adorned with a dragon.

The item description also claims that “The shape of the dragon has become symbolic of all manner of protections,” further proving that the image is a dragon. When compared to the Dragoncrest talisman, it’s easy to see that the colorful blobs are slightly marred silhouettes of the same dragon.

Of course, this debate has made its way outside of these two posts, taking over the Elden Ring subreddit. And thanks to the timing of this glorious debacle, it only made sense that the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake would also be involved. There are countless memes of Drake’s face or album artwork being plastered on the Talisman. Several other users have also “found maps” in other Talisman’s and bosses, poking fun at the original post.

That said, the dragon on the Drake Talisman’s does look a bit odd. And since we haven’t seen the map for the Realm of Shadow coming to Elden Ring once the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC drops, we could have been looking at the new map all along.

Pokemon GO Battle League Rank Tanking Rewards

Rank tanking isn’t a new concept in Pokemon GO. Players online have often touted tanking as the most lucrative strategy for GO Battle League, allowing players to earn far more rewards without needing the strongest Pokemon team.

But for most of these posts, players have had to take their word for face value without seeing the rewards they could earn. That was until Jachael123_ tracked and posted their loot from tanking during GO Battle League Season 18 to Reddit, showing just how lucrative tanking actually is.

Over the course of 2,550 battles, Jachael only won 1,245 (less than 50%). They earned 1,078 Rare Candy, 298 Pokemon encounters (13 Legendary), and a staggering 2,950,811 stardust. Of the hundreds of Pokemon encounters, Jachael found two Shiny Lickitung, one Shiny Phantump, two Shiny Vullaby, and a Shiny Registeel.

Jachael claims they battled for around 38 minutes per day to get through five sets of battles.

So, what is tanking in GO Battle League? Tanking is strategically winning and losing battles to maximize the rewards you get in a season of GBL. The higher rank you are, the worse your rewards tend to be, so players will reach a certain rank before losing repeatedly to return to a lower, more lucrative rank.

If you want a guide on how to tank in GO Battle League, Jachael points players to a comment from fellow tanker Horror_Ad_2920 that goes through each step. It does take a few days to set up, but this does seem to be the easiest way to earn the most GBL rewards until Niantic “fixes” the rewards system.

Araquanid Hard Counters 7-Star Swamper Raids

This strategy comes from Reddit user Parallaxal, who posted their Araquanid build for the PokemonScarletViolet subreddit. It requires two moves, a Leppa Berry, a hidden ability, and a level 100 Araquanid. According to Parallaxal, EVs and IVs don’t matter.

Pokemon	Level	Moves	Item	Ability
Araquanid	100	Entrainment Wide Guard	Leppa Berry	Water Absorb

Araquanid should start the raid by using Entrainment on its teammates to change their ability to Water Absorb. This will render them immune to Water-type attacks, or in this case, half of Swampert’s moveset. You will need to use an Ability Patch to change Araquanid’s ability to Water Absorb, but these are easily obtained via 5-Star and up raids.

Next, the Araquanid needs to spam Wide Guard. This is like Protect but only activates when a Pokemon uses a multi-target move. Luckily, the only moves Swampert has left after Hydro Pump and Liquidation are Earthquake and Sludge Wave. Both of these moves are multi-target attacks, which means they will be blocked.

So, any moves not blocked by Wide Guard will heal your team thanks to Water Absorb, and any non-Water-type moves will be blocked.

Parallaxal did point out that some abilities can’t be overridden by Entrainment. These abilities are Trace, Forecast, Flower Gift, Zen Mode, Illusion, Imposter, Power of Alchemy, Receiver, Disguise, Power Construct, Ice Face, Hunger Switch, Gulp Missile, Neutralizing Gas, Zero to Hero, and Commander.

Regardless, a few trainers reported back in the comments of the post, claiming to have succeeded in taking down the Swamper raid.