Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Guide – Top 5 Items To Get ASAP In The Realm Of Shadow – The weapons and spells you take into every encounter is only half the fight, as anyone who has ever played a FromSoftware game knows.
It’s the items you carry with you, the ones on your quick-menu, the ones you’re constantly purchasing from merchants, that make up the other half of your character’s build.
Elden Ring has a number of items you can equip with your build that can make or break a character or how you play, so it’s no surprise that Shadow Of The Erdtree, the first and only expansion for the game is littered with items you need to survive in the Realm Of Shadow.
This guide will highlight the top 5 new items to get ASAP in the Realm Of Shadow when you’re kicking off your adventure.
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Guide – Top 5 New Items To Get ASAP In The Land Of Shadow
1. Scadutree Fragments And Revered Spirit Ashes
Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes are the two new power-scaling items that will make your time in the Realm of Shadow much easier than it otherwise would be.
Both are only going to be found in the Realm of Shadow and their effects do not impact your stats outside of the Realm of Shadow, so they are strictly a DLC-only item.
You’ll find a Scadutree Fragment at each one of Miquella’s Crosses you find, as well as rewards for bosses or the common shadow enemies that you’ll see pretty much everywhere in the Realm of Shadow, but specifically the ones with the big pots on their heads.
Revered Spirit Ashes will always be found in front of the same style of statue, so these are less common but just like Scadutree Fragments, they are scattered across the Realm of Shadow.
Both items are must-grabs for those wanting to have an easier time surviving in the Realm of Shadow. Make sure to grab as many as you can along your journey. Or of course don’t for an every greater challenge.
2. Two-Headed Turtle Talisman
This is arguably going to become the best talisman to have equipped no matter your build across the DLC and base game. A better version of the already popular Green Turtle Talisman, this new talisman recharges your stamina bar even faster.
It’s a huge part of how your own movement capabilities are expanded with the new weapons and special attacks on offer, so you’ll want to grab it as soon as you can.
The simple directions are:
- Begin from the Ellac River Cave site of grace and head north along the base of the river
- Keep moving past an Ulcerated Tree Spirit you can either fight or run from
- You’ll find the talisman behind a tall waterfall in the northeast corner of the river
If you want a more detailed explanation as to how you get to the Ellac River Cave site of grace, check out our other guide here.
3. Flamedrake Talisman +3
If the trailers showcasing Messmer and his fire-y attacks haven’t clued it in for you, let us tell you now that there are a lot of fire-wielding enemies you’ll have to take care of.
Something not shown in the trailers is that you’ll also have a fair number of dragons to fight. So you’re going to want to have some protection against fire damage. There’s already two levels of Flamedrake Talismans to acquire in the base game, Shadow Of The Erdtree gives us a third that’ll protect you against fire “by the utmost.”
Here’s how to find it:
- Begin from the Moorth Highway, South site of grace and enter Fort Reprimand.
- Defeat the Omenkiller stalking the entrance, and head right towards an entry way that leads down a set of stairs.
- You’ll see a barricade on your left at the bottom of the stairs. Continue straight ahead and then quickly turn left to use the room beside the barricade to get around it, turning left again back into the barricaded hall.
- Once on the other side of the barricade you’ll have three soldiers to fight and kill. Defeat them and head beyond the set of stairs where you can jump onto a pile of cages that’ve been turned over.
- Jump on and over the next set of cages to clear that barricade, and on the other side you’ll find a chest with the Flamedrake Talisman +3
3. Hefty Pots + Greater Potentate’s Cookbook 1/2
Hefty Pots are a new designation of throwable pot that can be imbued with different elemental attacks for different scenarios. They’re just as useful as the regular sized throwing pots for all the regular situations, but they are key in taking down the Furnace Golems.
Those are the giant wicker men wandering around the Realm Of Shadow that take next-to-no damage and require a careful battle of endurance to defeat. You can learn more on how the pots are useful in our guide on taking down Furnace Golems here.
But to be able to have any of the key pots you need to toss at these monstrosity’s of wood, metal and fire, you’ll need to have acquired a hefty pot or two and the cookbooks needed for the knowledge to craft a Hefty Furnace Pot and a Hefty Fire Pot.
For Hefty Pots, the base ingredient you need for any hefty pot throwable, the answer is both good and bad, in that they can be found across the Realm of Shadow.
So plenty of places, but you’ll need to keep an eye out. Two pots that can be found in the opening Gravesite Plain area are one in the Scorched Ruins next to two shadow enemies with baskets on their backs of things to throw at you, and another in the Belurat Gaol.
At least with the cookbooks you only need to find them the one time. You can find the Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [1] which unlocks the Hefty Fire Pot right next to the Hefty Pot in the Scorched Ruins.
The Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [2] which unlocks the Hefty Furnace Pot can be found at the Run-Down Traveler’s Rest cabin, south east from the Greatbridge, North site of grace in the Gravesite Plains.
If you don’t have that site of grace, simply travel north east from the Three-Road Cross site of grace, and you’ll find it along the road.
5. All 5 Map Fragments
Okay, so this one is obvious but that’s why it’s last. Unlocking the entire map is key to really digging in and finding everything there is to find in the Realm of Shadow.
Which means getting the map fragments is something that’s recommended done sooner than later, though of course you’re welcome to run around without knowing one grey patch from the next among a sea of gold dots if you like.(Author’s Note: Now that I say it, that’s kind of an interesting way to play, in a sicko sort of way.)
Here’s where to grab each of the map fragments:
- The Gravesite Plain map fragment can be found just south of the Scorched Ruins
- The Scadu Altus map fragment can be found just by following the road north from the Highland Cross site of grace
- The Southern Shore map fragment can be found deep in the south of the Cerulean Coast, check out our guide on how to reach the coast.
- The Rauh Ruins map fragment can only be found after entering the Scadu Altus region.
- Head northeast from the Moorth Ruins site of grace to a small pond and follow the tunnel through to a grouping of poison swamps.
- Continue northwest all the way past the various groupings of enemies until you reach the Rauh Base and the Ancient Ruins Base site of grace.
- Head southwest from there to find the stele just before the Temple Tower Ruins.
- The Abyssal Woods map fragment can be found just outside the Church Ruins site of grace at the Abandoned Church. Check out our guide here on how to get to the Abyssal Woods area.