"Elden Ring: Shadow of the Eldtree" has a new leveling system for taking on the seriously strong bosses in the DLC: Scadutree Fragments (read "shadow tree fragments," apparently). The only drawback is that you will have to face some tough enemies on your journey to get these new fragments.

Unless you are the player who posted the map on Reddit: "You can get the Scadutree Blessing to level 12 without defeating a single boss."

If you follow the exact designated route, you will not have to pass through the fog gate even once, and you can safely raise the level of the Scadutree Blessing According to another player, it is even possible to "reach 14 or 17 before the Remembrance Boss." In other words, if you are careful enough, you could become ridiculously strong without a scratch.

Still, if you're willing to scrap, defeating Golden Hippo and Commander Gaius will get you all the scud tree pieces in the game, except for the one in Enil Yirim.

This may be a useful strategy for those who want to get through the DLC quickly, but dodging the bosses may cause you to miss parts of the story. However, as one player noted, "After defeating Relanna, I broke the seal fairly quickly before finding Thollier. All I missed was the lore and the spells."

From Software has repeatedly emphasized how important the Scud Tree shards are, and in response to player protests that the DLC was too difficult, publisher Namco Bandai simply reminded everyone, "This is a suggestion to level up the Scud Tree blessings." This is a proposal to level up the blessings of the Scud Tree. When facing the bosses of Shadow of the Eldest Tree, this is almost the only thing that will protect you.

From Software buffed the Scud Tree debris in a recent patch. This means that you will get a bigger boost in the first 10 levels, after which progression will feel more gradual. In other words, exploring the DLC to find all possible "scud tree shards" will definitely pay off, at least for a while.