Summary

  • An Elden Ring player managed to beat Shadow of the Erdtree without collecting a single map fragment.
  • Their achievement flabbergasted their friend, as well as many other Elden Ring fans on social media.
  • The player reportedly rushed through the DLC due to time constraints.

One Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree player has recently managed to beat the DLC without collecting a single map fragment. Their unusual feat later made the rounds on social media after being shared by their friend, who was left flabbergasted by their Shadow of the Erdtree playing habits.

As was the case with the base game, its expansion includes multiple map fragments that allow players to chart out its map in increments. Most of these fragments aren't exactly hidden by Elden Ring's standards, and are instead among the first things that players will come across when they reach a new region in Shadow of the Erdtree's Land of Shadow.

Elden Ring DLC Map fragments guide
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - All Map Locations

There are five map fragments for you to find in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. Here's how you can get all of them.

Elden Ring Player Blitzes Through DLC Without Collecting a Single Map Fragment

Many fans would hence consider ignoring map fragments to be more difficult than collecting them. But that is precisely what one player recently did, having managed to rampage through most of the major DLC regions without revealing a single portion of the giant Shadow of the Erdtree map. Their friend, Reddit user Tokennn, was later left befuddled by the state of their map after asking about their DLC progress.

Elaborating on this bizarre playing style, Tokennn explained that their friend doesn't have a lot of time for gaming and was only able to play Shadow of the Erdtree roughly one hour per day. Given those limitations, they had decided to simply rush through its story as fast as humanly possible. They hence weren't exactly actively ignoring map fragments; they just weren't paying attention to them. Tokennn recalled how their friend employed a similar strategy in the base game, blitzing through Elden Ring without seeing some of its most memorable secret bosses, such as Malenia.

This time around, the time-constrained player managed to reach Enir-Ilim, the final DLC location, without seeing the Hinterlands or exploring the depths of the Stone Coffin Fissure, both of which offer some interesting insights into Elden Ring lore. Like many other fans, the player had then hit a wall in the form of the final Shadow of the Erdtree boss. Following over 30 unsuccessful attempts, they had decided to look up the easiest way to deal with the excruciating fight, which is how they ended up triumphing with a combination of the Fingerprint Stone Shield and a spear, Tokennn explained.

Generally speaking, spear-poking the final boss to death may not be the most engaging way to deal with that Shadow of the Erdtree fight. Nevertheless, many Elden Ring fans were impressed by this overall story, not least because rushing through one of the most difficult DLCs FromSoftware ever made is far from an easy feat.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Tag Page Cover Art
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
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Released
June 21, 2024
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

Shadow of the Erdtree is the first and only DLC expansion for FromSoftware's groundbreaking Elden Ring. It takes players to a whole new region, the Land of Shadow, where a new story awaits the Tarnished.

ESRB
M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
Base Game
Elden Ring
Developer(s)
FromSoftware
Multiplayer
Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer