Fans are breezing through Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree with a very powerful shield, but FromSoftware has already made it less powerful.
Two years after Elden Ring came out in 2022, FromSoftware finally launched its expansion Shadow Of The Erdtree. It has been critically acclaimed, but along with a huge map and new weapon types came an even harder difficulty level.
It was so tough on fans that the expansion got review bombed on Steam, which forced FromSoftware to make the game slightly easier by tweaking the Blessing enchantments.
Fans have now found that Thrusting Shields are game-breakingly good, with one claiming it’s ‘the strongest weapons in the entire game. But another new patch has already made it less powerful.
‘New Thrusting Shields are the strongest weapons in the entire game and it’s not even close. NG+ DLC [New Game+ and downloadable content] was absolutely obliterated,’ DamnHare said on the Elden Ring subreddit.
The reason Thrusting Shields are so overpowered is because they give fans the chance to defend and attack at the same time, with the Shield Strike skill.
Fans only take a tiny bit of damage when using the shield, while being able to use it to attack without putting themselves in a vulnerable position, but there’s more.
‘Thrusting Shields can be enchanted with any affinity/damage type that makes them extremely versatile. And it’s just so much fun to slap the grace out of every single boss!’ DamnHare added.
You can see just how powerful the Thrusting Shield is below, but beware of boss spoilers.
New Thrusting shields are the strongest weapons in the entire game and it’s not even close. NG+ DLC was absolutely obliterated. Thrusting shields can be enchanted with any affinity/damage type that makes them extremely versatile. And it’s just so much fun to slap the grace out of every single boss!
byu/DamnHare inEldenring
Many others agree, saying they too have used the Thrusting Shield to beat the game’s unforgiving bosses.
‘Yep, it’s how I beat the final boss. Being able to guard counter to break poise while not worrying about timing and only taking chip damage is insane. […] They’re absolutely busted,’ said DrStrangelove899.
Comment
byu/DamnHare from discussion
inEldenring
FromSoftware also thinks the Thrusting Shields are too strong, as the developer has now made it less powerful in its latest patch.
The patch covers bug fixes and balance adjustments, and one of the changes is:
‘Fixed a bug where successfully guarding while attacking using the Thrusting Shield weapon type would consume less stamina than intended.’
In one week FromSoftware has shown how difficult it is to get the balance of a game right, as it catered to fan complaints about Shadow Of The Erdtree being too difficult and then fixed a bug that made it too easy.
Then again, there are fans out there that are beating the game using saxophones and dance mats, so at the end of the day all you really need is practise.
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