When I published the review of Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree, I haven’t seen everything the expansion had to offer. I was 40 hours in and I’m entering the late game phase of the DLC, so my thoughts on it has more or less solidified.
A few weeks later, I finally completed the story, and beaten that final boss, and let me tell you something not surprising: the final stretch of this DLC amps up the punishment for mistakes, making it quite a frustrating experience for most players but the dedicated hardcore.
And that’s fine.
(Spoilers for Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree follows)

One Last Climb
Take Enir-Ilim, the final dungeon of the expansion. It’s a relatively straightforward level, with only specific detour with some cliff-hugging platforming. But otherwise, it’s just a normal tower climb. But what really made it difficult for me was this level’s version of knights- the Divine Beast Warrior. Knights are the usual trick Elden throws at players for a little difficulty spike. Normal-looking enemies outside of their large stature, but have boss-like movesets. Divine Beast Warriors are similar to the Horned Beast Warriors but even more devilish. They still have high poise- a hit of a colossal sword at full Scadutree Blessing level won’t make them flinch. So you cannot brute-force the fight as they have the higher damage output. Plus, the Divine Beast Warrior also has new moves akin to the Divine Beast Dancing Lion- they can control the weather.
Even more devilish, should you nope out of the first Divine Beast Warrior fight and run away recklessly, you’ll be hit by another enemy at the top of the flight of stairs which you’ll know immediately as sigils start lighting up on your footsteps. These are hard-hitting holy magic that can kill you in a few shots. Which is made all the more worse when the spellcaster is a glass cannon, very easy to kill but they’ll kill you first if you’re not careful.
The encounters with Divine Beast Warriors are only a handful, but they are downright frustrating if you do not master the fundamentals of FromSoftware’s brand of soulslike. If you’re not memorising enemy moves and nail each dodge timing to perfection, you’ll be dead in no time. And if you’re like me, who don’t really agree with this fundamental value FromSoft’s soulslikes are based on, you’re going to be screwed if you insist in playing your way.
It’s not that I don’t want these encounters to be tough, they should. But the way it is designed, by closing off options which most players who don’t min-max their builds will settle for, leaves a bit of a bad taste. It’s punishing the centrists for not commiting to a broken cheese build.
For some folks, that’s good news. For me, I hate it.
And let me make this clear- it’s a me thing. I personally don’t like the methodical combat where each animation frame is important and its timing windows are relatively slower. I got into soulsilkes from more fast-paced, action-oriented takes like Nioh and Wo Long. I have no problems with Armored Core VI’s tough bosses because that game’s also fast-paced, I know how to dodge and parry in faster games, but slower ones like Elden Ring? I’m no good. This is like a latte drinker trying to sip a shot of espresso for the first time after getting into coffee drinking, despite trying espresso first and hating it.
But I get it. Only the most dedicated, hardcore players who have been playing FromSoft soulslikes will have made it this far, and what better thing to do so by checking if they understood the fundamentals.
And it’s all done on purpose, because in the final boss, you need those fundamentals.
No Festival, Only Suffering
The final boss, Promised Consort Radahn, is a tremendous skill check of a boss fight. This isn’t Radahn from the Radahn Festival who was weak and his mind not in place. This is peak Radahn, revived in Mohg’s body, as revived by “Kind” Miquella. This is Radahn that went to war and toe-to-toe with Malenia, Hand Of Miquella, also the toughest boss fight in Elden Ring. A superboss, so to speak. And Consort Radahn isn’t messing around. He has combos for days, many moves to mix up his attacks, and most importantly, the most reliable way to deal with his onslaught is to learn the moves and dodge accordingly.
I am not an Elden Ring pro, or a big fan of soulslikes, so unsurprisingly I got caught lacking. And in many ways, Consort Radahn takes cues from the first fight against Godfrey, The First Elden Lord (in spirit form) where he just won’t stop attacking. Over and over. And of course he doesn’t flinch. And if you haven’t learned that dodging into the enemy can be as useful by now, well, you should when Godfrey was pummelling you with that axe. The Divine Beast Warrior being that punishing was to prepare players for the true punishment.

The second phase, where Promised Consort Radahn becomes Radahn, Consort of Miquella, ups the level of bullshittery even further. Now, all of Radahn’s attacks have extra holy projectiles. The screen flashes more regularly to throw you off. He sends projections of himself to make you think he’s comboing you until the last hit where it’s an actual big hit. And the big AOE attack, the Light Of Miquella, will surely catch a player off guard when they should be constantly running away to try and escape the holy nuke’s blast radius.
It’s telling that the stairway leading to Radahn’s arena is filled with bloodstains, not from people losing to the boss, but people just giving up and jump off the ledge. It is hard. Properly so.
But it’s also hard in the way that it limits your options. If you don’t do a specific broken build, and you can’t perfectly dodge each of those attacks, you’re screwed. I have a scythe on one hand and an unupgraded medium shield on the other with Faith-based buffs for a build. I figured out his weakness (of course he’s weak to Scarlet Rot) and started crafting items, doing all the farming work that involves with it.
And yet, that is clearly not the way to go for Consort Radahn. I could pass all the other bosses by working with the framework of this unoptimised build which was fun. But for Radahn, I had to look up tank builds and respec accordingly. I’m not going to commit more hours learning to dodge when the end is right there.
I did beat Radahn, with a stone greatshield on one hand and a pointy stick (that procs bleed) on the other. The build makes it that I can withstand Radahn’s wombo-combos by just holding the shield (and letting go at the right time to regain stamina). It’s not as brain-dead as it seems, it took me a couple of tries before a god and a lord is slain.

I Hate It, But I Get It, It’s All Good
I think it’s perfectly fine to call out the ridiculous difficulty spike Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree has at its tail end. If you read this far, I too am calling bullshit on this boss fight.
But then again, given that this is basically the last Elden Ring content drop until who knows when FromSoft is releasing another soulslike game, it’s a fitting send off. FromSoft has defined this subgenre of action-RPGs, knowingly or not, where difficulty is part of the experience to most of its hardcore fans. Plenty of guides made by experts of the genre have called Consort Radahn the toughest FromSoft boss yet. This DLC capping off with one the most ridiculous fight imaginable makes sense for the developer’s reputation in some ways.
I wish the final boss was fun though. The penultimate fight, where you face off against the followers of Miquella that were initially your allies, was pretty hype, and sad, because I understand the stakes and have grown attachment to these characters. The final boss reveal came out of nowhere for me honestly, and I say this despite learning Tricky Miq’s devious plans during the climb at Shadow Keep.
Personally, I think the skirmish against the new characters is where the expansion should end. But that fight with Radahn is for the freaks (endearing) who crave to take on what seems like an insurmountable challenge.
And that includes me, apparently. Begrudgingly so. I’ll get Malenia one day.