Twitch streamer and YouTuber skum recently completed what might be the most ridiculous Shadow of the Erdtree challenge yet. He was able to beat the DLC after using only dodge abilities, one F-tier spell, and suffering 45 deaths.
"Yesterday, I became the first person in the world to beat the Elden Ring DLC using Mantle of Thorns/Briar Armor only and just rolling into all the bosses," skum wrote July 15 on X. "Horrible spell, would not recommend."
Mantle of Thorns, the wizards among us will know, is a niche Sorcery exclusive to Shadow of the Erdtree — it covers your body with spiked vines for 30 seconds, allowing you to injure enemies by rolling into them. Its effects stack with the base rolling damage you get from wearing the Briar Armor set, which is tied up in iron barbed wire.
The combination of the spell and the armor is one of the goofiest ways to destroy a demigod, as skum demonstrated in his approximately 23-hour challenge run. He entered the arena for Shadow of the Erdtree's first required boss, Messmer, with Endurance at level 80 and a beefy red line of 65 Vigor. These stamina and health stats would allow skum to roll with maximum efficiency and tankiness.
But even with buffs from equipment like the Great Turtle Shell shield, which lets you recover stamina more quickly, skum's constant tumbling into the fast-moving, fire-spewing snake Messmer had an elementary school gymnastics quality to it. His rolls dealt the same amount of damage as flicking Messmer on the head, about 131 per hit, so it ultimately took him nine minutes to beat the boss.
Things weren't looking much better by the end of skum's run. He toughened up his health and damage output with 20 Scadutree Blessings, the maximum amount for the DLC-exclusive scaling. But the final boss was not having it — skum dealt only 105 damage per roll.
"Final thoughts, you know, this spell is definitely ass," skum said upon completing his run. He was able to do it, in part, because of must-have talismans like Golden Braid, which offers crucial holy damage negation for phase two of the final boss. But, really, skum's persistence was the key.
If you're looking for a more efficient path to victory, here's what to do in Shadow of the Erdtree, a full walkthrough for this epic DLC.
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Ashley Bardhan
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Ashley Bardhan is a critic from New York who covers gaming, culture, and other things people like. She previously wrote Inverse’s award-winning Inverse Daily newsletter. Then, as a Kotaku staff writer and Destructoid columnist, she covered horror and women in video games. Her arts writing has appeared in a myriad of other publications, including Pitchfork, Gawker, and Vulture.
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