Elden Ring launched in early 2022 and spent most of that year dominating the conversation around game design, difficulty, and open-world construction. The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC arrived in mid-2024 and functioned less as an add-on and more as a second game – a new region comparable in scope to many standalone titles, with new bosses, mechanics, weapons, and a difficulty tuning that reminded the community what FromSoftware does when it wants to challenge experienced players.
Whether you’re approaching The Lands Between for the first time or returning after Shadow of the Erdtree, the game’s relationship between equipment and progression is worth understanding before you get too deep in. The gap between a character with the right items and one without them is far larger than it might seem from the outside.
Why Equipment Decisions Matter More Than Many Players Expect
Elden Ring is frequently discussed as a skill-based game where player execution is the primary variable. That’s true at the highest level of play. For most players, though, the more common progression blocker isn’t poor execution – it’s being under-equipped for the content they’re attempting. Wrong damage type against a specific boss’s resistances, inadequate poise to trade effectively, or a weapon that’s several upgrade tiers below where it should be at a given stage of the game can make encounters feel impossible that are actually quite manageable with the right loadout.
FromSoftware’s design philosophy rewards experimentation, but experimentation requires having options. A player with a full selection of upgrade materials and a variety of weapon categories can test approaches and pivot when something isn’t working. A player who found one weapon early and invested everything into upgrading it has a much narrower range of solutions available when they hit a wall.
The Items Players Most Often Target
Certain categories of items generate consistent demand because they represent genuine bottlenecks in normal progression:
Upgrade materials. Somber Smithing Stones and Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones are required to push unique weapons to their maximum levels. Running short of these mid-build is one of the most common frustrations in the game, and farming them through normal routes takes time.
Specific boss-drop weapons. Many of the weapons that define popular build archetypes only drop from specific bosses, often at low rates. When a player decides they want to build around a particular weapon type, waiting for the drop to come through naturally can take many attempts.
Runes. The game’s primary currency for levelling and merchant purchases. Having a high rune count allows faster character development, particularly useful in the early stages of a new build or when a player wants to change their stat investment.
For players who want to buy Elden Ring items rather than farm for them, Eldorado offers a player-to-player marketplace specifically for Elden Ring gear, runes, and upgrade materials. It’s a practical option when you have a clear build in mind and don’t want the acquisition process to stand between you and the actual gameplay.
Cross-Platform Play and Multiplayer Details
One of the more frequently asked questions about Elden Ring is how cross-platform multiplayer works. The answer involves more nuance than a simple yes or no. For a detailed breakdown of what’s supported and what isn’t, the Is Elden Ring Cross Platform resource covers the specifics clearly. The short version: cross-play exists in limited form and the compatibility depends on platform combinations in ways that directly affect co-op and PvP availability.
If you’re planning to play co-op with friends on different platforms, or if PvP content is a significant part of why you’re playing, understanding how the multiplayer systems actually work before investing time in a build is worth doing upfront.
What Shadow of the Erdtree Actually Changed
The DLC introduced a separate progression system for its expansion areas – Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes that provide stat multipliers independent of your base character level. This was intentional: even fully levelled characters feel underpowered when they first enter the Shadow Realm. The design forces players to engage with the new content’s progression systems rather than simply overpowering everything with a maxed base game build.
Several weapons introduced in the DLC have become central to the current meta, particularly around the new weapon categories and stance mechanics that FromSoftware added specifically for the expansion. If you’re looking at Elden Ring builds in 2026, understanding the Shadow of the Erdtree weapon pool is relevant even if you’re building on base game content, since community-developed builds frequently incorporate DLC pieces.
Building With Intention
The most consistent mistake players make in Elden Ring is building reactively rather than planning ahead. Picking up whatever drops and upgrading the highest-damage thing available is a pattern that leads to character builds without clear identity – decent at nothing in particular, spread thin across stat requirements that don’t complement each other.
Deciding early on what archetype you’re building around – Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, Arcane, or a focused hybrid – and then acquiring items that support that direction leads to a significantly better experience. The build comes together, damage feels intentional, and encounters become puzzles with clear solutions rather than walls of health that require grinding.
Elden Ring rewards players who know what they’re trying to build. Getting the right items early – whether through drops, trades, or direct purchase – makes that process considerably smoother and lets you focus on what the game actually does well.