Elden Ring DLC: What level should you be for Shadow of the Erdtree? (2024)

Go into the DLC with an endgame character

I recently concluded my very first run through Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, playing the colossal expansion over the course of an entire week for my review. Having now experienced it from start to finish, I can answer one of the most frequent questions I see asked about it online: what level should you be for the DLC?

While it's basically impossible to "overlevel" for Shadow of the Erdtree — between the stat soft caps in Elden Ring and a new scaling system I'll explain below, the return on invested levels severely diminishes — you can definitely be underleveled, which will make the experience even harder than it already is. And given that the DLC's already one of the most difficult pieces of content FromSoftware has ever released, you should steer clear of doing that.

I strongly recommend having your character at at least Level 125 before starting Shadow of the Erdtree, though ideally, you should be about Level 150. This is generally considered to be "endgame level," and since the Elden Ring DLC requirements include killing the endgame Mohg, Lord of Blood boss, you should be in the Level 125-150 ballpark anyway. On top of that, your Vigor (HP) should be at least 50 since enemies in the expansion hit very hard, and if necessary, you may even want to do some extra level ups to raise it to the soft cap of 60.

Just don't level too far beyond Level 150-160 if you care about playing co-op with friends or engaging in PvP invasions, as Level 125-150 is the widely accepted "meta" for these activities. If you go higher, Elden Ring's matchmaking will struggle to find players who can summon you or that you can invade. My entire playthrough was done at Level 150, so if you're endgame level, you'll be fine.

If you're using one of the best Elden Ring builds, you're likely already good to go. If not, though, take advantage of the best Elden Ring rune farm to quickly get some levels, or perhaps respec your stats so you've got enough Vigor for all the dangers you're about to face.

The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is finally here, and it makes one of thebest Xbox gamesandbest PC gamesof all time even better. It's out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and Windows PC for $39.99.