Not a fan of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree's controversial Scadutree Fragments? There's already a mod that does away with them

Since it came out, one of the big talking points about Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has been its difficulty, as well as how its systems differ from the base game. The need to collect Scadutree Fragments in order to avoid a bunch of hassle in leveling up your character has proven a bit controversial, but there's now a mod that aims to do away with this treasure hunt.

While gathering up Scadutree Fragments - which you can read our guide to the locations of here - isn't techincally mandatory in the expansion, it's something you'll want to do if you don't want to face an awful lot of rune farming instead in order to stack up the the hardest challenges Shadow of the Erdtree has to offer. If you've been playing and think you'd prefer to progress in a manner that's a bit more like the base game, that's where this mod I'm about to tell you about may come in handy.

'Normalized DLC damage' is the name of this work from modder Sereenaty, and they cite it as doing a couple of things. First of all, as you might expect given the name, it makes the damage you'll take and deal in the DLC more similar to that of the base game. Spirit summons have also had their damage brought in line with what you'll be used to from your years of exploring the Lands Between.

The second big change is that the mod takes this new difficulty baseline and uses it to facilitate doping away with the need to collect both Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes, with Sereenaty writing: "If you're tired of having your entire build thrown in the trash just because you're not into collectibles, this mod is for you!"

On top of that, they've made it so that you shouldn't have to even see any Scadutree Fragments, with the mod aiming to swap them out for Rune Arcs, though judging by the comments, you might still end up with some through enemy drops.

It's also important to note that Sereenaty says "the mod was only tested on a fresh character with zero Scadutree fragments collected", so it's unknown how your save might be affected if you install it after having already gathered some.

So, there you go. While this isn't the only mod on offer if you're looking for a slightly easier time with Shadow of the Erdtree, it might be the best option for folks who still want a challenge, but wish FromSoft had stuck more closely to how it delivered that the first time around.

If you're battling your way through Shadow of the Erdtree and need a bit of help, make sure to check out our huge array of guides that should be able to aid you regardless of what you need a hand with.