Formidable Early-Game Boss in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC Challenges Seasoned Players

Returning Elden Ring veterans are facing a challenging early Shadow of the Erdtree boss that drops some of the best armor in the game if you can defeat the formidable opponent. An early-game Elden Ring boss in the new Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is proving to be a significant challenge for returning players.

Players can encounter the Shadow of the Erdtree Blackgaol Knight quite early. This entirely optional boss guards the Western Nameless Mausoleum. The boss's optional nature is of little comfort to players who are facing significant difficulty against the incredibly formidable Blackgaol Knight.

Consider the reactions on Twitter from veteran players who have encountered the Blackgaol Knight to their misfortune. The early Shadow of the Erdtree boss effectively reminds experienced Elden Ring players that they are in an entirely different realm now.

The Blackgaol Knight is so challenging that players with level 60 Vigor, the soft cap for Vigor in Elden Ring, claim they are being defeated in just two hits by this optional boss. For those unfamiliar, a "soft cap" refers to the point at which allocating additional skill points into a category yields diminishing returns, so it is the point at which most veteran Elden Ring players stop increasing Vigor.

There are also skilled Elden Ring players on Reddit discussing how tough the Blackgaol Knight is. In all fairness to the player referenced here, a level 146 Tarnished is not too low a level to be venturing into Shadow of the Erdtree. However, they quickly discovered that it was not sufficient to defeat the Blackgaol Knight easily.

One of the motivations for players to keep attempting to defeat the Blackgaol Knight is that the boss offers one of the best Elden Ring armor sets in the entire RPG. The Solitude Armor set is a superb outfit for heavier builds, and the Greatsword of Solitude is equally impressive, delivering some powerful attacks with each swing.