You can bring scadu and revered spirit ashes through to NG+ not sure if they'll stack or if the full amount will be there when I unlock the shadow realm but this is interesting. Unfortunately I only have 1 in my inventory so I won't be getting super OP if it allows for it.

I just checked HowLongToBeat and it states 41 hours for completionist run - which, after comparing it to base game and some math, pops up as 48 hours for me (I finished ER in around 155 hours - I tend to move everywhere quite slowly, enjoy the scenery and check every nook and cranny - my son got it done in 90 hours, ending up around same level as I, 150) - for some reason I thought it is much longer expansion, so maybe I'll just get around it this year after all. :D

I'm doing my NG+ run now after about the same time frame as you with the game first time around, maybe a little longer, and the amount of stuff you don't HAVE to do is staggering. Like 90% of the map is optional content. Of course you need to level but still, it's immense how much game to put out here that is essentially misable side content. 

Right. I'm at Castle sol on NG+ and I'm getting close to the DLC difficulty now. Bosses are still a long way off, maybe Melania is the closest and still not nearly as bad but I can feel it on the standard enemies. Perhaps I was wrong with my difficulty assumptions early on cause enemies here have the same wild animations, take massive damage but I'm still tanky enough and they aren't as aggresive as the duel weilding mobs in the DLC. It's like they took the tankyness of the Lyndell horned knights with the speed of Castle Sols knights and made them more aggressive. I wasn't prepared for the DLC on the most basic level but I sure as shit will be this time. I'm still critical of some aspects of the DLC but less so now that I've replayed the base game.

I think I've beaten all main bosses except the final one. I'm over 30 hours already, I think I will take 5-6 more to finish 

Currently level 17 fragments. I'm sure I can find more as I didn't exhausted exploration in some places 

Messmer was really fun, beat him in 11 tries which is more than any boss took me in base game (I think Malenia took me more than that in my first playtrough but I'm not sure). Very fast combos and few window to attacks. Ranged incantations saved my ass (but he's resistant to fire and lightning so it took a while to kill him). Actually Mimic tear killed him, as I was too busy rolling and trying to survive his combos 

Bayle was also epic, needed 2 tries

Midra was also fun, took him in 4 tries. Resistance to fire is the way to go here. His area is creepy and is totally unfair the game do not teach you need to parry the mobs to break their poise otherwise you're dead 

Expected more of Commander Gaius, beat him first trie. Same for Mother of Fingers. Scadutree Avatar take me 2 tries, wasn't expecting they to have 3 phases and 3 healthy bars

I disagree completely about this DLC being unfair. It's only unfair if you don't use the resources the game gives your. There are tons of talismans and incantations to make boss fights more manageable. Sometimes all that took me was to change the weapon and incantations, some ashes of war simply work bigger and some Talismans have good synergy

The only thing I'm finding negative on this DLC is the huge number of missable content. I get they want us to explore to find routes and such, but I don't think locking around 70% of the map and bosses around minucious exploration is good design. It will make replaying this DLC boring, specially because your level progression is ties to colldct scattered items in a huge map (unless you carry your level in NG+, if that's the case forget this complaint)  

Also, Shadow Keep is probably the best legacy dungeon in the game

Made it around to the DLC and the shadow blessings stay with you AND the scadutree fragments are back. I'm not sure if there is still a cap but this makes things considerably easier. If there is a cap then one can avoid going after all the harder ro reach fragments.

Oh, damn, I hadn't even considered that. I use a controller with a cord. Will look into it!

Do you think duel weilding uguchiganatas off Arcane will be better than this current build, my stats are at the end of the video. If not anything else I can do to improve this, I find the critical strike talisman to be a rare proc. Sorry for the long video, she took an age to die...

Beaten the final boss is 16 or 17 tries

Super cheap boss if you are a ranged unit, you need to go aggressive to have a chance. I tried to run and was always decimated, but when I stick with aggressive gameplay and Ashe of War spamm a finally managed to beat them

For the second phase Golden Braid and Golden Light Fortification kept me alive when the flash lights started popping

Blasphemous Blade did the trick for offensive (use the heaviest armor you can wield to not be poise-break during the fight), very good range and with help of Shard of Alexander great damage output


Beat it in level 228, didn't need to grind or collect additional weapons.