Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s Coolest-Looking Weapon Is in a Tough Position

Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is rapidly approaching its release date after a long period of development. Among other new content, the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will introduce several new weapon types to Elden Ring, as well as new variety to the existing weapon types.

The premise of new weapon types alone is exciting for Elden Ring’s first DLC. However, the new repeater crossbow weapon coming in this DLC is cause for concern regarding how this weapon will be balanced among other ranged weapons in the game.

Elden Ring’s Ranged Weapons Deserve A Buff

Bows, cannons, and other ranged weapons in Elden Ring are arguably underwhelming compared to most other weapon types in the game. This mainly comes down to how slow these ranged weapons take to load/reload and how they generally aren’t capable of combo attacks. So, even though some of these weapons can potentially deal high damage with a single attack, following up with additional attacks is where these weapons fall short.

The main appeal of ranged weapons is that they allow players to attack enemies from a safe distance. While their projectiles can be easy to block or dodge, few enemies can retaliate with their own attacks from such a range. Consequently, this weapon type’s range advantage arguably justifies its low damage and slow fire rates so they’re all properly balanced.

Elden Ring’s New Repeater Crossbow Could Be A Game-Changer For Ranged Builds

The new repeater crossbow weapon coming in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC already appears to have a clear advantage over the existing ranged weapons in the game. Specifically, the repeater crossbow’s ability to rapidly fire multiple shots could be enough to set it apart from any existing ranged weapons to the point where it could compete with some of the best weapons in Elden Ring overall.

With enough successive attacks, even the best shields in Elden Ring can be overwhelmed, leaving enemies vulnerable to a critical attack. So with the repeater crossbow rapidly shooting multiple projectiles, it will presumably be able to stagger enemies with more consistency than any other ranged weapon.

Additionally, the repeater crossbow’s rapid-fire behavior will potentially give it a slight advantage against enemies that aren’t equipped with a shield as well. In general, any ranged attack that has an ordinary projectile speed and pathing can be dodged by bosses in Elden Ring or other agile enemies. Because the repeater crossbow shoots multiple projectiles, enemies that dodge the initial projectile may still get hit by some of the additional shots from this weapon’s burst fire, making it seemingly impossible for enemies to completely dodge its projectiles when a player locks onto them.

Elden Ring’s New DLC Weapons Shouldn’t Break The Game

Aside from how it will compare to Elden Ring’s current PvE meta, the repeater crossbow and other new weapons from the DLC could create division among Elden Ring’s PvP community. If these new weapons give an unbalanced advantage to players who own the DLC, this could negatively impact the multiplayer experience for players who don’t own the DLC.

With the repeater crossbow seemingly having unique advantages over most of the existing ranged weapons, its overall damage has to balance out some of its other unique advantages. The state that ranged weapons in Elden Ring are in is quite underwhelming, but introducing new ranged weapons that are overpowered is a slippery slope. Instead, future updates for Elden Ring should consider improving all ranged weapons to make them compete with other meta builds.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set in a world co-created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of the influential Dark Souls video game series, and George R.R. Martin, the author of the best-selling fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. This collaboration between two renowned creators has resulted in FromSoftware’s largest game to date, filled with danger and discovery at every turn. Hidetaka Miyazaki, president and game director of FromSoftware, has a history of directing highly acclaimed games in franchises such as Armored Core and Dark Souls.

Released

February 25, 2022

Multiplayer

Online Co-Op , Online Multiplayer

Engine

Proprietary

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

How Long To Beat

58 Hours

Metascore

96

Platforms That Support Crossplay

PS4 & PS5 and Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

PS Plus Availability

N/A