Elden Ring players believe summons are “no longer optional” in Shadow of the Erdtree

Many Elden Ring players believe summons are no longer optional in Shadow of the Erdtree as the community struggles to beat the game’s toughest bosses.

From Putrescent Knight to Messmer the Impaler, Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree is home to plenty of tough bosses. In fact, many players and streamers like Asmongold have been struggling to beat these fearsome foes. 

The difficulty spike has proven so harsh that unhappy Tarnished have flocked to Steam to share their displeasure, giving the game a “Mixed” review rating. Even publisher Bandai Namco recently had to give out advice to those struggling. 

Despite all of the above, the most shocking turn of events is the community’s new stance on summons – an area that has proven controversial since the original Dark Souls.

“I am myself an oldschool Souls gamer and I was one of the people who refused to use summons, since I wanted to play the old way, the ‘ethical’ way I told myself. But let me tell you, they are no longer optional,” wrote one player on the Elden Ring Reddit page.

The commenter explained how they were struggling against one particularly tough boss, but just couldn’t get past them no matter how hard they tried. 

“I was on my 64th try at the dragon dancer (2nd boss for me) and I couldn’t get him below 1/3 hp. I just couldn’t. Then I threw my pride out the window and just started using mimic and he was dead second try. The boss had gone from 10/10 difficulty to maybe a 3/10. Like the fight was actually kinda chill to play.”

Summons have long been controversial in the Souls community, with many believing they take away the challenge and can even trivialize boss fights. This was especially true in the base game of Elden Ring, where the Mimic Tear proved to be incredibly strong. 

After all, having an exact copy of yourself that can be buffed with Talismans is always going to be controversial. However, with the community struggling to beat many of the DLC’s brutal bosses, many have begun to change their views on these AI units. 

“I personally play to complete the game. Now the warrior within me allows 10-15 tries for every boss 1v1, but after that, if I fail, I use the summon,” wrote another player. “I have no regrets. Too old for this.”

Other commenters were keen to highlight how there is no real middle ground when it comes to summons, with one player noting how they provide a double-edged sword that hinders the gameplay experience, even for those who want to use them. 

“I like the idea of spirit summons as a mechanic, but I feel like my options here are: use them and make most boss fights trivially easy. Don’t use them and make the boss fight an exercise in mental stamina,” explained one player. 

“Neither of these options are giving me that high which previous Souls games did, where it felt like bosses were intense enough that I had to ‘git good’ but were still manageable.”

Summons still drive a lot of discourse in the Souls community, but if you’re having a tough time, then you may want to dust off your Mimic Tear and let them take some of the heat.