Warning, spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree ahead.
Well, do you remember that Aspects of the Crucible: Thorns spell that FromSoft showed off long before Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree was released? Yep, that spell that turns your Tarnished into a hedgehog? Now someone has used that spell to beat the entire base game and DLC in less than 13 hours.
To be fair, considering Shadow of the Erdtree was already beaten by a streamer on a dance mat, who was then beaten on a Messmer or two at the same time, we probably shouldn’t be too surprised.
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This time around, Elden Ring challenge specialist Distortion2 rose to the occasion and decided to use what they themselves describe as “one of the worst spells” in the game to defeat every boss from Margit to Elden Beast to Promised Consort Radahn.
Armed with nothing more than the Thorns spell and some crappy robes to protect his Yellow Tarnished, the streamer ran out of flasks on his first try and had to give up pretty quickly. But, like all good Elden Ringers, he persevered and was able to get a better grasp on the best angles to use his quill attacks, successfully defeating the boss on his second try, more than an hour into the game.
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By the time they took down the Elden Beast about eight hours into the game, Distortion2 had 26 kills total, at which point they officially headed to Haligtree to find everyone’s favorite Waterfowl Dancer, having seemingly failed to take her down earlier in the game. He killed her the first time he asked her when he came back, nonchalantly declaring it a “good fight” afterwards, like you saying it’s okay to have some toast for breakfast.
He then quickly beat the DLC, beating Messmer around 9 and a half hours into the game, and tackling Promised Consort before 13 hours in. He died a total of 50 times, and all of Elden Ring’s major bosses were done.
After all that he’s done with this spell, would he recommend it? No. He does show off his build at the end, though, if you want to try out the hedgehog mode for yourself.
If you’re currently struggling your way through a game of Shadow of the Erdtree and could use some help, firstly, I’m really sorry that I may have made you feel as bad at Elden Ring as I did, and be sure to check out our plethora of guides that should be able to help you no matter what you need help with.
