Of the many wild and wonderful locations in FromSoftware’s 2022 RPG Elden Ring, Caelid is perhaps the most notorious. In fact, a recent survey suggests that players find Caelid to be the most memorable Elden Ring location of all. Adjacent to Limgrave, it can be accessed early on, though careless Tarnished who wander within its borders are likely to experience a brutal “welcome to Elden Ring” moment. However, as demonstrated by one Redditor, skilled players can apply some clever tricks to make the hostile environment of Caelid work in their favor.
In a short clip submitted to the Elden Ring subreddit, user friendlord is seen using a Kukri to distract a pack of monstrous dogs before sneaking up behind them and using a Bewitching Branch to cause them to act as allies. The dogs then charge at a nearby Night’s Cavalry, one of a number of special and particularly difficult world bosses that can only be encountered at night. With the player’s help, the monstrous dogs cut down the foe in less than a minute.
While some players prefer the thrill of engaging an over-leveled enemy, others prefer to cultivate more creative approaches to certain encounters, and the Bewitching Branch is instrumental in these endeavors. Useful as they are, Bewitching Branches aren’t particularly plentiful in Elden Ring, and players often forget about them entirely due to their scarcity. Yet, they can easily be used to level the playing field against field bosses, and, as mentioned by a respondent to friendlord’s post, they can even be used to even the odds in the battle against Commander Niall.
Fortunately, Bewitching Branches can be crafted, though this requires the use of a sacramental bud, a crafting item of which there isn’t an overwhelming amount. Plus, as easy as it is to acquire the tools and recipes required to begin crafting in Elden Ring, it tends to be an overlooked mechanic. While some items provide very noticeable benefits, others can only be properly utilized in niche situations, meaning that most players won’t bother with them at all. Yet, as friendlord proves, strategizing with these underappreciated items in mind can totally change the game.
Some Elden Ring fans may also find a strange catharsis in this clip. The experience of adventuring through Caelid for the first time is a grueling one, and, as demonstrated by one unfortunate Reddit user, the monstrous dogs contribute greatly to the area’s challenge. As a result, seeing one player transform some of Caelid’s most powerful enemies into powerful allies could be enlightening for some struggling players.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.