How to get the best early game weapon and armor in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has a lot of new weapons and armor to try out. Fortunately, you can get one of the best sets early on in your adventure in the Land of Shadow and you won't have to travel far.

How to get the best early game weapon and armor set in Shadow of the Erdtree

The best early game weapon and armor set is undoubtedly the Greatsword of Solitude and the Solitude Armor set. You can get these at the start of Shadow of the Erdtree by going northwest of the Gravesite Plain Site of Grace, at the Western Nameless Mausoleum.

Here, you'll have to defeat its powerful boss, Blackgaol Knight. This boss is extremely powerful and he can kill you in two or three hits. Using a bleed build with weapons like the Bloodhound Fang (with the Bloodflame Blade incantation) or the Blasphemous Blade can do some major damage to take out this boss. After defeating the knight, you'll be rewarded with the Greatsword of Solitude and the Solitude Armor set.

Greatsword of Solitude Stats and Scaling in Shadow of the Erdtree

The Greatsword of Solitude requires 27 Strength and 13 Dexterity to use it. Though it scales with both Strength and Dexterity, improving the former benefits it the most. This Greatsword does massive Physical Damage to enemies and can break their stances in a few hits. In terms of base damage, it initially does 120 Damage and can reach a maximum 294 Damage when upgraded to +10. In terms of attribute scaling having very high Strength and good Dexterity will improve this Greatsword massively.

Another benefit of having this greatsword is that if you wield it with both hands, it gives you a guarded damage negation of 89% when blocking. This is incredibly useful as it makes it better than most of the shields you can find in the base game. Its weapon skill, the Solitary Moon Slash, does magic damage as well, though its range is quite short. Nevertheless, if you're looking for pure physical damage in a weapon early on in the DLC, this is the one to get.

Solitude Set details and stats in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

The Solitude set includes the following armor pieces:

• Helm of Solitude
• Armor of Solitude
• Gauntlets of Solitude
• Greaves of Solitude

Wearing all four pieces of the armor set together will make your poise go up to 96, which is massive. This means enemies won't be able to knock you down in a few hits and you'll be able to get some hits in yourself. Other than that, the remaining resistance stats are improved as well to:

• Immunity: 137
• Robustness: 144
• Focus: 226
• Vitality: 115

This armor set can help you out immensely when exploring the Land of Shadow, especially when you're taking on powerful enemies and bosses. The high poise and damage negation can help you defend better while causing some major physical damage to your foes. That's why it's the best armor set you can get early on in the game.

For more on Elden Ring, check out How to set a password for multiplayer and co-op in the game, here on Pro Game Guides.