Summary

One unfortunateElden Ringplayer recently had to endure a painful lesson on how Aspects of the Crucible: Wings isn’t as viable as one of the recentShadow of the Erdtreetrailers might have suggested. And while their unfortunate experience quickly made the rounds on social media, its online traction seemingly did little to dissuade otherElden Ringplayers from using the flashy skill.

Minor Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay spoilers revealing the first Shadow Keep boss ahead.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Tag Page Cover Art

Aspects of the Crucible: Wings is one of the many new Ashes of War that debuted inElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. It bestows a pair of gracious golden wings upon the Tarnished, allowing them to rise above the ground before dive-bombing into their target. As such, it essentially makes players capable of mimicking the signature flying attack of Crucible Knights. It can be equipped on a number of spears and swords from the base game, as well as manynew DLC weapons introduced inShadow of the Erdtree.

Hungry Hippo Beats Golden Wings In Funny Elden Ring Fail Video

And while theShadow of the Erdtreegameplay reveal trailershowcased this Ash of War as an ability that’s equal parts elegant and imposing, Reddit user Detective_Yoba has recently discovered that using it isn’t as easy as the February 2024 promo suggested. They did so by initiating the Golden Hippopotamus boss fight in the Shadow Keep and immediately trying to open with their winged attack. But the Ash of War proved to be no match for the hungry hippo, who met the resulting thrust with an open mouth. The player consequently found themselves chewed up, spit out, and then finished off with a single bite.

“He one-shot my ego,” wrote Detective_Yoba in reflection on this tragicomic turn of events. Their failed attempt at hitting the hippo with the new AoW demonstrates one of its key shortcomings, which is that Aspects of the Crucible: Wings has a fairly long windup animation. Even a fairly slow boss likeShadow of the Erdtree’s Golden Hippopotamushas enough time to act before the thrust part of the Ash of War comes into play, which proved to be quite fatal in this instance. Many other bosses in the expansion are also significantly faster than the hippo, meaning the player needs to be even more careful about when exactly to attempt using this AoW.

Nevertheless, plenty of players have been experimenting with the skill ever since the DLC’s release, arguing that it’s simply too stunning to ignore. This episode seemingly did little to dissuade anyone from continuing to do so, especially since Detective_Yoba had some rather unfortunate timing that saw them dive right into the hippo’s mouth, which ostensibly wouldn’t have happened every single time when using this AoW as an opener in this fight.

He one-shot my ego.

Players wanting to see this skill in action first-hand canget Aspects of the Crucible: Wings fromShadow of the Erdtree’s Scadu Altus region. The AoW is dropped by Black Knight Edredd, and can be equipped on almost any sword or spear with thrusting attacks.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

WHERE TO PLAY

Shadow of the Erdtree is the first and only DLC expansion for FromSoftware’s groundbreaking Elden Ring. It takes players to a whole new region, the Land of Shadow, where a new story awaits the Tarnished.