What one Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree player claims is "hands down the most hidden weapon I've ever found" in a FromSoftware game has Dark Souls 2 fans crawling out of the woodwork to remind us all about its infamous pickaxe.
This article contains minor Elden Ring spoilers.
In a post on Reddit, one user shared their discovery of Euporia, a well-hidden Twinblade that they stumbled on deep within Shadow of the Erdtree. Their journey sounds like a perilous one, starting out with messages that worried could be "luring me to my doom," before moving to several jumping puzzles including one that led them straight out of a window. Two elevators and a giant scorpion fight later, they ended up at a metal door that looked like the start of a boss arena, only to find Euporia waiting for them inside.
This is hands down the most hidden weapon I've ever found in a From Game from r/Eldenring
The weapon isn't the only reason you'd head down this convoluted route - apparently you can find a Scadutree Fragment or two down there - but this intrepid explorer said it's exactly this kind of long-hidden discovery that encourages them to enter every FromSoft game without any help. They also claim that this is one of the best-hidden weapons they've ever come across - a suggestion that has a few Dark Souls 2 fans hitting back.
The Pickaxe is a punchy Hammer-type weapon found in the runt of the Soulsborne litter. Unfortunately, while it might be pretty fun, it's also incredibly difficult to find - in order to acquire it, you'll need to lure a boar all the way from the Royal Army Campsite bonfire in Brightstone Cove Tseldora to nearly the other end of the level. The whole way, you'll need to ensure that the boar doesn't die or drop aggro, meaning you'll likely need to fight enemies on the way, or already have cleared the entire way. Eventually, you'll get to a room where you're ambushed by spiders (who you'll also probably need to kill). In that room are mushrooms, which, if eaten by the boar, will reveal the pickaxe.
If that sounds complicated, it only gets worse when you see it in action. The whole process lasts upwards of five minutes, and in that time you can't get too far away from the boar or enable it to get close enough to hit you too many times. You'll need to lead it down corridors, off ledges, through doorways and hidden passages, and eventually across a spike-filled pit in order to get it to its meal, all while having taken out every monster that might be waiting for you on that journey. Sadly for the pig, once its job is done it'll still be aggroed, so you'll likely have little choice but to dispatch it, even after all you've been through.
Unfortunately, while the Pickaxe seems pretty popular (among those determined enough to find it), the jury is still out on Euporia. It certainly looks impressive in action, but the charge-up time has some early adopters wondering if it's entirely worth it.
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Nevertheless, Euporia makes it into our list of the best Shadow of the Erdtree weapons.
I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.
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