Let me tell you something, folks—I’ve stared into the abyss, and the abyss stared back… and then one-shot me. Again. And again. And again. Fifteen thousand, five hundred and twenty-two times, to be exact.

I, Dan Gheesling, just spent 423 hours of my life—that's over 17 straight days, for those counting—playing Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree with what some might call a "slight" handicap. I decided to tackle the entire DLC without a single Scadutree Fragment and with my HP bar locked at its base level. No upgrades. No buffs. Just me, my weapon, and a world that wanted me dead more than anything. The result? A death count so high it could populate a small town.

Why Would Anyone Do This?

Look, I know what you're thinking. "This guy's nuts." And you're not wrong. But hear me out. FromSoftware games have this reputation, right? They're tough. They're mean. They're the gaming equivalent of a boot camp instructor who hates you. Elden Ring was already hailed as the "most accessible" of the Souls games because, hey, you could just run away from trouble in the open world. But then Shadow of the Erdtree dropped, and it was like the game looked at that "accessible" label, laughed, and threw it into a volcano. It was so hard that even FromSoftware had to patch it post-launch to tone it down. Me? I brushed off those changes. I wanted the raw, unfiltered, masochistic experience.

The Rules of My Madness

Rule	What It Means	The Consequence
No Scadutree Fragments	Zero damage/defense boosts from the DLC's main power-up system.	I hit bosses like I was slapping them with a wet noodle.
Base HP Bar	No Vigor leveling. Health stayed at starting character levels.	Almost anything could one-shot me. A stiff breeze was a lethal threat.
No Weapon Resin	Refused to use any temporary weapon buff items from the DLC.	My already pathetic damage output stayed pathetic.

The playthrough wasn't just hard; it was a masterclass in frustration. My damage output was so low that boss fights became wars of attrition that I was destined to lose. Every enemy, from the lowliest foot soldier to the mightiest demigod, was a potential game-over screen. I had to play perfectly—flawlessly—for minutes on end, knowing a single mistimed dodge would send me back to a Site of Grace. The tension was... let's just say my controller has permanent sweat stains.

The Anatomy of 15,522 Deaths

Where did all those deaths come from? Oh, let me break it down for you.

• The Final Boss, Radahn: This guy alone accounted for 3,469 of my deaths. That's right. Over three thousand attempts on one single entity. My final, successful attempt against him lasted a grueling 15 minutes of non-stop, high-focus combat where a single error would have meant failure. Beating him felt less like a victory and more like surviving a natural disaster.

• Regular Enemies: You'd be surprised how often a random mook in a hallway ended my run. When you have no health, everything is a boss.

• Gravity: The true final boss of any FromSoftware game. Let's not talk about how many times I just... walked off a cliff.

The Community's Reaction & The Great Difficulty Debate

When I finally shared this achievement, the Elden Ring community went wild. The support was incredible! It really highlighted the split in the player base, though. After Shadow of the Erdtree launched, the debate about difficulty exploded all over again:

• One Side: "This DLC is unfairly hard! It's not balanced!" This led to the DLC getting 'Mixed' reviews on Steam for a while.

• The Other Side (My People): "This is the challenge we crave!" We look for ways to make the experience even more intense, whether it's no-hit runs, level 1 challenges, or crazy stuff like my no-fragment run.

Some players want a tough but fair adventure. Others, like me and many streamers, want to be pushed to our absolute limits, to find that line where skill, patience, and a little bit of insanity meet. We're chasing that feeling—the one you get after attempt number 3,470, when you finally see "GREAT ENEMY FELLED" on your screen after 423 hours of trying.

My Message to You

After 423 hours and 15,522 deaths, what did I learn? Was it worth it?

You bet it was.

This journey was brutal, punishing, and at times felt utterly hopeless. But crossing that finish line... there's no feeling like it in gaming. It's a pure, unadulterated triumph over adversity that you crafted for yourself. So my final thought, the one I shared when I finally put my controller down, is this: Never. Give. Up.

Your challenge might not be a video game. It might be something in work, in life, in a personal goal. But the principle is the same. The road might be long, and you might fail more times than you can count. But if you keep getting up, keep learning from each setback, and keep pushing forward, you will break through. Even if it takes you 15,523 tries.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go lie down. My thumbs have officially filed for divorce.