Speedrunner puts up $10K for any brave Elden Ring player who beats this ludicrous challenge

Distortion2, one of the biggest Elden Ring and Souls games speedrunners, has put up a $10,000 bounty for completing the new Rune Level One DLC% category. The challenge is to clear all Shadow of the Erdtree Remembrance bosses without leveling up and using only weapons located in the DLC itself.

The category will also require players to not level up Scadutree Blessings without beating the bosses themselves. Distortion2 said how “Rune level one wasn’t hard enough,” due to the strength offered by base game weapons even if a player removed leveling from their build, prompting him to allow only DLC weapons for the bounty. Runs will not start in the base game either, so don’t worry about having to go with your bare fists for hours in the Lands Between. Rather, everyone will load up a save file that will locate them at the very start of the DLC.

The reason behind limiting Scadutree Blessing level-ups is found in the fact that most speedruns, as Distortion2 puts it, “will normally have the runner collect as many Scadutree fragments along the route as possible” to dish out the most damage. The YouTuber “isn’t a fan” of this segment and has thus relegated Scadutree Blessing leveling to defeating the bosses themselves as a reward.

To help them in the run, players will start it with all the Talismans, Physick Tears, and other “useful tools.” This will largely remove the Talisman-hunting portion of the run as well, making it much more focused on the gameplay rather than glorified easter egg hunts.

The event is set to last from today, July 25, until Aug. 11, and will have a $10,000 reward spread out between the top 10 players, the first of which will receive a $4,000 piece of the cake. The bottom five players will be given $200 each, so you can score a good buck even if you don’t finish first.