Elden Ring Update Eases DLC Difficulty

FromSoftware has released a balance patch for Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, aiming to alleviate some of the difficulty, particularly in the early and late game stages. While the DLC has received critical acclaim, its challenging nature has led to significant player frustration, even prompting review bombing on Steam.

This new update, 1.12.2, directly addresses concerns regarding the difficulty curve. It significantly boosts attack power and damage reduction granted by Shadow Realm Blessings (like Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes) during the initial stages of enhancement. Subsequent enhancements provide a more gradual increase, while the final enhancement level receives a slight additional buff. The net effect is a smoother difficulty progression and improved survivability, especially for players utilizing these crucial items.

Interestingly, Bandai Namco issued a reminder to players to actively use their Scadutree Fragments, highlighting a common oversight contributing to difficulties. These fragments, collected throughout the DLC, significantly enhance both damage output and damage mitigation when used at Sites of Grace.

The patch also tackles a PC-specific bug causing ray tracing to automatically activate when loading older save files, resulting in framerate issues for some players. The update instructs players to manually disable ray tracing in the graphics settings if experiencing performance problems. Finally, FromSoftware promises further updates with additional balance adjustments and bug fixes in the near future. The full patch notes are as follows:

Elden Ring Update 1.12.2 Patch Notes

• Shadow Realm Blessing Adjustments: The scaling of attack power and damage negation for Shadow Realm Blessings has been revised. The initial stages of enhancement now provide a larger boost, with subsequent increases becoming more gradual. The final enhancement level also receives a slight increase.

• Ray Tracing Bug Fix (PC): A bug causing ray tracing to automatically enable upon loading older save files has been fixed. Players experiencing framerate issues should manually disable ray tracing in the graphics settings.

• Future Updates: Further balance adjustments and bug fixes are planned for future patches.

The update is applied via the multiplayer server. Players should ensure their Calibration Ver. displays "1.12.2" in the title menu before playing.