Elden Ring DLC's new 1.14 balance patch update hits Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss with nerfs we all knew were coming, and whacks one of the best PvP builds, too

What you need to know

• Nearly three months after the launch of Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, developer FromSoftware has released a new 1.14 update that makes a variety of balance changes to the base game and the expansion.
• The highlight of the patch notes is a series of nerfs made to Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss, including attack hitbox tweaks, damage and stamina damage reductions, shorter ranges on certain moves, and less cluttered visual effects to improve clarity.
• Additionally, FromSoftware has also nerfed power stanced Spears and the Backhand Blades in PvP, made initial uncharged heavy attacks faster for most weapon movesets, and more.
• For the full 1.14 patch notes, make sure you read the section towards the end of this article.

In a new 1.14 update for its award-winning Soulsborne action RPG Elden Ring and its acclaimed Shadow of the Erdtree DLC , developer FromSoftware has made a multitude of balance changes and adjustments to the game. The patch is available to download now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4 systems, and installing it is a requirement if you plan to play online.

I've pasted the full patch notes in the section at the end of this article, but by far, the highlight of the update is a series of nerfs given to Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss (spoilers follow on that page, so click with caution). Specifically, the developers have made it less immediately aggressive at the start of its fight, adjusted the hitboxes of certain attacks, lowered some of its damage and stamina damage, reduced the range of some of its non-weapon moves, and toned down some of its visual effects to improve combat clarity.

Frankly, these nerfs are not surprising at all , as even many of the most skilled Tarnished in the Lands Between and Land of Shadow agree that the DLC's final boss has been overtuned since the expansion launched in late June. What did surprise me, though, is that it took this long for adjustments like these to come; it's been nearly three months since release, after all, and FromSoftware was quick to tweak a few bosses in Elden Ring's base game back when it came out in early 2022.

The rest of the patch is largely pretty unremarkable, as it primarily consists of minor balance changes and some small bugfixes. Another big note from the update, however, is that the damage output of Spear weapons dual-wielded with power stancing has been lowered against other players — a sizable nerf to what's been one of the best Elden Ring builds for PvP since the game's launch. The player damage of the popular DLC Backhand Blades weapon got a reduction, too, though this notably doesn't apply to the Smithscript Cirque that's in the same weapon class.

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Some other noteworthy changes include an attack speed buff for the first uncharged heavy attack in the movesets of most weapon types, a damage and recovery time buff for Shadow of the Erdtree's hand-to-hand martial arts weapons , damage negation and guard boost buffs to several small and medium shields, and various buffs to underperforming DLC incantations like Aspects of the Crucible: Thorns, Aspects of the Crucible: Bloom, Divine Bird Feathers, and Midra's Flame of Frenzy. For the full patch notes, check the section below.

Additionally, FromSoftware has emphasized to players that those experiencing performance problems with Elden Ring on PS5 may be able to improve their framerate by using the Rebuild Database option in the console's safe mode. PC players, meanwhile, should make sure ray tracing is disabled in the System > Graphics > Ray Tracing Quality menu and that they're not using any third-party programs that affect mouse behavior while Elden Ring is open. Also, if the "Inappropriate activity detected" error is encountered, verifying Elden Ring's game files through Steam should fix the problem.

Overall, this is a great patch, though I do wish that it came a little sooner since feedback about the final boss was near-universal. Still, it's great to see FromSoftware finally address player feedback about its fight, and further balance adjustments for under and overpowered sandbox elements are sweet, too.

Elden Ring Update 1.14: Patch notes

Here are the full patch notes for Elden Ring's 1.14 update, taken directly from the website of publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment .

Final Boss balance adjustments

The following adjustments have been made to the final boss of “SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE”

• Changed the action pattern when the battle starts.
• Adjusted some attack moves.
• Decreased the damage of some attacks.
• Decreased stamina damage of some attacks.
• Decreased the attack range of some non-weapon-based attacks.
• Improved the visibility of some attack effects.

PvP-exclusive balance adjustments

Equipment

• Decreased the damage of Backhand Blades against other players. (The Smithscript Cirque's throwing attacks are not affected by this change)
• Decreased the damage of Spears’ dual wield attacks against other players.
• Decreased the damage of the Pata weapon against other players.
• The “Spread Crossbow” weapon will no longer cause the headshot damage motion when hitting another player.

Skill

• Scattershot Throw
  • Decreased damage against other players.
  • This skill will no longer cause the headshot damage motion when hitting another player.
• Weed Cutter
  • Decreased the poise value of follow-up attacks when using this skill against other players.

General balance adjustments

Equipment

• Increased the attack speed of the uncharged version of the first heavy attack for the following weapon types:
  • Dagger / Throwing Blade / Straight Sword / Great Sword / Colossal Sword / Heavy Thrusting Sword / Curved Sword / Twinblade Sword / Katana / Great Katana / Axe / Flail / Great Spear(Except Serpent-Hunter) / Halberd / Reaper / Whip (Except Urumi) / Hand-to-Hand Arts / Beast Claw.
• After performing left handed attacks with weapons of the Great Katana category, cancelling into subsequent attacks using the right handed weapon will now take longer.
• Hand-to-Hand Arts weapon type
  • Increased damage.
  • Shortened the recovery time between some normal attacks and follow-up attacks.
• Colossal Sword weapon type
  • Increased the move distance when attacking.
  • Increased the speed of the first normal attack.
• Backhand Blade weapon type
  • Decreased the attack speed of normal attacks from a crouching position.
• Small Shield and Medium Shield weapon types
  • Increased the damage negation of some shields when blocking physical attacks.
  • Increased the guard strength of some shields.
• It will now take longer to be able to cancel into most actions after performing one-handed normal attacks with the Swift Spear.
• Extended the Smithscript Dagger’s throwing attacks range.
• Increased the attribute scaling of Rellana's Twinblade for lower Intelligence and Faith attributes.
• Rellana’s Cameo Talisman
  • Reduced the delay before the damage enhancement activates.
  • Increased damage enhancement.

Weapon Arts

• Light
  • Increased attack speed
• Darkness
  • Increased attack speed
• Dynastic Sickleplay
  • Reduced stamina consumption
  • Increased poise damage of follow-up heavy attacks.
  • Increased the movement distance of the first follow-up heavy attack.
  • Adjusted the damage animation recovery time when the second follow-up heavy attack hits another player.
• Shield Strike
  • Cancelling other actions to perform this weapon art will now take longer.
• Moon-and-Fire Stance
  • Increased the light wave range, poise damage, and attack speed of the stance’s normal attack.
  • Increased the poise damage from the stance’s heavy attack.
  • Adjusted the damage animation recovery time when a stance’s heavy attack hits another player.
• Devonia's Vortex
  • Increased attack power.
  • Extended the attack range of the Great Hammer’s spin.
  • Increased poise value and poise generation speed.
  • Adjusted the damage animation recovery time when a charged attack hits another player.

Spell

• Rellana's Twin Moons
  • Increased attack range for the first and second attacks.
  • Reduced the knockback distance of the second attack.

Incantation

• Aspects of the Crucible: Thorns
  • Increased attack power.
  • Increased attack power, stamina attack power against guarding enemies.
  • The close-range hitbox now follows the movement of the player
• Aspects of the Crucible: Bloom
  • Increased attack speed, increased size of the hitbox.
  • Shortened recovery time between using this incantation and follow-up actions.
• Divine Bird Feathers
  • Decreased the minimum delay between consecutive hits.
  • Increased range.
• Furious Blade of Ansbach
  • Cancelling this incantation into rolls will now take less time.
  • Increased poise damage.
  • Increased enemy knockback distance.
• Midra's Flame of Frenzy
  • Increased attack speed.
  • Increased Frenzy status buildup range against enemies.
  • Decreased Frenzy status buildup when using this skill.
• Bayle's Flame Lightning
  • Increased attack power.

Bug Fixes

• Black Pyreflies items will now correctly reappear when resting at a site of grace.
• Fixed a bug where performing a Light Greatsword heavy attack while jumping did not consume stamina.
• Fixed a bug where unintended Weapon Skills could be used when equipping the Ballista in the left hand.
• Fixed a bug that caused critical hit damage dealt to Taylew the Golem Smith when using certain weapons the be lower than intended.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the player from acquiring runes when an enemy was killed while holding a shield.
• Fixed a bug where casting the Inescapable Frenzy Incantation using the Staff of the Great Beyond would cause its hitbox to be generated incorrectly.
• Fixed a bug where whiffed backstabs with the Pata weapon had a smaller fist hitbox that intended.
• Fixed a bug where some attacks of the Lizard Greatsword weren’t registered as strike attacks.
• Fixed a bug where Euporia could increase the attack power of other weapons when its luster is restored.
• Fixed a bug where the restored luster effect of Euporia was sometimes displayed on different weapons.
• Fixed a bug where the power of some Weapon Skills of a right-handed Falx changed depending on the level of the weapon equipped in the left hand.
• Fixed a bug where the enchantment effects of certain skills were being applied to some attacks that did not use weapons.
• Fixed a bug that could cause incorrect player motions to be performed when using lock-on for the following Skills.
• Wild Strikes / Spinning Strikes / Unending Dance
• Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks Skill to go through some terrain.
• Fixed a bug where the Blades of Stone Spell did not hit targets at a different height level correctly.
• Fixed a bug where some attacks of the Bayle’s Tyranny Incantation did not hit multiple enemies.
• Fixed a bug that caused the attack of the Bayle’s Tyranny Incantation to go through certain terrain.
• Fixed a bug where Godfrey’s Icon Talisman did not apply to some Skills, Spells, and Incantations.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the player from becoming translucent when the Crepus’ Vial Talisman is equipped and the Unseen Form Spell is used.
• Fixed a bug where the hitboxes of some attacks of Rellana, Twin Moon Knight were different than intended.
• Fixed a bug where the “Leave” option could not be selected in the inventory menu for some equipment.
• Fixed a bug that made some Site of Graces difficult to touch under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug in some areas where the invasion spawn-in position was different than intended.
• Fixed a bug where the displayed name of certain areas was different than intended.
• Fixed a bug in which, under certain circumstances, the combat state was not released after defeating an invading NPC.
• Fixed a bug that prevented some effects from being displayed correctly.
• Fixed a bug where the Watchful Spirit Incantation’s attacks were sometimes invisible to other players in multiplayer.
• Fixed a bug where the effects of some tools and incantations were not correctly applied when trying to deflect or cancel.
• Several performance improvements and other bug fixes
• Corrected a descriptive error in the game’s credit that was incorrectly added in patch  1.12.

The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is here, and it makes one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of all time even better. It's out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and Windows PC for $39.99.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree | $36.79 at CDKeys (Xbox)

Shadow of the Erdtree is Elden Ring at its most refined, with the base game's overly formulaic elements cut away and some of FromSoftware's best boss fights. The result is a 40-hour-long masterpiece of a DLC that's an absolute must-play for any Soulsborne fan.

Also see: Shadow of the Erdtree (PC, $37.09) | Deluxe Edition (PC, $90.89)

Collector's Edition: Bandai Namco Store (€249.99)