Elden Ring's Biggest Nerfs Since Launch

by Brittny Raine on 12 hours ago

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Despite not being seen as a competition-focused game, **Elden Ring ** has seen some major changes to its meta from nerfs. Whether players focus on the Tarnished's journey in PvE or prefer to take the path of the Bloody Fingers and fight others in PvP, they have to watch out for what Bandai Namco and FromSoftware have planned up their sleeves. The updates they have brought to the game have already dramatically influenced how it is played.

Both luckily and unluckily for players, Elden Ring 's patches have largely served to buff rather than nerf. This protects the health of the game by allowing new strategies to arise while avoiding taking away anything from the Elden Ring that players may have enjoyed. However, in practice, this has resulted to the rise of the Rivers of Blood katana meta in Elden Ring , which has left other approaches to the game in the dust.

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Elden Ring was not always this way, though. Prior to Elden Ring 's 1.03 update - which truly changed everything for the game - the meta was dominated by a few gimmicks, strategies, and weapons that were arguably more dominant than blood builds will ever be. But whether it be through direct nerfs or fixes, these options in Elden Ring have been rendered either obsolete or unviable.

Royal Knight’s Resolve Was Elden Ring’s Biggest Gimmick

The most substantial nerf Bandai Namco levied on Elden Ring was the alteration to the effect of the Ash of War Royal Knight’s Resolve. The way Royal Knight’s Resolve used to function in Elden Ring was that it would allow the Tarnished to deal 80% more damage with the next hit they threw with any of their weapons. This meant that a player could have a disposable weapon with the Ash of War, use it, and then shift to any other armament (be it a sword, staff, or finger seal) and deal a tremendous amount of damage. This made Royal Knight’s Resolve essential to any PvP or speed running PvE build, as when used in conjunction with a spell like Comet Azure, every boss became a one-hit kill just like YouTuber Nipthemad shows in the video above.

However, Elden Ring ’s 1.03 patch changed everything for Royal Knight’s Resolve. Post-patch, the Ash of War can only enhance the weapon it is on or any equipped shields, <a href="https://www.eldenringfans.com/">Recommended Reading</a> leaving its effect largely negligible. What makes this nerf even more effective is that a lot of <a href="https://www.eldenringfans.com/">Elden Ring beginner guide</a> Ring ’s best weapons come with their own Ash of War that cannot be removed or magically enhanced, meaning Royal Knight’s Resolve cannot be used with most meta weapons.

Hoarfrost Stomp Was Once A God Slayer In Elden Ring

Hoarfrost Stomp was Elden Ring ’s second most effective gimmick and the best tool for speed runners. The Ash of War, which enables players to stomp on the ground and send a wave of ice damage in front of them, could be used by low-level players to eliminate bosses with ease. This is because Hoarfrost Stomp dealt significant damage, cost little FP, had a huge area of effect, was very fast, and staggered opponents. This last facet of the Ash of War was perhaps its best quality, as the stagger allowed speed runners to keep bosses from hitting them while they could just spam Hoarfrost Stomp. YouTuber Schlechtelaunetyp shows just how strong this is even at the beginning of the game.

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Elden Ring 's 1.03 patch thought bosses should have more of a chance, though, and drastically reduced the effectiveness of Hoarfrost Stomp. The patch notes share that the move's casting time and FP cost were increase while its area of effect was decreased. This rendered its staggering effect useless, as bosses and players alike could close in on a Hoarfrost Stomp user and attack in between the usages of the no-longer-spammable Ash of War.

Moonveil Could Cut Through Poise Like Butter In Elden Ring

The <img src="https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/sharedimages/2024/05/moonveil-2.png?fit=contain&h=22&w=22"; alt="" /> Moonveil was once considered the most broken weapon in Elden Ring , and it wasn’t even close. The katana comes with the Ash of War "Transient Moonlight," which essentially is the "Unsheathe" Ash of War with an extended area of effect because of a moon beam that shoots out of the katana after unsheathing. So much about the Moonveil made it incredibly broken at launch: It scales with Dexterity and Intelligence, playing into the meta; it's available soon after choosing a class and starting of Elden Ring , being just northeast of the Third Church of Marika; and most importantly, it deals tons of damage to poise. In PvP, poise is incredibly broken, and in PvE, the poise of bosses can feel infinite. But players like the YouTuber Varsona Vyzelta show how Moonveil could cut through poise like butter; a few swings of Transient Moonlight could send even Godfrey, the First Elden Lord, to his knees.

However, the Moonveil was shadow nerfed in Elden Ring ’s 1.03 update. The health damage, poise damage, and range of Transient Moonlight were all decreased, with the poise damage being significantly nerfed. This change forced players into situation where if they wanted to break someone’s poise, they would have to hit with both the katana and moonbeam with Transient Moonlight. This practically made the sword a slightly better katana with Unsheathe - a far less attractive option. And because patch 1.03 was the same patch that fixed Arcane scaling in Elden Ring and thus made <img src="https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/sharedimages/2024/05/rivers-of-blood-2.png?fit=contain&h=22&w=22"; alt="" /> Rivers of Blood overpowered, the Moonveil largely fell out of favor despite not being the worst katana.

Sword Of Night & Flame Could One-Hit Kill Bosses In Elden Ring

The Sword of Night and Flame once stood next to the Moonveil as the best weapon in the game. It’s dual ability in the form of the Night-and-Flame Stance allowed the Tarnished to use either a powerful Faith-based or Intelligence-based spell. While both moves were strong, the Intelligence Night spell was especially noteworthy in PvE because of its resemblance to Comet Azure. Combined with Royal Knight’s Resolve, the Sword of Night and Flame allowed players to easily kill bosses from a distance as shown by Schlechtelaunetyp above, and if an opponent closed in at all, they could then use the Flame ability to wipe out any remaining health.

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However, Elden Ring ’s 1.03 patch drastically diminished the quality of the Sword of Night and Flame. Without "Royal Knight’s Resolve" available, both Night and Flame abilities dealt 80% less damage than they used to. On top of this, both abilities received a nerf to their baseline damage, and the Night ability received a shadow nerf to its range. This latter impact was probably the most detrimental to the sword, as the Night ability became too risky to use in fights since it could no longer be used at a great distance.

This list of Elden Ring 's most substantial nerfs goes to show just how dramatic the 1.03 update was for the game. Not only did the old strategies that were popularized upon launch fade away, but Arcane builds rose to dominate the meta. Hopefully FromSoftware and Bandai Namco can someday reverse this with future nerfs to revitalize _<a href="https://www.eldenringfans.com/">Elden Ring story guide</a> Ring _ 's gameplay.

Next: Elden Ring Bosses You Should Feel Bad For Killing

Source: Schlechtelaunetyp/YouTube ( 2 ), Nipthemad/YouTube , Varsona Vyzelta/YouTube

Topics: elden ring armor guide, elden ring guide, elden ring news

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