Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has received a new balancing update, version 1.12.3, that nerfs the extremely popular skills Swift Slash and Rolling Sparks alongside buffing some interesting weapons. The skills have by far been two of the most used aspects of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, as they allow players to take down even the toughest enemies in The Land of Shadows with ease.

The first Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC update turned out to be quite a divisive one for the community, as many weren't happy about the fact that it made the first half of the game easier. The update recalibrated the Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes, giving players more buffs for the initial few levels. Now, a new update has been released that brings some notable nerfs to Shadow of the Erdtree.

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FromSoftware has revealed the patch notes for Elden Ring update version 1.12.3, which was released on July 4. The most standout aspects of the update are the nerfs to the Rolling Sparks and Swift Slash skills. Rolling Sparks has been one of the DLC's most broken skills, and players were using it on the Lightning Perfume Bottle to one-shot Promised Consort Radahn in Shadow of the Erdtree. In the update, the damage of both the Rolling Sparks and the Lightning Perfume Bottle has been reduced.

The Swift Slash weapon skill has been another popular option that players have been using lately. In fact, many Elden Ring fans thought that the Swift Slash skill broke PvP altogether since it is one of those attacks that is extremely difficult to avoid. While it can be parried, it requires pinpoint accuracy, which is not always feasible. Both the damage and damage animation have been tweaked to make the skill more balanced.

The Carian Sorcery Sword, popularly known as the spell-casting sword in Shadow of the Erdtree has been buffed. While the weapon brings a unique concept to the table, Elden Ring fans have been a bit disappointed with its damage numbers. With the new update, both the base damage and Intelligence scaling have been buffed, which should make the weapon more viable, especially at higher levels. Intelligence build users have been a bit unhappy with the DLC, so this should definitely offer more alternatives for players who are still relying on the Moonveil. Last but not least, the range of both the Smithscript Dagger and Smithscript Cirque has been increased. There are a plethora of bug fixes that the patch brings as well, especially those related to NPC and enemy behavior.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Update 1.12.3 Patch Notes

PvP-exclusive balance adjustments

• Decreased the damage and damage animation of the shearing vacuum effect of the “Swift Slash” Skill.

General balance adjustments

• Increased the Intelligence scaling of the Carian Sorcery Sword and slightly decreased the base damage.
• Extended the throwing attacks range for the following weapons:
• Smithscript Dagger / Smithscript Cirque
• Changed the placement of the bosses in the re-fight against the Golden Hippopotamus and Commander Gaius bosses to be in the same position as in the first fight.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks Skill to deal more damage than expected.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks and Wall of Sparks Skills to deal no damage while some special effects were applied to the player.
• Fixed a bug where some special effects of a right-handed weapon would also be applied to the following Weapon Skills when cast with the left hand:
  • Feeble Lord's Frenzied Flame
  • Discus Hurl

• Fixed a bug where successfully guarding while attacking using the Thrusting Shield weapon type would consume less stamina than intended.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from cancelling the attack recovery of two-handed strong attacks by rolling for certain weapons of the Backhand Blades weapon type.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Lightning Perfume Bottle and Frenzyflame Perfume Bottle weapons to deal double damage under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug where the Arcane scaling of the Bloodfiend's Arm weapon was higher than intended when setting an affinity. The status buildup of the heavy attack was also reduced.
• Fixed a bug where the Faith scaling of the Gazing Finger weapon was not being applied correctly.
• Fixed a bug where the damage animation of some attacks of the Fire Knight's Greatsword against players was different than expected.
• Fixed a bug where the attack affinity of some attacks of the Fire Knight's Greatsword were different than expected.
• Fixed a bug that caused some affinities for the following weapons to be higher than intended:
  • Smithscript Dagger
  • Smithscript Cirque
  • Smithscript Axe
  • Smithscript Greathammer
  • Smithscript Spear
  • Golem Fist
  • Smithscript Shield

• Fixed a bug that caused enemies to heal when the Maximum HP reduction gradual HP reduction effect applied by Black Knife Tiche wore off.
• Fixed a bug that caused summoned NPCs to behave differently than expected under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug that where the unblockable bite attack of the Golden Hippopotamus boss would connect with players more easily than intended.
• Fixed a bug that caused text to display differently than expected.
• Several other performance improvements and bug fixes.

Possible unstable performance fixes

• For the PS5 version of the game, unstable framerate may be improved by using the "Rebuild Database" option from the device’s safe mode.
• In some PC versions, Ray Tracing may be unintentionally enabled and cause unstable performance. Please check the Ray Tracing setting in the "System" > "Graphics Settings" > "Raytracing Quality" from the title screen or in-game menu.
• In the PC Version, the message "Inappropriate activity detected" may appear without cheating.

To fix this issue, please verify the integrity of the game's files before restarting the game.

• In the PC version, unstable framerate may be caused by third party applications that control mouse behavior. Deactivating these third party applications may improve performance.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Shadow of the Erdtree is the first and only DLC expansion for FromSoftware's groundbreaking Elden Ring. It takes players to a whole new region, the Land of Shadow, where a new story awaits the Tarnished.

Base Game

Elden Ring

Platform

Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox One

Released

June 21, 2024

Developer(s)

FromSoftware

Publisher(s)

Bandai Namco Entertainment , FromSoftware

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