Elden Ring is already a massive success, but FromSoftware has continued to add to the game through free updates. The free Elden Ring updates have squashed bugs, made balance changes, and in some cases, have even added new content. Previous Elden Ring updates added new quest phases, and the latest one does so as well, giving fans more closure when it comes to the Patches questline in the game.
For the uninitiated, Elden Ring players can first encounter Patches very early in the game at a place called Murkwater Cave. Patches will try to fight players at first, but he is easily dispatched. After winning the battle, Elden Ring players can then choose to spare Patches or kill him. Sparing Patches will then start a questline where players have the chance to interact with Patches a few more times during their Elden Ring journey.
Patches will try to trick players throughout the game, booting them off cliffs and using magic chests to teleport them to dangerous locations. He can also be summoned for help during the tough Radahn boss fight, though quickly leaves before actually doing anything. If players make it to Volcano Manor, they'll find Patches chilling out there as well, and he gives them another quest to do. Patches then travels to the Shaded Castle, where he gives players the Dancer's Castanets.
Elden Ring Patches 1.04 Location
Prior to update 1.04, visiting Patches at the Shaded Castle meant the end of his questline. Eventually he would disappear from the Shaded Castle and was nowhere to be found, but after Elden Ring update 1.04, he can be found in a new location.
Upon downloading Elden Ring update 1.04, players that have finished the Patches questline - and haven't killed him - can find him hanging out at Murkwater Cave again. Patches will once again try to fight players, only to give up when he realizes who he's facing off against. Players will get the Patches Squat emote for their troubles. If players keep talking to Patches, eventually he will return to selling items, becoming another Elden Ring merchant for players to do business with in the Lands Between.
It's possible that there are more changes to Patches' questline in Elden Ring that haven't been discovered yet, but the ending to it has definitely changed. It will be interesting to see if future updates add more quest phases for Elden Ring NPCs, or if they will focus more on balance changes and bug fixes instead.
Elden Ring is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
