If Old Ring: Shadow of the ErdtreeThe first patch was intended to make the DLC easierthis second one is out for blood again. Effective, patch1.12.3 brings about a series of equilibrium changes that have a great deal of Shadow of the Erdtreenew weapons and Ash of War abilities, including a popular build that players used to defeat the expansion’s difficult final boss.
While there are a lot of nerfs in the latest update, the most impactful changes concern the new perfume bottles and the Ash of War specific build called Rolling Sparks. When used in conjunction with the Lighting and/or Frenzyflame perfume bottle, the build was able to vaporize enemies quite quickly, and in some cases could even kill them in one shot.
Spoilers ahead Shadow of the Erdtreefollow the final boss.
This build became an especially popular tool for players stuck in the DLC’s final boss fight against Promised Husband Radahnthat hits hard and requires you to use some sort of cheese strategy. These are often seen as cheap tricks because they rely on overly powerful builds or because they exploit something that is wrong with the game.
Now players will have to defeat Radahn the old fashioned way again. The update also weakens the Swift Slash Ash of War (thankfully) because of its about-effectiveness in PvP, as well as the new thrusting shield weapons that became popular. Guarding while attacking with it would not That a lot of stamina, allowing players to perform attacks on the bucking shields without much consequence.
While many of the new weapons have been toned down, the Carian Sorcery Sword has actually had its Intelligence scale tuned higher, though its overall attack damage has been reduced slightly. This should make it more powerful for casting spells through the sword, while appropriately toning down its raw damage, as that’s rarely the move for someone who prioritizes the Intelligence stat.
While weapons are the focus of this patch’s balance changes, it also makes life a little easier when it comes to two of the most demanding boss fights in the DLC. Both Commander Gaius and the Golden Hippopotamus have had their spawn points adjusted. They should now start at a fixed point a fair distance from the entrance to the mist gate, so as not to destroy the player too quickly, which has become a common complaint among players for most of the Shadow of the Erdtreemet the boss.
And thus FromSoftware giveth, but it also taketh away. Given the cadence of these updates, I expect a few more balance changes over the next few weeks before the developer decides that everything is in its rightful place. So if you have a broken build and are looking to jump ship, I’d advise you to act fast, everyone. The full patch notes follow below:
PvP-exclusive balance adjustments
- The damage and damage animation of the vacuum effect of the skill “Quick Strike” have been reduced.
General balance adjustments
- The Carian Sorcery Sword’s intelligence scale has been increased and its base damage has been slightly reduced.
- The range of throwing attacks for the following weapons has been expanded:
- Smithscript Dagger / Smithscript Cirque
- The placement of the bosses in the rematch against bosses Golden Hippopotamus and Commander Gaius has been adjusted so that they are now in the same position as in the first battle.
Bugfixes
- Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks skill to deal more damage than expected.
- Fixed a bug where the Rolling Sparks and Wall of Sparks abilities would not deal damage even though 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 performed with the left hand:
- The Wild Flame of the Weak LordDiscus Throwing
- Fixed a bug where successfully defending while attacking with the Thrusting Shield weapon type would cost less stamina than intended.
- Fixed a bug where players were unable to cancel the attack recovery of strong two-handed 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 conditions.
- Fixed a bug where the Bloodfiend’s Arm weapon’s Arcane scaling was higher than intended when setting an affinity. The Heavy Attack’s stat buildup has also been reduced.
- Fixed a bug where the Gazing Finger weapon’s Faith scale was not being applied correctly.
- Fixed a bug where the damage animation of some Fire Knight Greatsword attacks on players was different than expected.
- Fixed a bug where the attack affinity of some of the Fire Knight’s Greatsword attacks was different than expected.
- Fixed a bug that caused some affinities for the following weapons to be higher than intended:
- Smithscript DaggerSmithscript CirqueSmithscript AxeSmithscript Great HammerSmithscript SpearGolem FistSmithscript Shield
- Fixed a bug that caused enemies to heal when Black Knife Tiche’s gradual HP reduction effect, the maximum HP reduction, wore off.
- Fixed a bug where summoned NPCs would behave differently than expected under certain circumstances.
- Fixed a bug where the boss Golden Hippo’s unblockable bite attack would connect with players more easily than intended.
- Fixed a bug that caused text to display differently than expected.
- Various other performance improvements and bug fixes.
Possible solutions for unstable performance
- For the PS5 version of the game, the unstable framerate can be improved by using the ‘Rebuild Database’ option in the device’s Safe Mode.
- In some PC versions, Ray Tracing may be enabled unintentionally and cause unstable performance. Check the Ray Tracing setting in “System” > “Graphics Settings” > “Ray Tracing Quality” on the title screen or in-game menu.
- In the PC version, the message “Inappropriate activity detected” may appear without cheating occurring.
To resolve this issue, verify the integrity of the game files before restarting the game.
- In the PC version, unstable framerate can be caused by third-party applications that control mouse behavior. Disabling these third-party applications can improve performance.
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