This page details a breakdown and overview for all changes implemented with Patch 1.03 for Elden Ring. Includes all nerfs to items and weapons, sorcery buffs, balance changes, bug fixes, and quality of life updates.

Nerfed Items and Weapons¶

Sword of Night and Flame Nerf¶

The most significant change made to a specific weapon in this patch is for the , which has had its weapon skill and damage decreased to nearly half of what it once was. This might be a bit of a kick in the teeth for those players who invested in Intelligence and Faith stats just to use this sword, since the benefit of relying on it for the cost to those stats is now questionable. A friendly reminder to check our How to Respec in Elden Ring guide!

Ashes of War¶

• Increased Ash of War, Bloody Slash’s self-inflict damage while slightly lowering the damage and increasing the cast time.

• Increased FP consumption and lower duration of Ash of War, Barricade Shield.

• Changed FP consumption timing of Ash of War, Prelate’s Charge.

The above changes see two of the most powerful Ashes of War being significantly nerfed. Bloody Slash will now cost you more in blood, while also inflicting less damage and making you more vulnerable in the process, as the cast time is slightly increased. The previous cast time already left you with an excruciating wait as a boss attack came hammering down, so it’ll take some getting used to as you adjust to the new timing.

Barricade Shield was also incredibly useful when fighting big bosses, allowing you to block without consuming any stamina if the +35 guard brought you to 100 guard or more. This will still be the case, but it’ll cost you more FP to use and the duration of the effect is decreased. As with Bloody Slash, you’ll need to adjust your timing when using this Ash of War to make the most of it during long boss fights.

Buffed Sorceries¶

Sorcery Updates¶

• Raised projectile speed and range of

• Decreased FP consumption of the following sorceries:

  • Loretta’s Greatbow

• Increased the damage of the following sorceries:

• Reduced FP consumption and increased the damage of the following sorceries:

These changes to Sorcery spells represent a significant buff for magic users, allowing you to cast more spells before your FP runs out, while increasing the damage for others.

Miscellaneous Balance Changes¶

• Increased HP healing for Torrent when using the following items: Rowa Raisin / Sweet Raisin / Frozen Raisin.
• Increased the effect duration for the following items: Uplifting Aromatic / Ironjar Aromatic.
• Increased the damage for the following items: Spark Aromatic / .
• Increased the damage for all offensive cracked pot items.
• Increased shield’s effectiveness.
• Added Smithing Stone to some early game shop line up.
• Increased the drop rate of Smithing Stone for some enemies.
• Decreased the damage of spirit summoned when using the item Mimic Tear Ash and changed the spirit’s behavior pattern.

The increased damage for crafted Cracked Pot items is especially welcome here. These can be useful in a fight against an opponent who is vulnerable to the particular type of damage being utilized, such as fire damage, holy damage, and poison. The increased drop for Smithing Stones and their availability at some early shops is also going to be useful in the early game. The weapon enhancements may seem minor at first, but they can really stack up, especially as they improve stat scaling. The Mimic Tear Ash nerf is somewhat expected, since this summon was generally massively overpowered compared with its counterparts.

Gameplay Updates & Features¶

• Added a function to record an icon and the name of an NPC on the map when you encounter that NPC.
• Added NPC Jar-Bairn.
• Added new quest phases for the following NPCs: Diallos / Nepheli Loux / Kenneth Haight / Gatekeeper Gostoc.
• Added some summonable NPCs in multiple situations.
• Increased the number of patterns of objects player can imitate when using Mimic’s Veil.
• Added night background music for some open field areas.

One of the best quality of life changes here is the addition of NPC tracking in specific locations. You can now hover over any Site of Grace and see which NPCs are there at a glance, as shown in the image below. There’s also a small icon of a hooded figure added to the map wherever an NPC is present. However, keep in mind that you’ll need to encounter the NPC at least once before they’ll appear on your map.

View Full-size

1

2

(1 of 2) You can now hover over any Site of Grace to check which NPCs are present there at a glance.

View Full-size

View Full-size

You can now hover over any Site of Grace to check which NPCs are present there at a glance. (left), There’s also a small icon of a hooded figure, indicating the presence of an NPC. (right)

Bug Fixes in Patch 1.03¶

• Fixed a bug that prevented summoned NPCs from taking damage in some boss battles.
• Fixed a bug that sometime prevented the player from obtaining item after boss battle.
• Fixed a bug that causes dialogue to be skipped when talking to NPCs and using custom key configurations.
• Fixed a bug that causes the player to freeze when riding.
• Fixed a bug that causes arcane to scale incorrectly for some weapons.
• In situation where the player cannot obtain more than 2 talisman pouches, added talisman pouch to Twin Maiden Husks shop line up.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the user from warping to sites of grace from the map at the end of the game.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the player from moving to the next area after the battle with the Fire Giant.
• Fixed a bug which causes some weapons to have incorrect scaling after strengthening.
• Fixed a bug which causes some weapons to not use stat scaling.
• Fixed hang-ups in certain occasions.
• Fixed a bug which incorrectly displays multiplayer area boundary when playing online.
• Fixed a bug that allows player to activate Erdtree Greatshield’s weapon skill without absorbing an attack using a special combination of item and incantation.
• Fixed a bug which causes incantation to have different effect.
• Fixed a bug with the Ash of War, Determination and Royal Knight’s Resolve, where the damage buff will also apply to other weapons without that skill.
• Adjusted the visual effect of spell.
• Deleted the Ragged armor set from the game which was mistakenly obtainable in previous patch.
• Fixed a bug that causes some hostile NPCs to drop .
• Fixed a bug that causes incorrect sound effect to play in some situations.
• Fixed a bug which causes visual animation and hitboxes to not be displayed correctly on some maps.
• Fixed bugs which causes incorrect visual and behavior for some enemies.
• Fixed a bug that causes incorrect stat parameter for some armor.
• Text fixes.
• Other performance improvement and bug fixes.

We’re hoping that the performance improvements and bug fixes will be especially useful to PC users. Although some players have experienced few performance issues, those with older hardware are struggling the most. However, there’s also extreme stuttering in some cases even for those with the latest hardware. Not the best scenario in a game where one misstep can easily see you dead.

Ultimately, this patch brings in some welcome bug fixes, useful quality of life changes in the form of gameplay updates and features, and some controversial nerfs to weapons and items. It’s good to see the crafting system getting some love and attention, as the utility and effectiveness of crafted items is enhanced. There are also changes and additions to some quest arcs for NPCs that many players may have already killed, such as Gatekeeper Gostoc, so you may now be missing out on content without any way to revive them.

Those players focusing their build on Glintstone Sorcery are the real winners here, with some of their most powerful (and not so powerful) spells costing less FP, while the damage to others is increased. If you’re one of those players who relied on the OP nature of the Sword of Night and Flame, or who spammed the Bloody Slash Ash of War, you may need to rethink your strategy slightly after this patch.