| <br><br><br><br>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. <br><br><br>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. <br><br><br>Related: Elden Ring Exploits That Never Should Have Gotten Patched <br><br><br>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. <br><br><br>Royal Knight’s Resolve Was Elden Ring’s Biggest Gimmick <br><br><br>The most substantial nerf Bandai Namco levied on [https://www.eldenringfans.com/ Elden Ring maps] 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 [https://www.eldenringfans.com/ Elden Ring story guide] 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. <br><br><br>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, leaving its effect largely negligible. What makes this nerf even more effective is that a lot of Elden 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. <br><br><br>Hoarfrost Stomp Was Once A God Slayer In Elden Ring <br><br><br>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. <br><br><br>Related: Elden Ring Story Choices You'll Regret Late <br><br><br>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. <br><br><br>Moonveil Could Cut Through Poise Like Butter In [https://www.eldenringfans.com/ Elden Ring Builds] Ring <br><br><br>The 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. <br><br><br>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 Rivers of Blood overpowered, the Moonveil largely fell out of favor despite not being the worst katana. <br><br><br>Sword Of Night & Flame Could One-Hit Kill Bosses In Elden Ring <br><br><br>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. <br><br><br>Related: Elden Ring: New Game Plus Or New Character <br><br><br>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. <br><br><br>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 _Elden Ring _ 's gameplay. <br><br><br>Next: Elden Ring Bosses You Should Feel Bad For Killing <br><br><br>Source: Schlechtelaunetyp/YouTube ( 2 ), Nipthemad/YouTube , Varsona Vyzelta/YouTube <br> | | <br>One other small but interesting detail regarding these characters highlights another parallel between the worlds of Elden Ring and Bloodborne . Eileen’s armor mentions that the first Hunter of Hunters came from a foreign land. Coincidently, Yura originates from the Land of Reeds, making him a foreigner to The Lands Between, like Elden Ring 's Numen . Such details, along with the heavy focus on cosmic, extraterrestrial beings in both games, fuels speculation that the games could take place on different planets in the same unive<br><br> <br>The description for the Sun Realm Shield reads: " Shield of honor depicting a city crowned by the sun. It has seen better days. Much like the wear upon the shield, the Seat of the Sun is long faded away. " This is possibly a nod to Anor Londo, the capital city of Lordran from the first Dark Souls . In the lore, Anor Londo was the seat of Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, for ages after he and the other Lords discovered the Lord Souls during the advent of f<br><br> <br>The Raptor’s Black Feathers armor in Elden Ring nods to a beloved Bloodborne character, Eileen the Crow. It features a cape crafted with bird feathers, intended to imitate the Elden Ring 's Deathbirds, and is worn by an assassin called Ravenmount. Eileen’s armor has much in common with this set, being adorned with a cape made from crow feathers, similarly invoking worship of birds as figures of de<br><br> <br>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 unvia<br> <br>**Elden Ring ** features tons of references and nods to FromSoftware’s previous games. The infamous NPC Patches is notable, though many players are aware of his presence and know it as something of a recurring joke. However, several Easter eggs fuel the continuous speculation on a connection between the universes of Elden Ring , Bloodborne , and the Dark Souls series. There's no definitive proof that any of these share a continuity, but Elden Ring 's Easter eggs supply compelling implicati<br> <br>Previous versions of Elden Ring had already revolutionized co-op gameplay mechanics first introduced in FromSoftware's earlier Demon's Souls and Dark Souls RPGs . Easily accessed items such as the Furlcalling Finger Remedy and the Tarnished's Furled Finger let players quickly lay down and access summon signs right from the start of an Elden Ring playthrough, while the Small Golden Effigy item lets players send their summon signs to Stakes of Marika located outside nearby boss arenas. The 1.06 patch for Elden Ring expanded the utility of the Small Golden Effigy, adding a new menu where players can choose between sending their summon signs to Stakes in their current region or to distant regions entirely; this new quality-of-life feature will make it easier for players of Elden Ring to seamlessly summon co-op partners outside of peak playtimes while letting other players avoid spoilers by being summoned into places they haven't visited <br><br> <br>FromSoftware has recently released a new patch for Elden Ring _ , their latest RPG, but while some gameplay updates in the patch are extremely obvious, others are less so. The nerfs of extremely powerful weapon skills such as Bloodhound Step and Corpse Piler, for instance, were long awaited by players, but other updates in _Elden Ring 's 1.06 patch are far more subtle and hard to notice if players aren't actively looking for them. These include small buffs to certain weapon move-sets, the elimination of sequence-breaking glitches used by speed-runners, and even a new option for progressing a certain questl<br><br> <br>Ever since the game's release back in late February 2022, Elden Ring 's convention-breaking developers at FromSoftware have been responding to player feedback and compiling regular updates to fix perceived gameplay issues and improve the accessibility of the RPG as a whole. One major example of this is an update applied to the game menu that appears when Elden Ring player characters rest at a Sight of Lost Grace checkpoint; if players possess the materials needs to upgrade the number of charges or the restorative powers of their healing/magical energy flasks, a golden dot will appear next to the "Flasks" menu option. Updates like these aren't quite as exciting as the buffing/nerfing of fantasy weapons/magic, but do massively improve [https://WWW.Eldenringfans.com/ Elden Ring walkthrough] Ring 's gameplay and story by ensuring players won't lose track of when/if they can upgrade their primary restorative resour<br><br> <br>Elden Ring is an open-world RPG created with help from author George R.R. Martin that is set in the Lands Between, where the Greater Will's influence is the most dominant amongst the Outer Gods that have come in search of power. It is the Greater Will that sends the Elden Ring to the Lands Between, and it raises Marika to godhood so she can contain the Elden Ring as its vessel. However, life under the influence of the Greater Will isn't what all residents of the Lands Between desire, and many of them begin to grow disillusioned with the Greater Will and its Golden Order. The demigods, in particular, stray away from the Greater Will and seek their own paths and power in Elden Ri<br> |