Shortly following the announcement of Shadow from the Erdtree, Elden Ring's highly anticipated DLC, we received a brand new patch 1.09. This patch brought by using it a highly anticipated feature that fans have been waiting for since before the game's release. The addition of this feature was met with mixed reactions in the community, with a few praising it as being a game-changer yet others condemning it as being a major misstep.
Despite the divisive nature of the update, it was indeed built with a significant effect on the game. Some of the changes it introduced were highly beneficial, while some proved to become more controversial. In this article, we'll take a closer look at the various changes caused by patch 1.09 and examine their effect on the Elden Ring experience.
While some may reason that the update has left some players feeling weaker, you need to note that the essential character-building mechanics from the game stay the same. Therefore, you could prepare yourself by giving your better character abilities with runes in Elden Ring. Now let's concentrate on some major changes the update brought.
Introduction of Ray Tracing
Elden Ring fans happen to be eagerly awaiting the arrival of patch 1.09, which offers to add some major visual improvements to the sport. And now, the wait is finally over! With this update, players are now able to enjoy the stunning visual results of ray tracing.
This feature was initially discovered through data mining this past year in October, and fans happen to be eagerly anticipating its official release since. Though the update targets all platforms, ray tracing happens to be only available for PC, Xbox Series X, and also the PS5.
What Is Ray Tracing?
So, what is ray tracing? In simple terms, it is a rendering technique that simulates how light interacts with virtual objects inside a game. By tracing the road of light rays, this method produces more realistic lighting, smoother reflections, shadows, and textures. The result is a far more immersive and engaging game world that draws players in for the first time.
Enabling ray tracing in Elden Ring is easy. Simply head towards the settings menu and toggle ray tracing on or off in Game Options. However, be warned that having fun with ray tracing enabled may impact game performance, including frame rate and resolution.
The Downside of Ray Tracing
Ray tracing is a powerful feature that may make games look stunning, but it is also known to become resource-intensive as well as a powerful machine to operate smoothly. Unfortunately, it would appear that Elden Ring's latest patch didn't implement this feature in addition it could have. Players are reporting significant drops in performance when ray tracing is enabled.
Even those playing on high-end PCs having an RTX 4090 have massive stuttering and frame drops of as little as 30 FPS. But it's not only PC players who're facing these problems; even Xbox Series X players are reporting drops of as little as 5 FPS. Some players also have experienced crashes while trying to fast travel, despite ray-traced visuals switched off. Many players weren't happy with using it, also it remains to become seen if FromSoftware can address these problems with future patches.
Major PvP Balance Adjustments
The Inescapable Frenzy incantation power and grab angle happen to be increased, in addition to the power, range, and grab angle from the Lifesteal Fist skill. However, players should observe that the power of two-handed jumping attacks continues to be decreased, along with the strength of heavy and high running attacks of Fist and Claw weapon types.
The Founding Rain of Stars spell and Terra Magica spell enhancement effect also has been decreased. Moreover, the potency of several skills and talismans, including Determination, Royal Knight's Resolve, Claw Talisman, Lord of Blood's Exultation Talisman, and Contagious Fury skill from the Jellyfish Shield, continues to be reduced.
Additionally, the buffs granted by certain items, like the White Mask head armor (attack power), and Raptor's Black Feathers armor (jump attack damage), happen to be decreased.
Finally, the harm buff from the Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear, Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear, Lightning-Shrouding Cracked Tear, and Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear, (if activated using the Flask of Wondrous Physick) has been decreased.
General Balance Adjustments
Several general balance adjustments happen to be made to the sport to improve gameplay. These adjustments include adding an invincibility window when respawning within the colosseum, helping the scaling of Magic, Fire, Flame Art, Lightning, and Sacred attributes when infusing weapons with certain Ashes of War, and helping the attribute scaling of numerous weapon types, such as the Colossal Sword, Great Axe, Hammer, Flail, Great Hammer, and Colossal Weapon.
Some weapon types also have seen improvements in their speed, range, and recovery time, like the Great Hammer, Great Axe, Great Sword, and Curved Greatsword. Flail weapons already went through a significant change, including increased speed, reduced attack recovery time, and increased poise when utilizing two-handed attacks.
Running attacks happen to be given a speed boost, and also the attack recovery time continues to be reduced for several weapon types like the Straight Sword, Twinblade Sword, Curved Sword, Katana, Axe, Hammer, and Halberd. The first attack speed of Straight Sword, Curved Sword, and Whip weapons continues to be increased, and guard counters happen to be sped up for weapons such as the Great Sword, Colossal Sword, and Great Curved Sword.
Whip weapons also have seen a reduction in attack recovery time. The Claw weapons now deal more damage, and also the Great Club continues to be given Holy damage and Faith scaling. Damage negation has additionally been adjusted according to affinity, having a higher damage negation when blocking Holy damage.
Finally, the Twinblade Talisman continues to be made more efficient, the rolling distance for lighter equipment weights continues to be slightly reduced, and also the hitbox size continues to be decreased for several attacks from the Thrusting Sword, Heavy Thrusting Sword, Spear, Great Spear, and Halberd.
AoE Adjustments
The Ashes of War adjustments in Elden Ring Update 1.09 bring some notable changes to the sport.
For instance, the Lifesteal Fist presently has an increased target grab range, while Surge of Faith sees a rise in projectile generation speed. Flame Spit and Tongues of Fire both have increased guard speed and blocking amount, with Flame Spit also featuring its fireball angle adjusted.
The Great Oracular Bubble comes with an increase in projectile generation speed and reduced recovery time. Viper Bite has reduced the time before rolling can be done after using the skill, while Shriek of Milos has grown close-range poise damage.
Spearcall Ritual sees a rise in projectile generation speed, while Cursed-Blood Slash has grown projectile generation speed and reduced recovery time. Gold Breaker has reduced recovery time.
I Command Thee, kneel! has grown attack generation speed, Starcaller Cry sees an increase in the speed of follow-up attacks, and Spinning Wheel has grown attack generation speed and presently has a roll and high attack cancel timing while using the skill.
Bug Fixes
Elden Ring 1.09 update has additionally arrived having a plethora of bug fixes. Among the fixed bugs are difficulties with weapon scaling and status build-up, like the Scarlet rot status build-up not being properly reflected when utilizing certain weapons with Blood or Cold affinity. Furthermore, the update addresses difficulties with weapon skills, talisman effects, and skill power reduction while underneath the Golden Vow effect.
The update also improves stability in Colosseum matchmaking, fixes camera positioning when respawning within the Colosseum, and corrects a bug in which a player could receive credit for any kill when dying due to the Death status effect. In addition, the update improves online multiplayer stability and addresses several performance issues.
Has Patch 1.09 Update Nerfed Incantation and Sorcery Builds?
The latest 1.09 update has accidentally caused a vital bug that continues to be causing headaches for players who prefer to make use of sorceries and incantations. The bug inhibits the harmful output of magic wielders in the sport, which makes it difficult to progress with the late-game stages.
One of the incantations tested was Flame Sling, which allows players to hurl fireballs at their enemies. In both versions 1.08 and 1.09 of Elden Ring, the bottom damage for Flame Sling is 308. However, once the Howl of Shabriri buff is applied, the harm output of Flame Sling increases by 25% to 385.
Unfortunately, in version 1.09, the same buff only leads to Flame Sling dealing 308 damage, that is its base damage with no buffs. The issue is not restricted to Flame Sling alone; Golden Vow, another incantation that's designed to increase the player's damage output by 15%, also suffers from the same problem.
While the bug may not seem like a substantial issue, it affects many spells and incantations in the sport, leading to decreased damage output for magic wielders. In a challenging game like Elden Ring, where every encounter is a life-or-death situation, a slight difference in damage output could make all the difference. FromSoftware will probably fix this bug in a future update, but for now, magic wielders might have to turn to melee combat to advance in the sport.
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