Elden Ring’s latest update makes big changes to the action RPGs magic system, introducing a range of weapon rebalances and spell buffs that make what some players have jokingly called the game’s easy mode even easier.
The bumper 1.04 update includes a massive selection of rebalances for Elden Ring’s incantations and sorcery spells, largely improving their combat effectiveness. Crystal Barrage’s cast speed has been increased, Ranni’s Dark Moon now has a lower recovery time, Explosive Ghostflame requires fewer focus points, and Bloodboon’s damage has been bumped up.
That’s only a handful of the three dozen or so spells that have been buffed. Glance across the patch notes, and you’ll find every spell mentioned has had its cast speed increased, FP or Stamina cost reduced, damage bumped, or had some other stat improved. That’ll make spell-slinging Faith builds a lot more potent against Elden Ring’s bosses and fellow Tarnished in the game’s PvP Invasions.
Since the game’s release, some players have provocatively said playing Elden Ring with a magic-focused character is akin to playing the game on easy mode – the idea being that incantations are disproportionately powerful, letting you take advantage of generous healing spells and powerful weapons that scale with your Faith. Even Elden Ring summons feel like cheating to some players.
It’s not a perspective that’s shared by the entire community. Many late-game enemies can effectively counter the long casting times of sorceries and incantations, while the damage output of spells caps out earlier than many melee and ranged builds. Pick any playstyle, though, and you’re more than likely to find at least someone claiming it’s too easy.
Even so, the buffs introduced in this update certainly go some way in powering-up magic. While being a spell-slinger in Elden Ring might not be easy, per se, it’s certainly now easier than it’s ever been.
A bumper update
The new Elden Ring update is also good news for beefy melee characters. The attack speed and damage of Colossal Weapons and Colossal Swords have been improved, and their recovery time lowered. Add to that damage boosts for the Grafted Blade Greatsword, Deveourer’s Scepter, and other Colossal Weapons, and Strength builds have also become a whole lot more effective in Elden Ring’s metagame.
More universally, the FP and Stamina growth rate has been increased for all low-level players – you’ll just need to level up, activate Godrick’s Great Rune, or re-equip any stat-boosting item to see the change.
The update also adds a couple of new features, including the option to toggle the camera’s auto-rotation on or off, which will be handy for those who are sick of the game spinning around their character’s head at inopportune times. It also expands the questline of NPC Patches with new “event phases”.
There are plenty of bug fixes to go alongside those, too, spanning combat glitches to quest bugs that prevented players from progressing through the game.
Of course, if you really want to tweak the game, you could always install a few Elden Ring mods and totally overhaul the Lands Between.
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