After nearly a year since the game launched in February, Elden Ring has finally got its first major content patch in terms of the Colosseum update—and it’s free. The first of several planned DLCs by FromSoftware brings in mass PvP and sanctioned dueling that takes place in the massive colosseum arenas in Limgrave, Caelid, and Leyndell.
Along with this major update, FromSoftware has made several changes to the game state to balance out these new additions. These changes range from minor bug fixes that fans have been asking for, to balance changes that buff some underutilized spells and weapons and nerf the seemingly overpowered ones. All of this is done so that the mass PvP system will not feel as broken as the invasions do at times.
Elden Ring 1.08 patch notes
First off, these are the latest additions to the game in this Colosseum update.
Major new features
- The Colosseums of Limgrave, Caelid, and Leyndell are now open.
- In these arenas, players can engage in a variety of combat trials: one-on-one duels, free-for-alls and team battles with up to six players, and special fights with spirit summoning enabled.
- New hairstyles for character creation have been added. These are also available during the character edition by using the Round Table Hold Clouded Mirror Stand.
As mentioned earlier, these colosseum arenas host several one-on-one or team battles with up to six players at a time. Players can also engage in a battle royale instead if they so choose, with the last fighter standing declared the winner.
Related: Elden Ring trailer confirms co-op campaigns and PvP colosseum battles coming in major update
And also, the character customization is improved further with the addition of new hairstyles. PC players can probably get rid of a few hair mods because the new selections add quite a bit of flair to their chosen Tarnished.
Another thing mentioned earlier was the PvP balance changes that were proposed.
PvP-exclusive balance adjustments
- Reduced thrusting weapons counterattack damage.
- Reduced guard efficiency when attacking with your shield up for some weapon types.
- The poise damage of the following weapons has been reduced (Weapon Arts poise damage remains unchanged):
- Straight Swords / Thrusting Swords / Heavy Thrusting Swords / Curved Swords / Axes / Spears / Twinblade Swords / Katanas
- Reduced the poise damage of the Incantation Bestial Sling.
- Reduced the power of the Spell Carian Slicer.
With so many weapons and spells to choose from, balancing them out, especially in PvP, was quite difficult to do so because of how many possible interactions could take place. FromSoftware has made notable changes to the more egregious ones and that is highly appreciated.
Thrusting weapons were notoriously strong when it came to counterattacks, which makes for a welcome nerf. Fast weapons or weapons that could do rapid burst damage have all had their poise damage nerfed, making it harder to guard break with them in PvP. And finally, Bestial Sling and Carian Slicer have had their poise damage and power reduced because they were often abused in PvP.
Following the balance to PvP, FromSoftware made a few changes to the general game state as well.
General balance adjustments
- Increased the speed and distance of some attacks and reduced the recovery time for the following weapons:
- Daggers / Axes / Hammers / Flails (dual wielded)
- Increased the speed of some attacks and reduced the recovery time for the following weapons:
- Twinblade (two-handed) / Reaper / Fist / Claw
- Slightly increased the speed of crouching and rolling attacks of Colossal Swords.
- Increased the stagger damage of Axes’ guard counters.
- Increased poise when attacking with two-handed Hammers.
- Increased poise damage of Claws. Weapon Arts remain unchanged.
- Increased poise value during the active part of the Stamp (Upward Cut / Sweep) Weapon Art.
- Increased poise damage of the weapon slash part of the Transient Moonlight Weapon Art, and reduced the poise damage of the magic wave.
- Reduced the speed Thrusting Swords and Heavy Thrusting Swords crouching attacks.
- Reduced the stagger caused by double-handed Heavy Thrusting Swords jumping attacks.
- Reduced poise damage of Hammers, Great Hammers, and some Colossal Weapons. Weapon Arts remain unchanged.
- Reduced the poise damage of the Cragblade Weapon Art.
- Reduced hitbox duration of the flame portion of the Flaming Strike Weapon Art.
- Reduced poise damage of the Flame of the Redmanes Weapon Art.
- Reduced the time it takes to activate the guard part of the Shield Bash Weapon Art.
- Reduced the poise damage of the Gravity Bolt Weapon Art.
The buffs to Colossal weapons were desperately needed, especially since they have been out of the meta since the very beginning. The high damage tradeoff for their abysmal attack speed, recovery time and general misplacement was not balanced well enough. Hopefully, this changes that.
While a lot of poise damage was nerfed, including some of the more egregious weapon arts, the lesser utilized weapons got their poise damage buffed even further, making some of the better weapons in their class more viable. It will be exciting to see which weapons make a comeback.
And finally, some of the more annoying bugs that several players reported were patched out as well.
Bug fixes
- Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented consumable items from being replenished when teleporting to a grace from the map.
- Fixed a bug where stamina would replenish when switching to a crouching position while running.
- Fixed a bug where Spell, Incantation, and item input actions were ignored while guarding against attacks.
- Fixed incorrect physical attack values of some attacks of the Serpent-Hunter weapon.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the follow-up attack from occurring when the Black Sword Incantation was activated with a Sacred Seal in the left hand.
- Fixed a bug where the attack power of the right hand weapon was sometimes applied when casting the Inescapable Frenzy Incantation with a two-handed Sacred Seal in the left hand.
- Fixed a bug that could cause multiple damage instances when certain Spells and Incantations were casted while jumping.
- Fixed a bug that caused Weapon Arts to be incorrectly used with specific combinations of weapon and Weapon Arts.
The stamina bug in particular was quite widespread and will definitely cause discomfort to many players who abused it. The Serpent Hunter was a powerful meta weapon but its unstable damage values caused a lot of issues at times, hopefully not anymore.
The Inescapable Frenzy bug was another one that was abused by Madness build players, making the damage of the spell spike way past acceptable levels.
These are all of the changes in the latest 1.08 Colosseum update for Elden Ring. While a lot of these changes are appreciated, the question must be asked: Will these changes be enough? Only time, and player feedback, will tell. As for now, we encourage players to engage in all-out battles, creating chaos in the way only Elden Ring can.
