Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s hated final boss is finally weakened

FromSoftware has released a new update for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree on Wednesday, and the biggest target is the game’s final boss, which has received a major nerf. That change will likely come as a big relief to Old Ring fans who struggled with Promised Consort Radahn/Radahn, Consort of Miquella, one of the most challenging boss fights in the game.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree last patch notesfor version 1.14 of the game, starting with balance changes for Radahn, which are officially described as follows:

  • The action pattern when the battle starts has been changed.
  • Adjusted some attack moves.
  • The damage of some attacks has been reduced.
  • Reduced stamina damage from some attacks.
  • The attack range of some non-weapon based attacks has been reduced.
  • The visibility of some attack effects has been improved.

In practice, this means that several moves are being adjusted, making them easier to dodge and giving players more options to counter Radahn in his two phases. One of the most notable nerfs concerns Promised Consort Radahn’s cross-slash attack, in which he swings each of his swords separately and then slashes at the player with both blades. Radahn’s cross-slash is now much slower and has a longer recovery window.

Several moves that Radahn uses in his second phase (Radahn, Consort of Miquella) have also been adjusted. Radahn is now easier to track when the screen is filled with Miquella’s light-based spells, which no longer obscure the boss’s action or whereabouts.

FromSoftware’s changes to Promised Consort Radahn/Radahn, Consort of Miquella come after months of complaints from Shadow of the Erdtree players, who dismissed the boss fight as a low point in an otherwise beloved expansion Old RingPlayers not only criticized Radahn’s overwhelming and frantic attack patterns, but also said they often had to resort to completely different play styles to defeat the final boss.

Radahn has a notable history of weakening players in Old Ring. In the base game, he appears as Starscourge Radahn, a boss that was similarly criticized for being too difficult in its original form. FromSoftware reworked Starscourge Radahn less than a month after Old Ring‘s original release, but later some unintended changes to the boss’s damage and hitbox sizes were reverted. Starscourge Radahn became a point of pride for Old Ring players, some of whom like to brag that they beat him before the nerf. This trend will almost certainly continue with the latest changes to Promised Consort Radahn/Radahn, Consort of Miquella.

The rest of the changes in version 1.14 are largely focused on weapon, magic, and skill adjustments. You can read the rest of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree‘s new patch notes below.

Elden Ring – Patch Notes Version 1.14

PvP-exclusive balance adjustments

  • Backhand Blades damage against other players has been reduced. (Smithscript Cirque’s throwing attacks are not affected by this change)
  • The damage of Spears’ dual-wield attacks against other players has been reduced.
  • The damage of the Pata weapon against other players has been reduced.
  • The Spread Crossbow weapon no longer causes the move to deal head damage when hitting another player.
  • Reduced damage against other players.
  • This skill no longer causes the headshot damage move when hitting another player.
  • The damage animation value generated by this skill when hitting another player has been reduced.
  • The balancing value of follow-up attacks when using this skill against other players has been reduced.

General balance adjustments

  • The attack speed of the uncharged version of the first heavy attack has been increased for the following weapon types:

Dagger / Throwing Blade / Straight Sword / Great Sword / Colossal Sword / Heavy Thrust Sword / Curved Sword / Double-Bladed Sword / Katana / Great Katana / Axe / Flail / Great Spear (except Snake Hunter) / Halberd / Reaper / Whip (except Urumi) / Hand-to-hand Arts / Animal Claw.

  • After performing left-handed attacks with weapons from the Great Katana category, right-handed attacks now take longer to cancel.
  • Weapon Type Hand-to-Hand Art
    • More damage.
    • Shortened recovery time between normal attacks and follow-up attacks.
  • Weapon Type Colossal Sword
    • The movement distance when attacking has been increased.
    • The speed of the first normal attack has been increased.
  • Weapon Type Backhand Blade
    • The attack speed of normal attacks from a crouched position has been reduced.
  • Weapon Types Small Shield and Medium Shield
    • Increased the damage reduction of some shields when blocking physical attacks.
    • The protective power of some shields has been increased.
  • It now takes longer to cancel most actions after performing normal one-handed attacks with the Quick Spear.
  • The range of the Smithscript Dagger’s throwing attacks has been increased.
  • Rellana’s Twinblade’s attribute scale has been increased for lower Intelligence and Faith attributes.
  • Rellana’s Cameo Talisman
    • The delay before the damage buff activates has been reduced.
    • Increased damage buff.
  • Reduced stamina consumption
  • Increased balancing damage from heavy follow-up attacks.
  • The movement distance of the first heavy follow-up attack has been increased.
  • Adjusted the damage animation recovery time when the second heavy attack hits another player.
  • Canceling other actions to perform this weapon art now takes longer.
  • The range of the light wave, the damage of balance, and the attack speed of the stance’s normal attack have been increased.
  • Increased the damage dealt by the stance’s heavy attack.
  • Adjusted the damage animation recovery time when a Heavy Attack from a Stance hits another player.
  • Increased attack power.
  • The attack range of the Great Hammer’s spin has been increased.
  • Increased equilibrium value and rate of equilibrium generation.
  • The recovery time of the damage animation when a charged attack hits another player has been adjusted.
  • Increased attack range for first and second attack.
  • The knockback distance of the second attack has been reduced.

Aspects of the Crucible: Thorns

  • Increased attack power.
  • Increased attack power, stamina attack power against defending enemies.
  • The close range hitbox now follows the player’s movement

Aspects of the Crucible: Flowering

  • Increased attack speed, larger hitbox.
  • Reduced recovery time between using this spell and subsequent actions.
  • The minimum delay between successive hits has been reduced.
  • Greater reach.
  • Canceling this spell in throws will now take less time.
  • Increased balancing damage.
  • Increased distance to enemy recoil.

Midra’s flame of rage

  • Increased attack speed.
  • Increased range of Frenzy status build against enemies.
  • Reduced Frenzy status buildup when using this skill.

Bayle’s Flame Lightning

  • Black Pyreflies items now properly respawn when resting on a mercy spot.
  • Fixed a bug where performing a heavy Light Greatsword attack while jumping would not cost stamina.
  • Fixed a bug where unintended weapon skills could be used when equipping the Ballista in the left hand.
  • Fixed a bug that caused critical hit damage for Taylew the Golem Smith to be lower than intended when using certain weapons.
  • Fixed a bug where the player could not obtain runes if an enemy was killed while holding a shield.
  • Fixed a bug where casting the Inescapable Frenzy Incantation with the Staff of the Great Beyond would cause the hitbox to be generated incorrectly.
  • Fixed a bug where failed backstabs with the Pata weapon would have a smaller fist hitbox than intended.
  • Fixed a bug where some attacks from the Lizard Greatsword were not registering as melee attacks.
  • Fixed a bug where Euporia could increase the attack power of other weapons when their shine was restored.
  • Fixed a bug where Euporia’s restored glow effect would sometimes display on various weapons.
  • Fixed a bug where the power of some weapon skills of a right-handed Falx would change depending on the level of the weapon in the left hand.
  • Fixed a bug where the enchantment effects of certain skills were applied to attacks that did not use weapons.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause incorrect player movements to be performed when using lock-on for the following skills.
  • Wild Strikes / Spinning Strikes / Endless Dance
  • Fixed a bug where the Rolling Sparks ability would pass through certain terrain.
  • Fixed a bug where the Blades of Stone spell would not correctly hit targets at a different height level.
  • Fixed a bug where some attacks from Bayle’s Tyranny Incantation would not hit multiple enemies.
  • Fixed a bug where the Bayle’s Tyranny Incantation attack would pass through certain terrain.
  • Fixed a bug where Godfrey’s Icon Talisman would not apply to some skills, spells, and enchantments.
  • Fixed a bug where the player would not become translucent when the Crepus’ Vial Talisman was equipped and the Unseen Form Spell was used.
  • Fixed a bug where the hitboxes of some of Rellana, Twin Moon Knight’s attacks were different than intended.
  • Fixed a bug where the ‘Leave’ option could not be selected in the inventory menu for some gear.
  • Fixed a bug that made some Site of Graces difficult to touch under certain circumstances.
  • Fixed a bug in some areas where the invasion spawn position was different than intended.
  • Fixed a bug where the displayed name of certain areas was different than intended.
  • Fixed a bug where, under certain circumstances, the battle status would not be released after defeating an invading NPC.
  • Fixed a bug where some effects were not displaying correctly.
  • Fixed a bug where the Watchful Spirit Incantation’s attacks would sometimes be invisible to other players in multiplayer mode.
  • Fixed a bug where the effects of some tools and enchantments were not being applied correctly when attempting to parry or cancel.
  • Various performance improvements and other bug fixes
  • A descriptive error in the game’s credits has been corrected, which was incorrectly added in patch 1.12