On March 16, 2022, Elden Ring received its largest update yet. The 1.03 Patch nerfed and buffed many weapons and spells in addition to adding more elements to the game. While some of the nerfs are disappointing, most changes were well-received by gamers.
Table Of Contents
The Targeted Platforms
Every platform that Elden Ring appears on received this patch simultaneously. This means that all of the following systems and services got the approximately 6 GB update:
- PlayStation 4
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox One
- Xbox Series S/X
- Steam
All the New Gameplay Elements Added in the 1.03 Patch
It’s not explained why exactly these features were not included in the version of Elden Ring that was available at launch. However, it’s possible that some of these elements had some bugs that needed to get worked out before FromSoftware was confident in their performance. Furthermore, you’ll find some nice quality-of-life adjustments that should make gameplay smoother and more interesting.
Locations of NPCs Are Now Marked on the Map
Keeping track of all the different NPCs can be tricky, especially since they move around throughout the phases of their respective quests. Thankfully, the names of NPCs will now appear next to the name of the structures or Sites of Grace they appear at.
As such, when you hover your cursor over the name of any location or Site of Grace, you’ll see all nearby NPCs. On top of this, there are now icons that will show you the locations of merchants you’ve met.
New NPC Added: Jar-Bairn
This living jar NPC was added into an area of Liurnia of the Lakes called Jarburg. Jarburg, as you’d expect, is a town of living jars, though it cannot be reached directly. You’ll have to take a dropdown path south of the Carian Study Hall to find it.
Within, you can find Jar-Bairn seated upon some stairs on the west side of the quaint village. You’ll need to speak to Jar-Bairn for part of Iron Fist Alexander’s questline. Whenever you do so is up to you.
New Quest Phases Added for Multiple NPCs
There are four NPCs that have had new phases added to their respective questlines:
- Diallos
- Nepheli Loux
- Kenneth Haight
- Gatekeeper Gostoc
You can find these individuals in the last place you spoke to them unless their quest has progressed and they go somewhere else. Thankfully, now that NPC names appear next to locations where they are found, you can keep track of important individuals easier. Although, the size of the Elden Ring map can make brute-force searching tedious.
Tons of New Summonable NPCs Added
In many different areas, usually before boss rooms, you can find summoning signs for NPCs. You can touch these signs to summon an ally for an upcoming battle or for a portion of a quest. The full list of new summonable NPCs has not been released, but it seems like FromSoftware has added them sporadically throughout the map.
New Disguises Added for the Mimic’s Veil
The Mimic’s Veil is a reusable key item that you can find in Stormveil Castle. When used, the Mimic’s Veil will consume 6 FP and will transform your appearance into that of a nearby object. What location you’re in will determine the list of objects whose appearance you can take while out of combat.
In the 1.03 Patch, there seem to have been a few new disguises added for various locations. This includes corpses, crystal formations, wildlife, and more. The function will remain the same for use against AI enemies, however, it’s possible that the new disguises will increase the use of the Mimic’s Veil in PvP.
More Night Background Music
The background music in Elden Ring is pretty subtle overall. Though, with the new ambient tracks that will play during nighttime, you’ll have a bit more to listen to while adventuring.
In addition to adding some pleasant tunes for exploring, this may be a bit of incentive to get players to look around after dusk more often. After all, there are some bosses and mini-bosses that can only be found at night.
Smithing Stones Are Now More Common
Some kinds of Smithing Stones can now be purchased from a few early-game merchants. Although, the list of who exactly sells them has not been released. Additionally, the drop rate of Smithing Stones from certain enemies has been increased. This seems to have been changed to give players in the early parts of the game more chances to upgrade weapons.
Every Bug Fixed in the 1.03 Patch
Despite Elden Ring‘s generally great performance, there were quite a few minor wrinkles here are there. Although this is to be expected with a title this complex, FromSoftware has clearly been hard at work remedying many of them through the different aspects of gameplay.
NPC Bug Fixes
- Summonable NPCs that were unintentionally immune to damage in boss fights will now take damage
- Dialogue with NPCs being auto-skipped when players with custom key configurations talk to them will now play properly
- Some hostile NPCs will no longer drop Furcalling Finger Remedies
Item Drop Bug Fixes
- Items that become unobtainable after dropping from a boss can now be picked up
- A Talisman Pouch has been added to the Twin Maiden Husks’ shop to get around the bug preventing players from obtaining more than two Talisman Pouches
Weapon Bug Fixes
- The Arcane stat will now scale properly with all weapons
- The incorrect scaling for certain strengthened weapons have been adjusted
- The weapons that were previously unintentionally not able to get scaling bonuses can now receive them
- The Erdtree Greatshield’s weapon skill will now not activate from a combination of self-used items and incantations
Armor Bug Fixes
- The Ragged armor set has been removed due to accidentally being made available in the previous patch
- Many incorrect stat parameters were adjusted for various armor sets
Spell Bug Fixes
- The Fire’s Deadly Sin incantation now applies the correct effect
Ash of War Bug Fixes
- Both the Determination and Royal Knight’s Resolve skills were changed so that their effects do not apply to other equipped weapons
Map Bug Fixes
- Players will no longer be able to warp to a Site of Grace during the very end of the game
- The area after the Fire Giant is now free from the glitch that prevented progression
- Multiplayer area boundary limits are now more accurate
Graphical and Audio Bug Fixes
- The Unseen Form spell’s animation has been adjusted
- The visual animations and hitboxes being displayed incorrectly on certain maps have been adjusted
- Enemies that did not have the correct behaviors will now act as intended and use correct visual animations
- The sound effects played in certain situations have been adjusted to be more appropriate to the settings
Miscellaneous Bug Fixes
- Freezing atop Torrent while riding will no longer occur
- The overall appearances of hang-ups have been decreased
- Many text errors have been resolved
Gameplay Balance Changes in the 1.03 Patch
Many weapons, spells, skills, and items have had their effectiveness either increased or decreased in some way. Furthermore, these changes have been made in order to prevent certain exploitable mechanics from being overused by players.
As a general trend, you’ll notice that the changes to sorceries take up the majority of balance adjustments. This is due to sorceries being, on average, underpowered. This was true in both PvE and PvP gameplay.
For intelligence builds, this made things a bit awkward. However, now that many spells have received buffs, you can expect to see sorceries more often in online encounters with other players. Hopefully, this won’t tip the scales in the opposite direction too heavily. Although, if it does, future patches for Elden Ring will likely attempt to remedy the newly-arisen issues.
Things That Got Nerfed
- The Ash of War: Hoarfrost Stomp has had its damage decreased and its cast time increased
- The Ash of War: Bloody Slash has had its damage decreased and its cast time increased, as well as having its self-inflicted damage increased
- The Sword of Night and Flame has had its weapon skill’s damage decreased
- The Ash of War: Prelate’s Charge has had its FP consumption timing changed
- The Ash of War: Barricade Shield has had its FP consumption increased and its duration decreased
- The damage of spirits summoned when using the Mimic Tear Ash item has been decreased along with having the spirit behaviors changed
Things That Got Buffed
- The Great Glintstone Shard sorcery has had its projectile speed and range increased
- The Shard Spiral sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Carian Piercer sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Carian Greatsword sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Loretta’s Mastery sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Loretta’s Greatbow sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Magic Downpour sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Greatblade Phalanx sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Stars of Ruin sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Founding Rain of Stars sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Gavel of Haima sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Rock Blaster sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Star Shower sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased
- The Crystal Barrage sorcery has had its damage increased
- The Collapsing Stars sorcery has had its damage increased
- The Gravity Well sorcery has had its damage increased
- The Night Comet sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased and its damage increased
- The Comet sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased and its damage increased
- The Glintstone Cometshard sorcery has had its FP consumption decreased and its damage increased
- The Rowa Raisin item will heal Torrent for more HP
- The Frozen Raisin item will heal Torrent for more HP
- The Sweet Raisin item will heal Torrent for more HP
- The Uplifting Aromatic item has had its effect duration increased
- The Ironjar Aromatic item has had its effect duration increased
- The Spark Aromatic item has had its damage increased
- The Poison Spraymist item has had its damage increased
- All cracked pot items have had their damage increased
- All shields have had their effectiveness increased
