New Elden Ring patch will make those early DLC hours a lot easier

By Carli Velocci Published June 27, 2024

One of Shadow of the Erdtree's bosses, Divine Beast Dancing Lion. — FromSoftware

A lot of people have been having trouble with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, due to both general FromSoftware game difficulty and changes made to the leveling system once you get to the DLC area. A tiny patch issued Wednesday aims to help with that.

Calibration Update 1.12.2 tweaks two things regarding the Scadutree Blessing, a DLC-exclusive blessing that allows you to deal and take more damage as you upgrade it. The patch increases attack and damage negation for the first half of the upgrade tree, with the second half being “more gradual.” It also increased the blessing’s final level, so players who max it out will benefit more.

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The Scadutree Blessing, according to a post from publisher Bandai Namco, is one of the key things players are missing with Shadow of the Erdtree. To use the blessing, you have to collect Scadutree Fragments, which are scattered throughout the Land of Shadow. The base game featured a more standard leveling system, while the DLC is focused more on attack power as a way to balance players at different skill levels.

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FromSoftware and Bandai Namco issuing a patch seemingly in response to player feedback to make the game less difficult seems almost like a joke. However, while the point of Elden Ring‘s level design is to have you be defeated by bosses, forcing you to go back out into the world and explore, the patch should remove some of the frustration in those earlier hours — as long as you remember to use Scadutree Blessing and upgrade it, of course.

In smaller news, Calibration Update 1.12.2 notes that a bug where ray tracing being automatically on is contributing to some of the frame rate issues PC players have been experiencing. You can disable it by going into the game’s Graphics Settings and setting ray tracing to off.

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Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

Gaming

Elden Ring players are already struggling to beat Shadow of the Erdtree

The hand-to-hand combat style in Shadow of the Erdtree.

Difficulty is a well-known hallmark of FromSoftware games, and so the fact people are experiencing issues in the new Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, even against even common enemies, is unsurprising. However, even veteran players appear to be struggling. Many have taken to Steam to negatively review the game, which is now sitting at "Mixed" at the time of this writing.

Some of these complaints also cite performance issues, including stuttering and dropped frame rate. Publisher Bandai Namco and FromSoftware haven't commented on any upcoming fixes.

Gaming

How to find and use the Prayer Room Key in Shadow of the Erdtree

Multiple players look out over a landscape with the Elden Ring co-op mod.

Calling Shadow of the Erdtree a DLC is kind of misleading when you actually enter the Land of Shadow and see just how massive this new region is. The base game was already massive, and this feels like another game about half its size was plopped into the world, with bosses, weapons, dungeons, and secrets all included. Among all the hidden areas and items, the most mysterious include the Prayer Room and the Prayer Room Key. Players may stumble upon one or the other -- most likely neither -- but almost certainly not both without some help. If you're interested in the lore of the game in particular, you will want to see what's hidden behind this very secluded door.

Note: This article contains minor spoilers for bosses and NPCs in Shadow of the Erdtree.
Where to find the Prayer Room Key

Gaming

Elden Ring’s pre-Shadow of the Erdtree patch makes its final boss much easier

An Elden Ring player sits on their horse and looks out at a castle ahead.

Publisher Bandai Namco has released the patch notes for the big pre-Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree update, and while a lot of the changes were expected, it features some small but exciting additions.

The most noteworthy change in version 1.12, buried in the "New inventory features" section, is the new ability to summon your steed Torrent in the final boss battle. Without spoiling anything, not only does the final battle come right after another equally difficult boss, but you'll need to do a lot of sprinting to avoid its attacks. Being able to use your trusty steed will make this a lot easier. And, quite frankly, you'll need all the help you can get when it comes to most boss battles.

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