Elden Ring 1.04 returns Patches to his patch.

Elden Ring’s most recent update has brought a vast wealth of changes. Weapons, sorceries, and incantations have all been buffed, and subtle changes have also been made to some bosses.

One of the most intriguing additions in the new patch is an end to Patches’ storyline. The unscrupulous merchant previously jumped over to the Shaded Castle once the player had completed Volcano Mano. Speaking with him there would see him state that he’d been injured. Returning again would find him vanished. As of Elden Ring’s 1.04 patch, Patches now returns to his original home in Murkwater Cave. If the player returns there, they’ll be treated to a rather entertaining rerun of the original encounter.

For balance adjustments, this is the biggest wave of buffs we’ve seen for Elden Ring yet. Colossal weapons have had their attack speeds and recovery times improved, along with a boost to guarding and two-handed attack damage.

 
© FromSoftware

A massive raft of Sorceries and Incantations have been buffed too, largely to increase weaker spell utility and resistance to interruption for more powerful (and time consuming) casts. The only spells to receive purely negative adjustments are Swarm of Flies, The Flame of Frenzy, and Frenzied Burst, presumably to reduce their prevalence in PvP and use in the Malenia boss battle.

One crucial adjustment also sees a protective barrier added to Millicent at the end of her quest line. Previously, players could easily kill Millicent by accident if they jumped or rolled off the cliff above her.

Unfortunately, a bug appears to have been introduced which causes the Malenia boss fight to be even harder. Many players are reporting that she’ll now heal even when she fails to hit the player, making the boss even more of a formidable challenge. In addition, the Flask of Cerulean Tears’s duration was accidentally halved, making it even tougher to unleash powerful spells on her.

We’ve included the full Elden Ring 1.04 patch notes below so you can see all the adjustments in one place.

Elden Ring 1.04 patch notes

 
© FromSoftware

Additional Elements Added

Balance adjustments

Sorcery/Incantation

Upward adjustments

 Upward and downward adjustments

Downward adjustments

Weapon Skill

Upward adjustments

 Upward and downward adjustments

 Bug Fixes

Please note: This patch mistakenly included an update to the duration of the Cerulean Hidden Tear, shortening it. This unintentional change will be reverted with a minor patch in the near future. Our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Those were the full Elden Ring 1.04 patch notes. Are you happy with the changes? Let us know in the comments below.