The latest Elden Ring patch makes changes to two of the hardest Shadow of the Erdtree bosses

A brand-new Elden Ring patch has been deployed, fixing a number of bugs and balance issues, while also nerfing some of the game's most powerful builds.

FromSoftware released version 1.12.3 today, July 4, and is a surprisingly large update that aims to address a bunch of problems, including some that may have been bothering players. 

Specifically, the patch has made changes to two of Shadow of the Erdtree's most challenging bosses, the Golden Hippopotamus and Commander Gaius, by changing the placement of them in their respective arenas so they don't instantly overwhelm you as you pass through the entrance. 

This should also give players a chance to summon one of their many spirits to help in battle before the bosses overwhelm them within seconds.

In addition to a long list of bug fixes, the Swift Slash skill has had its damage and damage animation nerfed in PvP, while the Carian Sorcery Sword has had its Intelligence scaling increased at the cost of its base damage. 

The Lightning Perfume Bottle and Frenzyflame Perfume Bottle, two popular weapons among players, have also been significantly nerfed. According to FromSoftware, the damage output for each weapon was a bug that was dealing double damage "under certain circumstances", so say goodbye to this overpowered build. You can read the full patch notes below.

Elden Ring - Version 1.12.3 patch notes

PvP-exclusive balance adjustments

• Decreased the damage and damage animation of the shearing vacuum effect of the “Swift Slash” Skill.

General balance adjustments

• Increased the Intelligence scaling of the Carian Sorcery Sword and slightly decreased the base damage.
• Extended the throwing attacks range for the following weapons:
• Smithscript Dagger / Smithscript Cirque
• Changed the placement of the bosses in the re-fight against the Golden Hippopotamus and Commander Gaius bosses to be in the same position as in the first fight.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks Skill to deal more damage than expected.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks and Wall of Sparks Skills to deal no damage while some special effects were applied to the player.
• Fixed a bug where some special effects of a right-handed weapon would also be applied to the following Weapon Skills when cast with the left hand:
  • Feeble Lord's Frenzied Flame
  • Discus Hurl
• Fixed a bug where successfully guarding while attacking using the Thrusting Shield weapon type would consume less stamina than intended.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from cancelling the attack recovery of two-handed strong attacks by rolling for certain weapons of the Backhand Blades weapon type.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Lightning Perfume Bottle and Frenzyflame Perfume Bottle weapons to deal double damage under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug where the Arcane scaling of the Bloodfiend's Arm weapon was higher than intended when setting an affinity. The status buildup of the heavy attack was also reduced.
• Fixed a bug where the Faith scaling of the Gazing Finger weapon was not being applied correctly.
• Fixed a bug where the damage animation of some attacks of the Fire Knight's Greatsword against players was different than expected.
• Fixed a bug where the attack affinity of some attacks of the Fire Knight's Greatsword were different than expected.
• Fixed a bug that caused some affinities for the following weapons to be higher than intended:
  • Smithscript Dagger
  • Smithscript Cirque
  • Smithscript Axe
  • Smithscript Greathammer
  • Smithscript Spear
  • Golem Fist
  • Smithscript Shield
• Fixed a bug that caused enemies to heal when the Maximum HP reduction gradual HP reduction effect applied by Black Knife Tiche wore off.
• Fixed a bug that caused summoned NPCs to behave differently than expected under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug where the unblockable bite attack of the Golden Hippopotamus boss would connect with players more easily than intended.
• Fixed a bug that caused text to display differently than expected.
• Several other performance improvements and bug fixes.

Possible unstable performance fixes

• For the PS5 version of the game, unstable framerate may be improved by using the "Rebuild Database" option from the device’s safe mode.
• In some PC versions, Ray Tracing may be unintentionally enabled and cause unstable performance. Please check the Ray Tracing setting in the "System" > "Graphics Settings" > "Raytracing Quality" from the title screen or in-game menu.
• In the PC Version, the message "Inappropriate activity detected" may appear without cheating.
  To fix this issue, please verify the integrity of the game's files before restarting the game.
• In the PC version, unstable framerate may be caused by third-party applications that control mouse behavior. Deactivating these third-party applications may improve performance.

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