Latest patch for Elden Ring’s giant expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, makes the game easier

Ye Dead Tarnished: Many Elden Ring fans have returned to traverse the Lands Between in search of new challenges and rewards within the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Some players have found the experience to be particularly challenging, even for a “Souls” game, prompting developers to swiftly release a new balancing patch in response.

Days after releasing Shadow of the Erdtree, FromSoftware has already adjusted the difficulty of Elden Ring’s first, and likely last, expansion. The Japanese studio described the 1.12.2 patch for Elden Ring (ER) as a “calibration update,” aimed at balancing the expansion by tweaking the scaling of Scadutree Blessings.

Scadutree Fragments introduce a new gameplay mechanic in Shadow of the Erdtree, a material found exclusively in the shadow realm that boosts a player character’s attack and defense bonuses. The 1.12.2 patch increases the attack and damage negation “for the first half of the maximum amount of Blessing enhancements,” and makes the second half more gradual.

Additionally, the patch slightly boosts the attack and damage negation at the highest level of Blessing enhancements, the developers noted. The update also includes a performance improvement specific to PC, along with a bug fix to prevent automatic activation of ray tracing effects when loading “saved data from previous game versions.”

FromSoftware is known for making difficult games, and Elden Ring is no exception, especially when dealing with late-game bosses such as Malenia the Severed, Maliketh the Black Blade, and Mohg, Lord of Blood. However, according to players “enjoying” the Shadow of the Erdtree experience in droves, Elden Ring’s expansion is extremely difficult and tiresome even by the standards of a purebred “Souls” game.

Needless to say, Shadow of the Erdtree can already be considered a huge commercial success, having sold five million copies in just three days. Elden Ring reached 25 million sales earlier this month, which means that 20 percent of all Elden Ring players have already returned to the Lands Between to fight the demigods and become the new Elden Lord.

Shadow of the Erdtree is often described as downloadable content for Elden Ring, but it should be considered a proper, full-fledged expansion, adding a whole new map for players to explore. The world hidden in the Elden Ring shadows includes dozens of new weapons, shields, talismans, sorceries, many new bosses, and everything in between.