Elden Ring update 1.03 has arrived and it's a mixed bag, depending on your progress. But if you've been putting off fighting the toughest boss in the game, things really aren't going your way today.
Although she goes by many names, Malenia is most commonly referred to as "gah!" », « nooooo! "Where'!'. The toughest boss in the Elden Ring, players used Mimic Tear to force their way through combat. But this battle is going to be a lot more brutal now that the summon has been nerfed.
There are plenty of YouTube videos on the Mimic Tear strategy, and you can see an example above, courtesy of Idicus. Summoning evokes a doppelganger of your character that has the exact same loadout and abilities as you. Think of it as a disposable clone that will drive you to victory.
Obviously, a lot of this particular cheese depends on what items you have equipped. But with a twin by your side, you can change Malenia's life, as well as serve a purpose other than yourself.
Now that the Elden Ring v1.03 patch notes have dropped, this tactic has gone out the window. Reduced the damage dealt by the summoned spirit and also "changed the behavior of the spirit". I highly doubt Fromsoftware decided to make it more intuitive to give it a break.
The difficulty will escalate in an already difficult fight, so expect that. There are some additional tweaks that have been implemented that may rain down on your parade for different reasons; but there are also positive aspects!
Analyze
You can read the full patch notes for Elden Ring update 1.03 below, but there are some pretty big points of interest outside of the Mimic Tear nerf.
The first is a fix for the Death Blight version that terrifies players in PvP. The tl version; dr is that Fire's Mortal Sin enchantment had an unintended effect when combined with the Eclipse Shotel. The result? You are dead. The patch fixed this now, so seeing an invader cast the enchantment doesn't mean instant death.
The next big and very welcome addition to the game is a bunch of new quest stages for NPCs. So let's hope you didn't kill Diallos, Nepheli Loux, Kenneth Haight, or Gatekeeper Gostoc. Some publishers have already butchered Ken for his golden seed and they're not too happy about it. Let this teach you to be nice to NPCs (unless they really ask for it).
Another nifty update is the "function to save an icon and the name of an NPC on the map when you meet that NPC."
You can check out the full breakdown below, but here are the highlights to watch out for that could have the biggest effect on your game.
Elden Ring 1.03 Patch Notes
Additional items added
- Added a feature to save an icon and name of an NPC on the map when you encounter that NPC.
- Added NPC Jar-Bairn.
- Added new quest phases for the following NPCs: Diallos/ Nepheli Loux/ Kenneth Haight/ Gatekeeper Gostoc.
- Added some summonable NPCs in various situations.
- Increased the number of item models the player can mimic when using Mimic's Veil.
- Added night background music for certain open field areas.
Error corrected
- Fixed a bug that prevented summoned NPCs from taking damage in some boss fights.
- Fixed a bug that would sometimes prevent the player from getting an item after a boss fight.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the dialog from talking to NPCs and using custom key settings.
- Fixed a bug that caused the player to freeze while rolling.
- Fixed a bug that caused incorrect arcane scaling for some weapons.
- In a situation where the player cannot obtain more than 2 Talisman Bags, a Talisman Bag has been added to the Twin Maiden Husks line of stores.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the user from switching to grace sites from the map at the end of the game.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the player from moving to the next area after the battle with the Fire Giant.
- Fixed a bug that caused some weapons to scale incorrectly after boosting.
- Fixed a bug that prevented some weapons from using stat scaling.
- Fixed crashes on some occasions.
- Fixed a bug that incorrectly displayed multiplayer area boundaries when playing online.
- Fixed a bug that allowed the player to activate Erdtree Greatshield's weapon ability without absorbing an attack using a special item and sorcery combination.
- Fixed a bug that caused Fire Mortal Sin to cast to have a different effect.
- Fixed a bug with Ash of War, Determination, and Royal Knight's Resolve where the damage buff would also apply to other weapons without this ability.
- Adjusted the visual effect of the Invisible Form spell.
- Removed the irregular armor set from the game that could be obtained by mistake in the previous patch.
- Fixed a bug that caused some hostile NPCs to drop the Furlcalling Finger Remedy.
- Fixed a bug that caused the wrong sound effect to play in certain situations.
- Fixed a bug that prevented visual animation and hitboxes from displaying correctly on some maps.
- Fixed bugs that caused incorrect visuals and behaviors for some enemies.
- Fixed a bug that caused incorrect stat settings for some armor.
- Text corrections.
- Other performance improvements and bug fixes.
balance changes
- Increased Smithing Stone drop rate for some enemies.
- Smithing Stone was added to some of the early game stores.
- Increased shield effectiveness.
- Increased the damage of all offensive items on Cracked Pot.
- Increased the damage of the following items: Spark Aromatic/Poison Spraymist.
- Increased the effect duration of the following items: Uplifting Aromatic / Iron Aromatic.
- Increased healing HP for Torrent when using the following items: Rowa Raisin/ Sweet Raisin/ Frozen Raisin
- Reduced FP consumption and increased damage of the following spells: Glintstone Cometshard/ Comet/ Night Comet
- Increased the damage of the following spells: Gravity Well / Collapsed Stars / Crystal Barrage
- Decreased FP consumption of the following spells: Starfall/Rock Thrower/Haima Mace/Founding Starfall/Ruining Stars/Phalanx of Great Blades/Magic Downpour/Loretta's Greatbow/Loretta's Mastery/Sword Carian Magna/Carian Piercer/Shard Coil
- Increased Great Glintstone Shard projectile speed and range
- Ash of War and Hoarfrost Stomp damage reduced and cast time increased.
- Increased self damage from Ash of War, Bloody Slash while slightly reducing damage and increasing cast time.
- Decreased weapon proficiency, night sword, and flame damage.
- Increased FP consumption and reduced duration of Ash of War, Barricade Shield.
- Changed Ash of War's FP consumption schedule, Prelate's Charge.
- Decreased the damage of the summoned spirit when using the Mimic Tear Ash item and changed the behavior of the spirit.
- Other Weapon and Enemy Balance Changes