Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree patch makes blessings stronger and gameplay easier

When I finished my review of Soulslike Lies Of P, the developers released a patch shortly after that nerfed bosses and made things easier for old Pinnochio. Sod’s law struck that day…and it came back with a smirk. Shadow Of The Erdtree has just been fixed, making its Shadow Realm blessings stronger from the start and, in turn, making things a little easier for everyone. Such is the life of a critic, eh.

In what FromSoftware calls “Calibration Update – Version 1.12.2”, they have improved the power of the Shadow Realm blessings which you will find scattered exclusively in Erdtree zones. Scadutree Shards and Revered Ash Blessings have had their attack and damage negation increased for the “first half of the maximum blessing buff amount”. Once you get the first half, subsequent blessings will see a more gradual increase in your stats.

Additionally, the attack cancellation and damage granted by the “final level” of these blessings has been slightly increased. There are no hard statistics to analyze here, but the bottom line is simple to understand: the blessings are stronger.

To get the update, you’ll need to connect to the multiplayer servers once you start the game. You’ll know if you’re on the correct version if you see “1.12.2” at the bottom right of the title menu. FromSoft says that “balance adjustments as well as bug fixes” are planned for a future patch.

And if you’re having performance issues, the patch notes say to check in System > Graphics Settings > Ray Tracing Quality Settings and see if it’s been enabled automatically. If so, it might be worth turning it off and seeing if things improve.

Erdtree received mixed reception on Steam, despite positive critical reception. This came down to performance issues, but mostly the difficulty of the DLC when dealing with particularly overbearing bosses. A mod was even released to balance Erdtree’s enemies to be more in line with the base game.

Honestly, I agree with FromSoft on lowering the difficulty, and I agree with Nic’s sentiment in the “mixed reception” piece that the pushback is valid, but I don’t think the game deserves to be bombed for being particularly difficult. The bosses in Erdtree are significantly more nightmarish in their damage and design, but Erdtree gives you tools to make your life easier than any other entry in the Souls catalog. Like Blessings, like summonable buddies or online co-op, like the sheer number of builds and elixir combinations.

If you’re having trouble, I advise you to seek out these blessings (with the help of this guide that brings them all together) as well as rethink your setup. You can do it! I mean, you beat Elden Ring to get here, right?