Elden Ring is in firm contention for Game of the Year in 2022, but developer FromSoftware is far from resting on its laurels while waiting for the accolades. Indeed, support of the game continues at a steady pace, and today sees the launch of an all-new PvP multiplayer mode called Colosseum, which headlines the release of Version 1.08.
Colosseum unlocks three fighting arenas spread across The Lands Forgotten in Limgrave, Caelid, and Leyndell. Each comes with its own set of rules, but all of them pit players against one another in fierce confrontations. You can read a detailed overview of the rulesets for each Colosseum here.
Here’s a full overview of the patch notes for the update:
Major new features
- The Colosseums of Limgrave, Caelid and Leyndell are now open.
- In these arenas, players can engage in a variety of combat trials: one-on-one duels, free-for-alls & team battles up to six players, and special fights with spirit summoning enabled.
- New hairstyles for character creation have been added. These are also available during character edition by using the Round Table Hold Clouded Mirror Stand.
PvP-exclusive balance adjustments
The adjustments in this section do not affect single-player or cooperative play.
- Reduced thrusting weapons counterattack damage.
- Reduced guard efficiency when attacking with your shield up for some weapon types.
- The poise damage of the following weapons have been reduced (Weapon Arts poise damage remains unchanged):
- Straight Swords / Thrusting Swords / Heavy Thrusting Swords / Curved Swords / Axes / Spears / Twinblade Swords / Katanas
- Reduced the poise damage of the Incantation Bestial Sling.
- Reduced the power of the Spell Carian Slicer.
General balance adjustments
- Increased the speed and distance of some attacks and reduced the recovery time for the following weapons:
- Daggers / Axes / Hammers / Flails (dual wielded)
- Increased the speed of some attacks and reduced the recovery time for the following weapons:
- Twinblade (two-handed) / Reaper / Fist / Claw
- Slightly increased the speed of crouching and rolling attacks of Colossal Swords.
- Increased the stagger damage of Axes’ guard counters.
- Increased poise when attacking with two-handed Hammers.
- Increased poise damage of Claws. Weapon Arts remain unchanged.
- Increased poise value during the active part of the Stamp (Upward Cut / Sweep) Weapon Art.
- Increased poise damage of the weapon slash part of the Transient Moonlight Weapon Art, and reduced the poise damage of the magic wave.
- Reduced the speed Thrusting Swords and Heavy Thrusting Swords crouching attacks.
- Reduced the stagger caused by double-handed Heavy Thrusting Swords jumping attacks.
- Reduced poise damage of Hammers, Great Hammers, and some Colossal Weapons. Weapon Arts remain unchanged.
- Reduced the poise damage of the Cragblade Weapon Art.
- Reduced hitbox duration of the flame portion of the Flaming Strike Weapon Art.
- Reduced poise damage of the Flame of the Redmanes Weapon Art.
- Reduced the time it takes to activate the guard part of the Shield Bash Weapon Art.
- Reduced the poise damage of the Gravity Bolt Weapon Art.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented consumable items from being replenished when teleporting to a grace from the map.
- Fixed a bug where stamina would replenish when switching to a crouching position while running.
- Fixed a bug where Spell, Incantation, and item input actions were ignored while guarding against attacks.
- Fixed incorrect physical attack values of some attacks of the Serpent-Hunter weapon.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the follow-up attack from occurring when the Black Sword Incantation was activated with a Sacred Seal in the left hand.
- Fixed a bug where the attack power of the right hand weapon was sometimes applied when casting the Inescapable Frenzy Incantation with a two-handed Sacred Seal in the left hand.
- Fixed a bug that could cause multiple damage instances when certain Spells and Incantations were casted while jumping.
- Fixed a bug that caused Weapon Arts to be incorrectly used with specific combinations of weapon and Weapon Arts.
It has taken the world of gaming by storm selling over 17.5 million copies in less than a year since its release in Feb. 2022. Unsurprisingly, the game has been nominated as Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022.