Elden Ring’s pre-Shadow of the Erdtree patch makes its final boss much easier

By Carli Velocci Published June 20, 2024

An Elden Ring player sits on their horse and looks out at a castle ahead. — Bandai Namco

Publisher Bandai Namco has released the patch notes for the big pre-Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree update, and while a lot of the changes were expected, it features some small but exciting additions.

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The most noteworthy change in version 1.12, buried in the “New inventory features” section, is the new ability to summon your steed Torrent in the final boss battle. Without spoiling anything, not only does the final battle come right after another equally difficult boss, but you’ll need to do a lot of sprinting to avoid its attacks. Being able to use your trusty steed will make this a lot easier. And, quite frankly, you’ll need all the help you can get when it comes to most boss battles.

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You won’t need to have completed the final boss battle to hop into Shadow of the Erdtree. All you have to do is defeat Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood (oh, is that all?) and then you’ll gain access to the Land of Shadow where the DLC takes place.

Other noteworthy changes include five new hairstyles for your character, the ability to carry over active Summoning Pools to new game plus, labels inside your inventory for new items, a map functions menu, and tons of balance updates to weapons, armaments, and skills, both in PvP and single-player modes. These are across all platforms — PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam — although PC players got a couple of mouse-and keyboard-based tweaks

Of course, the most important is that the base Elden Ring game can now support Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, so the game will be ready once it drops on Friday. Preloading is also now available, so there’s plenty of time to prepare before launch.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

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