Elden Ring's 1.09 Update: Ray Tracing Arrives and PvP Gets Shaken Up

Well, fellow Tarnished, gather 'round the Site of Grace because Bandai Namco just dropped a fresh update for our beloved Elden Ring, and it's a doozy! As of March 23rd, update 1.09 has landed, and while it didn't bring any new dungeons or bosses to cry over, it's packed with enough changes to make even the most seasoned Lands Between veteran do a double-take. The servers were down for a bit, but we're all back in now, probably dying to Malenia again, but with fancier lighting this time. Let's dive into what this patch has cooked up.

The headline act, without a doubt, is the long-awaited arrival of Ray Tracing! That's right, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC players can now make their suffering look even more beautiful. You can find the toggle in the settings menu, but a word of warning from your friendly neighborhood masochist: turning it on might make your frame rate take a hit. It's a trade-off—do you want buttery smooth dodges or shadows so realistic you can almost feel the Erdtree's glow? The patch notes even include the technical specs you'll need, so check those before you crank everything to max and wonder why your PC sounds like a jet engine.

Now, let's talk about the real meat of this update: the PvP balance changes. FromSoftware has decided to shake up the Colosseum meta, and some popular builds are getting a serious nerf bat to the face. It's a PvP-exclusive adjustment, so your solo journey remains untouched (thank the Greater Will!). Here's a quick rundown of what got tuned down:

• The Jump Attack Spam 💥: Two-handed jumping attacks? Less powerful. Thank you, Miyazaki.

• Fist & Claw Runners 🏃: Heavy and heavy running attacks for these weapon types have been dialed back.

• Magic Users, Beware ✨: Founding Rain of Stars and Terra Magica have seen their effectiveness reduced. No more sitting in your magic circle raining death from complete safety!

• Wave of Gold Nerf 🌊: The iconic skill's damage and poise damage at long range have been decreased. Distance sniping just got harder.

• Buff Stacking Tamed 🛡️: Skills like Determination and Royal Knight's Resolve, along with talismans like Claw Talisman and Lord of Blood’s Exultation, are now less potent. The White Mask and Raptor's Black Feathers armor buffs have also been reduced.

• Physick Tears 💧: Those elemental shrouding cracked tears (Magic, Flame, Lightning, Holy) now grant a smaller damage buff when sipped from your Flask of Wondrous Physick.

But it's not all nerfs! A couple of underdog abilities got some love. The Inescapable Frenzy incantation and the Lifesteal Fist skill have seen increases in power and grab angles. Maybe we'll see more variety in the arena now!

Shifting to the general balance changes, there's a whole buffet of tweaks aimed at improving gameplay flow and weapon viability. They've added a brief invincibility window when you respawn in the Colosseum—a small mercy so you don't immediately get ganked. Several weapon types have received buffs to their attack speed, range, recovery time, and attribute scaling. It feels like FromSoftware is trying to make more playstyles viable, which I'm all for!

Here are some highlights from the general adjustments:

Weapon Type	Changes Received
Flails	⬆️ Attack speed, ⬇️ recovery time, ⬆️ poise on two-handed attacks.
Whips	⬇️ Attack recovery time. Finally, my Belmont cosplay might work!
Claws	⬆️ Damage. Let the Wolverine fantasy live!
Great Club	➕ Added Holy damage and Faith scaling. Bonk for the gods!

They also increased the effectiveness of the Twinblade Talisman and made some adjustments to blocking, making it better against Holy damage but worse against other types. Light equipment rolls now have a slightly shorter travel distance, which might change your dodge timing. A bunch of Ashes of War, from Flame Spit to Starcaller Cry, have been adjusted, mostly for the better with faster activations or new cancel options.

Of course, no patch is complete without squashing bugs, and 1.09 squashes a lot. They fixed issues with status buildup on weapons like the Antspur Rapier and Rotten Greataxe, corrected damage scaling on spears, and resolved problems with talismans and skills not working as intended (looking at you, Roar Medallion and Golden Vow). A particularly nasty bug where a left-handed weapon's buff could spill over to a right-handed weapon's skill has been fixed. They also patched up Colosseum issues, like the Sacrificial Twig being consumed on death (ouch!) and kill credit not going to the right player. Overall stability for online play has been improved, which is always a welcome sight.

So, what's the verdict? This update feels like a significant quality-of-life and balance patch. The addition of Ray Tracing is a nice graphical boost for those with the hardware to handle it. The PvP changes seem aimed at dismantling some of the most oppressive one-shot or hyper-buffed metas, encouraging more dynamic fights. The myriad of buffs to lesser-used weapons and Ashes of War might just bring some exciting new builds to the forefront. I, for one, am excited to jump back in, test out a Flail build with the improved speed, and see how the Lands Between looks with those fancy new ray-traced reflections. Just remember, Tarnished, no matter how pretty the shadows are, a rune bear will still ruin your day. Happy hunting!

P.S. If you're on PC and want to try Ray Tracing, here's a quick spec reminder from the notes:

• Minimum (1080p, Low): RTX 3060 Ti or RX 6700 XT

• Recommended (1080p, High): RTX 3070 Ti or RX 6900 XT

Time to upgrade or embrace the slideshow!