In the wake of its exciting expansion, parts of Elden Ring’s fandom have decried Shadow of the Erdtree’s seemingly extreme difficulty.

Knowing this, the developers have buffed how the Scadutree blessing works, promising a more apparent boost to your offensive and defensive capabilities in early levels.

The Elden Ring balance patch looks like a good compromise that’ll appease fans having a rough go at Elden Ring’s DLC. Here’s everything they changed in the latest game update for Shadow of the Erdtree.

Elden Ring balance patch makes Shadow of the Erdtree easier

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree update -- combat
Credit: FromSoftware

If you’ve been having an especially tough time beating some of the enemies in Shadow of the Erdtree, you’re not alone! A considerable part of the fandom has had the same experience, with most taking to platforms like Steam to voice their concerns. 

That said, the latest balance changes focused on making the game slightly more survivable by buffing how the Shadow Realm Blessing works in early levels. In fact, it was the main focus of the V1.12 update.

Elden Ring best build and character level for Shadow of the Erdtree DLC the Elden Ring expansion
Credit: ONE Esports, screenshot by Hritwik Raj/ONE Esports
Best Elden Ring build and character level for DLC 2024

The Scadutree Blessing (aka Shadow Realm Blessing), which buffs all attacks and reduces damage taken, will be much more noticeable in levels 1-10 while feeling “more gradual” as you get closer to the level cap. 

This adjustment also comes with a slight boost to the augment across the board. These changes make the grind of collecting all Scadutree Fragments more worthwhile. And with any luck, we’ll see fan ratings change for the better soon. 



Recent PC performance issues addressed in Shadow of the Erdtree update

PC performance issues in Shadow of the Erdtree were also mentioned in the V1.12 patch notes. A glitch was causing raytracing to stay enabled when loading a save file “from previous game versions”, the patch notes read. Go to Settings > Graphics Settings > Raytracing Quality and select ‘No’ to disable it. 

And that’s everything you need to know about the latest Elden Ring version update. Hopefully, the improvements to the Scadutree Blessing will invite more fans to accept the help the game gives them. Or not. That’s fine too.

READ MORE: All Perfume Bottle locations in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC