Elden Ring received an update today labeled 1.12.3 with a bunch of bug fixes that affect weapon balance and some suggestions, not fixes, to the performance issues some are experiencing.
There’s substantial range in the reactions to the 1.12.3 update. Some are saying these “changes” are huge, some aren’t, but commentary is overall unfocused. It’s almost exclusively bug fixes, with most changes focused on the new weapon classes introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree.
I think that because these are bug fixes, not balance changes, they are categorically insignificant. Yes, an overpowered build might effectively be nerfed, but if it wasn’t designed, it was never meant to be in the game in the first place. It’s akin to accidentally getting paid twice.
It is frustrating to get your build taken away, even if it was reliant on these literally broken weapons, but these days, the intended/cultivated/designed playstyle is typically more enjoyable, at least in my experience.
The rest of the game is constructed to accommodate such predicted builds so you don’t experience so many rough edges with your capabilities (and appearance). It doesn’t feel as clunky to play, and you won’t run into as many situations that you have a ridiculously hard time dealing with.
To be clear, I don’t mean to disparage unintended builds and the devs can’t think of every possible combination. Builds that stray from the camouflaged rails are just much harder to to make.
In a difficult game like Elden Ring, bespoke builds are far more likely to be reliant on bugs like the ones fixed in order to be viable. Given the massive amount of gameplay variety, I think there’s a good chance you’ll find something more well-rounded that you enjoy.
Elden RIng 1.12.3 Full Patch Notes
Here are the full patch notes for Elden Ring 1.12.3, from Bandai Namco.
PvP-exclusive balance adjustments
- Decreased the damage and damage animation of the shearing vacuum effect of the “Swift Slash” Skill.
General balance adjustments
- Increased the Intelligence scaling of the Carian Sorcery Sword and slightly decreased the base damage.
- Extended the throwing attacks range for the following weapons:
- Smithscript Dagger / Smithscript Cirque
- Changed the placement of the bosses in the re-fight against the Golden Hippopotamus and Commander Gaius bosses to be in the same position as in the first fight.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks Skill to deal more damage than expected.
- Fixed a bug that caused the Rolling Sparks and Wall of Sparks Skills to deal no damage while some special effects were applied to the player.
- Fixed a bug where some special effects of a right-handed weapon would also be applied to the following Weapon Skills when cast with the left hand:
- Feeble Lord’s Frenzied Flame
- Discus Hurl
- Fixed a bug where successfully guarding while attacking using the Thrusting Shield weapon type would consume less stamina than intended.
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from cancelling the attack recovery of two-handed strong attacks by rolling for certain weapons of the Backhand Blades weapon type.
- Fixed a bug that caused the Lightning Perfume Bottle and Frenzyflame Perfume Bottle weapons to deal double damage under certain circumstances.
- Fixed a bug where the Arcane scaling of the Bloodfiend’s Arm weapon was higher than intended when setting an affinity. The status buildup of the heavy attack was also reduced.
- Fixed a bug where the Faith scaling of the Gazing Finger weapon was not being applied correctly.
- Fixed a bug where the damage animation of some attacks of the Fire Knight’s Greatsword against players was different than expected.
- Fixed a bug where the attack affinity of some attacks of the Fire Knight’s Greatsword were different than expected.
- Fixed a bug that caused some affinities for the following weapons to be higher than intended:
- Smithscript Dagger
- Smithscript Cirque
- Smithscript Axe
- Smithscript Greathammer
- Smithscript Spear
- Golem Fist
- Smithscript Shield
- Fixed a bug that caused enemies to heal when the Maximum HP reduction gradual HP reduction effect applied by Black Knife Tiche wore off.
- Fixed a bug that caused summoned NPCs to behave differently than expected under certain circumstances.
- Fixed a bug that where the unblockable bite attack of the Golden Hippopotamus boss would connect with players more easily than intended.
- Fixed a bug that caused text to display differently than expected.
- Several other performance improvements and bug fixes.
Possible unstable performance fixes
- For the PS5 version of the game, unstable framerate may be improved by using the “Rebuild Database” option from the device’s safe mode.
- In some PC versions, Ray Tracing may be unintentionally enabled and cause unstable performance. Please check the Ray Tracing setting in the “System” > “Graphics Settings” > “Raytracing Quality” from the title screen or in-game menu.
- In the PC Version, the message “Inappropriate activity detected” may appear without cheating.
To fix this issue, please verify the integrity of the game’s files before restarting the game.
- In the PC version, unstable framerate may be caused by third party applications that control mouse behavior. Deactivating these third party applications may improve performance.
App Ver. 1.12.3
Regulation Ver. 1.12.4
In PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions, Regulation files can be downloaded by logging in to the server.
If the Regulation Ver. listed in the lower right corner of the title screen is not 1.12.4, please select LOGIN and apply the latest regulation before enjoying the game.
Online play requires the player to apply this update.
If FromSoftware just wrecked your build, I highly recommend checking out one of our Build Guides. Maybe the most recent one we published, the Rellana Build?
If you enjoyed the brokenness or just want the game to be easier, check out our guide on How to Make Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Easier or making additional preparations in the Lands Between.
