New Elden Ring Patch Makes Backstabs More Powerful

Elden Ring developer FromSoftware issued an update for the open-world role-playing game on July 27, making a few important adjustments to its PvP meta, along with some more general balance changes. On Twitter, FromSoftware noted that players should “apply this patch to continue playing Elden Ring online.”

But before you do, let’s look closer at what you’re getting into.

Elden Ring update 1.10 patch notes

PvP players can expect the following changes:

• All weapons (but only some spells and incantations) have increased poise damage
• Players will receive more poise for attacks that increase poise, including weapon skills
• Performing these poise-generating attacks has an added damage reduction
• “Some skills, incantations and items” will provide less damage reduction
• Quick Step and Hound’s Step skills, which you either despise or spam, have a smaller invulnerability window
• Critical hit angles are extended

Other than Step skills becoming less powerful, players should pay particular attention to bigger critical hit angles. This information interacts well with update 1.10’s general balance changes:

• All players (PvP, PvE, co-op) will find that critical hits do more damage
• There is less time to recover after missing a critical hit
• But if you miss a critical hit, your subsequent attacks will do more poise damage

Backstabs are Elden Ring’s go-to critical hit opportunity (anecdotally, it tends to be easier for players to achieve than a parry or counter, which require more perfect timing), and so some players are recognizing update 1.10 for what it really is: a welcome to the Age of Backstabs.

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Meanwhile, other players are more concerned with the planned Elden Ring expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree. But while the DLC is currently in development, it does not yet have a confirmed release date. Right now, you have no choice but to backstab the pain away.