Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree‘s final, brutally difficult boss has gotten the nerf he deserves — or doesn’t, depending on who you ask.
Developer FromSoftware released update 1.14, which is now out across all platforms (PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC). It’s full of the usual bug fixes, but the focus seems to be on weapon and enemy balance in multiple areas of the game. However, the most impactful for players are the changes made to the final boss in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC: Promised Consort Radahn.
Here’s the list of the balance changes.
- Changed the action pattern when the battle starts
- Adjusted some attack moves
- Decreased the damage of some attacks
- Decreased stamina damage of some attacks
- Decreased the attack range of some non-weapon-based attacks
- Improved the visibility of some attack effects
He’s huge, fast, and deals a ton of damage, so it’s basically what you’d expect from an Elden Ring boss. Unlike others, he was known for being particularly merciless, with attacks that would come in quick succession and glowing particle effects from his second phase’s Miquella attacks that made him impossible to see. All of these elements together made it incredibly difficult to dodge or react to his attacks.
The changes in update 1.14 decreased the speeds of many attacks. For example, his cross-slash, where he swings two swords at you, is slower, making it easier to dodge. There are generally way more openings where you can get a couple of hits in. My favorite change involves decreasing the amount of particle effects on screen so you can actually see where Radahn is in the arena.
Reddit user ChiefLeef22 uploaded an excellent visual breakdown of the changes.
If you’ve been keeping track, that means FromSoftware has nerfed Radahn, who was also a boss in the base game, twice. Back then he was just known as Starscourge Radahn, and he was accidentally nerfed in Patch 1.03.3 to deal less damage (although that was later remedied).
Shadow of the Erdtree launched this June to a massively positive response from critics and players. However, many pointed out that the DLC to the already difficult game was somehow more challenging. FromSoftware had to step in during the first week of the DLC’s launch to give players tips on how to deal with a demanding difficulty spike (tip: use Scadutree Blessing). The developers also added the ability to summon Torrent during the final boss battle in the base game, which also makes that final fight easier.
