Elden Ring’s latest patch lets you keep track of NPCs

By Otto Kratky March 17, 2022

Anyone who had to use guides to track down NPCs in Elden Ring can now do the same using its in-game map. An update for the critically acclaimed title, which recently hit 12 million copies sold, has added NPC icons to the map, as well as new quest phases for NPCs, a brand-new NPC, and nerfs to some of the game’s most popular tools.

After downloading the game’s latest patch, anyone who’s curious about where an NPC has run off to can simply search for them on their map. NPCs are indicated by relatively small icons of hooded figures, which display their name once hovered over. If NPCs are at a certain location though, Volcano Manor, for instance, they will all be listed by selecting that site of grace.

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It seems as though players have to have met an NPC before they’ll be marked. During our testing of the feature, Elden Ring‘s newest NPC, Jar-Bairn, wasn’t marked on the map.

While that new feature is helpful, Elden Ring may actually get harder for some players to progress through after its latest update. A number of nerfs hit the game’s popular weapons, Ashes of War, and one particularly useful summon, the Mimic Tear Ash. The Sword of Night and Flame, which players have been using to stomp through Elden Ring‘s early game has had its weapon skill damage lowered, as has the Hoarfrost Stomp Ash of War. Nerfs to the Mimic Tear Ash will make it much harder for players to defeat bosses since it used to effectively make an exact copy of the player. Now, the summoned spirit will do less damage and have different behaviors, likely making it easier for bosses to take down.

Elden Ring‘s latest patch is sure to leave some players with a bitter taste in their mouths. It takes some of the tools players would use to stomp through the game away, forcing them to reevaluate their strategies. But these changes also mean that FromSoftware is paying attention to how people are playing Elden Ring, and is updating the game reactively. Nerfs like these are simply the downside to playing a game that has an attentive developer.

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Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Colosseums will be added as part of Elden Ring Update 1.08, which is set to release on December 7.

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