Elden Ring Patch 1.8 – Free Colosseum Update Now Live

FromSoft really loves surprising people, and the free Colosseum update that released today is no exception. Players have long speculated that the sealed colosseums found throughout the Lands Between would unlock in a DLC, but today’s update comes only one day after the official announcement. Players will be able to battle in the Colosseums of Limgrave, Caelid, and Leyndell in a variety of game modes; the update also includes PvP-exlusive balance adjustments, new hairstyles for characters, and general balance changes and bug fixes.

There are four PvP modes available at the various Colosseums, although not every mode is available at every location. Additionally, you can only use Spirit Ashes in these special PvP arenas at the Caelid Colosseum. Here’s which modes are available at each Elden Ring PvP Colosseum Arena:

• Limgrave Colosseum
  • United Combat
  • Combat Ordeal
• Leyndell Colosseum
  • Duel Mode
• Caelid Colosseum
  • United Combat
  • Combat Ordeal
  • Duel Mode
  • Can summon spirit ashes at this Colosseum

Here are what the three modes entail:

• United Combat sees players divided into two teams of three, fighting in timed battles with respawns. Each kill gives your team points, and at the end of the battle the team with the most points wins.
• Combat Ordeal is an six player FFA mode, also timed.
• Duel Mode works just like it sounds — a 1v1 battle, with no respawns.

Naturally, the PvP mode comes with some improvements to PvP combat: Thrusting weapon counterattacks, attacking with your shield raised, the poise of many popular weapons, and the Bestial Sling and Carian Slicer spells have all been nerfed. For both PvP and PvE, the range and speed of Daggers, Axes, Hammers, and dual-wielded Flails have all been buffed; other weapons and weapon arts have received improved poise, stagger damage, or other buffs. There are a few other changes, so read on to see the full patch notes!

Elden Ring Patch Notes Version 1.8

Major new features

• The Colosseums of Limgrave, Caelid and Leyndell are now open.

In these arenas, players can engage in a variety of combat trials: one-on-one duels, free-for-alls & team battles up to six players, and special fights with spirit summoning enabled.
Learn more about the Colosseums by visiting our dedicated article.

• New hairstyles for character creation have been added. These are also available during character edition by using the Round Table Hold Clouded Mirror Stand.

PvP-exclusive balance adjustments

The adjustments in this section do not affect single-player or cooperative play.

• Reduced thrusting weapons counterattack damage.
• Reduced guard efficiency when attacking with your shield up for some weapon types.
• The poise damage of the following weapons have been reduced (Weapon Arts poise damage remains unchanged):
• Straight Swords / Thrusting Swords / Heavy Thrusting Swords / Curved Swords / Axes / Spears / Twinblade Swords / Katanas
• Reduced the poise damage of the Incantation Bestial Sling.
• Reduced the power of the Spell Carian Slicer.

General balance adjustments

• Increased the speed and distance of some attacks and reduced the recovery time for the following weapons:
• Daggers / Axes / Hammers / Flails (dual wielded)
• Increased the speed of some attacks and reduced the recovery time for the following weapons:
• Twinblade (two-handed) / Reaper / Fist / Claw
• Slightly increased the speed of crouching and rolling attacks of Colossal Swords.
• Increased the stagger damage of Axes’ guard counters.
• Increased poise when attacking with two-handed Hammers.
• Increased poise damage of Claws. Weapon Arts remain unchanged.
• Increased poise value during the active part of the Stamp (Upward Cut / Sweep) Weapon Art.
• Increased poise damage of the weapon slash part of the Transient Moonlight Weapon Art, and reduced the poise damage of the magic wave.
• Reduced the speed Thrusting Swords and Heavy Thrusting Swords crouching attacks.
• Reduced the stagger caused by double-handed Heavy Thrusting Swords jumping attacks.
• Reduced poise damage of Hammers, Great Hammers, and some Colossal Weapons. Weapon Arts remain unchanged.
• Reduced the poise damage of the Cragblade Weapon Art.
• Reduced hitbox duration of the flame portion of the Flaming Strike Weapon Art.
• Reduced poise damage of the Flame of the Redmanes Weapon Art.
• Reduced the time it takes to activate the guard part of the Shield Bash Weapon Art.
• Reduced the poise damage of the Gravity Bolt Weapon Art.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented consumable items from being replenished when teleporting to a grace from the map.
• Fixed a bug where stamina would replenish when switching to a crouching position while running.
• Fixed a bug where Spell, Incantation, and item input actions were ignored while guarding against attacks.
• Fixed incorrect physical attack values of some attacks of the Serpent-Hunter weapon.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the follow-up attack from occurring when the Black Sword Incantation was activated with a Sacred Seal in the left hand.
• Fixed a bug where the attack power of the right hand weapon was sometimes applied when casting the Inescapable Frenzy Incantation with a two-handed Sacred Seal in the left hand.
• Fixed a bug that could cause multiple damage instances when certain Spells and Incantations were casted while jumping.
• Fixed a bug that caused Weapon Arts to be incorrectly used with specific combinations of weapon and Weapon Arts.

The version number of this update shown at the lower right corner of the Title Screen will be as follows:

App Ver. 1.08

Regulation Ver. 1.08
Online play requires the player to apply this update.

It seems likely that this update will bring a lot of players back to Elden Ring for PvP — having to do it the old-fashioned way has its own kind of charm, but many players probably just want to be able to press a few buttons and get in a match. We’ll see you in the arena, Tarnished!