Elden Ring update 1.09 patch notes: Ray-tracing, balance changes & bug fixes

Elden Ring may be over a year old now, but with a sizeable expansion on the way with Shadow of the Erdtree expected in the coming months, the game is as popular as ever -- and all those awards won't have hurt, either.

Elden Ring update 1.09 patch notes are here, and while there's the usual series of improvements including bug fixes, and a fair few balance tweaks to keep both PvE and PvP as fair as possible, one surprise addition is ray-tracing support for improved lighting.

As we've noted, though, it's likely to give your PC a workout - but the Elden Ring update 1.09 patch notes bring the feature to PS5 and Xbox Series X, too. The update is rolling out for last-gen consoles, too, but they won't gain ray-tracing due to the system requirements.

Elden Ring update 1.09 patch notes

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Here are the full Elden Ring update 1.09 patch notes courtesy of Bandai Namco.

New feature

Ray Tracing support has been added for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC versions.

Ray Tracing can be activated in the settings menu:

• PS5 / XSX: Game Options > Ray Tracing
• PC: Graphics > Ray Tracing Quality

Please note that performance - such as frame rate and resolution - may be impacted while playing with Ray Tracing on.

The minimum and recommended technical specifications to use Ray Tracing can be found at the end of the patch notes.

PvP-exclusive balance adjustments

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

• The Inescapable Frenzy incantation power and grab angle have been increased.
• The Lifesteal Fist skill power, range and grab angle have been increased.
• Decreased the power of two-handed jumping attacks.
• Decreased the power of heavy and heavy running attacks of Fist and Claw weapon types.
• Decreased the power of the Founding Rain of Stars spell.
• Decreased the spell enhancement effect of the Terra Magica spell.
• Decreased the damage and poise damage of the Wave of Gold skill when hitting an opponent over a certain distance.
• Decreased the effectiveness of the Determination and Royal Knight's Resolve skills.
• Decreased the effects of the Contagious Fury skill of the Jellyfish Shield.
• Decreased the effectiveness of the Claw Talisman.
• Decreased the effectiveness of the Lord of Blood’s Exultation Talisman.
• Decreased the attack power buff granted by the White Mask head armor.
• Decreased the jumping attack damage buff granted by the Raptor's Black Feathers armor.
• Decreased the damage buff granted by Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear, Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear, Lightning-Shrouding Cracked Tear, and Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear when activated with the Flask of Wondrous Physick.

General balance adjustments

• Added an invincibility window when respawning in the colosseum.
• Increased the scaling of the following attributes when infusing weapons with certain Ashes of War:
  • Magic / Fire / Flame Art / Lightning / Sacred
• Increased the attribute scaling of the following weapon types:
  • Colossal Sword / Great Axe / Hammer / Flail / Great Hammer / Colossal Weapon
• Increased the speed, range and recovery time of some attacks for the following weapon types:
  • Great Hammer / Great Axe / Great Sword / Curved Greatsword
• Flail weapons changes:
  • Increased the speed of some attacks.
  • Reduced attack recovery time.
  • Increased poise when using two-handed attacks.
• Increased running attacks speed and reduced attack recovery time for the following weapon types:
  • Straight Sword / Curved Sword / Katana / Twinblade Sword / Axe / Hammer / Halberd
• Increased the first attack speed for the following weapon types:
  • Straight Sword / Curved Sword / Whip
• Increased the speed of guard counters for the following weapon types:
  • Straight Sword / Great Sword / Colossal Sword / Great Curved Sword / Katana / Twinblade Sword / Axe / Great Axe / Flail / Great Hammer / Spear / Great Spear / Halberd
• Reduced the attack recovery time for Whip weapons.
• Increased the damage of Claw weapons.
• Added Holy damage and Faith scaling to the Great Club.
• Increased damage negation when blocking Holy damage and decreased damage negation when blocking damage from other affinities.
• Increased the effectiveness of the Twinblade Talisman.
• Slightly reduced rolling travel distance for light equipment weights.
• Decreased the hitbox size for some attacks of the following weapon types:
  • Thrusting Sword / Heavy thrusting Sword / Spear / Great Spear / Halberd

Ashes of War adjustments

• Lifesteal Fist
  • Increased target grab range.
• Surge of Faith
  • Increased projectile generation speed.
• Flame Spit
  • Increased the guard speed and blocking amount of the skill.
  • Adjusted the angle of the fireball.
• Tongues of Fire
  • Increased the guard speed and blocking amount of the skill.
• Great Oracular Bubble
  • Increased projectile generation speed and reduced the recovery time.
• Viper Bite
  • Reduced the time before rolling is possible after using the skill.
• Shriek of Milos
  • Increased close range poise damage.
• Spearcall Ritual
  • Increased projectile generation speed.
• Cursed-Blood Slash
  • Increased projectile generation speed and reduced the recovery time.
• Gold Breaker
  • Reduced the recovery time.
• I Command Thee, Kneel!
  • Increased attack generation speed.
• Starcaller Cry
  • Increased the speed of follow-up attacks.
• Spinning Wheel
  • Increased attack generation speed.
  • Added a roll & heavy attack cancel timing while using the skill.

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Bug Fixes in Elden Ring 1.09 patch notes

• Fixed a bug where the Scarlet rot status buildup was not properly reflected when giving the Antspur Rapier a Cold affinity.
• Fixed a bug where the Scarlet rot status buildup was not properly reflected when giving the Rotten Greataxe a Blood affinity.
• Fixed a bug where some attacks of the Partisan, Death Ritual Spear, and Lucerne had unexpected Physical attack scaling.
• Fixed a bug where the Nightrider Glaive did not increase the damage of horseback attacks.
• Fixed a bug where the Duelist Greataxe and Rotten Greataxe did not increase the damage of charged attacks.
• Fixed a bug where the Roar Medallion Talisman effect didn’t increase the power of some incantations. 
• Fixed a bug that reduced the power of some skills while under the Golden Vow effect.
• Fixed a bug that caused the effects the Determination and Royal Knight's Resolve skills when casted from a left-handed weapon to be added to other skills casted with a right-handed weapon.
• Fixed a bug that reduced the critical hit power of right-handed weapons while having Determination or Royal Knight's Resolve active on a left-handed weapon.
• Fixed a bug where status build-ups were unintentionally added to some Weapon Skills
• Fixed a bug where the power and special effects of a left-handed weapon could be added to a skill cast with a right-handed weapon.
• Fixed a bug that caused an equipped Sacrificial Twig to be consumed when a player died in the Colosseum.
• Fixed the camera positioning when respawning in the Colosseum.
• Fixed a bug where a player could receive credit for a kill in the Colosseum when dying due to the Death status effect, instead of the player who inflicted that status effect.
• Improved stability in Colosseum matchmaking.
• Fixed a bug related to level correction when an invader used the Phantom Bloody Finger.
• Fixed a bug that could cause disconnections with other players in certain locations during multiplayer.
• Improved online multiplayer stability.
• [PS4] Fixed a bug that occurred when using the Finger Severer on summoned NPCs while offline that could cause the game to crash.
• Fixed a bug related to some enemies not rendering or behaving as expected.
• Several performance improvements and other bug fixes.

Ray Tracing Technical Specifications

Minimum

• OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS 10
• PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT
• MEMORY: 16 GB RAM
• GRAPHIC CARD: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, 12 GB
• RECOMMENDED GRAPHICS SETTING: 1080p - Low quality – Low Ray Tracing

Recommended

• OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS 11
• PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
• MEMORY: 16 GB RAM
• GRAPHIC CARD: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, 16 GB
• RECOMMENDED GRAPHICS SETTING: 1080p - High quality – High Ray Tracing