Elden Ring Update 1.08 Available Now, Opens Colosseums and…

FromSoftware announced on December 6 that the doors to Elden Ring's Colosseums would open soon, with that update officially available on all platforms. Not only does it give players new PvP modes in Elden Ring, but this update adds a few pieces of new content and makes several balance adjustments.

Elden Ring fans have been waiting for this update for a long time, practically since its launch. Players discovered these in the game and were curious how to get inside, with datamining eventually revealing that this content was walled off. Some players glitched their way inside, but now there's no need for that.

Elden Ring's three Colosseums—located in Limgrave, Leyndell, and Caelid—all feature different PvP rules. The Limgrave Colosseum, for example, features two PvP modes: United Combat and Combat Ordeal. United Combat sees players take place in fights of two teams in timed battles (with respawns active). Every death and respawn gives the opposing team points, with the highest score winning at the end of the time limit. Combat Ordeal is Elden Ring's free-for-all mode, where everyone is out for themselves, and whoever has the most solo points when the time hits zero wins.

Meanwhile, the Royal Colosseum of Leyndell is home to Duel Mode, where players duel to the death with no respawns. Caelid is home to all of the aforementioned modes, United Combat, Combat Ordeal, and Duel Mode, but with a twist—players are able to use Elden Ring's Spirit Ashes in combat here.

Elden Ring update 1.08 also adds five new hairstyles, makes a few PvP-specific adjustments that don't affect the base game or co-op play, makes a few general adjustments to poise damage and weapon speed, and fixes a handful of bugs as well. No doubt, this is an incredibly exciting Elden Ring update that's bound to bring fans back to the game, but it also leaves fans with one big question: is there story-based DLC coming to the game?

Given this is a free update and mostly focused on PvP, it stands to reason that FromSoftware is still hard at work on premium Elden Ring DLC. Its sales success, FromSoftware's typical approach to DLC, and rumors that it is indeed working on DLC all point to this possibility, eventually. For now, fans will just have to wait and see what the future holds, while proving themselves in the Colosseums in the meantime.

Elden Ring Colosseum Update 1.08 Patch Notes Revealed

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.
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.

Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.