Honestly, if you spent the last few months bashing your head against the final boss of Shadow of the Erdtree, you can finally breathe. It’s over. The struggle is still there, sure, but it’s different now. FromSoftware just dropped Elden Ring patch 1.14, and the biggest takeaway is that Promised Consort Radahn has been taken down a peg. Or several pegs.
It’s rare to see a nerf this specific and this targeted so long after a DLC launch. Usually, FromSoftware lets us suffer. We remember the original Radahn nerf in the base game—people complained he became a "puppy," and then they buffed him back up slightly. This feels different. This feels like the developers looked at the frame data and the visual clutter and admitted, "Yeah, maybe that was a bit much."
What actually changed in Elden Ring patch 1.14?
The patch notes are beefy. But let's talk about the elephant in the room: Radahn. If you've fought him, you know the pain of that cross-slash. It was basically a frame-trap. Unless you had the reflexes of a caffeinated squirrel, you were getting hit by the second swing.
In Elden Ring patch 1.14, they changed the action pattern. He starts the fight differently now. The visibility in the second phase—which was basically a flashbang simulator—has been toned down. They reduced the geometry of some of those light pillars. You can actually see what he's doing. Imagine that. Being able to see the boss you're fighting.
It isn't just about his moves, though. His stamina damage against guarding players is lower. His non-physical damage has been tweaked. Basically, if you’re using a Greatshield poke build (we see you, and we don't judge), you're going to have an even easier time. But even for the "roll and pray" players, the timing windows are just slightly more generous. It's subtle, but you'll feel it.
Beyond the final boss: Weapon buffs and PvP shifts
It’s easy to get hyper-focused on the DLC ending, but Elden Ring patch 1.14 did some serious heavy lifting for the rest of the arsenal. If you've been sitting on Rellana’s Twin Blades because the damage felt underwhelming for the stat investment, go get them out of your chest. They got a buff. A real one.
The attack speed is up. The range on some of the magic hits is better. It feels like a weapon befitting a boss of that stature now.
And then there's the PvP side of things. Look, the meta was getting a little stale with certain spammy Ash of War setups. This patch tweaks the poise damage and the recovery frames for a huge list of weapons. Backstabs are more consistent now. They improved the "hit detection for backstab attempts," which is dev-speak for "you won't just whiff the air behind someone's cape anymore."
Heaven help anyone who relied purely on the Swift Slash Ash of War. It’s been adjusted. Again. It's still viable, but you can’t just mindlessly press the button and win every trade. You actually have to play the game.
Why this update matters for the long-term health of the game
Some purists are going to complain. They always do. "The boss was fine," they'll say while holding a Shield Poke build that ignored 90% of the mechanics anyway.
But Elden Ring patch 1.14 shows that FromSoftware is listening to the right kind of feedback. There is a difference between "this boss is hard" and "this boss is breaking the camera and my GPU's ability to render light." By fixing the visual clutter, they've made the difficulty about skill rather than surviving a seizure.
The balance changes to the Incantations are also massive. A lot of the new DLC spells looked cool but did roughly zero damage compared to a standard Lightning Spear. They’ve bumped up the potency of things like the Aspects of the Crucible: Wings. It’s actually worth the FP cost now.
Breaking down the equipment changes
Let's get into the weeds for a second. The patch didn't just touch weapons; it touched how we move. They improved the speed of some of the heavy weapon swings. Not a lot. Just enough.
- Greatswords and Colossal Weapons feel slightly less like you're swinging a literal building.
- The recovery time after a heavy attack is shorter, meaning you don't get punished for every single committed swing.
- Stamina management feels more fluid.
If you were a fan of the Pata or the newer fist weapons, you’ll notice the hitbox consistency is better. No more swinging through a boss’s leg and getting nothing for it. It’s these small, "unsexy" fixes that make Elden Ring patch 1.14 one of the better technical updates we've seen.
Honestly, the game feels more "finished" now than it did at the DLC launch. It’s a huge world. There are millions of moving parts. To see them still fine-tuning the frame data of a single boss's left-hand swing is kind of wild.
🔗 Read more: Why Gift of the Gem Dragon 5e is Secretly a Top-Tier Feat Choice
The PvP Meta: A New Landscape?
If you spend any time at the Academy Gate or the Colosseums, you know how toxic things could get. Patch 1.14 tries to fix that. The damage scaling in PvP is now more distinct from PvE. This is the "separate balancing" we’ve been begging for since 2022.
Certain Sorceries had their tracking reduced. You can actually dodge them by moving sideways instead of having to spam roll like your life depends on it.
The poise changes are the real kicker. It's harder to just "tank" through everything now. You have to respect the weapon size of your opponent. A dagger shouldn't be staggering a guy in full Bull-Goat armor with one flick of the wrist, and the game is finally reflecting that more accurately.
Misconceptions about the "Nerf"
People hear "nerf" and they think the boss is now a joke. That's not what happened here. If you walk into that arena unprepared, Radahn is still going to send you back to the Grace in three seconds flat.
What they did was remove the unfair elements. The stuff that felt like the game was cheating. The "un-rollable" combos. The blind spots. The visual noise. It’s still a 10/10 difficulty fight. It's just a 10/10 fight that respects your eyesight now.
Actionable Steps for your New Playthrough
If you’re jumping back in specifically because of Elden Ring patch 1.14, here is how you should approach the new balance:
First, respec and try the "failed" weapons. Grab those boss weapons that felt "mid" at launch. Rellana’s blades, the Gazing Finger, or even some of the newer Incantations. You might be surprised at how much better they feel with the faster recovery frames.
Second, go back to the final boss if you haven't beaten him. Seriously. If you gave up out of frustration, go back. The fight is much more readable. You can actually learn the rhythm now instead of just praying for good RNG.
Third, check your talismans. Some of the defensive buffs in this patch change the "math" of your build. If you were using the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman +2, you might find that you can swap out some other defensive gear for more offensive options because the boss damage has been slightly tuned.
Finally, test the new backstab windows. If you're a PvP player, spend thirty minutes in the Colosseum just testing the grab range. It’s significantly more generous, and it changes how you should approach "shield-turtles."
The Lands Between are still brutal. They're still going to kill you. But with the 1.14 update, it feels like a fair fight again. Go get your runes.