FromSoftware kicked off 2026 with a substantial balance update for Elden Ring Nightreign, and if you’ve been running the same builds since launch, you’re going to want to pay attention.
Patch 1.03.2 arrived on January 15, 2026, bringing sweeping changes to Nightfarer classes, weapon systems, raid events, and core gameplay mechanics that will reshape how you approach expeditions.
This isn’t just a bug fix patch—it’s a deliberate rebalancing of power dynamics that affects everything from your choice of character to the equipment you prioritize during runs. Let’s break down what’s changed and what it means for your gameplay.
Executor: The Biggest Winner
If you’ve been sleeping on Executor, it’s time to wake up. This class received some of the most dramatic improvements in the patch.
Cursed Sword Becomes Significantly Stronger
The Cursed Sword skill now increases critical hit damage, guard boost, and stagger damage when you successfully deflect enemy attacks. This transforms Executor from a high-risk gamble into a genuinely rewarding playstyle for skilled players. Successfully timing your deflections now leads to devastating counter-attacks.
Even better, stamina consumption from successful deflections has been reduced, and running out of stamina after a deflection no longer results in a guard break. This removes one of the most punishing aspects of the deflection mechanic—you’re no longer at risk of being immediately destroyed if you mismanage your stamina during aggressive play.
Perhaps most importantly, Cursed Sword now properly applies the effects of “Improved Skill Attack Power” and “Improved Melee Attack Power” to weapon arts while the skill is active. This was previously bugged, meaning your weapon art damage wasn’t benefiting from these common relic effects. Now it does, substantially increasing your damage potential.
Aspects of the Crucible: Beast Gets Even Deadlier
All attacks except “Roar” deal increased damage while the Ultimate Art “Aspects of the Crucible: Beast” is active. But the real game-changer is the defensive buff: when performing skill attacks during the transformation, you gain increased damage negation and a brief window where reaching zero HP won’t critically wound you – instead, you’ll exit the transformation with 1 HP remaining.
This essentially gives Executor a built-in clutch survival mechanic during their most powerful state. You can now play more aggressively during the transformation without fear of instant death.
In Deep of Night mode, these attack power increases scale with expedition depth level, making Executor increasingly dominant as difficulty ramps up. The deeper you go, the more dangerous you become.
Guardian: Finally Feels Like a Tank
Guardian received increased damage negation for physical and all elemental attacks, along with improved guard boost when blocking. This makes Guardian significantly tougher and more capable of absorbing punishment for the team.
But the improvements don’t stop there. Multiple Guardian-specific relics received substantial buffs:
The “HP Recovery From Successful Guarding” relic effect was increased, allowing you to sustain yourself through defensive play. The “Draw enemy attention while guarding” effect also became stronger, making you a more effective aggro magnet for protecting teammates.
The shockwave power from successful guards (when using the Guardian-specific relic) increased, turning your defensive stance into a genuine offensive tool. You’re not just absorbing damage – you’re punishing enemies for attacking you.
If you’ve been hesitant to play the tank role, this update makes it significantly more rewarding and impactful.
Raider: Speed and Power Combined
Raider’s attack speed increased across most weapon types, excluding dual-wield and jump attacks, with adjusted movement distances for Greataxes, Great Hammers, and Colossal Weapons. The faster attack chains mean you can deal damage more efficiently and respond to enemy movements with less vulnerability between swings.
The game-changer for Raider is the new passive ability effect: “Fighter’s Resolve” now grants a temporary attack power boost when HP drops significantly. This rewards risky, aggressive play and gives you a comeback mechanic when things get dicey – essentially a built-in berserker mode for clutch moments.
The Ultimate Art “Totem Stela” had its attack range expanded, making it easier to hit multiple enemies or catch mobile targets.
Several Raider-specific relics also received attention: The “Defeating enemies near Totem Stela restores HP” effect was increased, as was the “Improved Poise Near Totem Stela” effect. These changes make positioning near your totem significantly more rewarding.
Revenant: Scaling Summons
Revenant’s Ultimate Art “Immortal March” now provides increased attack power for summoned spirits’ special attacks when active summons are present. More importantly, in Deep of Night mode, spirit attack power and damage negation now scale with expedition depth level.
This makes Revenant increasingly powerful as expeditions progress into harder content, rewarding players who can keep their summons alive and active through the more challenging stages.
Scholar and Undertaker Adjustments
Scholar’s “Analyse” skill had its distance criteria affecting progress rate against large enemies adjusted, presumably making it more forgiving when you can’t get as close to massive bosses.
Undertaker received adjusted movement distance for some attacks against stationary targets when using hammer-category weapons. Additionally, the Undertaker relic “Attack power increased by landing the final blow of a chain attack” was buffed, as was the “Physical attacks boosted while assist effect from incantation is active for self” relic.
Duchess: Visual Clarity
Duchess’s skill “Restage” had the phantom’s visibility adjusted when triggered. While this seems minor, visibility improvements help teammates coordinate better and understand what’s happening in chaotic combat situations.
The Bow Rebalancing: Necessary Corrections
Here’s where things get controversial for ranged builds. The effects of “Improved Bow Attack Power” and “Improved Attack Power with 3+ Bows Equipped” Relic Effects were decreased. This addresses an unintended bug from Patch 1.03 where these effects were mistakenly applied to bows with excessive strength.
If you’ve been running a bow-focused build, this is a direct nerf to your damage output. The developers acknowledged that bows were overperforming due to a bug, and they’ve brought them back in line with other weapon types.
There’s more: ranged weapons now have distance-related drop-off applied to status ailment accumulation, Ultimate Art gauge charging, and near-death gauge depletion when attacking downed allies. This means you can’t build up status effects, charge ultimate abilities, or revive allies from distance as effectively as before. You’ll need to position more carefully and can’t rely on safe-distance tactics anymore.
On the plus side, a bug was fixed where the “Successive Attacks Boost Attack Power” relic effect was too strong, and it’s now been decreased – though this wasn’t bow-specific.
Magic and Spell Adjustments
Magic users face some economic changes. The “Shattering Crystal” sorcery and “Beast Claw” incantation both had their FP consumption increased, making these powerful spells more expensive to cast repeatedly. You’ll need to manage your Focus Points more carefully during extended fights.
The “Rotten Crystal Staff” had its primary sorcery changed from “Shattering Crystal” to “Crystal Release”, fundamentally altering how this weapon functions. If you’ve been relying on this staff for its original spell, you’ll need to adapt your strategy.
The visibility of effects for some sorceries and incantations was adjusted, presumably to make battlefield readability better for all players.
Talisman Improvements: Less Punishment for Power
Two significant talisman changes reduce the penalties for using powerful equipment. The “Primal Glintstone Blade” talisman’s “Reduced Maximum HP” effect was lowered, and the “Crucible Feather Talisman” had its “Impaired Damage Negation” effect reduced.
These are buffs by way of penalty reduction – the talismans still extract a cost, but that cost is now more reasonable relative to their benefits. If you previously avoided these items due to harsh drawbacks, they’re worth reconsidering.
Additional Relic Changes
Beyond character-specific adjustments, several general relics received tweaks:
Wylder’s “Art activation spreads fire in area” relic now generates art gauge from the burn damage it causes, making it more useful for building up your ultimate ability through clever positioning.
Multiple Executor relics were improved: “While Character Skill is active, unlocking use of cursed sword restores HP” was increased, the healing effect duration of “Slowly Restore HP upon Ability Activation” was extended, and the attack power relic was renamed and modified from “Character Skill Boosts Attack but Attacking Drains HP” to “Character Skill Boosts Attack but Lowers Damage Negation While Attacking” with an increased attack power boost.
These changes make Executor’s risk-reward gameplay more rewarding while maintaining the high-skill ceiling.
Field and Location Changes
Several key locations received balance adjustments that affect loot quality and enemy encounters:
Marsh and Blacksmith Village Get Better
The number of Night Invaders appearing during cataclysms at the Marsh increased, some enemy counts at Blacksmith Village were adjusted, and enemy attack power in Blacksmith Village during Deep of Night mode was decreased.
More importantly for your progression, rune drops from some enemies in Marsh and Blacksmith Village increased, and the probability of rare weapons and items appearing in treasure chests at these locations improved. If you’ve been avoiding these areas, they’re now more rewarding to clear.
Great Hollow Improvements
The spawn rate of special shops in Great Hollow Shifting Earth was adjusted, presumably making these valuable vendors more consistent to find.
Raid Event Rebalancing
If you’ve been struggling with certain raid events, several received player-friendly adjustments:
Tricephalos Gets Easier
The “Beast’s Hunt” special ability obtained during the Tricephalos raid now fully restores stamina for surrounding allies during continuous attacks, making it significantly more powerful for sustaining your team through extended combat. Additionally, continuous damage received by player characters during this event was decreased, and visibility was adjusted.
Fissure in the Fog Becomes More Manageable
Falling hail damage during Fissure in the Fog in Deep of Night mode was decreased, and visibility during the event was adjusted. This should make one of the more punishing raid events feel less oppressive.
Balancers Receives Significant Nerfs
The number of enemies entering the Charm state at certain points was adjusted, and the attack power boost for charmed enemies was decreased. This addresses one of the more frustrating mechanics where your teammates could become overwhelming threats against you.
DLC Content Adjustments
If you own The Forsaken Hollows DLC, the appearance rates of DLC target bosses, key locations, and Shifting Earth events in Deep of Night mode were adjusted when matched only with other DLC owners. This should provide better balance for the difficulty scaling these elements introduce.
Quality of Life Enhancements
Beyond balance, several usability improvements should make your expedition experience smoother:
New icon displays and descriptions were added to the status menu for “Improved Attack Power at Full HP” and “Improved Damage Negation at Full HP” passive effects while active, as well as the “Switching Weapons Boosts Attack Power” Relic Effect.
These additions help you understand exactly when your buffs are active without guessing, allowing for more informed decision-making during combat.
Fire Pots and Throwing Knives now have maximum purchase limits in shops, preventing infinite stockpiling but ensuring availability remains balanced.
Critical Bug Fixes
The patch addresses numerous technical issues, but several stand out as particularly impactful:
Multiple bugs were fixed where Executor’s “Aspects of the Crucible: Beast” Ultimate Art caused unintended status ailment damage, or excessive damage when combined with Scholar’s Ultimate Art “Communion”. These fixes prevent exploitative damage combinations that broke encounter balance.
The whip weapon category had a bug fixed where the first hit of normal attacks didn’t apply “Improved Melee Attack Power” passive effects. If you use whips, your damage is now consistent across all hits.
Numerous weapon arts that weren’t properly applying relic effects were fixed, including Waves of Darkness, Eruption, Lightning Slash, Golden Land, Ice Lightning Sword, and several others. If you’ve been using these arts, you should notice improved damage output.
DLC-exclusive items that could disappear under certain conditions (Scholar and Undertaker costumes, plus unique relics) can now be re-acquired at Roundtable Hold if lost.
The Steam version had connection issues occurring immediately after matchmaking resolved, addressing a frustrating technical problem for PC players.
Boss-specific fixes addressed issues with Balancers, Dreglord, Divine Beast Dancing Lion, Knight Artorias, and Salvation’s Standard-Bearers, making these encounters function as intended without progression-blocking bugs.
What This Means for Game Balance
These changes reveal FromSoftware’s balancing philosophy: defensive classes should feel genuinely tanky, aggressive classes should reward skilled play with high damage output, and exploit-level combinations need correction.
The bow changes are the most controversial, but they’re necessary. Ranged builds were dominating with too little risk – now you need to manage positioning and resource generation more carefully. This doesn’t make bows useless; it just means they can’t trivialize encounters from safety anymore.
Executor’s comprehensive buffs transform it from a niche high-risk choice into a genuinely powerful class for skilled players. The Cursed Sword improvements alone make deflection-focused gameplay significantly more rewarding.
Guardian’s buffs position the class as a legitimate team anchor rather than just a placeholder tank. Combined with the talisman penalty reductions, defensive builds become more viable without feeling like you’re sacrificing too much damage potential.
The raid event adjustments make previously frustrating encounters more manageable without removing their challenge entirely. Tricephalos and Fissure in the Fog become less punishing while Balancers loses some of its most annoying mechanics.
Field changes to Marsh and Blacksmith Village reward thorough exploration with better loot drops and more reasonable enemy encounters, especially in Deep of Night mode.
The Bottom Line
Patch 1.03.2 represents meaningful balance adjustments that will affect how you build your character and approach expeditions. Executor emerges as the patch’s biggest winner with comprehensive improvements across both its skill and ultimate art. Bow users face necessary nerfs but remain viable with smarter positioning. Defensive classes got genuine buffs that make them feel powerful rather than merely necessary. Raid events became more approachable without losing their challenge.
The update also includes performance improvements, rendering optimizations for boss fights, and minor bug fixes that should make the overall experience smoother across all platforms.
If you’ve been running the same expedition strategy for weeks, this patch is your signal to experiment. The power dynamics have shifted enough that previously suboptimal builds might now be competitive, and what worked before might need refinement. That’s exactly what a good balance patch should accomplish – shaking up the meta without destroying what makes the game fun.
… and as always: don’t forget to check out our other Nightreign articles as well!
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