Elden Ring's Latest Patch Makes Malenia Harder To Beat By Nerfing Swarm Of Flies

thegamer.com:

Elden Ring just got a new update with a huge list of balance changes. Giant and colossal swords received buffs across the board to be faster and easier to use, while multiple spells and abilities similarly received buffs to their casting time.

But not all the changes in update 1.04 were beneficial. Many faith-based builds received a pretty hefty nerf in the fight against Melania after the incantation Swarm of Flies received a substantial nerf.

Related: Elden Ring: Sellia Crystal Tunnel Dungeon Guide

Swarm of Flies, for those who haven’t found it yet, is an incantation requiring both faith and arcane skills. It summons a swarm of bloodflies to attack nearby foes, and prior to the most recent patch, it could quickly build up bleed procs, even proccing multiple times in a single cast. This made it extremely useful for the fight against one of Elden Ring’s most challenging bosses, Melania, due to her vulnerability to bleeding.

Now, however, players will likely need to find another strategy. The latest patch “decreased blood loss build up” on enemies so that those bleed status conditions don’t proc nearly as often. One player estimates a three-second cooldown has been added to the spell so that it cannot build up additional bleed status during that cooldown period. This stops the ability to chain-proc bleeds when combined with other bleed sources (such as the Rivers of Blood katana) and makes Melania that much tougher once again.

However, Swarm of Flies isn’t entirely useless against Melania. As one player notes, it can still be used to stagger Melania (just like freezing pots can), and it’s still a useful utility spell in other fights as well.

Most players consider 1.04 to be a good patch overall, and it even adds an