Welcome to patch 1.09, we have all kinds of patch notes and changes hitting the game and the biggest roster of PVP-specific changes that we've ever seen for the game, some major changes to reduce the sort of instant burst killing that occurs really big nerfs to things like bleed and jump attack builds and a wide selection of General changes that are going to change the way the game feels and plays for both sides of the game.

Elden Ring 1.09 New Best Weapons & Builds According To The Buffs & Nerfs

The question is what are the biggest most important things to look at, we're going to take a look at those to cover what the changes actually do and what this means, and our thoughts on them, so let's go over the possible new weapons and builds after 1.09 patch by going over the nerfs and buffs coming in the update!

1 - Flails

Flails are an interesting one because they've been pretty much the worst weapon type in the game from the start of the game and we finally saw some relevant changes for them in 1.08. The previous patch where when you would specifically power stance them they gave them some recovery time improvements and speed and distance improvements. What this meant is that flails remain remained just not a good pick not a good weapon type at all and still pretty much the worst one in the game, it was really weird that it was specifically only for power stunts flails, but ultimately it was a good chance we just needed a bit more. In the current patch of 1.09, we have that now, their damage is better because the attribute scaling is actually better on this weapon type, specifically flails have further increased the speed of various attacks, further improved recovery time on those attacks, and if you are using them in the two-handed set of power stance we have better Poise damage on this weapon type as well, also they improve the speed of guard counters with flails. What this means basically is through the combination of the previous attack distance and speed of attack buffs to power stance flails and the current 1.09 improvements to further speed and further recovery as well as the attribute scaling improvements, improving the damage, overall flails are a lot better than they were. in fact, when you're using them in a power stance, it feels particularly good because the range of those attacks actually catches and clips people in an unexpected way. The damage is certainly better although not amazing and the standing combo is effective like if you have high enough Poise in your build, and you're able to trade with someone you can stand and combo them from a good range at a reasonable attack speed as well. 

However we do not think it's like broken or meta, we're going to look a bit further into it but they're certainly better than what they were, and now they're worth trying for.

2 - Bloodflame Blade

Bloodflame Blade is one of the strongest if not the strongest weapon boss in the game, we've been talking about this a lot recently in various builds throughout patch 1.08. What this did is actually enhance Ashes of War, so you could get a ranged bleed attack using this weapon buff and then using an Ash of War like a ranged one and it would augment it to be a ranged bleed attack, really incredibly powerful and very subtly. It seems that patch 1.09 has finally removed that augmentation, no longer seems to affect your ashes of war in that way and you can't make yourself a range ash of war bleed option. This makes sense because it was kind of broken and overpowered pretty crazy stuff, it did lead to some fun builds but we've been expecting this so it's finally here.

3 - Curved Swords

Curved Swords are actually specifically looking really good now, the moveset overall has felt a lot better as well as power stands are feeling really good too, what they've done is they've increased the speed of the attacks the range of attacks, and the recovery time which is always nice. So there are varieties of curved greatswords that are really good, two particularly good ones then are the Magma Wyrm's Scalesword and Bloodhound's Fang. Magma Wyrm's Scalesword is now a trade machine, very powerful and great for trading in general with the improved speed of attack, you will be able to catch people and clip them with this really heavy-hitting weapon much quicker, it's shocking the range improvements mean you are able to trade more effectively in Phantom range that they're simply not used to making a much greater threat. Just the speed and range improvements has made a real impact, the recovery time is nice because you get stuck in your animations less time, you could roll out move into another combo it feels good but the speed of attack and range of attack being improved, feels the most impactful. Specifically in this patch, the ash of war Cursed-Blood Slice has been improved, they've increased the projectile generation speed and reduced the recovery time, so you can get out of that longer animation quicker. 

Morgot's curved sword was in a really good place in the previous patch and was a solid arcane meta, a relevant pick with the two aspects of a melee attack and a second pop on the Ash of War great for trading in PvP and just overall strong in PVE, this has seen a major improvement this patch because as a curved great sword, it's now got that improved speed that improved range that improved recovery time as a base weapon now, it's really good then with the ash of war being called out in specific to have the projectile part being sped up as well, we think Morgott's Cursed Sword could be a really deadly option in 1.09.

4 - Death Ritual Spear

Death Ritual Spear is a pretty damn good weapon with good range reasonable damage, and a really unique and powerful Ash of War called Spearcall Ritual that was buffed this patch to have increased projectile generation speed. So specifically what this means is those Spears that you summon and hit on a target, come down faster, and they spawn in quicker. It used to take three seconds after the actual initial cast, now it takes two which is a major speed up for how fast comes out, this is massive for this weapon for its DPS and output in general when we think PVE making it a real kind of scary consideration in that aspect. Then in PvP, it means it's actually able to catch people much quicker now. It was already kind of a menace and things like a free-for-all and Team Deathmatch, but in Duals now you're going to be able to use this ash of war as soon as someone steps back even close to medium range and catch them with this, especially if you can put it on yourself. There is real potential for this weapon at the ash of war, with this small but very important change, so another one we think you should definitely try.

5 - Starscourge Greatsword

Starscourge Greatsword's Ash of War Starcaller Cry as you do that raw pull up people in and then do the slam down, the problem with this Ash of War since it's a release is to help slow that follow-up is, even in PVE you would be interrupted while trying to do it you get your ass knocked down even when you do land it as cool and powerful as it was, it's just a bit too slow. We found ways to make that work all the same and things like a free-for-all where you can catch people in corners or surprise people with the pull in sudden slam down, the AOE obviously is the reasonable range and does great damage. But in 1.09, they have improved the speed of that follow-up, so you can actually slow them down and get that big hit way quicker. That's probably the only real kind of major issue for this weapon in the Azure war in particular and they've actually addressed it and sped it up, now it is feeling much better and will be much more viable and relevant on both sides of the game. It's going to be a bit of a menace still we think in free-for-all and things like that, but certainly worth using in duals because you can actually summon down much faster.

6 - Inescapable Frenzy & Lifesteal Fist

Moving on we have the new grab improvements - Inescapable Frenzy and Lifesteal Fist, those grab attacks have had some serious improvements in this patch in the form of power range and grab angle increases. Now power on Range is great because it's going to deal more damage and it will reach a bit further that's great, now grab angle that just means that if you miss by trying to grab and you move to the right or left of the target it'll snap on a little bit more accurate. But is this meta-relevant something you should start running immediately? No, these grabs only work on certain enemies like tarnished basically NPCs, there's fire and few between options where that will actually work in PVE, so it's not really something you should care about or think about for that.

There you have it, those are some of the main most important changes we think you should care about in the 1.09 patch!

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