A new patch for Dark Souls III is due to go live tomorrow for PC and PlayStation 4 players (Xbox One date is coming later) that introduces a huge amount of adjustments to existing weapons and fixes a whole range of irritating bugs that have cropped up in the months since release.
The full list of changes was posted on Reddit by FromSoftware’s community manager (via VG247) earlier, but we’ve put them below for your convenience.
- Archdragon Peak: Fixed the freeze when jumping into the fog after ringing the bell.
- The Rinfinger Leonhard quest will now start properly after the removal of the restriction on the maximum number of Pale Tongues that can be offered to Rosaria, Mother of Rebirth.
- Trophies will now unlock correctly even if the required item is sent directly to the storage.
- Fixed a Skill being changed based on a right hand weapon when equipping White Hair Talisman on the left hand while holding the Sacred Flame with both hands.
- The Horsehoof Ring (which increases stamina drains of ATK) will no longer affect other attacks besides its initial effect on kicks.
- It will no longer be possible to equip a helm when using a Wax Pool after using the Dragon Head Stone.
- Fixed the HP drain damage of Symbol of Avarice when resting near bonfire.
- Fixed a spell animation and effect not synching up when using the magic repetitively.
- Fixed when summoning the white phantom NPC under a certain circumstance, the character’s collision will properly function nullifying all enemy attacks.
- Fixed issue where skills could be performed even when a certain amount of FP was not available.
- Adjusted the attack cancel parameters of some curved swords attacks.
- Adjusted the attack power and skills of fist and claw weapons.
- Adjusted the skills of twin blade weapons.
- Fixed the scythe not penetrating shields at close distances.
- Adjusted stamina consumption and attack cancel parameters for rapier weapons.
- Adjusted the attack collision for the washing pole weapon.
- Adjusted parameters of Farron Hail and Busting Fireball.
- Adjusted casting speed, stamina consumption, cancel timing of some Spells.
- Increased the number of arrows/bolts that can be possessed.
- During online multiplayer: During the invasion of a Dark Phantom, the host will no longer be separated from his area.
- During online multiplayer: A dark phantom can no longer be forcibly brought back in some maps.
- During online multiplayer: When the player is summoned during a boss battle, the boss will no longer become motionless even after the player is back to his/her world.
- The status effects below the stamina gauge will no longer be hidden when opening the top menu with HUD display set to auto.
- The voice chat icon will now remain visible when the HUD display is set to “Auto.”
- Fixed the display of strength level shown in the equipment menu when using two-handed weapon.
- Other game balance parameters have been adjusted.
- Several game flaws fixed.
While a lot of the points are frustratingly vague (and hence, will probably be left up to the community to discover exactly what has been tweaked), it seems the bulk of the patch is focused on making changes to several different weapon sets. The Washing Pole katana in particular – a player favorite when it comes to PvP – seems to be receiving a nerf to its attack range, whereas claw and fist weapons – currently quite weak – seem to be getting an attack increase.
By far one of the best changes is the increase to the amount of ammo players can carry for their ranged weapons. The current limit is set at 99 and that number can easily be depleted before reaching another bonfire to restock – especially for builds that focus entirely on Dexterity.
Going forward, FromSoftware has two substantial expansions in the works for Dark Souls III, with the first due to release later this year. With any luck, we’ll get more details on the first DLC at E3 next week.