Elden Ring Patch 1.17 Lands Today With First New Content Drop ‘Tarnished Pack’ Set for August 28

FromSoftware has pushed Elden Ring Patch 1.17 live on all platforms, the studio's biggest balance update for the action-RPG in years and the foundation for the new "Tarnished Pack" DLC arriving on Steam this Friday, August 28, 2026.

The update, detailed in the official Steam News post for Elden Ring, lands ahead of the DLC and is required for online play. It tags the client as App Ver. 1.17 / Regulation Ver. 1.17 and lays the groundwork for the paid Tarnished Pack, which goes live on Steam at 7:00 JST / 00:00 CEST / 15:00 PDT on Friday. Once purchased, the pack adds two new starting classes — Idus Knight and Heavy Knight — selectable during character creation, alongside new weapons purchasable from merchants or found across the Lands Between.

The DLC content also introduces three Spectral Steed Attire options that change Torrent's appearance — Tree Sentinel (Stormveil Castle), Silver of Caria (Liurnia of the Lakes) and Funereal Night (Altus Plateau) — and unlocks a Site of Grace menu toggle for switching between them once any are obtained. Two new NPC invasion events are folded in for Caelid and Leyndell, Royal Capital, with a note that the Leyndell event does not trigger once the area has shifted to Leyndell, Ashen Capital.

The headline of the patch, however, is the balance pass. Weapon-throwing attacks for Smithscript Axe, Smithscript Spear, Smithscript Greathammer and Spear of the Impaler consume less stamina and hit harder, while Smithscript Dagger and Rellana's Twin Blades get a critical-hit buff. Carian Sorcery Sword's Intelligence scaling now affects all damage types. The five Perfume Bottle weapons — Firespark, Lightning, Chilling, Frenzyflame and Deadly Poison — all see attack power increases. Fourteen shields, including Lordsworn's Shield, Briar Greatshield, Erdtree Greatshield and Haligtree Crest Greatshield, receive a guard-boost increase and most also drop in weight.

On the magic side, Parry sees improved performance and faster follow-ups when used with Daggers, Curved Swords or Small Shields; Storm Wall no longer consumes FP and parries better; Thops's Barrier parries better. The sorcery buffs push Founding Rain of Stars, Carian Retaliation, "O, Flame!" and Rain of Fire upward, while Meteorite and Meteorite of Astel get faster cast times and Gravitational Missile no longer explodes on impact with terrain. PvP gets targeted nerfs: Rakshasa's Great Katana takes more damage while attacking, Rugalea's Roar loses damage against other players, and Rotten Breath / Ekzykes's Decay no longer lock opponent characters in place for as long.

Bug fixes address two Great Katana issues — under-powered critical hits against large enemies and the ability to parry jumping attacks — and two PC-only bugs covering mouse-look during NPC dialogue and a non-functional reset option in the keyboard/mouse settings menu.

IGN's coverage, published shortly after the patch went live, characterises the update as FromSoftware's largest balance overhaul for Elden Ring in years, with buffs across most weapon categories and a small set of PvP-focused nerfs.

Our Take

The Tarnished Pack is a small, focused DLC — two classes, a handful of weapons and some cosmetic horse armour — but pairing it with the widest balance pass the game has seen since launch makes today a meaningful reset moment for both returning and lapsed players. Anyone who put Elden Ring down because a favourite weapon felt under-tuned now has a clear reason to revisit the Lands Between.