A lot of changes came into Elden Ring in the form of its newest update 1.03. Major bosses were nerfed, many Ashes of War were nerfed, magic received a buff, and the outright broken overpowered Mimic Tear summon was also nerfed.
One of the biggest balance changes however was in the form of the nerf of one of Elden Ring’s most popular and OP weapons: The Sword of Night and Flame. The weapon got its weapon skill nerfed that was able to completely melt both early and endgame bosses in a handful of hits. The question that remains for those who are still on the fence, however, is the Sword of Night and Flame still worth using?
Is Sword of Night and Flame Still Worth Using in Elden Ring?
And the answer to that question is still a yes, while the weapon received a much needed nerf ineffectiveness, it is still a great weapon and STILL probably of the best weapon in the game for Faith and Intelligence builds. The damage nerf to its magic attacks was significant but we think that the Sword of Night and Flame is still a very worthwhile weapon for INT and Faith players when upgraded.
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Doing the math, the nerf to the Sword of Night and Flame was substantial, with about a 30% decrease in damage for the Magic beam and a 20% decrease for the flame attack, with its FP cost doubled from 20 to 40 FP. Keep in mind that everything else about the weapon has been kept relatively the same so if you weren’t relying on the SoNAF’s skill attacks as your primary source of damage it is still a good weapon.
Why Was SNAF Nerfed In Update 1.03?
It also makes sense why the SoNAF was nerfed in the first place, for a game like Elden Ring where the developers want you to always explore and seek out its content with many items in the game as a reward, having a weapon that just plain overshadows every other weapon in the game can actually hurt the game’s balance for both PvE and PvP.
Regardless of this, however, many players have been disappointed with this nerf with quite a few saying that the nerf was too significant making the weapon worthless, which is frankly somewhat true if you were exclusively relying on its weapon art for most of your damage.
Other substantial nerfs in Patch 1.03 also include attacks like the Hoarfrost Stomp and the “Bloody Slash” Ash of war. For the full patch notes, click here.
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