Elden Ring patch 1.04 buffed Colossal weapons and dozens of spells, but while it also nerfed a few abilities, it notably didn't touch the famously overpowered Rivers of Blood katana.
Rivers of Blood is a unique weapon which primarily scales with the Arcane stat and causes immense bleed damage. Its special skill, Corpse Piler, has become a menace and a meme because it's so easy to use. Corpse Piler can be countered in PvP, but it's nearly peerless as a PvE boss-eater, dealing heavy damage and stagger from a safe distance while also triggering the bleed effect. Many players have long suspected that it would be nerfed one day, just as the powerful katana Moonveil was. Rivers of Blood may indeed be adjusted eventually, but its reign of terror will continue for now.
Patch 1.04 does notably shorten the animation for the bleed effect to cause less of a stunlock, but this is classed as a bug fix and will at most act as a minor indirect nerf to bleed weapons like Rivers of Blood. Even more bafflingly, FromSoftware did reduce the bleed buildup of the Swarm of Flies spell, yet Rivers of Blood and its Corpse Piler special escaped untouched.
Naturally, fans of the bloodletting katana are practically dancing in the streets, and many Rivers of Blood naysayers, especially the strongest players in the game, are too busy celebrating the buffs applied to other weapons to care. Of course, some players are also downright shocked to see this devastating sword weather yet another update without changes.
"Patch notes for version 1.04 will be made available after the maintenance."Meanwhile, Rivers of Blood users: pic.twitter.com/s51AKPSAc7April 19, 2022
HOW THE FUCK DID MOONVEIL AND RIVERS OF BLOOD SURVIVE ANOTHER DAY!?April 19, 2022
"I’m glad they buffed the rest of the items up, instead of just nerfing whatever is currently meta like Moonveil or Rivers," one Reddit user put it. "People wouldn’t use those two if there were more viable options and now it looks like there finally might be."
"Community: 'Pls nerf Rivers of Blood and katanas in general,'" quipped another. "[FromSoft]: 'Hmm, but consider: buffs everything else instead.'"
FromSoftware has repeatedly buffed spells and many strength weapons, which have generally been underrepresented in the Elden Ring meta even if they can deal upwards of 15,000 damage in one carefully coordinated attack, which means Rivers of Blood will have more competition going forward. If it continues to serve as the go-to boss delete button for a significant chunk of players, it may still be nerfed. But anything in-game is fair game, so as ever, pile those corpses while you can.
Rivers of Blood is one of the weapons of choice for community champion Let Me Solo Her, who a modder recently turned into an in-game summon.
