Elden Ring players flabbergasted as the infamous Rivers of Blood katana dodges nerfs yet again

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Rivers of Blood has somehow gone untouched for multiple updates

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(Image credit: FromSoftware)

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. 

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. 

"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. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.