FromSoftware buffs 23 Elden Ring shields and starts selling the paid Tarnished Pack

Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s open-world action RPG, the one built on punishing bosses and a map the game leaves you to read for yourself. At 14:00 UTC on August 27, 2026, a set of patch notes went up on its Steam announcements page. The stated purpose was twofold: to support the Tarnished Pack DLC due the next day, and to make gameplay balance adjustments [1].

The free half turned out to be the longer one. The balance work reaches everyone who installs the update, and the thickest section of it lands on shields.

Twenty-three shields, and fifteen that got lighter

Count the shield names in the weapons section and twenty-four come up. Twenty-three had their guard boost increased, the value that decides how well a raised shield holds; fifteen had their weight reduced; fourteen appear on both lists. Only the Haligtree Crest Greatshield got the weight cut alone [1].

Shields were not the whole of it. The Parry skill, the timed deflection that opens an attacker up for a riposte, was improved outright, and the delay before your next action shortened when it is used with daggers, curved swords or small shields. Storm Wall got the same parry improvement and stopped consuming FP altogether. Anyone who plays Elden Ring from behind a shield rather than rolling away from everything should read this patch to the end [1].

Sorceries and incantations moved as well. Founding Rain of Stars and Carian Retaliation gained power, Meteorite and Meteorite of Astel cast faster, and Gravitational Missile no longer detonates the instant its projectile meets the ground or a wall. A separate list covers PvP only: Rakshasa’s Great Katana now takes more damage from other players mid-attack, and Rotten Breath and Ekzykes’s Decay hold other characters in hit reactions for less time [1].

One entry depends on where you are. The notes say that certain items lying in the field, or dropped by powerful enemies in the Realm of Shadow, the land the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion added, have been swapped for higher-tier items or other treasure, and that anything already picked up will not change. On a save that has been combed through, the change shows up only on a fresh run [1].

The update is required for online play. The title screen should read App Ver. 1.17 and Regulation Ver. 1.17 [1].

Four things $4.99 attaches

The Tarnished Pack is paid DLC. As of September 3, 2026 it lists at $4.99 on Steam in the United States and 6,800 won in Korea, with no discount running. FromSoftware developed it; FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment publish it [3].

First, two starting classes, the Idus Knight and the Heavy Knight, both selectable at character creation. Rolling a new character is not the only way to see them: the notes say the equipment of each class can also be bought from merchants or found out in the world [1].

Second, weapons, likewise sold by merchants or found in the world [1].

Third, three Spectral Steed Attires that change the look of Torrent, the spectral horse. The notes give the locations plainly. Tree Sentinel sits in Stormveil Castle, Silver of Caria in Liurnia of the Lakes, Funereal Night on the Altus Plateau. Once any one of them is in hand, an option to change the steed’s appearance appears in the Site of Grace menu [1].

Fourth, two NPC invasion events, one in Caelid and one in Leyndell, Royal Capital [1].

The Korean store text does not say how many armor sets are included; the Japanese listing puts it at four, alongside the three Torrent appearances [3]. Everything in the pack works in the base game and in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion [4].

Check how far your save has already gone

One of those four carries a condition. The Leyndell invasion will not occur once the area has become Leyndell, Ashen Capital, the notes state flatly [1]. That change happens at a fixed point in the story and cannot be reversed, so a run already past it will not see the invasion whatever was paid.

The two dates deserve a line as well. The notes give the pack’s release as Friday, August 28 at 7:00 JST, 00:00 CEST and 15:00 PDT. Those are one moment rather than three, and in Pacific time that moment still falls on the 27th, which is the date the Steam store page carries [1][3]. On PlayStation and Xbox the pack opened at 0:00 local time on August 28, according to the patch notes Bandai Namco Europe published the same day [2].

So the save file decides it. If Leyndell is still the Royal Capital, this run has one more thing in it; if it is already ashen, the only route to that invasion is a new character. Bandai Namco has not said whether it will reopen under different conditions later.

Sources

[1] FromSoftware. Patch Notes Version 1.17. ELDEN RING Steam announcements, August 27, 2026.

[2] Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe. ELDEN RING Patch Notes Version 1.17. Bandai Namco Europe, August 27, 2026.

[3] Valve. ELDEN RING Tarnished Pack. Steam store, checked September 3, 2026.

[4] FromSoftware. ELDEN RING - Tarnished Pack DLC is available now. ELDEN RING Steam announcements, August 28, 2026.