Dark Souls patch 1.05 released, notes

By Robert Purchese Published 22 November, 2011

Out now on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Dark Souls patch version 1.05 has been released.

US members of the Dark Souls forum confirm they have downloaded the patch. And on both platforms, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Eurogamer can confirm that a Dark Souls patch is available to download in the UK on Xbox 360 now.

Dark Souls patch 1.05 has already been released in Japan. Here's a list of Japanese patch notes, which we'll update with official Western patch notes when they're available.

Patch 1.04/1.05 Changes

Translated by Brett (twitch.tv/thebrett)

Taken from in-game testing / jp wiki notes (http://w.livedoor.jp/project_dark)

Via Pastebin.

Magic Changes:

  • Pyro Glove nerfed from 270 to 230.
  • You can see resonance signs now.
  • Vow of Silence range increased.
  • Sorcery spell damage as a whole was slightly buffed, but Homing Soul Mass and other pursuit style spells were nerfed.
  • Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds.
  • Strong Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds. Invincibility removed. Effect on Stamina drastically reduced.
  • Tranquil Walk of Peace and other Slow duration reduced to ~10 secs. Effect supposedly changed from 100% encumberance to 50%. Rolling possible if your equip burden is lowered. Slowness is similar to swamp effect.
  • Iron Flesh effectiveness nerfed.
  • Invisible Body duration remains unchanged.

Status Changes:

  • Base Equipment Burden increased (~6-10 points)
  • Humanity Item drop rate increased from 10 to 210
  • Medium roll recovery faster? (unclear and unconfirmed)
  • Defensive bonuses gained via Humanity reduced. Other defensive bonuses remain unchanged.
  • Item discovery gained via Humanity improved. Capped at 20.

Equipment General Changes:

  • Reported some weapon scaling gets improved at higher normal upgrades (+15 uchi dex scaling goes to A)
  • Some scaling reported as changing from A to S with higher upgrades

Upgrade Changes:

  • Normal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +14).
  • Crystal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +4).
  • Lightning +4 nerfed by 2% (+5 remains unchanged).
  • Raw scaling buffed by 10% (all levels).
  • Magic stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
  • Enchanted stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
  • Divine stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
  • Occult stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
  • Fire +9 nerfed by 2%. (+5 remains unchanged)
  • Dragon stat scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +5).

Specific Gear Changes:

  • Grant scaling changed to Strength:B and Faith:A
  • Gold-hemmed nerfed, still can't be upgraded.
  • Dust skirt nerfed hard (streamlined to match the other pieces).
  • Silver Knights, Sun, Hollow Soldier's Shield and other medium shield stability nerfed to ~70 at max upgrades to improve Great Shield viability.
  • Crystal Ring Shield scaling drastically nerfed. Does around ~200 +-50
  • Dragon Greatsword buffed from 360 to 390.
  • Silver Knight's Sword lightning effect removed. Now enchantable.
  • Elite Knight gear nerfed, then buffed slightly in 1.05

Combat Changes:

  • Lock-on acquisition range increased.
  • Lock-on changing/switching got easier (more responsive).

Ring of Fog users can now be locked on.

PVE Changes:

  • Overall increase in souls gained (~2-2.5 times more)
  • Damage reduced on some mobs?
  • HP lowered on some mobs?
  • Reduced acquisition range on normal enemies.
  • Supposedly reduced poise on some enemies.
  • Bosses drop Humanity and Homeward Bones
  • Ghosts and Skeletons give souls now.
  • Twinkling Titanite drop rate improved.
  • Pyromancers in Catacombs drop Skull Lanterns.
  • Darkwraiths in New Londo drop Dark Hand.

Online Changes:

  • You can see resonance signs.
  • Some invasion restrictions possibly changed? Darkwraith upperlimit confirmed as unchanged.
  • 1.05: Summon restrictions improved slightly again.
  • Amount of souls the Master of the game gains changed.
  • Cracked Eye Orbs no longer get consumed on failure. Confirmed
  • You can hit Select to rate messages.
  • 1.05: Fixed 1.04 bug where summon signs were invisible.

Covenant Changes:

  • Covenant Material drop rate improved.
  • Lowered requirements for Sunbro covenenant (requirements moved from 50 to 25. 3/4 assists should do the trick)

Other Changes:

  • Official Guide nerfed.
  • Forest Hunter NPC farming remains unchanged.
  • Dark Anor Londo NPC farming remains unchanged.
  • Kiln Skip Glitch still works in 1.05

Merchant stock updates:

  • Male Undead Merchant: Also sells bottomless box
  • Female Undead Merchant: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts
  • Andrei: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts
  • Domnhal of Xena: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts, Master Key (5000)
  • Giant Blacksmith (Fapsmith): Sells Arrows / Crossbolts, Small Titanite Shards, Large Tit Shards, Twinkling (8000 per, inf amount), Green Shards, Repair box, upgrade boxes
  • Vamos: Arrows / Crossbolts, Small Tit, Large tit, Repair box / upgrade boxes
  • Inglwood: Sells Transient Curses

Fixes:

  • Fixed some freeze issues
  • Lvl up screen displays souls needed properly now
  • Dragon-head glitch, snuggly, and magic shield glitches fixed.
  • Fixed a bug where your inputs come out 1 second later.
  • Fixed a bug where the second solaire event wont progress.
  • Fixed a bug where feeding frampt a titanite stone then going over 99 resulted in having zero.
  • Fixed some specific map areas where you'd get stuck or be unable to progress.
  • Changed some english subtitles on the overseas port.
Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (82) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Jolly_Armadillo #1 6 months ago

    Brilliant! Can't wait to see what the changes have brought! May even spur me on to start a new character from scratch!
    Edited by Jolly_Armadillo at 22/11/11 @ 16:02

  • jmcflash #2 6 months ago

    Wow! Thats some great changes in there, weapon scaling getting some much needed love and slows / rof getting some much needed nerfs!

    Very happy :)

  • erp #3 6 months ago

    Ooooooh I wondered when this was going to be available!

    That's one enormous changelist! It's great to see such dedicated post-release support from FromSoft.

    (And that PvE soul increase is massively appreciated from where I'm sitting... :) )

  • Laserbream #4 6 months ago

    Finally! Also, abbreviating "Titanite" to "Tit" is unfortunate.

    Edit: no update for me on UK PS3 just now.
    Edited by Laserbream at 22/11/11 @ 16:19

  • erp #5 6 months ago

    "Ghosts and Skeletons give souls now."

    Holy moly! The Catacombs have been a living nightmare for me for the past few weeks for this very reason. I *hated* that place. Now, just as I've finally limped my way through it and killed the bosses, they go and change the thing that was making it the most heartbreaking for me...

    I wonder whether it was a bug, or whether it was originally as intended and they just decided to make it less unbelievably harsh?

  • MaoZedong #6 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:05 08-05-2012

  • Kaonazhie #7 6 months ago

    Sad to see the Hollow Warrior Shield nerfed, but I suppose it's fair. I think they've addressed most every problem that the online had - but will it make a drastic difference?

    I don't like being one shot by homing soulmass.

  • Fawad450 #8 6 months ago

    I lost one of my saves after playing for 25 hours, before anyone asks, I always quit via in game menu so dont know why the save file never showed up , it was there in xbox360 hard drive but didnt use to show on the in game menu screen, lots of other people on the net have complained about their saves being wiped off, does this patch will sort this problem out as well ?

    I am around 17 hours on my second playthrough but if I lose my save again, I wont bother starting again from scratch, would then trade it which is a shame as I really love the game.

  • JayKwon #9 6 months ago

    Wow massive changes, I always thought you didn't get souls from the skeletons because they didn't have souls hahaha, but then I wonderd why the big skeletons do have souls...

    Anyway, not really in the need for more souls per kill, but then again I'm only 17 hours into the game.

  • parablax #10 6 months ago

    Really, double souls for enemies - wow.

  • Nanocrystal #11 6 months ago

    Pyro glove and iron flesh nerfed? Glad I completed the game already, those both got me through quite a few boss fights.

  • schnide #12 6 months ago

    @erp

    Personally I don't think they should give souls, because 'in real life' they wouldn't have any. I like my Souls games harsh :)

  • schnide #13 6 months ago

    "Fixed a bug where your inputs come out 1 second later."

    I thought this happening was just my imagination! So glad that one of my favourite games of the year, if not up there at the top spot itself, is being even further improved. Such a good game and easily stands up to Demon's Souls.

    THANK YOU FROM SOFTWARE!
    Edited by schnide at 22/11/11 @ 16:55

  • Restart #14 6 months ago

    Welcome to Dark Souls: Easy Mode.

  • flaming.carrot #15 6 months ago

    Ring of Fog users can now be locked on = yay! I hate those cheating bastards always trying to backstab insta-kill you.

  • flaming.carrot #16 6 months ago

    They do seem to have made the game a bit too easy now with this update though. Demon's Souls was much harder anyway, despite the hype about increased difficulty in Dark Souls.

  • erp #17 6 months ago

    I'm also thrilled they've fixed the "Souls needed for next level" always showing "0" bug. It was a tiny niggle, but still so infuriating!

  • GamesConnoisseur #18 6 months ago

    On the whole balance, nerfed/increases means the game got harder, easier or the same?!

    Though certainly looks to make it even more playable! I m gonna come back to the game once I put down side by side gaming of Skyrim and Zelda!!

  • erp #19 6 months ago

    @flaming.carrot, I respectfully disagree: no *way* was Demon's Souls harder!

    (Although that might be because I played a Royal in Demon's, and a more melee-focused Wanderer in Dark...)

  • menschenfracht #20 6 months ago

    Giant Blacksmith (Fapsmith): Sells Arrows
    chokes from laughing
    is this official name?

  • Darren #21 6 months ago

    I've just got the game guide today and plan on returning to this game sometime in the run up to Christmas, or more likely, over the festive period. Good to know that the developers are continuing to fix and improve the game.

  • Fawad450 #22 6 months ago

    @JayKwon

  • TelexStar #23 6 months ago

    Great news. I always planned on returning to Dark Souls in the new year

  • menage #24 6 months ago

    What? I can buy a master key now? Shopping in my second playthrough.

    Maybe this soul increase will prevent me from the boring forest grind.

    What'd this kiln glitch?
    Edited by menage at 22/11/11 @ 17:22

  • TrevHead #25 6 months ago

    All these changes are great imo good going From Software!

    It is a bit of a bummer that the pyro is nerfed but he was overpowered

  • Jolly_Armadillo #26 6 months ago

    Disappointed to turn on ps3 and find out no patch for us ps3 European players...

    Sooo...when do we get treated to the patch then?
    Edited by Jolly_Armadillo at 22/11/11 @ 17:42

  • berryl227 #27 6 months ago

    "official guide nerfed"

    Oh cock it!

    Literally been dispatched today :0(

    Oh well still be useful for maps...... Won't it ???

  • makariel #28 6 months ago

    Finally! Good news all around, hopefully target changing finally works as intended. The lightning and fire weapons were simply too good compared to all the rest.

  • PotatoHeadBobby #29 6 months ago

    "Twinkling Titanite drop rate improved among several thousand other brilliant things

    Awww yee-yuh.

    Right-on for such a comprehensive patch, From Software.

    Right-on.

  • Sonic_D #30 6 months ago

    Ring of Fog and TWoP nerf are great news. The increase in souls makes me more likely to start a new character.

    Having said that I am glad I did NG and NG+ (well I am at the last boss, but won't kill him as I'll lose most of my PvP) before the patch as the game could feel different. Not in a bad way, just freshens things up I guess.

    Overall though I think it makes some aspects easier and some harder. You should level up faster, but I know a lot of ppl (myself included) took advantage of strong Pyro and spells like HCSM and SMS for bosses. If anything this will make me go the tank route for my next character for a real change.

  • FallingStickman #31 6 months ago

    Slightly worried that the game will be even easier now. I'm probably in the minority, but I find the game to be noticeably easier than Demon's Souls, especially the bosses.

    Glad they did something with the weapon scaling though.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #32 6 months ago

    @FallingStickman

    Strange that tho as i think Demons is way easier, wonder if its a play style or chracter build thing.

  • mcreddie #33 6 months ago

    They make it easier NOW?

    Aaach!!

  • SteveHolt #34 6 months ago

    Hmmm, these changes seem to make the game much easier if you know what you're doing.

    I'm a bit troubled, TBH: I spent dozens of hours adjusting to some aspects of the game, and now that I managed to find some balance From Software just changes everything. Now they say that these things weren't design decisions, they were flaws. I mean, come on!

    Having explored the catacombs + tomb of giants by myself without a strategy guide (and without a skull lantern before I litterally fell on one, deep into the tomb of giants), often earning zero souls on each unsuccessful run, I have to say that the update makes my efforts seem completely pointless.

    Having spent a lot of souls pushing my medium shield to 78 stability YESTERDAY, because the great shields were too heavy for my char, I now feel like an idiot because my shield has been nerfed to 68 and I somehow got an extra 7 on equip load, which means that the problem I managed to solve no longer exists, which is fortunate because the solution I found no longer works. Very, very weird.
    Edited by SteveHolt at 22/11/11 @ 19:25

  • Collymilad #35 6 months ago

    Now that's some bug fixing. I mean look those are ACTUAL, SPECIFIC fixes. Wow. Other devs, take note.

  • freethinker101 #36 6 months ago

    Shame about the Dragon Head glitch being fixed. I know it's cheating but I don't care.

  • agent55 #37 6 months ago

    Very cool, I didn't realize Dark Souls was getting any kind of post-release support, even patches. Looks pretty thorough... although I was kind of hoping to read something about a fix to some of the framerate issues.

  • doyourealize #38 6 months ago

    Not a fan of those PvE changes. It was a quest in itself to get that skull lantern...now they just give it to you before you even need it. A pretty impressive list overall, but why make the actual game easy?

  • doyourealize #39 6 months ago

    @erp You should be happy you already beat it. It's much more of an accomplishment to go through the old way.

  • apoc_reg #40 6 months ago

    Can't wait to boot it up!!!

  • Dave #41 6 months ago

    I'm just glad Solaire is finally moving again. I only need his miracles for the Platinum trophy. Not so happy with his Covenant requirement lowered to 25 Faith, been grinding for hours getting my Faith to 50...doh. Still a great game and it's good to see From supporting it.

  • FenderMaster #42 6 months ago

    Aww, i loved my Pyromancy glove, Iron flesh and especially the dragon head glitch. It cut out all the farming/grinding (HATE grinding!). It also allowed me to be more adventurous when it came to trying out different builds and weapon upgrading.

    Did they at least fix the horerendous framerate in Blighttown, the random boss suicides or randome npc glitches?

    *edit*

    ah, I think I see how this works...

    I sure hope they didn't fix the framerate issues and boss suicide glitches, those were great! And more grinding I say! If I'm not spending at least a solid 24 hours grinding souls and farming titanite at the one or two locations over and over then I'll just go back to MW3.
    Edited by FenderMaster at 22/11/11 @ 23:40

  • dirtysteve #43 6 months ago

    lad the input bug was fixed, that got me into some trouble.
    Official guide nerfed - what's that?

  • thelatestmodel #44 6 months ago

    Wow. Almost sounds like a different game with so many changes. It'll certainly make going back more interesting. Time for a New Game++?

  • chischis #45 6 months ago

    Where is the PC version ? :(

  • ctankep #46 6 months ago

    YOU DEFEATED -- you will be missed !! :(

    Sadly they also exorcised the much loved & totally awesome winning text in 1.04 replacing it with the rather bland VICTORY ACHIEVED / YOU REGAINED. You rogain'ed? Saddens me somewhat considering there's not likely to be further patches since it costs Namco Bandai extra for PSN / XBL certification. Oh the humanity ..!


    -- Chuan
    Edited by ctankep at 23/11/11 @ 03:34

  • UncleLou #47 6 months ago

    Ghosts and Skeletons give souls now.

    Nice. One of the things where they confused "difficult" with "annoying" in Dark Souls compared to Demon's Souls.

  • erp #48 6 months ago

    Totally agree, UncleLou. The Catacombs have been the only point in the game so far where I've consulted the Wiki for a coupe of things, just because the lack of any Souls gained just made the usual exploration and incremental progress feel so utterly worthless and disheartening. I didn't want to spend any longer in there than I needed, as it felt like every misstep was simply a waste of time rather than the usual tiny step towards eventual growth and success.

    I suppose if nothing else this at least illustrates how integral (and ingenious) the Souls mechanic is to actually making the 'Souls games work.
    Edited by erp at 23/11/11 @ 07:37

  • makariel #49 6 months ago

    @Dave: "[...] been grinding for hours getting my Faith to 50...doh."

    How about some jolly co-operation instead of hours grinding? I have faith 8 and got into the covenant.

  • Seoh #50 6 months ago

    Is that a typo, "humanity drop rate increased from 10 to 210?" my character is gonna be pooping humanity if thats the case.

  • username84 #51 6 months ago

    @schnide

    'in real life' you wouldn't attack skeletons and ghosts with magic weapons.

  • rogermellie #52 6 months ago

    I'm pretty excited about getting this game for Christmas.

    Should I apply the update or not?

  • schnide #53 6 months ago

    @username84

    Did you not notice my appropriate use of punctuation to emphasise the extent of how far real life applies?

  • FanBoysSuck #54 6 months ago

    Glad I finished it before the patch, the pyro glove really helped in some sections where you could get mobbed. It sounds like they've nerfed a lot of stuff but weakened the enemies and given out more souls on balance. For the most part this sounds like a good thing for those who need to grind to get through the game. Keep in mind no amount of grinding will get you through this game, there will always be points where only skill can allow for progression.

    Sucks about the guide but it wasn't even accurate in version 1 of the game (FROM were constantly changing stuff even after it went gold, making the writers job impossible, at least according to one of the contributers I know). The guide's still really good for finding stuff and generally navigating the game.

  • Mr #55 6 months ago

    Having played through most of the 'blockbusters' this year, Dark Souls is easily the one that impressed the most.

  • anthonypappa #56 6 months ago

    i was looking to get a game like this.

    dark souls or skyrim?

  • mechamonkey #57 6 months ago

    @anthonypappa If story and conversation is your thing then Skyrim, if shitting your pants in fear of whats around the corner and testing your skills not your characters skills is your thing get Dark Souls.
    Also Dark souls has multiplayer
    Personally DS is my favourite game ever.

  • TelexStar #58 6 months ago

    @anthonypappa - Although they're both RPG's, they're actually very different games and it depends on what you're after.

    Dark Souls is very action orientated and has virtually no NPC interaction. I.e. you don't spend large amounts of time talking to people to pick up quests etc. It's very much a kind of game that tells you nothing and wants you to forge your own path. This is largely where the difficulty lies as you could walk into areas with enemies that you have absolutely no hope of defeating. The world is also constructed very differently. It's deceptively large but not in an open map kind of way if you know what I mean. You generally walk along paths that twist and turn and lead into new areas that are connected to others. Lots of shortcuts litter the world that take you back to previously explored places. The initial impression is that it feels linear but it's actually not.

    Skyrim is more traditional with lots of NPC interaction and an open map world. The character levelling is more organic as you develop based on what you use. (Versus Dark Souls whee you need to have more of an idea on what skills you want to level up)

    They are both great and both will suck up huge amounts of time.

  • Nuada #59 6 months ago

    But have they fixed the bug where people were actually able to complete the game?

  • username84 #60 6 months ago

    @schnide

    Don't get yer knickers in a twist.

  • TadeasCZ #61 6 months ago

    These changes are very nice, but I was hoping for some better way how to have a coop with friends here...

  • anthonypappa #62 6 months ago

    just ordered dark souls. the sort of reasonless-ness of it sounds good. seems a bit chilling, maybe something like the first quake.

    not big on stories really, especially not fantasy stories.

    cheers.

  • cuthbertm #63 6 months ago

    The weirdest change I've noticed is the archers on the dragon bridge are on the opposite end now (near the bonfire). I also love how they changed the message you get when you get your souls back, to something that makes almost as little sense.

  • username84 #64 6 months ago

    @anthonypappa

    Prepare to die....... in a good way.

  • anthonypappa #65 6 months ago

    :) i generally play all my games on hard setting.

    i'm on the last two levels of uncharted 3 on crushing, which is surprisingly easy.

  • iago71 #66 6 months ago

    Not sure I understand what they mean by the Guidebook being nerfed. Does that refer to the book now having less features or what? Surely the original book would now not be of so much use seeing as the stats are now incorrect. Or is that what is being referred to as nerfed here.

  • Gecks #67 6 months ago

    lock-on/targetting seems a little screwy now, with it switching between enemies in a weird way. it was broken before, but i was used to that brokeness!

    also, i wouldn't have said it was much 'easier' now. regular enemies can still kill you with one hit, and the increase in souls from enemies is great, but in fairness i haven't really needed more souls that badly. other than undeadburg, where i was still finding my feet anyway, i haven't done any grinding as you've always got somewhere new to explore. that said, i'm only up to Sen's fortress...

  • fongy #68 6 months ago

    I tell you... I couldn't have completed NG+ without the Great Magic Shield - the fact that invincibility is gone and it lasts even less time now... yeeeesh... Glad I sunk the hours in before this change!
    :)

  • Pac #69 6 months ago

    Oh bollox. My crystal ring shield has gone from doing about 800 damage to 150. I always thought that it was a bit too good to be true.
    Edited by Pac at 23/11/11 @ 14:08

  • owl #70 6 months ago

    Still playing the game offline without even an initial patch, which means I've been lost in The Depths for hours, now. Tired, weary, and constantly at half-health. The warmth of a bonfire my only solace.

    Game of the year. Game of most years.

  • apoc_reg #71 6 months ago

    @anthonypappa Put your hands together!!!

  • apoc_reg #72 6 months ago

    @Gecks Perfect for me, just like demon souls.

    That and the souls required being back have made me very happy :-) :-)

  • makariel #73 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:51:07 12-12-2011

  • darkmorgado #74 6 months ago

    Great. So now my lovely hardback strategy guide is practically useless.

    Oh well, back to excel spreadsheets I suppose.

  • darkmorgado #75 6 months ago

    @iago71

    The guide has huge amounts of stat tables and things. The changes render it obsolete, which is a bit of an annoyance for people who paid a rather substantial amount of money for it only a few weeks ago.

  • PlugMonkey #76 6 months ago

    Ring of Fog users can now be locked on.
    \o/

    I had someone invade wearing one of those last night, and it was a proper pain in the balls. If it hadn't been for the 360 degree halberd heavy attack, I would have had no hope.

    Lots of other good fixes, esp standard weapon buffs, not having to schlepp all the way to two specific merchants to buy arrows, and being able to buy the master key in game.

  • darc #77 6 months ago

    Somehow inferred from the release notes that ALL enemies would yield 2-2.5x the number of souls. Trekked all the way from Ash Lake back to Darkroot Basin (the LONG way) to farm Mr. 2000-souls-right-next-to-the-bonfire... but alas, he is not Mr. 4000-5000 souls after the patch. :(

  • TONYgr #78 6 months ago

    @darc

    I did the same thing mate lol!

  • Octoroc #79 6 months ago

    The only big increase in souls awarded that I've noticed has been the giant guards in Anor Londo - from 500 to 1500. The slimes in the Depths also yield souls as well as titanite now and the humanity drop rate from rats seems to be much higher. Happy farming!

  • Moxyz1 #80 6 months ago

    Damn ,,i finally received my copy of the official guide today and its partly inacurate now, i cant dodge the patch by playing diconnected either as no bloodstains ingame then.

  • TAPNGO #81 6 months ago

    its sad that the new thing with patches to a game is to change gameplay, i can see fixing bugs but why change gameplay.

  • SFG_Clan #82 6 months ago

    Haha Fapsmith