Elden Ring Speedruns Have Been Severely Downgraded

In case you’re not aware, speedrunning has become quite the trend in the video gaming space over the last two decades. When you are doing a speedrun of any game, you are intending to complete it as quickly as you possibly can. For that matter, speedruns of the Soulsborne games are exceedingly popular as well. The current world record for the shortest completion time of Dark Souls 3, which is 31 minutes and 33 seconds, is held by a player called Moochyy_.  

Now, speedrunners are at large and there’s no doubt that they wouldn’t leap toward Elden Ring too for this grand purpose. Ever since the latest entry in the whole Soulsborne franchise was released, players have been at it tirelessly, dishing out one world record after the other in terms of speedrunning. 

The current world record for the best speedrun time of Elden Ring is 28 minutes and 41 seconds, cutting just below the 30-minute mark. This remarkable feat has been achieved by a US-based player called Distortion2. He showcased the run on his YouTube channel, breaking his own records day after day, and finally creating a new tip-top record. 

The bad news is that speedruns like the one Distortion2 has managed to create might not be a possibility now, or at least until the community of these niche players comes up with other exploits. Elden Ring has just received its first major update that although brought a variety of great additions to the game has nevertheless taken a heavy toll on speedrunning potential. 

By taking a close look at the Patch Notes Version 1.03, it’s easy to dig out the “Decreased Ash of War, Hoarfrost Stomp’s damage and increase cast time” entry under the “Balance Changes” section.

Ashes of War are additional buffs that can be applied to your armaments in Elden Ring for the purpose of making them stronger and more multi-faceted. The Hoarfrost Stomp Ash of War, in particular, paves the way for users to get two-fold benefits with one of them being the Cold affinity upgrade for weapons and the other being a devastating skill move. 

One of the main strategies employed by Distortion2 revolves around the use of the Hoarfrost Stomp Ash of War to create world record-worthy speedruns. Now, however, the damage of this Ash of War has been reduced along with the time it takes for the pertinent skill move to get ready. 

Acknowledging this substantial update to the game, the renowned speedrunner took to Twitter and tweeted, “Rip Elden Ring Speedruns.”

While this does put a dent in the speedrunning potential for Elden Ring, it definitely doesn’t carve it in stone that there won’t be sub-30 minutes speedruns of the game now. Sure, the community might take some time to find out other routes, skills, and ways to beat the action RPG the quickest, but they’ll certainly get there eventually. 

Elden Ring has had some of the best launches that a AAA title can have in today’s age. Its hybrid combat, open-world gameplay, and the thrill of the challenge make it stand out as the greatest Soulsborne game to ever release in our eyes. If you’re just getting started out with it, we highly recommend taking a look at our best Elden Ring starting class to ace the difficulty right from the get-go. 

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