Elden Ring finally gets ray-tracing in new update

A new update has been released for Elden Ring adding ray-tracing across PC, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5.

This can be activated in the game's settings menu.

The patch notes do state that performance - such as frame rate and resolution - may be impacted while playing with ray-tracing on.

Ray-tracing is a visual effect that drastically improves lighting and reflections. It's a feature that's been long-requested in Elden Ring, although after the technical issues at launch (especially on PC) some may be wary of how ray-tracing could impact performance.

Its inclusion was also leaked by dataminers. Back in October, dataminer sennoutantei noticed menu strings relating to ray-tracing features (as shared by Lance McDonland), suggesting visual improvements were on the way.

This new patch also includes PvP-exclusive balance adjustments, mainly decreasing the effectiveness of certain skills and spells. This is due to the recently added Colosseum PvP DLC.

There are also further adjustments to balance, Ashes of War, and bug fixes. That's right: over a year after release, FromSoftware are still fixing bugs.

For PC players, below are the minimum and recommended tech specs for ray-tracing.

Minimum

• OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS 10
• PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT
• MEMORY: 16 GB RAM
• GRAPHIC CARD: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, 12 GB
• RECOMMENDED GRAPHICS SETTING: 1080p - Low quality - Low Ray Tracing

Recommended

• OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS 11
• PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
• MEMORY: 16 GB RAM
• GRAPHIC CARD: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, 16 GB
• RECOMMENDED GRAPHICS SETTING: 1080p - High quality - High Ray Tracing