Elden Ring Nightreign’s December 17 patch has arrived, and it’s making the already dominant Scholar class even more powerful. Update 1.03.1 includes over 100 bug fixes and balance adjustments, with the majority focused on issues that emerged following The Forsaken Hollows DLC release. But the real story here? Scholar mains are about to get significantly stronger.
Scholar Was Already the Best Class
Since the Scholar’s addition to Elden Ring Nightreign in The Forsaken Hollows update (early December), the class has quickly become a fan favorite—and for good reason.
What Made Scholar So Strong
Support capabilities:
- Powerful buffs for allies
- Devastating debuffs for enemies
- Healing distribution across the team
- Utility that benefits any group composition
The Communion ultimate:
- Creates magical links with allies and enemies
- Shares healing effects among all linked allies
- Generates additional healing when linked enemies take damage
- Essentially turns enemy damage into team sustain
Analyze skill:
- Marks enemies for increased damage
- Builds art gauge for more frequent ultimate use
- Provides tactical advantage through enemy tracking
Bagcraft passive:
- Enhances consumable items to level 3
- Adds powerful effects to darts, daggers, and pots
- Creates unique utility options unavailable to other classes
The Scholar wasn’t just good—it was arguably the most powerful class in Elden Ring Nightreign, capable of turning difficult encounters into manageable ones through sheer support power.
The Twist: Scholar Was Supposed to Be Even Stronger
Here’s where things get interesting. Patch 1.03.1 lists most of its Scholar changes as bug fixes rather than buffs or balance adjustments.
What this means: FromSoftware intended Scholar to be this powerful from launch. The class was actually underperforming due to bugs preventing its abilities from working as designed.
In other words, Scholar mains have been dominating while playing a broken, incomplete version of the class. Now that these bugs are fixed, Scholar is about to become disgustingly powerful.
Major Scholar Changes in Patch 1.03.1
Communion Ultimate Ability Fixes
The bug: If Scholar entered a Near Death state while activating Communion, the healing distribution to linked allies would fail to propagate correctly.
The fix: Healing now properly distributes even if Scholar gets put into Near Death during activation.
Why this matters:
- Communion is Scholar’s most powerful ability
- Being put into Near Death during a tough fight is common
- This fix means Communion remains active exactly when you need it most
- Could turn losing battles into clutch victories
Additional Communion fix: The effect will no longer continue to be applied if no other targets are affected, preventing wasted resources.
Executor synergy fix: Scholar’s Communion will no longer break when an ally using Executor transforms with “Aspects of the Crucible: Beast” ultimate art.
Analyze Skill Improvements
Bug fix #1: The art gauge will now properly increase from the shockwave triggered on yourself at maximum charge.
What this does: Speeds up ultimate ability usage by ensuring art gauge gains work as intended, even when self-targeting.
Bug fix #2: The number of analyzed targets will no longer reset when any player performs the “Open door” action to transition to a boss fight within Spirit Tree shelter.
Why this matters: Previously, all your Analyze setup work would vanish right before major boss encounters. Now your debuffs stay active where they’re needed most.
Bagcraft Passive Ability Overhaul
Bagcraft is Scholar’s unique passive that enhances consumables to level 3, adding powerful effects. Multiple bugs were preventing this ability from working correctly:
Level 3 Dart-Type Items
Previous bugs:
- Damage negation reduction effect’s duration wouldn’t extend when hitting enemies
- No visual feedback for the stacking effect
Fixes:
- Duration now extends properly with each hit
- Added stack count display to the damage negation reduction icon
Impact: You can now see exactly how many stacks you’ve applied and maintain the debuff more reliably.
Level 3 Fan Daggers
Bug fix: Damage negation reduction effect now applies correctly according to the number of hits when striking enemies.
What this means: Multi-hit Fan Dagger attacks now stack the debuff as intended, dramatically increasing their effectiveness.
Level 3 Holy Water Pot
Bug fix: The healing effect added to level 3 Holy Water Pot will now cause damage to the Royal Revenant as intended.
The mechanic: In Elden Ring, healing effects damage undead enemies. This bug had prevented that interaction from working with Scholar’s enhanced Holy Water Pots.
Additional Bagcraft Fixes
Crystal Tear display fix: The count now displays correctly when obtaining a second Crystal Tear from Dormant Powers as Scholar.
Frozen Needle fix: Attack motion bugs with this weapon have been resolved.
Remembrance enemy behavior: Enemies appearing in specific Scholar’s Remembrances will now behave as expected.
Why These “Bug Fixes” Make Scholar Broken
Let’s be clear: calling these “bug fixes” is technically accurate, but the net result is a massive power increase.
The Healing Loop Becomes Consistent
Before patch: Communion healing could fail in critical moments (Near Death states, boss transitions)
After patch: Communion healing works reliably even under pressure
Result: Scholar becomes nearly unkillable in group content, constantly generating healing from enemy damage while distributing it to the entire team.
Debuff Stacking Reaches Full Potential
Before patch: Bagcraft debuffs weren’t stacking properly or extending duration
After patch: Full debuff stacking with visual confirmation and proper duration
Result: Enemies become significantly squishier as damage negation reduction stacks pile up, effectively increasing your team’s damage output by massive percentages.
Ultimate Ability Uptime Increases
Before patch: Art gauge gains from Analyze were inconsistent
After patch: Consistent art gauge generation, especially from self-targeting at max charge
Result: More frequent Communion usage means more team-wide healing and damage amplification.
Other Significant Changes in Update 1.03.1
While Scholar changes dominate the patch notes, there are plenty of other important updates:
Forsaken Hollows DLC Integration
New content for DLC owners:
- New targets in The Deep of Night mode
- Additional Landmarks to discover
- New raid events
- Shifting Earth expansions
Important note: These additions only appear when matched with other players who own the DLC.
Great Hollow Shifting Earth Adjustments
Curse effect increases: Fire, Magic, Lightning, and Holy curse effects on weapons and items in temples have been increased.
HP effects adjusted: Continuous HP Loss and Recovery curse effects have been rebalanced.
Tricephalos Raid Event Nerf
Change: Decreased the attack power of summoned wolves during the Tricephalos raid event.
Why: These wolves were overtuned, especially in 2-3 player expeditions where their HP and damage reduction were higher than intended.
Quality of Life Improvements
Consumable stacking: When swapping identical consumables in the Equipment Menu, they now combine according to stack limits automatically.
Item pinning: Pinned items now display rarity color in the equipment message.
Map key remapping: You can now remap the Map Display key in keyboard/mouse settings.
Visual effects: Added icons and explanations for some special effects in the status menu.
Near-death animation: Added animation when reviving with “Power to Balance the World” special effect.
Major Bug Fixes
Boss fight fixes:
- Sentient Pest will now properly lose sight of players using Duchess’s Finale
- Gaping Jaw ground attack detection improved
- Dancer of the Boreal Valley can now be damaged during critical hits
- Dreglord encounter has multiple targeting and summoning fixes
- Night boss behavior corrected across multiple encounters
Great Hollow Shifting Earth fixes:
- Temple progression bugs resolved
- Spirit stream display issues fixed
- Rune acquisition bugs corrected
- Crystal Curse interaction problems addressed
- Treasure chest collision issues resolved
Raid event fixes:
- Augur water bomb visibility corrected
- Fissure in the Fog blizzard effects now display properly
- Balancer spawn issues resolved
Network and stability:
- Deep of Night rating calculation fixed
- Matchmaking with DLC/non-DLC players corrected
- Crash fixes for PlayStation 5/4 button configuration menu
- Performance improvements across the board
Community Reaction: “Disgustingly Broken”
The Elden Ring Nightreign community has reacted with a mix of excitement and disbelief:
Scholar Mains Rejoice
Positive reactions:
- Finally works as intended
- Feels like playing the “complete” version
- Makes difficult content more accessible
- Enhances cooperative gameplay experience
Competitive Concerns
Worries about balance:
- Scholar was already top-tier
- These fixes might make it mandatory for group content
- Other classes may feel underwhelming in comparison
- Potential need for future nerfs
The “Overpowered” Debate
Arguments for Scholar being too strong:
- Outperforms every other support option
- Makes difficult content trivial
- Could discourage class diversity
Arguments defending Scholar:
- Solo players still prefer damage-focused classes
- Requires skill to maximize effectiveness
- Cooperative games benefit from strong support classes
- Other classes have unique strengths
What This Means for the Meta
Group Composition Changes
Expect to see:
- Scholar in nearly every cooperative expedition
- Groups built around maximizing Scholar’s buffs
- Increased focus on consumable item builds
- More aggressive playstyles enabled by consistent healing
Other Classes Still Viable
Don’t worry if you don’t play Scholar:
- Executor remains the best tank
- Recluse provides unmatched ranged damage
- Raider offers mobility and area control
- Undertaker provides frontline sustain
- Each class has distinct advantages
Scholar’s strength: Makes the entire team better, but doesn’t invalidate other roles.
Should You Play Scholar?
Play Scholar If You:
- Enjoy support playstyles
- Play cooperatively often
- Like resource management (consumables)
- Want to enable your teammates
- Appreciate complex, multi-layered gameplay
Skip Scholar If You:
- Prefer solo play (Scholar shines in groups)
- Want straightforward damage dealing
- Don’t enjoy tracking buffs/debuffs
- Like simple, reactive gameplay
The Bottom Line
Elden Ring Nightreign’s patch 1.03.1 has transformed Scholar from “already the best support class” to “potentially mandatory for serious group content.” The extensive bug fixes reveal that FromSoftware always intended Scholar to be this powerful—players just weren’t experiencing the class as designed.
Key takeaways:
- Over 100 bug fixes and improvements
- Scholar receives major functionality corrections
- Communion healing now works in critical situations
- Bagcraft debuff stacking fully operational
- Analyze ability more consistent
- Great Hollow Shifting Earth improvements
- Forsaken Hollows DLC integration expanded
For Scholar players: Enjoy your newfound power, but expect potential balance adjustments in future patches if the class proves too dominant.
For other class players: Scholar’s strength doesn’t diminish your role—it enhances everyone’s effectiveness when played together.
For FromSoftware: The challenge now is maintaining class diversity while allowing Scholar to exist at its intended power level.
Update 1.03.1 is live now across all platforms, bringing with it a Scholar class that’s finally working as intended—which is to say, disgustingly powerful. Time to support your way to victory. 📚✨⚔️
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