Elden Ring's bugged PvP shield spell is mightier than any sword

Elden Ring character holding shield and surrounded by magical swords
(Image credit: Tyler C. / FromSoftware)

When FromSoftware buffed the efficacy of shields in the latest patch for Elden Ring, it surely didn't mean to inadvertently create a new exploitable PvP build. But as is often the case for game developers, just as you whack one exploit-mole, another one emerges. 

Elden Ring players have found a new way to one-shot opponents (and many enemies in PvE) with a simple shield skill that sends occasionally invisible blades at opponents for ridiculous amounts of damage.

The Carian Retaliation build uses the Ash of War of the same name applied to a shield. The skill lets you parry spells to gain several powerful sword projectiles that fire off at enemies. The damage of the skill scales based on your shield's upgrade level, and since it's a parry, it seems to do high amounts of damage as a way to reward what should be a skilled maneuver. But here's the galaxy-brained catch: you can parry your own spells.

If you activate an item like the Wraith Calling Bell that emits its own spell-like projectiles, you can immediately parry after and activate Carian Retaliation. This is also possible with other items like Glintstone Scraps that function similarly. All together it's an easy setup for an attack that some people report will instantly kill people at 50 vigor or below, which is quite a bit for the average player.

It gets worse too. The magical blades that Carian Retaliation spawns don't visibly launch forward on the enemy players' screen. There's almost no way to reliably dodge them without a visual indicator for when to roll or strafe out of the way. And if the exploiter uses the spell before they invade you, the magical swords are completely invisible.

(GIF source: DBZenkai)

The bug seems to be the fact that you can parry your own spells and the animation of the swords only showing up on the user's screen. The high damage it inflicts might be intentional given that it should be a difficult thing to pull off with a devastating reward.

Compared to the Deathblight build that FromSoftware eradicated in the most recent patch, this one might be worse, considering the required item is attainable much earlier in the game. If you're looking to brawl with other Elden Ring players, pray the invisible blades don't find you.

TOPICS

Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.

Read more
An elf using magic
Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 testers are whispering that a previously mediocre subclass is now an S-tier war god of infinite thunder smites, but there's no way it can last
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update has, mercifully, made one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again—but it's really still quite good
The great shinobi blade - owl moveset mod for Elden Ring
Here's an Elden Ring mod to give you the rad moveset of Sekiro boss Great Shinobi Owl
An Oathbreaker Paladin restoring their Oath in Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 8 is so big, it needed its own patch before it even released, and we're one step closer to a Permanent Booming Blade Economy
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree trailer screencap of a red haired character holding fire in their hand
An Elden Ring player has promised to fight Messmer every day with a new weapon until FromSoftware releases Elden Ring: Nightreign
Baldur's Gate 3 Gale romance - Gale sacrificing himself
Baldur's Gate 3's accidental PS5 release of Patch 8 has the theorycrafters in a flurry—though I'm just glad D&D's blade cantrips are officially here
Latest in RPG
Rise of the Ronin review
Rise of the Ronin review
A lolporrit squeals in excitement while being driven in a moon buggie in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, patch 7.2.
Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.2's trailer has me finally hyped to get stuck back in—and to go to the moon and pilot some mechs, because why not
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 barbers change hairstyle - Henry sitting on a horse wearing armour.
How to find a barber and change hairstyle in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 image - Henry riding a pink and blue striped horse while holding a fish
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 now has Steam Workshop support, and of course one of the first mods lets you adjust the 'jiggle physics'
Erenshor - A player and two simulated MMO party members stand on a plateau in front of a yellow landscape
This RuneScape-looking 'simulated MMORPG' has all the nostalgia without the drama because all the other 'players' are NPCs
Latest in News
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam
Possibility Space concept art.
Possibility Space owners sue NetEase for $900 million over allegations it spread 'false and defamatory rumors' of fraud at the studio that ultimately forced it to close
Valve soldier man on a pc.
2024 was Steam's 'best year ever' of users buying newly released games—but I wouldn't celebrate the end of the forever game era just yet
Money money money.
Valve tracked 1.7 million Steam users who joined in 2023 to see if they stuck around—they did, and they spent $93 million
Closeup of the new Copilot key coming to Windows 11 PC keyboards
Microsoft co-authored paper suggests the regular use of gen-AI can leave users with a 'diminished skill for independent problem-solving' and at least one AI model seems to agree
A lolporrit squeals in excitement while being driven in a moon buggie in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, patch 7.2.
Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.2's trailer has me finally hyped to get stuck back in—and to go to the moon and pilot some mechs, because why not