Yep, it's that time again. Another Assassin's Creed Valhalla update is upon us, and boy is it a big one. The big deal here is the addition of three new River Raid maps, alongside new weapons, armour, and skills. It also adds a new nightmare combat difficulty.
But update 1.3.1 (version 1.031 on PlayStation 5) offers a lot more under the hood. It makes loads of changes to various gameplay elements, which includes a rebalance of the current difficult settings. The patch notes are bloody huge, and detail all kinds of fixes, adjustments, and more.
The update weighs in around 14GB on PS5, and a whopping 30GB on PS4.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla Update 1.3.1 Patch Notes
River Raids Update
- Added 3 new Rivers to the RIVER RAIDS game mode. (Erriff, Berbha, Rhine)
- Face 2 River Champions and the new Champions of the Faith. Defeat them to get your hands on new weapons.
- Added new rewards to River Raids (Lugh's Armor and 5 weapons - including a short sword)
- Jomsviking Hall can be upgraded to Level 4-5, allowing players to hire Jomsviking of Level 4-5, respectively.
- Jomsviking of higher rank can carry more rations and do more damage to enemies.
- River Raid Longship cargo can be upgraded to Level 4-5.
- 3 new abilities can be found in River Raids monasteries:
- Spinning Harpoon = Eivor performs a spinning attack that can be combined with other harpoon-based abilities. Enemies caught in the spin are knocked back
- Percussion Arrow = Hit an enemy's Shield to create a shockwave that staggers and damages nearby enemies.
- Precision Axe Throw = Eivor performs a devastating axe throw that targets an enemy's weak point.
Rune Perk Changes
- Targeted Rune socketing - This update means that RUNES will only affect the weapon they are socketed in, allowing players to create more targeted loadouts.
- For example, you could fill your left-hand weapon with Attack runes and your right-hand weapon with Stun runes so that both weapons have very different effects.
- Some stats will stay global (example: Assassination damages, Fire damages, etc.).
- No changes have been made to Runes slotted on armor; they will still impact your character as a whole.
- Perk & Rune Perk Cap removal - We also removed the CAP that prevented Perks & Rune Perks (diamond shape) effects from stacking beyond a certain threshold.
- Players will now always see the impact of their Perks and be able to create more specialized loadouts.
Difficulty Setting Adjustments
- Added Aesir (Nightmare) combat difficulty to the game.
- +200% damages received
- Standard damage inflicted
- -40% rations heal
- -38% Parry timing windows
- Players will now heal according to their selected difficulty setting:
- Easy & Default = 100%
- Hard = 80%
- Very Hard = 60%
- Nightmare = 60%
Odin's Blessing – Community Tattoo Contest
- Added Community Tattoo Contest items to the game
- Elfydil on Twitter – Torso/Chest
- OuterDesert on Instagram – Head
- Le_Papillon08 on Instagram – Torso/Back
- SherllyzArt on Instagram – Arms
- Head over to Ubisoft Connect to unlock Odin's Blessing for FREE from September 7 at 4pm UTC.
Miscellaneous
- Updated the below skill nodes to include the new weapon types as follows:
- Short sword = Greatsword skill node
- Scythe = Spear skill node
- Sickle = Seax skill node
- Players who cannot upgrade their settlement to level 6 due to lack of supplies will now be able to purchase supplies at the settlement merchant. (Only available at Level 5 and once a specific amount of supplies have been collected)
- Players didn't take damage from fire after destroying a boat.
- Players not receiving XP after completing daily quests in Ireland & Francia.
- Longship missing or could be seen spawning in River Raids, Expansion 1 & 2.
The Siege of Paris - Expansion 2
Addressed:
- Players could re-enter the Île de la Cité through unintended means. Sorry folks
- The church gatekeeper from The Rot in the Slums is not at the gate, causing the investigation to disappear.
- (SPOILERS) Addressed several issues with the boss fight in Madness of King Charles.
- Longship sails to be opened during the dialogue scene upon arrival in Francia.
- Quest marker is misplaced on the Atlas for Homecoming.
- The Duelist remained stuck on the mount and did not fight the player.
- Numerous issues with the Barn bull fight.
- Sigfred could get stuck in The Rot in the Slums if players placed a horse on the stairs.
- World map isn't opened after pressing the relevant key during the Rebel mission tutorial.
- The player cannot exit Little Mother's sanctum if the conflict is initiated with either of the two NPCs in the tunnel before the dagger room.
- Confirm kill scenes missing for The Duelist, Hunter, Cavalier under certain circumstances.
- The Duelist cannot be completed if the dead body is being carried around after taking them down.
- The Duelist's sheep follow his dead body if the player carries it around.
- Players could interact with the door from the other side in the Gisacum Ruin.
- Cannot progress in Little Mother after distracting her with Explosive Corpse, triggering the event.
- Addressed an issue that caused the Finisher camera to not be disabled in The Siege of Paris despite turning it Off in the menu.
Wrath of the Druids - Expansion 1
Addressed:
- Bed in Dublin was no longer accessible.
- Courting the Kings doesn't update after freeing prisoners.
- Trial of the Morrigan cannot be started if it has been completed in a previous playthrough.
- Dublin's Reach couldn't be completed as Azad was dead.
- Black Shuck attacked the player before the start cinematic camera ends.
Main Quests, World Events, and Side Activities
Addressed:
- Daily Quest Dialogue Scene takes a long time to load and will end up having the camera underground when the Daily Quest menu opens.
- Basim was missing at the beginning of Severing the Lines.
- Unable to complete Under the Skin as Vili was stuck in the water.
- Quest marker missing in Smashing the Compass Probably shouldn't have smashed that compass
- Unable to speak to Soma after regrouping in An Island of Eels
- Unable to go fishing with Ceolbert in Bloody Path to Peace. Ceolbert will never know peace
- Unable to complete the world event King of the Hay People.
- Unable to complete the investigation of the three clues in In the Absence of an Ealdorman.
- Unable to complete the quest Walls and Shadows as the cinematic didn't start. * it's all walls and shadows*
- No stones around to complete the Stoneman mystery.
- Unable to complete the Eurvicscire arc as player received Road to Hamartia after completing This Son of Jorvik.
- Old cellar mystery couldn't be completed as the tablet wasn't there.
- Unable to interact with NPC in Goddess of Birth.
- Players sometimes didn't receive Orphans of the Fens after completing the quest The Great Scattered Army.
- Unable to access the quest The Way of the Berserker (with Ubisoft Connect overlay disabled)
- The duel with Dag didn't trigger after sleeping during A Storm is Brewing.
- Hunwald doesn't follow Eivor if they meditate after a drinking mini game in Homecoming.
- The boss in Extended Family could get stuck under certain circumstances.
- A Plague of Rats not working during the last phase of the fight with Dag.
River Raids & Mastery Challenge
Addressed:
- Enemies disappear from some River Raids locations after looting a chest, or it resets.
- Looting resource chests does not award Fabrics after fully completing at least 1 Mastery Challenge shrine.
- Unable to return to the settlement after a River Raid.
- Unable to start the River Raids tutorial after loading an auto-save twice during A River to Raid.
- NPCs fell from their stations occasionally and died in Mastery Challenge.
- Oil jars exploded before entering the Templebrough Fort Ranged Challenge if exiting and restarting the trial after destroying them.
- The alert level didn't increase when raiding a Fortress.
- Mastery Challenge achievements and trophies didn't transfer between platforms.
- Gold medal couldn't be obtained anymore during stealth trial in Calleva Outpost, under certain circumstances.
Graphics, Audio, and Animation
Addressed:
- Numerous graphics or lighting issues.
- Various animation issues.
- Numerous Menu Narration issues.
Gameplay, Combat, and AI
Addressed:
- Numerous NPC behavior issues.
- Finisher Cameras for some animal takedowns isn't disabled while option is turned off.
World
Addressed:
- Instances where Eivor, NPCs, or the longship would get stuck.
- Instances of misplaced or floating objects or textures.
- Fast travel to Viewpoints while disembarking could cause Eivor to offset from the location.
User Interface/HUD
Addressed:
- Numerous UI/HUD issues.
- Numerous VFX, GFX, UI elements weren't adapted for colorblind modes.
- The Sort By call to action in the runes section will now display the next sorting option available and not the one that is currently applied.
Skills & Abilities
Addressed:
- Paladin perk for increased stamina consumption on attack didn't apply
- Scythe of Tribulation Perk wasn't working correctly.
- Couldn't sprint while on the mount after acquiring Heidrun Slam.
- Moon's Cut perk activated if the player shot any object.
- Auto-pathing is not functional on main skill nodes.
- Eivor kept an arrow in their hand after using some range abilities.
- Crescent Shield's perk activates only once after a parry and doesn't stack.
Performance and Stability
- Improved performance and stability.
Phew! Are you still playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla? Get read to raid in the comments section below.
[source ubisoft.com]
Comments 20
I keep bouncing off this game, but there are new articles on it every few weeks and I always end up going back...
Has anyone played the River Raids yet? Are they worth getting in to?
@Shepherd_Tallon They're ok if nothing special, rewards are fine for the first lot but i never actually bothered with any of it as i rocking some of the store armour what was better. If you don't have the Paris DLC it might be worth doing the new river raids as its the only way to get a 2nd "free" Short Sword with the others being part of the store or being tied to the Paris DLC.
I logged close to 200 hours in the main campaign. Just purchased the season pass and can't wait to spend another 100 hours in the new campaigns and other content. Love this game. Took a nice few months break and happy to return.
So, are these difficulty levels fixed then, or is there that horrible enemy scaling that negates your own advancements?
@WallyWest Thanks for that.
I might download it again, for the fifth time, after work.
@thefourfoldroot There are enemy level scaling options as well, so you can set it up however you like. Can also turn off scaling entirely.
What's the general consensus on this game? Is there a pay off from the massive time sink? I like the look of the locations.
Must admit I got bored before half way through Odyssey.
@Shepherd_Tallon i'm just starting Valhalla, so this came organically as part of the settlement building process.
I've only played one so far, but it seems to basically be 3 normal raids strung together back to back. The loot is rarer and if you die, you lose everything. I only did the tutorial so it was naturally fairly easy - but i imagine it gets quite tough as you do more of them. It was fun, but i think it depends if you have burnt out on normal raids. As i am jist starting the game, i haven't reached that point yet.
The thing that was annoying was that i wanted to go to bed, but it isnt possible to save between raids (pretty sure i fell asleep during the 3rd one 😅, which i guess isnt a ringing endorsement - but i do have 2 exhausting kids), but otherwise its just more AC Valhalla.
Its still bizarre that, as good as the game is so far, it just feels so far removed from what Assassins Creed used to be. Definitely doesnt feel like there is any stealth in the game at all (although i understand the dlc addresses that somewhat)
@ShogunRok
That’s great. Wish other games had that as standard. I hate level scaling, rubber banding, and all similar systems.
All these fixes and changes, but still nothing to fix the audio...
Quality of audio files on par with other modern AAA games would be a good start.
Implementing 3D Audio correctly for PS5 would be also good, as the game was advertised as such.
@thefourfoldroot For all of the hate Ubisoft games get (sometimes justified), they almost always do a great job of providing a range of difficulty and accessibility options. Usually much better than most games. Would be nice if it was standard!
@Rob_230 I have a seven month old and can't imagine juggling two. I started this game over the weekend but am intimidated by the 100+ hours to complete and not get a divorce/have my kid forget me. Any tips besides being a walking zombie.
Anyone else have recommendations on best weapons/armor for early-mid game? Besides the obvious end game long quest weapons. Just got to Brittan and did a few quests.
@Rob_230 Ah, I had gotten pretty burned out on the raids. I like this idea though. I love single player RPGs, but would love to see more of them do end game stuff like this or Chalice Dungeons.
@Bdbrady There's a spear you can get in the Ireland expansion as part of an optional quest. You have to collect all of the Bloody Amber shards, but you'll need to more or less finish the expansion in order to do that. You'll know the quest to collect them all when you come to it, I don't think you can miss it.
I went to Ireland pretty early on after reaching England. Now that I'm back this spear is feeling almost too op. It's very powerful.
As for weapons in the main game, I'm not far enough in to it to give you any tips there.
@Bdbrady Congrats on the little one 🙂
Honestly, the balance is real! But it doesnt have to be the end of long RPG's. You just need to recognise that your backlog does get rather long. I sometimes put off longer games because it is daunting starting hundred hour epics - and its why i bounce off souls-like games because i just don't have time to perfect my skills. But since having kids i have managed to get through games like DQ11, Persona 5 Royal, Yakuza 6 and 7 AC Origins etc.
How do i manage it? Generally after everyone goes to bed - so i tend to play between 10 and midnight in the evening - although i am usually pretty exhausted by 11 o clock these days. I always wait for my my wife to go to bed before playing otherwose i imagine i'd be in trouble. I've already booked time in front of the TV for Thursday's showcase though 😂
I'm not going to pretend i am not a walking zombie - coffee currently is my best friend!
Other advice? Invest in a headset too. Worth their weight in gold for playing when everyone else is asleep, and still getting fully immersed into the game. I am using the 3d pulse headset for PS5, but have a set of the PS4 Golds too.
As for weapons in valhalla, i think i am still using my starting axe. I am only 18 hours in, but i have upgraded it a bit and it is doing the job so far - but i too would like something that dishes out more damage.
@Olmaz Yeah, it kills the game. I can't get into it, it sounds horrible through and through. Fell off after ten hours as the game just feels so poor in quality comparing to Ghost of Tsushima, and really, any other modern game.
Unfortunately it will not get fixed, but the complaints have been fairly loud this time around (Odyssey also has crushed compressed audio, but not Valhalla/90s pre-soundblaster bad) so we can hope Ubi starts investing in two discs for this series..
@Rob_230 Great advice! My strategy this week was to buy my wife some books she has wanted. Then I have been encouraging her to invest in her hobby. She hasn't seen through my attempts to game just yet.
Sidebar: P5R, how amazing is that music? I still listen to it on runs and get excited when I hear it randomly.
Still sitting here waiting for ng+
I actually look at this game kind of like Skyrim. There is always a lot to do but a lot of it is just fun really not necessary stuff but just fun. Also I've had it since launch but go away for a while to play another, then get back into it. Kind of a cycle. You don't feel lost cause objectives are always there. So to me this is one of the best games this gen just for play factor. Keep in mind, I didn't play the last few games so I don't have AC burn out.
I also think them giving us the ability to stop level scaling was great. I highly recommend doing that unless you just want a challenge every step of the way.
I still need to go back to this for the dlc but never really in the mood to go back. Maybe in a few months didn't enjoy it as much as the other two, it was good but something was just missing and not sure what maybe I just prefer the other two settings.
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